THE BLOWER FAMILY OF WEASENHAM
JAMES BLOWER.
James Blower was born in 1807. We do not know where James was originally from, but the village of Ashill, a few miles south of Swaffham and about twenty miles south of Weasenham had a thriving population of the Blower family for several generations. James may have been born there and indeed a James Blower was born on 20th July 1807 to Thomas Blower and Alice nee Alcock. This could be our James.
In 1825 James married Mary Mann on Christmas Eve at Houghton St Giles. Witnesses were John Mann and Thomas Large. This could indicate that James was some distance away from his family or that one or both of his parents had died. In a rural area with little population movement it would be normal for a family member to have been a witness. Whatever the circumstances, this means that James is the starting point for the Blower family from Weasenham.
The village of Weasenham All Saints.
The villages of Weasenham are believed to date back to the Bronze Age and were certainly recorded in the Doomsday Book. The name of Weasenham could originate from the Anglo Saxon “waes” which means water or wet soil, and “ham” meaning a hamlet or village. Another theory is that it is from Old English and was originally “Wissa’s homestead”. There are two separate civil parishes, Weasenham St Peter and Weasenham All Saints, although they have been united for ecclesiastical purposes for many centuries. Weasenham All Saints, once called Upper Weasenham, is the older of the two villages. It was an agricultural village and wheat, barley, hay and turnips were grown in the surrounding fields.
The1841 census shows that the men of the village were mainly agricultural labourers, but there was a scattering of other tradesmen such as a carpenter, butcher, bricklayer and shoemaker. Whites directory for 1845 records the village as covering just under 2000 acres and having 363 inhabitants. The Earl of Leicester was Lord of the Manor and to all intents and purposes he owned the village. The village had three farmers, two blacksmiths and two shopkeepers, one of whom was also a tailor. The village pub was The Ostrich.
The Ostrich public house, with a pond in front of it, was originally a smithy. William Brunton, the tenant, was granted a licence in 1832 by the Earl of Leicester. The Brunton family stayed at the pub until 1877 and there was a blacksmith in the building for the rest of the century. Both he and the village wheelwright used the pond for their business.
The other pub in the village was the White House, which was opposite the village green. At one time this was also known as the White Horse. In the mid 1880’s it was a beer house, but also a schoolroom. It later became a post office.
For those who preferred water to beer, the pump outside the Police House was the place to get fresh water.
On the Massingham Road was a post windmill. The first miler and baker that James Blower would have known was Thomas Carr who died in 1836. Francis Jekell took his place but he died in 1848. Next was John Ewer who worked the mill for twenty years but was declared bankrupt in 1868. The next year the mill was demolished.
The 1851 census included a dressmaker and a straw bonnet maker but generally not much had changed. The 1861 census included two notable additions; a shepherd, which could indicate an increase in pastoral farming in the area, and a police constable who lived on Church Hill. Whites 1854 directory revealed few changes although there was now a druggist and shoemaker named William Knox. A coach could be taken to Wells from outside The Ostrich on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. For the more adventurous, or more wealthy, a coach could be taken to London on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
In 1859 land was given to the vicar and churchwardens of the Parish of All Saints for a school to be built. The school was to be “a school for the education of children and adults or children only of the labouring manufacturing and other poorer classes in the Parishes of Weasenham All Saints and Weasenham St Peter”. When first built the school, which had a house attached, had over a hundred names on the attendance register. The mock Elizabethan style building cost £900 to build.
The 1884 Whites directory shows that things had changed slightly. A little over three miles away was Rudham railway station. The railway boom had reached rural Norfolk. The horse and cart was still common though and the carrier services had not been replaced by the railway. On Tuesdays a carrier service ran to The Plough at Kings Lynn and on Thursdays to The Bell at Fakenham. The village principles included four farmers, a shopkeeper and carrier, a schoolmistress, a shoemaker, a grocer, a tailor/parish clerk and a victualler/blacksmith. In addition to the small church were two chapels, a Wesleyan and a Primitive Methodist, which had been built in the 1870’s.
Baptisms and Funerals.
William and Mary soon started a family with Weasenham All Saints church hosting a series of baptisms. On 19th November 1826, William was baptised, followed on 25th December 1828 by Mary Ann and on 29th August 1830 by Caroline Jane. Sadly Caroline Jane died at 29 weeks old and was buried at Weasenham All Saints on 25th February 1831. The next church event was a baptism for Robert on 15th January 1832. The next church event was another funeral as young Mary Ann was buried on 16th December 1833.
Traumatic as it seems today, losing two young children was not so unusual in the 1800’s when infant mortality rates were much higher and outbreaks of disease were still common. However, worse was to come for James. In 1835 his wife Mary died at the age of 29 and she too was buried at Weasenham church. James had a very short period of mourning though. On 19th December 1836 he marries Mary Thomas at South Rainham, or South Raynham as it is spelt today. Their first child, Mary Ann, was born in Weasenham, but baptised at South Raynham on 8th January 1837. Naming a child after an earlier deceased sibling was not unusual. The couple’s next child was Alice, who was born in Weasenham All Saints in 1839. She was followed by James who was baptised at Weasenham on 6th December 1840.
The 1840’s.
James was now 35 years old. With his first wife he had had four children, two of whom had died and he had had three children with his second wife. The 1841 census shows the family living in Weasenham All Saints; 35 year old James, an agricultural labourer, 30 year old Mary, 15 year old William, 10 year old Robert, 4 year old Mary Ann, 2 year old Alice and 6 month old James.
More children followed. George was born in 1843, probably followed by Thomas. On 17th September 1846, a 16 month old child named Thomas Blower was buried at Weasenham All Saints. It is likely that James and Mary were the parents although a parish record for the birth could not be found. In 1847 the second daughter named Mary Ann suffers the same fate as her younger sibling – she dies at six years old. She was buried on 11th August at Weasenham All Saints.
The next death in the family was another significant one. James Blower died and was buried at Weasenham All Saints on 3rd February 1849. His death at 42 years of age must have had a significant effect on the family’s ability to support themselves. His widow Mary became a servant and her younger children went to live with Robert, one of James’s children from his first marriage.
From Weasenham to Australia.
Perhaps the death of James caused problems for his son William. It may have been poverty that led him to steal and sadly for him he was caught. On 4th July 1849 William Blower was found guilty on two counts of larceny [theft] and given six months imprisonment on each count by the Swaffham assizes. On 16th October 1850 he was again at the Swaffham assizes charged with larceny, with the comment that he had been convicted of two felonies on a previous occasion. He may have had even more convictions as the Norfolk News of 2nd October reported the following; “William Blower, 22, of stealing at Tilney All Saints, a mug and a towel, the property of Mr George Stern: and a blue checked apron, the property of Mr Joseph Neaps. Having been four times previously convicted of felony he was sentenced to 14 years transportation”. He was an unmarried labourer, 5 feet 2 inches tall with a fresh complexion and of slight build. He had light brown hair, grey eyes and a burn scar on the back of his left hand. He was a protestant. Having been convicted in October 1850 it was 30th April 1852 before he left for Australia so he would have spent an initial 18 months in prison. He arrived in Australia on board the "William Jardine" on 4th August 1852, along with 211 other convicts.
This 671 ton ship was built in Liverpool in 1836. She [boats are always she, even when they are called William Jardine!] was employed as a convict transport and left Plymouth, England on May 3, 1852 bound for the Swan River Colony. She carried the seventh of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. The voyage took 88 days and the William Jardine arrived in Fremantle on August 1, 1852 with 102 passengers and 212 convicts. James Raiff and James Donnelly were the captain and surgeon respectively.
Life on board would not have been pleasant for the convicts. They were kept behind bars on the prison deck, with little fresh air or daylight. They slept on hammocks in crowded conditions and were only occasionally allowed on deck for exercise and fresh air. Ill health and even death were not uncommon although there were no deaths on this particular trip. A surgeon and a religious instructor were on board, as were prison warders and in many cases Pensioner Guards. Conventional prison warders were employed to guard the convicts on board and to oversee them when they arrived in Australia. Pensioner Guards acted as additional prison warders for the duration of the voyage. The William Jardine carried 102 passengers and 95 of those were Pensioner Guards and their families.
In 1850 the British Government started sending out military pensioners, Pensioner Guards, to Australia. They were offered ten acres of land which they could lease for seven years and then own. They could use convict labour to clear the land and were also given a £10 gratuity. They were not retained as permanent convict guards and many sought work amongst the free settlers in Australia. Many soldiers of this period were from working class backgrounds and although theoretically cared for by the army they had to pay for many of life’s essentials such as food and laundry, not to mention beer. It is not surprising that most of those offered a free voyage to a new country, six months employment and free land decided to accept the offer. By the time this policy ended in 1864 the retired soldiers and their families had boosted the population of Western Australia by more than 2000.
The 1850’s.
The census shows 41 year old Mary living as a nurse/servant with the Boulter family in Great Massingham. In the household were William Boulter, wife Susan, young son John and widowed Mary Boulter, presumably William’s mother.
When James lost his first wife, he seemed to have a short period of mourning and now his second wife returned the favour! Parish records show that Mary Blower had a “base born” son who was baptised as Anthony Jones Blower on 19th September 1852. This seems to be the child who on later census records was known as Thomas and it is possible that his given name perhaps had some relevance to his father. The name of Thomas could be another example of naming a child after a deceased sibling and it seems that Anthony Jones Blower was a short lived name that changed to Thomas Blower.
In 1853 James and Marys son Robert marries Sarah Beek. It was possibly at this time that Roberts sister and brothers went back to live with their mother. On 8th October 1854 Robert and Sarah’s first child, Anna Maria, was baptised at Weasenham St Peter. The parish record states that Robert was a labourer. Three years later a sibling, James was baptised at Weasenham All Saints on 19th April 1857. Three years later and another child, William, was added to the family.
On the other side of the world William Blower was behaving himself. He received a ticket of leave on 11th May 1854. He was later given permission to marry and tied the knot with Sara Farrell on 31st January 1856 at the Perth Roman Catholic residence. The chaplain was Martin Griver. Sara’s parents were Thomas and Mary, who were Irish. At the time of his marriage William was 28 years old and Sara was 41. William was working for Walter Liddelow at a place known as The Canning. [Many years later the property was a rehab centre for alcoholics, owned by the Salvation Army, and later became a retirement village].
It seems that William was settling down and working hard so it is ironic that he himself became the victim of a crime. In 1856, the 3rd October issue of the Perth Gazette reported the following;
“John Clarkson, charged with house breaking, and stealing a pair of Wellington boots, and wearing apparel, the property of William Blower, at the Canning. William Blower, sworn, said, I am in the service of Mr Edward Middleton at the Canning In the month of September last, I and my wife slept in a hut in Mr Middleton's paddock about ¼ of a mile from his house, but took our meals at his house. When I left my hut of a morning I used to fasten the door with a padlock. On the 20th September last, while I was at Mr Middleton's, a native woman informed me that my hut had been broken open. In consequence of what she told me I left the sheep and went to my hut. I found that some boards which I had nailed on to the top of the door had been wrenched off so as to leave an opening sufficient for a man to get in. I got in myself by that opening and found that my box had been opened and that two cotton shirts, a pair of moleskin trousers, an alpaca coat, a pair of Wellington boots and two waistcoats had been carried off. My wife then informed me that she had that morning seen a man in the paddock with a white straw hat and a bundle under his arm. I set off on horseback to Perth. Police constable Barron overtook me and rode in with me to Perth. When we got over the causeway we saw police constable Kenny, the tollhouse keeper, who said he had that day seen a man pass with a straw hat, a pair of wellington boots on, and a kangaroo skin bundle at his back. I and Barron rode up to Green's, where we found the prisoner. I saw he had a pair of Wellington boots, I asked him to roll up his trousers that I might see them. He refused to do so. I then turned his trousers up and examined the boots and knew them to be my own. The boots now produced are the same. He had a kangaroo-skin bundle which was searched by myself, and I found in it the two cotton shirts, two waistcoats, pair of moleskin trousers and an alpaca coat, the same articles as are now produced, all of which I swear to be my-property. The prisoner had lived as cook at Mr Middleton's while I was in Mr Middleton's service. Cross-examined by Prisoner, I never suspected the prisoner's honesty before. John Barron, Police Constable, sworn said, on the 20th Sept., last, while on my return from the Canning to Perth, I overtook the last witness Blower riding on his way to Perth, this witness confirmed in all respects the evidence of Blower as to what occurred subsequently to finding Prisoner in Green's House. Prisoner in his defence said I was on my way from Perth to Mr Lazenby's at the Canning, to get employment, when I met a man who told me that Mr Lazenby did not want a man, I then turned back towards, Perth and turned aside to an old saw pit to look for some water, I found no water but found the articles now produced lying about the saw pit, I put on, the boots and took away all the other articles and went to Greens' House, when, Blower and the Constable came in, I gave up the things when Blower claimed them. Verdict-Guilty Sentence six years penal servitude”.
William was granted a conditional pardon in March 1857. Later that year, on 30th November his only child was born, a daughter named Bridget. William and Sara moved to a farm called Stoke Cross. This was in Maddington, Western Australia and consisted of 380 acres. Stokeley railway crossing was named after the farm and the creek which joins Canning River is called Stoke Creek. The railway and the creek both ran through the property, as did Albany Road, which is now known as Albany Highway. William went into business with Benjamin Mason and William Helms. The latter was an overseer of all the farms in the area. William grew food for the men and animals working on nearby Masons Timber Mills.
The 1861 census and two more weddings.
Mary was now re-united with her children and the Blower family were living at 46 Farm Cottages, Weasenham All Saints. With 53 year old Mary were 22 year old Alice, 20 year old James, an agricultural labourer, 18 year old George, an agricultural labourer and 9 year old Thomas.
Robert and Sarah, with their children Anna, James and William, were all living at Weasenham too, possibly at Common End. Robert was still an agricultural labourer.
In 1861 James [James and Mary’s son, not Robert and Sarah’s youngster of the same name.], was still living with his parents in Weasenham, but within the next few years he must have moved to Whisonsett. On 7th January 1865 he married Frances Griffin at St Marys, Whisonsett. The parish record shows that bride and groom were both living in the parish and also reveals that they both signed with an x so were not able to write. The witnesses were James’ siblings George and Alice. Frances was born in Tittleshall in 1841 and her bricklayer father was born in Gayton. The wedding may have been a little late as James and Frances had their first daughter, Mary, in 1864, in Whisonsett! A son Anthony Thomas, known as Thomas, was baptised at Weasenham All Saints on 22nd April 1866. Census records imply that both children were born in Whisonsett and it may be that they were born there, but baptised at Weasenham. It was around this time that the family moved as their next child, Olive, was baptised on 5th April 1868 in Terrington. At that time James was a labourer. It is possible that he swapped the traditional agricultural labouring for a similar job on the fruit farms around Terrington. A daughter Harriet was born later that year.
Death Down Under.
Having settled and worked hard in Australia, fate was to intervene for William Blower. On 21st October 1867 he was washing sheep when he was attacked by a ram. The ram hit him so hard that he was knocked unconscious and drowned. The Inquirer and Commercial News reported that “the poor fellow was in a most singular manner charged at by a ram, inflicting such severe injuries upon him that he was quite overcome, and before assistance arrived he was drowned”.
His widow, Sarah, had no choice but to sell all their possessions including stock, grain, harnesses and furniture. From the proceeds she, along with Helms and Mason, had to pay Queen Victoria £800 in death duties, leaving her with £400. The Perth Gazette of 22nd November 1867 carried an advertisement stating: “William Blower, Deceased. ALL persons having claims or demands on the estate of William Blower, late of Stoke, Canning River, deceased, are requested forthwith to send the particulars to Mr. Thomas Helms, of Perth; and all persons indebted to the estate are also requested to pay such debts to the said Thomas Helms, whose receipt will be a sufficient discharge. SARAH BLOWER, Administratrix. Witness-E. Middleton”.
William was buried at the Kenwick Pioneer Cemetery off the Albany Highway. William Helms was later buried next to him.
More Crime.
Like his brother William, James also had some criminal tendencies. In the spring of 1868 a robbery took place at West Hall, Gayton. A large haul including wine and candlesticks was removed. In May 1868 the warehouse of John Ward, a draper, was broken into at Weasenham St Peter. A large quantity of fabric was taken; five yards of Bedford cord, four wrappers of cashmere, two pairs of velvet cord trousers, eight leather boots, four yards of black cloth, five yards of black doe skin, twenty yards of white calico, two damask table cloths, two black caps, five yards of worsted, eight yards of muslin, five yards of llama wool, twelve yards of black silk and six yards of plaid flannel. In July four “suspicious looking characters” were arrested at Terrington, where James Blower lived. Noah Harrison, Robert Goodman, James Bailey and James Blower were apprehended whilst in possession of some of the stolen goods. The arrest must have been pre planned as the arresting officers were Superintendent Seaman of Terrington, Inspector Murrell of Litcham, PC Taylor of Weasenham and PC Watson of Terrington – not an assortment of policemen who would normally be on patrol together! Noah Harrison’s brother James was also subsequently arrested. Robert Goodman, Noah Harrison and James Blower all pleaded guilty to breaking and entering the warehouse. James Bailey and James Harrison pleaded not guilty to receiving stolen goods and both were found not guilty. The stolen goods were stored in the house that Noah and James Harrison lived in and the latter may genuinely have been innocent. Robert Goodman and Noah Harrison both received a sentence of eight months imprisonment with hard labour, and presumably James Blower received the same sentence. James Blower was further charged with receiving stolen goods and for this he received three months imprisonment with hard labour.
The warehouse burglary must have been carefully planned. James was now living at Terrington, twenty miles away from Weasenham. Did he visit his family for the day, before committing the crime? If so then how did he explain the presence of his colleagues? Or did they all make their way over at night, with a horse and cart to carry the goods? This was a round trip of forty miles.
The hard labour on James prison sentence would have been just that. He may have had to break rocks into pebbles with a sledge hammer and then move his pile of pebbles from one place to another. He would almost certainly have spent hours on a treadmill, or using a crank. This was a totally useless crank, which did not connect to anything, but which the prisoner had to turn thousands of times in a day. This could be made more difficult by the prison warders tightening it up. This is where the expression “turning the screw” and the nickname of prison warders, “screws”, come from. Despite the hard labour James must have been relieved to have got off so lightly, perhaps due in part to the recent end of transportation to Australia. His crime seems to have been pre planned and on a much larger scale than his brother William’s petty theft, which resulted in transportation. If James had committed his crimes a few years earlier he would probably have joined William in Australia.
A year later and William and James younger brother Thomas is also in trouble, although to a much lesser degree. Along with Alfred Websdale and William Carr he was fined five shillings with costs of ten shillings and two pence for being drunk after midnight. All three were also charged with damaging a fence belonging to farmer Henry Overman. For this they all had to pay a two pence penalty, four pence for damages and costs of nine shillings and six pence.
Another wedding and the parish of Heigham.
In 1868 George Blower marries Maria Griffin who was born in Tittleshall in 1846. The marriage took place in Norwich. George’s brother, James, had married Maria’s sister Frances a few years earlier. The couple soon have two children, Hannah May, born in 1868 and Robert George born in 1870. Both children were born in Heigham.
Heigham is a parish on the west side of Norwich, which has long since been absorbed into the expanded city. The main road to the centre of Norwich from the west of the county passed through Heigham so it would have been quite a busy area at the time the Blowers lived there. Part of this road was once called Upper Westwick Street, before changing its name to St Benedicts Street or Benedicts Street. It is possible that the Blowers lived at the same address as both street names appear on different census records for them. If they did actually move, then they did not move very far. A short distance to the north of these roads is the River Wensum which flows from its source in North West Norfolk, through Fakenham, Guist and Taverham and through Norwich until it meets the River Yare. Today the river at Heigham is not accessible to pleasure boats and is not as busy as the eastern end of the river but it would have been very busy in Victorian times. Wherries and other boats would have moored at corn merchants, builders merchants, silk mills and many other warehouses. Between its source and Heigham the river was home to over a dozen watermills, some of which still stand today. In the 1850’s there were two bath houses, a slaughterman and a fellmonger [a dealer in hides and skins] with premises alongside the river at Heigham. Also at Heigham was a mill known as New Mills. There had been mills here for centuries but at the beginning of the nineteenth century they were renovated and were part of the water supply for the city of Norwich. In 1897 the mills were rebuilt again and became part of the city sewerage system.
In July 1868 a young William Blower was in trouble. George Blower, who settled in Heigham, did not have a child called William, but this could be the son of Georges brother Robert, who may have been staying with his uncle. At about nine o clock that evening young William was back in the yard of the Royal Oak to fetch his sister [did she work at the pub?], when he was confronted by a shoemaker called Henry Thompson who told him to get out of the yard. He also told him to make less noise, to which William allegedly replied that he should make as much noise as he liked! When William didn’t comply Henry picked up a wooden linen prop and hit William on the arm and head. A witness said that he fell down and cried, but then jumped up and tried to hit Henry. William attended hospital to have his injuries dressed. When the matter came to court it became apparent that Henry Thompson had “softening of the brain”, could not walk far and was expected to end up in an asylum. Despite this he was found guilty and had to pay a fine and costs or face seven days in prison.
The Royal Oak was in Heigham Street and the landlord at the time was Frederick Armes. Many years later his daughter Jane married Charles Cobb who was Nick Cobb’s grand uncle.
On Christmas Eve 1899 a strange event occurred on St Benedicts Street. Ellen Parker was in a café when Horace Alfred Cox tried three times to shoot her. Having missed every time he shot himself instead and subsequently died in Norwich hospital!
The 1871 census and another wedding.
The original Blower family were living at 167 Barn Cottages, Weasenham All Saints; 65 year old Mary, 32 year old Alice, a dressmaker, 19 year old Thomas, 24 year old lodger John Thompson, a brick layer, and 21 year old lodger James Bloy, a blacksmith. John Thompson was soon to marry Alice.
Robert, Sarah and their family were living at 182 New Buildings, Weasenham All Saints. Robert was still an agricultural labourer and 14 year old son James and 11 year old son William also worked on a farm.
On the 13th April Alice Blower marries John Thompson at Weasenham All Saints. Witnesses to the wedding were Mary Ann Thompson and Thomas Blower, Alice’s mother and brother. John was a bricklayer, although the parish record for the wedding describes him as a mason. He was born in 1847 in nearby Tittleshall.
James and his family had moved a little way from Terrington and were now living at 38 Mill Road, West Walton. James was an agricultural labourer.
The census shows George Blower, an agricultural labourer, wife Maria and their two young children living at 43 Gladstone Street, Heigham. Lodging with them was 24 year old Police Constable Robert Reeve, who was born in Walsingham, Norfolk.
More children and more weddings.
Alice and John have a son William who was born in Weasenham in 1873. Two years later he is joined by a brother called John. After three years a sister Alice arrives and two years later a son George.
Alices’ brother James was also adding to his family. In 1872 twins Anna Jane, known as Annie, and Robert were born in West Walton. Their father James was now a groom. Anna Jane, Robert and Harriet were all baptised at St Marys, West Walton on 14th July 1872. A son Charles was born in West Walton and baptised on 9th August 1874 at St Marys. James was recorded on the baptism record as being a labourer again and not a groom. In 1876 a son, John was born in West Walton on 2nd July. He was baptised at St Marys on 30th July. Next came a son, named James after his father. He was baptised at St Marys on 26th May 1878, but died at three months old and was buried on 6th August. A year later, in 1879, Hester was born in West Walton. She was baptised on 13th July at St Marys. She was followed just a year later by Jeanette.
George Blower was adding to his family too. Between 1871 and 1879 Anna Maria, Herbert Ernest, Alice, George and Florence Rose were all born in Heigham.
Thomas Blower married Caroline Palmer in 1876 at Swaffham, or nearby. She was born in 1857 at North Pickenham. A daughter Eliza Ann was baptised at Weasenham All Saints on 26th November 1876. A second daughter Ellen, was born in 1879 at Sporle. Thomas died in 1880 at the age of thirty. In 1881 widowed Caroline was living with her father, a farm yardman at Pettygard Farm, Sporle. Both her children were with her. She re-married in 1890.
1879 saw the first of James Blower’s grandchildren’s weddings. William, the son of Robert and Sarah married Susan Parnell. She was from nearby Rougham, where her father was an agricultural labourer. Their first child, Sarah Ann was born in Rougham in 1879.
The 1881 census.
Elderly Mary was now a lodger with daughter Alice and her family at 1 Barn Cottages, Weasenham All Saints. The census describes 76 year old Mary as a pauper. Shortly after the census Mary died and was buried at Weasenham on 15th May 1881. Parish records state that she was 75 years old when she died, but the census record says 76! Alice’s’ husband John was a bricklayer and with the family were William aged 8, John aged 5, Alice aged 3 and George aged 7 months. John is a bricklayer
At the time of the census Robert, wife Sarah and 24 year old son James were living at 16 Barn Cottages, Weasenham All Saints. Robert and James were both agricultural labourers.
James was still an agricultural labourer living at West Walton. With him were wife Frances and all ten of their children.
Labourer George, wife Maria and their seven children were still living at 43 Gladstone Street, Heigham.
More children and two more weddings.
Between 1881 and 1888 George and Maria have four more children; James, Aveline, William Thomas and Albert.
In 1881 Anna Maria Blower, the granddaughter of our original James Blower, married Barnes Sillis, a labourer. A year later their daughter Sarah Ann was baptised at Great Massingham on 29th October. Another daughter, Martha Elizabeth was baptised at Great Massingham on 20th February 1885 and on 27th June the following year another baptism took place for Robert William.
On 26th November of the same year, 1881, Anna Maria’s brother James married Sarah Balders at Great Massingham. They remained at Great Massingham for nearly ten years but then moved to Nottingham with James becoming a miner.
Meanwhile Robert and Sarah continued to add to their family. Daughter Lydia was born in Rougham in 1881, son Robert James in Weasenham in 1886, son William in Weasenham in 1888 and son Walter in Weasenham in 1890. Walters birthday was on April Fools Day.
The 1891 census.
Robert and Sarah were living at 20 Barn Cottages, Weasenham All Saints.
Robert was still an agricultural labourer.
Robert’s sister Alice and her family were also living at Barn Cottages, Weasenham. John was still a bricklayer. William aged 18, John aged 15, Alice aged 13 and George aged 10 were all still living at home.
The 1891 census shows James and Frances living at West Walton, east of the common. James was still an agricultural labourer as were 25 year old Thomas and 14 year old John. 18 year old Robert, a bricklayer’s labourer, and 10 year old Jeanette were also still living at home. Next door were Mr and Mrs Porter with their 18 year old daughter. Strangely a 2 year old George Blower, born in West Walton, is listed as a visitor in that household. It is possible that he is an illegitimate child of one of the older Blower children, but he does not seem to appear on future census records and perhaps changed his name. It is also possible that the Porters daughter was his mother.
In Heigham George is now a marine store dealer with his own shop. He and his family are living at 92 Upper Westwick Street, Norwich. At home are; Hannah aged 22, a domestic, Herbert E aged 16, a painter’s apprentice, Alice aged 15, a domestic, George aged 13, Florence aged R 11, James aged 9, Aveline aged 8, William T aged 6 and Albert aged 1. The 1892 and 1896 Kellys directories both list George’s store at 92 St Benedicts Street.
Anna Maria and Barnes Sillis were living at Great Massingham with children Sarah Ann, Martha and Robert William. Barnes was an agricultural labourer.
Anna Maria's brother William, his wife and 5 children were living at 38 The Green Weasenham St Peter. William was an agricultural labourer.
The 1901 census.
Robert and Sarah were still living in Weasenham All Saints. At 68 years of age Robert was still an agricultural labourer. Sarah died in 1902 and was buried on 19th March at Weasenham All Saints. She was 73.
Alice and her bricklayer husband were also still living at Weasenham. Apart from 20 year old brick layer George the children have all left home. Lodging with them is John’s 72 year old father Robert Thompson.
63 year old James and 62 year old Frances were still at West Walton, with the census showing their address as 14 Walpole Highway. 33 year old Thomas, 26 year old Charles and 20 year old Jeanette were still living with their parents. James and son Charles are general labourers. No occupation is given for Jeanette and an illegible comment for Thomas. On this census is a note that says that Thomas was a cripple from childhood. This could perhaps be polio.
George is still a marine store dealer, now living at 74 St Benedict Street, Norwich. As well as wife Maria, several children are still living at home; Hannah M aged 32, working at home, Alice aged 25, trimmer/bookwork, George aged 23, Florence aged R 21, fitter, James aged 19, clicker bookwork, Aveline aged 18, working at home, William T aged 16, errand boy, Albert aged 11, Grandson Arthur E aged 7 and Granddaughter Ellen L aged 18 months. The latter were presumably the children of Hannah M. A clicker could be one of several trades, but in this instance it probably referred to someone who cut out the leather for making shoes. A year later in 1902 George died and Maria took over the business. She was listed accordingly in the
1904 Kellys directory. She died a few years later in1909.
William Blower, his wife, and children Robert, William, Walter, Alice and Rose were living at Weasenham All Saints. William and sons Robert and William were agricultural labourers. Eldest Daughters Sarah Ann and Lydia are no longer at home.
The youngest children had been born since the last census, Alice Mary in 1892 and Rose in 1896. William was still a labourer.
Anna Maria and Barnes were still at Great Massingham but Barnes was now a navvy on the railway. Their son Robert was still at home.
The Railway at Massingham.
The railway here was built as single track, not double track. It ran from Kings Lynn to Melton Constable, which was originally a small village but later became the base for the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway. The line was built and operated by The Lynn and Fakenham Railway, whose Act to build the line was passed on 13th July 1876. By October 1878 they had laid 2 ¾ miles of track from Kings Lynn and the line was completed as far as Great Massingham by July 1879. It was opened for traffic a month later on 16th August. From then until 6th August 1880 Massingham, as the railway referred to it, was the terminus of the line.
Massingham station had sidings for cattle pens, coal allotments and its goods shed. The goods shed was brick built with a pitched, tiled roof. Two double doors opened onto the platform for loading and there was an additional door at one end of the building. At Massingham the level crossing gates were worked from a gate cabin and a footbridge enabled passengers to cross from one platform to the other. The line then continued over West Rudham Common, passing three isolated gatekeepers cottages, on its way to East Rudham.
On the 6th August 1880 the line opened to Fakenham. On 19th January 1882 the line opened from Fakenham to Guestwick and on 1st July 1882 from Guestwick to Lenwade. Finally, on 2nd December 1882 the line extended from Lenwade to Norwich. A little over a year later The Lynn and Fakenham Railway became part of the Eastern & Midlands Railway, but on 1st July 1893 became part of The Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway. They were commonly known as The M&GN and also as “The Muddle and Get Nowhere”!
As the railway boom continued single tracks were not sufficient for the volume of traffic. The line between Fakenham and Raynham Park was doubled, opening on 18th June 1900. The line between Langor Bridge and Melton Constable was doubled opening on 2nd June 1901. Also on this section the original line near Thursford was abandoned and a new double line built on a fresh alignment. A new station was built at South Lynn which involved some major track and other work, opening on 14th April 1901. It was probably these expansions that gave Barnes the opportunity to become a navvy.
The 1911 census.
Widowed Alice Thompson, nee Blower, was 72 and still at Barn Cottages with grandson Alonzo aged 11 and granddaughter Grace aged 3. Her husband John had died in 1908.
James, Frances and son Thomas were living at Walton Highway. James was a labourer on a fruit farm.
In 1911 some of the Heigham branch of the Blower family were still at 74 Benedict Street. Head of the family was single 35 year old Alice who was a forewoman at a boot factory. Her sister Adeline was her housekeeper and her brothers William and Albert a marine stores labourer and a tailors cutter. James was not at home, but was a patient at the Fletcher Convalescent House in Cromer. His occupation on the census was listed as marine store dealer, so he had taken over the business when his mother died. The 1912 Kellys directory lists James Blower as a marine store dealer at 74 Benedict Street.
William and Sarah were still at Weasenham All Saints. William was a farm labourer. Also living at home were Walter, a farm labourer, Alice, a general servant and 14 year old Rose. This census reveals that the couple had seven surviving children and one who had died. This could have been either one of two unaccounted for children who had died young. An 18 month old Robert James Blower was buried at Weasenham All Saints on 21st January 1885 and a 7 week old Gladys May Blower was buried at Weasenham All Saints on 28th March 1898.
Retired Robert was living at no 10 the Gatehouse, West Rudham with his daughter Anna Maria and her husband Barnes Sillis who was a platelayer on the railways. Also living with them was Alice Mary Thompson a cousin to Barnes Sillis. She was 31 and single. Barnes was no longer a navvy, but was now a platelayer on the railway.
The Railway Again.
The railway platelayers worked in gangs, with each gang being responsible for a particular section of track, regularly walking the line and making any necessary repairs. Barnes may have had an easy life as his gang master was his cousin – Francis Sillis, who was a platelayers foreman living at Broomsthorpe Road, East Rudham. Platelayers’ huts were small huts beside the railway line used to store parts and provide shelter for the platelayers. They were sometimes made from railway sleepers stood on end with a flat roof sloping down to the back of the hut. The whole building was given a generous coat of creosote. Later huts were made of brick, and some of concrete. However the amount of gatekeeper’s cottages in the west of Norfolk meant that there were fewer platelayers huts than on most railways and Barnes may have used his own home for storage and shelter. It was not common for a platelayer to be given accommodation in a gatehouse and although no occupation is listed on the census it is probable that Anna Maria was employed as the gatekeeper.
Gatehouse 10 was one of three on the line between Massingham Station and East Rudham. The crossings they served were all on very minor single track roads with No 10 probably being the loneliest, so Anna Maria may not have been too busy. No 8 was nearest to Massingham and No 10 nearest East Rudham. All were built in timber in 1880 by the Lynn & Fakenham Railway. They were made of overlapping timber with small square front windows. They were built like small chalets, with an upper room with a dormer window fitted under the steeply tiled roofs. The M&GN rebuilt No’s 9 & 10 with concrete blocks, faced to look like stone, in 1915. No 10 is on the Weasenham Road and is now known as Fox Covert or Fox Covert Cottage with an address of Common Lane, West Rudham, PE31 8TF.
During the time that Barnes and Anna Maria were working on the railway the majority of goods traffic was unsurprisingly agricultural, consisting of livestock, grain and sugar beet. At Massingham Station horseboxes were often attached to the passenger trains heading to Kings Lynn. Coal was transported by train, with most stations having a siding especially for this from where a coal merchant supplied the local community. Fish from Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft was also transported on the railway. In addition to the local passenger traffic the early 1900’s saw an increase in holiday traffic, partly brought about by the railways ability to get people to the seaside. The summer would have seen an increase in trains passing through Massingham on the way to the north and east Norfolk coast. Many of these carried passengers from the Midlands.
Goods trains were often pulled by Midland Railway, Johnson 0-6-0 or Great Northern Railway Ivatt 0-6-0 locomotives. Locomotives used for passenger trains included Midland Railway, Johnson 4-4-0 and some ex Eastern & Midland Railway, Beyer Peacock 4-4-0. M&GN passenger locomotives were painted in a fairly unusual colour. Often referred to as yellow, it was really a light golden brown, lined [a thin stripe around the boiler sides, cab sides and tender sides] in black and yellow, with the section below the footplate a dark red, referred to as burnt sienna. Goods engines were less colourful and were painted dark brown. Barnes and Anna Maria would have seen the passengers coaches develop from 4 wheeled to 6 wheeled versions, although both look very small and old fashioned compared to the modern day equivalents.
The end of the Blowers at Weasenham.
James Blower of Weasenham had five children that survived to adulthood. With the exception of William, all of them stayed relatively local, with three of them remaining at Weasenham.
Robert lived all his life in Weasenham until he died in 1913. His daughter Anna Maria stayed in the area with her husband working on the railway [he died in 1934]. Robert’s son William also lived his life at Weasenham.
William died at a young age in Australia, but may have remained in the Weasenham area had circumstances not intervened.
Alice also spent her life in Weasenham. She died in 1912.
James settled in West Walton and died in 1919.
George settled in Heigham and died in 1902.
The Next Generations.
So far we have recorded James, his children and some of his grandchildren. Extending this to cover a few more of the family shows how the early 1900’s began to change things with more and more rural families moving to the cities and/or taking on jobs unconnected with agriculture.
There is a strange coincidence regarding the Blower family and marine stores. Olive Blower, the daughter of James who moved to West Walton married Robert Hobbs in 1888. At that time he was a railway servant. The couple moved to Fletton, probably because of Roberts work, but in 1901 Robert was a bricklayer. The 1910 and 1914 Kellys Directories record him as being a horse slaughterer, but despite this the 1911 census records him as a marine store dealer in Ramsey. He was working from home and two of his sons were working in the business too. Quite how he, or his Uncle George, acquired the knowledge or finance to set themselves up as marine store dealers is a mystery.
Olive’s brother Robert was a bricklayer, who remained in West Walton where he married and had a family. Another sibling, Hester, married Harry Sallabank. He was a wood sawyer and the family lived in Wisbech.
The children of George Blower had more variation. Whilst still in Norfolk, they were in a rapidly growing city, with a lot of industry. George’s son Robert married Maria Gooderham who was from Eye, Suffolk. Their first child was born there, but the couple initially settled in Norwich, with Robert working in the shoe industry. When they were in their late twenties, the family moved to Kilburn, Hampstead. Robert’s occupation is unclear on the census, but he is no longer a shoemaker. He is probably a carman, which is a driver of a horse drawn cart, typically one delivering parcels and often run by the railway companies. They seemed to go down the social ladder as by 1911 Robert was a potman for a licensed victualler and the family had moved to Bethnal Green.
Herbert, another son of George Blower in Heigham, remained in Norwich where he became an engineers labourer.
Conversely, the next generation shows some resistance to change. In 1911 William Blower’s daughters Sarah and Lydia had both married and were living in Rougham and Weasenham respectively. Their brother William was a recently married agricultural labourer living in Weasenham, following in the footsteps of his great grandfather James, the first of the Blowers of Weasenham.