Recent content by ed.s

I have John Sumner senior (1824-1907) in my family tree (he married my 4 x great aunt Annie Allday in 1870, making her step-mother to the future Sir John). In the 1871 census, John Sumner snr. and Annie are living in Blythe Cottage with John's seven younger children by his first wife, Annie...

When Albert Tyler is living on Steward Street in 1901, there's an Edith Hilbert, b. 1883, Hull, Yorks., in the workhouse on Western Street, which looks to be just a couple of blocks away on the map. Edith is listed as a domestic servant and is the only Edith Hilbert I can find in Birmingham that...

Same circumstances in 1891, Mary Ann and Sarah now living at 60 Pope Street

... and at 69 Cross Street in 1881 Mary Ann now a widow, Sarah still working as a lacquerer

The family are at 98 Rolfe Street, Smethwick in the 1871 census: Samuel Bates, 74, Engine Driver Mary A. Bates, 54 Sarah A. Walton, 21, Lacquerer Sarah here has taken up a craft that her mother practiced on previous censuses

There's a baptism and burial record for an Emma Eliza Walton matching those dates on Ancestry. Her parents were John and Mary Ann Walton of Moland Street. John's profession is 'gilt toy maker'.

The above list is interesting to me in that it lists J.C. Onions, later one part of the merger that formed Allday & Onions, but no sign of any Alldays. It had puzzled me that the other merger party, William Allday and Sons, variously claims establishment in 1720 or 1780, but doesn't start to...

The directory says Birmingham, yes. I've also found an older entry in White's 1873 Directory of Birmingham, for James H. Prichard, in the same line of work, but at number 258. I should think this is nearer the time the picture was taken than the 1912 entry.

Ancestry has J. H. Prichard, 259 Summer Lane, saddle and harness maker, in Business Directory of Worcestershire, 1912

He seems an interesting chap. A scan of the newspaper archives shows Corbett making regular appearances in the Birmingham Journal and Aris's Birmingham Gazette from the late 1830's onwards. He seems to have known my family well, particularly my 5 x great uncle Joseph Allday. Corbett and Allday...

I see three families headed by millers in Shipston all living on Mill Street, close to where the "Old Mill" is now, appropriately enough. These are presuambly the three millers employed by James Hands of New Street. Here's a (non-commercial) link with a picture of the Old Mill...

I've found the Nash family in 1851 just now - Worcestershire / Shipston on Stour / 9B, page 35. Surname is mistranscribed as "Nath". Jesse's occupation confirmed as "miller", presumably in the employ of the aforementioned James Hands. Jesse and Elizabeth live on Mill Street, with son Arthur and...

I can't shed any light on Henry Street or mills in the vicinity, but Jesse's marriage to Elizabeth Haydon on Nov 18th 1848 confirms his residence in Shipston on Stour and profession of miller at that time. There's a B&B called "The Old Mill" in Shipston that could perhaps date back to that era...

The passing of the 1832 Reform bill established Birmingham as a parliamentary seat with its own MPs for the first time, greatly aided by pressure groups like the Birmingham Political Union, founded by Thomas Attwood and others. The bill's tortuous passage, with prorogations of parliament and...

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