Peter Carlyon was born in Liskeard, the son of John and Mary Carlyon of Breage. John and Mary had left Breage between 1846 and 1848, looking to escape the slump in the western tin mining parishes in the later 1840s. They arrived at the booming mining district of east Cornwall, finding accommodation in the crowded … Continue reading A lonely life on the mining frontier
Short-term family migration
Although it’s proved difficult to find a high proportion of the 11 year olds living in Camborne in 1861 and trace their life-courses through to 1891 most can be traced over the shorter period from 1851 to 1871. This enables us to test a feature that demographers have commonly asserted was present in nineteenth century … Continue reading Short-term family migration
Camborne or California?
In the previous blog I suggested that many Camborne children in the Victorian Lives database that are yet to be traced had probably emigrated. It may seem contradictory therefore to propose in this blog that a higher proportion of Camborne’s children may have stayed in Camborne when compared with other mining parishes in Cornwall, especially … Continue reading Camborne or California?
Camborne’s overseas connections
At least one child in eight in Camborne on our database spent some time overseas. This is likely to be an under-estimate. In nineteenth century Cornish mining parishes, at least a quarter of men, possibly as many as a third, would have spent some time overseas. For women that proportion might be around 15 per … Continue reading Camborne’s overseas connections
An interim glance at the big picture
It’s becoming apparent that, as expected, the proportion of women we have traced through the census and registration data from 1851 to 1891 is consistently lower than that of men. This is the case despite the generally accepted conclusion that men were much more likely to disappear overseas than women. Overall, of the 921 entries … Continue reading An interim glance at the big picture
Magnetic north
By 1891 for every one boy in the 1861 Calstock database left in Cornwall, two could be found in the north of England. Although the numbers are too low to draw any hard and fast conclusions, it looks as if there was a marked propensity to move from Calstock to Northumberland and Durham in particular. … Continue reading Magnetic north
Victorian Cornwall’s boom parish
To find Cornwall’s boom town in the mid-nineteenth century we have to look east, as far east as we can go and still be in Cornwall, to Calstock on the tidal reaches of the Tamar. In 1851, when the folk in the Victorian Lives database were 11 years old, Calstock was in the middle of … Continue reading Victorian Cornwall’s boom parish
Driven mad by overwork? The sad story of Mary Jane Vosper
Mary Jane Vosper was born at St Clether to the north of Bodmin Moor in 1850. She was the eldest child of Nathaniel Vosper, a farm labourer, and his second wife Jane. The census records tell us that Nathaniel moved at least twice during the 1850s, ending up south of the moor at Trebarret Farm, … Continue reading Driven mad by overwork? The sad story of Mary Jane Vosper
Callington calling
At the beginning of the 1800s Callington in east Cornwall was little more than an overgrown village. In the 1790s it was described as ‘shabby’, with ‘one short street of very poor houses’. Things had not improved much by 1824 when a visitor noted the ‘one broad street; and being very irregularly built, and very … Continue reading Callington calling
Contrasting Budock biographies
Edward Tresidder had been born in rural Budock. His father Robert was a farm labourer who died in the 1850s, leaving his wife Grace to cope with the five children. In 1881 Grace was making a living from selling groceries in the village but her two eldest sons, including 11 year old Edward, had to … Continue reading Contrasting Budock biographies
Cornish studies resources 