Lawrence Witchingham Symonds (1804-1847)

Lawrence Witchingham Symonds (1804-1847).
My 4th great-grand uncle.

Lawrence Witchingham Symonds was born on 16 August 1804 and baptised on the 19th at Holy Trinity & All Saints Church in Winterton, Norfolk, but drowned while a relatively young man.

His parents were James Symonds and Frances Witchingham. Lawrence married Mary Green at St Andrew’s Church in Gorleston, Suffolk, on 17 December 1827. She was said to be a native of Martham in Norfolk, born in around 1805, but I’ve found no evidence of someone of that name born there at that time and neither was she said to be a widow.

The couple lived in Great Yarmouth, where they raised a family and Lawrence worked as a fisherman and beachman. He was listed as one of the shareholders in the Yarmouth lugger Royal Victoria, built in the town in 1835. The boat had 16 beachmen as shareholders, and was part of the Denny’s company. In David Higgins’ book on The Beachmen the Royal Victoria is described as a yawl that was in service until 1870. Yawls had two masts and were among the fastest open boats going, used to land catches from trawlers offshore as well as to carry out salvage work, pilotage and ferrying.

Various poll and electoral registers list Lawrence in Yarmouth, sometimes as a fisherman, but he must’ve been at sea at the time of the 1841 census. He drowned in the town on 7 December 1847, as reported in the Norfolk News of 11 December 1847. An inquest heard that he missed his footing and fell into the river as he attempted to jump to the shore from a steam tug moored alongside his fishing lugger. Witnesses said he sank immediately and despite the strenuous efforts of local men his body wasn’t recovered until the following morning. The report stated that Lawrence, described as a man of excellent character who’d worked for a Mr Lettis for 23 years, left behind a wife and eight children and that a collection had been started for them with donations from the mayor, coroner, jurymen and others. The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death and Lawrence was buried on 14 December.

Census records show his widow and several of their children living in Napoleon Place (1851) and Lancaster Road (1861), her occupation listed as laundress. Mary died of heart disease at Lancaster Road in Yarmouth on 8 March 1867 and was buried on the 14th. She left effects valued at £50.

The couple’s children were:

• William Lawrence Symonds. Baptised in 1829 in Great Yarmouth, William married Elizabeth Jackman in 1852 but she died the following year. He then married Mary Eliza Tomkins in Yarmouth in 1857. He worked as a beachman. He died in 1902, his wife in 1913.
• James Mark Symonds. James was baptised in Great Yarmouth in 1831 and married Mary Ann Popay in the town on 1 January 1851 when both were minors. He worked as a beachman and the couple raised a large family. Mary Ann died in 1878, James in 1916.
• George Symonds. Baptised in 1833 in Great Yarmouth, George lived and worked in the town all his life with several censuses showing him at his brother William’s home. He was a beachman and apparently never married. He died in 1900.
• Charles John Symonds. Charles was born in 1835 in Yarmouth and married Caroline Brown in 1860. They raised a family while he too worked as a fisherman and beachman. Caroline probably died in 1905, athough one record notes her as the wife of Robert, because by 1911 Charles was in the Yarmouth Workhouse listed as a widower. He died in 1920.
• Mary Ann Symonds was baptised in Great Yarmouth in 1838 and died in 1843.
• John Symonds. Born in Great Yarmouth in 1841, John married Harriet Elizabeth Webster in town in 1860. He was a fisherman and beachman, raised a family with Harriet and died in 1915. She died in 1913.
• Robert Symonds was born in 1844 and married Great Yarmouth woman Martha Royal in 1867, when he was already working as a beachman. They raised a family but tragedy struck in January 1881 when Robert was drowned along with several of his crewmates when the surf lifeboat Abraham Thomas capsized as it was attempting to recover another vessel caught up in stormy weather. They were just 150 yards from shore being hauled in by a shore party when the accident happened. Robert’s brother William, who told the inquest that he had helped launch the lifeboat that night and that Robert had left a widow and children, suggested that too many were hauling on the ropes to bring it in and that the effect was to cause the lifeboat to destabilise. A fund set up for the victims’ families raised many hundreds of pounds. Martha continued bringing up her children and died in 1906.
• Elizabeth Symonds was born the day before her father drowned in 1847. She died a few weeks later, early in 1848.

Sources: BMDs, census and other records at Ancestry.co.uk, Findmypast.co.uk and Norfolk Family History Society. Newspaper records at the British Newspaper Archive. The Beachmen book by David Higgins, published by Terence Dalton.