Norfolk Assizes 29-year-old Edward Long appeared at the Norfolk Assizes on the 31st July, 1841. Long stole two bushels of wheat in chaff from local farmer, Mary Mann. What’s more, Long had been working for Mary Mann at the time of the offence. He was found guilty and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment. Edward Long…
Frances Kerrison’s Claim to the Commissioners for the Inclosures
At No.23 of the Statement of Claims to the Commissioners for the Great Ellingham Inclosures c.1799, is a claim by Frances Kerrison. Frances, the wife of Richard Kerrison, claimed one Messuage and 8 Acres of Land, occupied by Richard Kerrison. Of the whole property, one acre and two roods were copyhold of Bury Hall. Along…
Sale of Reversion or Remainder in fee expectant on the decease of Widow
1818 Auction of Freehold Property On the 28th February, 1818, the Norfolk Chronicle published the notice of a forthcoming auction of premises in Great Ellingham. The auction would take place at four o’clock on the 12th March, 1818, at the Crown Public House in Great Ellingham. The premises appeared in two lots: Lot 1 –…
Cousin’s Widow inherits Great Ellingham Cottages
The blog ‘Love Letter or Letter of Apology?‘ touched on a missive written in 1819 by Richard Clarke to Harriet Barnard of Great Ellingham Hall. The couple later married. I wondered whether any other correspondence between Richard and Harriet Clarke survived. If so, who may have been the custodian of the family letters over the…
Love Letter or Letter of Apology?
I am always pleased to hear from visitors to the website. An email from John Forster from Northamptonshire was no exception. John came across my article ‘Robert Barnard of Great Ellingham Hall‘. He told me of the existence of a letter dated July 12th, 1819, addressed to Harriet Barnard at Great Ellingham Hall. The sender…
Forfeiture of Freedom in Addition to Copyhold Land
Entries relating to Jonathan Lock caught my eye whilst looking through some Manor Court Books. Jonathan Lock was a copyhold tenant of each of the Manors of Buckenham Lathes Outsoken, Buckenham Castle Outsoken and Buckenham Close Outsoken. The copyhold land was in Great Ellingham. The entries tell us that following a conviction for felony, Lock’s…
Tragic loss despite being ‘Kind and Careful’ with their Children’
This story touches on the tragic death of one year old Harriet Maud Hall. I thought carefully about whether to write about Harriet’s death in 1890. It is not a happy story, but it reflects the reality of life, particularly at that time. Tragedies happened – and, unfortunately, still do. Accordingly, I came to the…
William Yeomans sentenced to Confinement in Asylum for Arson
Crown Court At the beginning of August, 1879, 34-year-old labourer William Yeomans appeared at the Crown Court in Norwich. Yeomans pleaded guilty to the charge of ‘unlawfully and maliciously’ setting fire to a stack of wheat at Great Ellingham on the 7th June. The stack was the property of farmer, William Barnard. Defence of Insanity…
Guilty of Theft of Sack of Oats from John Dixon
Odd Hands In January 1916, farmer John Dixon employed two local labourers, Walter Lister and Charles Hall, to help with the threshing of a stack of oats. Lister and Hall worked at Dixon’s farm at Town Green, Great Ellingham, as ‘odd hands’. Magistrates’ Court Lister and Hall subsequently found themselves before the Magistrates at East…
Young Widow, Lois Cook née Drake
By the time Lois Cook (née Drake) had reached the age of 35, she had married, given birth to five children, suffered the heartache of the deaths of three of those children, and experienced the despair of widowhood, when her husband, Alfred Cook, died of tuberculosis in 1894. However, Lois was not the only woman…