ROBINS,DEACON,SHELLY,THOMPSON,SHARGOOL Gothic Cottage White Lion Street STAFFORD

[viddavid]

A scribbled address in an old prayer book led to me finding brothers Arthur & Ernest ROBINS aged 6 & 4 lodging at Gothic Cottage White Lion Street Castle Church Stafford in 1871. I have managed to trace their lives through many trials and tribulations until death. However I have found no trace of their birth.
Arthurs marriage certificate has a penciled note " Fathers christian name not known , William ? ". Ernests first marriage certificate has father " Thomas ROBINS" occupation grocer. His second marriage has father named Arthur William.Back to the 1871 census and Arthur is given, born 1865 Richmond Surrey.Ernest born 1867 Birmingham. Other names in the house are DEACON,SHARGOOL ?,SHELLY and THOMPSON. Considering the age of Arthur and Ernest I suspect one of these names knew the boys history and put it on the census. Any demolition experts want a crack at this wall ? 

[viddavid]

Further to the above Ernest was admitted to Stafford Workhouse April 3rd 1880. He left six days later but was readmitted Feb.18th. 1881. On June 11th.1881 he was apprenticed to Henry SPRAGGINS of Stafford as a shoe finisher.
Arthur ROBINS by this time was lodging in Wigan Lancashire where he spent the rest of his life.

[DMP]

Hi viddavid
Have you tried looking for Arthur being a couple of year older he might have remember more about his father and put his name down on his marriage

Donna

[DMP]

sorry i can see now you have his marriage
Donna

[Cathymjp]

Hi Viddavid,

Welcome to Rootschat.

There is a picture on this site which may be your Gothic House.  If you type Gothic into the search engine on the site it will bring the picture up.

www.staffspasttrack.org.uk -

Cathy

[viddavid]

Hello Cathy,
Thank you very much for that link. Yes that is Gothic Cottage. It is still standing today and being used by a printing company. It was built between 1840-1842 on the site of Castle Church workhouse. Later Ernest ROBINS became a pauper inmate of the new Stafford Union Workhouse. I don't know if the cottage was privately owned when it was built.
The prayer book ,owned by Arthur ROBINS has the date 1877 printed followed by -8-9-10-1-2-3-4 added in pencil.This may just be a childs doodle while sitting in church as by 1881 Arthur was in Wigan Lancashire.
There is another address : 46 Newport Road Stafford. I don't know who lived there.....yet.

[Cathymjp]

Hi Viddavid,

What a sad going on for these two little boys - Ernest  in the workhouse and the other one in Wigan Lancashire.

There is an Ernest Robbins born in Aston Warwickshire, Oct/Nov/Dec 1869.  For someone filling in the census information on the children they might put Birmingham down, but it is a bit of long shot. 

Edit.  Sorry this is not the one, he is the son of James and Caroline Robbins on the 1881 census.

Cathy

[viddavid]

Hi Cathy,
Thanks for trying. This is quite a challenge which I've been working on for some time. It's great to have others looking, it has spurred me on.
Yes it was a hard beginning for the two boys. It got a lot worse for Ernest. As I traced his life he married and had six children but was living in a rough area of London. His wife died as did his children. His eldest son died next to him in the trenches during WW1 having returned from Canada to fight. I thought that was the end of the line until I was contacted by someone last year who told me Ernest remarried and had six more children. He died peacefully aged 62 in Wiltshire.   

[Cathymjp]

Hi Viddavid,

What a tragic life poor Arthur had. 

On looking at the workhouse website I notice that all the records are held at the County Records Office in Stafford.  I am not sure what is recorded on these records but I could have a look for Ernest's entries.  My visit might not be for a couple of months yet and if you feel this would help I would be happy to see what there is.

Cathy