Russell Family Part 4
My Great grandmother, Mary was left a widow aged just 50.
She continued to live at Witherleigh / Folly farm for the next few months.
Having lost her husband, tragedy struck again and on the 9th January 1885 her
16 year old daughter, Rosa, died. It was soon after this that Mary left the
farmhand’s cottage at Folly Farm and moved back into Crewkerne to Oxen Lane,
where her in-laws had live those many years before. Mary, together with her sons,
Williams, Samuel & Tom, and my grandmother Sarah, lived in the last house
at the Middle Lane end of Oxen Lane.
Mary, now a widow was forced to find employment. This came
in the form of being a char lady, cleaning other people’s homes.
It was during this period that Mary’s children were flying
the nest and making their way in the world. It was my great Uncle Joseph who led the
Russell exodus from Crewkerne, along the recently completed London and South
Western Railway to London to found a Russell enclave around Vauxhall.
Joseph
Joe had already left home by the time he was 18 and was
living with his maternal grandparents, William and Rosa Hutchings in Lang Lane,
Crewkerne.
On 9 February 1889 Joe married Ellen Pearce and the happy
couple set off to make their fortunes in London, pioneering the way for
siblings and cousins to follow. They set up home in Meadow Place, Vauxhall.
Meadow place became a popular destination for new arrivals from Crewkerne. His
sister, Sarah – my grandmother, being one. 60 years later my parents would also
live in Meadow place. Joe and Ellen lived at number 9. (Now the site of a
school| playing field)
Joe was working as a brewery worker at Thorn Brewery, 41
Nine Elms. (10 years later my grandfather, Thomas Napper, would join him there,
By 1896 Joe & Ellen had moved from Meadow place to be nearer
the brewery, and were living at 83 Wandsworth Road. (Now the site of Sainsbury’s
Superstore – I used to live opposite in Conrad House) It was about this time
that Joe’s sister, Mary left Crewkerne and move in with Joe & Ellen.
By 1907 Joe & Ellen had moved into the Brewery grounds itself and lived at 1 Brewery Cottage. The cottages and the adjoining Mission Hall
were among the improvements that the Thorne Brothers had made for their
workers. By 1911 Joe was no longer a
brewery worker but a “Mess Room Steward” and his wife Ellen was the Mission
Hall Cook. The Mission Hall formal name was the St. James Mission Church and
Hall. Activities included: Sunday Schools, two Mothers' Meetings,
Girls' Bible Class, Girls' Sewing Class, Recreation Room for Girls, Provident
Club, Penny Bank, a Working Man's Club and a Crêche, as wells as Services - Sunday
at 11 and 7, Wednesday Evening at 8, Children's Service the 3rd Sunday in the
month at 3.
In such deprivation it is heartening to know that great uncle Joe was doing something to help.
The next to leave home was second son,
George.
He had worked as a farm labourer until aged 21, when he
enlisted in the 2nd Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, 21 December
1882. Issued with his regulation ankle
boots, wet boots, cap, coat, cape, frock, gloves, headdress, trousers and
tunic, George began his military career in Plymouth.
In January 1884, George was sent to Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh,
India. The unit was broken up into small groups pacifying the
inhabitants of the country. Whilst the unit lost only 17 men in combat, 150
were to die from disease. My great uncle was one of those many to die of
disease.
On the 27th September 1884 he
succumbed to “Melena” - dark foul smelling black tarry faeces that are
associated with upper gastrointestinal bleeding. (causes are as diverse as
stomach ulcer, cancer, intestinal worms or parasites). In the hot climate of India, George was
buried the next day: the service conducted by the Chaplain, Lionel Phillips.
George’s death did not stop his younger brother, Samuel,
from also enlisting into the Army.
Samuel
Leaving behind his widowed mother, Mary, in 1892 the 20 year
old Sam travelled to Plymouth to join the Somerset Light Infantry.
At 5ft 9in tall and weighing just 9 stone, the diminutive
Sam had hazel eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion (No doubt from his years
as a labourer at Folly Farm)
Sam was stationed in Plymouth for the next few years rising through the ranks to sergeant. On the 30 October 1908, and 4 months after the birth of their daughter Mary Alberta Edith (d 1921), the 36 year old Sam married the widow Edith Mary J Remfry.
Soon after the marriage, Sam together with Edith and baby
Mary was posted to Valetta on the Mediterranean Island of Malta. On the 5th November
1908 They embarked on the Rohilla (Troopship No. 6) at Plymouth
and arrived in Malta on 12 November.
It was in Malta that Sam & Edith’s second daughter,
Edith was born, 2 November 1909. (d. 1924)
In 1911, Sam and his family were once again on the move when
he was posted to
Chimian Khetar, Azad Kashmir, 62 miles NE of Islamabad (Pakistan).
It was here that Sam’s third child, Samuel was born 17th November 1911. (d.
1977)
Sam was then posted to the Kyber Pass, Peshawar just 8 miles
from the Afghan boarder.
In 1913, Samuel, aged 41, and his family were repatriated to
England. Here Samuel retired on his army pension and went to live in Malcolm
Cottage, Crownhill, Plymouth. (Home of the army Barracks)
However, Sam’s retirement didn’t last long. On the 28 July
1914 the Great War began and on 17 August Sam re-enlisted as a volunteer,
initially for one year, with the rank of sergeant. Sam’s wife was already pregnant by this time
and their 4th child. Marjorie, who was born the following year on the 11 February.
(d. 1975)
On the 21 May that year Sam was sent to France as part of
the Expeditionary force, returning on 6 February 1916. Sam’s 5th child,
William, was born10 January the following year (in 1940 William married my
aunt, Dora Napper. They were divorced. He died in 1984). Sam was finally demobbed from the army 10
April 1920. His daughter, Marian, was born later that year (d. 2002). At the
age of 48, Samuel became a father again when his daughter, Doreen, was born in
1922. (d. 1998)
Sam continued to live in Plymouth until his death in 1930.
The Next child to leave home was:
Mary
Mary had left home by 1891 as had her fiancé, fellow
Crewkownian Charlie England. At the time of his marriage to Mary, Charlie was
living at 24 Meadow Place. (Almost opposite from where his future
brother-in-law had lived.
Mary, herself was living at her Brother’s house: 83
Wandsworth Road (Now a Sainsbury’s superstore)
5th April 1896 Mary & Charlie were married at St. Stephen’s,
Vauxhall. (Mary stating that she was 2 years younger than she really was)
After their marriage the newly weds moved into the up-stairs
two rooms at 38 Wyvil Road. (40 years later my mother wold be living next door
at 36). By 1910 they were living in 4 rooms (two up. Two down) at 18
Dawlish Street, just two doors away from her sister, my grandmother, Sarah
Napper
Husband, Charlie, worked delivering beer with a horse and
cart. The two brother-in-law’s, Joe Russell & Charlie England worked for
the same Brewery: Thorne’s
The next to leave home was my Grandmother:
Sarah
On the 2 April 1899, one day after she was legally able to
marry without her parental consent, Sarah married Thomas Ash Napper, recently
demobbed from the Cold Stream Guards and now working as a delivery man for
Thorn’s Brewery. (With Sarah’s brother, Joe, and brother-in-law, Charlie)
Away from the prying eyes of Crewkerne, Sarah and Tom were
living together in rooms at 6 Meadow Place. (Her brother had lived at no. 9 and
brother-in-in-law at 24).
And like her sister, Mary, Sarah was married at St.
Stephen’s Church. Sarah lived the rest of her life in Dawlish Street,
just doors away from her sister, Mary,
When Sarah and Tom moved out of their rooms in Meadow Place,
Sarah’s cousin, Elizabeth (the daughter of Mary’s Father’s Brother, William),
moved in with her new groom, Fred Garrod,
a corporal in the Life Guards. Like her two cousins, Mary & Sarah,
Elizabeth had been married at St. Stephen’s, Vauxhall. (19 February 1901)
The next child to leave my great grandmother, Mary, was my
great Uncle:
William
On 8 Apr 1893 Bill
married Mary Bendill at the Parish Church in Crewkerne. The newly weds set up
home at Chards House on the Lyme Road, in Crewkerne. However, by 1901 they
were living at 48 Goding Street, Vauxhall. Note the urinal in the middle of the
road outside the Public House. The Royal Vauxhall Tavern still stands, but the
urinals have gone.
By 1910 Bill and Mary had moved just opposite to 2 Burnett
Buildings in Italian Walk, just yards from the Guinness buildings were my maternal
Great Grandparents had lived after leaving the workhouse. During his time in London
Bill had worked for the local council as a “Road Scavenger”. Given the number
of horse drawn carts at the time, dealing with the tons on horse manure that
were deposited on the streets, this was an important health and safety job.
By the time of his death in 1946, Bill was living in Shaftsbury
House, Vauxhall Street, next to the Black Dog Pub.
Bill and Mary’s son, Ernest married his cousin, and my aunt,
Queenie Napper. In 1945 they were living with my grandfather Tom Napper at 56
Luscombe Street. By 1949 they had moved out of London to Wiltshire.
Henry.
Harry had stayed longest in Crewkerne and was older than the others when he left.. Married to Alice with 5 children, he left working on the Crewkerne farm for 79
Vauxhall Mansions, Laud Street, Vauxhall, just a few streets away from his
brother Bill. You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the
country out of the boy. Within 10 years Harry had succumbed to the call of the
countryside. He left the metropolis for a cleaner and healthier life and moved
to 2 Rose Cottage, Sanderstead Village (Now sadly swallowed up London Borough
of Croydon) to become a carter on a farm.
Harry and Alice had two daughters. Minnie (b 1885) and Bessy.
Bessy was married to Reg England, her cousin and
valet to the Russian Ambassador. By 1910 they were living 12 Dawlish Street.,
doors away from Reg’s uncle Charlie & Bessie’s auntie Mary, and her cousin,
my grandmother Sarah Napper. When Reg died, Bessy married Bill Tidy,
Two of Harry & Alice’s sons (James (b 1891) and William (b 1896) died in the Great War. Their remaining son, Harry lived to the age of 80, dying in 1980.
My great Grandmothers’ last remaining child to leave home
was
Thomas
Little is known of Tom, except that he moved to Lopen, Nr
Seavington (My great grandfather, Thomas Napper, lived and died in Lopen). The
family Story is that Tom was a prize fighter.
And my great grandmother, Mary Russell? What became of her
once all her children had left home.? My great grandmother packed her bags, got
on a train and went to London! Once
again united with her children and grandchildren. Mary
passed her days in the home of her eldest son, Joseph at 1 Brewery Cottage, at
the Thorne Brewery, Nine Elms.
Thank you for reading this blog. Please feel free to leave comments or Russell memories.
Colin
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