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Actually, paper trails can reveal far worse than DNA - I would never have believed we had a serial cow rapist in our family until I discovered the court records of one such repeat offender from the early 19th Century.

The other family indiscretions down the years rather paled beside the revulsion I felt at that one.

The miscreant was originally sentenced to be hung but was eventually pardoned and transported, possibly Australia may not have been the best destination for such a person.

Hmm - still feel slightly nauseated. :

Excerpt from a book I am writing about Halreston Common ps - have not looked into it but I think safe to assume thereis some link between this branch of Allums and the strdabroke allums who wind up down in Hastings too!

No pub existed on the actual Common but there was a lodging house between at least 1861 and 1891,which was used by the ‘lower class’ of passing trade. It is possible that a few of the ‘random’ registrations of ‘Harleston Common’ were from families passing through the lodging house.  For instance the death of 11 month old Mary Ann Allum on Valentine’s Day 1878 does not tie in with any local families I am aware of, instead I would suggest she is the Mary Ann baptised at St Nicholas in East Dereham on 1st April 1877, to parents Charles and Sophia Allum, father a hawker. These itinerate people tend to be difficult to track down; one likely candidate is Charles Allum, from Rutland, who first appears in 1861 with his wife Caroline at an Inn in Bethel St Norwich. By 1871, the still childless Caroline gives her trade as a milliner from Suffolk. A Charles Allum marries Sophia Lines in 1872  - if they are one and the same I wonder what happened to Caroline? 

Alternatively, Charles and Sophie Allum, may be the pair who appear amongst a total of 12 lodgers, as tinkers at a lodging house in Watton in 1881. This record seems a little arbitrary - husband and wife have both been given the age of 30, their place of birth is not known, four other residents don’t even have their names known - I suspect when the census taker appeared the lodging housekeeper had to rely on her memory and guesswork! With them they have a 2 year old and a 12 year old son - presumably the children in between met the same fate as Mary Ann three years previously - life on the road would be tough for the children.

By 1891, things are more settled. Charles Allum I, 10 years older than his 33 year old wife Sophie, is living with his family at Fullers Hole Norwich.   While the parents claim Ipswich birth, Charles II is 17 (not 22 as you might expect) but William’s age of 11 ties in with that given in ’81. Both the Charles I & II and Sophia are hawkers, the children being born in Cambridgeshire, Norwich, Suffolk and two more in Norwich.  Amazingly the family of seven, including a 6 month old baby are squeezed into two rooms, even more extraordinary, a couple of doors away the 10 strong Brown family are also in a 2 room dwelling!

In 1901, the couple are back on the road, appearing at The Crown in Woolpit, this time with just their 6 year old daughter Annie, born in Hastings, in tow.  By 1911, Annie is back in Hastings, with her aunt, Annie Gannon, hawking flowers.  Annie Gannon claims birth in Woodford Essex - may have been a confusion with ‘Woodbridge’ claimed by Sophia?  Just to add to the joy, William, the toddler who appeared in the ’81 census at Watton but now a rag and bone man, was the only prisoner languishing in the police cells in the Hastings Town Hall in 1911!  Meanwhile his father, Charles Allum I, now widowed, was one of 15 lodgers at a Common lodging house in the town - whilst the proprietors were British born, their names ‘Orsi’ and ‘Bassi’would indicate Italian origins. 

Charles II, a marine store dealer (glorified junk/scrap merchant) is also living in Hastings.  He has been busy, with his wife Elizabeth, they have produced 7 children, all alive for this census, their four room house might seem cramped to us but compared with the conditions that 17 year old Charles and his family were enduring in ’81, luxury! His son Alfred, aged 4 in this 1911 census turns out to be a bit of a pickle in his youth.  Alfred and a partner in crime (lads) were charged with stealing eight men’s Oxford shirts.   The boys had been to prison and it was decided that Allum was ‘fit for Borstal treatment’ whilst the other lad might do better if ‘put on probation under the Police Court Missionary’.  The difference in proposed treatment was due to Allum having several previous convictions against him (he was only 12) whilst the other lad had no record.  ‘Allum was committed to the Quarter Sessions, with a view to being put under the Borstal system’ whilst the other lad was given two years probation - oops!

Thankyou - I had not been able to track down Caroline Shepperd so nice to tie up that loose end!

Hi looking at the Mendham/Harleston confusion.  Due to the strange drawing of Parish boundary you could be born more or less in the center of Harleston and still be in the parish of Mendham - the parish boundary coming right up to the south west boundary of the market place.

Even though Mendham is a Suffolk Village this means the parish boundary travels over a mile into Norfolk!  i.e you can be simultaneously and accurately both be born in Mendham and in Harleston!