The Chapel Rocklands. Drawn by Jane Dove. Courtesy Carol Ewin
The edition of the Norfolk News dated January 20th, 1877, reported that a marriage between William Hart and Emma Elizabeth Tufts had taken place at the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Rocklands on the 17th January. Both William and Emma were said to be of Great Ellingham.
1871 census
The census of 1871, finds 18-year-old Emma Tufts as a domestic servant with elderly couple Edmund and Grace Michell in the St Pancras District of London. Her parents, William and Harriet Tufts, together Emma’s five siblings were living in Wood Lane, Little Ellingham.
The same census captures 16-year-old William Hart (as John William Hart) with his parents, Mark and Julia Hart, living at 12 Beeston Road, Litcham.
Move to Great Ellingham
Given that both William and Emma were said to be of Great Ellingham at the time of their marriage, they must have arrived in Great Ellingham sometime after the 1871 census but before their marriage in 1877.
Further, both the Tufts and the Hart families moved to Great Ellingham between the census of 1871 and the 1881 census.
The 1881 census finds William’s parents 62-year-old farmer Mark Hart and 64-year-old Julia living at ‘Stalling’ (Stalland) Great Ellingham. Mark Hart was born in Little Ellingham and his wife, Julia, in nearby Caston.
Living in nearby Hingham Road, is Emma’s family – 50-year-old fowl dealer William Tufts, his 48-year-old wife Harriet and children Robert 22 and Henry 17. William Tufts was born in Scoulton and his wife in Hingham.
Earlier Days
The census of 1861 finds both families living in Little Ellingham: William and Harriet Tufts with six children (including Emma) at The Green and Mark and Julia Hart with their son John William in Wood Lane.
The various census returns confirm that both John William Hart and Emma Elizabeth Tufts were born in Little Ellingham, around 1854.
William & Emma Hart’s Married Life
Following their marriage, John William and Emma lived in Little Ellingham. The 1881 census captures 26-year-old poultry dealer, John W Hart, with his 26-year-old wife Emma E with children William 2, Ernest 1 and Percy aged two months living at Anchor Corner. By 1885, the family had moved to Deopham.
The census of 1891, reveals farmer John W Hart with his wife Emma and children William 12, Ernest 11, Percy 10, Florence 8, Gertrude 6, Sidney 4, Harriet 2 and Nellie aged 11 months at High Elm, Deopham.
10 years later, farmer and fowl dealer, John W Hart with his wife and eight children William 22, Ernest 21, Percy 20, Florence 18, Sidney 14, Harriet 12, Nellie 10 and Louis 8 are living at Hingham Road, Deopham.
By 1911, the Hart family moved from Deopham to Suffolk. The census of 1911 finds farmer John William Hart with his wife Emma Elizabeth (both said to be 56 years of age) with five of their children at an eleven roomed property College Farm, Denham. Unmarried children Ernest 30, Percy 28, Sidney 23, Nellie 21 and Louis 19 are working for their father on the farm.
Emma and John William had completed 33 years of marriage and had had twelve children – 8 of whom were still living.
John William Hart died in 1928. The death of a John W Hart aged 73 was registered in the Hartismere District of Suffolk between July and August of that year.
Emma Elizabeth Hart outlived her husband by around 15 years. The death of an Emma E Hart aged 88 was registered between January and March of 1943, again in the Hartismere District.
Sources:
Norfolk News January 20th, 1877
Free BMD website:
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=%2BEuwZE4%2BdF5ErELL0PQICQ&scan=1 accessed 16.01.2020
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=Fojk3CAsCqucir9H4RCFKA&scan=1 accessed 16.01.2020
1861 census RG9/1237/16, RG9/1237/103
1871 census RG10/1841/106, RG10/1848/21, RG10/227/82
1881 census RG11/1974/95, RG11/1974/106, RG11/1974/85
1891 census RG12/1534/70
1901 census RG13/1850/70
1911 census RG14/10727/22