LINCOLN RESEARCH CONFIRMS:

Robert Herd (bpt 17.11.1801) who married Alice Calvert was the first son of Robert Herd and Elizabeth – from Parish Records. This Robert had a brother named William who married Charlotte and they had a son called William who was born in 1819.

Alice Calvert was the daughter of Richard Calvert and Mary- and had five siblings Benjamin Bpt.1797; Mary Bpt 1803; Thomas bpt 1807; Richard bpt 1814 and Eliza bpt 1816.

Robert and Alice had three sons, William, Thomas and David, and although I still cannot find their birth records in the Parish Records they are named in their fathers Will – when he almost dismissively stated that ‘ his two sons William and David would get £5 a piece’ (relative to £285 in todays money) and the remainder of his Estate would pass to his son Thomas, including the Farm and a requirement to pay to Alice (his wife) an annuity of £52 a year (relative to £2,967) to be paid in 4 equal parts.

It appears that Thomas never married.

William unknown

David married Caroline Brummitt. It would appear that only Thomas had farming interests and David was working in the drapery trade and was ‘politically motivated’ becoming the General Secretary and Manager of the Lincoln Conservative Working Men’s Club.

David and Caroline had seven children, which we already know about, although it might be worth mentioning at this stage that Caroline’s sister Betsy Watson (nee Brummitt) and Joseph Pinder, the husband of her eldest sister Ann would play significant roles in the unfolding drama relating to the demise of the Estate.

David died on the 25^th April 1895 from pylorus and anaemia. Their daughter Alice Calvert Howden was present at his death. On the 19^th March 1896, less than a year later Caroline died from cerebral apoplexy and paralysis.  Caroline did not make a will and died INTESTATE. This significant omission left the estate to her eldest legal heir Robert William Herd.

  

This is my missing Great Grandfather: It appears that he was a Grocer and Provisions Dealer, working from a shop at 8, Market Place, Doncaster. At the time of his mother’s death – and perhaps linked – Robert was in considerable debt to a Hugh Hawley Greatbatch, Corn Merchant and George William Townend – Chartered Accountant and many other parties.

His only available resources with which he could settle his debts were those left to his mother Caroline in David’s Will. Documents claiming the Estate showed that a pay back was agreed at 12/6d in the Pound (62.5%, an extremely high figure for someone who was insolvent). The voluntary agreement allowed him to continue his trade in the Doncaster shop, but should he default other steps would be taken. (I guess the pressure on him was enormous and eventually gave in and disappeared, leaving my GGrandma and children destitute and in the workhouse). These documents are dated 1896, after his mother’s death…..(I also suspect that this state of affairs was known to his mother, given the April 1896 date of the debtor document).

It also meant that RWH had access to the entire estate and therefore nothing available to siblings.

The Indentures and other legal documents show that Greatbatch and Townend and the other creditors could only access the estate if it was demonstrated beyond doubt that Robert William Herd was legally proven to be the son of David and Caroline Herd and the grandson of John Brummitt, for John was the source of many of the assets being disposed of, specifically property and land.

The Trustee handling all this for John Brummitt’s estate was Joseph Pinder – his son in law, married to Ann, Caroline’s older sister.

There is also a declaration of identity and antecedents from Betsy Watson, one of Caroline’s younger sisters. 

It is safe to assume that by 1901 Robert William Herd had defaulted.

Other assets, mainly property, of David and Caroline were passed to Robert Finlay, Master of the Poor Law Union, Lincoln. There were also connections with Doughteys Oil Mill and other prominent businessmen.

BRUMMITTS:

According to the Parish Records it appears that Bartholomew Brummitt (1751-1812) had ten children. The first two, Dowager (1774) and Bartholomew (1776) were with Henrietta Grest, who died in 1779. Bartholomew then married Elizabeth Turner in 1780 and had the following children:

Mary – Bpt.1781 d.1797

John Bpt. 24.11.1784

George

Henry

Elizabeth 1787

Charlotte bpt 25.5.1789

Sofia  bpt 16.7.1791

Samuel

The children underlined are mentioned, by name in their fathers Will – I can only speculate that the others died before he wrote it.

Dowager Brummitt :: Buried April 18^th 1781

Also:

John Brummitt bequeathed to his sister Charlotte and husband Edward Haynes of Whittersley, Cambridge a £10 annuity.

THE MISSING GREAT GRANDFATHER - ROBERT WILLIAM HERD b. 21.1.2.1864

Having spent many days at the Lincoln Family History /Archive Centre verifying births, deaths and marriagesof the Herd/Brummitt connection I came across a number of  documents held in the archives which begin to open up the possible background to the 'missing' Great Grandfather Robert William HERD. There would appear to be coincidences which remain just that until proof is found.

In summary - Robert William Herd runs a Grocer Provisions Store at 8, Market Place, Doncaster. He seems to be in financial difficulty and has no means of paying off his debts. His father died in 1895 leaving all his estate to his wife. In 1896 his mother died intestate. RWH is the surviving heir, and in 1896, through a series of legal manouvres he is allowed to keep his business if he voluntarily agrees to pay of his debt at £12/6d in the Pound and sign over substantial land and property interests to his two major creditors. There would be alternative proposals should he default. In 1898 he disappears from our records.
In the 1901 Census there is a record of a Grocery Manager, b 1864, from Lincoln, living with a family in Leeds. This family is called SURFLEET. When RWH was a boy, his father had family friends of the same name.

GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER

THE DAVID HERD STORY 

born 1836 in Branston, Lincolnshire

At the age of 15 in 1851 David Herd was apprenticed to William Hunt a draper and malster in New Sleaford. (A malster is a brewer, maker or seller of malt)

At the age of 35 in 1871 he was resident at St.Giles Farm, St Peters at Gawt, Lincoln where he was farming 112 acres with a labourer and a boy.

1853 Map showing St Peter at Gawts

At this time he was married to Caroline (b 1836) from Lincoln, and they had 5 children, Grace, ROBERT WILLIAM (Great Grandfather), Annie, Clara and Thomas Herbert. They had three servants.

In 1881census he was described as a 'conservative agent', living with his wife and all the children except Robert William, but with a new addition, Jane, aged 7.

In 1891, he was living with his wife and children, again with the exception of Robert William, but is described as 'living on his own means'. The children Annie now 24, Clara aged 22 and a school mistress, Thomas, now 20 and a bank clerk, and Jane who is now 15. They also had a domestic servant and two boarders, Cooper Pitts, aged 20 who was an engine fitter and Harold Birchall, who was a turner. At the wedding of his son Robert William, to Eliza Frood in Doncaster in 1887 David's occupation was described as an Estate Agent.

David Herd and Caroline Brummitt were married in Lincoln St. Mary Magdalen on 25th January 1858

Lady Magdalen in shadow of Cathedral

The children of David Herd and Caroline Brummitt:

Alice Calvert HERD (b 1861) married William Arthur Howden in 1884. He was a joiner/carpenter and they lived at 45 Beaumont Fee, Lincoln.

Grace Brummitt HERD (b 1863) married Thomas Edward Pearson in 1895. In 1901 they had a daughter named Margery G E and were living in Kettering.

Robert William Herd (b 1865)- is the missing great grandfather, subject of another blog and is the FROOD-HERD connection.

Annie Augusta HERD (b 1867) married John Simmister, a clothier, in Lincoln in 1891. In 1901 they had two children Sidney (b1894) and Doris (b 1899) and living in Longton, Staffordshire.

Clara Gertude HERD (b 1869) married Albert Edward Austin in 1893. He was a jeweller, watchmaker and shopkeeper, residing at 20, Sinsil St. Lincoln and in 1901 had a daughter named Dorothy Gertude.

Thomas Herbert HERD (b 1871 and died 1938 in the USA). He married a US citizen and went to live in Georgia. (Further blog pending). His wife was called Alice Maud, and they had five children, Harry Ernest Herd, Carrie Flo Herd, Gladys Maud Herd, Herbert Austin Herd (b1899-d1987 in Florida), Denis L Herd and Ronald Herd.

Herbert Austin had two children Harry W Herd (b 1915) and Glena Herd, both born in Macon, Georgia, USA. 

Jane Brummitt HERD (b 1874) was married in 1897 in Lincoln to a Lancelot Cheeseborough.

In the 1911 census he is described as an Engineers Clerk, living with his wife Jane, of 14 years, and their four children, Gladys Mary (aged 13), Eleanor (aged 11), Katherine Hilton (aged 9) and Henry Colebrook (6), living at Walkerith, Gainsborough.



The 'missing' Robert William Herd b 1865



Another document shows David HERD as the Secretary/|Manager of the Conservative Working Mens Club at 45 Beaumont Fee, Lincoln.

The assumption is that ROBERT HERD (1802-1880) is the father of David and grandfather of Robert William Herd as there is a census document showing Alice Calvert, at the age of 9 staying at his home -  The Manor House, St Nicholas, Lincoln.

THE JULIE M FROOD STORY (1836-1908)

Julie M Frood-daughter of James Frood(1799-1856) and sister of Charles Trefusis Frood (1827-1881)

Julie Mary FROOD, was born in 1836 in England (IGI) was 4 in 1841 living in Towcester. She was aged 14 in Northampton in 1851 and in 1861 was working as a sales-woman to a draper residing at No. 10, Exchange Street, Manchester.

Exchange Sq. Manchester

She boarded the ship 'Liverpool' in London to Auckland 1885-arriving there in 1886. The records show that she travelled in a single berth cabin.
She married Arthur Fennell in New Zealand in 1887. He had taken passage to New Zealand on the ship 'John Phillips' in 1852.

It seems that Julie and Arthur lived in the Canterbury District, in a place called  WAITEMATA, Auckland. In the 1896 Electoral Roll Julie, aged 62, was living with:
William Farmer
George,Miner;
Alfred Trefusis Bromley Fennell (Gum Digger)
and Rosina Fennell

who I am assuming are her children.

In 1905/6 NZ Electoral Roll, Julia, aged 72, is living with Cornelia Evaline Fennell, Spinster, who I am assuming is related to her husband-perhaps sister- Reginald Clinton Fennell, Rosina Fennell and William Fennell. Julie died in 1908.

IN 1913 Arthur Trefusis Bromley Fennell, labourer, aged 38 years, travelled from New Zealand to Vancouver, via Sydney on the MARAMA. My assumption is that he settled there.

iN 1875/6 George and Arthur Fennell both held property in NZ, George in RANGIORA  and Arthur in FERNSIDE, CANTERBURY.

Gum-diggers were men and women who dug for kauri gum, a fossilised resin, in the old kauri fields of New Zealand at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The gum was used mainly for varnish. The term may be a source for the nickname "Digger" given to New Zealand soldiers in World War I.[14] In 1898, a gum-digger described "the life of a gum-digger" as "wretched, and one of the last [occupations] a man would take to."



Statue of Gum Digger, Dargaville


It is worth noting that this area is close to where Julie's brother, Arthur settled.

THE ARTHUR FROOD STORY

Arthur Frood was born in Plymouth 23.4.1856 , the the eldest son of of Charles Trefusis and Amelia Frood. He died in 1927 in New Zealand . He married Martha Holingdrake from Bowling in Bradford. Her parents were William and Jane Hollingdrake from Bradford - Arthur and Martha  married when he was 29 years of age in Auckland  in 1885 and died in Te Kopuru, Hobson County, New Zealand. Martha was born in 1862 and died in 1908.
They had 10 children:

Millicent Frood died a spinster
Alfred Trefusis Frood (76),married Alice May Brown and they had three chldren: Alice b1926; William Buckley b 1928 and Barry Trefusis b 1937
Charles Trefusis Frood (died at age 1)
Reginald Clinton Frood(68), married Olga Lois Massey in 1948
Florence Ivy Frood(75), married William Barton Clotworthy in 1932
Annie Frood (84),married Harry Prebble in 1919
Nida Frood (75), married William Robert Hamilton Steward in 1925
Herbert Frood (62), married Gladys Emily Townsend in 1925
William Arthur Frood (41 - Rifleman married Olive Marion Gray in 1921
and
Gladys Amelia Frood (92) married James Campbell Palmer in 1921
all of whom were born,lived and died in New Zealand, and the family home appears to have been in Te Kopuru/Dargaville, Northland, NZ.

It appears that Arthur married  Elisabeth Susannah Rowles of Plymouth - in New Zealand - after the death of Martha.

The 1871 census showed that Arthur was not living at home - at the age of 14/15 - it transpires he had an apprenticeship in Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
In the 1861 census he was shown as a 4 year old staying with his mother's parents - John and Maria Blackwell at 10a, Orchard Street, Marylebone. Amelia's sister, Sophia was also staying at the house at that time. John Blackwell is described as a Solicitors Managing Clerk.

It is documented that Arthur boarded the 'Chimborazo' steamship and took passage to the Australia's from London. He was due to arrive on the 11th March 1878. He would have been 21 years of age. The ship was due to dock in Adelaide, Port Phillip and Sydney.

The U.S. ship CHIMBORAZO, of Thomaston, Maine, was built in 1851. She took her name from a province and volcano in Ecuador. In the 1850's, the CHIMBORAZO appears to have been a general trader on the "cotton triangle", carrying emigrants from European ports and returning to Europe full of cotton.

The children of JAMES FROOD AND ELIZABETH VOSPER

THE AMELIA VOSPER FROOD STORY

Birth:  26 JUL 1826   Banwell, Somerset, England
[Record of Baptism in the parish of St Germans on the 15th August 1827 of an Amelia Vosper FROOD]
 
In 1841 census Amelia was staying with her grandparents in Cornwall. She was 15 years old.
Amelia married Thomas Vosper - her second cousin, probably in Northampton in 1850
Thomas VOSPER [26080] was born about 1825 and died 4 Qtr 1894 in Hackney Middlesex England.

General Notes: Memoirs of Francis Lovis Vosper, 1912: Thomas was the youngest of the family, he commenced business about 1852 as a farmer, market gardener and shopkeeper at Bohetheric. Some years later he took a tract of land known as "Kelly" in Calstock parish, on a lease of 60 years from Lady Ashburton and disposed of his Bohetheric property to Mr. John Martin whose family still reside there. He was doing well at Kelly, but he ventured into general merchandise, built the Ashburton Hotel and other houses. Then for some time he held the Quays at Cotele and finally went into stock and share brokering. In his early life he was an earnest acceptable local preacher, but he dropped that later on and his life was thence forth anything but a success. He married his second cousin Miss Amelia Frood, she was a clever woman, but so deeply engrossed on church work and social functions as to leave her so little time for domestic affairs. Their married life was far from happy. They had no children and both died in London about 25 years ago.
Thomas married Amelia FROOD [26488] [MRIN: 10118]. Amelia was born about 1827 and died 3 Qtr 1881 in Hackney Middlesex England.

ALFRED DIGORY FROOD AND THE LEEDS CONNECTION

THE ALFRED DIGORY FROOD STORY

Born 1845 in Northampton, died in Leeds, September 1910, aged 64.

Alfred Digory, was the youngest surviving son of James and Elisabeth FROOD.

In 1851 he was living with his family in Northampton. In 1861 he does not appear on the census but he reappears in 1871 when he his shown living with his very new wife, whom he married in 1871 at his new address in Leeds. He is a Sewing Machine Engineer and Salesman. They live in a new development in north Leeds called Potters Newton, a housing project specifically for trades people and the middle classes. This project is well documented as experimental, and was not recognised as being over successful as more and more working class terraces impinged to the rear of the grand terrace houses and so became 'unfashionable'.

Records show that the homes were 'commodious and respectable, with large gardens, rented out to those earning £300 per year. Described as genteel and respectable terrace houses, they had enough accommodation for one or two servants. They were homes for professional men and tradesmen who had offices or businesses in Leeds. From 1838 onwards omnibuses ran from the suburbs to Leeds centre.

Alfred Digory married to Robina Bruce MacAuley, the 3rd daughter of Captain Robert MacAuley. MacAuley is a scottish clan which historically centred around the lands of the Ardincaple, which are today consumed by the little villages of Rhu and the burgh of Helensburgh in Argyll and Bute.

In 1881 they moved to different accommodation in Leeds as they now have four daughters: Catherine B 1872, Elizabeth b.1874; Isabella b.1876 and Nellie b. 1877.

Alfred was noted in the 1872 Trade Gazette in Leeds - as MANAGER- SINGER SEWING MACHINE CO., ABBOTSFORD PLACE, NEW LEEDS.

In 1891 they have all moved to Orrell and Ford, a district of Sefton, where they are living with the addition of their son, Robert V, who was born in 1882.

Isabella was in Southwark, London in 1910, prior to her marrying that same year in Leeds. Catherine married in September, 1896 in Leeds; Elizabeth married in 1905 at the age of 32 in Leeds

Robert Vosper FROOD died at the age of 17/18 on April 27th, 1899 - and is buried in Lawnswood Cemetery, Leeds. Robina died in Bradford in 1915 aged 73 years of age, and is also buried with her son, husband and youngest daughter Nellie.

Footnote: Robina was the grand daughter of John  MacAuley and Marion Bruce, and the great grand daughter of Anlay MacAuley (1723-85) and Annie McWattie.

Alfred's youngest daughter Nellie, was married in 1900 to HARRY DE GREY FIRTH. The service was conducted by the uncle of the bride the Rev. John Crump at the Eldon Weslyan Chapel, Leeds.  De Grey Firth was resident at 37 Vernon Road, Leeds. Nellie is buried with her father, mother and brother at Lawnswood Cemetery, Leeds Section B430.

ROBERT VOSPER D 1899

ALFRED D.   D1910

ROBINA BRUCE FROOD 1915

NELLIE DE GREY FIRTH 1941



Reginald Terrace where the Froods lived




Another Frood residence in Leeds




The new housing project at Potter Newton, Leeds



THE STORY OF ARABELLA FROOD

Sister of Charles Trefusis FroodShe was born in 1838, was  2 in the 1841census living  in Towcester and 12 in 1851 census living in Northampton and at 22, in the 1861 census she was  working as a teacher in Linsted, Kent.
In 1881 she was described as the sister in law of Rosville Mills, who had married her sister, Emma Marie, and was living in Lyonsdown Road, Oakwood, New Barnet, described as an independent lady.
In 1891 Arabella was shown to be living in Barnet, again with her sister Emma, and once again shown as a woman living on her own means.
In 1901 at the age of 62, she was now living with her sister Eliza Phillips-COWGILL, and she was described as a retired governess.

She died a spinster in 1918 leaving £6,267 (2011 value - £133.000) to her nephew William Hamilton CRUMP. At the time of her death she was resident at 10, Yew Bank Terrace, Ilkley.

Crump was the eldest son of her youngest sister Helen J Frood and JOHN CRUMP, a Wesleyan Minister from Westmorland. Crump officiated at the wedding of his niece Nellie in 1900.
William Hamilton Crump, with his inheritance set of for New York from Liverpool in 1919, with a final destination of Houston. He set sail on the ORDUNA  and was acccompanied by Jean Merrie A -

THE STORY OF ELIZA PHILIPS (PHELPS) FROOD

Contents confirmed through census, parish records, wills and other relevant papers.


According to the 1871 census Eliza was born in Kingston, Surrey in 1831 the second daughter of James Frood and Elizabeth Sargent Frood. In 1841 she lived in Towcester, with her parents and siblings. In 1851 she was living in Northampton, again with her parents and siblings, although her older brother Charles Trefusis had left and travelled to Sheffield to take up his work at Coles as an assistant draper.

In 1861 Eliza, still unmarried, now 30 years old,is working as a housekeeper in the prestigious St.Anns Square in Manchester, where siblings Julie (24) is working as a saleswoman to a draper; and Emma(28) who is a drapers assistant. It is worth noting that in 1861 her youngest sister Ellen, who is 11 years old is at school in St.Stephen's by Saltash in Cornwall and sister Elizabeth has married to Frederick Poulter who are living at Leighton Grove and their mother Elizabeth Sargent is living with them.  Her father James died in 1859. It is also worth noting that during this period 1858-1863 her brother Charles Trefusis Frood and his wife Amelia had the births of four of his children, Charles, Eliza, Florence and James,registered in Chorlton, Manchester.


By 1863 Eliza had met and then married Brian Cowgill, a Chemist and Druggist from Burnley. His father was a noted and important surgeon, with interests in the healing properties of herbs, particularly 'feverfen'. He was married to Martha Abode,and they lived in Burnley, Lancs.
When Eliza and Brian met he was widowed, she was 32 and he was 41 - and he had been married to Ann who had died before she was 36, having given birth to 6 children - Ellen Eliza -1847; Brian Horatio 1849; Charlotte Ann 1851; Mary 1853; Jane 1855 and Hannah 1859.


In 1865 Brian Cowgill died, leaving Eliza with the children and the business, a Chemist and Druggist in Market Place, Whalley and then later in Manchester Road, Burnley.
In 1871 Eliza is shown as Head of household, chemist and druggist aged 39 - and living with her is the eldest son (22) Brian Horatio, who is also in the pharmaceutical industry and working with Eliza. They have an apprentice and a shop manager living with them. At that time they are being visited by her sisters Arabella (26) who is a teacher in Linsted, Kent and Helen who is 21. Also visiting is sister Elizabeth Poulter and her son Arthur who is 6 years of age.
Although Eliza and Brian married in Doncaster her death details are as yet not confirmed. He died in Burnley.


Elisabeth Sargent V Frood , the mother died in Doncaster in 1865 but her burial details are unknown - her husband James died in 1859 in Plymouth. Elizabeth must have gone to live with one her children, perhaps CT Frood until her death in Doncaster.