“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).
Baptism entry of Robert Prentice in the Great Bricett parish register – 21 Jan 1781
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).
In the 1820s and 1830s, desperate agricultural labourers in England began to revolt. There were a few factors involved in causing this unrest but Land Enclosure is considered to have played a large part.
Agrarian Rioters in 1830
Before Enclosure
Before enclosure, villages used an open field system of farming. Large open fields were divided into strips that would be farmed by its owners. They were often scattered, and there were no fences or hedges to divide them.
There was also an area of common land used for grazing. This was not open to the general public but was land (controlled by the lord of the manor) that people from that village had rights to use. The land would be used to pasture cattle or keep livestock such as geese, and collect turf, firewood, fruit or berries. There would be a communal consensus for when and how the land would be farmed.
After Enclosure
After enclosure, the separate strips were consolidated so that owners had unified pieces of land. These were marked out through fences or hedges with absolute property rights. No communal consensus was needed – owners could do with their land as they wished.
Enclosure of land was not new, but in the late 18th century it was now being formalised with parliamentary acts. A landowner wanting to enclose land in their parish would obtain a private Act of Parliament. Commissioners would then visit the parish to survey the area and hear claims of other land holders or those with rights to the common. The commissioners would then enclose the open fields, allocating a plot of land that was equal in size to the total strips of land a landowner previously held. The common would also be divided and given to landowners depending on their total landholdings in the parish and access they had to the common.
People who previously had common rights lost the ability to use that land to make ends meet and those who still had some rights, such as tenant farmers, were increasingly asked for rent in cash rather than stock or produce.
How were agricultural labourers affected?
Consolidating the land meant that less workers were needed. It became more common for labourers to be paid by the day or week, or employed for short periods such as harvesting, hedging, ditching and threshing. Farmhands became casual labourers with no guarantee of work, and rates of pay dropped because there were so many available workers. The problem grew worse in 1815 when the Napoleonic Wars ended, and many thousands of soldiers returned to the rural labour market.
A Horse Gin in Use (The Illustrated Exhibitor, 1851)
The introduction of threshing machines aggravated the situation. Farm labourers who had previously been employed to manually thresh grain over the winter months, were replaced by cheaper and more efficient horse-powered machines. Groups of agricultural labourers began to rise up, setting fire to farms and destroying machinery.
If captured, the rioters faced imprisonment, transportation, and even execution, so it was not an act to be taken lightly.
If you have ancestors who were agricultural labourers in the 1820s and 1830s, they may well have been involved in the protests.
Stowmarket Congregational Chapel after the bombing 1941 (via SuffolkNews)
At around noon on Friday 31st January 1941, a lone German bomber was seen flying towards the town of Stowmarket in the heart of Suffolk. Enemy aircraft tended to fly low in the area to avoid the guns at nearby Wattisham Airfield, and this plane was flying so low under the clouds, that its swastikas could be seen from the ground.
The plane flew over Stowmarket from the direction of Combs Ford, firing its guns, before circling around to fly over again, and drop a stick of bombs in the general vicinity of the market place in town. Thankfully, the busy market place was missed, but a direct hit was made on Stowmarket Congregational Church, destroying the building. Houses behind the church grounds were also struck, killing one of the residents.
I learnt about this event through “The Bombing of Stowmarket Congregational Church” by Steve Williams (2004). The book is a compilation of many reports and eyewitness accounts of that day and I found it so fascinating that I devoured the contents in one sitting! The recollections are presented in such a way that you start to feel like you know the inhabitants and their various connections to each other.
Mrs Rhoda Farrow (nee Hearn), lived at ‘Marron’ (9 Kensington Road), behind the Congregational Church. In the 1939 register, Mrs Farrow was recorded at the address with her son Ronald, daughter Marjorie and new son-in-law, Roland Wilden. Marjorie had actually married at the Congregational Church, only a month prior to the register being taken. (Her father, Rhoda’s husband Charles Farrow, had died only a few months before.)
1939 register for Kensington Road showing the Farrow, Capp and Smith families
After the bombs fell on 31 January 1941, Bernard Moye, then 16 years old, accompanied the town’s surveyor, Mr. John Black, into town to assess the damage…
When they learnt that another bomb had fallen on Kensington Road they went to the scene and found other members of the rescue party who had already managed to get two ladies out, one of whom was Mrs. Capp, who had the flower shop in the Market Place next to Woolworth’s. They had saved themselves by sheltering under the stairs of Mrs. Capp’s house, which was named ‘Floral-Dene’.
Bernard remembers seeing the roof seeming to be suspended in mid-air with nothing much supporting it. They were then told that there was no-one in next door at ‘Marron’ and that Mrs. Farrow was at the railway station seeing her son off from Forces’ leave. This tragically was not the case as Bernard remembers being in the party which, after clearing some rubble from the passageway of Mrs. Farrow’s house, they then lifted the door that lay amongst the debris and found her body laying there. Bernard commented ‘she unfortunately appeared to have arrived home at the wrong moment.'”
(excerpt from The Bombing of Stowmarket Congregational Church (2004), pp15-16)
Mrs Beatrice Smith, who lived at number 7, had been at the first aid centre on 24-hour call with the Red Cross. She would serve in the Red Cross for 51 years. In 1975, on the occasion of her retirement, The Bury Free Press (7 Nov 1975, p2) remarked that her devotion to duty had probably saved her life. The book holds quite a few of recounts of near-misses and it appears extremely fortunate that Mrs Farrow was the only person killed in the attack.
The new Stowmarket Congregational Church was completed in 1955.
A new ultra-modern building was finally completed on the same site in 1955 and still exists (now known as the United Reformed Church). The new church’s contemporary look was very different from the previous church’s Victorian Gothic style and received mixed reactions. I can’t help but think that Stowmarket town centre would have a very different feel if the old building was still around today.
I also can’t help but think that it’s somewhat of an eerie coincidence that I was given this book and learnt of the bombing for the very first time, only a few days before the 83rd anniversary of the church’s destruction, and the death of Rhoda Farrow.
James and Eliza made their escape from Little Baddow on the morning of 28 September 1872. On the way to Chelmsford, they stopped at the Cock Inn at Boreham ‘for refreshment’.
Chelmsford Chronicle, 4 October 1872
After unloading their items at Chelmsford Station, James, Eliza, and their driver Thomas Peacock, spent some time at the Fleece Inn on Duke Street.
Essex Weekly News, 17 Jan 1873The Fleece Inn (trading as the Golden Fleece), Chelmsford (via Pub History)
The map below, although drawn 20 years later than the events in 1872, shows where these places were located in relation to each other:
c1893 map showing Little Baddow, the Cock Inn, Chelmsford Station, and the Fleece Inn
Unfortunately, we can no longer visit these establishments. The Cock is no longer a pub and has since become a private home. The Fleece Inn, which was situated at 84 Duke Street, was demolished by 1932. A new building was erected which now trades as the Golden Fleece.
Even the Chelmsford Station of James and Eliza’s time is no more. It was originally situated slightly to the north of where the station is today; the present building was constructed (initially) in 1885.
Under the shade of trees in a rural Suffolk churchyard of Combs, there stands a gravestone with an intriguing epitaph.
In Loving Memory
Of
SAMUEL The dearly beloved husband of
ALICE SCARFF
Who while saving the lives of his
wife and children was knocked down
and killed by a runaway horse in
Lea-Bridge Road, Leyton.
JANUARY 19, 1896.
AGED 29 YEARS.
“Therefore be ye also ready.”
Also Of
LILIAN PHOEBE
Youngest daughter of the above
WHO DIED SUDDENLY AUGUST 16, 1896.
The shepherd hath himself removed,
The lamb to which His care was given,
For He on earth whom children loved,
Hath called His child from earth to heaven.
Samuel Scarff was born in Combs to woodcarter John Scarff and Elizabeth Grimwood. By 1891, he had moved to London and was working as a carman in Marylebone. His future bride, Alice Horne, was also from Combs and working as a general servant in nearby Blenheim Road at the time.
In 1894, Samuel and Alice married at Walthamstow, Essex and two daughters, Sissie and Lilian, quickly followed. Unfortunately, tragedy would strike this young family on a winter’s day in 1896.
Essex Standard, 25 January 1896, p7 c4
SHOCKING FATAL ACCIDENT. -A MAN KILLED BY A RUNAWAY HORSE. -A shocking accident occurred on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 19. in Chesnut Walk, Walthamstow. Samuel Scarff, aged 28, in the employment of Spiers and Pond, and living in Boundary Road, Walthamstow, was walking towards the Forest on the broad footway, accompanied by his wife and by their two little children in a basinette. A horse attached to a hooded buggy, driven by Joseph Lyon, of Lower Clapton, who was accompanied by Samuel Pearce, of Forest Gate, and John McDougall, of Leytonstone, bolted at Whipps Cross and galloped down Chesnut Walk at a terrific rate, the young men being unable to control it. At an opening in the row of trees opposite the residence of Mr. Helme the horse turned on to the footpath, and continued its mad career. Scarff managed to get his wife and children clear, but he was himself knocked down with terrible violence, and was conveyed in an unconscious state to the Walthamstow Hospital. His injuries were very severe, and he died the same evening the presence of his wife, who was distracted with grief. The runaway horse eventually came to a standstill through crashing into a fence. The three occupants were thrown out, but were not injured.
Essex Standard, 25 January 1896, p7 c4
An inquest was held which ultimately returned a verdict of ‘Accidental Death’ and deep sympathy was expressed towards his young widow Alice.
London Evening Standard, 23 January 1896, p7, c5
Mr. C. C. Lewis held an inquest, at Walthamstow, on the body of Samuel Scarff, aged 28 years, a carman in the employ of Messrs. Spiers and Pond, lately residing at 220, Boundary-road, Walthamstow, who died in the local Hospital on Sunday. -Mrs. Scarff, the widow, said on Sunday afternoon, about a quarter-past three, she left home with the deceased and her two children, with the perambulator, to go for a walk in the forest. They were returning home, and on reaching Chestnut-walk, just off the Lea-bridge-road, a noise attracted her attention in the rear. Witness and her husband looked round, and saw a horse and trap galloping towards them, in fact, it was nearly upon them. It then ran on to the footpath, striking the perambulator, which Witness was wheeling, and knocking it sideways. The deceased, who was walking on her right, was knocked down. A crowd collected and the deceased was taken up and carried to a doctor, and then to the Hospital, where he expired the same night. -Mr. J. J. Baker, an insurance clerk, residing at 30, Fraser-road, Walthamstow, said he was in Chestnut-walk, when a friend drew his attention to the horse and trap. The horse was at full gallop, and appeared to have run away. It ran into the footpath between two trees, and Witness saw it knock the deceased down, the near-side wheel of the trap passing over both legs. The horse continued its career for some distance, and then dashed into the fence, and threw the occupants of the trap into the roadway. -Dr. Wise, house surgeon, said the deceased’s skull was fractured, and death occurred three hours later from that injury. -Mr. Joseph Lyons, of Downs-road, Clapton, master builder, said he left Pembury-road at ten o’clock on Sunday morning, with a horse and gig, which he had hired from Mr. Atkins, of Hackney. At the Eagle, Snaresbrook, he met two friends, and they drove to various places, and finally to the Castle at Woodford, and then started for home. Witness was driving. The horse had shied once or twice, and when at Whipps Cross it broke into a canter. He tried to ease it, but then found that it had got the mastery. On reaching Chestnut-walk the horse shied again, and then dashed into the pathway. Witness did not see anything of the deceased. Witness and his friends were thrown out, and Witness was rendered insensible. They were all sober having been drinking sloe gin and soda. -The Jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death, and expressed their deep sympathy with the widow. London Evening Standard, 23 January 1896, p7, c5
It was heartening to discover that shortly after the accident, a committee was formed to raise funds to assist Alice and her children. Samuel’s employers and colleagues at Spiers & Pond, had also contributed and in February, Alice received over £100 – at least £15 of which “two little children named Beresford” had, heartwarmingly, “got together… in small sums”.
Chelmsford Chronicle, 07 February 1896, p7, c7Chelmsford Chronicle, 21 February 1896, p7, c6
Unfortunately, poor Alice would receive another blow in August the same year when little Lilian Phoebe, not yet a year old, died suddenly. The child’s death was registered in Stow district which suggests Alice had returned to her family in Combs after Samuel’s death.
Samuel and Alice’s surviving daughter Sissie, recorded with Alice’s parents in 1901 and Alice’s sister in 1911, would grow up to marry a man named James Alexander Donaldson and live a long life.
Alice never remarried and diedin 1964 at the ripe old age of 94.
