Random Thoughts from Commuterland: January 2020

And another great grandmother

Ellen Young was born on 25 April 1862 at 50 Bishop Street, Portsea[1]. She was one of at least three daughters born to Cornelius John Young, a baker, and Elizabeth Ann Potter. The family was still living in Bishop Stre

et in January of the next year when Ellen was baptised[2] but by 1871 they had moved to 140 High Street, Portsmouth where her father was styled a baker and grocer[3].

Come 1881, Ellen was a servant in the establishment of Thomas Wintle, a grocer and wine merchant, of 143 High Street, Ryde, IoW[4]. She married Walter Russell at the parish church in Ryde on 13 April 1886[5]. Both their children were born back on the mainland in Portsea where Walter was a prison warder[6][7].

Between 1891 and 1901 they moved to Portland[8][9] and by 1911 they were in Newport, IoW[10].

The next record I have of Ellen is her death on 26 September 1928[11] at The Old Manor, Salisbury, a psychiatric hospital[12]. There is some mystery surrounding Ellen's illness and death. My father said that she was seldom talked about although he did remember going to Salisbury and becoming lost in the Cathedral. He suggested that taboos surrounding mental illness may have had something to do with this silence[13]. Neil Russell told a similar story although he suggested that a disease such as Alzheimer's may have been involved[14]. Joan Holland, however, wrote that her mother Ethel, Ellen’s sister, was convinced that Ellen had become deeply distressed at the condition of servicemen returning from World War I and that this had shattered her nerves. Joan wrote that Ethel wished to nurse Ellen at home but this never happened. She hinted that Walter Russell might have been against this. It is clear from her letter that Ellen was known as Nell to the family[15]. Ellen left an estate valued at £512[16].

[1] Birth registration GRO reference 1862 Jun Portsea 2B 373.

[2] Baptismal record for Portsea 1863, p72.

[3] 1871 England and Wales census RG10/1135/117/34.

[4] 1881 England and Wales census RG11/1178/31/52.

[5] Marriage registration 1886 Jun I Wight 2B 967.

[6] Birth registration GRO reference 1888 Mar Portsea 2b 453.

[7] Baptism register, Holy Trinity, Portsea 1889, p19.

[8] 1891 England and Wales census RG12/859/81/4.

[9] 1901 England and Wales census RG13/1997/80/45.

[10] 1911 England and Wales census RG14/5701/83/2/4/64.

[11] Death registration GRO reference 1928 Sep Salisbury 5A 156.

[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Manor_Hospital,_Salisbury accessed 2 December 2017.

[13] Conversation with Charles Roskelly Bawden 5 August 1995 and other undocumented conversations.

[14] Neil Martin Russell letter 0013.

[15] Joan Holland letter 0034.

[16] England and Wales National Probate Calendar 1938 177.

Another great grandfather:

Walter Russell

Prison Warder

Walter Russell was born on 21 September 1859 at The Grove, Portland[1] where his father, Thomas Russell, was a warder at the convict prison. He was the second child of Thomas and his wife, Sarah Warren. Walter was baptised on 27 November 1859 at the parish church in Stinsford[2], Thomas’s home village.

The family would appear to have remained on Portland for some time being recorded there in both the 1861[3] and 1871[4] censuses.

My uncle had told me that Walter was a cook in the Royal Navy, becoming a petty officer, prior to becoming a prison warder at Portland before it became a borstal[5]. There is, indeed, a record of a Walter Russell, born in Portland signing on to the Navy on about 17 April 1875[6]. His day of birth is given as 3 March 1857. The GRO indexes show that the birth of another Walter Russell was registered in the Weymouth district in the fourth quarter of 1858 so it is possible that this navy record is not that of ‘our’ Walter, but circumstantial evidence suggests otherwise. It seems likely, therefore that Walter falsified his age in order to enlist. It appears that he served on just two ships; first the Boscowen and then the Northumberland; leaving the service on 12 December 1882[7]. In the 1881 census he was recorded as being a gun room servant aboard the Northumberland, at anchor off Gibraltar[8].

His naval records provide some physical characteristics – 5ft 1in tall (perhaps more evidence of under-age enlistment), light brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion[9].

On 13 April 1886 he married Ellen Young at the parish church, Ryde, IoW[10]. Their marriage certificate states that he was an assistant warder and was resident in Portsea making it almost certain that his employment was in Portsea. On his daughter’s birth certificate of 1888[11], in the record of his son’s baptism in 1889[12] and in the 1891 census[13] his residence was given a 4 Unicorn Buildin gs, Landport. By 1889 he had become a full warder.

By the time of the 1901 census[14] he had been posted to Portland but is once again listed as an assistant warder. Ten years later he had moved again and was resident at 129 Hunnyhill, Newport, IoW[15]. His occupation is recorded as prison officer. I assume this was at Parkhurst, which is not far from Hunnyhill, and where Joan Holland recalled meeting him and his wife (Joan called her aunt Nell)[16].

Ellen died in 1928 and the next record I have found of Walter is his death at 9 Victoria Terrace, Weymouth on 7 February 1939[17]. I think this was probably some form of nursing home as his residence was recorded as 48, Old Castle Road where he had been living with my grandparents for several years[18]. His grandson, Neil Russell recalled a holiday in Weymouth in summer 1939 when his father and my grandmother agreed the final division of some of Walter Russell’s assets[19], his total estate amounting to just £476[20].

My father had fond memories of Walter and particularly recalled that he used to mend the family’s boots[21].

[1] Birth registration GRO reference 1859 Dec Weymouth 5A 332.

[2] Stinsford parish baptism records 1859, p93.

[3] 1861 England and wales census RG9/1351/1447/51.

[4] 1871 England and Wales census RG10/2006/57/49.

[5] Walter Harry Bawden letter 0008.

[6] Royal Navy Registers of Seamen’s Services ADM/188/99/91941.

[7] Ibid.

[8] 1881 England and Wales census RG11/5635/13/24.

[9] Royal Navy Registers of Seamen’s Services ADM/188/99/91941.

[10] Marriage registration 1886 Jun I Wight 2B 967.

[11] Birth registration GRO reference 1888 Mar Portsea 2b 453.

[12] Baptism register, Holy Trinity, Portsea 1889, p19.