Eliza Rix was 33 years old when her husband Thomas Rix died at the age of 76 in February, 1870.
The couple had been married nearly 17 years during which time Eliza had given birth to 7 known children. Sadly, Thomas and Eliza’s youngest child (and only son), Benjamin Robert, died at just one year old. The family lived in Long Street.
Thomas and Eliza shared the same family name and were related.
In 1851, 14 year old Sedgeford born Eliza is working as a housekeeper for Thomas Rix in Great Ellingham. The census of that year gives Eliza’s relationship to Thomas as ‘niece’. However I believe that the relationship between the couple was more likely to be great uncle and great niece!
1871 census
A year after her husband’s death, the 1871 census captures 34 year old widow and ‘retired farmer’ Eliza Rix living in Long Street, where she had been living with her late husband.
With Eliza are five of her surviving six daughters. Emma Elizabeth is now 18, Mary Ann 16, Elizabeth Victoria 11, Anna Eliza 9 and Louisa Charlotte aged 7. Eliza’s other daughter, 11 year old Susannah Maria, is at the home of Eliza’s father, Benjamin Rix, in Sedgeford.
28 year old unmarried labourer, William Kerrison, is lodging with Eliza and her daughters.
Former Neighbour
Ten years earlier, the 1861 census reveals 16 year old agricultural labourer William Kerrison with his mother Elizabeth Chaplin (nèe Kerrison) and step-father cattle dealer John Chaplin either living next door or very near to the household of Thomas and Eliza Rix.
Marriage
Perhaps it is no surprise to find that young widow Eliza Rix married her slightly younger lodger William Kerrison.
Church of St James, Great Ellingham
The wedding took place in St James’s Church, Great Ellingham on the 12th January, 1873.
William Kerrison
Born in 1844 in Great Ellingham to single woman Elizabeth Kerrison, William may well have been born at his maternal grandmother’s home in Church Street.
1851 census
The 1851 census captures 6 year old William with his 26 year old unmarried mother Elizabeth Kerrison and 67 year old widowed grandmother Elizabeth Kerrison in Church Street.
Widow Elizabeth Kerrison is the former Elizabeth Leath, a daughter of Alice (nèe Clarke) and Richard Leath. Alice once ran The Crown in Church Street, firstly with Richard Leath and then with her second husband, William Jessup.
Elizabeth Kerrison’s husband, Edmund Kerrison, had died in 1836.
Life may well have been a struggle for William’s mother and grandmother. At the time of the 1851 census, widow Elizabeth Kerrison is receiving parish relief and her daughter (William’s mother Elizabeth), is working as a dressmaker.
William’s Mother Elizabeth Kerrison
Nevertheless on the 18th December, 1857, 31 year old Elizabeth Kerrison married local dealer 28 year old John Chaplin in St James’s Church. Just weeks later in January 1858, Elizabeth’s mother, Elizabeth Kerrison, died at the age of 75.
Likely William continued to live with his mother and his step-father until his mother’s death at the age of 40 in June 1864.
By 1871, William Kerrison (then aged 28) is lodging with young widow Eliza Rix and her daughters.
William & Eliza Kerrison
I am unclear as to exactly where in Great Ellingham William and Eliza Kerrison lived after their marriage in 1873. However I have no doubt that at least some of Eliza’s daughters also continued to live with their mother and step-father.
Tragic Death of Two Daughters
In the summer of 1879, Eliza and her family suffered great heartache.
17 year old Anna Eliza Rix died on the 7th July, 1879. Her step-father, William Kerrison, was with Anna when she died. Her cause of death was gastric fever.
Tragically another of Eliza’s daughters, 23 year old Mary Ann Rix, died a few days later on the 15th July. Mary Ann’s sister, Bessie (Elizabeth) Rix was with her when she died. Her cause of death was also gastric fever, but she also had bronchitis. The sisters were buried in the churchyard of St James.
Both died from typhoid. What was the cause of the sisters’ sickness?
Poor hygiene or, perhaps, contaminated water? It was, of course, a time when the inhabitants of Great Ellingham were reliant on the many wells dotted around the village for their water supply. Further, waste disposal and general sanitation was not as it is today.
Other members of the Kerrison/Rix household (and perhaps neighbours), may also have been affected by the fever, but recovered.
1881 census
Chequers Lane & The Street corner
Postcard Carol Ewin
I believe William Kerrison’s home to be one of the small cottages on the right (facing the road)
The national head-count of 1881 finds 36 year old William Kerrison and his 42 year old wife Eliza living in a three-roomed dwelling in Church Street. Were they already living in this house when Eliza’s daughters died of typhoid the previous year? I think they probably were.
With the couple is Eliza’s youngest daughter, 17 year old Louisa C Rix and Louisa’s four month old daughter, Anna Eliza. No doubt the infant was named after Louisa’s deceased sister Anna Eliza. Sadly, this Anna Eliza Rix would also have a tragic short life.
Charlotte Edwards nèe Rix
Two weeks’ after the 1881 census, Eliza’s daughter Louisa Charlotte Rix married local man, George Edwards. This left William and Eliza Kerrison living alone in the 3-roomed dwelling in Church Street.
However by the time of the next census, Eliza would suffer more heartache when her daughter Louisa C Edwards died of phthisis (tuberculosis) in Hingham on the 31st July, 1887. Just a few weeks’ later, Louisa’s husband, George Edwards, died of the same disease.
George and Louisa Edwards left two young children – Louisa’s daughter Anna Eliza Rix and a son, George William Edwards. George went to live with his paternal grandparents Jeremiah and Sarah Edwards in Bow Street. Anna Eliza returned to her maternal grandmother’s home in Church Street.
1891 census
The census of 1891 finds William and Eliza Kerrison still living in Church Street. With them is Eliza’s 10 year old granddaughter, Anna Eliza. Now aged 47, William Kerrison is working as an agricultural labourer.
Death of Eliza Kerrison nèe Rix, formerly Rix
Eliza Kerrison died at the age of 60 in 1896. She was buried in the churchyard of Great Ellingham Parish Church on the 6th April, 1896.
Children of Anna Eliza Rix
Within a few months of her grandmother’s death, Anna Eliza Rix gave birth to Olive Rix in the home she shared with her step-grandfather, William Kerrison.
Wayland Union Workhouse, Rockland All Saints
Courtesy Liz Barrett
Just days into the New Year of 1899, Anna gave birth to Herbert James Rix in the workhouse at Rockland All Saints. Another child was born to Anna, again in the workhouse at Rocklands, during 1900. Sadly, this child did not survive.
1901 census
The census of 1901 finds widower William Kerrison still living in a 3-roomed dwelling.
Although the census states the Kerrison household to be in ‘Town Green’, I have no doubt that it was the same house which he had shared with his late wife Eliza since at least 1881. This particular census shows the area known as Town Green to extend to the area just into Church Street from Long Street/Chequers Lane.
Living with William Kerrison is his late wife’s granddaughter, Anna Rix, and her two children Olive 4 and Herbert 2. At 20, Anna is housekeeping for her step-grandfather.
Death of Anna Eliza Rix
On the 5th May, 1903, Anna Eliza Rix tragically died at her home in Church Street, the very same house in which she was born some 22 years earlier.
An inquest (at which her step-grandfather William Kerrison gave evidence), found that Anna Eliza Rix died of heart failure. This resulted from a blood clot getting into the pulmonary artery, following a birth or early confinement.
Anna Eliza was laid to rest in the churchyard of St James, Great Ellingham on the 9th May, 1903.
Birth & Death in Church Street
The 1911 census captures 66 year old widower and district roadman Willliam Kerrison still living in the 3-roomed dwelling in Church Street. However William is not alone – he has a new housekeeper.
37 year old single woman Sarah Watling is now keeping house for William Kerrison. She has two children, William 18 and Florence 12.
William Kerrison died in Great Ellingham in the April of 1913, at the age of 68. He probably died in his home in Church Street, which may not be very far from where he was born in Church Street in 1844.
Sources:
Great Ellingham Parish Registers Norfolk Record Office PD 609. Also available at www.familysearch.org and www.ancestry.co.uk
1851 census HO107/1823/132
1861 census RG9/1237/95
1871 census RG10/1841/92
1881 census RG11/1974/96
1891 census RG12/1549/69
1901 census RG13/1867/70
1911 census RG14/11473/127
Images of Death Register Entries – 1879 Anna Eliza Rix & Mary Ann Rix, 1887 Louisa C Edwards & George Edwards obtained from The General Record Office online. https://www.gov.uk/general-register-office
England, Norfolk Poor Law Union Records, 1796-1900. Norfolk, Wayland. Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2024. Record Office, Norwich
8 May 1903. Eastern Daily Press
9 May 1903. Norwich Mercury
Newspapers viewed via The British Newspaper Archive