Great x3 Aunt Ellen Trigger (nee Edworthy)

My Great x3 Aunt Ellen (1858 - 1934), was a housewife, mother of twelve, and a younger sister of my Great Great Grandfather William Edworthy (1852 - 1911).

Ellen was born in Oct/Nov/Dec 1858 in East Worlington, Devon, to William Edworthy (about 37), a farm labourer, and Mary Edworthy (nee Harris) (about 34).

On 2nd Janurary 1859, Ellen was baptised in East Worlington.

Ellen was the seventh of eleven children (four daughters and seven sons):

• Ann  1841 - 1882  (about 41)
• John  1844 - 1910  (about 65)
• Elizabeth  1849 - 1917  (about 68)
• William  1852 - 1911  (about 59)
• George  1854 - 1876  (about 21)
• Samuel  1856 - 1920  (64)
• Ellen  1858 - 1934  (75)
• Lewis  1861 -
• Frederick  1863 -
• Frank  1866 -
• Mary Harris  1869 -

1861 Census: 

1871 Census: 

On 1st November 1879, Ellen (20 or just 21) married William Isaac Trigger (19 or just 20), an agricultural labourer (and later a farm carter), in her native East Worlington. Her younger brother, Lewis - a sibling close to her in age - acted as a witness.

(Bride and groom were both able to sign their names on their record of marriage.)

Ellen and William had twelve children (eight sons and four daughters)

• Samuel  1879 -
• James Henry  1882 -
• John  1883 -
• Mary Ann 'Annie'  1885 -
• Ellen Edworthy  1886 -
• William  1887 -
• Jane  1889 -
• Frederick 'Fred'  1892 - 1918 (27 years old)
• Charles  1893 - 
• Frank  1897 - 
• George  1899 -1918 (18 years old)
• Bessie Elizabeth  1900 -

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Ellen's eldest son Samuel, a first cousin of my Great Grandmother Winifred Vernon (nee Edworthy), went on to marry Emily James, the maternal aunt of Winifred's future husband Walter Vernon. 

(So my 1st cousin x3 removed Samuel Trigger married my Great x3 Aunt Emily James)

Ellen's younger son William, also a first cousin of my Great Grandmother Winifred Vernon (nee Edworthy), went on to marry Edith Vernon, the sister of Winifred's future husband Walter Vernon.

(So my 1st cousin x3 removed William Trigger married my Great Great Aunt Edith Vernon)

Emily Trigger (nee James) and Edith Trigger (nee Vernon), aunt and niece, with their marriages to the Trigger brothers, became sisters-in-law.

I wonder if it was due to these family connection that my great grandparents, Walter and Winifred Vernon met, with Winifred's first cousins, Samuel and William Trigger, being Walter's Uncle Samuel (by marriage) and brother-in-law respectively. 

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Ellen and William brought up their older children in Sandford, Devon.

The village of Sandford will always have a place in my heart, for it was where my maternal grandparents, George and Bette Sandford, lived. The church, where they prayed every Sunday, and where their funerals took place, was the same space where over a hundred years before several of the Trigger babes, my cousins, were christened.

The cottages where the young Trigger family lived (as shown on the 1881 and 1891 censuses) - Meadow's End [Cottage] and Lower Bagbourough [Cottage] - are still there to this day.

1881 Census:

1891 Census:

In the late 1890's, Ellen, William and their young family moved from Sandford to Dadmouth Cottage, in Kennford.

1901 Census:

Around 1902, Ellen and William's second son James (4009), aged about twenty, joined the Coldstream Guards, as a private. He is recorded as 'On Supp Roll 10/10/1902' meaning he might have joined after the end of the Second Boer War, which had ended in the May of 1902. It seems likely James, an experienced soldier, would have been called up to fight in the First World War, regardless of being a little older (at about thirty two at the start of that war); or he may have still been serving, and served into the First World War. He is still recorded as being in the Coldstream Guards, nine years after signing up, on the 1911 Census; however, the census also shows he as being at home in Devon, with his family. Though he may have simply had a few days leave that coincided with the day the census was taken.

1911 Census:

WWI...

It seems six of Ellen and William's eight sons served in the First World War (the two brothers that didn't serve were likely Samuel and John, who were older (in their early thirties) when the war began, and had no military experience). Sadly their son Charles was wounded; and two other sons, Fred and George, both died right at the war's end. 

Their third youngest son Charles (formerly 2395, a private in the Royal North Devonshire Yeomanry) (345741), a lance/acting corporal, in the Devonshire Regiment, was wounded in the war (reported 10/01/1918).

Their youngest son George (29490) was a private in the 7th Battalion, the Somerset Light Infantry. He was reported missing on 30th May 1918. He died, as a prisoner of war in Germany, on 11th July 1918, aged only eighteen. 

It seems to have been some months before Ellen and William learnt of their youngest son's death (indeed the war itself may have already ended). It is reported in November 1918, that only a fortnight after being informed of George's death, they were informed that their middle son Fred (554433), a private in the 4th Wessex Brigade, R.H.A (according to a local newspaper) (and/or a gunner in the Royal Field Artillery, according to Devon Heritage, and Labour Corps, according to Forces War Records (1267)), had also died overseas. Fred died of pneumonia, at Jalandhar (erstwhile Jullundur), India, on 1st November 1918, aged twenty-seven.

From the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 29th November 1918:

George and Fred Trigger are honoured at the War Memorial in Kenn.

From the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 31st October 1919:

Ellen and William's second youngest son Frank (WR/21880 and/or 225581), a sapper, in the 309th Road Construction Company, Royal Engineers, was awarded the Medaille d'Honneur avec Glaives (en Bronze) (Gazette Issue 31150, Gazette Page 1455, Gazette Date 28 or 29/01/1919). This was awarded by France/the Allied Powers to the British Forces for distinguished services rendered during the course of the campaign. This Decoration was conferred by the President of the French Republic.

...

On 12th July 1932, Ellen's husband William passed away, aged seventy-two, in Kennford. Sadly Ellen was unable to attend his funeral, but most of their married adult children did attend.

About a year and half later, in Jan/Feb/Mar 1934, Ellen herself passed away, aged seventy-five, in the district of St Thomas, Devon.