Godfrey Weston (1785-1862). My 4th great-grandfather. Godfrey Weston took advantage of a young woman and then tried to evade his responsibilities to her and the daughter he fathered out of wedlock… He was born on 14 March 1785 and baptised three days later at St Mary’s Church in Banham, Norfolk. His parents were John Weston […]
Gruesome deaths
Sarah Rice and my other Rice ancestors
Sarah Rice (1791-1871). My 4th great-grandmother. Sarah was the first of the Rice family to join my family tree. She was baptised on 3 July 1791 at St Mary’s Church in Balcombe, Sussex, to parents George Rice and Mary Harman. She married William Budgen at St Nicholas’s Church in Worth, Sussex, on 2 November 1808. […]
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 […]
Harriet Symonds (1841-1899)
Harriet Symonds (1841-1899). My 3rd great grand aunt. Harriet was born on 29 August 1841 to parents Charles Robinson Witchingham Symonds and Susannah Waters. She was baptised on 8 September at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. She married young in 1858, her husband being Henry Swan Chapman who was born in Yarmouth in […]
Frederick Elijah Wetherill (1814-1906)
Frederick Elijah Wetherill (1814-1906).My 4th great-grand uncle. Frederick was born on 30 July 1814 and baptised at St John Timberhill, Norwich, Norfolk, a day later – his parents were Thomas Wetherill and Rebecca Brooks. As a child he grew up mainly in the city with his family but followed them when they moved to the […]
Sarah Rose and my other Rose ancestors
Sarah Rose (1817-1886).My 3rd great-grandmother. Rose is a common surname in Norfolk, which is where my branch of the family come from. The first of the Roses to join the family tree was Sarah, who married William Stoliday/Stolliday in 1835. Sarah was born in 1817 to farmer Robert Rose and his wife Hannah Holsworth (see […]
Elizabeth Maria Symonds and my other Symonds ancestors
Elizabeth Maria Symonds (1826-1911).My 3rd great-grandmother. Elizabeth Maria Symonds was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1826 and baptised in St Nicholas’s Church on 24 November that year. Her parents were fisherman Charles Robinson Witchingham Symonds and Susanna Waters (see below). Elizabeth married mariner William Mark Green, a Yarmouth native, at St Nicholas’s on 29 […]
Mary Ann Green (1853-1918) – widowed by a storm
Mary Ann Green (1853-1918), Frederick Rowland (1854-1881) and Daniel Robert Beales 1852-1909). My 2nd great-grand aunt and uncles. Mary Ann Green was born on 13 January and baptised on 17 April 1853 at St Nicholas’s Church, Great Yarmouth, to parents William Mark Green and Elizabeth Maria Symonds. Her first husband would drown in a notorious […]
Emmeline Louisa Wetherall (1872-1932) – widowed by a mill accident
Emmeline Louisa Wetherall (1872-1932) and Albert Robert Woods (1872-1917). My great-grand aunt and uncle. Emmeline was born on 2 June 1872 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and baptised in the town on 14 July at St Nicholas’ Church. Her parents were Benjamin Thomas Wetherall and Sarah Ann Elizabeth Green. Emmeline (pictured top with her children Leslie […]
Gertrude Wetherall (1877-1964) – war service and tragedy
Gertrude Wetherall (1878-1964) and George Albert Harvey (1882-1937). My 2nd great-aunt and uncle. Gertrude Wetherall was born on 5 December 1878 and baptised on 23 December that year at St Nicholas’s Church in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (above). Her husband, who fought in The Great War, killed himself on the railways. After growing up in Admiralty […]
Alfred Dolamore (1835-1910) – death in the canal
Alfred Dolamore (1835-1910) and Elizabeth Dolamore (1836-1904). My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt. Alfred Dolamore was baptised on 15 February 1835 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, to parents David Dolamore and Mary Ann Walker. He was brought up in and around nearby Leavesden. He was working as an agricultural labourer at the time of the 1851 […]
John Stoliday (1817-1896), his wife Catherine and the courts
John Stoliday (1817-1896). My 3rd great-grand uncle. John Stoliday was born on 25 April 1817 and baptised on 8 June at All Saints’ Church in Rackheath, Norfolk, to parents James Stoliday and Mary Gay. John grew up with his parents and siblings in and around Rackheath and his father, like most men in the area, […]
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 […]
George Budgen (1826-1893) – Brighton publican
George Budgen (1826-1893), Anne Maria Baker (1826-1873) and Margaret Cole (1835-1903) My 3rd great-grand uncle and aunts. Baptised on 28 January 1827 in Worth, Sussex, George was the son of agricultural labourer William Budgen and Sarah Rice. In 1841 George was living with his parents at Standing Hall Farm in the village and also working as a […]
William Budgen (1820-1864) – killed on the railway
William Budgen (1820-1864) and Amy Frith (1826-1921). My 3rd great-grand uncle and aunt. Baptised in Worth, Sussex, on 6 February 1820, William was the son of William Budgen and Sarah Rice and would meet a gruesome end. But that was some years after he married Amy Frith, the 18-year-old daughter of a gamekeeper, on 6 April 1844 […]
Isabella Finch (1848-1934)
Isabella Finch (1848-1934).My 3rd great aunt. Born in 1848, Isabella Finch was christened on 27 August at St Mary Magdalene in Reigate, Surrey, the daughter of Henry Finch and Jane Bashford. She grew up in the town while her father worked as an agricultural labourer. On 4 September 1870 she married Jesse Freeman, a gardener and […]
Jacob Finch (1866-1935) – death in a sandpit
Jacob Finch (1866-1935), Mary Ann Dodd (1870-1901) and Annie Elizabeth Lacey (1872-1955). My great-grand uncle and aunts. Jacob Finch was born in 1866 in Reigate, Surrey, the son of Isaac Finch and Phoebe Ann Ward, and was baptised on 19 August that year at St Matthew’s Church in Redhill. The 1881 census reported him working […]
Raymond Edward Finch (1917-1941)
Raymond Edward Finch (1917-1941).My great-uncle. Raymond was born during the First World War and died tragically young during the Second as an RAF pilot with Bomber Command. He was born to parents Walter Finch and Annie Budgen in Bynes Road, Croydon, Surrey, on 3 September 1917, their youngest child. He grew up with them as […]