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

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 to the 1861 census. But by 1871 he’d left the farms and had moved to the east coast, where the census noted that he was working as a fisherman and living as a boarder at No 5 Row 128 in Great Yarmouth.

The Row houses were originally wealthy merchant’s residences located on the South Quay of the town but over time they were sub-divided into tenements, and at times were notorious for their poverty. This network of narrow alleyways linked Yarmouth’s three main thoroughfares but many were badly damaged by World War II bombing or demolished during post-war clearances.

Edward married Harriet Goulty on 25 December 1872 at St Nicholas’s Church, Great Yarmouth. She’d been born in Salhouse on 19 April 1848 to her carpenter father James Goulty and his wife Mary Pilgrim and in 1851 was living in Lower Street with them. In 1871 she was working as a servant for fish merchant William Bateman and his family at Harrisons Buildings in St George’s Road, Great Yarmouth – a property owned by the landowning Harrison family.

At this time Great Yarmouth was one of England’s most important fishing ports and the herring industry was growing in importance, peaking early in the 20th century. Edward clearly did well because by the 1881 census he was the master of the Princess and its five crewmen.

The 1891 census shows that he was living with his family at Row 112 (number 7) and was the owner of a smack – a large, traditional fishing boat that filled many British ports in declining numbers up until World War Two. However, the Norfolk Chronicle of 18 September 1897 reported that his smack Young Joseph had been wrecked on the North Sands. The Yarmouth Independent of 4 September 1897 noted that the ship, skippered by Edward, was trying to get into the harbour and avoid another anchored vessel when waves dashed over her. The surf lifeboat was sent out to rescue the men but the crew refused to leave for upwards of three hours until it became clear the Young Joseph was close to breaking up. They were carried to Gorleston, arriving in the early hours, and were given food and fresh clothes at the Mariners’ Refuge there. The Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society paid Edward £4 to cover the loss of his clothes during the incident.

By 1901 the family were living at 46 Admiralty Road.

But not everything went well for Edward and his family. In May 1903, he lost his vessel, the steam drifter Topaz, when it sank during a storm in a small Irish harbour. It had been badly damaged by other Yarmouth steam drifters the Lord Bobs and the Queensborough – see the Norfolk News 9 May 1903 and a follow up Norfolk News 06 June 1903

Edward appeared before Yarmouth County Court in January 1904, claiming £300 in damages from the owners of the two vessels. The court heard that the Topaz and a crew of nine had sailed to Finney* in south-west Ireland for herring and mackerel fishing. On the night in question the vessel was moored in the crowded harbour while the various captains had travelled on business to Tralee, leaving their boats with the mates. When a storm hit the port, the Queensborough and Lord Bobs ended up causing so much damage to the Topaz by bumping and grinding that she sank.

Edward’s lawyer said the captains of the two vessels had been negligent in not taking more strenuous steps to get their vessels away from the pier before too much damage had been done. Edward himself said he had returned from Tralee to winess the storm coming and had visited a nearby pub for a drink, but had quickly responded to the growing chaos and had called on the other captains to move their vessels.

The defendants denied being negligent and said they’d done all they could. The judge, Eardley Wilmot, and his assessors agreed with them and said the sinking had been the result of an accident not negligence. The full hearing report

There was more aggravation in 1910 when his crew deserted his ship Excelsior for another, as reported by the Yarmouth Independent of 24 September 1910. The crew were expected to man the vessel from the date of sailing – 31 August – through to the end of September and the court heard they had prepared the vessel for the voyage on the 30th. The master and his crew claimed they had given sufficient notice to Edward to find a new crew, but he denied it. The magistrates found in his favour this time and ordered the deserters to forfeit what was owed to them in wages.

The 1911 census showed Edward at 46 Admiralty Road, Great Yarmouth, and working as a fisherman. Three of his daughters were living with him and two of them (Marion and Edith) were employed as beatsters – the name given to the skilled workers who mended fishing nets. In the same year bankruptcy proceedings were started against Edward as a fishing boat owner, as reported in the London Gazette of 25 July and 25 August 1911 and 27 February 1912. Perhaps his business had never quite recovered from the Topaz incident…

Harriet died on 22 June 1936 and was buried on 26 June at Yarmouth Old Cemetery in grave number 509. Edward died in 1938 and was buried with her on 15 July.

Edward and Harriet had many children:

• Edward Charles Stolliday (1873-1966), my great-grand uncle. Edward married Margaret Elizabeth Bowles in 1896 and had two children who died young.
• Arthur Albert Stolliday (1875-1935), my great grandfather. He moved his family from Norfolk to South London, married Elizabeth Mary Ann Wetherall in 1897 and had four children.
• Alice Amelia Stolliday (1877-1929), my great-grand aunt. Alice’s death left husband Robert William Feek, who she married in 1901, so distraught that he took his own life. They had four children.
• Florence Harriet Stolliday (1879-1973), my great-grand aunt. She married soldier Hugh Gardiner Dalgleish in 1902 and also had four children.
• Sarah Sophia Stoliday (1880-????), my great-grand aunt. Norfolk Family History Society has a record of a Sarah Sophia Stoliday being born to an Edward and Harriet on 29 December 1880. She was baptised on 26 June 1881 at St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth, but I’ve found no other records for her and there is no record of her on Ancestry or Find my Past.
• Gertrude Emma Stolliday (1881-1964), my great-grand aunt. Gertrude married in 1902 but was widowed young when her husband Jonathan George Skipper was killed in the First World War. They had four children.
• Maud Ethel Stolliday (1884-1920), my great-grand aunt. Maud was born on 11 December 1884 and baptised on 5 April 1885 at St Nicholas’s in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. By the age of 16, in 1901, she was working as a shop assistant and living at home with her family in Admiralty Road but in 1910 she married milkman Arthur George Davy, born on 21 May 1878 and from Wells Next The Sea on the north Norfolk coast. The 1911 census showed the couple living in No 11, Row 102, King Street, Great Yarmouth, but Maud died on 18 August 1920 in Great Yarmouth Hospital, leaving effects worth just over £192. She was buried at Caister Cemetery on 21 August. Arthur remarried in 1922 – a Gertrude Crow – and the 1939 Register showed they were living at 11, Row 102. By that time Arthur had retired and he died on 4 March 1943. He was buried on the 10th of the month in Great Yarmouth. Maud and Arthur had one child:
  • Eileen Marion Davy (1913-1998). The 1939 Register recorded Eileen as a clothing machinist. She never married.
• Blanche Rosina Stolliday (1886-1903), my great-grand aunt. Born on 20 June 1886 and baptised on 17 April 1887 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, she died at home in Admiralty Road aged just 17 in September 1903. She was buried on the 19th of the month.
• Marion Elizabeth Stolliday (1888-1984), my great-grand aunt. Marion was born on 19 January 1888 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and baptised on 6 January 1889 at St Nicholas’s Church. Before her marriage she worked as a beatster – a name given to people who repaired fishing nets – and lived at home with her parents and siblings at Row 112 and then 46 Admiralty Road. Marion married Sidney Gamble at St Nicholas’s Church on 31 October 1917. He was born on 18 January 1894 in Naseby, Northamptionshire. At his marriage he was working as a carpenter but he was described as a gardener for Great Yarmouth Corporation in the 1921 census, when the family were living at 6 Row 100, and on the 1939 Register, when Sidney and his wife were living in Micawber Avenue, Great Yarmouth. Sidney died on 9 January 1972 and was buried in Great Yarmouth on the 14th. Marion died aged 96 in Lancashire in 1984 and I suspect she’d moved there to live with one of her children. They had at least three:
  • Sidney Gamble was born in Great Yarmouth in 1920.
  • Derrick Gamble was born in Great Yarmouth in 1921.
  • Brenda Gamble was born in Great Yarmouth in 1926.
• Ethel May Stolliday (1889-1933), my great-grand aunt. Born on 29 November 1889 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, Ethel wasn’t baptised until the 28 May 1898 at the parish church of St Nicholas. She grew up with her family in Admiralty Road and, in the 1911 census, was listed as a drapery assistant. Ethel married John Edward Balfour French, who was born in Yarmouth on 23 February 1889, in 1916 and they had at least two children. Ethel died in 1933 and was buried on 7 October that year in Great Yarmouth. John was listed as an upholsterer and french polisher in the 1921 census and as a painter and special constable in the 1939 Register, which showed him living with second wife Beatrice Louise Whibley (nee French) in Town Wall Road. Curiously their marriage record shows the ceremony didn’t take place until 1940. John lived until 1975, dying on 25 August in Great Yarmouth.
  • Frances French, born in Great Yarmouth in 1918.
  • Robert Arthur John French, who was born in Great Yarmouth in 1920 and married Audrey Gregory in Leicestershire in 1950.
• Edith Clara Stolliday (1893-1975), my great-grand aunt. Edith was born on 23 January 1893 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth on 21 May that year. The 1911 census listed her working as a beatster, who was someone who mended fishing nets. Edith married William George Pratt on 21 March 1920 at St James’s Church in Gunnersbury, Middlesex. He was born on 14 November 1890 in Kew, Middlesex, and for a time was employed as a cleaner with the Great Western Railway. The 1911 census recorded him as a store keeper’s assistant at a motor works, while his marriage certificate listed him as an engineer. By 1921, the couple were living in Cambridge Road, Chiswick. At the time the 1939 Register was compiled Edith and William were at Shelley Crescent, Hounslow, Middlesex, and William was working as an aircraft fitter. Ethel described herself as a canvasser and demonstrator. I’ve found no record of them ever having children. Ethel died in Great Yarmouth on 21 March 1975 and was buried on the 26th. At the time of her death she was living at 5 Beaconsfield Road in the town. She left effects of just over £8,800. William had died in 1971, also in Yarmouth.

*I’ve not been able to find Finney in Ireland but there is a Finet near Tralee and I suspect this is the actual location.

Sources: Norwich Mercury 16 January 1904. BMDs and census info at Ancestry.co.uk and Findmypast.co.uk, The London Gazette. Newspapers mentioned in the text from the British Newspaper Archive. Records at Norfolk Family History Society