Abbott

A Family History

National and Local Events Date The Abbott Family

George III 1760-1820

c 17th – 19th Several Abbott families living in centuries in

c 1766 - 1769 Birth of Charles Abbott

Captain James Cook sails on 1768 his first Pacific voyage aboard Endeavour.

c 1771 Birth of Sarah, wife of Charles Abbott

First patent for a water closet, 1775 the first modern toilet, granted to Alexander Cumming

The markets in Needham 1776 Market revived

A House of Industry (workhouse) built at Barham to serve the parish of Needham Market

America declares Independence

Joseph Bramah patented an 1778 improved version of the water closet

The ‘First Fleet’ sails to 1788 Australia

Mutiny on the Bounty 1789 French Revolution begins

Edward Jenner discovers 1796 smallpox vaccine

National and Local Events Date The Abbott Family

Failed nationalist rebellion in 1798 Marriage of Elizabeth Ireland led by Wolfe Tone Wingfield’s parents, Robert Wingfield and Mary Everson, in Mickfield in Suffolk

Income tax introduced 1799

Act of Union unites Britain 1801 and Ireland First National census taken

1802 -1807 5 children born to Charles Abbott and wife Sarah (Ann) in Needham Market, Suffolk

C 1802 - 1841 Charles Abbott resident in Needham Market

1802 Birth of Elizabeth Wingfield in Mickfield to Robert and Mary Wingfield (née Everson) Britain declares war on 1803 France

1804 Birth of Robert Abbott in Needham Market

Battle of Trafalgar 1805

Death in New York of 1809 Thomas Paine, author of The Rights of Man et al.

Luddite riots 1811-1812

Battle of Waterloo - Napoleon 1815 defeated National agricultural depression

Birth of Crimean War artist 1816 Samuel Read in Needham Market Agricultural depression and food riots across East Anglia

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein 1818 published National and Local Events Date The Abbott Family

Peterloo Massacre 1819

George IV 1820-1830

1822 Death of Sarah Abbott, wife of Charles, in Needham Market

Sir Robert Peel reforms the 1823 Robert Abbott and Elizabeth criminal law and penal Wingfield marry in Mickfield, system Suffolk

1825-1840 6 children born to Robert and Elizabeth Abbott (née Wingfield) in Mickfield First passenger steam 1825 railroad from Stockton-on- Tees to Darlington

Catholic Emancipation Act 1829

William IV 1830-1837

Outbreaks of machine 1830s breaking in Suffolk

Cholera first arrives in 1831

Parliamentary Reform Act 1832 Birth of Robert Abbott to Robert Cholera epidemic in Europe: and Elizabeth in Mickfield 31,000 people killed in Britain. Elgin Marbles placed in specially built gallery in London

Municipal Reform Act 1834 ‘Tolpuddle Martyrs’ transported Slave trade abolished in British empire

National and Local Events Date The Abbott Family

1835 Baptism of Robert Abbott junior in Mickfield with his sister Sarah Ann

Tithe Commutation Act 1836 overhauls the system of giving tithes to support the church and clergy

Queen Victoria 1837-1901

Smallpox epidemic 1837-1840

Tithe Maps for Needham 1837 Market and Mickfield drawn up

Chartist movement 1838-1848

Penny post introduced. 1840 Vaccination against smallpox implemented within workhouses

c 1841 - 1846 Charles Abbott resident in Barham Workhouse

National Census taken. First 1841 Charles Abbott listed in Barham to include people’s names. Workhouse on the census Thomas Cook arranges his Robert Abbott resident in first excursion Mickfield

Chartist riots 1842 Death of Elizabeth Abbott (née Lord Shaftesbury’s Mines Act Wingfield) Death of agricultural reformer ‘Coke of Norfolk’

Death of prison reformer 1845 Elizabeth Fry and anti-slavery campaigner Sir Thomas Buxton

Repeal of Corn Laws 1846 Death of Charles Abbott in Barham Workhouse

National and Local Events Date The Abbott Family

Vanity Fair (William 1847 Thackeray), Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte), Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), Dombey and Sons (Charles Dickens) published

Year of revolution in Europe. 1848 The first Public Health Act is introduced to combat cholera

A new window is installed in c 1850 Mickfield Church

National Census taken. 1851 Robert Abbott senior listed in Great Exhibition at Crystal Mickfield on the census with his Palace second wife Mary Ann and sons William and Robert

Crimean War 1853-1856

Smallpox vaccination 1853-1948 compulsory for all infants

Second cholera epidemic 1854

1856 Death of Mary Ann, second wife of Robert Abbott senior

Publication of Charles 1859 Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection

1860 Birth of son to Robert Abbott and Sarah Ann Kempling in Eye workhouse in February Marriage of Robert Abbott and Sarah Ann Kempling in December

1860-1871 5 children born to Robert Abbott junior and his wife Sarah Ann (née Kempling)

National and Local Events Date The Abbott Family

National Census 1861 Robert Abbott senior listed as a Great Expectations (Charles widower and living on his own in Dickens), Silas Marner Mickfield (George Elliot) and Book of Robert Abbott junior living at Household Management ‘White House’ in Mickfield (Isabella Beeton) published

c 1862-63 Birth of Mary Anne Talbot in Inferior, Suffolk

Construction of London 1863 Underground begins

1864 Birth of James Abbott in Mickfield

Publication of Karl Marx’s 1867 Das Kapital

Transportation of criminals 1868 abolished

Elementary Education Act 1870 introduces free education

Smallpox epidemic 1870-1872

National Census taken 1871 Robert Abbott senior living next door to his son John in Mickfield

Secret Ballot Act 1872 Robert Abbott senior marries for the third time to widow, Sophia Cullum

1873 Death of Robert Abbott junior in Barham Workhouse, buried in Mickfield

Factory Act limits working 1874 week to 56.5 hours

Discovery of the comma- 1876 shaped baccilus of cholera by Dr. Robert Koch

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell 1877 published

National and Local Events Date The Abbott Family

1879 Death of Robert Abbott senior in Mickfield

Elementary education 1880 becomes compulsory up to age 12

1881 Remarriage of Sophia, the third wife of Robert Abbott senior, to Samuel Smith The box pews in Mickfield 1882 church are replaced

National Census taken 1881

Married Women’s Property 1882 Act allows women to own property in their own right after marriage

Electoral franchise extended 1884 to all male householders and lodgers paying rent of over £10 per year

1885 Marriage of James George Abbott to Mary Anne Talbot in Rickinghall Inferior, Suffolk

1887 Birth of Jeannie Gray Penman.

1888 Birth of William George Abbott in , Suffolk.

National Census taken 1891 James and Mary Anne Abbott The Adventures of Sherlock living at Back Hills in Botesdale Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle published James working as a fishmonger.

2nd Boer War 1899-1901

First transmission of human 1900 speech by radio waves End of the Needham Market Annual Fair in around 1900

Map of Suffolk from Pigot’s Suffolk Trade Directory, 1839 The Abbott Family Introduction

The story of the Abbott family can be taken back to Needham Market in Suffolk in the 1760s to a Charles Abbott born in around 1766-69. The next generation begins with Robert Abbott who was born in Needham Market in 1804. By the time of his first marriage to Elizabeth Wingfield in 1823 Robert had moved to Mickfield, also in Suffolk.

The Abbott family were to remain in Mickfield for most of the nineteenth century. The tale continues with another Robert, born in Mickfield in 1832. Subsequent generations moved to Botesdale and Grays in Essex, Monton in Lancaster, then Bedfordshire. Throughout the majority of this time the Abbotts worked as agricultural labourers.

Agricultural Labourers

Life as an agricultural labourer or farm hand in eighteenth century Suffolk involved long hours and little reward. It was not uncommon for children as young as six to work on the farm, doing tasks such as scaring rooks or sorting potatoes, or leading the horses that drew the ploughs. Many children never went to school as their presence was needed on the farms. For their labour they would have been paid about a shilling (five pence) a week. Writing in 1939, R. C. Gaut noted that the annual wages of a grown man working full time might be about £15, with a day labourer earning ten pence for his day’s work.

Even for the times those wages were low, and they did not rise as the costs of living did. As a result, labourers lived very close to the edge. Any disability or misfortune befalling the wage-earner could result in his whole family becoming destitute. Each parish had to support its own poor through local rates. The ‘Poor Rate’ was just one of many local taxes, but it went specifically towards supporting the poor. Between 1776 and 1803 the Poor Rate collected across England had more than doubled, rising from one and a half million pounds to four million pounds. As many labourers lived in tied cottages, accommodation owned by a landlord who provided it for the use of his workers, loss of employment also frequently meant the loss of a home as well, with no right to protest.

Agricultural labour was physically demanding, with long hours in the summer. Harvesting, mowing and reaping would be carried out with a scythe or sickle. Hay would be bound up into bundles called stooks, and then piled into haystacks. During harvest the wives and mothers would join the men in the early evenings to glean the field. This was backbreaking work as it entailed stooping to gather any ears of corn or whichever crop was being harvested, to take home for flour making or chicken feed.

At the start of the eighteenth century most tasks were accomplished by hand. However, as the century progressed more machines came into use. Previously farmers had worked strips of land in common fields, growing different crops and sharing them out. Farm machines required more space than the strip fields. The Enclosure Acts began to be passed, which saw the common lands enclosed into individually owned fields. Many farmers lost their livelihood, and even in cases where compensation was allotted the amount given was generally below the value of the fields. In 1911 J. L. and Barbara Hammond wrote in their book The Village Labourer:

Before the enclosure the cottager was a labourer with land, after the enclosure he was a labourer without land… families that had lived for centuries in their dales or on their small farms and commons were driven before the torrent.

By the end of the 1700s century enclosure was mostly complete. As a result of the enclosures and the rise of machines, fewer labourers were needed. Few people secured a job on enclosed farms. Many people migrated to the cities or towns where they could find employment in the mills of the industrial revolution.

Chapter One Charles Abbott 1766-69 - 1846

The earliest known ancestor is Charles Abbott who was born in Suffolk around 1766-69. He lived in Needham Market from at least 1802. Having raised a family in the parish, Charles ended his days in the workhouse at Barham, but was brought back to Needham Market to be buried.

No baptism has been found for Charles Abbott in Needham Market or a number of other nearby parishes. Neither has a marriage been found for him. One possible baptismal match in the parish of Debenham has been eliminated as this Charles Abbott was still alive and living in Colchester in 1851. Whilst his origins are still a mystery, there were many other people called Abbott living in Needham Market from at least the late 1600s. Charles may well therefore be related to one of these families.

Questions also arise as to the name of his wife or whether he was married more than once. The first record relating to Charles Abbott is the baptism of his son Isaac in Needham Market in 1802. On this record the wife of Charles is named as Sarah. Charles and Sarah have three more children baptised in Needham Market: Edward in 1806, Ann Abbott in 1807 and Elizabeth Abbott in 1810.

In between is the baptism of Robert Abbott on the 16th April 1804. However, his mother’s name was given as Ann. It would appear that this was a clerical error, with the clerk accidentally copying the mother’s name from preceding entries. Corroboration for this theory lies in the facts that no other children are baptised to a Charles and Ann in this period and there is no burial for an Ann who could be the wife of Charles, whereas there is a burial for Sarah in 1822. In addition to which when Robert married in 1823 one of the witnesses was an Isaac Abbott, which was the name of one of the sons of Charles and Sarah.

The baptism of Robert Abbott in 1804 ← This mother’s name has probably been written as Ann by mistake on this entry. Both entries immediately preceding it had mothers called Ann.

Close up of the baptism of Robert Abbott in Needham Market, 1804

Needham Market

Needham Market in Suffolk is an attractive village spread out along a long main street. When William the Conqueror ordered a survey of every town and village in England in 1086, which became known as the Domesday Book, it did not include Needham Market. This is probably because it was at that time only a hamlet in the parish of Barking. Indeed, it was not until the twentieth century that Needham Market became a separate parish. It is likely that there was a settlement of some kind at the present site, as it is located on the River Gipping and the main road to , which was a particularly important route at the time.

The first record of the modern spelling of the name occurs in 1245, before that being spelt as “Nedeham”, “Nedham” or “Neidham”. The name may signify “needy homestead”. The present church was originally a chapel of ease for Barking. This was an outlying church in a parish for those unable to easily reach the main parish church. In 1277 the Index Eliensis, a survey of the property held by the See of Ely, mentions a church on land in Needham Market held by Roger Bigot under the parish of Barking. However, whilst the Needham Market church probably stands on the same site this is not the same building referred to in the Index Eliensis as it dates from around 1460.

St. John the Baptist Church, Needham Market, 2010

Needham Market Post Office on the High Street, 2010

Needham Market originally grew up around and prospered on the wool- combing industry, preparing the fleeces for weaving, although there were also weaving sheds on the town. In 1245, Henry III granted a Market Charter for Needham to Bishop Hugh of Ely. This market probably came to an end with the wool combing trade in the mid fifteenth century when the bubonic plague swept the countryside and isolated Needham. Although the infection was contained by erecting chains at each end of the town it is thought that about two thirds of the population died.

According to local legend “Chainhouse” and “Chainbridge”, place names surviving from the time, were sites where the town’s sick left (probably in vinegar, meant to sterilise the infection) and people outside left food in return. Local legends also state that the town was so affected that grass took over the deserted streets and the dead were buried in fields in the town, but it is also possible that at first they were taken down the street known today as The Causeway (believed to be corrupted from “The Corpseway”) to Barking church for burial.

In 1558, in the reign of Queen Mary, Needham Market had a brush with royal displeasure when Edmund Pole was burned at the stake for his religious beliefs. In 1776 an attempt was made to revive the markets interrupted by the plague, but this was not successful. There was however an annual fair the main street on the feast day of Saints Simon and Jude (28th October) until about 1900.

Needham Market in Pigot’s Trade Directory of Suffolk, 1830

The Mill at Needham Market (now flats) (www.wikipedia.org)

Needham Market Tithe Map, 1837 (Suffolk RO: )

The artist Samuel Read was born in Needham Market in 1816. After originally working in a law firm he moved to London as a young man to pursue an artistic career. He studied under his friend, Josiah Wood Whymper, a wood- engraver and watercolour painter, before building his own career. In 1853 Samuel was sent to Constantinople and the Black Sea just before the outbreak of the Crimean War, sending back pencil drawings to the illustrated London News. As a result, Samuel Read is sometimes described as the first “War Artist”. He died in Sidmouth, Devon, in 1883.

One major event which affected Needham Market occurred more recently. During the Second World War Needham Market was bombed by the Germans in 1942. Seven residents were killed and several buildings, including the telephone exchange, were destroyed. Despite such tragedies the village today is still a vibrant place set in the heartland of an agricultural area, with buildings and scenery which has changed little since Charles Abbott and his family lived there in the early 1800s.

Bridge Street, Needham Market, 2010

The Tolly Cobbold building on the corner of Bridge Street, 2010

Sarah Abbott died in Needham Market in 1822 at the age of 51. She was buried on the 1st April and when the clerk recorded her as the ‘Wife of Charles Abbott’.

At some point between Sarah’s death in 1822 and 1841 Charles Abbott had to go into the workhouse. He was listed as a resident in the Barham Union Workhouse when the census was taken in 1841. Charles appears to have stayed in the workhouse for several years. This may have been because he needed medical care. Before the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948 the workhouse infirmary was often the only place which offered free healthcare care for the sick, elderly and those unable to care for themselves.

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Charles Abbott in the Bosmere and Claydon Union Workhouse, 1841 (TNA: HO 107/1019/4)

Bosmere and Claydon workhouse site, 1904 (Courtesy of Workhouses.org website)

A local Act of 1765 established the Bosmere and Claydon Hundreds Incorporation of 35 parishes, whereby groups of parishes were allowed to join together to build a workhouse to serve their area. Each parish was still responsible for paying for its own poor, but the joint endeavour pooled resources and cut costs. In 1776, the Incorporation built a House of Industry on a 20-acre site at Barham. It was an H-shaped red brick building of two storeys with attics. Construction of the building cost £10,000 and it could accommodate 400 inmates.

According to a parliamentary report of 1776, the work performed by the workhouse inmates included spinning wool, sewing, knitting, and "making such things as are wanted in the family". The able men were employed in "domestic affairs”. The Union Workhouses replaced the parish system of poor relief in 1834, and the Bosmere and Claydon Poor Law Union formally came into being on 8th September 1835. It served several parishes in the area, taking over the existing Incorporation workhouse building at Barham.

Wards for the sick were located on the first floor of each wing, with two rooms for women and three for men. There were also three lying-in wards at the front of the building. The wards were large and wide but only had windows on one side. A chapel was located at the south of the west wing. An isolation hospital stood at some distance from the main workhouse at the end of Pesthouse Lane. The building was occupied by troops or prisoners of war during the First World War and by Italian prisoners of war during the Second World War. Its use as a workhouse came to an end in 1920. The building was demolished in 1963.

Bosmere and Claydon workhouse shortly before its demolition in 1963 (Workhouses Website)

Barham is one of the workhouses with are claimed to have inspired Charles Dickens' story Oliver Twist. Dickens is said to have been shown around the workhouse on a visit to Suffolk and to have seen a record book containing the details of a ten-year-old boy's apprenticeship.

Charles Abbott remained in the workhouse until his death on the 17th April 1846. He was described as 77 years of age and a labourer. The cause of death was given as: ‘Infirmity Certified’ and the informant was Susan Layd. His burial in Needham Market on the 23rd April gave his residence as Barham Workhouse, but his age as 80.

Branches of the various Abbott families remained in Needham Market well into the late nineteenth century, with Isaac, son of Charles, still living there in 1851.

Death Certificate, Charles Abbott, 1846

Close up of the centre of Needham Market on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey Map, 1904

Needham Market on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey Map, 1904 (Suffolk RO: Ipswich) Chapter Two Robert Abbott, 1804-1879

The next family line in the Abbott story begins with the baptism of Robert Abbott in Needham Market on the 16th April 1804. By 1823 Robert had moved to the parish of Mickfield, close to Eye and Mendlesham, where he married Elizabeth Wingfield by banns on the 17th November that year. The couple married with the consent of parents as Robert was under the age of 21. Both the bride and groom were unable to write as they made their mark on the register. The marriage was witnessed by William Sparrow and Robert’s brother, Isaac Abbott.

Marriage of Robert Abbott and Elizabeth Wingfield 1823

Elizabeth Wingfield was a local girl, having been born in Mickfield on the 3rd May 1802, baptised privately on the 5th May and received into the church on the 29th May that year. Private baptisms sometimes occurred at home when a child was sickly, with the public baptism – being received - taking place later within the church. Her parents were Robert and Mary Wingfield (née Everson), who had married in the same parish on the 11th October 1798.

Baptism of Elizabeth Wingfield, 1802 Mickfield Parish Registers

Marriage of Robert Wingfield and Mary Emerson, 11 Oct 1798 in Mickfield

Mickfield

The village of Mickfield lies in the middle of the county of Suffolk, England. The latter part of the name probably derives from the Old English “feld”, meaning “open stony ground”. The majority of the church was built fourteenth century. It displays a distinctive layout common to the southern Suffolk region, with the tower to the south side, above the porch. In 1868, The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland described Mickfield as follows:

MICKFIELD, a parish in the hundred of Bosmere, county Suffolk, 3 miles S.W. of Debenham, 6½ N.E. of the railway station, and 1 mile E. of Stoneham, its post town. The parish is small, and wholly agricultural. The soil is a strong fertile loam on a substratum of blue and white clay. The surface is elevated, but level. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £390. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of , value £400. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a small structure, with a square embattled tower on the S. side, faced with flint. The interior of the church has a brass of P. Preston, bearing date 1616. The register dates from 1609. The parochial charities produce about £25 per annum. Sir William Middleton and Alexander Adair, Esq., are lords of the manor.

Mickfield Church

The Children of Robert and Elizabeth Abbott Robert and Elizabeth had six children baptised in the parish church of Mickfield St. Andrew’s between 1825 and 1840. These were: Mark in 1825; John in 1827; William in 1831; Robert in 1832; Sarah Ann in 1835 and Charles in 1840.

Some of these children remained in Mickfield. Mark Abbott, who was born in 1825, married twice. With his first wife Harriett he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah Ann and son William baptised together in 1851. A son John was baptised in 1853, followed by Elizabeth in 1857, then Eliza and Henry together in 1857. Three more daughters called Lydia, Ellen and Ellen were all baptised together in 1861 although Lydia died shortly afterwards at only six weeks old.

Mark Abbott’s second marriage took place on the 23rd of December 1864 in Mickfield church to a widow called Susan Green. Mark and Susan had a daughter Maria baptised in 1876. Although no age is given for Maria she was obviously not a baby as Susan had died in 1869 at the age of 41, some years before their daughter’s baptism.

The next son to Robert and Elizabeth was John Abbott, who was born in 1827 and also lived and worked in Mickfield. With his wife Ann Maria they had ten children baptised between 1851 and 1873. These were: Ann Maria in 1851; Sarah Ann in 1853; another Sarah Ann in 1856; Robert in 1858; Emma in 1861; Eliza in 1862; Edward in 1865; Charles in 1868; Harriett in 1870 and James in 1873. Their daughter Sarah Ann died in 1853 at the age of three months, their son James died in 1874 at the age of two years, whilst their youngest son Charles died in 1882 when he was 17 years of age.

Very little further information is known as yet about Robert and Elizabeth’s third son William, born in 1831, or their daughter Sarah Ann, born in 1835. Sarah Ann was living with her parents when the census was taken in 1841. She was no longer living with the family when the census was taken in 1851 and there is no matching burial for her in the burial registers. If she married in a different parish or a registry office, she may be the Sarah Ann Parker who witnessed the third marriage of her father in 1872.

William was still living with his father when the census was taken in 1851, but not in 1861. William and Sarah Ann’s brother Robert is the next in the direct family line and his story continues further on. The youngest child of Robert and Elizabeth was Charles, baptised on the 23rd August 1840. He was buried on the 19th January 1841 at the age of six months.

Interior of Mickfield Church where the Abbott children were all baptised

Robert Abbott spent his working life as a labourer, probably employed by one or more of the local landowners. He can be seen on the 1841-1871 census returns with his growing family. On these he was consistently described as either a labourer or ‘ag lab’, short for agricultural labourer.

← Robert Abbott on the 1841 census where his occupation is given as an ‘Ag Lab’

Robert Abbott on the 1841 Census TNA: HO 107/1019/4

1837 Tithe Map for Mickfield showing the lands in Mickfield Parish

Close up of the Tithe Map showing the centre of the village around the church

List of local farmers and trades people in White’s Suffolk Trade Directory, 1844

Elizabeth Abbott died in 1842 at the age of 39 years. She was buried in Mickfield on the 30th January. On the same page as her burial entry is that of her young son Charles, although his took place just over a year later.

Mickfield Burial Register, 1841-1842 Charles Abbott in 1841 and Elizabeth Abbott in 1842

After Elizabeth’s death Robert was left with a young family to bring up. He married twice more, firstly in 1846 and then again in 1872. Neither of his marriages includes the name of his father. Although this generally means a person was born illegitimately many of the marriages in Mickfield this period omit have this detail. The clerk obviously chose not to record this information for some reason as search of the baptismal registers and other sources reveals that the vast majority of these people were definitely legitimate.

Robert’s second marriage took place on the 3rd December 1846 to Mary Ann English. Mary Ann died in 1856 and was buried in Mickfield churchyard on the 7th December at the age of 35.

← Robert and Mary Ann Abbott in 1851

Robert’s sons William and Robert from his first marriage are listed in the same household

Robert Abbott with his second wife Mary Ann on the 1851 Census TNA: HO 107/1797/139

Burial of Mary Ann Abbott, second wife of Robert, in 1856

On both the 1861 and 1871 census returns, Robert is shown as a widower living on his own. In 1871, he was listed next door to his son John.

←Robert Abbott in 1861

←Robert Abbott in 1871 living next door to his son John

Robert Abbott on the 1861 and 1871 Census Returns TNA: RG9/1156/73 & RG 10/1743/66

Robert’s third marriage took place only a few years before his death. He married a widow called Sophia Cullum by banns on the 27th September 1872.

Marriage of Robert Abbott to his second wife, Sophia Cullum, widow, 1872

Robert died on the 14th July 1879. His age was given as 73 on his death certificate, but when he was buried in Mickfield on the 20th July it was given as 72. He died of heart disease and an inquest was held on the 17th July. His widow Sophia married again in 1881 to a Samuel Smith. One of the witnesses was Edward Abbott, one of Robert’s grandsons.

Death Certificate, Robert Abbott, 1879

Burial of Robert Abbott in Mickfield, 1879

Mickfield Churchyard where Robert and many of his family were buried

Chapter Three Robert Abbott, 1832-1873

Robert Abbott was born in Mickfield on the 9th August 1832 and baptised on the 19th March 1835 with his younger sister Sarah Ann. Inconsistencies about his age occur throughout his life on official documents such as parish registers, census returns and his death certificate. Robert spent most of his life in Mickfield, and, like his father, worked as an agricultural labourer.

Mickfield Baptismal Registers, 1835

Robert married Sarah Ann Kempling, the daughter of William Kempling a labourer, in Mickfield church on the 28th August 1860.

The marriage of Robert Abbott and Sarah Ann Kempling 1860

Robert and Sarah Ann Abbott had five children born in Mickfield between 1860 and 1871. Their first child, William Kempling, was illegitimate and born in the Eye workhouse in February 1860 a few months before his parent’s marriage, although his baptism took place after their marriage.

The workhouse in Eye dates from the late eighteenth century, with additions being made in the nineteenth century. The workhouse hit the headlines in 1938 when The Times newspaper reported that the inmates were so badly fed that they resorted to eating mice and potato peelings amongst other things.

Eye Workhouse site in 1904 (Courtesy of workhouse.org)

Robert and Sarah Ann’s second child, George, was baptised in Mickfield on the 30th of November 1862. Their next child, James, who was born in 1864, is the next generation in this tale. Emily Abbott was Robert and Sarah Ann’s first daughter and was baptised on the 27th January 1867. Roseanna followed in 1871 and was baptised on the 28th May.

St. Andrew’s Church, Mickfield, 2010

When the census was taken on the 7th April 1861, Robert and Sarah Ann were living at ‘White House’ in Mickfield with their one year old son William. Sarah Ann was 22 years old and her birth place given as Wetheringsett. Robert was described as an ‘Ag. Lab’ and Sarah Ann’s occupation was given as ‘labourer’s wife’.

Several separate households were recorded under the same address of ‘White House’. As all were labourers with their families they were presumably living in tied cottages in the White House grounds.

William and Sarah Ann Abbott 1861 Census with their one year old son William

White House in Mickfield

Mickfield in 1892

The White House in 1892

Robert Abbott died in the Barham workhouse on the 28th August 1873. His age was given as 32 on his death certificate. His burial took place in Mickfield on the 31st August, where he was recorded as being resident in the Claydon Union – the district in which the Barham workhouse stood. His age was given on this record as 43.

The cause of death is not clear, but appears to be “Hip disease”. This may have been some form of arthritis or rheumatism, or even an undiagnosed cancer which affected the hip area.

Death Certificate, Robert Abbott 1873

Burial entry for Robert Abbott in Mickfield Burial Register, 1873

There were still Abbott’s in Mickfield well into twentieth century as some of Robert’s brothers, sisters and children worked, married and brought up children in the village. The village is still set in the agricultural heartland of Suffolk surrounded by fields and wide open spaces.

Mickfield in Kelly’s Trade Directory, 1888 The majority of people listed in the trade directory for 1888 were in farming or landowners

The 1904 Ordnance Survey Map for Mickfield shows the village was still a predominantly agricultural area

Mickfield War Memorials inside the church

The new graveyard at Mickfield which opened in 1922

Chapter Four James Abbott, 1864-

James Abbott was born in Mickfield on the 9th October 1864 and baptised on 6th November.

Birth Certificate, James Abbott, 1864

Baptism of James Abbott in Mickfield, 1864

Mickfield and surrounding parishes

James moved to Botesdale, where he lived, worked and brought up a family. Botesdale was a hamlet in the large parish of Redgrave. It is described under Redgrave in the 1870-72 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales as:

A village and parish in the Hartismere district, Suffolk. The village stands near the river Waveney at the boundary of Norfolk, 4½ miles N W of Mellis railway station and 7 miles W N W of Eye; and has a post office under Scole. The parish also contains the hamlet of Botesdale and comprises 3, 353 acres. Real property £7, 722. Population in 1851 1,382; in 1861 1,266. Houses 299. The manor was given, by Uffketerl the Dane, to Bury abbey, passed to Lord Keeper Bacon, Chief Justice Holt and others …

In 1894-95, The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales described Botesdale as:

Botesdale (Botolp's Dale) is a hamlet in the parish of Redgrave, and also a township consisting of Botesdale, with portions of the parishes of Rickinghall Superior and Rickinghall Inferior adjoining, in Suffolk. The hamlet stands 4 1/2 miles W of Mellis station on the G.E.E., and 6 SW of Diss, in Norfolk. It consists chiefly of one long street, has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Diss, and a bank. Acreage of township, 1269; population, 455. A grammar-school was founded in 1576 by Sir N. Bacon, but under a scheme sanctioned in 1881 the funds are now applied in the form of exhibitions to enable boys from elementary schools to obtain a higher grade of education. The former school is now used as a church. The living is a chapelry annexed to the rectory of Redgrave, in the diocese of Norwich. Botesdale Lodge is a fine modern building of brick, standing in the midst of extensive grounds.

Botesdale and nearby parishes

Botesdale

James married Mary Anne Talbot in the parish church of Rickinghall Inferior on the 6th October 1885. James was working as a labourer when he married and living in Rickinghall Inferior, whilst Mary Anne was living in the next door parish of Rickinghall Superior. Mary Anne was born in Rickinghall Inferior in around 1862-63, and was the daughter of George Talbot, also a labourer.

Marriage Certificate, James Abbott and Mary Ann Talbot, 1885

Rickinghall is a large village around 13 miles from Bury St. Edmunds. Surrounded by arable farmland the road through Rickinghall runs into the neighbouring village of Botesdale. The church of St. Mary’s in Rickinghall Superior stands on a hill to the south of the village. A Romano-British pottery kiln dating from circa 100 AD found at Rickinghall Inferior indicates early settlement in this area.

The lower part of the tower of the church is twelfth century whilst the top story is fourteenth century with an embattled parapet. The nave of the church may also be twelfth century, whilst the aisle windows are late thirteenth century and the doorway and all the windows on the north side are fifteenth century.

Postcard of Rickinghall Inferior Church in 1918

Unlike his father and grandfather James was able to sign his own name when he married. However, his elder brother George, who was one of witnesses, still made his mark. Both would have been only a few years old when universal elementary education was introduced in 1870.

As George was born in 1862 he may not have attended school as many children in agricultural areas began work between eight and twelve years old. It only became compulsory for children to stay in school until the age of 12 in 1880. James may have benefitted by being two years younger than his brother and had a chance to attend school for long enough to learn how to write.

James and Mary Ann are shown on the 1891 census with their children Grace F., William G. and Henry Abbott, aged four, three, and one years of age. They were living at Back Hills in Botesdale and by this time James had changed occupation to become a fishmonger. Their middle son was William George Abbott, who was born in Botesdale in 1888, and the next in this family line.

←The Abbott Family at Back Hills in Botesdale now spelt as Backhills

The Abbott family on the 1891 Census for Botesdale

Backhills in Botesdale