I am Robin Edward Sharman (born 12.7.1954 in Nottingham, England) and my interests include the genealogy and history of my family. Our Sharman genealogy has been traced back for over 400 years mostly in the Rutland and west Lincolnshire areas. More recently we moved into Nottinghamshire, and despite some shuttling between Notts. and Lincs. we ended up in Robin Hood's county. For many years I have been working on the story of my branch of the Sharman Family over the last hundred years. It is based on my research with help from my late father, Henry Sharman (junior), my late Aunt Frances and a number of other relatives. I have tried to include a number of anecdotes to give the story some life and to emphasise that it is a tale about real people.

This page is an edited extract from the second edition of my Sharman Family History, which is a work in progress - generally very slow progress! It covers my line of Sharmans from Richard who died in 1554 to me and my family in the present day. Naturally as our story progresses through time the information becomes more readily available, therefore some of the early stuff is less detailed. The first edition was printed in 2002, and it sold out quickly. Immediately I began working on the second edition, which will be more comprehensive. As a project like this is never-ending, I do not know when it will be printed.

This map is a sketch of much of Rutland and part of the area of Lincolnshire known as Kesteven. It should be noted that:
1. Only the villages relevant to our story are included.
2. The dotted lines represent county boundaries.
3. It is a sketch map only, and is not to scale.

Almost exactly four hundred years before my own birth in 1954 my earliest known ancestor RICHARD SHARMAN willed (on 20th April 1554) his properties at Greetham and North Luffenham to his son WILLIAM SHARMAN. Richard is recorded as being a husbandman (an archaic word for a farmer), and his wife's name was Agnes. William was Richard's eldest son who in turn, sometime between 1582 and 1589, himself had a son who was named Thomas. THOMAS SHARMAN, who was buried at Greetham on 4th January 1660, was married to Mary. They had at least two children, both christened at Greetham - Ann on 31st December 1620, and THOMAS on 28th August 1625. Mary was buried on 26th September 1653 and Thomas Sharman the Elder (to quote from the parish register) on 4th January 1660 - both at Greetham.

The second THOMAS SHARMAN was a carpenter and he had a wife named Elizabeth. From their wills we know that they had at least five children - Francis, Mary, THOMAS, William and Richard - and the parish registers show one before these, a son named …Thomas! We shall be following the descendants of the surviving Thomas, which will increase further the risk of confusion, but first a few lines on the others.

•  Thomas was christened at Greetham on 9th January 1659, but he died in infancy. He was buried, also at Greetham, on 16th October 1660.
• Francis Sharman had a wife named Dorcas, and together they had at least four children - Thomas, Ann (christened at Greetham on 6th November 1691), Francis (Greetham, 2nd April 1693) and Dorcas (Greetham, 3rd June 1696). Thomas was christened on 9th June 1685 at Greetham, and became a farmer at the Glebe. In his will of 14th May 1753 Thomas was described as a yeoman, and with his wife Mary he had a son Francis who was christened on 1st January 1722 also at Greetham. This Francis married Elizabeth Bennett on 26th December 1749, and was granted land in exchange for his common rights at the Enclosure of 1764. He was buried in Greetham churchyard, where a gravestone records his own burial on 31st May 1782 and that of Elizabeth on 13th March 1793. Francis and Elizabeth's eldest surviving son was also named Francis. He was baptised at Swinstead in 1752, married Elizabeth Hubbard at Greetham on 18th January 1785, and was buried in 1795. His will of 1793 described him as a yeoman, and left his property to his only son Matthew, who was christened on 13th February 1788. Matthew was a baker in 1813, a miller in 1816, and a farmer at Horn House in 1851. Matthew's eldest surviving son Charles was christened at Empingham in 1821, and in 1851 was a farmer and miller at Horn Mill between Exton and Tickencote.
• Mary Sharman, the second child (and only known daughter) of Thomas and Elizabeth, was christened at Greetham on 22nd August 1663. We know nothing more about her.
• William Sharman, the fourth child, was christened at Greetham on 1st October 1670 according to the parish registers. He was a carpenter like his brother THOMAS. A William Sharman married Martha Foyster at Greetham on 5th October 1705, but he may not be the same one. William and Martha Sharman had a daughter Elizabeth christened on 18th August 1706, a son Thomas christened on 12th March 1708 and buried just three days later, and a son William christened on 24th April 1709 and buried on 2nd May 1709 - all at Greetham. They also had christened there another William (11th June 1710), Mary (3rd March 1712) and Martha (3rd June 1723). Martha Sharman senior was buried at Greetham on 25th March 1742. It seems likely that, as she was described as the wife of William Sharman rather than his widow, he was the one buried at Greetham on 20th April 1743.
• Richard Sharman, the fifth known child of Thomas and Elizabeth, was christened at Greetham on 12th April 1673. He married Mary Hastings at Whissendine on 26th March 1706, and was buried on 31st July 1735. He was a carpenter, and had four known children - Elizabeth (christened at Greetham on 30th November 1708), Mary (Greetham, 10th April 1710), Richard (Greetham, 27th January 1711) and Thomas (Greetham, 26th January 1713).

The third THOMAS SHARMAN in our line of descent (the son of Thomas and Elizabeth above) was christened at Greetham on 20th February 1666. He was a carpenter and is mentioned in the Clipsham Wood Book of 1697. Elizabeth was buried on 18th July 1741, and Thomas on 7th February 1742 - both at Greetham. Thomas and Elizabeth had at least four children christened at Greetham - THOMAS, Elizabeth (29th January 1698), Robert (27th February 1704) and Richard (12th May 1706).

THOMAS SHARMAN (the fourth Thomas in our line) was christened at Greetham on 11th October 1696. He married at Exton on 30th December 1722. The parish records show the name of his bride as Susanna Masser, but strangely the incumbent at Exton mistook his own handwriting when copying up his notes and her name was in fact Susanna Walker! Susanna was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Walker of Exton, and had been christened there on 23rd June 1700. Thomas and Elizabeth lived at Exton until they died - Thomas on 23rd January 1781 aged eighty-five years (buried at Exton on 28th January), and Susanna in 1778 (she was buried at Exton on 11th October) aged seventy-eight years. Thomas and Susanna had a large family. There are christening records for nine children, whilst a memorial stone at Exton records ten - Thomas, John, ROBERT, William, Susanna, Francis, Elizabeth, Mary, Richard and Ann.

• Thomas was christened on 3rd December 1723 and buried on 15th April 1789.
• John was christened on 17th October 1725 at Exton, and buried on 22nd August 1737.
• William was christened on 27th December 1730 and buried on 13th January 1819 aged eighty-nine years.
• Susannah was christened on 10th December 1732 at Exton, and buried there on 17th November 1813 aged eighty-one years. She never married. Her will dated 21st June 1812 and proved on 12th March 1814 lists all her surviving brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces.
• Francis was christened on 8th April 1735. He is recorded in Susanna's will as being "late of Ryhall", and we know that he had a son named John (living in London in 1812) as well as at least two daughters. I think that he was the Francis Sharman who married Mary Francis (sic) at Ryhall on 15th January 1761. Francis and Mary had four children christened at Ryhall - Susannah (8th March 1761), John (7th August 1763), Mary (18th August 1765) and Elizabeth (18th April 1767).
• Elizabeth was born in about 1736, as her age was given as seventy-six years when she was buried on 25th June 1812.
• Mary was christened on 30th January 1737.
• Richard was christened on 6th January 1738, died on 18th February 1822 and was buried on 20th February 1822. The Exton parish register quotes his age as seventy-six years, whilst the memorial stone says that he died aged eighty-one years. In fact he must have been at least eighty-four!
• Ann was christened on 5th November 1743. She married Samuel Parnell and had at least four children - Susanna (christened at Exton on 24th September 1774), Samuel, Thomas (christened at Exton on 4th March 1781) and William. Ann died on 16th February 1825 aged eighty-two years.

ROBERT SHARMAN, Thomas and Susanna's third child, was christened on 31st December 1728 at Exton. He was a tailor by trade, and on 29th May 1751 he married Sarah Bursnall at Whissendine. Robert was buried at Whissendine on 31st March 1801, having outlived his wife Sarah by almost six years - she was buried at Whissendine on 18th May 1795. There are records of eight of their children being christened at Exton - John, ROBERT, Susanna, Elizabeth, William and Mary, Sarah and Catherine.

• John was christened on 25th December 1751. With his wife Alice he had at least three children all christened at Exton - John (15th November 1789), Elizabeth (16th February 1791) and William (3rd July 1796). The Elizabeth Sharman buried at Exton on 2nd August 1794 and the William Sharman buried there on 24th August 1809 aged fourteen years may well be two of these three children. John senior was buried on 19th November 1817 at Exton, and Alice was buried there on 7th October 1822 aged sixty-five years.
• Susanna was christened on 13th November 1757. She married Francis Wortley, a labourer from Stoke Albany in Northamptonshire.
• Elizabeth was christened on 20th October 1760.
• William was christened on 11th April 1763. He was buried at Exton on 2nd December 1767.
• Mary (probably twin sister to William) was also christened on 11th April 1763. She died about six months before her brother William, and was buried at Exton on 20th June 1767.
• Sarah was christened on 7th June 1767.
• Catherine was christened on 10th May 1772 and buried on 22nd April 1795.

ROBERT SHARMAN junior (son of Robert and Sarah) was christened at Whissendine on 30th November 1755. He was married twice - his first marriage was to Elizabeth Reynolds and took place at Whissendine on 12th October 1778. The register entry records his occupation as tailor. Robert and Elizabeth had three children christened at Whissendine - William on 24th April 1780 (he died early in 1786 and was buried on 17th January), Ann on 3rd March 1782, and Robert on 18th July 1785. We have no more definite details on the lives of these children of Robert's first marriage. Elizabeth died in 1788, and was buried at Clipsham on 3rd February.

Before the year was out Robert Sharman married again. This time his bride was twenty-four years old Mary Maxey who he married in her home village of Swinstead on 23rd December 1788. Mary's father was Charles Maxey, who was a stonemason frequently employed on work at Grimsthorpe Castle according to Ancaster Estate records. Charles Maxey became Parish Clerk at Swinstead, so he was obviously a literate man. He was buried in Swinstead churchyard in 1814 aged eighty-five years, and his gravestone is still there.

Robert and Mary lived at Clipsham for the first years of their married life together.  It was there that seven of their ten children were christened between 1791 and 1801. The family moved to Swinstead in the very early years of the nineteenth century. At this time Robert seems to have ceased tailoring to take up farming - most probably as a tenant of the Ancaster Estates, though this cannot be proved as the Ancaster records for the period 1804 to 1830 are missing. Robert and Mary stayed at Swinstead for the rest of their lives - Robert was buried there on 27th April 1822 (a family bible records that he died the previous day) aged sixty-five years. Mary died on 16th September 1829 aged sixty-four years, and was buried at Swinstead three days later. Robert and Mary's ten recorded children (taking Robert's total up to thirteen) were Elizabeth, Charles, Thomas, William, CHARLES, John, Henry, Sarah, George and Ann.

• Elizabeth was the first child of Robert and Mary. She was born on 6th November 1789, but I have discovered nothing else about her.
• Charles died in infancy.
• Thomas was born on 19th July 1792. We know nothing further about him. However, a reference in the Swayfield registers to a farmer named Thomas Sharman and his wife Mary as parents of a daughter Hannah Elizabeth christened on 4th June 1834 might possibly link.
• William was born on 19th April 1794, but again we known nothing further about him for sure. William Horton Sharman (son of William and Hannah) christened at Swinstead on 2nd July 1820 could be the son of this William. At the time William the father was described as being a draper. A pipe mounter named William Horton Sharman died at Kingsland, Middlesex on 16th April 1891, but again he may not be ours.
• John was born on 6th July 1797. For many years he was head gardener to Sir John Thorold at Syston Hall near Grantham. He died at the home of his brother Henry at Sprowston near Norwich on 25th January 1863.
• Henry was born on 9th May 1799, and moved around the country a great deal. In 1830 at the time of the birth of his daughter Elizabeth he was living at North Walsham in Norfolk. He must have been living in Salisbury in about 1844 as it is quoted as the birthplace of a second daughter Amelia (whose age was given as twenty-seven years) in the 1871 census. By 1864 White's Directory lists Henry Sharman as Primitive Methodist Minister at Sprowston, Norfolk. He married Elizabeth Riseborough who was born at Barningham - presumably the Suffolk one and not the one in County Durham. Henry's life was well documented by an obituary in the minutes of the Primitive Methodist Conference for 1877. The wording of this was in a fairly distinctive style and read as follows: Henry Sharman was born May 9th 1799 in the village of Clipson (Clipsham - R.E.S.), Rutland. In 1814 he was religiously awakened under the preaching of some Methodists, and after his conversion, amid the jeers and persecutions of his family, who were staunch adherents of the Established Church, he publicly engaged in prayer and occasionally delivered an address. His first sermon appears to have been preached at Dyke, near Bourne, Lincolnshire, when he was eighteen years of age, from the words 'Seek ye the Lord'. In 1822, while employed as a book-keeper in a silk factory at Congleton, Cheshire, he became connected with the Primitive Methodists. This step was not approved by his employer, but Hugh Bourne and John Ride overcame his scruples, and he left the counting house to become a Primitive Methodist Missionary on the Isle of Man in the month of June 1823, his credentials being signed by Hugh and James Bourne on behalf of the Tunstall Circuit. His labours in the Isle of Man were replete with interesting incidents - proofs most undeniable and encouraging that the Divine blessing was resting upon his work. Societies were formed and chapels built at various places. During his itinerary, notwithstanding his excessive and exhaustive labours, he found time to study various standard works, which materially extended his resources and improved the character of his preaching. He travelled at Preston, Oldham, Blackburn, King's Lynn, North Walsham, Fakenham, Lincoln, York, Whitby, Salisbury, Newbury, St Ives (Cornwall), Motcombe, Farringdon, Salisbury (a second time), Luton, Portsmouth and Jersey, which he left in 1858, and in the following year he was superannuated. Thus for thirty years he was a superintendent preacher, built many chapels, preachers' houses and schoolrooms, and in a majority of cases he left his circuits better off numerically and financially than he found them. Personally he was much beloved for his consistant life, for his amiability of disposition, for the Christian patience and resignation with which he endured persecution and poverty, and for the unflagging zeal he exhibited in his Master's service. It was only when the physical infirmities incident to advancing years crept upon him that he appealed to Conference for that relief from active labour which they acceded to him. For a few years he remained to cheer by his general sympathies, to encourage by his past successes, and to give to his colleagues and juniors the advantage of his ripe experience. On Sunday morning, April 8 1877, he attended service at Cowgate Street Chapel, Norwich in rather better health than usual, and two days later he fell asleep in Jesus without a sigh or groan.
• Sarah was born on 5th August 1801, and married a Mr Stokes.
• George was born at Swinstead on 1st January 1804, though there seems to be no christening record for him. He became a gardener, which work took him to Belvoir Castle. There he met his bride, a maid named Charlotte Hollings, who he married at Redmile on 11th January 1832. They had seven children - Henry (christened at Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir in 1832), Priscilla (Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir, 1833), Robert (Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir, 1837), Charles (Hanthorpe, 1839), Augustus (Hanthorpe, 1840), Charlotte Maria (Morton-by-Bourne, 1843) and George (born at Feltwell, Norfolk in 1845). Augustus died in infancy. George became a railway signalman at March in Cambridgeshire, and from him descended the newspaper publishing family Sharman of Peterborough.
• Ann was born on 6th September 1807, but died two years later.

CHARLES SHARMAN, the fifth child of Robert Sharman and Mary (née Maxey), was born on 1st November 1795. He married Jane Bond at Swinstead on 1st June 1818. Jane had been born on 13th February 1791. Charles signed the marriage register with a cross so presumably he could not write. He seems to have gained status fairly rapidly because at the christenings of his children he was described as a labourer in 1819, a cottager in 1821 and a farmer in 1823. This last progression could well have been enabled by the death in 1822 of Charles's father if, as is likely, Charles took over Robert's tenancy when he died. The 1841 census lists Charles Sharman as farming Swinstead Lodge, now called Norwood Farm, between Grimsthorpe and Swinstead. Charles and Jane had eight children - THOMAS, Mary Ann, George, Henry, John, Sarah, Charles and Taylor. Charles senior died on 11th September 1847 aged fifty-one years, and was buried at Swinstead on 14th September. Jane died on 15th January 1881, and was buried at Swinstead on 19th January. The burial register quotes her age as eighty-nine, but the Stamford Mercury gave her age as ninety years. Her gravestone is still in good condition, and correctly refers to her having died in her ninetieth year.

• Thomas Sharman - see below.
• Mary Ann Sharman, the second child of Charles and Jane Sharman, was born on 3rd April 1821, and was baptised at Swinstead on 8th April 1821. She married John Ward at Swinstead on 11th December 1861. Like Mary Ann, John had been born in Swinstead, and he was baptised there on 5th July 1818. At the time of his marriage his home was given as Swinstead Lodge. By 1871 John was farming 54 acres at Deeping St. James. He and Mary Ann were living in Horsegate with their 17-year-old niece Elizabeth Gillson, but there is no record of them having had any children of their own. John Ward died on 16th November 1879, and by 1881 Mary Ann was living with Elizabeth Gillson in Church Street, Market Deeping. In 1891 Mary Ann was still living at Market Deeping with Elizabeth, but they had been joined by a Swinstead-born 48-year-old niece (according to the census) named Ann P. Banister. Possibly Ann was just a visitor. Mary Ann lived to be 85 years old. She died at Market Deeping on 6th November 1906.
• George Sharman, born on 7th June 1823 and baptised at Swinstead on 29th June 1823, followed the family tradition and went into farming. In 1851 he was farming the 292½ acres of Edenham Lodge where he lived with his sister Sarah who moved out when she married the following year. George married twice - his first wife was Sarah Bellamy, who he married early in 1852. Sarah Bellamy was born in about 1834 and was baptised at Corby (now Corby Glen) on 5th October of that year. The year before her marriage to George Sharman, farmer’s daughter Sarah had been living with two older brothers and four other people at Bellamy’s Farm Lodge, Corby. The Earl of Ancaster’s Grimsthorpe Estate had a penchant for naming a farm after its tenant, and Bellamy’s Farm Lodge is the same as Corby Lodge.
 
The Bellamys had taken on the tenancy of the newly-created Corby Lodge Farm in 1832. At that time the tenant was Sarah’s father Richard Bellamy, who had been born at Great Ponton and married Swayfield-born Catherine Searson. Richard also kept the Angel Inn at Corby, which stayed in the family for two more generations, and later the Blue Horse Inn at Great Ponton. The tenancy of Corby Lodge farm passed from Richard Bellamy to his son George Searson Bellamy, but it seems that constant difficulties culminated in the suicide of the latter on 25th May 1877 at the age of 54. This resulted in the Bellamy family’s surrender of the farm tenancy. Subsequently George Bellamy’s brother-in-law George Sharman took it on in addition to his other tenancies on the Grimsthorpe Estate, albeit with no more success than the Bellamys (see below).


George and Sarah Sharman had four sons and three daughters – George, Charles Thomas, Henry, Sarah, Catherine, Richard and Mary Ann. The children’s mother Sarah (née Bellamy) died in the summer of 1866, and in the spring of 1871 George remarried.

George’s second wife was widow Lettice Smith; who, as well as having an unusual first name, had the middle name of Huband or Hueband (spellings vary). Lettice was his junior by about thirteen years, having been born at Pinchbeck on 20th April 1836. George and Lettice married at Bourne parish church on 3rd April 1871, and in the register entry for their marriage  Lettice is shown as a widow innkeeper.

 
The 1861 census shows Lettice H. Smith (age 24; born Spalding) living in New Road, Spalding with her husband William Smith (31; born Deeping St. Nicholas) and their daughter Elizabeth (1 month; born Spalding). They had at least three other children - William (born Spalding c.1864), Emmie (Spalding c.1866) and Ada Mary (Bourne c.1869), From the places of birth of these children it seems that Lettice and William moved from Spalding to Bourne sometime after 1866. By 1868 they were keeping the Crown Inn in West Street, Bourne, but William died aged 38 in the autumn of that year.


By 1872 George was farming Auster Lodge between Edenham and Toft, and according to later Grimsthorpe Estate records he was a tenant farmer of some 537 acres in Edenham, 12 acres in Swinstead and 271 acres in Corby (these last at Corby Lodge Farm with his son George junior). Like many farmers today George did not always find farming a very profitable business. In his book "A Lincolnshire Village - The parish of Corby Glen in its historical context" (pub. Longman, 1979) David I.A. Steel wrote: One George Sharman took over the tenancy of Corby Lodge Farm (now known as Woodlands - R.E.S.) in 1878. He was already farming two farms in Edenham parish also on the Grimsthorpe Estate. It was an inauspicious time to take on new commitments. A period of bad weather had set in in 1874, and conditions were particularly bad in 1879. It was generally large farmers who fared worst in the agricultural depression at the end of the nineteenth century; Sharman was no exception. In 1881 he failed to pay any rent. The following years were ones of falling agricultural prices, and by 1883 his arrears totalled an impressive £2137. Although Sharman was joined in the tenancy by his son, although his rent was reduced to half that paid by Bellamy and in spite of an allowance of £700, it was not until 1886, when he was granted a further allowance of £643, that his arrears were written off. The farm was then continued by his son, but he was in no better position to pay the rent. On Lady Day 1887 just £12.2s was received by the Ancaster Estate for their Corby farm land. In 1890 Sharman still possessed most of the holding built up by the Bellamys, but by 1893 the land around the farmhouse was taken in hand. That year too more land was put to allotments and more again in 1895. The rest of the land was let to a variety of tenants. The diversity of 1815 had largely been restored.

In 1881 the census showed George Sharman to be living at Edenham with his wife Lettice and the following children: Richard Sharman (born at Edenham in about 1863), William Smith (Spalding c.1864), Emmie Smith (Spalding c.1866), Pollie Sharman (Edenham c.1866), Ada Mary Smith (Bourne c.1869), Jane Sharman (Edenham c.1873), Lettice Sharman (Edenham c.1874), John Sharman (Edenham c.1876) and Robert Sharman (Edenham 3rd September 1876). Of these Richard and Pollie were George's children with Sarah (in addition to the others listed below), and the Smith children were Lettice's by her previous marriage. The others were George’s children with Lettice, and there are no records of any more after Robert. The full list of George’s known children is as follows:

 George Sharman (junior) was baptised at Edenham on 7th January 1854, though he might have been born a year or two earlier. The 1881 census shows this George and his sister "Kitty" (Catherine) living at Woodlands Farm (Corby Lodge, formerly Bellamys Lodge) with three others who seem to be employees rather than relations. As stated above, it was George senior who actually held the tenancy of Woodlands in addition to those he held at Edenham. In 1891 George junior was living at Corby Lodge with his sister Sarah, who had probably returned from living away in Lancashire to keep house for her brother after Catherine got married. In 1893 the Sharmans gave up their land at Corby as stated in David Steele’s book. Early in 1894 George married Sarah Harrison. By 1901 he had turned his back on agriculture completely, and he was living in Irnham Road in Corby.  His occupation was now given as Highways Surveyor. With him in 1901 were his wife Sarah (aged 42; born Sudbrooke, Lincs.) and his mother-in-law Sarah Harrison (aged 72; born Tollerton, Notts.) but no children. Sometime in the next fifteen years George junior and Sarah moved to Stainfield. George junior died on 5th December 1916 (age given as 65), and his wife Sarah died on 28th January 1926 aged 66. Both were buried at Hacconby, as Stainfield has no churchyard or cemetery.
 Charles Thomas Sharman was born at Edenham on 25th June 1855, and he was baptised there on 22nd July 1855. By 1881 he had moved away from Lincolnshire, and was listed as one of over two hundred people living at Messrs. Tarns Establishment at Newington in Surrey. William Tarn and Co. were “Linen drapers, silk mercers, boys’ and ladies’ outfitters, boot makers, carpet warehousemen, ironmongers, bedding, bedstead and general cabinet furniture manufacturers” of 165 to 173 Newington Causeway, London SE17 (just north of the Elephant and Castle). They were a kind of Department Store employing a large number of staff, of whom many were accommodated in a hostel or in dormitories provided by their employer. According to the 1881 census, all but one of the employees living in at Tarns were bachelors or spinsters (the exception was the Assistant Housekeeper, who was a widow). It is said that such a mixture of unmarried males and females in their teens, twenties and thirties must have taken some policing! Sometime during the 1880s Charles Thomas Sharman emigrated to Australia to seek his fortune – a quest that ultimately was to be successful. After spending five years in Melbourne, he travelled inland about 275 miles to work for Messrs John Meagher and Company in Temora, New South Wales. He moved further north to West Wyalong in 1894, and set up a storekeeping business there. The area was the site of a gold rush, and Charles had encouraged his younger brother Richard (see below) to join him in the venture. After a while Charles and Richard set up the Sharman Brothers’ Red Flag Store in Central Wyalong. The land is very flat around that area, and at the time it was an area of dense scrub. Charles and Richard hoisted a red flag to hang very high to be seen from a great distance by the gold prospectors – hence the store’s name. That store too was a success, and the brothers’ partnership lasted until 1924. In June 1898 Charles had married Jessie Ann Rankin, daughter of Donald Rankin and Mary McDonald. Jessie’s parents had been married back in their native Scotland, and she was born shortly after they arrived in Australia. Charles and Jessie had six children, all born in West Wyalong:
-  George McDonald was born on 9th June 1899. He had a hole in the heart from birth, and was never robust. Unlike his sisters (see below), George was educated in West Wyalong as he was not considered strong enough to go away to boarding school. He died on 21st October 1919.
- Jessie May was born on 25th August 1900. She never married, and died in Sydney in 1996.
- Alice Bellamy was born on 6th January 1902, and married John Harold Dunkley. They had four children – Ross (who died aged just two years), Donald (born in 1930), Warwick (1932) and Harlee Anne (1936). Alice died in 1994 aged 92 years.
- Edna Catherine was born on 15th January 1904. She never married. The man to whom she was betrothed died in enemy captivity just a month before the end of the Second World War. Edna herself died in a Sydney hospital on 19th January 1986.
- Edith Flora was born on 14th March 1907. She married John Trew, had four children, and died in about 1988.
- Margaret Lavina was born on 28th July 1909. She married Terrance Hale, and had two sons. She died on 15th June 1982.
The five girls were educated as boarders at the Methodist Ladies’ College at Burwood, Sydney. Charles would visit them at least once a term, travelling by train from West Wyalong. During these visits he would take them out to the theatre, and bought each girl a box of chocolates as a treat. The family home in West Wyalong had a tennis court, so all of the girls became accomplished players. As was the custom, all learnt to play the piano. Alice excelled at this, and passed all the piano exams that were available in Australia. However, she declined an offer to study further in London. The family lived to a generally high standard – presumably thanks to Charles’s success in business. For example, their’s was the first house in West Wyalong to have a bath. In fact, the family would even invite brides round to use the bath! Sometime after George died it was decided to move the whole family to Sydney as there would be more opportunities for the girls there. In fact they left West Wyalong in 1924. They moved to a house named Edenham (after Charles’s birth-village) in Sydney Road, Balgowlah, near and now a suburb of Sydney. Charles and Jessie were still there in 1930, but sometime between then and 1936 they moved to 37b Beach Road in Edgecliffe. Charles Thomas Sharman died in 1943 aged 88 years, and he is buried at Rookwood Cemetery. Jessie Ann Sharman (née Rankin) outlived Charles by about three years. She had been nursed by her youngest daughter Margaret at her home in Pymble, a northern suburb of Sydney; and died there on 23rd August 1946.
Henry Sharman was born at Edenham, and was baptised there on 11th January 1857. By 1881 he was living at the Old Manor House in Edenham with two others, who seem to be unrelated to him or to each other. Ten years later he was still living at Edenham (now aged 34) with his 25 year old sister Mary Ann (Pollie). Unlike his older brothers, Henry was still in Edenham at the turn of the twentieth century. The 1901 census shows him to be a cottager (small-time farmer) living on the Main Road there - unmarried and living with his sister Mary Ann as his housekeeper. He died at Edenham on 4th February 1903, and was buried there thirteen days later.
Sarah Sharman was born at Edenham, and was baptised there on 26th September 1859. Like her brother Charles, Sarah had moved away from Lincolnshire by 1881. The census of that year shows her as a visitor at the home of John Searson Watson (born 1851 Goadby, Leics.) and his wife Mary Matilda (née Elmitt, 1854 Tattershall, Lincs.) at 65 West Derby Road in Everton, Lancashire. We do not know what the relationship was between Sarah and the Watsons. The 1891 census shows Sarah having returned to live at Woodlands Farm near Corby with her brother George. On 23rd September 1896 at Edenham she married George William Foley, born in Driffield, Yorkshire in 1869 and described as an Agricultural Engine Machinery Merchant. George had come to Bourne with his brother Ernest Alfred Foley in 1891 to take over the wholesale and retail ironmongers and implement agents business of Arnold Pick after Mr Pick’s death. At the time of the census in the spring of 1891 both brothers were agricultural engineers at Great Driffield in East Yorkshire. They were carrying on the business of their late father, an agricultural engineer who had died early in 1889. Although Ernest was a year younger than George, the business in Bourne traded as EA Foley. In the 1901 census George and Sarah Foley were living in North Street in Bourne with one domestic servant. In that census George William’s age is given accurately as 32, while Sarah’s age is given as 39(!). In the next year or two George William’s mother, also named Sarah came from Yorkshire to live in Bourne with her son and daughter-in-law. Sarah’s marriage to George Foley lasted little over six years because he died on 16th January 1903 aged 34. George’s brother Ernest carried on the business until he died in 1926. The brothers’ mother Sarah Foley senior died later that spring aged 65. Sarah and George had no children, so 43-year-old Sarah was left alone again. She never remarried, and spent her widowhood living at Northgate Villa in North Street, Bourne. Sarah died on 29th April 1919 aged 59. Being childless she left her effects to her sisters Mary Ann and Catherine.
Catherine Sharman was born at Edenham, and was baptised at Swinstead on 19th October 1862. By 1881 she was living at Woodlands Farm near Corby with her eldest brother, George. On 5th August 1884 Catherine married John Saville at Edenham. John was a draper from Trinity parish, Wakefield, son of James Saville and Mary (née Ellarby). Born in 1853, John was about nine years older than Sarah was, although at the wedding she claimed to be 23 years old – possibly to make their age difference seem less. It seems that the newly-weds went immediately to live in Wakefield where John had his drapery business. In 1891 they were living at 186 Kirkgate, Wakefield. With them by then were their children Mary (age 6), George (2) - both born in Wakefield – as well as Catherine’s step-sister Emma (Emmie) Smith and half-brother John Sharman, listed as draper’s assistant and apprentice respectively. The 1901 census lists just one more child of Catherine and John – a four-year-old son also named John. Catherine was widowed when John Saville died on 8th August 1918. At the time their home was still 186 Kirkgate. The following year the widowed Catherine was one of two beneficiaries of her sister Sarah Foley’s will (the other was another sister, Mary Ann).
 Richard Sharman was born at Edenham on 27th June 1863, and was baptised there on 23rd August 1863. He was the oldest of the siblings still living with their father George at Edenham in 1881. In about 1887 he emigrated to Canada, where he stayed for about four years. A posthumous newspaper article (West Wyalong Advocate, 13th August 1943) stated that, whilst in Canada, Richard worked with an uncle in a warehouse business in Quebec and Toronto. However, we have not yet identified this uncle. He returned to England, but shortly afterwards he emigrated to Australia. He sailed from London on the RMS Ormuz on 30th January 1891. Richard landed in Melbourne, and eventually he joined his brother Charles in the Red Flag Store at West Wyalong in New South Wales. By 1903 (but possibly earlier) their store partnership in West Wyalong traded as Sharman Brothers. In 1900 Richard married Australian-born Stella Agnes Phelps in her home state of Victoria. Stella was ten years younger than Richard, and was the daughter of Robert Valentine Phelps and Eliza Martha Puzey. They had four daughters: Alice Zelma (born in 1900, died in 1998), Effie Saville (1902-1997), Stella H. (1904-1924) and Maud (dates unknown). Like those of his brother Charles, all four of Richard’s daughters were educated as boarders at the Methodist Ladies’ College at Burwood, Sydney. Richard Sharman died at West Wyalong on 27th May 1935, and his wife Stella died there in 1944. Their home is now a museum.
 Mary Ann Sharman (Pollie) was born at Edenham, and was baptised there on 5th November 1865. She was the last of the children that George had with Sarah. At the age of 25 in 1891 she was living with her brother Henry, presumably as his housekeeper. In 1901 she was still  Henry’s housekeeper. Presumably she stayed with her brother until his death two years later. In fact it seems likely that she never married. As a beneficiary of her sister Sarah’s will proved in 1919 (when she was 53 years old) she was described as being a spinster.
 Jane Sharman was the first of George’s children with his second wife, Lettice. She was born at Edenham, and was baptised there on 25th December 1872. I have not yet found Jane in the 1891 census. Early in 1899 she married James Ake, who had been born early in 1873 at Unthank Farm, Finghall (between Leyburn and Bedale) in Yorkshire to John Ake and Elizabeth (née Johnson). After their marriage Jane returned to Yorkshire with James, and in 1901 they were farming at Foal Park Farm, Constable Burton. By then they already had two sons – James Urbant Ake (aged 2; born Peterborough early in 1899) and Norman Donald Ake (aged 1; born Finghall in the spring of 1900). Other Ake children born in subsequent years in the Leyburn district are George John S (1902), Winifred Dorothy (1903), Richard (1904), David William (1906) and Catherine Emma (1909). Further research in needed to establish whether or not any or all of these were children of James and Jane. Norman married Annie Foster in 1924, and it seems that in 1929 they had a daughter, also named Annie, who lived for just three days and is buried at Finghall. Jane Ake (née Sharman) is thought to have died on 11th August 1931, and also to have been buried at Finghall.
 Lettice Huband Sharman was born at Edenham, and was baptised there on 24th May 1874. At the time of the 1891 census 17 year old Lettice was living in Eastbourne, Sussex with her half-sister Ada Smith. Both gave their occupation as draper’s assistant. On 31st January 1900 at Edenham Lettice married widower Thomas William Green, who was a 29 year old farmer from North Yorkshire. They went to live in Thomas’s home village of Hutton Magna, which lies just off the road from Scotch Corner to Bowes (now the A66). Thomas Green had married Betsy Shields in late-1896, and they had a daughter, Beatrice Maud. However, that marriage was short-lived as Betsy died on 25th September 1898 aged 32. She was buried at Stanwick –  a hamlet about four miles east of Hutton Magna. Beatrice died on 3rd December 1906 aged 9. Soon after Thomas and Lettice married they had a daughter, Florence. Lettice’s half-sister Ada Smith was again living with her at the time of the 1901 census, but now as a domestic servant. On 15th July 1901 - about eighteen months after her marriage - Lettice died aged just 27. She, Betsy and Beatrice are commemorated on a shared stone in Hutton Magna churchyard. Florence survived but never married - she was a housekeeper at Westwick near Barnard Castle until she died.

Lettice Huband junior’s name was, like her mother’s, sometimes misspelt. The final indignity in this respect was that the stonemason
spelt her middle name “Hubard” on her gravestone.

On Lettice’s death in 1901 Thomas William Green was left with two small children (although Beatrice would die in 1906). He might
well have had help from his numerous relatives in the village and surrounding area, but it is perhaps understandable that he married for
a third time. In 1909 he married Julia Smith, who was seven years his junior and bore him eight children. Julia died in 1947 aged 69,
and Thomas William Green himself died in November 1951 aged 80.


 John Sharman was born at Edenham in 1875, and was christened there (aged 1¼ years) on 1st October 1876. In 1891 15 year old John was living in Wakefield with his half-sister Catherine, working as an apprentice to her draper husband John Saville. By 1901 he had moved even further north, and was living at Barnard Castle in County Durham, working as a draper’s assistant. At this time John was still single, and was a boarder in the house of William Sinclair and his family at 7 Marshall Street.
 Robert Sharman was born at Edenham on 3rd September 1876, and was christened there on 1st October. He was the only one of George’s children still living at home in 1891, but he does not seem to appear in the 1901 census. Very early in the twentieth century he emigrated to Canada, and his life is detailed in appendix 2 of my printed work.
By 1900 George senior, now in his late seventies, had retired to Scottlethorpe where he rented a cottage with six acres of land. He died on 29th December 1905 aged 82, and was buried at Edenham on 1st January 1906. Lettice died on 1st May 1923 aged 87. She too was buried at Edenham.
 
• Henry Sharman was born in Swinstead on 5th December 1825, and baptised there on Christmas Day. Unlike his father and generations of Sharmans before him, he did not go into agriculture. Instead he took up the building trade, and by 1851 he was a partner with a John Brotherway in a building business in Grantham. Early in 1854 he married Margaret Louisa Taylor in Manchester. Margaret was born in Wrexham, and was about six years younger than Henry. Henry and Margaret had certainly moved to Shropshire, and were living in Ellesmere by the end of that summer. In the 1861 census Henry was listed as a builder in Ellesmere employing sixteen men. Later that year Henry was widowed as Margaret died in the summer of 1861. She was buried at Ellesmere on 20th September – she was just 29 years old.  Just over three years later, on 10th December 1864, Henry married Ann Powell. Ann had been born in Bayston Hill near Shrewsbury in about 1836 to Samuel and Martha Powell. In 1871 Henry and Ann were living in Scotland Street in Ellesmere. In all Henry had five children that we know of. All were born in Ellesmere to Margaret, his first wife.

 Jane Sharman was born in Ellesmere in 1854, and christened there on 31st August. Apart from her move to Whitchurch by 1871 (see above), and her presence as a visitor in the home of Charles and Elizabeth Pitcher in Highgate, Whitchurch at the 1881 census, we know nothing more about her.
 Charles Sharman was born in Ellesmere in 1856, and christened there on 10th July. In 1881 he married Elizabeth Davies who was his senior by two years and born in Wellington. By 1901 they were living in Bushbury, to the north of Wolverhampton, where Charles was a carpenter. The census of that year lists seven children: Ivy (18), Charles (15), Henry (13), Violet (10), Cornelia (9), Percy (7) and Frank (2).
 Mary Ann Sharman (also known as Polly) was also born in 1856, and was most likely twin to Charles – especially as her birth was registered in the same quarter as Charles’s. For some reason she was baptised on 21st April – over eleven weeks earlier than him. Maybe she was not expected to survive. As stated above, she was living and working as a dressmaker’s apprentice in Whitchurch in 1871, but by 1881 she was living back with her father in Ellesmere. Mary Ann seems to have been the Polly Sharman who married the chemist Robert Ferguson Dickie at Ellesmere in the summer of 1882. They had at least one child – a son named Robert Henry Dickie, born at St. George’s (near modern-day Telford) in the summer of 1883. Strangely the 1891 edition of Kelly’s Directory of Shropshire lists Robert as an Insurance Agent at St Georges, but the 1895 edition confirms that he was a Chemist.
 Henry Sharman was born in Ellesmere in 1858, and christened there on 2nd February. In 1884 he married Caroline Jones, who was his senior by two years and also born in Ellesmere. By 1901 they were living at Oswestry with their children: Nelly (14), Florence (12), Frederick (10), Elsie (8) and Albert (2). Like his brother, Henry was a joiner and carpenter.
 Margaret Louisa Sharman was born in Ellesmere in 1860, and christened there on 28th June. She married in 1884, but again we have no further details of her after that.
No trace has been found of any children to Henry’s second wife Ann. In the census of 1881 Henry was listed as living at Laurel Cottage in Scotland Street, but being a widower again. However, Ann was not dead. Instead she was working as a domestic cook in Dursley, Gloucestershire. She claimed to be unmarried, but we do not know the reason for her separation from Henry. By 1891 Ann had returned to Shropshire. She was working as housekeeper to Barnabas Powell claiming to be his sister, which seems to be untrue, although she did at least admit to being married this time! There is no record of Ann returning to Henry, who in 1891 was living at number 38 Scotland Street in Ellesmere with his eldest daughter, Jane. The 1891 edition of Kelly’s Directory of Shropshire lists Henry still as a builder even though he had turned 65 the previous year. In the summer of 1891 Henry Sharman senior died at Ellesmere aged 65 years. About the same time Ann married her “brother” Barnabas Powell; but that marriage was short-lived as she died the following spring (1892) at Atcham near Shrewsbury, just over three miles from her place of birth. Barnabas remarried that same summer, and died in the autumn of 1896.
 
• John was born on 7th August 1828, and baptised at Swinstead on 31st August 1828. He moved south to London, and on 29th October 1850 (aged 22) he married Alice Esther Lynn at Christ Church, Greyfriars, Newgate. Alice Esther was daughter to John and Alice Lynn, and was about three years younger than her husband. John Sharman was a builder and contractor, and is believed to have had a connection with the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington, which has now become the Business Design Centre. In the years following his marriage he seems to have improved his lot steadily. He was listed in the censuses of 1851, 1861 and 1871 as successively a joiner, a builder employing five men, and a builder employing forty-two men. Those censuses also recorded house moves from sharing at 37 Lewin Street, St Giles Cripplegate in 1851 to living at 11 Strahan Terrace in Islington with a servant and a lodger in 1861. By 1871 the family had moved to 81 Liverpool Road in Islington, not far from the previously mentioned Royal Agricultural Hall.
 
A reference in the book “The Royal Agricultural Hall” by J.A. Connell (published by Islington Libraries in 1973) describes the term
World’s Fair being used as early as 1873 for (quote) “John Sharman’s Christmas Fair and Bazaar held at the Agricultural Hall”.
However, it contains no other reference to John Sharman. The same single reference to John appears in the book “Fairground Strollers and
Showfolk” by Frances Brown.

Sometime during his life John adopted the middle name Taylor. It seems that he did not have it from birth – certainly he was not baptised with it. There is most probably a link with the surname Taylor taken by his mother’s sister Ann when she married.

John and Alice had at least eight children – Charles, Hephziabah, Elizabeth, John, Mary, George, Alice and Sarah.

- Charles Lynn Sharman was born early in 1851. At the time of the 1871 census he was living in Finchley with his grandfather John Lynn. In the autumn of 1873 Charles married Fanny Millard, who was almost nine years his senior and came from a Bedfordshire farming family. By 1881 Charles had turned to agriculture himself and was a dairy farmer in Finchley, which would have been a far more rural place than the suburb of Greater London that it is now. His first two children, Alice Jane and Fanny Millard were born in 1874 and 1879 respectively. There may have been other children. Charles’s subsequent life events are uncertain, but sometime in the next twenty years he emigrated to Australia where he became a railwayman. By 1903 he was a stationmaster living at Hawthorne near Melbourne, Victoria. With him were Fanny and their daughter Alice Jane. After Charles’s retirement (sometime between 1903 and 1914) they moved first to Canterbury and then to Camberwell, both now adjacent suburbs of Melbourne. Fanny died in the early 1920s, and Charles died in September 1941 aged 90. Alice Jane carried on living in Victoria until at least 1949.
- Hephziabah Jane Sharman was born in the summer of 1852. She died (aged 18) in the spring of 1871 – sometime around the same time as her mother (see below).
- Elizabeth Hannah Sharman was born in the spring of 1854. In the autumn of 1871 she married William Leonard, who was about six years her senior. Their children were Alice Esther (born 1872), William John (1875), Minnie Laurestina (1880), Mabel Louise (1882), Norman Harry G (1884), Bertram Horace J (1886) and Dorothy Rosina (1891). Elizabeth’s husband William was a carpenter, and in 1881 the family were living in Penton Place (now known as Penton Rise) just south of Pentonville Road. Elizabeth was widowed at the age of 36 when William died early in 1891. After being widowed Elizabeth had rooms in shared houses at 9 St Clement Street, Islington (1891) and 3 Brooksby Street, Islington (1901). Between these census dates it seems that she lived at 17 Drayton Park, Islington (near the site of the present-day Emirates Stadium). That address is shown as her residence when her father died there in late-December 1898. Presumably she had been nursing him in his final days. Elizabeth never remarried, and died in the summer of 1911 aged 55 years.
- John Taylor Sharman was born in the autumn of 1858. The 1881 census shows him as an unmarried circus performer staying at the Stag Inn in Percy Street, Newcastle upon Tyne.
- Mary Ann Sharman was born in the summer of 1860. She was still unmarried and living at 81 Liverpool Road with her father in 1881. On 11th September 1892 she married George Clutterbuck Holmes, a plumber two years her junior, at St. Sepulchre church. It is of passing interest to note that this is the largest church in the City of London, and its historic tower holds the twelve bells of the Old Bailey made famous by the nursery rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons'. George had been born at Acaster Malbis in Yorkshire, although in 1891 he was living in Lambeth with his widowed mother Esther (born on Haverstock Hill in north London). Their marriage certificate shows both Mary and George living at 18 West Smithfield. By 1901 they were living at 10 Winton Houses in the area between Caledonian Road and the western end of Pentonville Road in Clerkenwell parish. They had at least three children – Esther Agnes (born 1893), Horace Gordon (1898) and Violet Annie (1899). Of these we know that Violet married Arthur Robert Nash on 13th November 1929 in Camden, had eight children, and died in 1985.
- George Henry Sharman was born in the summer of 1862. He was still unmarried and living at 81 Liverpool Road with his father in 1881. At the time of writing we are still researching his life. Reference to GH Sharman’s Circular Railway on a poster for a World’s Fair held in The Agricultural Hall, Islington for six weeks from Saturday 24th December 1881 could well relate to George Henry.
- Alice Esther Sharman was born in the summer of 1864. She was still unmarried and living at 81 Liverpool Road with her father in 1881. She married John William Crowley in the spring of 1884, but was widowed less than a year later. In the spring of 1885 Alice gave birth to a daughter, Ruby Agnes. By 1891 Alice was housekeeper to Plymouth-born pawnbroker Moses Joseph at 62 Borough High Street in Southwark. Ten years later Alice and Ruby had returned to live north of the river. In the 1901 census their home is shown as 1 Winton Houses, close to Alice’s sister Mary Ann who at the time was living at 10 Winton Houses (see above). By now 15-years-old Ruby Crowley was a professional dancer.
- Sarah Sharman was born on the 24th July 1866. The 1881 census listed her as living away from home at the Sun Hotel in Hitchin, Hertfordshire - one of a number of teachers and schoolgirls listed at that address. It seems that the hotel served as accommodation for school boarders. On 25th December 1887 Sarah married Albert Edward Cook, son of Francis William Cook and Eliza Jane Phoebe Manning. Witnesses at the wedding were George Henry Sharman and Mary Ann Sharman, Sarah’s brother and sister. Albert Cook was a working master jeweller with a shop at Long Lane immediately opposite Smithfield market. Long Lane was also where Sarah and Albert lived with their four children - Edith Frances (1888-1967), Ethel (1890-1932), Albert (1892-1967) and Ivy (1900-1987). All four had families. Sarah Cook (née Sharman) died in September 1949 of Hodgkin’s disease.

John’s wife Alice Esther died in the spring of 1871. In 1881 John Sharman was still living at 81 Liverpool Road, but by now living only with Mary, George and Alice. He spent his final days at the home of his widowed daughter Elizabeth (see above). John Taylor Sharman was 70 when he died on Wednesday 28th December 1898. His death certificate showed that he had suffered Icterus Gravis (jaundice associated with high fever and delirium) for three days, and that hepatitis and syncope contributed to his death.
 

• Sarah, born on 12th May 1830, was baptised at Swinstead on 4th July 1830. She was sharing Edenham Lodge with her brother George in 1851 as stated above. On 29th January the following year she married a farmer named Thomas Gillson at Swinstead. Thomas was five years older than Sarah, having been born in 1825. He gave his place of birth as Tipperary in Ireland. The marriage register entry includes no reference to Sarah's father, who had died over three years earlier. Sarah and Thomas had three daughters: Elizabeth, Mary Ann, and Jane Judith.

- Elizabeth Gillson (born at Edenham) was baptised at Swinstead on 16th January 1853. She was living with her aunt Mary Ann Ward (née Sharman – see above) at the time of the 1871 census. She certainly stayed with her aunt for the next thirty years – most probably until the latter died in 1906. She was the beneficiary of Mary Ann Ward’s will, inheriting almost £2800 – a considerable sum in those days. Nothing more has yet been discovered about Elizabeth.
- Mary Ann Gillson (born in the summer of 1854 at Grimsthorpe) is shown as living as a visitor with her younger sister Jane Judith at Witham-on-the-Hill in the 1881 census. She seems not to have married, instead becoming a housekeeper. In 1891 she was working at Harlaxton near Grantham, and in the 1901 census she is shown as a housekeeper (still unmarried) living at Harringworth, Northamptonshire.
- Jane Judith Gillson (born in the spring of 1856 at Grimsthorpe) married Robert William Carr in the spring of 1878. Robert was a blacksmith, who had been born at Terrington St. Johns in Norfolk. Jane and Robert lived for many years at Witham-on-the-Hill. They had a large family, which included at least the following twelve sons and daughters:
Sarah Sharman (born 1878/9, baptised at Witham on the Hill on 16th March 1879),
Elizabeth (born 1880/1, baptised at Witham on the Hill on 13th February 1881),
Samuel (born 1882, baptised at Witham on the Hill on 30th July 1882),
Robert William (born 1884, baptised at Witham on the Hill on 20th April 1884),
Thomas Joseph Gillson (born 1885, baptised at Witham on the Hill on 12th April 1885),
Eleanor (born 1887, baptised at Witham on the Hill 11th February 1887),
Ernest (born 1889 , baptised at Witham on the Hill in March 1889 – register hard to read),
Jane Sharman (born 1891, baptised at Witham on the Hill 22nd November 1891),
Mary (born 1892, baptised at Witham on the Hill 1st November 1892),
Walter (born 1894, baptised at Witham on the Hill 6th May 1894)
Richard (born 1898),
and Arthur John (born 1902, baptised at Witham on the Hill 12th January 1902).
I have more detail about the lives of Jane Judith's children, but it is omitted from here for the sake of clarity. It is interesting that both Sarah and Jane were given Sharman (their maternal grandmother’s maiden name) as a middle name, and Thomas Joseph had his mother’s maiden name as a third name (though he dropped Thomas for both the 1891 and 1901 censuses).

The girls’ mother Sarah Gillson (née Sharman) died on 16th April 1858 still aged 27 years. Early in 1861 Thomas remarried. His new bride was Fanny Alexander who was born at Ingoldsby in the spring of 1841, and was therefore about sixteen years younger than Thomas. At the time of the 1861 census Thomas, Fanny and the three girls were living at Great Humby near Ingoldsby, where Thomas farmed over 400 acres. As well as four servants, the household included a governess for the girls. Thomas and Fanny had at least five children : Fanny Maria (born Great Humby 1861), Thomas Joshua (born Exton about 1863), Eleanor (born Exton about 1866), Stephen (also born 1866, died 1867) and James William (born Whitwell 1868). The 1881 census shows Thomas and his new family living at North Fen, Bourne. As well as remarrying and having another family, Thomas Gillson must have moved around a lot. By 1891 Thomas had settled at Teigh in Rutland, where he was living with Fanny, Eleanor and James. In the 1901 census Thomas and Fanny were still living at Teigh but now with a housekeeper. Thomas died in the spring of 1902 aged 77 years, and Fanny died in the summer of 1923 aged 82 years.
 

• Charles was born on 29th May 1832, and christened at Swinstead on 24th June 1832. C.A.S. thought that he died in infancy, but in this was mistaken. The 1851 census shows 18 years old Charles living at Swinstead Lodge helping his mother on the farm. On 31st October 1854 a Charles Sharman of Donnington, son of farmer Charles Sharman, married Mary Ann March at Swinstead. This marriage may well link here. However, as yet I cannot find Charles in the 1881 and 1891 censuses.
• Taylor was born on 26th June 1834, and christened at Swinstead on 3rd August. We know for certain that he did die in infancy. He died on 1st November of that year, and was buried at Swinstead on 3rd November.

THOMAS SHARMAN, the oldest child of Charles and Jane, was born on 27th April 1819, and was christened at Swinstead on 2nd May that year. At the time of the 1851 census he was farming Swinstead Lodge with his mother, his father Charles having died four years earlier. Whites Directory of 1872 recorded him as being of Norwoods Farm, and the Ancaster Estate records show that in 1885 he was a tenant of 339 acres in Swinstead, 89 acres in Irnham and 49 acres in Corby. On 7th December 1858 Thomas married Jane Hoyles at Old Bolingbroke. Jane had been born on 30th December 1823 at Mavis Enderby near Spilsby, but had moved from there to the Swinstead area on 12th July 1829. She was given a small bible, which still exists, by her godfather to commemorate the move. It is unclear how long she lived near Swinstead for the first time, but when she was married at about thirty-five years old her place of residence was quoted as Raithby which is near Mavis Enderby. Thomas died on 27th February 1890 at Swinstead, and was buried there on 2nd March. Jane died on 29th December 1902 (the day before her seventy-ninth birthday) at Castle Bytham, and was buried at Swinstead just two days later. Thomas and Jane had five children - Jane (born in 1861), Thomas Hoyles (1862), Annie Mary (1865), William Taylor (1866) and Sarah Elizabeth (1869).

• Jane Sharman was born on 15th May 1861 and baptised at Swinstead on 23rd June 1861. The census of 1881 shows her aged 19 living at Sharmans Lodge, Swinstead with her brother Thomas, sister Sarah and a couple of servants. After that she has proved very difficult to follow. In the next ten years Thomas had married and moved from Norwood Farm to Blackspring Farm, and Jane moved on too. By 1891 she was working as a servant in the household of 26 year old William Edward Stockdale at Park Farm near Downham Market. William Stockdale married in the summer of 1892, which might have been the reason that Jane moved on again. By 1901 she was back in the East Midlands working as housekeeper to widowed farmer George Crawford (aged 42) at Manor Farm, Queniborough near Leicester. Living with them were George’s five children (ages 9 to 14) and two young servants named Newbold, who were both born at Exton in Rutland and were presumably brother and sister. We know very little of Jane’s life after 1901. The next reference to Jane that we have found is her presence at the funeral of her sister Annie Mary in January 1932. She is believed to have visited the homes of her nephews Edgar Pick at Castle Bytham and Alfred Pick at Essendine in the late 1930s. These visits were as much to work as to socialise. She stayed with Edgar and his family for two weeks each summer mending clothes for May. Her visits to Essendine involved tasks such as wallpapering, and coincided with times when the live-in maid was away. By now (the 1930s) Jane was living in a cottage in Morton, about two miles north of Bourne. Her final years are sketchy with just a few brief mentions in the diaries of Dorothy, the wife of her nephew Alfred Pick. On 25th January 1941 her nephew Dick Sharman advised Alfred and Dorothy Pick that Jane was ill. Seven months later, on 30th August, Alfred took Jane home from Stamford, where presumably she had been hospitalised or in residential care. Jane Sharman must have returned to Stamford to be cared for, because she died in St George’s Home there on 24th March 1943. Her death certificate gives the cause of death as Paralysis Agitans – now known as Parkinson’s disease. She was buried on 27th March, but we do not yet know where.
• THOMAS HOYLES SHARMAN was my great-grandfather. He was born on 6th December 1862. Because this story follows mainly my line of the family, his details are given in the next part.
• Annie Mary Sharman was born on 31st January 1865 and baptised at Swinstead on 26th February 1865. In 1881 she and her brother William were living with their parents in Swinstead village, whilst the rest of the family lived at nearby Sharmans Lodge (Norwood Farm). On 18th December 1888 Annie married Thomas Pick at Swinstead. Thomas was a farmer about ten years older than Annie, who was born on a farm near Witham on the Hill. Thomas Pick had been married before. His first wife was Mary Ann Grant (born at Empingham in Rutland), who he married in the spring of 1877. Thomas and Mary Ann had moved around quite a lot. They had children born in Braunston, Rutland (c1877), Grendon, Northants (c1879) and Cogenhoe, Northants (c1880). At the time of the 1881 census they were farming at Puddock Drove near Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, and when Ellanor (see below) was born in the autumn of 1883 they were in the Nottingham registration district. However, they were back at Witham on the Hill when their last child together, Joseph was born in the autumn of 1885. Thomas Pick and his family moved into Norwood Farm near Swinstead when the Sharmans vacated it in about 1887. This change in tenancy meant that the farm’s name was changed from Sharmans’ Lodge to Picks’ Lodge. Farms on the Grimsthorpe Estate were often named after their tenants in this way, and therefore the farm’s name changed when a new tenant took it over. Mary Ann Pick died there on 17th December 1887 aged 48, but was taken to Witham on the Hill for burial four days later.

It was just a year and a day after he was widowed that Thomas Pick married Annie Mary Sharman. In 1891 Thomas and Annie were living at Picks’ Lodge with John (aged 14), Harold (12), William (8), Ellanor Gillson (7) and Joseph Gillson (5) who were Thomas’s sons and daughter from his first marriage.
The inclusion of Gillson in the names of the youngest of these children was a reference to the maiden name of Thomas Pick’s Irish-born mother, Eleanor. She had lived with her family at Scottlethorpe, and married Robert Pick at Edenham on 30th May 1843. In fact Eleanor and Thomas Gillson, who married Annie Mary’s aunt Sarah Sharman (born 1830), were sister and brother. Another sister, Elizabeth Gillson married Richard Pick (Robert’s brother and Thomas’s uncle) on 21st December 1841, so the Picks, Sharmans and Gillsons were well and truly intertwined.
Despite having been married over two years, it seems that at the time of the 1891 census Annie still had no children with Thomas, although at least three were born subsequently. The 1901 census shows that Thomas had moved his family yet again. By then Thomas and Annie were living at Elderwood Farm in the parish of Toft-with-Lound with their children Joseph, Edgar, Alfred and Ann. The last three of these were children from Thomas’s marriage to Annie Mary (née Sharman). Elderwood was a remote farm situated alongside the now-closed Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway about a mile north of Witham on the Hill.
- Edgar (known as Ted) Pick was born on 20th March 1891 at Picks’ Lodge near Swinstead. He was only four years old when in 1895 his parents moved from there to Elderwood Farm near Witham on the Hill. When the First World War broke out he volunteered for the army, and joined the Staffordshire Yeomanry on 25th September 1914. The Staffordshires trained in Norfolk, and were based at Langley Park between Norwich and Beccles. On 26th October 1915 they marched to Norwich from where they travelled by train to Southamton. Originally destined for Salonika, while at sea they received new orders and were diverted to Egypt. There they disembarked and marched to Chatby Camp at Alexandria, arriving on 10th November. By 1917 they were in Palestine. There, whilst fighting Turks between Gaza and Be’er Sheva (Beersheba), Edgar was hit by shrapnel above his right knee. Some of the leg was removed almost immediately, but infection in the remaining part meant that before long a further operation was necessary leaving Edgar with only a short stump. He was returned to England, and sent back to Langley Park in Norfolk. There he met his future wife, Marjorie May Bloom (known as May), whose father was by then a farmer at nearby Carleton St Peter. May had been born at Halvergate near Acle on 7th May 1900, the daughter of farm labourer William Bloom and his wife Martha (née Simmons). She and Edgar married on 28th November 1923 at Carleton St Peter. Earlier that year Edgar’s parents had vacated Elderwood Farm, and he took on the tenancy himself. Edgar and May had two children – Gwendoline Ann and John Albert – both born at Elderwood. Gwendoline was born on 27th May 1924, and was baptised at Witham on the Hill on 6th July. She died of peritonitis on 3rd January 1947 aged 22, and is buried at Castle Bytham. John was born on 8th April 1928, and was baptised at Witham on the Hill on 6th May. He never married, and (at the time of writing) lives in Castle Bytham. In 1931 Edgar and his family moved from Witham on the Hill to the 252-acre Rectory Farm at Castle Bytham. They moved their belongings with a wagon and horses, and were helped by Edgar’s cousin Richard Sharman. Despite having a false leg, Edgar was able to horse-hoe and climb onto stacks of hay and straw. He was also an accomplished ploughman, and won many cups. The only real problem caused by his disability was that the farm animals quite often pushed him over. When they vacated Rectory Farm in October 1969; Edgar, May and John remained at Castle Bytham, moving to a bungalow built for them almost opposite the farm. Edgar Pick died on 29th March 1975. He was cremated six days later, and is commemorated on Gwendoline’s gravestone. May Pick died on the morning of Wednesday 9th November 1988, and was buried in her own grave in Castle Bytham churchyard five days later.
- Alfred Pick was born at Picks’ Lodge on 10th May 1895. He emigrated to Canada with his second-cousin Walter Carr on 9th May 1913 – the day before his eighteenth birthday. Their departure was recorded in the Witham on the Hill parish news. They sailed from Liverpool to Montreal aboard the “Virginian”, a 12,000 ton vessel owned by the Allan Line Steamship Company. The ship’s passenger list referred to both as farm labourers. He homesteaded on a farm near Provost in Alberta, not far from where his half-brothers William and Joseph were farming. About eighteen months later, in the early months of the First World War, Alfred was given a free passage back from Canada to England as he had promised to sign up. On his return he joined the Royal Artillery, and he served in France from 1915. In the middle of 1918 he was wounded and returned to England. After convalescence he worked on a farm until he was demobilised the following year. For the next four years he worked with his father at Elderwood. In 1923 he went with his parents to Chapel Farm at Essendine (see below). On 30th September 1930 Alfred married Dorothy Mary Cullen, whose father, Herbert Cullen, had moved to Stamford sometime in the 1920s as Station Master at Stamford East. He was also responsible for Ryhall & Belmesthorpe station, and the family lived in Ryhall. Dorothy was a schoolteacher, and she transferred to teach at Essendine after she had met Alfred. However, she had to resign her job when she married, as was the practise in those days. The family had presumed was that Alfred and Dorothy would go to Elderwood when Edgar left, but Dorothy would not agree to go there. Consequently Alfred and Dorothy lived at Essendine with Alfred’s parents and his sister Ann, and Alfred worked the farm with his father. Alfred and Dorothy had a son born on 30th July 1931, who was registered as Robert but known as Robin. When Thomas became ill Alfred took on the running of the farm himself. After his father’s death in 1937, Alfred was able to stay on at Chapel Farm. However, as they had not officially been in business as a family partnership, he had no long term right of tenure there in his own name. The whole Essendine estate was sold in 1941, and on 1st January 1942 Alfred learned that he might have to vacate the farm that October. Only on 1st April was Alfred was given until 11th October 1942 to move out of Chapel Farm as the new owner wanted to farm it himself. The possibility of an appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture was raised but then dismissed. Unsurprisingly Alfred failed to find a new farm by the deadline, so he, Dorothy and Robert moved in with Dorothy’s parents, who by that time were living in one of the large houses on Creeton Road, Little Bytham. In April 1943 Alfred and his family moved to Hollies Farm (later abbreviated to The Hollies) at Old Somerby near Grantham. Geoffrey Barford, who had a factory in Grantham manufacturing plant machinery including road rollers, had bought the farm as an investment but did not want to farm it himself. Apparently the farm roadways were always kept in excellent condition by the company’s products! Alfred farmed The Hollies for over twenty years, but became ill in the mid-1960s. In 1965 he gave notice of his intention to quit by April 1966, but did not survive the full period of that notice. Alfred Pick died on 19th November 1965. He was buried in Old Somerby. Alfred’s sister Ann, who had her own house in Grantham, had been staying at The Hollies when Alfred died. When Ann went home, Dorothy would not stay in the house on her own.  Consequently she went to stay for a time with her sister who was living in Barrowby. She then spent about two years with a cousin in York, who herself was recently widowed, until she moved into a new house in Barrowby. Dorothy stayed there for the rest of her life, and died on 4th September 1985.
- Ann Pick, the only daughter of Thomas and Annie Mary Pick, was born on 13th March 1898. She did not marry, and remained living with her parents. During his illness in the mid-1930s she tended her bedridden father at Essendine until he died. After her father’s death in 1937 (see below) she left the family farm at Essendine, and became a housekeeper at Washingborough near Lincoln. In wartime she was warden at a Land Army hostel there. Her war work also included a spell as an inspector at Grantham Productions where armaments were produced. After the war she worked at Wellingore (about seven miles south of Lincoln) before returning to Grantham again. By the time she reached retirement age Ann Pick was the manager of the central kitchens for Grantham schools. She spent some time in Rauceby mental hospital near Sleaford, but was subsequently released to live in Grantham where she had retained her own house. After she had a stroke, Ann was admitted to Grantham hospital where the staff found her difficult to deal with. Consequently she was returned to Rauceby, and she died there on 30th December 1976.
In 1923 Thomas and Annie Mary Pick moved from Elderwood to the farm opposite the church in Essendine, then known as Chapel Farm but since renamed Church Farm. It was just on the Rutland side of the county border with Lincolnshire. Thomas farmed with his son Alfred, as he had at Elderwood after Alfred returned from the army. It seems that Annie settled into life at Essendine particularly well, and had a large circle of friends in the village and locality. She was said to have had a very happy disposition, and to have enjoyed excellent health. However, on Monday 4th January 1932 she became ill suddenly. Despite the efforts of Dr Galletly from Bourne and Nurse Brandwood from Ryhall, Annie died at 4.20 pm on Friday 8th January 1932 - just over three weeks short of her 67th birthday. Her funeral and burial at Essendine the following Tuesday were reported in detail by the Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury under the headlines “Essendine in Mourning” and “Mrs Pick’s Genial Presence Removed”. Within a year or two, Thomas became ill himself, and he spent about four years bedridden and tended by his daughter Ann. Thomas Pick died on 15th May 1937, and is buried with Annie Mary in Essendine churchyard across the road from where they lived. They have no stone to mark their shared grave.
• William Taylor Sharman was born on 18th February 1866 and baptised at Swinstead on 19th March 1866. In 1891 he was a tenant farmer in Swinstead living with his sister Sarah and their widowed mother Jane. William Taylor Sharman married Elizabeth Ellen Styles, who was about 8 years his senior, at her birth-village of Witham-on-the-Hill on 26th July 1892. The register entry states that William was farming at Pickworth by then. Elizabeth, daughter of gardener John and Elizabeth Styles, had been baptised there on 21st March 1858. Prior to her marriage she had travelled away from Lincolnshire. In 1881 she was working as a linen-keeper at Baileys Hotel in Blackpool, a large establishment now known as the Grand Metropole Hotel. However, by 1891 she was back living with her parents at Witham-on-the-Hill. At some stage William moved to Manor Farm at Clipsham - he was certainly there in 1900. The following year’s census shows him to have been farming Sharmans Lodge at neighbouring Holywell, where he and Elizabeth lived with their daughters Hilda (born Pickworth in 1893), Kathleen (Holywell 1896) and Dorothy (Holywell 1898) along with nephew Thomas (see later), a governess and a servant. However, we know little more about the life of William Taylor Sharman apart from the contents of a letter dated 1962 from his unmarried daughter Dorothy at Eight Ash Green near Colchester in Essex. In the letter she refers to her mother having died, Hilda living in London and having three grown-up children and three grandchildren, and Kathleen living near Sudbury in Suffolk and having two grown-up children but no grandchildren yet. Dorothy was living with and looking after her father, but she states that William himself was “rather a bent old man” who was capable of walking “only a few steps”. We do not know when the family moved to Essex, but Dorothy writes of feeling isolated from the rest of our family and wishing both that she had married and that she was “back home”. She refers to William’s ill health with no optimism saying “when you get (to) 96 you cannot expect much”. Dorothy’s fears were indeed justified, as William Taylor Sharman died on 26th April 1962
• Sarah Elizabeth Sharman was born on 7th October 1869 and baptised at Swinstead on 31st October 1869.  The 1881 census shows her living at Sharmans Lodge with her older brother and sister, Thomas and Jane, and a couple of servants. In 1891 she was living at Swinstead with her brother William and their widowed mother Jane. The 1901 census shows Sarah living at Castle Bytham with her mother, who died the following year. Sarah married Joseph Downing at Castle Bytham on her 32nd birthday - 7th October 1901. Joseph Downing was a widower from Sheffield, who was about fifteen years older than Sarah. He was born in the summer of 1854 at Boughton near Ollerton in Nottinghamshire. He had married Dronfield-born Martha Bower in the spring of 1876, and they had four sons and three daughters born between 1877 and 1894. They had originally lived in Quoit Green, Dronfield; but they moved to Sheffield in about 1884. The 1891 census listed Joseph as a steel-warehouseman, and showed the family living at 57 Ashley Road in Sheffield. Martha died early in 1897 aged 42 years. We do not know how Joseph Downing came to meet Sarah Sharman, and strangely we cannot yet find him in the 1901 census. After their marriage Sarah went back to Sheffield to live with Joseph and his younger children. In the next ten years she had at least four children of her own – Grace Jane (born in 1902), Samuel (1905), Jessie (1910), and Nellie (1911).  The gap between Samuel and Jessie indicates that there may have been others, which did not survive. In 1911 Joseph, Sarah and eight children (including five of Martha’s) were living at 165 Olive Grove Road in Sheffield, and 56 years old Joseph was still working as a steel-warehouseman. So far we have discovered no more about Sarah and her family.
  





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This page was created by Robin Sharman on 14th September 2000 (updated 14th April 2009)
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