William Fricker was listed as a plumber when Elizabeth was baptised in Taunton, Somerset in 1834 at the same time as her younger sister. He had been listed as a glazier when his older children were baptised at Holy Trinity in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire.
The family had moved to London by the time that Elizabeth’s younger brother was born, in Holborn in 1837. William Fricker was later listed as a plumber in the 1841 Census. He was then living on Mortlake Lane, Richmond with his wife Ann and family.
William’s wife Ann died near the start of 1843, aged 45. She was buried at the Anglican of Church of St Mary Magdalene in Richmond. He was then a widower with five children, Ellen, the eldest aged 18 and Edmund, the youngest, aged 6.
Later that same year, William Fricker remarried in Richmond, to Lucy Sumner. She had also recently been widowed, in mid-1842.
Just when William, Lucy and her new family then moved to Aldershot is not known. However, there is explanation of why they did.
Lucy was from Aldershot, baptised at St Michael’s Church in 1796 as Lucy Luff. Her father Stephen Luff was still living in 1843, aged 80, recorded by the 1841 Census of 1841 at Aldershot’s “eastend” [Heath End].
She was one of at least five children of Stephen and Mary Luff. Stephen had married again in 1803 after Lucy’s mother died and was father to ten more children. Emma, the youngest, was baptised at St Michael’s Church in 1829.
Likely Lucy, as the eldest daughter, went into domestic service. In any event in July 1817, when she was aged about 21, she had married James Sumner at St Peter’s Church, Ash; both were said to be “of this parish”.
By 1841, Lucy and James Sumner were living on Kew Foot Lane, Richmond. James had risen up the socio-economic scale to become a coal merchant. As noted, Lucy was widowed the next year, James buried in April 1842 as a Wesleyan Methodist within the Waterloo Street Cemetery, Hammersmith. He was aged 47.
James Sumner’s will, drawn up in 1836. was proved in May 1842. With the exception of his wearing apparel, which he bequeathed to his brother Charles, James left his entire estate to “my dear wife Lucy Sumner” whom he also appointed sole executor.
In October 1843, the widowed Lucy Sumner and William Fricker were married. Elizabeth’s younger brother Edmund George was baptised in Holborn in November 1844, Lucy then named as one of the parents.
The family then moved from Richmond to Aldershot, most likely in order that Lucy could be close to her father who was then in his eighties.
Lucy died seven years after her marriage to William, aged 54, buried at St Michael’s Church in October 1850. Her will makes reference to a marriage settlement having been drawn up, but she nevertheless bequeathed the bulk of her “freehold copyhold and leasehold Estates together with my households furniture goods and fixtures” to “her dear husband William Fricker”. Provision was made for her father to receive “two shillings per week for the term of his natural life” and “a sum of ten pounds” to be paid to her brothers James, William and Stephen and to her married sister Jane.
The 1851 Census records William Fricker as widowed, listing him as a retired painter and decorator. He served as one of the two Overseers on the Vestry during the year ending March 1852.