Received 12 February 2012
Hello
I am impressed by the Blackmore village history web site, there is a lot of information here, and a lot of work has obviously gone into it. I hope it was a labour of love!
I used to live in Blackmore, enjoyed my time there and only moved away as my job moved and commuting from Blackmore was just not on. I was made redundant a few years ago and now fill in some of my time as a volunteer at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), where I have recently been working with the records of the training Ship ‘Exmouth’. It was moored on the Thames off Grays in Essex, and was used in a scheme set up in the mid C19 by the Metropolitan Asylums Board to look after boys, usually either orphans, or with a single parent who was unable to look after them, so the boys had to be taken into care. The boys, who had to be ‘of good character’, lived on the ship and were given training that would suit them either for the Navy or the Merchant Marine. They were on the ship for varying periods of time, starting anytime after age 11, and required to leave, if still there, by their 16th birthday.
I wondered if you would be interested to know that there is a record of a boy Alfred Charles Martin, son of A.C. Martin (possibly the same name) of Vine Cottage Blackmore, on the ship in 1920. I am sure I remember a Vine Cottage being in the village when I lived there, is it near the little round-about? (the only house I do remember was Swan Cottage at the end of Church Lane because of the pargetting that it carried). The record of Alfred Charles Martin on the ship gives a note of his height, weight, leg length and boot size (which is unusual, most entries do not carry that much information) and also say that he was a somnambulist.
Might this be of any interest for your record of names?
Peter Jackson
Replied 13 February 2012
Peter
Thank you for your E Mail. This is an interesting piece of social history.
Vine Cottage was the home of Emma Bass. I understand that she was a foster-parent to a number of children, one of whom was Edwin Alexander, a victim of the First World War.
It would be interesting to find out more about Alfred Martin. I will take a look through the notes I have, and come back to you.
Regards
Andrew
Replied 10 March 2012
Hello Peter
I have looked through my records of the Martins in Blackmore, of which there were many. Without access to the 1911 Census I can add very little to the story. The Burial Register (1893-1992), the original of which is in the church safe, reveals a number of Martin burials, one of which is “Elizabeth Martin. Vine Cottage, Blackmore. Feb 8 1936. 76 years”. Looking at the year Alfred was on board the Exmouth, and his age, it makes it very unlikely that Elizabeth was his mother, perhaps his grandmother. Some detective work would be necessary to solve the mystery.
Regards
Andrew
Received 10 March 2012
Hello Andrew
Thanks for getting back to me, and for your researches … I partly wondered if you might say “yes I know all about the family”, sadly you didn’t.
I might amuse myself with some more general researches, if I find anything of interest I’ll let you know.
Peter
Replied 10 March 2012
Thanks Peter. I will post our correspondence on the blog and look forward to receiving comments.
Andrew
2 comments:
Hello Andrew
I have just noticed your correspondence with Peter about Alfred Charles Martin and I might
be able to furnish some further information.
My mother Violet Martin was born in Blackmore in 1909 in Fingrith Hall Lane. At some time in her childhood she lived in Swan House, her father being a traction engine driver. I have a photo of the engine with Swan House in the background.
Eleanor Martin, my mother's cousin had three children out of wedlock, the eldest being Alfred Charles Chumbly Martin, born 1912 in Blackmore. He was baptised in St Lawrence church. This is total
supposition but there was a family named Chumbly living in Blackmore and I wonder if one of them was Alfred's father. Eleanor died in childbirth with her third child, Violet in 1917 in Ongar Union workhouse.
If this is the right Alfred Charles then he would have been only eight in 1920 on the Exmouth but as Eleanor was a single mother, perhaps she couldn't keep the children.
I would be interested in any comments.
Regards
Adrian
Hello Andrew
I have just noticed your correspondence with Peter about Alfred Charles Martin and I might
be able to furnish some further information.
My mother Violet Martin was born in Blackmore in 1909 in Fingrith Hall Lane. At some time in her childhood she lived in Swan House, her father being a traction engine driver. I have a photo of the engine with Swan House in the background.
Eleanor Martin, my mother's cousin had three children out of wedlock, the eldest being Alfred Charles Chumbly Martin, born 1912 in Blackmore. He was baptised in St Lawrence church. This is total
supposition but there was a family named Chumbly living in Blackmore and I wonder if one of them was Alfred's father. Eleanor died in childbirth with her third child, Violet in 1917 in Ongar Union Workhouse.
If this is the right Alfred Charles then he would have been only eight in 1920 on the Exmouth but as Eleanor was a single mother, perhaps she couldn't keep the children.
I would be interested in any comments.
Regards
Adrian
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