Illustration Christine Fuller
The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied.
The following report of a case at the East Harling Petty Sessions appeared in the Diss Express published on the 12th July 1946:
NO LICENCE
For keeping a dog without a licence, Louis Arthur Smith, Hill [Mill] House, Mill Lane, Great Ellingham was fined 10s on the evidence of P.c. Savill.
Dog Licence
The need for a Dog Licence was introduced in Great Britain under the Dog Licences Act of 1867. Prior to this, a tax was payable on dogs. Nevertheless, the ‘Dog Licence’ was abolished in 1987.
Court Appearance
In 1946, Louis Arthur Smith of Mill House, Mill Lane, Great Ellingham failed to obtain a dog licence. The cost for dog licence was 7/6d (seven shillings and sixpence).
In the event, Smith was fined ten shillings, half-a-crown more than if he had purchased a licence. In addition, he would also have had to pay for a dog licence!
Louis Smith is not the only past resident of Great Ellingham to be fined for keeping a dog without a licence. In 1876, farmer George Barlow was fined 25s (twenty five shillings) for a similar offence.
Besthorpe Born
Louis Arthur Smith (sometimes found as Lewis Arthur Smith), was born in Besthorpe on the 16th April, 1873. He may well have been a sickly infant and, perhaps, not expected to survive, as he was privately baptised (probably at his home in Besthorpe), on the 18th August, 1873.
Family
His parents, Arthur Smith and Mary Ann Elizabeth Barker, married in the latter part of 1872. Louis was likely their first-born.
The 1881 census captures 8 year old Louis with his parents and three siblings living in Haugh Field Lane, Deopham. 29 year old Arthur Smith is a fowl dealer.
At the time of the 1891 census, 17 year old Lewis Smith is working as an agricultural labourer. He is in the household of 66 year old farmer, George Watling at Attleborough Hills – not far from the boundary with Great Ellingham.
Great Ellingham
By 1904, Louis and his brother Fred are living in Long Street, Great Ellingham. However by 1906, Louis had left Great Ellingham.
Attleborough
The 1911 census finds 36 year old Louis Smith boarding with the household of Francis Anger in Hargham Road, Attleborough. Louis is still single and is a poultry dealer. He is still living with Francis Anger at the time of the 1921 census and still working for himself as a fowl dealer.
Back to Great Ellingham
The 1939 England & Wales Register (which provides a snapshot of the civilian population at the beginning of WWII), lists fowl plucker Louis A Smith living alone at Mill Lane, Great Ellingham.
The Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Records of 1942 also lists him living in Mill Lane. Louis is assigned ‘Messenger’ duties for the war effort.
Four years later, he is fined for not having a dog licence. His address is Mill House, Mill Lane, Great Ellingham. This Mill House and the Mill (not to be confused with the brick Mill and Mill House in Church Street), were later demolished.
Louis Smith may have remained living in Great Ellingham until his death in April 1951. He is buried in the churchyard of St James’s Church. As far as I know, he never married or left any direct descendants.
Sources:
Norfolk, England, Register of Electors 1832-1915. Ancestry.com. Norfolk, England, Register of Electors, 1832-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1844-1952. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.
1939 England & Wales Register. The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/6590H Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
Besthorpe Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 309. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 609. Also available www.familysearch.org
1881 census RG11/1955/89
1891 census RG12/1549/33
1911 census RG14/11471/108
1921 census RG15/9789/ED2/Sch.181
1942 Gt Ellingham Invasion Committee Records. Sue Fay
GRO Index FreeBMD website
12 July 1946 Diss Express. Viewed via The British Newspaper Archive