Henry b.1814 was Thomas Norrison`s brother b.1810 and must earlier have farmed at Brigg (in Lincolnshire south of Hull), moving from there between 1857 and 1860 to Willerby Wold, inland from Filey. The 1871 census lists Henry and his wife Mary, and their children, another Henry born 1847, Charles 1851, Mary I 1852, Ellen 1857, all so far born at Brigg, and Lassy c. born 1860 at Willerby Wold. This was and still is a fine establishment. Also in the house were Isabella Watson, cook, and her shepherd husband, housemaid, 3 unmarried farm labourers, a groom and a girl labourer. In another building were the ‘hind to Mr Marr’, his wife, 5 farm servants and a kitchen maid of 13. We gawped at the house in 1987 but the relationship was too tenuous to warrant intrusion.
At the age of 20 Charles was entered on the census return as (corn merchant). I believe that he married a member of the brewing family of Whitby, the Corners, and I am sure that he was the Charles Marr who, later in this century, was one of the partners in Smurthwaite, Marr and Croft of Richmond, Yorkshire. Regardless of the timeband I will enlarge on him now. My mother had believed that her grandfather`s brother was that vintner, but has already shown that Charles had died in 1839. Directories over this period give several variations on the firm`s name. Croft is believed to have been the originator of the still famous Croft sherry. In the 1890s Charles lived in a mansion, St Trinian`s Hall, just east of Richmond , at Easby.
My mother thought that Charles (whichever he was) the vintner died in about 1899 or 1900, but David Marr lifted a fallen stone in the graveyard at Richmond Church, and recorded the inscription which he says read ‘Henry Marr died 25th October 1894: Charles Marr died 5th March 1905: Sarah Marr died 26th April 1918: and Charlotte Elizabeth Hatfield Marr beloved wife of Charles Marr died 15th March 1906’. He has been unable to elucidate this and I can only guess at an explanation.
It could mean that Henry from Willerby Wold moved to Richmond and died while living with his son Charles in 1894. He would have been 80 years old, so that is not unreasonable. As mentioned later this Henry`s daughter Lassie certainly, on Derek`s testimony, went to live with Charles, so why not father as well? But, to complicate matters further, Charles had a brother, as well as a father, called Henry. If the Charles who died in 1905 was Willerby Henry`s son, and Charlotte his daughter-in-law, I suppose it is still possible that she was a Corner, and that my mother`s date was wrong. However I prefer to guess that Henry`s son Charles died in 1899 or 1900, and that he too had a son Charles (grandson of Willerby Wold Henry), who died in 1905, followed by his wife in 1906.
There certainly was a second Charles Marr, presumably son of the first, described in a directory as being connected with the wine business, living at the beginning of this century (20th) in a much more modest house on the other side of Richmond from Easby, so that theory is not unreasonable. This younger Charles may well have had daughters, one of whom called Marguerita (?) carried on the business for some years, to die in the 1920s. Another could have been Sarah whose death was recorded on the gravestone.
I am trying to make bricks without straw, and cannot spend time delving to find real evidence. My guesses may be quite wrong, but I leave to someone else to resolve. We know of no remaining Marrs from this line. By 1909 the St Trinian`s mansion was occupied by a retired Indian Army Colonel.
Derek remembers Lassie as an old lady in her 70s in the 1920’s or thereabouts. He says that Lassie was very friendly with May Corner and that one of May`s aunts married a Marr, related to Charles. In the case submitted for legal arbitration regarding the disposal of the first Henry`s trust fund after the death of Janey, there is an infant Corner named as one of the several potential claimants. So I guess that Charles and one of his sisters, not Lassie, may have married sister and brother Corners.
This is out of ‘time’ but as I have virtually no more to write about this Henry or his family I will add something which should come later, when the references will be made clear. Lassie lived for a time with Charles at St Trinian`s. She suffered serious injury in a hunting field, losing part of an arm above the elbow and a leg below the knee, amputated because tuberculosis affected the bones. She had collided with a gate out hunting. Derek Marr says she lived with his step-mother at Hessle. In 1920 Sallie Shillito wondered if Lassy could throw any light on the relationships between a Miss Richardson and the Marrs, because that lady`s Will was being contested, some members of the family believing that the Marrs might have a claim. So the family was in vague contact with Lassy in the 1920s. This is discussed further under The Richardson Will case later.
