Charles Goulty (1842-1882).
My 2nd great-grand uncle.
Charles was the eldest son of James Goulty and Mary Ann Pilgrim and was baptised on 24 July 1842 at St Mary at Coslany Church in Norwich, Norfolk. A note on the register says the family were visiting the parish at the time of the baptism and noted that James was a carpenter. Charles’s mother often went by the name Ann, which is how she appeared on the parish register.
The family soon returned to live in the village of Salhouse, a few miles away from the city, where Charles’s brothers and sisters were born. By the 1861 census, when he was still living at home, he was working as a rural messenger or postman, a job he appears to have kept for most of his adult life. The 1862 British Postal Service Appointment Books on Ancestry have him listed as Chas Goulty, a messenger working from Rackheath to Woodbastwick – settlements close to Salhouse.
The year 1864 saw one of Charles’ several brushes with the law. The Norfolk News of 9 July reported that postman Goulty and labourer John Wright were charged with assaulting shoemaker James Webb of Woodbastwick in Salhouse on 18 June. Webb claimed there had been a disturbance over a sixpence outside a local inn and that he’d been struck by both defendants and knocked to the ground. Witness Thomas Lingwood said that he saw Goulty make as if to strike Webb but admitted he didn’t see the actual punch. Defence witnesses claimed Webb was drunk and fell during the disturbance. The case ended up being dismissed and the bench at the Shire Hall in Norwich criticised the prosecutor for bringing such a weak case in the first place. Webb was ordered to pay costs.
Charles was back before the same bench in 1871, as the Norfolk News of 4 February reported. On this occasion Charles was charged with buying a ferret knowing it had been stolen! The case against him was dismissed because of insufficient evidence but the three men charged with actually stealing the animals were all found guilty and gaoled.
Three years later, he was prosecuted along with several of his friends by the publican of the Kings Head in Salhouse. He said the men had failed to leave the pub when ordered to do so on the nights of 25 and 26 July 1874 but their lawyer succeeded in persuading the bench that no offence had been committed and the case was dismissed (story featured in Lowestoft Journal, 8 August).
His last known court appearance – and subsequent prison sentece – was reported in the Norfolk Chronicle of 22 November 1879. Described as a letter carrier, he was charged with refusing to obey an order made by magistrates in July that year to hand over £2 5s 10d to the trustees of the Loyal Stracey Lodge of Oddfellows friendly society, held at the Green Man pub in Rackheath. It was reported that money had been handed to him by another member and that he should have handed it on to the treasurer. As a result he was dismissed as secretary in March. In addition to having to pay his debt, he was ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings – £1 17s 6d. However, Charles told the court he wouldn’t pay as the society had unlawfully expelled him from membership – with the result that he was jailed at Norwich Castle for six weeks without hard labour.
Census records confirm that Charles was unmarried and that by 1881 he had become a drover. He died aged 40 on 31 October 1882 and was buried in Salhouse, the village he called home until his death, on 3 November. The death certificate held by Norfolk Family History Society gave the cause of death as cirrhosis of the liver. The death was reported by his brother-in-law James Jermy.
Sources: BMDs and census info at Ancestry and Findmypast.com. Norfolk Family History Society. Newspapers at Findmypast.com.