One of the numerous pictures I took at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Jordan Station was the stone for a younger man who died at 29 years of age on 29 June 1895. The stone provided his birthplace which was helpful in tracing his story.
Robert Nurse was born 9 April 1867 in Sutton St Edmund in Lincolnshire County England. He appears in the 1871 Census of England in Sutton St Edmund with his parents Richard and Eliza and his siblings Emma (aged 6), Thomas (aged 2) and 2 month old George. Richard (who appears to be 50!), a shepherd was born in Stoke Ferry, Norfolk and a much younger Eliza who was born in Spalding, Lincolnshire. (1) Richard and Eliza Holland married in Holbeach on 15 May 1863(2)
It looks like the family fell on hard times when Elizabeth died at the age of 41 in Holbeach in Dec 1880(3). Robert, Thomas, and George, along with younger sisters Fanny (aged 7), Hannah (aged 5), and Mary (aged 3) appear as "scholars" in the Holbeach Union Workhouse in the 1881 census. All the children were born in Sutton St Edmund with the exception of Mary Rebecca(10) who was born in Gedney Hill.(4) My heart kind of sunk after reading this piece of news. I tried to search for Richard in the 1881 census but could not find him. Emma seems to have also vanished. I hit a road block with respect to Robert as well. I spent several hours trying to find a trace of him between 1881 and his death in Canada.
I started some side ways searches to see what happened to his siblings. In 1891, Hannah and Thomas are living as lodgers in the Smiths household in Gedney Hill (5) Fanny was living as a housemaid in the William P Jackson household in neighbouring Pinchbeck(6). Mary was still living at the workhouse(7).
George appears to have stayed in Sutton St Edmunds and in 1892 he married Ellen Elizabeth Niccoll.(8) In July 1898, Hannah was married in Holbeach(9). Fanny married John Joseph Green 16 May 1894 in Deeping-St. Nicholas, Deeping-Fen, Lincolnshire, England(11) and appears to have died in Spalding in Dec 1903.(13) Mary married John F Putterill in Holbeach in Oct 1916.(14)
I decided to see if I could get information about the children from the Workhouse records. I was able to purchase for a reasonable price a copy of the minutes for the Holbeach Union House from genfair.co.uk. It gave me some amazing insight into what happened to the children in the gap between the 1881 census and their time leading up to their removal/marriage. On 6 July 1882, Robert was given the opportunity to apprentice as a carpenter with Charles Goodwin Alcock of Whaplode until he was 21 years old. On 3 August 1882, Robert's indenture was settled as follows:
Premium £10 to be paid half at once, and the balance when half the time is expired
The Guardians to provide clothes to the value of 50
s
/-
Nurse to be apprenticed until 21 years of age, and receive wages at the rate of 3
d
per week, and
2/6 per week for the last year.
Robert's indenture was signed and cheque for 5 pounds was drawn up on Aug 31.
Not quite a year later George also managed to escape the workhouse. On 10 May 1883 a. Mr Hemmant of Gedney Hill made application to take him out of the work house and attend school regularly. The application was granted, with £2 to be allowed for clothes, and school fees. On 22 Sept 1883, Mr Hemmant attended a meeting again and on 10 April 1884, the cheque for 2 pounds was drawn.
It appears that Robert continued his apprenticeship into 1885 when another cheque for 5 pounds was drawn. Things were not harmonious though and by 1886, Mr Alcock filed a complaint that:
"Robert Nurse his
apprentice was very awkward and would not do what he was told, and refused to work, after
hearing Nurse’s statement: The Chairman reproved the lad strongly and advised the Master to
take him before the Justices if he continued awkward."
Unfortunately, the situation does not seem to have improve and on 10 March 1887 we see the following record:
Robert Nurse and his Master Mr Chas G. Allcock attended before the
Board. Nurse complained of his Master striking him. The Board recommended that if the boy is
not satisfied he had better go before the Magistrates, but the Board hoped the Master and Boy
would make up their differences, and complete term of the apprenticeship.
My guess is that Charles was taking advantage of his indentured apprentice, and Robert had enough. Robert did manage to complete his indenture and on 5 April 1888, he attended before the Board in regards to his Apprenticeship Indenture (he now being nearly out of his time) and also with regards to some money that he is entitled to receive from his late father (not sure when he died yet).
Robert attended the board again on 19 April 1888. and I guess was asked if he wanted to repay the Board but declined. No order was made. I wasn't able to determine what money Robert received but I'm going to assume that he took what money he had and sailed for Canada.
We see that Hannah's escape from the Workhouse started on 23 August 1888, when Mrs
Smith applied to take her out of the
Workhouse, so she could go to school until she passed the IV Standard. Her request was granted, and £2 allowed for an outfit.
An interesting turn of events happened on 13 October 1892 to Mary. There is an objection on record filed by George Nurse, brother of Rebecca, who was also going to live with Mrs Smith of Holbeach Drove. the board rejected his complaint and were "satisfied that the girl could
not go to a better place". It's nice to see that George likely tried to have Mary live with him after shortly after he was married to Ellen.
The last entry that I see for the Nurse family was for poor Thomas who was removed to the county lunatic asylum on 25 May 1893 and a cheque was made for 2 pounds, 11 shillings and 6 denaris. The 1901 census reveals that he was a patient at the asylum in Bracebridge Heath and worked as a farm labourer. He may have passed away in Dec 1901(17)
Robert's whereabouts after his indenture completed has continued to allude me as did information about him in Canada and his death record. I turned to Newspapers.com for some help and was surprised to find news of his death in the The Buffalo News. The paper reports that Robert died in Jordan as a result of his horse running away.(15) The Hamilton Spectator affirms this story and on the same day further explains what happened:
"[Robert] a painter, died Saturday morning at Jordan from injuries received in a runaway accident on the previous evening. He was driving along the road east of Beamsville, returning from work, when his horse became frightened and he lost control of it. Joseph Fulton, a farmer, saw the horse go past at a gallop with Nurse doing his best to stop it. Fulton followed, and some distance further on found the young man lying beside the road insensible, with his head cut as if coming in contact with a three-cornered stone. He had evidently been thrown from the rig. Nurse lingered until 8:45 the next morning and died without having recovered his senses. He was 28 years of age, an Englishman, and had no relatives in this country, so far as known." (16)
Robert had such a hard time and it's quite sad that after he leaves poverty and his home country, he meets with an unfortunate accident and dies. I hope he found some happiness and satisfaction in his life.
(1)The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1871 England Census; Class: RG10; Piece: 3326; Folio: 21; Page: 5; GSU roll: 839350
(2)FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
(3)FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
(4)The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1881 England Census; Class: RG11; Piece: 3211; Folio: 106; Page: 2; GSU roll: 1341765
(5)The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class: RG12; Piece: 2566; Folio: 51; Page: 7; GSU roll: 6097676
(6)The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class: RG12; Piece: 2559; Folio: 35; Page: 5; GSU roll: 6097669
(7)The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class: RG12; Piece: 2569; Folio: 191; Page: 4; GSU roll: 6097679
(8)Ancestry.com. England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
(9, 10, 12, 13)FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
(11)Ancestry.com. England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
(14)General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 7a; Page: 839
(15) The Buffalo News, Buffalo New York. Monday 01Jul 1895 page 30
(16) http://www.glanbrookheritage.ca/deathsjanjun1895.htm
(17)FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
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