Many visitors to my website will know that I enjoy researching individuals or families who connect with our village. I frequently find myself going down many rabbit holes but usually find village links which, until then, I knew nothing about!
Whilst researching some of the history of Homelea Farm in Penhill Road, I came across the family of Jonas and Mary Ann Mallett. They arrived in the village around 1856.
Phthisis
Sadly this family is one of many affected by phthisis – commonly known as consumption or tuberculosis.
According to Simon Willis in his book How our Ancestors Died, at least one in six people died of tuberculosis during the Victorian period.
I made the tragic discovery that five children of Jonas and Mary Ann Mallett died in infancy (causes unknown). The couple also suffered the loss of four other children – at least two of whom had been living with consumption. Indeed, Mary Ann Mallett also died of consumption.
Unsurprisingly, I also found that the disease affected further generations.
Here is what I know about this family.
Born in Besthorpe
Mary Ann Mallett was born Mary Ann Lovett on the 17th December, 1820 in Besthorpe. She is the first known child of Robert Lovett and his wife Pleasance nèe Wright. Mary Ann had two brothers Robert James Lovett born in the September of 1826, and John Wright Lovett born 2nd July, 1829.
All three children were baptised in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in New Buckenham.
Death of Mother
Sadly, Pleasance Lovett died on the 13th May, 1831. She is buried in the Methodist Church burial ground in Attleborough (now known as Parkside Garden).
Left with three young children, it is no surprise to find that Mary Ann’s father, Robert Lovett, remarried.
Father’s Remarriage
All Saints Church, Old Buckenham
On the 20th December, 1832, Robert (said to be a widower of Besthorpe), marries Maria Betts in Old Buckenham. Maria is a spinster and around 10 years older than Robert.
Mary Ann Lovett marries Jonas Mallett
Banham Parish Church
Photograph taken November 2025
On the 10th November, 1840, Robert’s daughter, 20 year old Mary Ann, marries Jonas Mallett in the Parish Church at Banham. At the time of the marriage, Besthorpe born miller Jonas Mallett is living in Banham. Mary Ann is living with her father, step-mother and brothers in Besthorpe.
Westgate Street, Banham
The couple make their home together in Banham. Indeed the 1841 census captures Jonas and Mary Mallett living in Westgate Street, Banham.
The 1851 census finds Jonas (now 34) and Mary (30) still in Westgate Street, Banham. The couple now have a growing family.
Births & Deaths of Children
Mary Ann Mallett has given birth to 7 children. Robert c.1842, John 1844, Jonas 1845, William 1846, Christopher 1847, Deborah Maria 1848 and Sophia in 1850. Sadly Christopher died in infancy.
In 1853, the children were joined by Hannah. Two years later in 1855, Mary Ann gives birth to twin girls. Sadly the twins also died in early infancy. The family encountered further heartache when 10 year old Jonas died the same year.
Move to Great Ellingham
It is not long after the loss of the twins and Jonas that Jonas Mallett brought his wife and surviving children to Great Ellingham.
The couple welcomed a further son in 1856. The child is also given the name Jonas.
Deaths of Step-Mother & Father
Mary Ann’s step-mother, Maria Lovett, died at the age of 76 in 1857. Nearly four years later, on the 26th January, 1861, the Norfolk News published a report of the death of Mary Ann’s father, 67 year old Robert Lovett, of Attleborough. Robert Lovett is also said to be late of Besthorpe Mills.
1861 census
The 1861 census finds 43 year old miller Jonas Mallett with his 39 year old wife Mary Ann along with 8 children living in Church Street, Great Ellingham. I do not know exactly where the family is living.
However, at some point the Mallett family may have occupied Mary Ann’s father’s small farm in Penhill Road (later known as Homelea Farm).
The Great Ellingham Electoral Registers for 1867 to 1872 lists Jonas Mallett as occupying a freehold house and land ‘near Penhill Road’. However, these dates overlap with at least some of the time that John Downes likely occupied the property. Downes is noted as occupying Lovett’s property in Penhill Road in an auction notice of 1873.
Further, I believe that John Downes is at Homelea Farm at the time of the 1871 census.
Deaths of William and Sophia Mallett
Prior to the 1871 census, Jonas and Mary Ann suffered further loss.
Their son, 19 year old William died on the 15th February, 1865, and their daughter Sophia (also then 19) died in October 1868.
The death entry for William confirms that he had been living with consumption for around three months.
Although I found the record of Sophia’s burial, I cannot find the registration of her death. It is possible that her death was not registered.
Whilst the registration of deaths (births and marriages) had been in place since 1837, it was not until the Registration of Births & Deaths Act 1874 that the registration of a death became mandatory.
Accordingly, I have not been able to obtain a copy of the death entry for Sophia. Nevertheless, I suspect that she also had consumption.
Deaths of Mary Ann Mallett & her son John
In addition (and again before the 1871 census), both Mary Ann and her 25 year old son John also died of phthisis. Mary Ann Mallett, had been living with the disease for two years when she died on the 15th May, 1870. Her son had the disease for some 12 months when he died on the 12th August, 1870.
Mary Ann’s brother, Robert James Lovett, a miller of Besthorpe, was with Mary Ann when she died. She was laid to rest in the Methodist Church burial ground in Attleborough, where her late mother Pleasance was buried in 1831. Indeed, this burial ground is the final resting place of many other members of the Lovett family, including Mary Ann’s father, step-mother and brothers.
However, Mary Ann’s children, William, Sophia and John are all buried in the churchyard of St James in Great Ellingham.
1871 census
The 1871 census finds widower 55 year old Jonas Mallett living at ‘The Green’, Great Ellingham’ together with his daughters, 23 year old Deborah and 17 year old Hannah, along with his 13 year old son Christopher. I believe the family are at Town Green.
With regard to the whereabouts of Jonas’s other surviving children, his eldest son, 29 year old Robert, is boarding with the household of Thomas Chittenden in Hythe, Kent. He is working as a miller.
14 year old Jonas is a visitor at the home of his maternal uncle, miller Robert James Lovett, in Mill Lane, Besthorpe. I believe that Jonas was close to his Uncle Robert.
1881 census
At the time of the national headcount of 1881, Jonas Mallett Snr is lodging with James and Jemima Carter in ‘High Road’ (along the road to Rocklands) Great Ellingham.
His 37 year old son, Robert, had married Eliza Redsull in 1876, and they are living at No.21 Union Street, Deal, Kent. The couple have two daughters, 5 year old Jessie and 4 year old Mary. Eliza already had sons, Charles Redsull (now aged 12) and Arthur Redsull (now 8). Robert continues to work as a miller.
Unfortunately I cannot find Christopher or his sister Hannah on the 1881 census.
24 year old Jonas Mallett Jnr is in St Pancras, London. He is still single and working as a shopman in a furnishing warehouse.
Deborah Mallett married Great Ellingham born William Fox in 1872. The 1881 census captures 33 year old Deborah with her 35 year old husband William and their four children living in Cheetham, Manchester. William Fox is a Police Officer.
1891 census
By 1891, 75 year old widower Jonas Mallett is lodging with Christmas and Elizabeth Chaplin (both aged 74) in a four-roomed dwelling in Bow Street, Great Ellingham.
Despite being in their seventies, both Christmas and Jonas are working as agricultural labourers. There was no ‘old age pension’ until January 1909, and then it was only available to those aged 70 and over – and it was means tested.
William and Deborah Fox (now 45 and 43 respectively) are still living in Cheetham, Manchester. The census finds the couple with five children. William Fox is now a Police Detective Inspector.
49 year old Robert Mallett continues to live in Union Street, Deal with his wife Eliza and two daughters.
At 34, Jonas Mallett Jnr is now married, having tied the knot with Elizabeth (Bessie) Jessup at the Wesleyan Chapel in Attleborough, on the 28th April, 1883.
I found the following notice of the marriage in the Norwich Argus published on the 28th April, 1883:
MALLETT-JESSUP 24th at Attleborough Wesleyan Chapel, Jonas MALLETT nephew of R.J. LOVETT, Tenby Villa, Attleborough to Elizabeth (Bessie) youngest daughter of the late G. JESSUP of Borough Farm, Attleborough
I think it interesting to note that Jonas is described as the nephew of R.J. Lovett and not as the son of Jonas Mallett. I wonder whether it is significant that the Lovett family and, perhaps, Jonas Mallett Jnr, appear to be fervent Wesleyan Methodists. It seems that Jonas Mallett Snr was not.
The 1891 census finds Jonas and Bessie living in Isleworth, Middlesex with four children. Jonas is a draper and employs two assistants along with a household servant.
Jonas moves to Deal, Kent
At some point after 1891, Jonas Mallet Snr moved from Great Ellingham to live with his eldest son Robert in Deal, Kent.
Death of Robert Mallett
Nonetheless, Robert predeceased his father. He died in December 1901. His death is registered in the Eastry District of Kent.
Death of Jonas Mallett
Some eighteen months later, the death of 86 year old Jonas Mallett is registered in the June Quarter of 1903, again in the Eastry District.
Both Jonas Mallett and his son Robert are buried in the Hamilton Road Cemetery in Deal. This is around 165 miles from the burial place in Attleborough of Jonas Mallett’s late wife (and Robert’s mother), Mary Ann Mallett nèe Lovett.
Jonas Mallett Jnr
By 1901, Jonas Mallett’s son Jonas had moved from Middlesex to Cambridge.
The 1901 census captures commercial traveller Jonas Mallett living in Cambridge with his wife and children. The couple are still living in Cambridge at the time of the 1911 census.
However by 1920, Jonas and Elizabeth Mallett moved to Attleborough. When Jonas died on the 4th February, 1920, he is living at Clifford House, London Road, Attleborough.
Elizabeth Mallett died in 1939. The couple are both buried in the Wesleyan burial ground in Attleborough where many of Jonas’s maternal Lovett family are also buried.
Deborah Fox nèe Mallett
The 1901 census finds Deborah and William Fox continuing to live in Cheetham, Manchester. 55 year old William Fox is still a Detective Police Officer. The couple have four of their children with them, including their married daughter Lily Casson and her two children, William 5 and Mabel 4.
The 1911 census tells us that the Fox’s dwelling comprise of 5 rooms. Although the census gives their place of abode as Manchester, I believe they are living in Cheetham, and in the same house as they were in 1891.
At 65, William Fox is now retired and described as a Police Pensioner. Deborah Fox is now 62. During their marriage, the couple have had 5 children all of whom are still living at this time.
Their daughter, 36 year old Lily Casson, is still living with them along with her children, William (Samuel William) 15 and Mabel (Lilian Mabel) aged 14. Another of the Fox’s daughters, 27 year old Matilda, is also living with her parents.
By 1921, it is only 46 year old Lilian Casson and her 24 year old daughter Mabel who are living with William and Deborah Fox. William and Deborah are both now into their seventies.
Deaths of William & Deborah Fox & Grandchildren
In the July of 1921, William and Deborah Fox’s granddaughter, Mabel Casson married John Wright. Sadly Mabel Wright died on the 7th February, 1924 at the age of 26.
Great Ellingham born William Fox died on the 25th February, 1929, aged 82. His widow Deborah Fox outlived him by only two months. She died on the 27th April, 1929, at the age of 80.
Just three days after Deborah’s death, the couple’s grandson William (Samuel William) Casson died on the 30th April, 1929, at the age of 33.
Deborah and William Fox, along with their two grandchildren, are commemorated by the same gravestone in the Southern Cemetery at Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Manchester.
Given the early deaths of William Casson and his sister Mabel Wright, I obtained copies of their respective death entries.
Another Death from Tuberculosis
Tragically Mabel Wright (nèe Casson), the granddaughter of William and Deborah Fox, died in 1924 as a result of puerperal sepsis. This is a severe infection which is often referred to as ‘child-bed fever’. Mabel had given birth to a daughter. The child was given her mother’s name, Mabel Lilian Wright.
William Casson’s cause of death in 1929 is pulmonary tuberculosis. This is the very same disease which, some sixty or so years earlier, had caused the early deaths of his maternal great grandmother Mary Ann Mallett nèe Lovett, and three of her children in Great Ellingham.
It would be another 10 years or so before the discovery of the first antibiotic (streptomycin) which was found to be effective against tuberculosis.
In the meantime, I have no doubt that many more families were stricken by the disease.
Sources:
Transcript of New Buckenham, Wesleyan Methodist Church Baptisms 1813-1858. Norfolk Family History Society. Norfolk Record Office. New Buckenham Wesleyan Methodist Circuit. Baptisms 1812-1837 FC 72/6 MF 1602/3; 1838-1858 FC 72/7 MF1602/4.
Attleborough Wesleyan Methodist Circuit. Norfolk Record Office. Burials 1870-1959. FC 25/231 MF 1600/6
Transcript of Attleborough Methodist Church Monumental Inscriptions 1800-1969. Norfolk Family History Society.
Old Buckenham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office; Norwich, Norfolk, England; Norfolk Church of England Registers; Reference: PD 107/10. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
Attleborough Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office; Norwich, Norfolk, England; Norfolk Church of England Registers; Reference: BT ANF 1817_a-c. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
Banham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office. PD 552. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office. PD 609. Also available www.familysearch.org
England & Wales National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills & Administrations) 1858-1995. Jonas Mallett. Died 4 Feb 1920. Probate London 23 Apr 1920. Principal Probate Registry; London, England; Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Burials of Robert Mallett & Jonas Mallett. Hamilton Road Cemetery, Deal, Kent. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/255249175/robert-mallett & https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/255249174/jonas-mallett
Burials of William Fox & Deborah Fox. Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Metropolitan Borough of Manchester, Greater Manchester, England. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/261910560/deborah-fox
6 Jul 1921. Marriage John Wright & Lilian Mabel Casson. Ancestry.com. Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930 (Cathedral) [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Anglican Parish Registers. Manchester, England: Manchester Cathedral.
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine website. Accessed 03.07.2026
England, Norfolk, Register of Electors, 1832-1915, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HYB-XP9 : Wed Feb 28 04:09:04 UTC 2024), Entry for Jonas Mallett, from 1867 to 1872.
GRO Index. Also viewed via FreeBMD website.
Norfolk News 26 January 1861, Norfolk News 13 June 1857. Norfolk News 24 October 1868. Norwich Argus 28 April 1883. The British Newspaper Archive.
1841 census HO107/781/2, HO107/780/7, HO107/775/9
1851 census HO107/1823/92, HO107/1822/103
1861 census RG9/1237/80
1871 census RG10/1841/76, RG10/1841/61, RG10/1020/37
1881 census RG11/997/97, RG114020/55, RG11/178/55, RG11/1974/83
1891 census RG12/3261/101, RG12/738/93, RG12/1549/72
1901 census RG13/1530/8, RG13/3770/63,
1911 census RG14/24178/5, RG14/24178/5
1921 census RG15/19468 ED8 Sch 69
Death registration images. Samuel William Casson 30.04.1929 & Lilian Mabel Wright 07.02.1924 obtained online from GRO.
Willis, Simon. (2013) ‘Tuberulosis’ How Our Ancestors Died. Pen & Sword Books Ltd., Page numbers 169 to 175