Alice Amelia Stolliday (1877-1929) and a tale of tragedy

Alice Amelia Stolliday (1877-1929). My great-grand aunt. Alice died relatively young, leaving her husband so distraught that he took his own life. She was born on 5 August 1877 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and baptised on 12 May 1878 at St Nicholas’s Church to parents Edward Stoliday and Harriet Goulty. She grew up in the […]

Susan Budgen (1795-1870), a Sussex publican

The Half Moon in Warninglid in the early 20th century

Susan Budgen (1795-1870). My 4th great-grand aunt. Susan Budgen was baptised on 19 April 1795 in St Nicholas’s Church in Worth to parents William Budgen and Betty Streeter and grew up in the village. She married George Tulley on 16 October 1820 in Nuthurst, Sussex, an 11 or so mile walk from where she grew up. He hailed […]

Mary Ann Budgen (1863-1953) and her family’s brush with poverty

Mary Ann Budgen (1863-1953). My great-grand aunt. Born in 27 August 1863 in Worth, Sussex, Mary Ann Budgen was baptised on 4 October that year at St Nicholas’ Church. Her parents were Thomas Budgen and Maria Dolamore. At the time of the 1881 census she was living at the 123-acre Hazel Grove Farm in Abbots […]

Thomas Finch (1795–1852) and the Reigate workhouse

Thomas Finch (1795-1852) and Sarah Chisley (1803-1848). My 3rd great grand-uncle and aunt. Baptised at St Mary’s Church in Reigate, Surrey, on 4 April 1795, Thomas was the oldest son of Thomas Finch and his wife Ann Burley. Young Thomas married Sarah Chisley by license in Reigate on 27 July 1820. She was from the […]

Phoebe Ann Ward (1836-1921)

Dover war memorial

Phoebe Ann Ward (1836-1921). My 2nd great-grandmother. Phoebe Ann Ward was born in Tottenham, Middlesex, on 28 November 1836 and was baptised there on 26 February 1837 at All Hallows Church. Her parents were gardener William Ward and Mary Ann Downer. As a teenager, Phoebe worked as a domestic servant. The 1851 census shows her living at […]

Tanjore Abraham Ward (1832-1920) – businessman and publican

The Cook's Ferry Inn in about 1900

Tanjore Abraham Ward (1832-1920) and Amelia Lambourn (1834-1895). My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt. Tanjore was born on 12 August 1832 and baptised at All Hallows in Tottenham, Middlesex, on 27 July 1834. Of all William Ward and Mary Ann Downer‘s children, Tanjore is the most curious. His name comes from a city, also known […]

Robert Stolladay (1804-1862) – transported to Australia

Sydney from Pinchgut Island in about 1826, when Robert arrived

Robert Stolladay (1804-1862) and Mary Anne McGuigan.My 3rd great-grand uncle. Every family has its share of black sheep and Robert Stolladay was one of ours. He suffered the horrors of transportation to Australia for burglary but forged a new life there, had a family and then died a miserable death. The eldest child of James Stoliday […]

Hannah Maria Stoliday (1851-1932) – court cases and a marriage mystery

Hannah's marriage to James Bull

Hannah Maria Stoliday (1851-1932), James William Bull (1850-1874), William James Thurgate and John Crisp.My 2nd great-grand aunt and uncles. Hannah was born to William Stoliday and Sarah Rose in 1851 in Salhouse, Norfolk, and was baptised at All Saints’s Church in the village on 19 March. She ended up with three marriages to her name, […]

William Stoliday (1836-1930) – a long-lived market gardener

William Stoliday (1836-1930), Mary-Ann Carr (1827-1866) and Ann Dove (1845-1917).My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunts. Born in 1836 in Salhouse, Norfolk, and baptised on 4 December of that year at All Saints’ Church in the village, William Stoliday was the son of William Stoliday and Sarah Rose. He became an agricultural labourer, like his father, […]

Gertrude Emma Stolliday (1881-1964) – widowed by war

Gertrude Emma Stolliday (1881-1964) and Jonathan George Skipper (1879-1916). My great-grand aunt and uncle. Gertrude was born in Great Yarmouth on 2 January 1881 to parents Edward Stoliday and Harriet Goulty and baptised on 26 June of that year at St Nicholas’s Church. The census for 1881 showed the family living in the town’s row […]

Edward Stoliday (1849-1938) and Harriet Goulty (1848-1936)

A typical Yarmouth steam drifter

Edward Stoliday (1849-1938) and Harriet Goulty (1848-1936). My 2nd great grandparents. Edward Stoliday was born in 1849 in the Norfolk village of Salhouse and baptised on 12 August at All Saints’ Church. His parents were labourer William Stoliday and Sarah Rose. At the age of 13 he was already working as an agricultural labourer, according […]

Arthur Albert Stolliday (1875-1935) and Elizabeth Mary Ann Wetherall (1876-1952)

Arthur Albert Stolliday with wife Elizabeth and son-in-law Gerald Finch

Arthur Albert Stolliday (1875-1935) and Elizabeth Mary Ann Wetherall (1876-1952). My great-grandparents.  Arthur Stolliday was a colourful character and a Norfolk lad – born on 12 May 1875 in Row 123, Great Yarmouth, to Edward Stoliday and Harriet Goulty. He served in the First World War, worked behind the bar in various pubs, got into […]

Agnes Louisa Finch (1869-1952) – shopkeeper in Scotland

The 1911 census

Agnes Louisa Finch (1869-1952) and Robert Hardie (1866-1920).My great-grand aunt and uncle. Agnes spent much of her life in Scotland but was born in 1869 and baptised on 21 November of that year in St Matthew’s Church, Redhill, Surrey, the daughter of Isaac Finch and Phoebe Ann Ward. The family lived in Chart Road and […]