Category: social history

A clerk from Creed

Creed is another in a run of smaller parishes in mid-Cornwall that remind us that Cornwall in the mid-1800s was not all mining. Creed was a rural parish of 55 households in 1851 next to the small borough of Grampound with two thirds of those households dependent on farming or farm labouring for their livelihoods. … Continue reading A clerk from Creed →

From Crantock sailor to Camborne grocer?

Elizabeth Jane Jolley was the first child of John and Elizabeth, a young married couple living at Trevallack in St Columb Minor in 1851. By 1861 John and Elizabeth together with Elizabeth Jane and three other children, were living at Trewolla in Crantock, to the west of Newquay. Short moves were frequent, as the presence … Continue reading From Crantock sailor to Camborne grocer? →

An Irish connection

Cornelly was one of Cornwall’s smallest nineteenth century parishes. Tucked away between Truro and St Austell on the edge of the Roseland peninsula, its population peaked at 170 in 1831, fell abruptly in the following decade and had almost halved by the end of the century. Viewed as too small to be viable, It was … Continue reading An Irish connection →

Harriet Rodda and the wild west

Harriet Rodda grew up at Colley Cliff, overlooking the Tamar River in the parish of Calstock. Her father was a miner, originally from the west, who had moved east to mid-Cornwall in the tin mining slump of the late 1840s. Harriet was herself employed as a tin dresser at a nearby mine by the time … Continue reading Harriet Rodda and the wild west →

Quiet Colan

Colan is a small parish wedged between Newquay to the west and St Columb to the east. Now in the path of Newquay as it sprawls eastwards, gobbling up the countryside as it goes, Colan in the mid-1800s was a quiet, out of the way place. It contributes just two children to the Victorian Lives … Continue reading Quiet Colan →

Contrasts at Constantine

Nineteenth century Constantine was a parish of contrasts. North of the village granite quarries pockmarked the southern edges of the Carnmenellis upland and gave employment to many. To the south, rich farmland fell away to the woods and creeks of the Helford estuary. Workers at Bosahan Quarry in the parish Ann Williams was the daughter … Continue reading Contrasts at Constantine →

Christmas day in the workhouse and a corn mill in Cardinham

Four month old George Cornish was one of the inmates of Bodmin workhouse in 1851. He was probably the illegitimate child of Mary Ann Cornish, also in the workhouse and described as a farm servant. George’s birthplace was given as St Columb, suggesting he had been born outside the workhouse but that Mary had had … Continue reading Christmas day in the workhouse and a corn mill in Cardinham →

A lonely life on the mining frontier

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 →

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 six 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 →