Olive Dale to George Beardmore, 12 September 1967
Olive had been to Hanley Reference Library to search the 1851 census for George. The long sheet has been joined from two scans.
Transcription
Please excuse dirty paper. I have bags of it, but too busy to sort it out. I have to study my agenda for an Educ. Metg. at Stafford to-morrow and take Ev. Sch. to-night.
92 Hassam Parade, Newcastle, Staffs., England. 12th September, 1967.
My dear George, [added:] I loved the Staffordshire Assassins, but talk about horrific!!
Oh, dear! I have been trying to get some letters off to my various relatives in Australia, etc., but think you will be well aware that I do live in England!
Thank you for your letter of 28th August, enclosing list of “Brothers and Sisters” which I appear to have seen before, as I note a pencil note in my writing giving “Solomon” who was omitted from the list; probably he was the one killed by a truck at the age of 14. “Catherine” is also omitted. I think the old John (Brassfounder) must have made an error when he said William and Mary had 10 sons and 3 daus. They evidently had 4 daus., but I will try to see the Audley register sometime. Frank (my husband) says he will be seeing the Vicar at a Library meeting soon, and will then ask him again about the registers. He [handwritten: the Vicar] has already told him that I can go when I choose, so long as he knows in advance to get the regs. out.
I have to say that nothing has appeared in the “Sentinel” about me, nor the Beardmores. The Robert you mention was a collateral of Jeremiah’s set and I think yours, and was Curate at Kingsley in 1680, then went to be Rector at Nassington, Peterborough, where he was bur. in 1730, so not “pre” Thomas, will dated 1568, pr. 1573.
Now, I arranged with Mr. Beard at the Hanley Ref. Lib. to put out the 1851 Census for me on the Reader machine and went up a fortnight ago. It took me all morning to run through the Burslem reel alone, and I did not have much luck, as you will see from the attached entries. The nuisance is that Hanley only have part of the Potteries area, whilst Stafford have the majority of the county, excluding the Potteries, so Audley part is at Stafford, and Burslem part at Hanley.
Isn’t it a game? There are two Thomas Beardmores with sons John and Edward, but I found the second entry interesting. I have not typed out the other few entries for Beardmores, one “Head” born at Newcastle, another “Liverpool”, both in the pottery industry, and an Eliz. Widow, son George aged 5, she born Uttoxeter, George b. Burslem.
Your entries are clear, according to your family letters, etc.
Liverpool Road: Thomas Beardmore, Head, Marr., 38, Ironfounder, born Alsager, Ches.; Mary, Wife, 34, born Burslem, Staffs.; Margaret, Dau., Unm., 13, Scholar; Thomas, Son, 12; Phillip, 10; Robert, ?13 or 3.
Garden Street: Thomas Stevenson, Head, Wdr., 82, Retd. Smith, born Northwich, Ches.; George Beardmore, Neph.-in-Law, M., 37, Blacksmith emp. 4 men, born Lawton, Ches.; Elizabeth, Niece, M., 40, born Northwich; John, Grandnephew, 6, Scholar, born Burslem; Edward, Grandnephew, 2, born Burslem; Elizabeth Bowyer, Visitor, 14, born Northwich.
It appears that George B. born at Lawton [handwritten: your great-grandfather] m. a girl from Northwich and lived with her old uncle, although George was employing 4 men. The Eliz. Bowyer might have been a sister of his wife, or cousin.
Pleasant Street: Thomas Owen, Head, 45, emp. 2 men, born Whitchurch, Salop; several in family. Hamlet Beardmore, Lodger, 20, Carpenter, born Burslem, Staffs.
The Thomas 38, and George 37, must have been the two brothers who did not “speak” for years. Write when you get time, as will I. Up to neck level at the moment. Best love, Olive
What the letter tells us
Olive’s search of the 1851 census found George Cedric’s great-grandfather George Beardmore (1815–1895), blacksmith employing four men, living in Garden Street, Burslem, with his wife Elizabeth, their sons John and Edward, and her uncle Thomas Stevenson – the household described on John’s page. In Liverpool Road she found his brother Thomas, ironfounder, with his family – “the two brothers who did not ‘speak’ for years” – and in Pleasant Street their cousin Hamlet Beardmore, a 20-year-old carpenter, lodging. She also confirms that William and Mary had four daughters, not three, and that Solomon was probably the son killed at about fourteen.