For centuries, children have been given the name ‘Valentine‘ whether or not they actually came into the world on the 14th February. I wondered whether there had been any ‘Valentines’ in Great Ellingham? Valentine Garratt Church of St James, Great Ellingham Marriage The marriage between Valentine Garratt of Gressenhall and Elizabeth Frost of Great Ellingham…
Category: Town Green
Lincoln Family’s Migration from Great Ellingham to Yorkshire
Movement of People Like many rural communities during the Victorian period, Great Ellingham saw movement in the population. In 1836, several families left the village for a new life ‘on the other side of the world’. A few were ‘forced’ to embark on a journey to Van Diemen’s Land (later Tasmania) following a criminal conviction….
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…
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…
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 28 (or 29), he was killed in action in France, on the 15th September, 1916….
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…
Susannah Storey buys Cottage with Garden
1928 Purchase On the 4th April, 1928, widow Sarah Ann Elizabeth Carter sold a cottage with a garden, together with the end of a wash-house, to Susannah Goss Storey. The conveyance deed also included a right for Susannah Storey to use a well and a roadway. Josiah Carter’s Purchase in 1906 Sarah Carter’s late husband,…
Lance Corporal John Lincoln
John Lincoln (1876-1917) taken whilst serving as a British Soldier during the Boer War. Photograph courtesy of Bryan Dye ‘John Lincoln’ is amongst sixteen names inscribed on the memorial tablet set into the wall near to the west door of St James’s Church. The tablet remembers the Great Ellingham men who gave their lives for…