With lingering pretensions to its former glories as Cornwall’s capital Launceston had more than a smattering of professional people among its populace. As befits a place that shared the assize courts with Bodmin there were several solicitors and lawyers active in the town in the mid-1800s. The Victorian Lives database captures one who became a … Continue reading Legal practitioners at Launceston and a ‘melancholy suicide’
Launceston: the fortunes of workhouse children
Launceston, or Lanson in the vernacular, served as the headquarters of the Normans when they arrived in Cornwall in the 1070s. Its location within sight of the River Tamar in the far east suggests the Normans were a little wary at first about pushing further west. As Cornwall became a safer place to venture into, … Continue reading Launceston: the fortunes of workhouse children
Lamorran: Cornwall’s second smallest parish
Lamorran was unusual by the standards of Victorian Cornwall. Here, the population did not fall after the 1850s but remained stable into the 1880s. This parish on the Roseland south east of Truro was also Cornwall’s second smallest parish in terms of population with 92 residents in 15 households in 1861. (Question of the day … Continue reading Lamorran: Cornwall’s second smallest parish
Ladock: The egg man
Ladock is a farming parish in mid-Cornwall. In 1861 it provided seven children aged 11 in 1861 for our Victorian Lives database. Rather unusually, all seven have either been traced to at least 1891 or had died before that date. In fact three of the seven, both of the girls and one of the five … Continue reading Ladock: The egg man
Life stories from Kilkhampton
Kilkhampton is a farming parish situated in the far north of Cornwall, about as far as you can go and still be in Cornwall in fact. Not that the border between Cornwall and Devon acted as much of a barrier in those parts, The majority of the Kilkhampton children in our database who married chose … Continue reading Life stories from Kilkhampton
Kenwyn and a man of all trades
We saw in the last blog that Edwin Pascoe had a number of different occupations from 1881 to 1911. Another example of a man with multiple occupations, this time with even greater contrasts, can be found in the Kenwyn database. James Noble was born in 1849 in the heart of mining country at the Consols … Continue reading Kenwyn and a man of all trades
Truro: The life of servants, part 2
Despite the number of domestic servants at work in Truro, only two 11 year old girls from our database who were living in Kenwyn in 1861 and have been traced through to 1891 were working as domestic servants in 1871. Disappointing but not surprising as domestic servants with no family present to help track them … Continue reading Truro: The life of servants, part 2
Truro: The life of servants, part 1
Our next parish - Kenwyn - is a bit of a hybrid. In the nineteenth century half of its people lived in Truro with the usual mix of urban occupations. The other half lived in the countryside to the west and north of the town, where mining was the major concern at mid-century. Kenwyn’s urban … Continue reading Truro: The life of servants, part 1
Kea: when the fish and tin had gone, what did the Cornish boys do?
When South Crofty mine closed in the late 1990s some poignant graffiti appeared on a wall. So what did ‘Cornish boys’ do when the mines were no longer the obvious career route? One option, as we have seen, was to follow the mines overseas. Another was to stay put, or move within the UK, and … Continue reading Kea: when the fish and tin had gone, what did the Cornish boys do?
Jacobstow: Go west young man? Or perhaps south.
From the Isles of Scilly, we jump to the northern end of Cornwall. As befits a farming parish, all three of the Jacobstow children of 1861 who appear in the Victorian Lives database and who have been traced to at least 1891 were living on farms in 1861. Not that a farming life was the … Continue reading Jacobstow: Go west young man? Or perhaps south.
Cornish studies resources 