Headstone memorial for Roger Turvey and his wife Rebecca in Great Ellingham Churchyard
Roger Turvey died on April 28th, 1860 aged 80 years. He was buried in the churchyard of St James’s Church a few days later on the 4th May.
St Mary the Virgin, Wortham
I believe he was the son of Roger and Sarah Turvey, and was baptised in the Parish Church at Wortham on the 11th February, 1781.
Roger Turvey came to Great Ellingham with his wife, Rebecca, before 1832.
Occupying a Farm in Penhill Road
The Norfolk Register of Electors for Great Ellingham for the year 1832 lists Roger Turvey as an occupier of a farm-house and land at ‘Penhill Common’.
Tithe Map
Although the census does not tell us the exact property in which Roger and Rebecca Turvey lived, the Tithe Map for Great Ellingham (c.1843) together with an associated schedule, shows that they lived at the property which today is known as Penhill Farm West.
Roger Turvey leased the farm from Charlotte Cockell of Attleborough, who had inherited the farm from her late father, William Cockell.
The Tithe Map also tells us that Roger Turvey owned a cottage with a garden together with an allotment at Swamp Lane. This cottage was occupied by Richard Herrison (Kerrison).
Turvey also owned an allotment along Penhill Road. This allotment adjoined a double cottage, which at the time, was owned by James Rose. Rose let the cottages to George Haylett and Richard Drake. This double cottage was later (possibly after 1863), owned by Roger Turvey’s grandson in law, William Brighton. I mention the double cottage again later in this blog.
Roger Turvey was more than likely living at Penhill Farm West at the time of his death in 1860.
Roger Turvey’s Last Will & Testament
In his last Will and Testament dated the 28th July, 1859, Roger Turvey of Great Ellingham appointed James Rose, a shopkeeper of Attleborough, and his grandson-in-law William Brighton, farmer, of Great Ellingham as his executors.
Property in Trust
He left all is property (i.e. the cottage at Swamp Lane and land at Penhill Road), to his wife Rebecca ‘for and during her natural life‘ after which his property would pass to his granddaughter Lucy Brighton on the same terms. Lucy was the wife of William Brighton, one of his executors.
In the event that Lucy died before her husband William Brighton, then Roger Turvey’s property would pass to William Brighton ‘for and during his natural life‘ and on the death of both Lucy and William Brighton, the property would pass equally to the ‘lawful’ children of Lucy and William.
Lucy Allison
The Turvey’s granddaughter Lucy Brighton was formerly Lucy Allison.
All Saints, Rocklands. Photograph taken 19th August 2022
A Lucy Allison was baptised in the parish church at Rockland All Saints on the 4th October, 1835. Lucy, born on the 24th September, 1835, was the daughter of Miles Allison and his wife Sophia (maiden name Turvey). I have no doubt that Sophia was the daughter of Roger and Rebecca Turvey.
Death of Roger & Rebecca’s daughter Sophia Allison
22 year old Sophia Allison (of the parish of Rockland St Andrews) was buried in the churchyard at Great Ellingham on the 22nd May, 1836. The loss of her mother could be the reason why Lucy Allison is with her maternal grandparents in 1841.
1841 census
The 1841 captures 5 year old Lucy Allison living with Roger and Rebecca Turvey in Great Ellingham – presumably at ‘Penhill Farm West’. The family have three male servants: 19 year old William George, 26 year old Robert Houchin and 14 year old Joseph Turvey. 65 year old Amy Barrat completes the household.
Ten years later, the 1851 census shows 15 year old Lucy with her grandparents, Roger and Rebecca Turvey at ‘Pen Hill’. Again, I have no doubt that there were at Penill Farm West. With the household are 18 year old George Offord, described as a farm servant, and 21 year old farm labourer, John Lock, described as a lodger.
Lucy Allison marries William Brighton
Baptist Chapel Long Street Great Ellingham. Attleborough Heritage Group
Around three years before her grandfather Roger Turvey died, Lucy Allison married William Brighton. The marriage took place at the Baptist Church in Great Ellingham on the 30th September, 1857.
The 1861 census finds 25 year old William Brighton as the head of the household in Penhill Road.
William is farming around 37 acres and employed one man and one boy. Wife Lucy is also 25 and the couple have two sons, George aged 2 and four month old William. Lucy’s grandmother 74 year old Rebecca Turvey is also with the Brighton family together with a 15 year old house servant, local girl Elizabeth Carter.
I believe that following her marriage in 1857, Lucy continued to live at Penhill Farm West.
Death of Rebecca Turvey
Rebecca Turvey died at the age of 80 on November 14th, 1867. She was also buried in St James’s churchyard, Great Ellingham.
Following the death of her grandmother, William and Lucy Brighton continued to live in Penhill Road – again, most probably at Penhill Farm West.
William & Lucy Brighton move out of Great Ellingham
However before the 1891 census, the Brighton family moved to Mill Common Farm, Snetterton. By 1901, they had moved to Downham Grove, Wymondham and, by 1911, William and Lucy Bright (then both aged 75) were living in Silfield, Wymondham.
Death of Lucy Brighton
Lucy Brighton died on the 10th August, 1924 and her husband William Brighton outlived Lucy by three years. He died on the 27th August, 1927. According to the 1911 census, the couple had had sixteen children – eight of whom had died.
Roger Turvey’s Great Ellingham Property & Land
It was only after William Brighton’s death that the property and land in Great Ellingham which was once owned by his grandfather-in-law, Roger Turvey some 90 years earlier, was sold. This may well have included the cottage and garden at Swamp Lane.
However, I do know that at some point – possibly after the death of the owner James Rose in 1863, William Brighton became the owner of the double cottage in Penhill Road. The double cottage adjoins the parcel of land which was owned by Roger Turvey, and which William Brighton owned as a trustee of the will of the late Roger Turvey.
Brighton’s Double Cottage
On the 21st November, 1921, William Brighton borrowed £100 plus interest from Mary Jane Bothway, William Edwin Bothway, Harry Bothway and William Robert Welcher. His double cottage in Penhill Road was used as security for the loan.
In the event, and although William Brighton paid the interest on the loan, the principal sum of £100 remained outstanding at the time of his death.
Double Cottage at Penhill Road sold by the Brighton family in 1929
Photograph courtesy of McDouall family
However, the debt was fully repaid when William Brighton’s son, William Ernest Brighton, sold the double cottage to George Allen Hutson and his wife Mary on the 19th October, 1929.
Updated 7 October 2023
Sources:
1841 census HO107/781/8
1851 census HO107/1823/112
1861 census RG9/1237/82
1871 census RG10/1841/78
1881 census RG11/1974/82
1891 census RG12/1549/125
1901 census RG13/1851/25
1911 census RG14/11344
England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1832-1915, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HB6-WZJ : 18 July 2017), Roger Turvey, 1832; citing , Western division, Norfolk, England, Record Office, Central Library, Norwich; FHL microfilm 2,149,022. England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1832-1915,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HTT-QBM : 23 July 2017), Roger Turvey, 1859; citing Great Ellingham, Eastern division, Norfolk, England, Record Office, Central Library, Norwich; FHL microfilm 1,596,768. England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1832-1915,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HTL-XSG : 23 July 2017), Roger Turvey, 1851; citing Great Ellingham, Western division, Norfolk, England, Record Office, Central Library, Norwich; FHL microfilm 1,596,767
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD/609. Also available at FamilySearch.org https://www.familysearch.org/search/image/index?owc=4J8C-CB7%3A29627201%3Fcc%3D1416598
Rockland All Saints with St Andrew Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD/335. Norfolk Family History Society. Transcript of Rockland All Saints, Baptisms 1811 to 1896. https://www.norfolkonlinerecordsearch.co.uk/ accessed 05.02.2020
GRO Index. Free BMD website. https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=8ONsNdnOp4dxY2kXAV0M%2Bg&scan=1 accessed 05.02.2020
McDouall Family Documents
Norfolk News 10 October 1857. Viewed via The British Newspaper Archive
Tithe Apportionments, 1836-1929 [database online]. TheGenealogist.co.uk 2023. Original data: IR29 Tithe Commission and successors: Tithe Apportionments. The National Archive
Baptism. Roger Turvey. Wortham. England Select Births and Christenings 1538-1975. Ancestry.com. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Original data: England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.