There is no doubt that life can be arduous and hard.
At the turn of the 20th century, every day life for some of the people in Great Ellingham was no exception. A fair few families found themselves living in squalid conditions. Others suffered the loss of loved ones – the ‘breadwinner‘, the ‘house-keeper’ or a child. Any of these situations can bring difficulties and challenges.
Tragedies too happen in all walks of life. It is, of course, particularly heartbreaking when young people are involved.
I have written about a few of the tragedies which have befell past village people. The reason for doing so is not to glorify the tragedy, but to acknowledge how difficult life can be, and to remember those individuals and families touched by tragedy, misadventure or misfortune.
Here we look at the relatively short and, perhaps, tragic life of Great Ellingham girl, Anna Eliza Rix. She was born in the village during the latter part of Queen Victoria’s reign. A time when the woman’s role in society was very much different to what it is today.
I should say that some readers may find parts of the story upsetting. However, I have endeavoured to keep to the facts as reported at the time. Nevertheless, Anna’s story concludes with some positivity, as I was able to discover what happened to one of her surviving children.
Born in Church Street
Anna Eliza Rix was likely born in one of the cottages in the above postcard
Anna Eliza Rix came into the world on the 29th November, 1880. She was born in a cottage in Church Street to single mother Louisa Charlotte Rix. Louisa lived with her mother, Eliza, and step-father, William Kerrison.
The Village in 1880
At that time, Great Ellingham’s population stood at around 652. However, this was 12% lower than the population of 10 years earlier. Today the village has at least 1300 inhabitants. With the present ongoing building developments, this figure is set to rise further.
The village had two schools in 1880. The National School built in 1865 along the Attleborough road and The British School erected in Long Street in 1855. The government of the day had recently made school attendance compulsory from the age of 5 to 10.
Although the village was predominantly a farming community, there were also many tradesmen. For example the shoemaker, builder, butcher, saddler, wheelwright, blacksmith, grocer, postmaster and, of course, pub landlords.
1881 census
The National head-count of 1881 captures four month old Anna Eliza with her mother, 17 year old Louisa Rix, living in Church Street with William and Eliza Kerrison. At 36, Great Ellingham born William Kerrison is working as a farm labourer. Eliza Kerrison (formerly the widow of Thomas Rix) was born in Sedgeford, a village not far from Hunstanton on the Norfolk coast.
Marriage & Baptisms
On the 16th April, 1881, baby Anna’s mother Louisa Rix married local man and shoemaker, George William Edwards in St James’s Church, Great Ellingham.
Two weeks’ later, Anna Eliza Rix was baptised in the same church.
I believe that following their marriage, George and Louisa Edwards continued to live in Great Ellingham. In 1883, Louisa gave birth to a son, George William Edwards.
Move to Hingham
The Fairland, Hingham
Author’s Collection
At some point between 1883 and 1887, George, Louisa and the two children moved to Hingham, where George worked as a boot and shoemaker. George may already then be suffering from tuberculosis.
Death of Louisa Edwards
Anna Eliza was just six years old when her 24 year old mother, Louisa Charlotte Edwards, died at their Hingham home on the 31st July, 1887. The registration of Louisa’s death confirms that she died from phthisis (tuberculosis also referred to as consumption). The very same disease affecting her husband.
Death of George Edwards
Following his wife’s death, George Edwards and the two children moved back to Great Ellingham. George and his son George moved in with George’s parents, Jeremiah and Sarah Edwards, in Bow Street. However, six year old Anna Eliza went to live with her maternal grandmother, Eliza, and step-grandfather William Kerrison.
Sadly within two months of his wife’s death, 31 year old George Edwards also died. His father, Jeremiah, was with him when he died at his parents’ home in Bow Street on the 25th September, 1887.
Following the death of their father, young George and his sister Anna Eliza continued to live apart. George with his paternal grandparents, Jeremiah and Sarah Edwards in Bow Street, and Anna Eliza with their maternal grandmother, Eliza Kerrison, and her husband in Church Street.
1891 census
The national census of 1891 captures 10 year old Anna Eliza Rix with her grandmother 53 year old Eliza Kerrison and step-grandfather, William Kerrison. The family are living in a three-roomed dwelling in Church Street, Great Ellingham.
The census tells us that Anna is a scholar. It follows that she is attending one of the two village schools.
Death of Grandmother
Just five years’ later, Anna’s grandmother Eliza Kerrison died at the age of 60. She was buried in the churchyard at St James on the 6th April, 1896.
I think it fair to say that by then 15-year-old Anna Eliza is already pregnant with her first child.
Daughter Olive Eliza
A few months after her grandmother’s death, Anna gives birth to Olive Eliza. Olive’s birth is registered in the September Quarter of 1896 (between July and September). From the information provided at the later inquest into Anna’s death, it seems that Olive was born at her step-grandfather’s home in Church Street.
Following the birth, Anna Eliza (together with her infant daughter), continued to live with William Kerrison. She kept house for him.
Son Herbert James
On the 2nd January, 1899, Anna Eliza gives birth to her second child. Herbert James Rix was born at the workhouse in Rockland All Saints.
Rockland St Peter Church
On the 29th January, Anna Eliza (referred to as Annie) takes her two children to St Peter’s Church, Rocklands for baptism. The baptism entries gives her place of abode as ‘Wayland Union Workhouse‘.
The former Wayland Union Workhouse
Courtesy of Liz Barrett
Daughter Ethel Maud
Eighteen months’ later, Anna is back in the Wayland Union Workhouse. The records show that Annie gave birth to another daughter on the 5th July, 1900. The same records also show this child to be Anna’s third child.
I have no doubt that this child was Ethel Maud Rix. Her birth was registered in the September Quarter of 1900 in the Wayland District. Sadly, Ethel Maud did not survive, as her death was also registered in the same Quarter.
1901 census
At the time of the 1901 census, 20 year old Anna Eliza Rix and her two surviving children, Olive 4 and Herbert 2, are still living with Anna’s step-grandfather 56 year old William Kerrison.
The census describes Anna as a housekeeper. We can only assume that William Kerrison provided Anna and her children with ‘a roof over their heads’ and ‘food on the table’ in exchange for Anna keeping house.
Nevertheless, we learn from the inquest report that the father of one of the children contributed to his child’s support. But was this for Olive or Herbert?
Chequers Lane & The Street corner. These dwellings were list as being in Town Green at the time of the 1901 census.
Postcard courtesy Carol Ewin
In 1901, the family is recorded as living in Town Green. However, I am sure that they are still living in the same house in Church Street, which the Kerrison/Rix family had occupied since at least 1881. I know that saddler Henry Warren lived at the far end (left) of the above cottage at this time. The census also shows Warren to be living at Town Green.
Living next door to the Kerrison/Rix family is shopkeeper and grocer, 49 year old James Ducker, with his wife Sarah and children Alice 25, Florence 12 and Anna 10.
The Sad Events of 1903
On the 5th May, 1903, Anna Eliza Rix died at her home in Church Street. Although the Great Ellingham St James Burial Register (and the newspaper reports regarding her unfortunate death), give Anna’s age as 23, she was actually only 22.
Inquest
An inquest into the circumstances of Anna’s death was held in the village. The inquest may well have been held at either The Chequers or The Crown.
Various local newspapers reported on the inquisition. The Eastern Daily Press of Friday 8th May, 1903, used the heading: ‘Young Woman’s Sad Death at Great Ellingham. Shocking Disclosures’.
The Norwich Mercury of Saturday 9th May chose the heading: “Young Woman’s Death at Great Ellingham. Terrible Tale of Village Morality’.
Both newspapers include graphic details surrounding the circumstances of Anna’s death. However, I do not propose to to include all these details, save to say that it seems that she had either given birth or suffered an early confinement in the weeks before her death. Further, this was not the first time that Anna had suffered an early confinement.
Unwell for at least a Month
It appears that Anna had been unwell for at least a month before her death. She had complained of pains in her chest and dizziness. However, although these symptoms worsened, Anna did not want to see a doctor. She continued to be ‘up and about’.
William Kerrison told the inquest that Anna had not eaten very much within the last two weeks before her death. He also mentions that he had ‘procured some brandy for her’.
Witness Martha Anderson Dungar
A nearby neighbour, 50 year old Martha Anderson Dungar, said that she saw Anna on a daily basis. However, she had noticed that she had not been ‘out of doors’ during the last two weeks.
It was Martha who went to William Kerrison’s house at 9pm on the evening of the 5th May and found Anna Eliza Rix dead in the bedroom, which she shared with her two children. It was reported that William Kerrison was not in the house.
What is particularly tragic is that Anna’s two children were also in the bedroom. Herbert was already in his bed. Apparently Olive stood beside her mother. Olive told Mrs Anderson Dungar that “Mother has been eating some more of the old starch”.
After Martha Dunbar Anderson found Anna unresponsive, she went to find William Kerrison to fetch him home.
Witness James Brooks
James Brooks lived in a house which adjoined William Kerrison’s house.
He told the inquest that he had heard Anna and Olive talking and moving items in the bedroom. However, the movement stopped. He then overheard Olive trying to get her mother to speak but, seemingly, without success. It was then that he alerted his wife who, in turn, alerted Martha Anderson Dungar.
Police & Doctor’s Evidence
A local Police Sergeant and Police Constable attended the property, as did Dr Richard Allen of Attleborough. They reported their observations (including the post mortem results) to the inquest jury.
Police Constable Knights stated that he had seen Anna Eliza Rix around 5pm on the day she died. She had told the constable that she had recently had a premature confinement. This fact was confirmed by the post mortem.
Verdict
The inquest found that Anna Eliza Rix tragically died of heart failure. This resulted from a blood clot getting into the pulmonary artery, following the birth or early confinement.
Anna was laid to rest in the churchyard of St James, Great Ellingham on the 9th May, 1903.
Anna’s Tragic Life
We know very little about Anna’s life apart from the details recorded in the parish registers, the census returns and the newspaper articles which reported on the inquest.
However, we know that she herself was born illegitimate. By the age of 6, she had ‘lost’ her mother as well as the man whom she would have looked to as her father. In any event, George Edwards may well have been Anna’s biological father.
Further her grandmother (with whom Anna lived with from the age of 6), died when Anna was 15. Likely it was then that Anna became her step-grandfather’s housekeeper.
Limited Life Choices
There is no doubt that Anna received some schooling. However, she may well have left school by the age of 10 with just basic education. Life choices and opportunities in Victorian times were not as they are today – and, even less so for girls.
Children
Anna was months away from her 16th birthday when she gave birth to Olive in her step-grandfather’s home in Church Street.
She was 18 when Herbert was born in the workhouse at the beginning of January 1899. Anna was back in the workhouse in 1900 when Ethel Maud was born.
Brother
From at least the age of 6, Anna lived apart from her brother George. Did Anna have any contact with her brother after the death of George and Louisa Edwards? Was George William Edwards a full-blood brother or half-brother to Anna?
Support
I have no doubt that Anna was not the only unmarried mother in the village. But how were unmarried mothers and their illegitimate children viewed by the community?
Without support from family and friends (and perhaps ‘poor relief’), many of these women and children will have found life very hard.
Living with her Step-Grandfather
What was life like for Anna and her children living with William Kerrison? She had, of course, known her step-grandfather (and lived in his house) for most of her life.
At the inquest, William Kerrison stated that he was not aware of Anna having any early confinements, also adding that he was not present at any of them.
Nonetheless, another witness (who it seems was the father of one of Anna’s children) mentions that Anna had suffered two early confinements. One had happened in his presence two weeks’ earlier (before Anna’s death).
In any event, however many confinements or early confinements that Anna may have had, these must have been distressing and difficult times for her.
What happened to Anna’s children?
I wondered what happened to Anna’s children after their mother’s untimely death. After all, when their mother died, Olive Eliza was only 6 and Herbert James 4.
Olive
At the time of the 1911 census, Olive Rix (then 13) is boarding with 39 year old widow Martha Stearnes in Acton near Sudbury in Suffolk.
Emigration to Canada
However a year later and at the age of 15, Olive is one of many girls of a similar age onboard the ‘Corsican‘ bound for Canada. These girls were some of the many ‘Church of England Waifs & Strays‘ who were sent to Canada.
The ‘Corsican‘ arrived in Quebec, Canada on the 13th May, 1912. The group then made their way to Niagara-on-the-Lake.
It certainly seems that Olive’s emigration was a success. The national census of 1921 finds her working as a domestic servant at the home of Frank and Clara McEachrea in Whitney Avenue SS, North Toronto.
Marriage
A year later, on the 28th June, 1922, 24 year old Olive Elizabeth Rix marries widower John Wesley Curry in Toronto. John already had a daughter Viola and son Wesley.
Emigration to the USA
In 1924, the Curry family moved to the United States of America.
The 1930 census finds 29 year old John W Curry, his wife 32 year old Olive E and children Viola E aged 16, Wesley H 14, Jane E aged four years and eleven months, and five month old Caroline A, at Poplar Place, Lyons, Cook, Illinois. John is working in plumbing and heating.
By 1940, the Curry family had moved to Clarendon Hills, DuPage, Illinois. Only their daughters Jane aged 14 and 10 year old Caroline are living with them.
Final Home in Florida
The 1950 census captures John and Olive with their youngest daughter Caroline (now 20), living in Hollywood, Broward, Florida.
Olive Eliza Curry (nèe Rix) born on the 13th August, 1896 in a cottage in Church Street, Great Ellingham, Norfolk, England, died on the 15th February, 1955, in Polk County, Florida, USA.
She is buried in the County’s Silver Hill Cemetery. Olive’s husband, John Wesley Curry, outlived her by around 28 years. He died in May 1983.
Herbert
Unfortunately, I have not (as yet) been able to find out what happened to Olive’s brother, Herbert James Rix. The hope is that he too had a much better life than his mother before him.
Author’s Note
Whilst this is a story of Anna’s short life and, on the face of it, a life full of difficulties, it also highlights some of the struggles that many women endured during that particular time.
I also understand that the content could be disturbing for living descendants. I have written Anna’s story with the blessing of a family member. In fact, the family member encouraged me to write and share Anna’s story. However, it is possible that Anna has living descendants. Accordingly, if you are a descendant and wish me to redact any part of this story, please do get in touch via the contact page.
Sources:
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office.PD/609. Also available at www.familysearch.org and www.ancestry.co.uk
City Population website
UK Parliament website: The 1870 Education Act
1878 Harrod’s Directory. Attleborough Heritage Group
1881 census RG11/1974/96
1891 census RG12/1549/69
1901 census RG13/1867/70
1911 census RG14/10537/120
England, Norfolk Poor Law Union Records, 1796-1900. Norfolk, Wayland. Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2024. Record Office, Norwich
GRO Index. Also available FreeBMD website
Death Certificates – Louisa Charlotte Edwards & George Edwards. PDF image obtained from GRO
8 May 1903. Eastern Daily Press
9 May 1903. Norwich Mercury
Newspapers viewed via The British Newspaper Archive
Ontario, Canada Marriages 1826-1940. Olive Elizabeth Rix.
Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 600
Ancestry.com and Genealogical Research Library (Brampton, Ontario, Canada). Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1826-1940 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
1921 census of Canada. Reference Number: RG 31; Folder Number: 90; Census Place: Toronto North (ward 2), Toronto North, Ontario; Page Number: 18. Ancestry.com. 1921 Census of Canada [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2013.
1930 United States Federal Census. Year: 1930; Census Place: Lyons, Cook, Illinois; Page: 22B; Enumeration District: 2184; FHL microfilm: 2340237
Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.
1940 United States Federal Census. Year: 1940; Census Place: Clarendon Hills, DuPage, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00797; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 22-36 Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
1950 United States Federal Census. National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Hollywood, Broward, Florida; Roll: 6193; Page: 4; Enumeration District: 6-81
Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2022.
Find a Grave Index, 1600s to current. In the US. Olive Eliza Curry. Ancestry.com. U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Find a Grave. Find a Grave®. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi.
Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935. Olive Rix. Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, ON, Canada; Passenger Lists, 1865-1935; Series: RG 76-C; Roll: T-4784 Ancestry.com. Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.
Canada, WWI CEF Attestation Papers, 1914-1918. John Wesley Curry.Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Canada; Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918). Ancestry.com. Canada, World War I CEF Attestation Papers, 1914-1918 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006. Images are used with the permission of Library and Archives Canada.