Great x4 Grandmother Maria Brownscombe (nee Popham)

My Great Grandmother Maria (1819 - 1899) was a servant, housewife, charwoman, glover, domestic cook, and mother of three.

Maria was born around 1819 in Huntshaw, Devon, the illegitimate daughter of Mary Popham.

One ought to consider: prior to the twentieth century, in Britain, the name Maria was more commonly pronounced as the modern Mariah.

Our Maria was baptised on 20th June 1819 in Huntshaw. Her abode is listed as Huntshaw Moor House.

As a young woman, Maria found work as a servant. The 1841 Census shows Maria working as a servant for publican Thomas Liverton, in Bratton Fleming. Bratton Fleming is over fifteen miles north-east of Maria's native Huntshaw.

1841 Census:

In Oct/Nov/Dec 1841, Maria (about 22), a servant and charwoman, married Thomas Brownscombe (about 22), a sawyer, in the district of Barnstaple. I wonder if they met at the pub at Bratton Fleming.

Maria and Thomas had three daughters:

• Elizabeth 'Bessie/Betsy'  1843 -
• Mary Ann  1846 -
• Katherine 'Kitty'  1850 -

The three girls were baptised and brought up in their father's native Bratton Fleming.

1851 Census:

In Oct/No/Dec 1859, when Maria was about forty, her husband Thomas passed away, aged about forty, in the district of Barnstaple. Maria was left a widow, with three young daughters, aged sixteen, thirteen and nine.

Two years later, the 1861 Census shows, Maria's eldest two daughters, though still only teenagers, living and working as domestic servants on local farms. Meanwhile, Maria worked as a glover. Alongside her youngest daughter Kitty, she lodged with elderly widow Elizabeth Huxtable, at 4 Bratton Down, in Bratton Fleming. Elizabeth interestingly had independent means. Was she somehow related to Maria, a friend who had taken her in after her bereavement, or simply her landlady?

1861 Census:

All three of her daughters having flown the nest, come middle age, Maria could be found working as a domestic cook for the household of Rev. Humphrey Senhouse Pinder, the "generous" rector of Bratton Fleming. She would work for the family for many years to come. Pinder was described as "a dynamic character who made a big difference to the Village. He built a new rectory... restored the church and had the Village School built... His family owned sugar plantations [in Barbados]... This enabled him to be generous with improvements in Bratton Fleming".

Photograph of Maria's employer, Rev. Humphrey Senhouse Pinder, 1884

1871 Census:

After the Rev. Pinder retired and moved his family down, nearly forty miles south-east, to Exeter, Maria moved with the family.

1881 Census:

The Rev. Pinder passed away in 1888. Three years later, 1891 Census shows an elderly Maria back living with her youngest daughter, Kitty, now a dressmaker. The mother and daughter lived together at Pottington Cottage in Pilton, which is only about seven miles south-west of Bratton Fleming, where Maria spent most of her life and brought up her daughters. Maria is described as 'living on own means' - had she worked to save up money, those years as a cook?

1891 Census:

In Oct/Nov/Dec 1899, Maria passed away, aged about eighty, in the distinct of Barnstaple. She just missed seeing the new century. She had outlived her husband, Thomas, by forty years!

Great x4 Grandfather Thomas Brownscombe

My Great x4 Grandfather Thomas (1819 - 1859) was a sawyer and father of three.

Thomas was born around 1819 in Bratton Fleming, Devon, to Thomas Brownscombe, a farmer, and Mary Ann Brownscombe (nee Parkin) (about 25).

Thomas was baptised on 14th March 1819, in Bratton Fleming. Thomas' parents had married less than two months earlier, on 17th January 1819, implying Thomas' mother Mary Ann was heavily pregnant when she married. Thomas was likely named for his father.

Thomas was the eldest of ten children (five sons and five daughters):

• Thomas  1819 -
• William  1821 -
• Mary  1823 -
• John  1824 - 
• Ann  1826 -
• Kitty  1828 -
• Sarah  1830 -  
• James  1833 -
• Edward  1835 -
• Grace  1838 -

All ten siblings were baptised and brought up in Bratton Fleming. And all seem to have survived into adulthood.

In Apr/May/Jun 1840, when Thomas was about twenty-one, his father of the same name passed away. Interestingly Thomas senior left a will! (That's something to do, when this pandemic is over - go find that will and give it a read. And for now wonder why a lovely farm didn't come my way?) By the looks of later census, the Brownscombe family farm, Haxton Farm in Bratton Fleming, went to Thomas' younger brother, the second son William. Why was this?

The 1841 Census shows Thomas' widowed mother, Mary Ann, and his nine younger siblings living on the family farm, with twenty year old William now listed as its farmer. Meanwhile, twenty-two year old Thomas lived at what is called the 'great house' in Bratton Fleming, with the young Martin family, working as an apprentice. It is hard to make out what head of the household, John Martin's occupation is - it seems to say 'Cartinper'. After lots of searching, I've come to the conclusion, that the person compiling the census, may have simply misspelt carpenter, putting the t and p the wrong way around. It would make sense for Thomas to have been apprentice to a carpenter, as he was later recorded on the 1851 Census as a sawyer.

1841 Census:

In Oct/Nov/Dec 1841, Thomas (about 22), a sawyer, married Maria Popham (about 22), a charwoman, in the district of Barnstaple.

Thomas and Maria had three daughters:

• Elizabeth 'Bessie/Betsy' 1843 -
• Mary Ann  1846 -
• Katherine 'Kitty'  1850 -

The three girls were baptised and brought in their father's native Bratton Fleming.

1851 Census:

In Oct/Nov/Dev 1859, Thomas passed away, aged only about forty, in the district of Barnstaple. To support themselves: his widow Maria found work as a domestic cook for the household of Rev. Humphrey Senhouse Pinder, the generous rector of Bratton Fleming; whilst her young daughters worked as domestic servants on local farms.

Great x3 Grandmother Elizabeth 'Bessie/Betsy' Fisher (nee Brownscombe)

My Great x3 Grandmother Elizabeth 'Bessie/Betsy' (1843 - 1932) was a house servant, work woman on a farm, housewife, and mother of three.

Records consistently give Bessie or Betsy as her first name, leading me to infer she may have gone by both, and so I refer to her as Bessie/Betsy in this post.

Elizabeth 'Bessie/Betsy' Brownscombe was born in January 1843 in Bratton Fleming, Devon, to Thomas Brownscombe (about 23), a sawyer, and Maria Brownscombe (nee Popham) (about 23), a charwoman and later a domestic cook.

Bessie/Betsy was baptised on 8th January 1843 in Bratton Fleming.

Bessie/Betsy was the eldest of three daughters:

• Elizabeth 'Bessie/Betsy'  1843 -
• Mary Ann  1846 -
• Katherine 'Kitty'  1850 -

Betsy and her younger sisters grew up in their native Bratton Fleming.

1851 Census:

In Oct/Nov/Dec 1859, when Bessie/Betsy was sixteen, her father Thomas passed away, aged about forty, in the district of Barnstaple. Bessie/Betsy's widowed mother Maria found work as a domestic cook for the household of Rev. Humphrey Senhouse Pinder, the generous Rector of Bratton Fleming, whilst her young daughters worked as domestic servants on local farms.

As a young woman, Bessie/Betsy worked as a house and general servant for farmer Philip Dovell at East Middleton in Parracombe, about six miles south Bessie/Betsy's native Bratton Fleming. Also living and working there was Bessie/Betsy's future husband carter Richard Fisher.

1861 Census:

On Christmas Exe 1863, Bessie/Betsy (20) married Richard (18) in Parracombe. At the time of their marriage, both still resided at East Middleton. Both were able to sign their name on their marriage certificate.

Bessie/Betsy Brownscombe's Signature, 1863

Bessie/Betsy had three children (two daughters and one son):

• Mary  1865 -
• John  1866 -
• Alice Brownscombe  1868 - 1929 (60 years old)

Bessie/Betsy's mother-in-law Frances Fisher, after being widowed in 1866, moved in with Bessie/Betsy and her son Richard Fisher and their young family.

Around 1866, Bessie/Betsy and her family moved a few miles south from Parracombe to Challacombe. There the family lived at Westland Cottage. Westland Cottage would be a real home. The family would live there for over sixty years!

1871 Census:

1881 Census:

1891 Census:

In Oct/Nov/Dec 1899, when Bessie/Betsy was fifty-six, her mother Maria passed away, aged about eighty, in the district of Barnstaple.

1901 Census:

1911 Census:

Sadly illness kept Bessie/Betsy's husband Richard to his bed in for the last six years of his life, from about 1923 to 1929. He was cared for by Bessie/Betsy.

On 26th May 1929, Bessie/Betsy's widowed daughter Alice passed away, aged sixty, at Westland Cottage.

From the North Devon Journal on 30th May 1929:

Less than three months later, Bessie/Betsy's husband Richard passed away, aged eighty-four, on 5th August 1929, at Westland Cottage.

From the North Devon Journal on 8th August 1929:

His funeral, held on Saturday 10th August 1929 at Challacombe, was reported on. An short eulogy in the newspaper gives a lovely description of Richard's character and career. This was the man Bessie/Betsy married and lived with for over sixty years: a bright, happy, smiley, kind, friendly and hardworking man.

From the North Devon Journal on 15th August 1929:

Bessie/Betsy passed away three years later, aged eighty-nine, in Jan/Feb/Mar 1932 in the district of Barnstaple.