Alice Brownscombe Fisher was born in Oct/Nov/Dec 1868 in the district of Barnstaple, Devon to Richard Fisher (23), an agricultural labourer and horseman on a farm, and Elizabeth 'Bessie/Betsy' Fisher (nee Brownscombe) (25), a work woman on a farm.
Alice was baptised on 22nd May 1870 in Challacombe, Devon. At the time, the family resided at Westland Cottage, Challacombe. Alice and her older siblings spent their whole childhoods there, and their parents would live there for many years more. Their cottage was a real home for over sixty years! There is a Westland Farm in Challacombe still today. I wonder if Alice's parents and later her brother worked as labourers at Westland Farm.
It seems Alice's father Richard was a lovely man. In a eulogy to Richard in the North Devon Journal on 15th August 1929, he is described as: "A man of a bright and happy nature, he had a smile and a kindly word for all".
Alice was the third and youngest of three children (two daughters and one son):
- Mary 1865 -
- John 1866 -
- Alice Brownscombe 1869 -
1871 Census:
1881 Census:
As a young woman, Alice left home and found work as a domestic servant for the Benson family at Barton House, Barton, Combe Martin.
Alice was fortunate in her employer, Edward Marten Benson. In a eulogy to Edward in the North Devon Journal on 3rd July 1919, he is described as: "A man of generous disposition, he was esteemed and respected by all who knew him". Edward as a cultured and musical man. He played the cello and "while at Combe Martin, he organised many successful concerts". Did Alice, though a servant, get to listen to these concerts?
1891 Census:
By 1901, she was working as a housekeeper for widower Octavius Bond, a farmer at Seldon, East Hatherleigh.
1901 Census:
In Jul/Aug/Sep 1901, Alice (32) married widower Ezekiel Herd Easterbrook (62), a blacksmith and farrier, in the district of Holsworthy. Ezekiel was thirty years older than Alice!
Alice and Ezekiel had two daughters:
- Dinah Bessie 1902 - 1976
- Alice Brownscombe 1904 - 1981
They would name their first daughter, Dinah Bessie, after her grandmothers, each of their mothers: Ezekiel's mother Dinah Herd (nee Bennett) and Alice's mother Elizabeth 'Bessie/Betsy' Fisher (nee Brownscombe). They would name their second daughter after Alice herself.
Both Dinah and Alice junior were born in Black Torrington, implying the family lived there in the early 1900s.
By 1907, Alice and her family had moved to Henwood Cottage in Broadwoodkelly.
By 1909, they had moved to Park View, also in Broadwoodkelly.
1911 Census:
In Apr/May/Jun 1920, when Alice was fifty-one, her husband Ezekiel passed away, aged eighty, in the district of Okehampton. At the time of his death, his and Alice's unmarried seventeen year old daughter Dinah was between three and five months pregnant with her first child. Sadly family legend states Dinah was kicked out by her parents for falling pregnant before marriage.
The 1921 Electoral Register give's Alice's address as Stockleigh Farm in Hatherleigh. Within a few years, her daughter Dinah would live and work as a housekeeper at Stockleigh Farm for the farmer John Isaac. Family legend has it that Isaac was the father of Dinah's second illegitimate child.
By 1923, Alice had moved to Bradley Barn in Upton Hellions.
On 26th May 1929, Alice passed away, aged sixty, at Westland.
From the North Devon Journal on 30th May 1929:
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