When I met my now husband – all the way back in 2003 – I was living on Rainey Street, Chermside; a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Today I found a cool real estate map from 1925 on the State Library of Queensland website of what was then named ‘Raineys Hill Top Park’ in Kedron.
Raineys Hill Top Park Estate, 1925
75 years later, I rented a flat built on Plot 30.
Although I can’t remember if it was ‘free from dust, and delightfully cool’ as advertised in newspapers at the time, it did have ‘water and electric light’. Unfortunately, I was too late to utilise the tram system which appears to have run along Gympie Road a few blocks away. (All Brisbane trams had stopped running by 1969.)
It was a lovely place to live and we have fond memories of our time there.
Bloxwich Cemetery, located on Field Road, was opened in 1875.
Until 1875, burials had taken place in the churchyard of All Saints – the parish church of Bloxwich (built 1793). By the 1870s, the churchyard had become extremely crowded and another burial site was needed.
Bloxwich Cemetery as shown on map c1901
The cemetery expanded over the years – from 6 acres to about 13 acres today (2023).
Map of Bloxwich Cemetery c2021
There were originally two mortuary chapels – one designated for Church of England and one for Nonconformists – but the Nonconformist chapel was demolished sometime before 2009. There was talk of demolishing the remaining building but as of 2023, the disused chapel is still standing.
Side view of disused chapel at Bloxwich Cemetery
Family Connections
1986 – Carnation Richards (died 27 Jan 1986) – buried [HH section]
1987 – Charles Richards (died 29 Apr 1987) – buried [HH section]
1900 – Eli Fletcher (infant) – buried 10 Aug 1900 [E section 2 grave 55]
1909 – Elizabeth Fletcher (died 3 May 1909) – buried 8 May 1909 [C section 2 grave 251]
Other Connections
1875 – The first burials were those of William Boncer (age 28) and Henry Edward Hough (aged 2 days) on 7 June 1875.
(Mary Ann Pritchard (aged 3) was buried 8 June)
In the 1841 census, William Wreford was recorded at ‘Withley Goodman‘, near Tiverton, with his second wife Ann, and their four children. He was recorded simply as ‘Farmer’.
William Wreford in the 1841 census
I’d already found the location of the farm, but now, using the 1841 tithe maps and apportionments on the Devon County Council website, I’ve been able to establish the exact land that William farmed!
Tithes were a kind of tax where one tenth of all agricultural produce was paid annually to support the local church and clergy. The Tithe Commutation Act was passed in 1836 to convert this to monetary payments. A tithe survey was carried out in each parish to value the land, discover what tithes were payable and calculate each landowner’s liability.
In the survey conducted in 1841, William was recorded as the occupier of Withleigh Goodman in the Priors district of the parish of Tiverton. At this time, the farm consisted of 21 plots, which came to a total of 54 acres, 3 roods, and 12 perches. This works out to 221, 879 square metres (about 22 hectares).
Plots occupied by William Wreford in 1841 (shown on a c1905 map)
William did not own the land he farmed. In 1841, the landowner of Withleigh Goodman was Richard Morrish ‘as Trustee for George Brook Maunder’.
These tithe records have triggered a new set of questions.
What was the Maunder link?
Who was George Brook Maunder? And why did he need a trustee?
Who was Robert Morrish?
What was the Maunder link?
Maunder was the previous surname of William’s wife, Ann. It was also the surname of two other inhabitants of the house, Ann Maunder (20, female servant) and George Maunder (15, apprentice).
I’d long thought of Maunder as being Ann’s maiden name but it’s possible that Maunder was a married name, and the young Maunders are actually Ann’s children. William and Ann’s marital status was not noted on their marriage record, but I know William was widowed so Ann could have been too. 1841 census ages are ‘iffy’, but other records show Ann was actually about 45 years old – old enough to be the mother of children aged 20 and 15.
Who was George Brook Maunder?
The only records for George Brook Maunder that I could find, suggest he was baptised in 1825 at Puddington (about 5 miles from Withleigh). He was the son of a George and Ann, who resided at Coombe.
Baptism of George Brook Maunder at Puddington on 2 Jan 1825
This couple also had a daughter named Ann, baptised in 1820.
Baptism of Ann Maunder at Puddington on 6 Nov 1820
This ties in with the ages of the George and Ann Maunder at Withleigh Goodman in 1841.
Why would George Brook Maunder need a trustee?
George Maunder, a yeoman of Coombe, died in 1826. It appears that he bequeathed the land to his eldest (and only living) son, George Brook Maunder. A trustee would have been appointed since his son was not of age. The will should be consulted to prove this theory.
Although not proven, it’s looking a lot like William’s wife, Ann, was the widow of George Maunder. This would mean that the Maunders recorded on the 1841 census were her children from this previous marriage, and her son George was the legal owner of the property that William Wreford was farming.
