flora louisa selina wacey
Flora, or Florrie as she was known, was born in Southtown near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk in May 1873. Her family moved to Gorleston south of Yarmouth in 1880 and when she finished school, she started work as a general domestic servant. She was still living in Gorleston in 1891 but two years later, she married Henry Thomas Thake in Putney, south London.
They had five children and the family remained in south London living in Putney, Wandsworth, Peckham and Balham. Henry suffered from ill health including emphesyma and rheumatism and he died in 1926 aged only 53 years. Flora died in Brentford in 1934.
james frederick kemp wacey + emma catherine smith
James was born on 21 March 1849 in East Dereham, Norfolk. He was the illegitimate son of James Frederick Kemp and Mary Ann Wacey and although he was baptised under the name Kemp, he later added his mother’s maiden name. In 1851, James and his mother were living with his grandmother, uncle and one year old cousin in a cottage on Toftwood Common in East Dereham. His mother was working as a seamstress and his uncle as an agricultural labourer while his grandmother was listed as a pauper.
On 10 October 1871, James married Emma Caroline Smith in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. James was working as a gardener at the time and lived on Fuller’s Hill. He listed his father as Frederick Wacey, a labourer. Emma was born in Great Yarmouth on 18 May 1854, the daughter of Charles Smith and Mary Ann Catchpole. Her father was a fisherman and in 1861, the Smith family was living on Fuller’s Hill but ten year’s later, they had moved to Burnt Lane in Gorleston.
After their marriage, James and Emma settled in Southtown just outside Great Yarmouth. The 1870 - 72 edition of the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales contained a description of the village:
Southtown, or Little Yarmouth, a hamlet in Little Gorleston parish, Suffolk; on the river Yare, opposite Great Yarmouth, and within Yarmouth borough. Real property, £9,386. Pop. in 1851, 1,412; in 1861, 1,714. Houses, 357. It was anciently a separate parish; was annexed, in 1861, to Great Yarmouth borough; and still ranks ecclesiastically as a rectory, annexed to Gorleston.
Their first daughter, Flora Louisa Selina, was born in Southtown and baptised on 11 May 1873. They had three more children while living in Southtown: Agnes Edith in 1875, Walter Charles in 1878 and Daisy Ann in 1880. By 1881, they had moved to Gorleston, south of Yarmouth, and were living at 4 Sunnyside. James was not at home when the census was taken and Emma was listed as the head of the family, employed as a net maker. James’ occupation has not been confirmed in the available records but he likely worked as a fisherman.
They had two more children, Emma Gertrude in 1882 and Charles Frederick in 1884. They were still in Gorleston in 1891 but had moved to Burnt Lane where Emma lived with her mother in 1871 and once again, James was not listed with the family and Emma was the head of the family although no occupation was listed for her. Her younger children were in school but her 15 year old daughter, Agnes, was working as a domestic servant. Her eldest daughter, Florrie, was no longer at home but was working as a domestic servant for the Bradsham family on Wellington Road in Yarmouth.
On 23 May 1893, Florrie married Henry Thomas Thake at the Emmanuel Church in Putney south London and four months later, she gave birth to a daughter, Violet Daisy Emma. Violet was baptised on 14 January 1894 at St Stephen in Clapham Park but instead of remaining with her parents in Putney, she was placed in the care of her grandmother. It is not known why or when Emma started caring for her granddaughter but Violet never returned to live with her parents.
In early 1899, James Wacey died in Hull, East Yorkshire at the age of 50; Hull was a major fishing port and it is likely that James died there while working. By 1901, Emma had left Yarmouth and moved to 41 Willow Grove in Plaistow, Essex and she appears there in the census along with her five youngest children, granddaughter Violet and a boarder named Joseph Dumsday. One year later, daughter Agnes Edith married Joseph Dumsday and there was a second wedding several months later when son Walter married Helena Yard.
On 24 December 1905, Daisy Ann married William Joyce in West Ham and shortly after, they emigrated to Canada and settled in Weston near Toronto. Emma Gertrude married Arthur Witherington in West Ham in 1906 and two years later, Charles Frederick, his mother and his niece Violet also emigrated to Canada. On 29 July 1908, they sailed from Liverpool on board the Lake Manitoba bound for the port of Quebec City and after taking the train to Toronto, they joined Daisy and her husband in Weston.
In 1911, they were living on Main Street in Weston and Charles was working as a labourer, Violet as a shop assistant and Emma was receiving a private income. Daisy and her husband were also living on Main Street along with their one year old daughter, Daisy Kathleen, and William was working in a local factory. Back in England, Emma’s daughters, Agnes and Emma Gertrude, were still living at 41 Willow Grove in Plaistow with their families and Walter, who was working in a tavern in the city of London, lived nearby on Wilson Street with his wife and three children.
Later that year, Violet married Alfred Mallindine in Weston and moved with her new husband to Carleton Place near Ottawa. Emma and her son Charles remained in Weston and in 1919, he married he married Eleanor Willey and they had one son, Charles, in 1923. Daisy and William moved further west and settled in Etobicoke where William worked as a polisher in a factory and his older brother, Walter, who emigrated in 1906, was also living with them.
Emma was still living with Charles on St John’s Road in Weston when she died on 14 March 1937 aged 83 years.