Great x3 Uncle Francis Robert James

My Great x3 Uncle Francis (1886 - 1962) was a cow boy, rabbit dealer, farm carter, step father of 1, father of 2, and a younger brother of my Great x2 Grandmother Lucy Vernon (nee James) (1868 - 1897).

Francis was born on 30th August 1886 in Morchard Bishop, Devon, to Henry James (about 49), an agricultural labourer, and Louisa James (nee Edwards) (about 37), a housewife.

Francis was the seventh of eight children (four daughters and four sons):

• Lucy  1868 - 1897  (29 years old)
• Bessie  1869 - 1945 or 1956  (77 or 86 years old)
• Edwin  1875 - 1896  (21 years old)
• Louisa  1878 - 1966  (87 years old)
• Emily Maude  1880 - 1967  (86 years old)
• Charles  1883 - 1965  (82 years old)
• Francis Robert  1886 - 1962 (76 years old)
• Gilbert 1889 -

Francis and his siblings grew up in Morchard Bishop.

1891 Census:

1901 Census:

As a teenager, Francis worked with cattle on a farm, meaning he is amusingly recorded in the 1901 Census as a cow boy. 

As a young man, Francis was working as a rabbit dealer. His older brother Charles - the sibling closest to Francis in age - worked as a rabbit trapper/catcher/dealer his whole life. I wonder if Charles inspired Francis to follow him in his work and/or trained up Francis in catching rabbits.

In Jan/Feb/Mar 1910, Francis (about 23), a rabbit dealer, married young single mother of one Mary Squire(s) (about 20), in the district of Torrington.

Mary was only seventeen and an inmate of Crediton Workhouse, when she gave birth to her illegitimate son, Henry Harris Squire(s) in 1907. The father was one Joseph Noyes, a stableman, whom she summoned to court for child maintenance. Though Noyes failed to appear - purportedly working away in Hampshire - he was ordered to pay '2s a week, and payment of the usual expenses, in addition to advocate's fee'.

By the time of the 1911, the young couple, with three-year-old Henry, were living at Bolts [farm or cottage?] in Ashreigney. Francis dealing in rabbits, Mary looking after her young son.

1911 Census:

With Francis, Mary had two more children (one son and one daughter):

• Charles  1915 -
• Margaret E  1931 -

By 1939, Francis had changed job and was now working as a farm carter.

1939 Census:

Francis' stepson Henry Harris Squire served as a seaman in the navy. He enlisted, aged eighteen, in 1925, for a period of twelve years. His service records gives a brief physical description: as a young man, Henry was 5'7'', with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. His character is repeatedly given as 'very good'. He served until 1938, but was either called up to serve again or volunteered to serve in the Second World War. He was a Petty Officer Telegraphist, when he was killed at sea, on 8th June 1940, aged thirty-two, when the ship he was serving on - HMS Glorious - was lost to enemy action.

Francis passed away in Oct/Nov/Dec 1962, in the district of Barnstaple, aged seventy-six.

His wife Mary outlived Francis by two years, passing away in Oct/Nov/Dec 1964, in the district of Barnstaple.