8
« on: Wednesday 09 February 22 14:31 GMT (UK) »
I just came across this chat and what fantastic detail it contains, thanks. I've a special interest, as William Beach/Beachy Head, the innkeeper of the 'American Stores' around 1850, formerly the Bell, is my partner's great-great-great-grandfather, or so I believe. 'Mary Lovett', listed as a barmaid with William at the Westgate Street premises in the 1851 census, full name Esther Maria Lovett, had an illegitimate son that year, who she named William Beach Head Lovett, which would seem pretty good evidence for his father's identity.
As mentioned above in the chat, William senior was fined by the Ipswich magistrates in 1849 for "harbouring bad characters" at the property, so the impression is of him running a bit of a rough establishment.
As also noted, he moved onto running the Victoria Hotel, Berners Street, Ipswich, in 1856.
In 1861, he pops up as an innkeeper in Walton on the Naze, with a wife (not Esther Maria) and two children, then in 1871 he appears as "Hotel Proprietor" of the massive Imperial Hotel at Blackpool, which opened up under his stewardship in 1867.
So, a big step up. Appearances can be deceptive, though, and it seems he was made bankrupt twice, first by 1863 and secondly in 1871 with the failure of the Blackpool hotel.
After that, he appears to have moved onto further hotels in Matlock, Derbyshire, then Lytham, Lancashire, dying at Lytham in 1877.
Show Posts