From the Suffolk Chronicle, 22 October 1870:
“A PATRIARCHAL FAMILY.—A family named Prentice, living in Flowton and Bricet, seems to be of remarkably good stuff. The hero of the quartette, Robert, living at Bricet, is 95; Henry and John, living at Flowton, are a couple of boys aged 89 and 82 respectively; and Mary, living at Bricet, is 77—the average age is 85 years, nine months.”
This little snippet about the Prentice family of Great Bricett and Flowton is very informative, although not entirely correct.
All four mentioned were baptised at Great Bricett. Robert was baptised 1781, Henry in 1786, John in 1791, and Mary in 1803 (although born in 1800). They all appear to be siblings but Mary’s parentage is unclear (father’s name not recorded).
Children were not always baptised soon after their birth (such as in Mary’s case) but in this case, Robert seems to have been. He was baptised early 1781 and considering his parents were married the previous year, 1780/1 seems a likely birth year.
This would make Robert 90 at the time of this article, not 95. Henry’s age was closer to 85 than 89; John’s was 79 rather than 82; and Mary’s was 70 rather than 77.
They probably did believe these to be the correct ages though, since they match the ages given 6 months later in the 1871 census. (Except for Mary, whose age was given as 73.)
All four died within 8 years of the article being published – Robert in 1871, Henry in 1874, John in 1875, and Mary in 1878.
Robert and Mary were buried in Great Bricett churchyard and Henry and John were buried at Flowton (about 4 miles southwest of Great Bricett).