George Broadribb and the joys of being sidetracked

 

I have written (here) previously about Joseph Noyes and the fact that one of his executors of his will was a George Broadribb, his nephew. I hadn’t found much on George before and presumed he was a son of one of Joseph’s sisters, and when I obtained a copy of Joseph’s will (for a transcription, see below), my interest was hightened by the fact that it also mentions three nieces of Joseph – a Mary Elizabeth, an Eliza and an Amelia Broadribb. Could these have been George’s sisters?

Houses at Withybrook, Stoke Lane, where the Noyes lived

I first tried to establish George more fully in the records. He does, in fact, appear with Joseph and his wife, Elizabeth on the 1841 and 1851 censuses. First as a three-year-old (there are no relationships in the 1841 census) and then as a visitor in 1851. I knew he was a policeman from his second marriage in 1865, which I had found, and I finally discovered him in 1861, living in Clifton, Bristol, with a wife, Mary. Their marriage proved harder to find; I think it is the one recorded in the indexes in the January quarter 1859 between a Mary Ann Quick and a George Broadwell (sic). I know that their children were registered in the name Broadribb, mother’s maiden name Quick, so I presume this marriage was mistranscribed. I can’t find it in Bristol church records, so it must have been in the Register Office. George and Mary Ann had four children before Mary Ann’s early death in 1863; Charles Henry (b. and d. 1860), Mary Elizabeth (1861), Eliza and Amelia (1863), probably twins. So these must be Joseph Noyes’ ‘nieces’. Mary Elizabeth was later to marry a Henry Lane in 1881, but all three were unmarried in 1871 when Joseph drew up his will. Interestingly to me, Mary Ann Quick was born in Barnstaple Street, South Molton, Devon, not far from where I now live; her parents were Henry and Eliza, names used by the Broadribbs for two of their children.

Following Mary Ann’s death, George moved to Brompton Regis, near Dulverton in the far west of Somerset, on the edge of Exmoor. It was there he married Harriet Norman in 1865 and had a second family. Of his three daughters by Mary Ann, I have mentioned Mary Elizabeth’s marriage to Henry Lane. This took place in Shepton Mallet in 1881 and they had a large family. She had been shown in the 1871 census living with Joseph Noyes in Stoke Lane, as her father had in previous censuses. Eliza lived with her father and step mother for some years, appearing with them in the 1871 and 1881 censuses. By 1891 she was a domestic servant in Exmouth, but in 1901 she had returned to her parents’ household, now in Wellington in Somerset, where George is recorded as a retired police sergeant. In 1911 George and Eliza are still in Wellington although Harriet had died. George died in Carlingcott, near Bath, in 1922, and Eliza, after returning to the Dulverton area, still unmarried, died in 1945. Amelia seems to have followed her father to the Dulverton area, but always appears in the household of Andrew and Elizabeth Miles; when she attended school there, Andrew Miles is listed in the ‘parent or guardian’ column. In 1894 she married Lewis Richard May in Brompton Regis, and they and their family remained in the area until 1911 at least.

So far so good, but I still hadn’t found the exact link between Joseph and Elizabeth Noyes and this Broadribb family, although it was obviously close. On his second marriage certificate, George gave his father as Charles Broadribb, a farmer. I couldn’t find him on the 1841 census, and, as George was then living with the Noyes, I assumed he died soon after George’s birth. In time I found a marriage for him in Bristol – at Temple church, where the Noyes family had connections. It was to a Johanna Bell, and that must be the link as Joseph Noyes’ wife had been Elizabeth Bell, and they had married two years previously at Temple church. So the Broadribb family were not blood-related to the Noyes at all. Charles Broadribb’s burial is recorded at Stowey, Somerset in 1840, but his abode was given as Stoke Lane; this again ties in with George’s place of birth (often given as Stowey, sometimes as Chew Magna, the adjoining parish) and with Joseph Noyes’ residence at Stoke Lane. Johanna Broadribb later married John Convin and had a second family.

I have still been unable to establish a death record for Elizabeth Noyes née Bell though and so do not know when the Broadribb family came into their inheritances. It is most likely hers is the death recorded in the Cardiff district in 1886, as her great-niece, Mary Elizabeth Lane, née Broadribb and her husband moved to Barry around this time and it is possible that Elizabeth went to live with them.

Joseph’s will also includes a bequest of £50 apiece for his brother, William and sister, Sarah.

 

 

 

Transcription of the will of Joseph Noyes

This is my last Will and Testament

of me Joseph Noyes Cordwainer in the Parish of Stoke Lane otherwise

Stoke Saint Michael in the County of Somerset First of all I give and

bequeath unto my beloved wife Elizabeth Noyes after my decease my

Dwelling House and Garden with all the Furniture were I now reside

and I also Give unto my Wife a Dwelling House and Garden

adjoining the same and I also give unto my Wife Three pieces or

parcels of Land called Still Croft, Thomas’s Close, and Little Field

and I also give unto my Wife a Cottage and Garden in the

occupation of Joseph Ward And I also give unto my Wife a Piece or

Parcel of Land situated at East End in the said Parish in the

occupation of Benjamin Treasure Altogether for her benefit enduring

her natural life and if the said Rents is not sufficient for my

Wife’s support I advise her to take up some money on the Land

for her use and benefit for her natural life And after my Wifes

decease I give and bequeath unto my Nephew George Broadribb

my Dwelling House and Garden where I now reside and also a piece

or parcel of Land situated at East End in aforesaid Parish now

in the occupation of Benjamin Treasure I also give and bequeath

unto my Niece Mary Elizabeth Broadribb the Dwelling House and

Garden now in the occupation of Samuel Plaister and after the

decease of me Joseph Noyes and my Wife Elizabeth Noyes I give

unto my Nice Mary Elizabeth all my Household Goods and

Furniture and the sum of Twenty pounds of Lawfull money and if

Mary Elizabeth Broadribb should die without Issue her part to be

divided between her two sisters Amelia and Eliza Broadribb and if

George Broadribb should die before he is in possession the said property

to be equally divided between his children and after the death of my

Wife I give and bequeath unto my Sister Ann George and my Will is

for her to sell the three pieces or parcels of Land aforesaid named and to

pay unto my Nephew George Broadribb the sum of Seventy Four pounds

and Mary Broadribb twenty pounds and Kate George the sum of

fifty Pounds and to Sarah Noyes the sum of Fifty Pounds and to

William Noyes the sum of Fifty pounds after all the said Legacies paid

I give the rest to my Sister Ann George And also nominate and appoint

George Broadribb my Executor and nominate and appoint Ann George

Executrix to this my last Will and Testament Dated the first

day of February One thousand eight hundred and seventy – In witness

whereof I the said Joseph Noyes have hereunto set my hand and

seal

                  Joseph Noyes

The Testator Joseph Noyes was late of Stoke Lane otherwise Stoke Saint

Michael in the County of Somerset, Cordwainer, and died on the 2^nd day

of March 1875, at Stoke Lane otherwise Stoke Saint Michael aforesaid

Under £100

6 folios

Extracted by John Valder, Soicitor, Shepton Mallet

Double Probate passed at Wells 

Litchfield December 1875