James Green b.1808

James and Eleanor Green

James Green(4) was born in 1808 and was 22 years old when his father William died in 1831. He then took over the farm at Little Plowlands (Ploughlands), Welwick, Holmpton. On my visit to Plowlands Farm in 2011 the current owner believed that Little Plowlands Farm next door was the more likely Green homestead. Plowlands Farm had been a convent in the past and was one of the sites where Guy Fawkes conspirators plotted some elements of the bombing of the Houses of Parliament in C17. Burnhams, a well known local farming family owned Ploughlands Farm. Little Plowlands Farm was undergoing significant renovations in 2011 (see pictures below).

James married Eleanor Mitchinson at a late age of 37 years in August 1845 only 3 weeks after his 31 year old sister Jane married William Horsfield.  The census has widow Hannah living with her son James in 1841 at Trinity Farm and with her brother, Mark Hellis, in 1851 farming 33 acres- both in Holmpton.

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Below are 2 images of an envelope dated 3rd July 1854 containing a rather unusul artifact!  It was  addressed to Mark Hellis above, (who was living with his sister Hannah) addressed to Mark Hellis c/o Mrs Green Holmpton)  containing what I think is part of a whale (possibly baleen)  washed up on the shore closeby. This isn’t significant in terms of family history (other than confiring that Mark was living with his widowed sister) and as the envelope predates the event, so it was only a  receptical for the artifact for over 170 years!  

‘this wale was bought on shore betwixt Holmpton and Out Newton in October 1854 its length was 11 yards’ 

Beaching of sperm whales on this coast continues to today, (40 feet and 20 tons) but in 1854 I imagine it was a significant local event. Unmarried Mark Hellis died in 1871, aged 90 in West Garforth, Nr Leeds when he was living with  James Green’s widowed sister Jane Horsfield, aged 46 as an annuitant. 

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Holmpton Farms, East Yorkshire

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St. Nicholas Church, Holmpton, East Yorkshire & Green Gravestones

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Jane Horsfield nee Green

Jane was the only sibling of James. She was born in 1814 and married William Horsfield in 1845. She was known as great aunt Horsfield. She died on 30th September 1874 and is buried in Holmpton churchyard. According to RP (Robin Press) she led a life of some luxury, for odd items came from her, like boxes of cosmetics and personal ointment.There is a small note in existence on which Ada Marr nee Green wrote ‘ I think this is a list of some of some of Aunt Horsfield belongings, it was amongst some papers of Kitty Press’. On the reverse in Eleanor’s hand is:-

• New boots 28prs
• Shawls 70
• Old Boots 57 prs
• Stockings 147 prs
• Night Caps 182
• Dresses made 139
• Dresses not made 66
• Jackets 75

Jane and Eleanor were sisters in law and of a similar age although Eleanor outlived her by 26 years. Pure conjecture, but for Eleanor to retain such a list perhaps this would suggest they were close Jane was particularly remembered for her lace-making, of which RP had several samples. My Cottis cousin has a sampler pictured below that Jane created in 1820 aged 6. Allegedly, by Robin Press’s mother Jane took to drink, and it was only her nephew Henry Green was able to control her when under the influence. Subsequent to the RP book I have discovered that she married William Horsfield who was a corn miller at Colton Mill in Colton, Nr Leeds. Colton Mill formerly known as Swillington Steam Corn Mill was in use until around 1931, but became derelict thereafter.

William James (5), my Gt Grandfather was the modern day equivalent of a trailblazer and is subject to a separate section in this website. William was born on the 17th December 1849, married Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Fox at Wragby Parish Church on 16th November 1875. He moved from Holmpton to Crofton and after that to Cambridge and Beoley in Worcestershire where he died. William was a good letter writer and some replies to those letters are from Australia, and the USA which suggested that he was tempted to move abroad. There is a separate section in the website for William.

Henry (5) was born at Little Plowlands Farm on 30th July 1851, moved and farmed at Trinity House Farm (picture) and did not marry until 1881. He became a Methodist lay preacher from 1870 to 1884 in the local Partrington circuit. (aged 19 – 33). He joined his brother William at Crofton, then to Gembling and finally Cambridge where he died. Owen Gibbon, his Son in Law stresses that they were a very religious family and held prayers every morning. There is a separate section on Henry.

Ada (5) was born at Little Powlands Farm on 2nd January 1855. She married Henry Marr on 26th June 1883 and is a major player in the Green and Marr story. She corresponded with her sisters and I have many of those letters.

amyCatherine

Amy Catherine(5) was born 1st November 1856 and died 13th May 1885 aged 28 after many years illness. I have a series of rather sad letters she wrote to Ada in the year she died of her visits to Leeds to see various Doctors confirming she had consumption. She stayed with her brother William in Crofton on these Leeds visits and is buried in Holmpton.

There are letters to Ada telling her of her planned visit to Dr Heal, but she wanted to know if Ada wished her to get a coat costing 8s-11d, asking in the same letter ” how is baby (Alec) getting on” and she also enquired about Pollie and her baby (that was Joseph Linton, Joe Marr’s son, who is actually named in her next letter. Three weeks later she reports that she had seen Dr Allbutt, who gave her no hope of ever being strong again, and “my throat and voice are bad owing to consumption in the system”. She added that Henry was coming to preach and that “he and William intend going to London where they are thinking of spending Sunday, of course they are going on business but combining pleasure with it”. Perhaps it was the Smithfield Show in Earls Court?

Agnes kept Ada posted every few days when Amy was sinking from Mid-April 1885 to her death on 13th May 1885, aged 28.

Agnes Jane (5) was the final child born 27th August 1862 when her mother was 42 and father 54.

Agnes was an affectionate child, devoted, judging by the tone of her letters to Ada, her elder sister. In brief notes on her own life (which she wrote in a notebook which Muriel Marr used many years later to begin her autobiography) is an account of her conversion. She says that as a sinful little girl of 10 in her attic chamber at Aunt McIntosh’s house in Hull she was converted on her knees at her bedside. Aunt McIntosh was her mother’s sister, born in 1822 and married to William McIntosh, a dealer in Wines and Spirits and lived in Kingston on Hull. Agnes married Henry Skinner on 6th December 1906 aged 42.

 

 

 

 

 

James Green Death

The 1881 census shows James aged 70, retired and living at Trinity House Farm, Holmpton. His son Henry was running the farm of 200 acres. When James made his Will in February 1882, he was living at The White House Holmpton. (now called Bryony Cottage and Old Peoples Home) Perhaps he and Eleanor, Amy and Agnes moved there on Henry’s marriage in June 1881. James died on 15th My 1883 aged 74. On his tombstone is the text” As for me, I will behold they face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I wake in thy likeness” Agnes wrote to Ada in Amy’s last days from 4 Heaton Villas , Withensea, so it looks like this was their home after the death of James in 1883.

James Green Will

James’s Will is not easy to read but he left all the White House furniture and personal effects to his wife, plus interest on £1600 which was to be invested at 5%. His undescribed parcel of land, (if not already sold), his life insurance policy for £1000, all his real and personal estate were to be liquidated and distributed by his trustees. (his sons and his son-in-law John Biglin Straker), Gifts to William James £500, Henry £600, and Ada, Amy Catherine and Agnes £100 each. James noted that Eleanor Harrison was omitted from the Will because she had received £100 during his lifetime. Probate was granted on a total estate at £2,861-19-6. (at around 1900 this might have been around £350,000 at today’s values)

Eleanor

Eleanor’s Second Marriage

Eleanor Green nee Mitchinson remarried a solicitor widower, Henry Cowls with twelve children in 1887 and lived in Great Yarmouth where she died on 15th February 1900 aged 80. Her daughter, Agnes had gone with her to Great Yarmouth as, I suppose, companion. Robin Press has an October 1887 dated letter from Abigail to Harry Marr stating that she was glad that Ada had been to see her mother, and that she hoped her mother liked Yarmouth. Agnes wrote to Ada, after Eleanor’s death, complaining about one of the Cowls daughters. Agnes had been her governess and she was making her feel unwelcome. Items of a personal nature of Eleanor’s which Agnes thought should have gone to her. Henry Green (Eleanor’s Son), had to be called in to sort out the dispute.

 

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I have been told by one viewer of my website that named photographs are like ‘gold-dust’ to a family historian. Unnamed ones are almost useless but I have created a different section for these in the hope that some might get named by readers. The third category include the same photograph named differently. I don’t have many like this as it involves a deal of conjecture. Such a case is ‘Aunt Horsfield or Elizabeth Brown or Gertrude Lockwood’ above that arrived from 3 different sources with 3 different names which has led to some debate and is shared here:-

Jane Horsfield b.1814 d.1874 was James Green’s sister and named by one source. Her attire matches attributed comments that she liked to dress well and from the sampler she may have been a capable seamstress, able to make the items being worn. We have no other photograph to match against but the dates appear to fit.

or

Elizabeth Speck nee Brown b.1831 d.1906 was Henry Green’s wife’s mother and named by another source. We have a picture of her in the Henry Green section taken around 1860. Is it the same person? Specks were large farmers and I find it unlikely that a farmers wife would have dressed like that even in her Sunday best. One source suggests that the wearing position of the bonnet might sway us towards it being Elizabeth Speck. Dating the photograph might help but if as I suspect the photograph is 1850/60 perhaps Elizabeth’s dates don’t fit so well.

or

Gertrude Lockwood b.1880 was named by another source but I think we can safely discount this candidate as she would have to have been wearing this in the 1920/30’s to match the persons age. An unlikely candidate I think.

Swillington Corn Mill

Swillington Corn Mill or Colton Mill is located in a housing/industrial estate that takes its name near the busy M6 motorway. At over 600 years old the mill is a Grade II listed building which was renovated in 2006. It was on offer at £650k as a 5 bedroom detached house in 2011. There were no children in the relevant census and after William died she lived (as an annuitant) with her Uncle Mark Hellis in West Garforth Nr Leeds (Hannah’s brother and a retired farmer) who was 90 years old in 1871. Mark Hellis died in 1871. William Horsfield died on 18th September 1868 when probate was granted at ‘under’ £6000. Jane was buried in Holmpton Churchyard in 1874 and her tombstone says simply ‘in affectionate rememberence’ which is in stark contrast to the religious texts on her family members.

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James Green Marriage

James married Eleanor Mitchinson of Camerton Hall in on 28th August 1845 at Paull Church. Fort Paull where William Green (3) apparently came ashore after escaping from the Press Gang. It is near the Church where his son married. It was a significant Military base during the Civil War and is now a tourist attraction.

There is a separate section covering the Mitchinson family who were a large and influential family in the area in which I will cover Camerton Hall and some key family members. James farmed at Trinity Farm, Holmpton. James is buried at St Nicholas Church, Holmpton, along with his parents William and Hannah, and his sister Jane. Also Eliza and Amy, two of his seven children. I possess a book called ‘Holmpton a journey through time’ by P A Leconby and H M Hall covering village life from the Romans to current date. This mentions James renting 4 seats annually in St Nicholas for 12/- to help in the rebuilding, farming at Trinity farm in 1861 and acting as Chairman in 1876 for the first meeting of the School Board.

James Green’s 7 Children

 

 

Eliza (5) died a spinster, allegedly from a broken heart, but it could have equally been consumption on the 21st April in her 21st year. She must have assembled a trousseau, which ended up with Agnes her youngest sister. This grimy bundle came to RP’s mother and when washed it revealed a selection of mid Victorian underwear marked ‘Eliza’ and numbered in series which suggests a guide to a wearing rotation? Eliza’s tombstone in Holmpton reads ‘the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us’.

bessie  eleanor

Eleanor ‘Nellie’(5) married Richard Henry Harrison of Thorpe Audlin a few miles south of Pontefract in 1874. Their first child, Richard Henry was born there on 27th March 1875 and died young on 2nd December 1878. William James (Willie) (b1876 d1941 & m Annie Dawson 1925) Leonard (b1878 d1945 m Lois Fletcher 1905) and twins Bessie (b1881 d 1958) and Edward (b 1881 d 1954 m Edith Barker 1918 who d.1919). Nellie died in 1887, aged 38, but her husband remarried Sarah Ann Lindsay in 1892 and died in 1919. Richard is buried in the churchyard at Badsworth along with his forebears. Press cutting at the time states that the family had lived over 200 years in Thorpe Audlin. Bessie, who was mentioned in Agnes’s Will, helped in the house at Beoley after William James move from Highfields to Beoley Hall Farm in Worcestershire in 1926.

Richard Harrison was a farmer on 106 acres employing 2 men in 1881. By 1911 Richard, Sarah (2nd wife) along with William, aged 34 (a joiner), Edward, aged 29 (a farmer’s son) along with Bessie still at Thorpe Audlin. Leonard was a grocers assistant living in Pontefract. In 1939, William and Bessie were living together. William was 63 and a handicraft teacher and Bessie was 58. Edward married Edith Barker in 1918. She may have died in childbirth as Edith E Harrison was born in 1919 and appears in the 1939 census living with her father and Amy Harrison (no marriage details could be found). Edith married Rowland W Curtis in 1941.

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Henry (5) was born at Little Plowlands Farm on 30th July 1851, moved and farmed at Trinity House Farm (picture) and did not marry until 1881. He became a Methodist lay preacher from 1870 to 1884 in the local Partrington circuit. (aged 19 – 33). He joined his brother William at Crofton, then to Gembling and finally Cambridge where he died. Owen Gibbon, his Son in Law stresses that they were a very religious family and held prayers every morning. There is a separate section on Henry.

Ada (5) was born at Little Powlands Farm on 2nd January 1855. She married Henry Marr on 26th June 1883 and is a major player in the Green and Marr story. She corresponded with her sisters and I have many of those letters.

amyCatherine

Amy Catherine(5) was born 1st November 1856 and died 13th May 1885 aged 28 after many years illness. I have a series of rather sad letters she wrote to Ada in the year she died of her visits to Leeds to see various Doctors confirming she had consumption. She stayed with her brother William in Crofton on these Leeds visits and is buried in Holmpton.

There are letters to Ada telling her of her planned visit to Dr Heal, but she wanted to know if Ada wished her to get a coat costing 8s-11d, asking in the same letter ” how is baby (Alec) getting on” and she also enquired about Pollie and her baby (that was Joseph Linton, Joe Marr’s son, who is actually named in her next letter. Three weeks later she reports that she had seen Dr Allbutt, who gave her no hope of ever being strong again, and “my throat and voice are bad owing to consumption in the system”. She added that Henry was coming to preach and that “he and William intend going to London where they are thinking of spending Sunday, of course they are going on business but combining pleasure with it”. Perhaps it was the Smithfield Show in Earls Court?

Agnes kept Ada posted every few days when Amy was sinking from Mid-April 1885 to her death on 13th May 1885, aged 28.

Agnes Jane (5) was the final child born 27th August 1862 when her mother was 42 and father 54.

Agnes was an affectionate child, devoted, judging by the tone of her letters to Ada, her elder sister. In brief notes on her own life (which she wrote in a notebook which Muriel Marr used many years later to begin her autobiography) is an account of her conversion. She says that as a sinful little girl of 10 in her attic chamber at Aunt McIntosh’s house in Hull she was converted on her knees at her bedside. Aunt McIntosh was her mother’s sister, born in 1822 and married to William McIntosh, a dealer in Wines and Spirits and lived in Kingston on Hull. Agnes married Henry Skinner on 6th December 1906 aged 42.

James Green Death

The 1881 census shows James aged 70, retired and living at Trinity House Farm, Holmpton. His son Henry was running the farm of 200 acres. When James made his Will in February 1882, he was living at The White House Holmpton. (now called Bryony Cottage and Old Peoples Home) Perhaps he and Eleanor, Amy and Agnes moved there on Henry’s marriage in June 1881. James died on 15th My 1883 aged 74. On his tombstone is the text” As for me, I will behold they face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I wake in thy likeness” Agnes wrote to Ada in Amy’s last days from 4 Heaton Villas , Withensea, so it looks like this was their home after the death of James in 1883.

James Green Will

James’s Will is not easy to read but he left all the White House furniture and personal effects to his wife, plus interest on £1600 which was to be invested at 5%. His undescribed parcel of land, (if not already sold), his life insurance policy for £1000, all his real and personal estate were to be liquidated and distributed by his trustees. (his sons and his son-in-law John Biglin Straker), Gifts to William James £500, Henry £600, and Ada, Amy Catherine and Agnes £100 each. James noted that Eleanor Harrison was omitted from the Will because she had received £100 during his lifetime. Probate was granted on a total estate at £2,861-19-6. (at around 1900 this might have been around £350,000 at today’s values)

Eleanor

Eleanor’s Second Marriage

Eleanor Green nee Mitchinson remarried a solicitor widower, Henry Cowls with twelve children in 1887 and lived in Great Yarmouth where she died on 15th February 1900 aged 80. Her daughter, Agnes had gone with her to Great Yarmouth as, I suppose, companion. Robin Press has an October 1887 dated letter from Abigail to Harry Marr stating that she was glad that Ada had been to see her mother, and that she hoped her mother liked Yarmouth. Agnes wrote to Ada, after Eleanor’s death, complaining about one of the Cowls daughters. Agnes had been her governess and she was making her feel unwelcome. Items of a personal nature of Eleanor’s which Agnes thought should have gone to her. Henry Green (Eleanor’s Son), had to be called in to sort out the dispute.

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I have been told by one viewer of my website that named photographs are like ‘gold-dust’ to a family historian. Unnamed ones are almost useless but I have created a different section for these in the hope that some might get named by readers. The third category include the same photograph named differently. I don’t have many like this as it involves a deal of conjecture. Such a case is ‘Aunt Horsfield or Elizabeth Brown or Gertrude Lockwood’ above that arrived from 3 different sources with 3 different names which has led to some debate and is shared here:-

Jane Horsfield b.1814 d.1874 was James Green’s sister and named by one source. Her attire matches attributed comments that she liked to dress well and from the sampler she may have been a capable seamstress, able to make the items being worn. We have no other photograph to match against but the dates appear to fit.

or

Elizabeth Speck nee Brown b.1831 d.1906 was Henry Green’s wife’s mother and named by another source. We have a picture of her in the Henry Green section taken around 1860. Is it the same person? Specks were large farmers and I find it unlikely that a farmers wife would have dressed like that even in her Sunday best. One source suggests that the wearing position of the bonnet might sway us towards it being Elizabeth Speck. Dating the photograph might help but if as I suspect the photograph is 1850/60 perhaps Elizabeth’s dates don’t fit so well.

or

Gertrude Lockwood b.1880 was named by another source but I think we can safely discount this candidate as she would have to have been wearing this in the 1920/30’s to match the persons age. An unlikely candidate I think.

Swillington Corn Mill

Swillington Corn Mill or Colton Mill is located in a housing/industrial estate that takes its name near the busy M6 motorway. At over 600 years old the mill is a Grade II listed building which was renovated in 2006. It was on offer at £650k as a 5 bedroom detached house in 2011. There were no children in the relevant census and after William died she lived (as an annuitant) with her Uncle Mark Hellis in West Garforth Nr Leeds (Hannah’s brother and a retired farmer) who was 90 years old in 1871. Mark Hellis died in 1871. William Horsfield died on 18th September 1868 when probate was granted at ‘under’ £6000. Jane was buried in Holmpton Churchyard in 1874 and her tombstone says simply ‘in affectionate rememberence’ which is in stark contrast to the religious texts on her family members.

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James Green Marriage

James married Eleanor Mitchinson of Camerton Hall in on 28th August 1845 at Paull Church. Fort Paull where William Green (3) apparently came ashore after escaping from the Press Gang. It is near the Church where his son married. It was a significant Military base during the Civil War and is now a tourist attraction.

There is a separate section covering the Mitchinson family who were a large and influential family in the area in which I will cover Camerton Hall and some key family members. James farmed at Trinity Farm, Holmpton. James is buried at St Nicholas Church, Holmpton, along with his parents William and Hannah, and his sister Jane. Also Eliza and Amy, two of his seven children. I possess a book called ‘Holmpton a journey through time’ by P A Leconby and H M Hall covering village life from the Romans to current date. This mentions James renting 4 seats annually in St Nicholas for 12/- to help in the rebuilding, farming at Trinity farm in 1861 and acting as Chairman in 1876 for the first meeting of the School Board.

James Green’s 7 Children

 

 

Eliza (5) died a spinster, allegedly from a broken heart, but it could have equally been consumption on the 21st April in her 21st year. She must have assembled a trousseau, which ended up with Agnes her youngest sister. This grimy bundle came to RP’s mother and when washed it revealed a selection of mid Victorian underwear marked ‘Eliza’ and numbered in series which suggests a guide to a wearing rotation? Eliza’s tombstone in Holmpton reads ‘the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us’.

bessie  eleanor

Eleanor ‘Nellie’(5) married Richard Henry Harrison of Thorpe Audlin a few miles south of Pontefract in 1874. Their first child, Richard Henry was born there on 27th March 1875 and died young on 2nd December 1878. William James (Willie) (b1876 d1941 & m Annie Dawson 1925) Leonard (b1878 d1945 m Lois Fletcher 1905) and twins Bessie (b1881 d 1958) and Edward (b 1881 d 1954 m Edith Barker 1918 who d.1919). Nellie died in 1887, aged 38, but her husband remarried Sarah Ann Lindsay in 1892 and died in 1919. Richard is buried in the churchyard at Badsworth along with his forebears. Press cutting at the time states that the family had lived over 200 years in Thorpe Audlin. Bessie, who was mentioned in Agnes’s Will, helped in the house at Beoley after William James move from Highfields to Beoley Hall Farm in Worcestershire in 1926.

Richard Harrison was a farmer on 106 acres employing 2 men in 1881. By 1911 Richard, Sarah (2nd wife) along with William, aged 34 (a joiner), Edward, aged 29 (a farmer’s son) along with Bessie still at Thorpe Audlin. Leonard was a grocers assistant living in Pontefract. In 1939, William and Bessie were living together. William was 63 and a handicraft teacher and Bessie was 58. Edward married Edith Barker in 1918. She may have died in childbirth as Edith E Harrison was born in 1919 and appears in the 1939 census living with her father and Amy Harrison (no marriage details could be found). Edith married Rowland W Curtis in 1941.

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Henry (5) was born at Little Plowlands Farm on 30th July 1851, moved and farmed at Trinity House Farm (picture) and did not marry until 1881. He became a Methodist lay preacher from 1870 to 1884 in the local Partrington circuit. (aged 19 – 33). He joined his brother William at Crofton, then to Gembling and finally Cambridge where he died. Owen Gibbon, his Son in Law stresses that they were a very religious family and held prayers every morning. There is a separate section on Henry.

Ada (5) was born at Little Powlands Farm on 2nd January 1855. She married Henry Marr on 26th June 1883 and is a major player in the Green and Marr story. She corresponded with her sisters and I have many of those letters.

amyCatherine

Amy Catherine(5) was born 1st November 1856 and died 13th May 1885 aged 28 after many years illness. I have a series of rather sad letters she wrote to Ada in the year she died of her visits to Leeds to see various Doctors confirming she had consumption. She stayed with her brother William in Crofton on these Leeds visits and is buried in Holmpton.

There are letters to Ada telling her of her planned visit to Dr Heal, but she wanted to know if Ada wished her to get a coat costing 8s-11d, asking in the same letter ” how is baby (Alec) getting on” and she also enquired about Pollie and her baby (that was Joseph Linton, Joe Marr’s son, who is actually named in her next letter. Three weeks later she reports that she had seen Dr Allbutt, who gave her no hope of ever being strong again, and “my throat and voice are bad owing to consumption in the system”. She added that Henry was coming to preach and that “he and William intend going to London where they are thinking of spending Sunday, of course they are going on business but combining pleasure with it”. Perhaps it was the Smithfield Show in Earls Court?

Agnes kept Ada posted every few days when Amy was sinking from Mid-April 1885 to her death on 13th May 1885, aged 28.

Agnes Jane (5) was the final child born 27th August 1862 when her mother was 42 and father 54.

Agnes was an affectionate child, devoted, judging by the tone of her letters to Ada, her elder sister. In brief notes on her own life (which she wrote in a notebook which Muriel Marr used many years later to begin her autobiography) is an account of her conversion. She says that as a sinful little girl of 10 in her attic chamber at Aunt McIntosh’s house in Hull she was converted on her knees at her bedside. Aunt McIntosh was her mother’s sister, born in 1822 and married to William McIntosh, a dealer in Wines and Spirits and lived in Kingston on Hull. Agnes married Henry Skinner on 6th December 1906 aged 42.

James Green Death

The 1881 census shows James aged 70, retired and living at Trinity House Farm, Holmpton. His son Henry was running the farm of 200 acres. When James made his Will in February 1882, he was living at The White House Holmpton. (now called Bryony Cottage and Old Peoples Home) Perhaps he and Eleanor, Amy and Agnes moved there on Henry’s marriage in June 1881. James died on 15th My 1883 aged 74. On his tombstone is the text” As for me, I will behold they face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I wake in thy likeness” Agnes wrote to Ada in Amy’s last days from 4 Heaton Villas , Withensea, so it looks like this was their home after the death of James in 1883.

James Green Will

James’s Will is not easy to read but he left all the White House furniture and personal effects to his wife, plus interest on £1600 which was to be invested at 5%. His undescribed parcel of land, (if not already sold), his life insurance policy for £1000, all his real and personal estate were to be liquidated and distributed by his trustees. (his sons and his son-in-law John Biglin Straker), Gifts to William James £500, Henry £600, and Ada, Amy Catherine and Agnes £100 each. James noted that Eleanor Harrison was omitted from the Will because she had received £100 during his lifetime. Probate was granted on a total estate at £2,861-19-6. (at around 1900 this might have been around £350,000 at today’s values)

Eleanor

Eleanor’s Second Marriage

Eleanor Green nee Mitchinson remarried a solicitor widower, Henry Cowls with twelve children in 1887 and lived in Great Yarmouth where she died on 15th February 1900 aged 80. Her daughter, Agnes had gone with her to Great Yarmouth as, I suppose, companion. Robin Press has an October 1887 dated letter from Abigail to Harry Marr stating that she was glad that Ada had been to see her mother, and that she hoped her mother liked Yarmouth. Agnes wrote to Ada, after Eleanor’s death, complaining about one of the Cowls daughters. Agnes had been her governess and she was making her feel unwelcome. Items of a personal nature of Eleanor’s which Agnes thought should have gone to her. Henry Green (Eleanor’s Son), had to be called in to sort out the dispute.

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