- Birth: 1816 in Pinner
- Baptism: 24th November 1816
- Marriage: to Hannah/Anne Skinner
- Death: 1861
- Burial: 1861 in Paines Lane Cemetery, Pinner, A58
Many believe that Daniel was named after his father’s employer Daniel Hill who was very generous to the family. He always worked as an agricultural labourer.
He is still living with his parents in Pinner Place in 1841.
Daniel and Hannah (often known as Ann) married in 1842 and continued to live with his family in the farm cottages in Rayners Lane.
All Daniel’s children were born at the farmer’s cottage on Rayners Lane. Charles was born in 1844 and Daniel in 1846.
Daniel took over as head of the household at the cottage when his father George died in 1846.
Daniel Rayner was often poor; he received parish charity including blankets between 1849-56.
William was born in 1849.
In 1851 the family are still living, according to the census, in “Mr Hill’s Farm in the road to Roxeth”, so the lane was not yet known as Rayners Lane.
William died aged 3, just before the birth of Susan in 1952, who had learning disabilities.
Daniel died at the age of 44 in 1861 from consumption (tuberculosis), leaving his widow Ann with three children. As eleven-year-old Susan was disabled this prevented her mother from earning their keep.
Ann received meat, bread, coal and blankets from local charities between 1862-5.
In 1864 a public appeal was launched to raise money to send Susan to the private Earlswood Asylum at Redhill in Surrey. Daniel Hill was among the first contributors. Susan was sent to Earlswood initially for 5 years and in 1870 was confirmed for life and remained there until her death in 1904.
At the time Earlswood was very progressive and those with learning disabilities were finally distinguished from those with mental illnesses. At the time Susan arrived the Medical Superintendent was Dr John Langdon Down (who later gave his name to Down’s Syndrome). It is not clear if Susan had Down’s Syndrome. Within a few months of arriving she was speaking for the first time, though later it was noted that she would ‘swear furiously’ when frustrated. She also learnt to write and count a little. She outlived not just her parents but all her siblings, dying at the age of 52 from ‘exhaustion’ and cancer of the uterus.
In 1871 Ann still has Charles and Daniel at home, but has moved to West End Lane and is working as a Laundress. They also had a lodger, perhaps another sign that things were difficult financially.
In the mid 1870s Anne went to live with her recently married son Daniel, who, from 1873-88, was landlord of The Victory, the small alehouse near the foot of the High Street.
Charles dies in 1886 (and this death is mentioned in the Langthorn letters), Ann in 1887 and Daniel in 1891.
Daniel and Hannah’s 5 children:
Charles Daniel: 1844 – 1886
Daniel: 1846 – 1891
William: 1849 – 1852
Susan: 1852 – 1904
Rayners Lane 