Jane Poland nee Lillywhite (1811 1893)
Jane Lillywhite was born in Durrington, eighth of the 11 children of Joseph Lillywhite (from Findon) and Elizabeth (Moon) (from Steyning). She was baptised in West Tarring on October 6th 1811.
On the 3rd of June 1832 she married William Poland (the register has him as Poling) in Broadwater. John and Ann Poland were Witnesses. Both William and John signed the marriage certificate with a cross, Jane and Ann wrote their own names. William was born in Heene in 1806.
Their daughter Mary Ann was baptised in 1832, Emma in 1834, Peter in 1836, Martha in 1838, Ellen in 1840 (died 1842), Jane in 1843, Matilda in 1845, Edwin in 1848, Walter in 1850, Albert in 1852 (died 1858) - all recorded as Heene Baptisms, though then in West Tarring records.
This was only one of several Poland families then living in Heene.
On the 1838 Heene Tithe Map, William was a Tenant of the Misses Mitchell, (Frances, Mary and Jane), living in a cottage and garden, one of three, backing on to Heene East Field, which must have been where the present Heene Community Centre is. The Misses Mitchell appear on the Tithe Map only as Landowners, they were clearly not then resident in Heene.
On the 1841 census William was an Agricultural Labourer, living in Heene, with Jane and their then 5 children.
In 1851 he was a Farm Labourer in Heene, with six children, the third child, Peter, at 15, was also a Farm Labourer. Jane was recorded as a Governess to 6 children.
On the 1861 census William was a Farm Labourer on Heene Farm. Peter was by then a Cowman, Edwin (18), a Carter Boy, son Walter (aged 10) a Cow Boy. Jane was now a Schoolmistress of a Day School. Jane's Widowed Mother Elizabeth Lillywhite, a Retired Charwoman from Steyning, aged 88, was also in the household.
In 1871 the couple were living at 9 Heene Lane almost certainly the cottage they had in 1838 with just unmarried sons Walter and Edwin both Market Gardener Labourers living at home.
By 1881 William and Jane were living alone in Heene Road. William, now 74, still an Agricultural Labourer.
William was buried in the Cemetery in 1882 (and Jane, in the same plot, in 1893.)
In 1891 Jane was living with their son Walter, in Eldon Rd., East Worthing. Walter was a Market Gardener, married in 1877, to Frances (nee Riddles), with four children.
She died in February 1893.
Son Peter, still single, was an Ag. Lab., in 1881, a Lodger in Ham Farm Cottage. By 1891 he was a Market Gardener, still living in Ham Farm Cottage, Broadwater.