1902 may have brought a period of anxiety for Long Street residents Henry and Charlotte Cursons, and their neighbours, the Lakes, Listers and Bakers. Following the deaths of their landlord Joseph Warren and his wife, their homes were being auctioned. Were the families having to find somewhere else to live?
Auction
A notice of the forthcoming auction of a small farm and house appeared in the Eastern Daily Press on 20th May, 1902.
Sale by T.H. Warren
GREAT ELLINGHAM near Attleborough
A Small Farm with House, Capital Agricultural Buildings and about 56 acres of Arable and Pasture Land, occupied by Mr E Lake, also three cottages with gardens adjoining. Tenants – Messrs Curson, Lister & Baker which T.H. Warren has received instructions from the Executors of Mr J Warren deceased to sell by Auction at the Royal Hotel Attleborough on Thursday 29th May 1902
at four o’clock in the afternoon in two lots
The above notice relates to the farm in Long Street which became known as Cemetery Farm (now Home Farm). I believe the three cottages are those which lie to the south of Cemetery Farm and to the north of Broadmarsh Farm.
Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey Map. Second Edition. Surveyed in 1881. Revised 1904
Owner Joseph Warren
In 1862, Joseph Warren inherited Cemetery Farm and an adjacent farm from his maternal grandfather John Whittred. His grandfather had died in 1842. However John Whittred had left a life interest in his Great Ellingham properties to his wife Elizabeth and then to his daughter Elizabeth Warren (Joseph’s mother). It was following the death of his mother that Joseph took his inheritance.
Joseph spent some of his early life with his mother and siblings at his maternal grandparents’ home at Cemetery Farm. However he spent most of his adult life living in Market Place, East Dereham, where he had a successful drapery business.
From 1862 until his death in 1900, Joseph Warren let his Great Ellingham properties to tenants. When he died, Joseph gave his wife Sarah a life interest in the rents and profits from the majority of his properties (save for his business premises), which included his land and dwellings in Long Street.
Sadly, Sarah Warren died the year after her husband. This meant that Warren’s Great Ellingham properties would now be sold.
The Auction
I do not know the outcome of the auction. Having said that, I do not think Cemetery Farm sold at the auction as, in May 1903, it was again offered for sale. Nevertheless, I do think it likely that the cottages sold at the auction. However, I do not know the name of the purchaser.
It is more than possible that the purchaser of the three cottages continued to let the properties to the tenants named in the notice.
Occupiers
Lake Family
The 1901 census captures 44 year old Colkirk born Elijah Lake living in Long Street with his 41 year old wife Emma, and daughters Margery 18 and Nellie 13. They were, of course, at Cemetery Farm.
From North Elmham
The Lakes had arrived in Great Ellingham from North Elmham at some point after the 1891 census. Nevertheless, their time in Great Ellingham was short-lived. By the time the 1911 census was undertaken, the Lake family had moved to Diss.
Lister Family
James Lister occupied one of the three cottages.
63 year old agricultural labourer James Lister is with his wife Jane (who, at 67, is slightly older than James), and their children George 32, James 24 and 20 year old Harry.
Like their father, they are all employed in agriculture and were all born in Great Ellingham. Jane Lister was born in Great Fransham. 9 year old London born Walter Lister is with his grandparents.
Rachel Baker
Another occupier of a cottage is 61 year old Attleborough born spinster Rachel Baker. Described as a charwoman, Rachel is living alone.
Cursons Family
The Cursons family occupied another of the cottages.
The 1901 census captures 39 year old Henry Cursons with his 26 year old wife Charlotte, and their two young children, Charles aged 2 and three month old Queenie in Long Street. The census indicates that the Cursons occupied three rooms.
Henry Cursons
Although born in Attleborough in 1862, Henry likely came to live in Great Ellingham at an early age.
The 1871 census captures 9 year old Henry Cursons in Great Ellingham at the home of his maternal Aunt, Mary Ann Lake. The Lake household comprised of 52 year old Mary Ann, her 72 year old husband, Thomas, and their daughter, 25 year old Eliza Lake.
I cannot tell whether or not young Henry Cursons was just visiting his Aunt and Uncle, although if he was, I would have expected the census to record Henry as a visitor. I wonder whether Henry was living with his Aunt and Uncle on a more permanent basis?
1881 census
In 1881 Henry Cursons (now 19), is still living in Long Street. Working as a general labourer, Henry is lodging with the household of widow Maria Fox. By 1891, Henry (now said to be 27), is living alone in Long Street.
Marriage
Henry Cursons married Charlotte Rolph towards the end of 1895. A marriage was registered in the Wayland District between October and December of that year. Census returns confirm that Charlotte Rolph (also found as Rolfe) was born in Wramplingham.
Baptisms in St James
Their children, Queenie and Charles, were baptised in the Church of St James on the 21st October, 1900.
Whilst continuing to live in Long Street, Henry and Charlotte Cursons had two more children: Clarence Victor born in 1904 (who sadly died in 1904), and Herbert John, born in 1911.
Family Connection to me!
What I find fascinating about family history, is the discovery of new family connections when I am not particularly looking for them. When starting out on the One-Place Study of Great Ellingham, I didn’t think I had any family connections to the village. However, I may have found one!
I believe Henry was the ‘Harry Curson’ baptised at St Mary’s Church, Attleborough on the 27th November, 1862. Henry’s older brother, George (born in 1859), was also baptised on 27th November.
George and Henry were two of at least four children born to spinster, Ann Cursons (also recorded as Curson) of Attleborough.
If my assumption that Henry Cursons is indeed the Harry Curson(s) son of Ann Cursons of Attleborough, then Henry Cursons is my husband’s 1st cousin 3x removed! The link being Ann’s sister, Eliza Cursons.
First updated 2 June 2025.
Sources:
GRO Index. https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=QSAkT%2FTgTDlAuWphJDmf7Q&scan=1 accessed 13 August 2020
GRO Index. https://www.gro.gov.uk
Eastern Daily Pnress 20th May, 1902
Attleborough Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD/438. Transcription online Norfolk Family History Society. www.norfolkfhs.org.uk Accessed 12th August 2020
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office. PD/609.
1911 census RG14/11473/77
1901 census RG13/1867/79; RG13/1867/78
1891 census RG12/1549/79A
1881 census RG11/1974/89
1871 census RG10/1841/76