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Author
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Topic: 1851 Census Norwich (Read 918 times)
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aelf
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 16
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Yes, the prostitution theory is pure speculation, if "pure" is the right word in this context. I don't mean it was necessarily a full-time career, just that her economic situation might make her rather more open to negotiation than someone with a bit more financial security. It's an argument from absence, but with all my other Norfolk ancestors (and they are all from Norfolk back to 1800 and beyond, except for Emily from Hoxne) there is a man in the background somewhere in this sort of case, and there are plenty of them - Victorian values weren't invented until the 1920s.
I also hope to go through some old papers as well, particlarly to see if there's a report of an inquest on Charles Knights as well as another ancestor in a different branch who die "by the visitation of God".
Even if the dead wanted to sue they would lose. The ones in Hell would have their evidence disbelieved and the ones in Heaven would probably have difficulty finding a lawyer.
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Cannell, Cutting, Lawrence in Norfolk
Gatford anywhere
French in Devon
Kirton in Durham
Donaldson, Hunter, Mckenzie in Clackmannanshire/Stirling
Watson in Renfrewshire
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JerryWymer
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 5
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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As I am focusing on the Bloom's I want to try and get to the bottom of this. Firstly I want to establish when Stephen's son Francis established his horsehair business. I think it was probably in the 1850s, although clearly too late to financially support his father who was clearly quite poor.
I know that an 1892 Trade directory lists Francis Stephen & Son, horsehair manufacturers at Oak St, St Martins at Oak & Horsham St Faith's. There is also a map of Norwich dated 1885 showing the factory in St Martin's St (I think it might have been renamed Oak Street). On the south side of the factory is Queen Caroline Yard and on the north side, what was commonly called White Lion Yard, but on this map is listed as Bloom's Yard, so clearly Francis had become a very succesful business man, unlike his father who if all the theory's are correct was not only poor but something of a rogue as well! I have had copies of this map made.
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aelf
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 16
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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I'm pretty certain some members of the extended family viewed Bloom and Knights as interchangeable surnames. I have also heard deeply politically incorrect rumours passed down from a deceased aunt, who married into the line, that the Knights were probably, shock horror, gypsies. May be true, certainly brushmaking which involved horsehair draughting seems to have been an intinerant occupation. I also wonder whether the Bloomfields who lived around Mendlesham may have been distantly related.
It's sometimes a relief to get back from this branch to look at the family my Knights grandmother married into; their surname doesn't change, on the other hand it's Smith.
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Cannell, Cutting, Lawrence in Norfolk
Gatford anywhere
French in Devon
Kirton in Durham
Donaldson, Hunter, Mckenzie in Clackmannanshire/Stirling
Watson in Renfrewshire
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aelf
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 16
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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I have of course thickened the plot by being thick myself. The St martin at Oak entry is the correct one, my information was corrupted by my own carelessness when trying to make sense of the convoltions in this part of the family.
The 1851 census names Stephen Bloom as head of the household and Emily as his daughter; it would be possible to create a scenario which involved Emily being Stephen's actual daughter and marrying a Knights, who then avoids all church and state records but manages to beget children at intervals, but I think by far the greater probability is that daughter is used for daughter-in-law. This is not uncommon in the census - it happened in the 1901 census for my grandmother Nellie Ann Knights, who appears with her brother Charles Joseph with the surname Collins after the early death of her father Charles John Knights - she is described as the daughter of Frederick Collins, actually her step-father. The children in 1851 are all named as grandchildren of Stephen Bloom but 2 of the girls, Emily and Elizabeth, are named as Emily's daughters in 1861.
I am reasonably certain of the identity of Cahrles despite his age as given in 1851; as you point out, Stephen Bloom's age at death doesn't fit with his age according to the census, and Charles "Bloom"'s age in 1841 matches the Charles Knights who appears in the censuses from '61 to '91.
If faced with a choice, Emily's stepfather would be marginally preferable as the father of her children, rather than her half brother Francis. Not that this rules it out.
Incidentally, I'm not certain of the children were registered - can't see much sign of them on FreeBMD.
My refernce to name changing applies particularly to the Samuel Bloom who appears in the 1841 census aged 20, but it's even more conjectural than the rest, so I won't burden you with it at the moment.
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Logged
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Cannell, Cutting, Lawrence in Norfolk
Gatford anywhere
French in Devon
Kirton in Durham
Donaldson, Hunter, Mckenzie in Clackmannanshire/Stirling
Watson in Renfrewshire
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