The former Parsonage with the adjacent school room
The blue arrow indicates the position of the Parish Room & Parsonage
Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey Map. Second Edition. Surveyed in 1881. Revised 1904
Land gifted by Lord Walsingham
Here we look at the history of The Parsonage in Great Ellingham and the earlier use of the land.
In 1865, Lord Walsingham gifted a piece of land for the erection of a National School. This included a school house. Later in 1902, the Parsonage would also be built on this land.
This was a ‘church school’. Accordingly, the school and the land was in the control of the Church of England.
In 1896 new Board Schools and a new school house were built in Hingham Road. The children from the National School and the former ‘British School’ in Long Street, transferred to the new schools. As a consequence, the National School closed.
The Parsonage may have incorporated part or all of the former school house. The old school room certainly remained.
The New School House
The Norfolk Chronicle of the 22 July, 1865, published the following notice:
Eligible Home for a Female of Small Private Means
The New School House at Great Ellingham, unfurnished, is offered to a Respectable Middle-aged Widow or Single Woman, a member of the Church of England, with whom the Mistress would live, on terms to be agreed upon. The situation is quiet and airy
Apply The Rector, Ellingham, Attleborough
I wonder whether the Rector received any response.
I believe the first School Mistress at the National School was Ellen Richardson. She may well have lived in the ‘new school house’. Ellen married Frederick Saunders in 1868. Nevertheless, she continued as the Mistress at the school.
The 1871 census captures Ellen with her husband at the home of Frederick’s parents in Attleborough Hills. Accordingly, I do not know whether Ellen and her husband usually occupied the school house.
Nonetheless, the 1881 census captures 35 year old School Mistress Ellen Saunders with her two sons, William 9 and Ernest 7, at the school in Attleborough Road. Although Ellen’s husband is absent, the family have a vistor, 39 year old Ester (Esther) Hill.
By 1891, Ellen Saunders had moved on. ‘Miss Howlett’ is the Mistress at the National School. Did ‘Miss Howlett’ occupy the School House?
Parish Reading Room
Following the closure of the National School, the school room became the Parish Reading Room.
The Norfolk Chronicle of the 27th January, 1900, reported on the sudden death of Great Ellingham postman Albert Brighton at the parish Reading Room.
In March 1907, a confirmation service took place at St James’s Church followed by tea in the Parish Room.
In December 1934, the Parish Room became the venue for a successful whist drive in aid of Great Ellingham Sunday Schools funds.
The Parsonage
The building of a Parsonage appears to be part of ‘considerable improvements’ effected by the Reverend Edward H Polehampton.
Since 1717, the patronage and incumbency of Great Ellingham has been united with the Rectory of Little Ellingham, with the Rector residing in Little Ellingham. It seems that it was intention of the Reverend Polehampton to build a Parsonage in Great Ellingham to house a curate.
The entry for Great Ellingham in Kelly’s Directory of 1925 states that ‘The vicarage house was built in 1902 on the site given by Lord Walsingham’.
The Norfolk News of the 16th December, 1905, reported on the re-opening of St James’s Church after ‘partial restoration‘. The article mentions that ‘The church fell into a very bad state of repair but since 1899, the present incumbent, the Reverend E H Polehampton, has effected considerable improvement‘. It also added ‘A parsonage house has been built close to the church‘.
Harry Parker
The Reverend Harry Parker may have been the first curate to occupy the Parsonage.
In October, 1902, ‘Mrs Parker, The Parsonage, Great Ellingham’ advertised in the Downham Market Gazette for a general servant to assist in ‘clergyman’s family with two children’.
The Parker family were still at the Parsonage in 1904.
George Raikes
Reverend George Barkley Raikes sporting his England jersey.
Photograph courtesy of Wymondham Town Football Club
The next curate to live in the Parsonage was the Reverend George Barkley Raikes. George Raikes married Maud Cochrane in Yorkshire during the Spring or early Summer of 1905. However by July, George and Maud were in Great Ellingham.
The Reverend Raikes was also a well-known sportsman.
Nevertheless, George and Maud Raikes’ time in Great Ellingham was short. By 1911, the couple were living in Nottinghamshire.
Ewen Cameron
Kelly’s Directory of 1908 lists Lieutenant Ewen Cameron (of the Cameron Highlanders) as the curate at the Parsonage in Great Ellingham. However by 1911, Lieutenant Cameron had moved on.
George William Russell
The 1911 census captures the Russell family living at The Parsonage. The census confirms that the Russell family is occupying 7 rooms (which did not include any bathroom or scullery).
Chelsea born George William Russell is aged 42 and his wife Henrietta is 33. They have completed 8 years of marriage. The couple have four children – Ruth Sophia 5, Woodford Noel 4, David John 3 and one year old Anita Mary. The three older children were all born in Canterbury, New Zealand. The youngest, Anita, was born soon after the Russell family arrived at The Parsonage.
Henrietta’s sister, 25 year old Mary Lewis, is also with the household. The sisters were born in Camarthen, South Wales.
The Russell family remained in Great Ellingham until at least 1915 during which time, two further children were born at The Parsonage. On the 25th February, 1912, Hilda Eveline was baptised in the Church of St James followed by Rose on the 12th April, 1914.
The family left Great Ellingham before 1920. Reverend Russell relocated his family to Costessey where he became Rector.
Avery Luckly Duncan
Reverend Avery Luckly Duncan. Curate in Great Ellingham
Courtesy Steve & Janet Bath.
By 1920, the Reverend Avery Luckly Duncan and his wife Annie were at The Parsonage, Great Ellingham. At the age of 64, the Reverend Duncan had married Annie Holsgrove the previous year.
However, the couple’s time in Great Ellingham was short-lived. By 1921, the Parsonage had new occupants.
The ‘Boys’ Sisters
The 1921 census captures 38 year old Everilda Boys and her sister 37 year old Mary Boys living at The Parsonage. Both born in Chatham, Everilda and Mary are sisters of the Rector, the Reverend Roger Mackenzie Boys.
21 year old Cockthorpe born Blanch Vince worked at The Parsonage as a domestic servant. Blanch lived with her uncle and aunt, James and Sarah Lincoln, at Town Green.
Everilda and Mary Boys’ tenure at The Parsonage was also brief. By at least 1923, the Reverend Weston had moved in.
Frank Henry Weston
The Electoral Registers for 1923 lists Frank Henry Weston and Margaret May Weston at The Parsonage, Great Ellingham.
On the 16th August, 1919, Surrey born the Reverend Frank Henry Weston aged 62 married 26 year old Margaret May Walker in St Luke’s Church, Liverpool. There was an age gap of some 36 years between the couple.
The 1911 census finds 18 year old Margaret working as a servant for the Reverend Weston and his mother and sister in Yorkshire.
The Reverend Weston and his wife were at the Parsonage for no more than two years.
Arthur Heywood Breeds
The 1925 Electoral Register lists Arthur Heywood Breeds and Mary Breeds as occupying The Parsonage. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any further information about Arthur Breeds.
Edward Harcourt Anson
The Reverend Edward H Anson brought his wife Lucie to live at The Parsonage. They arrived around 1926.
The couple had married in St James’s Church, Hampstead, Middlesex on the 31st July, 1900.
The 1911 census finds the couple in Mount Bures, Colchester, Essex. Although married for some 10 years, Edward and Lucie did not have children.
Edward was 70 and Lucie 60 when they arrived in Great Ellingham. Once again, the new occupants of The Parsonage would not stay for long.
The Yarmouth Independent of the 12th November, 1927, reported that the Reverend Edward Harcourt Anson had been inducted as Vicar of Shropham. The article also states that the Ansons had lived at The Parsonage, Great Ellingham “for the last year or two“.
King’s Messengers
Further, “Mrs Anson had been instrumental in forming a flourishing branch of the King’s Messengers at Great Ellingham“.
Indeed earlier in the year, on the 28th May, 1927, the Yarmouth Independent reported on a successful missionary festival held at Great Ellingham by the local branch of the King’s Messengers.
A major part of the festival comprised an exhibition, entertainment and sale of work, which was staged at the Parish Room and Parsonage.
A ‘strong contingent’ from the Market Weston branch supported the event. The assembly gathered in the grounds of the Parsonage and, together with the clergy, marched through the village to St James’s Church. The procession was headed with the ‘King’s Messengers’ banner which had been made by Mrs Anson.
Later, the children were given tea in the Parish room by the Reverend and Mrs Anson. Members of the public had tea in the Parsonage.
William Edward Moore
Yorkshire born, the Reverend William Moore came to Great Ellingham with his wife Lilian at some point following the Reverend Anson’s departure to Shropham. The couple were at The Parsonage from at least 1929 and until the Reverend Moore died aged 74 at The Parsonage on the 20th February, 1933.
He was buried in the churchyard of St James, a mere stone’s throw from The Parsonage.
Edith H Polehampton
The sister of the Revered Edward H Polehampton, Edith Helena Polehampton is living at The Parsonage, in 1939. Sadly, the Reverend Polehampton had died the previous year.
Born in Herefordshire in 1869, spinster Edith Polehampton is the village’s Billeting Officer. Retired school mistress Mary Antcliffe is an Assistant Billeting Officer. She is also living with Edith at The Parsonage.
William Robert John Higgitt
The 1942 Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Record lists ‘Rev. W Higgitt 60’ and ‘Mrs Higgitt 65’ at The Parsonage.
The 1939 Register captures the couple as the Reverend William R J Higgitt and wife Annie E J Higgitt at Ringley Vicarage, Lancashire.
I do not know how long the Reverend and Mrs Higgitt remained living at The Parsonage. However, the couple died in Somerset. Annie Higgitt died in 1959 and her husband, the Reverend Higgitt in 1965.
Post WWII
Today the Parsonage with the old school room annexed is a private house. However, I do not know when the Church ‘sold off’ the Parsonage.
However I do know that by 1977, the ‘Old Parsonage’ was occupied by the Todd family who came from Scunthorpe. When the family arrived, the bells of St James had not been regularly rung for some 20 years. The Todd family decided to do something about it.
Although none of the family had experience in bellringing, with some instruction, they learnt the art and in doing so, renewed the community’s interest in bellringing.
Sources:
22 July 1865 Norfolk Chronicle
27 January 1900 Norfolk Chronicle
9 March 1907 Norfolk Chronicle & Norwich Gazette
14 December 1934 Diss Express
18 March 1977 Diss Express
12 November 1927 Yarmouth Independent
28 May 1927 Yarmouth Independent
16 December 1905 Norfolk News
23 February 1933 Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer
4 October 1902 Downham Market Gazette
Newspapers accessed via The British Newspaper Archive
1871 census RG10/1841/29
1881 census RG11/1974/93
1891 census RG12/1549/125
1911 census RG14/11473/141, RG14/29089/37, RG14/10359/381
1921 census 1921 census RG15. Registration District 231. Great Ellingham Schedules 8 & 127. Viewed via www.findmypast.co.uk.
England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1832-1915, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HTN-86D : Wed Feb 28 00:15:55 UTC 2024). Entries for George William Russell, 1912, 1913, 1914 & 1915.
16 August 1919. Marriage. Liverpool, St Luke. Frank Henry Weston & Margaret May Walker. Liverpool Record Office. Liverpool. Ref No 283 LUK/3/8. Ancestry.com. Liverpool, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
31 July 1900. Marriage. St James, West Hampstead. Edward Harcourt Anson & Lucie Tomlinson Brown. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England, UK; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P81/JS/A/02/001. Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1832-1915, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2CM7-WV2 : Wed Feb 28 03:29:27 UTC 2024). Entries for Henry Parker, 1904 & 1905.
Electoral Registers. Parliamentary County of Norfolk, Southern Division. Great Ellingham. 1920 to 1931. The British Library. Available via www.findmypast.co.uk
1904, 1908, 1912, 1925 Kellys Directories
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Offie PD/609. Also available via www.familysearch.org & www.ancestry.co.uk
1939 England & Wales Register. The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: Rg 101/6590h. Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
1939 England & Wales Register. The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: Rg 101/4798d. Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
1942 Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Record. Sue Fay