RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Gloucestershire => England => Gloucestershire Lookup Requests => Topic started by: adelphi on Saturday 16 February 08 18:07 GMT (UK)
-
Can anyone tell me where I can find either a photo or a print of this former French Prison.
My then unmarried Grandmother Alice Mabel Kempshall, gave birth here, to Minnie Mabel Kempshall 18/11/1899 who sadly died March 1900. Minnie was an Aunt that until this week I didn't know ever exisited.
Is there a list of births for this Workhouse around this time?.
I do not know much about my Grandmother's early life here. I have found her on the 1901 Census working as a servant at the "Crown & Dove Inn "which was on Lower Maudlin Street near to an Eye Hospital of the time.
As I live in Sheffield I can only do research on the Web, so any help putting me in the right direction would be much appreciated.
-
Hi there
Some info on ....
http://www.csm.uwe.ac.uk/~rstephen/livingeaston/local_history/eastvilleworkhouse.html
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Clifton/Clifton.shtml
Sarah :)
-
and some photos here.......
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fray_bentos/357367889/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/2046094137/
also of the Crown and Dove .....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fray_bentos/334976783/in/set-72157594155572977/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fray_bentos/144984300/
Sarah :)
-
Sarah Many Many thanks. What a result.
I wonder if I could be cheeky & ask if you know where I can get a photo of the Church that my Grandparents married at....The Parish Church of St.Thomas Eastville ... I think that it was demolished
but someone somewhere must have taken a photo don't you think.
Linda (Sheffield)
-
St Thomas Eastville is still there. On the roundabout by the shell station at the end of Eastville Park. (it was still there in November, anyway)
I have a relative coming up from Bristol next week - I'll ask her if a photo is possible.
-
And there was I thinking that it had been demolished...just goes to show.
A photo would be very much appreciated.
Linda
-
Sure is still standing ..... ;D
photos on http://www.churchcrawler.co.uk/
Sarah :)
-
Meanwhile - have you tried Googling Eastville workhouse?
I just did - there's quite a bit and one of the sites has a picture of the old french prison
-
Thanks for information on St Thomas.I had seen this Church site but I didn't know how big the area was & if there were two churches called St.Thomas or not. What put me off was that it only stated St.Thomas Eastville on my Grandparents Marriage certificate & this church was named "St.Thomas the Apostle". I now take it that they are one & the same & have printed off the photos to put in my Family History album.
My Grandfather joined the Royal Garrison Artillery in Plymouth around 1901 & the family moved away from Bristol. My Father was born in Plymouth in 1904.
Also will look at the site for the French Prison.
Once again many thanks for taking the time & trouble to sort my queries regarding your area.
Linda
-
Some of the Eastville Workhouse records are held at Bristol Record Office. I will check for a birth next time I go there, possibly on Tuesday.
Nashua
-
Hi Nashua,
Many Thanks for your offer but I have already obtained a Birth Certificate for Minnie Mabel after tracing her through the National Register of Births. I found out from the Certificate that the place of Birth was Eastville Workhouse which I must say really upset me. There was no Father listed on the Certificate so I will never know if my Grandfather was the Father or not, which is quite sad.
I would like to find the place of her death to see if she died in the Workhouse or not. She is listed as dying in the first quarter of 1900 which would only make her about 3-4 Months old.
My Grandmother named her Daughter ,wth my Grandfather, Lucy Minnie Mabel which makes me think that the death must have affected her.
Linda (Sheffield)
-
Hi Linda
I checked the death register for Eastville Workhouse for the death of Minnie Mabel, but couldn't find it, so I think she did not die in the workhouse. Maybe her mother just went to the workhouse hospital to give birth and was not actually an inmate.
Hope this helps
Nashua
-
Thankyou for your time & trouble. I was hoping that she didn't die in the Workhouse.From the photograph it looked such a dark & depressing place.
Linda
-
I always was a late arrival - only just found your conversation(s) and wondered if this fills a void for me ??? my grandmother was stated on her birth certificate as being born 29 December 1895 Victoria House, Napier Road, Eastville - might this be the workhouse? or is that too big a leap of faith? Her mother is stated as "no occupation" and no father details, so I have been stuck for a long time with this one. She is on the census 1901 (aged 5) and living with a family in Bristol I always thought belonged to her but she did not take their surname until she married in 1919, if she was born in the workhouse how do I find out who she actually was. She alluded to a "family secret" and being a foundling shortly before she died. I am visiting Bristol in a couple of days and hope to find out something but a starting point would help no end.
-
Hi Yesterlady
Welcome to Rootschat! :)
The workhouse doesn't appear to have been in Napier Road: the address in the above link is Frenchay Road. I had a look at Napier Road in 1901 and they seem to be private houses, in Stapleton. What surname was your grandmother born with - have you located her mother in 1901?
Kind regards, Arranroots ;)
-
Whoops, looks like it was a big leap of faith. Her mother is given on birth certificate as Annie Smith - unoccupied - she then appears on 1901c (still named Smith) but living with Bartlett family at 2 Stracey Street, Ashton Gate, Bristol. (wife of the head of the family (coincidence or not) was Annie M. Smith - who may have been step-daughter of Richard Bartlett whose first wife (Anna Maria Smith - nee Styles died in childbirth. If she was the daughter of Annie M. Smith then I can go back 3/4 generations, if not, I am up a gum tree. She did not take the Bartlett name until 1919 when she married. Shortly before she died she referred to herself as a "foundling" and there being a family secret. I am coming to Bristol next week but where to start?
-
Whoooa there! I'm confused! ;D
Who was born in 1895? Is her name Ada SMITH? (from 1901 census that you mention)
Is this your Richard? The Annie in 1901 is too young to be the same woman as this marriage.
Marriage
Dec q 1885
BARTLETT Richard Henry
SMITH Annie Maria
Chard 5c 738
How do you know Annie M SMITH was nee STYLES?
What was Ada's mother's maiden name or was she unmarried - from the birth certificate? Who was Mr SMITH?
Ada is down as "dau" on the 1901, not step-daughter.
Help!!
-
Yes, I know it is confusing, and I have only got this far by x-referencing all the facts but other than grandmother I think they stack up. So, Richard Bartlett's first marriage was to Annie Maria Smith (widow of Edward Smith and mother of Annie Maria) got marriage certificate and also birth cert of Annie Maria (daughter). Edward Smith was killed in Portland Prison in 1881 where he was a prison officer (backed up by death cert. and post mortem result). Anna Maria Smith (his widow) then marries Richard Bartlett in 1885 (his first marriage, her 2nd) and Annie Maria would be Richard's step-daughter then aged 10. I haven't found a record of the marriage of Richard to his step-daughter (following her mother's death in childbirth in 1890 (I have searched and searched) but have all the certificates of the children of that issue. Now whether Annie Maria then gives birth to my grandmother, Ada Smith - gives her her maiden name or perhaps she was not married to Richard at that time, or perhaps it was not her child anyway, just coincidental surname Smith in 1895.
To complicate matters still further it seems possible that Richard Bartlett had a second marriage to an Elizabeth Lewis (both in 1892 living at The Albert, Marlborough Street) when he was 28 and a widower and Elizabeth Lewis was a widow - his father, Theophilus was a witness together with Richard's brother, so it all ties in but where did wife no. 2 go and did she (go)? perhaps Richard was not free to marry his step-daughter, who knows? It seems I have proof of everything other than who exactly was my grandmother's father.
Hope you are enjoying this !!!!!! I think it is nearly as good as WDYTYA !!!
-
It's even more complicated than I feared, lol! :o ;D
So what exactly does Ada's birth cert say? Surely it gives her mother's name?
Which children were A-M the stepdaughter's with Richard? There's a gap between those older than Ada on the 1901 census.
So Elizabeth BARTLETT (or LEWIS or what was her maiden name?) disappears at what point? Did they have any children together?
I guess you might never know who Ada's dad was - and you could go crazy trying to find out, lol!
Still thinking ....
-
My grandmother's birth cert. says mother Annie Smith, no father and she was born only 3 years after Richard's 2nd marriage (to Elizabeth Lewis) and as Elizabeth's age then was 40 and I could find no trace of children it seems possible she was past child bearing age, but ~Richard was not !!!! he went on to have 13 more children with his 3rd ??? wife but then she was younger than him !!!
The marriage you found in Chard was Richard's first marriage to Anna and was where I got all the info. about her first marriage and the prison officer's demise and her maiden name being Styles. So you are right unless I can find some other record of grandmother's origin (perhaps parish records at Eastville or even the 1911 census when it comes out, I am stuck but grandmother was a ground breaker; my grandfather had a difficult time trying to control her; she was a nurse in the Spanish Civil War and also a suffragette in Birmingham - she had nothing to reproach herself for; I only wish I could have told her so. Everything has been so well hidden.
Thanks for your help anyway. It was only by talking to someone on Ancestry who suggested I had to look laterally for the answer that I even got started.
-
I think there may be some confusion here. There were several workhouses in Bristol. Eastville Workhouse was at 100 Fishponds Road and was a purpose built building.
The old prison at Stapleton was different workhouse - it later became Manor Park Hospital (now closed).
St Thomas the Apostle Church, Eastville (where my parents were Cub-scout leaders in the 1930s) is not on the roundabout at the end of Eastville Park - that is a non-conformist church - it is lower down Fishponds Road, opposite the bottom of Coombe Road (where I went to school) and is now a Pentecostal Church - Its address is 145 Fishponds Road and postcode is BS5 6PR which you can use to find its location on a map.
Best wishes
Pat
-
Pat:
Thanks so much; I told a family member yesterday I thought I had come to a full stop but then a message from you..... I am off and running again..... :)
-
Hi: Have been researching my grandfathers brother and discovered his wife, Clara Maunder, was working at the Crown and Dove pub in Bristol according to the 1901 census. Out of curiosity I Googled the pub and came up with your message about your grandmother Alice Kempshall. You will notice that Clara Maunder worked with your grandmother at the Crown and Dove as servants. Small world, isn't it. Regards
I would like to see a photo of the Crown and Dove if anyone could guide me to a site. Aparently it was demolished in 1976.
-
I have had marvellous results from Bristol records office, who searched the creed register for Eastville workhouse for me, and came up with four entries for my father. He was admitted at 6mths old, sent to various children's homes, then back to Eastville until final discharge in 1916. For a fee I have copies of the pages in the register showing my father's details. They suggested I contact Bristol children's dept. for further information as the to children's homes who cared for him. I await results. Having previously been told by Bristol library no records existed, I am more than happy with the results.
-
Would you please tell me the email address to write to in order to obtain information from the workhouse that was located at 100 Fishponds?
-
Workhouses Stapleton and Eastville were in the Fishponds area. bro@bristol.gov.uk, e-mail, or address, B Bond Warehouse, Smeaton Rd. Bristol BS1 6XN would help you. I spoke o a man called Matt Coles, who was marvellous.
-
Apparently my Great Grandmother was in the Eastville Workhouse in Bristol, her name was Miriam (or Marion or Meriem) Rosser and she was born on the 21/05/1869 so she was about 42.
she died in 1925-and so I think she was in the workhouse because she was ill, as her husband and younger kids were living as Boarders somewhere else and her two elder girls were in a "girls home" in Bristol, I'd love to know more if anyone has access to any records.....