Post by Dave on Apr 17, 2013 17:18:42 GMT
Are you sitting comfortably? Have your glass topped up? as I’m about to tell you the secret tale of Irene Best, the wife of George.
I do think it’s good to know a little about where you came from before you leave this earth, not that I’m planning to go anywhere just yet, but I did want to go back a short time in history and find out a little bit about my family.
I won’t go into my childhood as aussie won’t be able to afford the tissues, but all I need to say is my granny Best was a big part of my young years, granny Best died about 30 years ago and it was only after she died did a few secrets come put.
My granddad George Best I never knew, maybe he died before I was born, or just after, there is no one who can tell me.
Well that’s not quite true as there is a lady still alive in Newton Abbot who could tell me, but one day 38 years ago she woke up in the morning and for reasons known only to herself, disowned her own three children and I don’t think she is looking to change that decision.
I do know that George Best was very well known in Newton Abbot, he owned a fish stall in the market and was known for his personality. He was also a very well known local referee and there was an article about him in the Herald Express some years ago.
It told the story how he would lock up the stall and get to the game he was due to ref, still with his dickie bow tie on and it was well known by all the players that he was not a ref to windup as he had a reputation as being a very tough referee.
So he was my starting point in my search, while I knew there were members of the Roach family living in Newton Abbot they had never been in my life and I really would not have known where to have started researching that side of my family.
Below are the parts I put up on another thread that shows how George came to be in Newton Abbot
The 1891 census shows that my great grandfather Albert Best was living at 2 Court 10 East Street and was a mason, at the time of the census he was 34 years old, he lived there with his wife Elizabeth(30) son Henry(9) George(7)Frank(5) Albert(3) and William(1)
The 1901 census shows that Albert had moved with his family into 2 East Street Court no 2, the eldest son Henry at just 19 was married and working as a plasterer and lived at 3 Sun Court.
The rest of his family still lived at home but one is missing from the census and two more children are listed. William who was only one years old in the 1891 census, is the one who is missing on the 1901 census, I wonder if he died, the new additions were Alise(7) and Mary(5)
Albert must have moved to Newton as the 1861 census shows that Albert was four years old and lived in Denbury, his father was Henry(44) mother Mary(36) he lived with his brother Henry(9) and sister who had the same name as the woman he later married Elizabeth(7) also listed is Susanna Best(63) she is listed as a boarder and her profession just says she is a pauper.
The 1901 census also shows that Albert’s brother Henry also had moved to Newton Abbot, aged now 49 he was living at 6 Court Wolborough Street with his wife Elizabeth(39) son Arthur(17) daughters Alice(15) and Emma(10)
So what about Irene Best or Burgoyne as that was her maiden name before she married George, well it’s a tale that has some scandal, but also one that had a happy ending that saw her mother Mary marry the man she loved.
Sometime before 1861 the Williams family who were all born in Bircham in Devon only three miles from Lifton and very close to where Jethro lives, moved to Fore St Brixham. William Williams had gone there to get work as a fisherman, he had a wife and three children, and his eldest son was also called William and was aged seven in 1861.
It is believed the family moved back to live in Lifton and there the son William met and married his wife. In 1891 William now aged 37 is living in West Street Ashburton with his wife Emma (33)
What is strange and not clear is the relationship between Emma and the three children who lived with her and her husband. The eldest is Melinda Burgoyne (16) Mary (14) and William (8)
The children are listed as being daughter and son in laws to the head of the family William Williams the husband of Emma, the children and Emma were all born in Lifton, so maybe it is her younger brother and sisters, but looking at the age gaps I would not be surprise if they were not all her own children.
William Williams was working as a general labourer while Emma, Melinda and even Mary at just 14, were all working in a wool spinning factory.
Mary is the one who is of real interest anyway as she granny Bests mum and I need to bring just one more person into the story. A young man called William Woods who was working for a lord in Plymouth as the coachman and this was in 1891 and he was aged 17 years old, three years older than Mary was.
Mary was a small but very beautiful young lady and at the tender age of just 16 decided she wanted a better life than working in a wool mill, she left home and got on a coach that was heading for Plymouth and soon found work at the house of the same lord William Wood worked for as the coachman.
There was an instant attraction between them, but they were never able to spend anytime together, they were only able to steal the odd few minutes together. The lord then had is wicked way with the young Mary, it was not something she wanted to happen, but he had forced himself upon her and she was unable to stop him.
She found out the lord had made her pregnant and as what often happened in them days, he paid to have her moved to another town to live. Mary had no choice but she was able to persuade the lord to let William Woods leave his service and move to where the lord was sending her. So just a few years later the 1901 census shows that William Woods and his family are living in Newton Abbot and Irene (granny best aged just 6) was listed as William Woods step daughter.
I do not know how Irene met George Best but he was 11 years older than her and maybe that is why he died many years before she did, looking at all the ages in the census’s it seems men married woman mostly younger than them.
I do think it’s good to know a little about where you came from before you leave this earth, not that I’m planning to go anywhere just yet, but I did want to go back a short time in history and find out a little bit about my family.
I won’t go into my childhood as aussie won’t be able to afford the tissues, but all I need to say is my granny Best was a big part of my young years, granny Best died about 30 years ago and it was only after she died did a few secrets come put.
My granddad George Best I never knew, maybe he died before I was born, or just after, there is no one who can tell me.
Well that’s not quite true as there is a lady still alive in Newton Abbot who could tell me, but one day 38 years ago she woke up in the morning and for reasons known only to herself, disowned her own three children and I don’t think she is looking to change that decision.
I do know that George Best was very well known in Newton Abbot, he owned a fish stall in the market and was known for his personality. He was also a very well known local referee and there was an article about him in the Herald Express some years ago.
It told the story how he would lock up the stall and get to the game he was due to ref, still with his dickie bow tie on and it was well known by all the players that he was not a ref to windup as he had a reputation as being a very tough referee.
So he was my starting point in my search, while I knew there were members of the Roach family living in Newton Abbot they had never been in my life and I really would not have known where to have started researching that side of my family.
Below are the parts I put up on another thread that shows how George came to be in Newton Abbot
The 1891 census shows that my great grandfather Albert Best was living at 2 Court 10 East Street and was a mason, at the time of the census he was 34 years old, he lived there with his wife Elizabeth(30) son Henry(9) George(7)Frank(5) Albert(3) and William(1)
The 1901 census shows that Albert had moved with his family into 2 East Street Court no 2, the eldest son Henry at just 19 was married and working as a plasterer and lived at 3 Sun Court.
The rest of his family still lived at home but one is missing from the census and two more children are listed. William who was only one years old in the 1891 census, is the one who is missing on the 1901 census, I wonder if he died, the new additions were Alise(7) and Mary(5)
Albert must have moved to Newton as the 1861 census shows that Albert was four years old and lived in Denbury, his father was Henry(44) mother Mary(36) he lived with his brother Henry(9) and sister who had the same name as the woman he later married Elizabeth(7) also listed is Susanna Best(63) she is listed as a boarder and her profession just says she is a pauper.
The 1901 census also shows that Albert’s brother Henry also had moved to Newton Abbot, aged now 49 he was living at 6 Court Wolborough Street with his wife Elizabeth(39) son Arthur(17) daughters Alice(15) and Emma(10)
So what about Irene Best or Burgoyne as that was her maiden name before she married George, well it’s a tale that has some scandal, but also one that had a happy ending that saw her mother Mary marry the man she loved.
Sometime before 1861 the Williams family who were all born in Bircham in Devon only three miles from Lifton and very close to where Jethro lives, moved to Fore St Brixham. William Williams had gone there to get work as a fisherman, he had a wife and three children, and his eldest son was also called William and was aged seven in 1861.
It is believed the family moved back to live in Lifton and there the son William met and married his wife. In 1891 William now aged 37 is living in West Street Ashburton with his wife Emma (33)
What is strange and not clear is the relationship between Emma and the three children who lived with her and her husband. The eldest is Melinda Burgoyne (16) Mary (14) and William (8)
The children are listed as being daughter and son in laws to the head of the family William Williams the husband of Emma, the children and Emma were all born in Lifton, so maybe it is her younger brother and sisters, but looking at the age gaps I would not be surprise if they were not all her own children.
William Williams was working as a general labourer while Emma, Melinda and even Mary at just 14, were all working in a wool spinning factory.
Mary is the one who is of real interest anyway as she granny Bests mum and I need to bring just one more person into the story. A young man called William Woods who was working for a lord in Plymouth as the coachman and this was in 1891 and he was aged 17 years old, three years older than Mary was.
Mary was a small but very beautiful young lady and at the tender age of just 16 decided she wanted a better life than working in a wool mill, she left home and got on a coach that was heading for Plymouth and soon found work at the house of the same lord William Wood worked for as the coachman.
There was an instant attraction between them, but they were never able to spend anytime together, they were only able to steal the odd few minutes together. The lord then had is wicked way with the young Mary, it was not something she wanted to happen, but he had forced himself upon her and she was unable to stop him.
She found out the lord had made her pregnant and as what often happened in them days, he paid to have her moved to another town to live. Mary had no choice but she was able to persuade the lord to let William Woods leave his service and move to where the lord was sending her. So just a few years later the 1901 census shows that William Woods and his family are living in Newton Abbot and Irene (granny best aged just 6) was listed as William Woods step daughter.
I do not know how Irene met George Best but he was 11 years older than her and maybe that is why he died many years before she did, looking at all the ages in the census’s it seems men married woman mostly younger than them.