"The Blue House" BRADWELL-ON-SEA in 1891 or 1901 Census

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Everyone,
I have lost trace of a member of my family - a Mary Kershaw, born in 1863 - after 1881; the next time she pops up is in a letter written some time after the First World War with the address at the top of "The Blue House, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex".
This building used to be the workhouse there, before things were re-organised and Maldon became the workhouse for the area.
I am pretty certain she never married, that she was a school teacher, and that both she and her niece Nora Kershaw lived at this address for some considerable time.
But when Mary Kershaw first arrived in Essex, I'm not at all sure of.  If someone could have a look at this address in the 1891 and 1901 Censuses, I would be most grateful...
Very best wishes,
Keith

[PaulineJ]

Here's a possible in 1901, not Essex though. You didn't say where she was born to help search.

Mary Kershaw      38     Yorks Leeds     Yorks     Headingley     Assistant Schoolmistress

Pauline

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Pauline,
That's a very interesting one, birthdate and name absolutely spot on...
However, yes, I did neglect birthplace.  She was born in Islington, London, so I imagine that this unfortunately eliminates her, as the Headingly you give presumably refers to her birthplace in Yorkshire...
Keith

[PaulineJ]

The Qinteic/Gr 1901 site doesn't list "Blue House" as an address.

The only "House" seem to be:

Nr Park House          Essex     Bradwell                   
Park House        Essex    Bradwell                    
Beer House The Case Is Alternt       Essex    Bradwell On Sea                    
Bradwell House        Essex    Bradwell On Sea                    
Delamers House       Essex    Bradwell On Sea           
Mill House        Essex Bradwell on sea

Pauline

[Keith Sherwood]

Thanks so much for looking so closely in Bradwell, Pauline,
I must investigate further to see whether the house could have been called anything other than the Blue House prior to 1902.  Hopefully I'll get back to you on this.
Keith

[Keith Sherwood]

Pauline,
I've had a look at some plans and a builder's/surveyor's report that I had tucked away in a drawer; they are dated 1844, and actually refer the the "Old Workhouse" being converted into dwelling places.  So perhaps they appear as cottages in the first Censuses.  Certainly by the time Nora Kershaw was living there on her own after the Second World War these cottages had been combined into one as "The Blue House".  Or so I've been led to believe...
Very best wishes,
keith

[PaulineJ]

I haven't any credits to take it further..

Workhouse Cottages Tillingham Road     Y (so occupied)     
   
Civil parish: Bradwell On Sea     

Ecclesiatical Parish: Bradwell Juxta Mare St Thomas     
Parliamentary Borough: South East Essex

Pauline

[Keith Sherwood]

Pauline,
Those MUST be the correct dwellings - was that from the 1901 Census? - and I'm sorry, I really ought to get some credit of my own going on that site, and not greedily use up other people's generosity...
Very many thanks for all your help,
Keith

[MaryA]

Bradwell on Sea only seems to be a small place, only 11 pages,  so I was able to check through the pages.  There seems to be about 8 dwellings called Workhouse Cottages, 3 of them empty, but there is no Mary Kershaw or a Nora who was old enough to be married and having a different surname, living there.

The teachers you might just be interested in case the names mean anything:
Village Street
Sarah May Head S 61 Head Mistress Girls School Essex Bradwell on Sea
Mary A Bartlelot Housekeeper Wid 74 Surrey Camberwell Lon.
Alice J " Boarder S 42 Head Mistress (Infant School) Sussex Petworth
Edith M E Ward Boarder S 26 Assistant Mistress (Girls School) Kent Rochester
RG13/1689 Maldon Bradwell Folio 21 Page 10

Mary