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…
Category: Occupations
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…
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…
William Bird Proves his Case
Chequers Lane. Date unknown. Postcard courtesy of Carol Ewin In 1891, William Bird had a grocer’s shop in Chequers Lane, Great Ellingham. He was also a coal dealer. William’s wife Anna minded the shop whilst her husband delivered coal to his customers by horse and cart. County Court Case One such customer was John Hawes….
Harriet Stubbings née Barnard
Harriet Stubbings née Barnard. Image extracted from a Wilkins family photograph. Courtesy of James Margetts Emigration at 52 Widow Harriet Stubbings was 52 years old when, in December 1913, she left Great Ellingham for a new life ‘on the other side of the world’. Harriet accompanied her daughter Florence, and Florence’s extended family, on the…
Private G/7208 George Wilkins
The name of George Wilkins is inscribed on the Great War memorial tablet on the west wall of the Church of St James, Great Ellingham. George was a Private in the 1st Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). Aged just 29, he was killed in action in France, on the 15th September, 1916. Early Life…
1920 Sale of Pieces of Arable Land in Long Street
James Sadd Buys White House Farm James Sadd was already farming and living at White House Farm in Long Street, Great Ellingham, when he completed the purchase of the farm. On the 29th September, 1920, he bought the freehold farm for the sum of £750 from spinster Mary Fortune, of Poplar Grove, Scremerston, Berwick-on-Tweed. The…
William Robert Lebbell – Blacksmith, Wheelwright & Dairyman Farmer
What follows is a short biography of William Robert Lebbell (1884-1965), written by William’s granddaughter, Susan Fay, from her memories of her grandfather: William Robert Lebbell aged about 17 years. Photograph courtesy of Susan Fay, granddaughter of W R Lebbell Born & Bred in Great Ellingham “William was born in the village of Great Ellingham…
W R Lebbell, Shoeing & General Smith & Wheelwright
To the far right of the above postcard is William R Lebbell’s smithy in Long Street. 1911 census The 1911 census shows 26 year old William Robert Lebbell with his wife Lily (née Wigby) and their two year old son, Owen William, living in a 5-roomed dwelling in ‘the Street’, Great Ellingham. Self employed, William…
Robert Brooke’s Farmhouse in Long Street
Robert Brooke (c.1757-1829) Robert Brooke of Great Ellingham died in March 1829. He was 73 years old, a bachelor, and a yeoman i.e. a farmer owning a reasonable amount of property and land, but not sufficient to be classed as ‘gentry’. Variations of Name During my research, I have found that this family’s surname ‘Brooke‘…