Looking for Ellen Butcher

Arnold Wilson (email address lodged with me) has written:

I am looking for information on my wife's Grandmother.
She was Ellen Butcher, born in Glemsford Nov 1874, was christened at St. Mary's Glemsford 1877.
She married Abraham White, born 1874 in Sudbourne, and lived in Ipswich where they had a family of six sons.
I need to know her parents and any other family members.
Would be grateful for any information .

Regards, Arnold

I have been able to let Arnold have some findings from the Census and Registers, so that we have fixed the Butcher family to the Debenhams, and later to a Welham family, but if anybody else has more to add, let me know, or add a comment.

Steve Clarke

Accidental History: Glemsford Band

While I was searching the Foxearth pages for some references to Glemsford Fair, I also "bumped" into a couple of references to Glemsford Band.

This interested me because, a little while ago a correspondent was asking me about the Band and I had to say that, apart from a occasional appearances in the Log Book, and in "Glorious Glemsford", I could find nothing.

So: in 1894, this letter appeared in the Bury Free Press:

August 4th 1894

Letters to the Editor.

Sir, I have been looking at the bill concerning the Horticultural Show at Glemsford and am surprised to find Haverhill band has been engaged instead of preference to our own band , etc etc. As the matter stands now the money will be given to "foreigners" who neither know or care whether the men are starving or not. Glemsford band is comprised of hard working men, just now most of the men have been working short time and the money which is their lawful right would come as a great boon to them, etc etc.

Yours truly,

Pro Bono Publico.

Fascinating in so many ways, not least the comment about short time working, but also the signature - cf the School Seal, and also Haverhill town council.

And then, a little later in the same year, this appeared:

November 24th 1894
On Friday evening a public tea organized by the Glemsford Band took place at the Plough Inn, Glemsford when about 61 people responded to invitations, after full justice was done to "good things" a "free and easy" meeting took place. 1st item on the programme was an overture entitled "the sleep of Dianna" given by the Band in a pleasing style, Mr Lawrence gave a song "muddled and mixed", Mr Leggett gave "after the fall", G.Crick gave "simple little pimple", David Ward of Foxearth gave the "educated bloke" "Bush Ranger in Ausrtralia" by C. Twinn, a duet by Middleditch and Twinn "old miller", C.Sore "mona, Miss M. Twinn "a soldier minstrel", E. Sore gave "swinging to and fro", the chairman "strolling in the sands" and "mother kissed me", Mr E. Game, "the club house", Mr W. Farrance "e dunno where ee are", Mr Eli Watkinson "when Jone's ale was new", Mr Sore gave "success to the football club". The band played the National Anthem and all dispersed home.

I just love this sort of serendipitous discovery!

Of course, the Band is also referred to in passing in one of Emma Savage's letters to Minnie Brown:
www.glemsford.org.uk/05brownletter191201.html
but they don't show up in such a good light there.

There must be more references, surely ...?

Steve Clarke

More from Glemsford Local History Society

As well as the snippets from the School Log Books, I have also put "on-line" three early editions of the Society's newsletter - dated 1994 and 5 - for the interest of visitors to the site.

Included in the first is a glowing tribute to the late Richard Deeks, founder of the society (and some would say founder of the History of Glemsford).

The newsletters can be found at this address.

Steve Clarke

Visiting the main Glemsford pages

If you share with me an interest in the social history of the times we are studying (as well as the families), you may like to visit the recent addition to the main pages, where I highlight a few small incidents in the life of Glemsford school in the early 20th Century.

They reflect a variety of attitudes, some of which may surprise; the realities of daily life; and an unexpected aspect of classroom study at the time.

Steve Clarke

Goody Family

If you're researching the Goody family, you may be interested in this link:
http://www.cvgoody.co.uk/ which someone has added as a comment to an August 2006 entry.

SC

Looking for Lorking

Since I have to do most of my own research "online" I have become used to some of the frustrations of relying on other people's (mis)transcriptions of material such as the Census.

The 1891 version seems to be particularly badly served in misunderstanding both English surnames and place names.

The problem of mistranscription has arisen again of late with some searching I've been doing for the families of John and Adelaide Lorking (as their name appears in the 1901 Census).

"Adelaide" becomes any number of people in the eyes of the transcriber, including "Adelate" and "Aberlardo". The latter mistake is certainly not the fault of the compiler of the 1871 Census: his copper-plate shows her clearly as "Adelaide". At least her maiden name (Studd) is only subject to the vagaries of an occasional missing "d" at the end.

With the Lorkins, however, we face the double jeopardy of, firstly, the common-place variations in the way family names were written down - particularly before compulsory education taught everyone to write - and secondly the incompetence of some latter day transcribers.

Thus Lorkin becames Lorcking becomes Luckin becomes Locking and probably Larkin as well. And in the hands of the kind soul who has put the 1851 Census "online", we have the additional problem where, within the same Census entry, part of the family was "Lorking" while some of the children became "Lorkinz". The "Search" facility took some time to release that piece of information, as you can imagine.

So: if anyone out there can find us James and Alice Lorkin, born about 1810-14, he in Clare and she in Ashen, who were living on Stoke Road, Clare, in 1871, and who had a range of children, including John, Walter, Louisa, Esther and Emma - and can place them for us in 1861 (we've found the rest of the enrties, we think) - there's two eager Searchers who would be very grateful.

Ta, ever so.
SC

Admin news

I have just updated the Glemsford A - Z page to try to keep pace with some of the new names.

Follow this link to view the list.

SC

Boreham and Pettit

Tina LeMaire has emailed me with this request:

Hello,

I've been reviewing the family history section of your site.

I've found a couple of entries for the family name BOREHAM.

I am looking for information on ANN BOREHAM (born 10 July 1796) and married THOMAS PETTIT (born 29 Jan 1796) on 30 July 1817. Together they had many children: James (1818), William (1819), Ann (1817?), Thomas (1822), George (1824), James (1826), and Eliza (1823), John (1828), Elizabeth (1830), and Mary (1832).

Ann left Glemsford with the children in 1833, for the United States. Thomas left for the United States in 1841.

I am willing to share any information that I have, and would greatly appreciate any info that others may know.

Thank you.

As is almost always the case, if you can help, and wish to contact Tina, you can either add a comment or email me and I will forward your details.
SC