The subject of this page has been documented over her life with two different first names - both of them unusal. The spelling of names was a lot less consistent then and was often decided by the person recording the name rather than the named person. The two different spellings "Sidney" & "Sydney" are not really surprising but the variation "Setnee" is, although maybe less so if said in a broad Dorset accent.

This is the only incidence of giving the name Sidney, however it's spelt, to a daughter in Netherbury as far as it has been possible to tell.  

• The records show she was baptised "Sidney" in 1817, a daughter to Abraham and Margaret Warr.
• She was recorded as "Setnee" in all five censuses from 1841 to 1881.
• She was named "Sidney" in her own Will and other peoples, both as a legatee and witness.
• She is named "Sydney" on the record of her son's baptism.
• She applied for a Bastardy Order against the father of her son as "Setnee".
• Her headstone is inscribed with the name "Sidney".

Whether it was spelt Sidney, Sydney or Setnee it was an unusal name. There is nobody called Sidney or Sydney recorded in the Netherbury censuses of 1841-1901, regardless of gender. There's only the one Setnee, which is her.

The baptism registers cover a wider period (1695-1900) and they record four Sidneys - three sons and only this one daughter.

There are two sons baptised with the middle name Sydney and one Sydney as a first name. This first name Sydney is interesting because it's another Sydney Warr - baptised on 25th January, 1851 to parents Robert and Jane in Salway Ash where it was not recorded if the child was a son or a daughter. It has not been possible to find any link between this Sydney Warr and Sidney/Sydney/Setnee Warr. Warr is a fairly common surname in the area so it may be coincidence but, bearing in mind what an unusal first name Sydney/Sidney is, it's quite a big coincidence.  

There is no record of anyone being baptised Setnee.

The Sidney/Sydney/Setnee that is the subject of this page was the first born child of Abraham and Margaret Warr, baptised on 5th October, 1817 at Netherbury. By 1841 she was living with her parents and four younger siblings (Mariah, Elizabeth, Alfred & Frederick) somewhere in Bridge Street and working as a Dressmaker. A decade later the 1851 census records her as living in East Street, Beaminster, with her parents and younger sister Mariah. It's not known where the two youngest siblings Alfred and Frederick were but Elizabeth seems to have been living in Lyme Regis, working as a Housemaid. A little under two years later Elizabeth married Thomas Moore, a Joiner, in Netherbury church.

It's been impossible to find what triggered the Warr family's move to Beaminster or exactly when it happened. However, on 9th November 1851, Sydney is named as the only parent on the registration of her son Henry Chubb Warr's baptism in Melplash. Henry Chubb had been a near neighbour of the Warrs in Netherbury living and working at Netherbury Mill (now Mill House) along with his wife and young family in 1841 when the Warrs were in Bridge Street.

By the time Sidney's son was born Henry Chubb was living in the High Street (St James Rd) and he'd been a widower for six years. A few days before Henry Chubb Warr was baptised a Bastardy Order was granted in Bridport against Henry Chubb requiring him to pay Setnee "1/6 per week and costs". It's impossible to tell what the relationships between the various parties were like but, by the 1861 census, Sidney's mother Margaret has died and she's living with her father and son back in Netherbury, in the house that's now known as Footfalls, which is also in the High Street. According to the relevant censuses both she and Henry Chubb lived the rest of their lives as fairly close neighbours in the High Street.

Sidney was still working as a dressmaker and one of her clients was Hannah Clare of Lower Strode (now Great Strode). When Hannah Clare made her Will in 1866 Sidney was one of the many local people bequeathed a legacy.

"To Sidney Warr of Netherbury my Needlewoman £50". 

By the time of the 1871 census Sidney's father, Abraham, had been dead for five years and she was now living on her own in the High St. Her son Henry, now aged 19, was living as a lodger at Beford Place, Bridport, working as a Coachman/Domestic Servant - the same occupation as his landlord Job Eves. On 28th April, 1879 Henry and Mary Ann Whitefield were married at Bothenhampton. On the marriage register his father is named as "Henry Warr deceased, Carter". Henry Chubb was buried at Netherbury about six months after the wedding at the age of 82. The following year Henry and Mary Anne's son Abraham Henry Warr was baptised on 17 October, 1880 at Netherbury.

Sidney died on 27th April, 1884 aged 67 and was buried at Netherbury alongside her parents. The inscription on the headstone reads...

In affectionate remembrance of ABRAHAM WARR who died September 25 1866 aged 90 years.  Also of MARGARET his wife who died March 15th 1853 aged 67 years.  Also of SIDNEY their daughter who died April 27th 1884 aged 66 years.  We know not shall be on the morrow.  James IV.II.

...possibly laying to rest the ambiguity of her name along with her body.