BARCHAM SHOP WORKERS

WILLIAM BARCHAM’S DESCENDANTS

Helen Jane’s younger sister, Fanny Elizabeth Barcham (b. 1840) married her cousin, William Edwards Williams (b. 1832), in 1865. William was manager of an oil colour and Italian [paint] warehouse. Their son, Clarence Barcham Williams (b. 1868, at Lower Clapton, became a commercial traveller [sales representative] for wholesale grocers. He used a pony and trap to visit retailers.

Two brothers, William (b. 1859) and Herbert Clarence (b. 1863), sons of Martha (née Smith) and William Edwards Barcham (b. 1827), married two sisters Emma Florence (b. 1859) and Edith Emilie (b. 1868), daughters of Rebecca Maria and Henry Pattle a grocer of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Edith Barcham (b. 1853), a granddaughter of Elizabeth (née Lacey) and William Barcham, married Rivers Hicks in 1878. Rivers was a merchant in London. In 1871 he had a drugstore and was living at 24 Highbury Crescent in Islington.

JOHN BARCHAM’S DESCENDANTS

James Springall, born at Worstead in 1717, the youngest son of Rhoda (née Barcham) and Isaac Springall, had a grocer’s shop in Golden Ball Street in Norwich. His brothers Isaac (b. 1811) and Benjamin (b. 1814) were also living in Norwich at that time. Isaac was a watchmaker in Wensum Street, in St Andrew parish; and Benjamin was a miller at Mill Hill, in St Clement parish.

Isaac and Benjamin Springall’s nephew, Frederick Springall (b. 1836), son of Sarah and John Barcham Springall, was a bookseller in Market Place, North Walsham, and his nephew, Albert Page (b. 1861), was a grocer’s assistant living with the family when they were enumerated in the 1881 census.

Jacob Shalders, born at Worstead in 1781, was the grandson of Mary (née Fitt) and Jacob Shalders, who had a grocer’s shop at 2 St Georges, Bridge Street, Norwich. Shortly after his marriage, he placed an advertisement in the Norwich Mercury on 30 August 1760:

J. SHALDERS, GROCER, Begs leave to inform his Friends and the Publik in general , that he has taken a shop near Black Friars Bridge in St. George’s of Colgate, Norwich, which he has open’d with all Sorts of superfine Teas, Coffee, Chocolate, and Snuffs, fine old Cheshire, Gloster and Warwickshire Cheese, with all other Sorts of Grocery;

The 1840 Tithe Apportionment shows that Jacob Shalders lived in Norfolk House, situated on Church Plain, Worstead, where the market was held on Saturdays. In White’s 1845 Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk, Jacob Shalders is listed as a grocer and draper; and in an 1854 he is listed as having the Post Office. The shop seems to have been in the front room with a bay window and tiled floor. This room is quite large, nevertheless it must have been filled to the ceiling with Joseph’s stock of groceries and draperies. Jacob Shalders married Phoebe Barcham (b. 1789) on 5 June 1809. Their daughter, Jane Shalders (b. 1821), did not marry. She inherited the shop when her father died in 1856. In an 1858 trade directory she is listed as ‘Grocer draper, postmistress and receiver. Letters from Norwich 9 am, dispatched at 3.30 pm’.

Another daughter of Phoebe and Jacob Shalders, Naomi Shalders (b. 1814), was one of five assistants working in a shop belonging to Edward Blakely, a silk mercer in London Street, Norwich (see below). Naomi married Thomas Short in 1847. In 1853, Naomi and Thomas emigrated to New Zealand, where they opened a draper’s shop in Auckland, or perhaps worked for Naomi’s younger brother Richard Barcham Shalders. Naomi’s younger brother, John Shalders (b. 1822), moved to Hampshire and had a cutlery business at 17 High Street, Southampton.

Naomi Barcham (b. 1795) was the youngest child of Elizabeth (née Helsdon) and John Barcham. She married John Rix Blakely in 1818. John’s youngest brother, Edward Blakely (b. 1796), was a silk mercer living in London Road, Norwich. In 1841 Edward and his family were living over the shop, and he had five assistants, one of whom was Naomi Shalders. A shawl made by Edward Blakely, or his son, Edward Thomas, was exhibited in 1851 at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London. The shawl will be bequeathed to the shawl archives in Carrow House, Norwich.

Richard Barcham Shalders (b. 1824) was the youngest of Phoebe and Jacob Shalders’ children. He learnt the basics of the drapery business from his father; then, aged 16, he left home and went to London in 1840, where he found it very difficult to get work, even though he had introductions to large wholesale drapery establishments. After six weeks he accepted a position at a high-class drapery establishment in Dover where he met Eliza Rooke, who later became his wife.

In 1846, Richard returned to London and obtained a job with Morrison, Dillon and Co., in the largest wholesale warehouse. Initially, he lived in the company’s warehouse in Fort Street, Bermondsey, sharing a room with eleven young men. In 1849, he went to work for J. & R. Morley, wholesale hosiers, at 18 and 19 Wood Street, in the City. He lived on the premises with nineteen youths who were in his care. Victorian London, page 214, mentions the store:

J. & R. Morley offered ‘women’s vests and drawers in merino lambs wool, white cotton and chamois’. One longs to know how many women actually wore Morley’s leather knickers.

In 1851, one of Morley’s young employees asked Richard to go with him to New Zealand. Richard consulted his fiancée, Eliza, and she agreed. They were married at Worstead on 30 September and sailed from Gravesend on 19 October 1851, arriving at Auckland on 9 March 1852. Before leaving London, Richard’s employer said, ‘Well, Mr Shalders, if you see a market for goods, send to us and we will send you goods to a large amount to help you in starting, for we have every confidence in you, and we will give you six extra months credit to assist you.’ Richard then spent his capital in purchasing goods of every description suitable for a general store. Soon after arriving in Auckland, he opened a draper’s shop, which is now the site of Hanna’s shoe emporium at 200 Queen Street.

Descendants of Elizabeth (née Thompson) and Ezra Barcham

Church Farm, Edingthorpe, was owned by John Barcham. His youngest son, Ezra, farmed the land and lived in the old farmhouse until he died in 1870. Some of Ezra’s twelve sons and daughters were farmers or had married farmers. Others became shopkeepers in North Walsham and surrounding villages.

John Barcham (b. 1819), was a wine and liquor merchant in Stalham, in the Norfolk Broads. He might have been working for John Silcock, a relation by marriage: John’s uncle, Jeddidah Barcham, married Susannah Silcock (b. 1793). She was probably the sister of John and Richard Silcock who had shops in Stalham.

William Barcham (b. 1820), was the second of Elizabeth and Ezra Barcham's children. White’s 1845 Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk, shows that William was a grocer and draper at Honing. On 8 May 1845, William married Emily Beck (b. 1817). Shortly after they were married, Emily and William moved to Southrepps, where William was a grocer and draper. Simon Edward Barcham (b. 1847), eldest son of Emily and William, followed his father’s trade. He moved from Southrepps when he was about 20, and was working as a draper in the village of Honing when he married Mary Ann Beck (b. 1848) in 1868. Shortly after their marriage, Mary and Simon moved to Knapton where they had a grocer’s and draper’s shop.

Elizabeth Barcham (b. 1825), the fifth of Elizabeth and Ezra’s children, married Robert Whittleton (b. 1821) in 1845. Two of their children, George and Thomas Ezra, became shopkeepers; and a daughter, Helen Mary, married Charles Henry Burton (b. 1846), a shopkeeper. George Whittleton (b. 1846), married Mary Shakeshaft (b. 1852) in 1875. They lived in Shepherds Bush, London, where George was a draper and milliner at Caxton House on Uxbridge Road, where he, his family and four shop assistants were enumerated in the 1881 census. Thomas Ezra Whittleton (b. 1849), married Jane Annie Bird (b. 1858) in 1879. He was a butcher employing one man at a shop in North Walsham, where he, his wife and son were enumerated in the 1881 census.

Edward Barcham (b. 1826), the sixth of Elizabeth and Ezra’s children, married his first wife, Elizabeth Isabella Morris (b. 1827), at Worstead in 1847. Edward was a grocer and draper. Edward married his second wife, Mary Ann Green (b. 1852), in 1857. They lived in East Dereham, Norfolk. Some time after 1863 they moved to Washbrook, Suffolk, where in the 1881 census Edward, and two of his children were enumerated at Commerce House, where he was employing his niece and nephew, Rachel and William Pledger, children of Rachel (née Barcham) and George Pledger, and two others as grocer’s assistants.

Samuel Barcham (b. 1836), the youngest son of Elizabeth and Ezra Barcham, married twice: first in about 1860 to Elizabeth Norman (b. 1835, d. ~1865); and second in 1878 to Alice Hannah Bull. As shown in the 1851 and 1861 censuses, Samuel was an assistant in his brother’s shop in Catfield; then after 1870 he moved to Lingwood, about 8 miles east of Norwich, where he opened a butcher’s shop. Two of Samuel’s children became shopkeepers. His eldest son, Herbert Samuel Barcham (b. 1862), worked in his father’s shop in Lingwood, then became a victualler at the Builders Arms and had grocery businesses at 52/54 King Street and at 38 Cattle Market, in Norwich. Samuel’s younger son, John Robert (b. 1863), was a butcher’s assistant for his father in 1881. In 1884 he married Caroline Quintrill, whose father Diladavery Quintrill was a shopkeeper in Lingwood, Norfolk.

BENJAMIN BARCHAM’S DESCENDANTS

Benjamin Barcham was a ship owner, merchant and gentleman farmer in Sheringham during the first three decades of the 19th century. He married Mary Banfather. Some of their descendants were shopkeepers in Upper Sheringham and nearby towns and villages; several migrated to London and a great-grandson emigrated to Australia.

William Barcham (b. 1873), the eldest son of Mary (née Banfather) and Benjamin Barcham, married Catherine O’Sullivan. William was a mariner, but by 1815 he had become a merchant in Lower Sheringham. He was a coal merchant when he and his wife and daughter were enumerated in the 1851 census. William and Catherine’s son, Richard Barcham (b. 1822), became a shopkeeper at 285 Manchester Road, Poplar, London, on the Isle of Dogs, close to the India and Millwall Docks, where he and his family and two shop assistants were enumerated in the 1881 census.

Louisa Barcham (b. 1796), the youngest of Mary and Benjamin’s children, married John Anthony, a shopkeeper in Cley, Norfolk. John Anthony died before 1851. Louisa was visiting the family of Thomas Hart, a master grocer at Hackford in Aylsham, at the time of the 1851 Census.

Mabel Barcham (b. 1820) the daughter of Mabel (née Harland) and Neal Raven Barcham, married John Anderson (b. 1820) at Sheringham in 1848. John and his younger brother, James, were tea dealers. Their home and shop was in Duke Street, St Michael Coslany, Norwich.

Maria (née Crowe) and Nicholas Harland Barcham (b. 1830) had four children, three of whom, Catherine Maria, Frederick and Alfred Charles, worked in retail trades. Catherine Maria Barcham (b. 1851) worked as a dressmaker. In 1881 she married William J. Houghton (b. ~ 1854). They and their daughter, Edith Mabel (b. 1882) lived in Heigham, Norfolk. When they were enumerated in the 1901 census, William’s occupation was a boot clicker (one who cuts out leather) and Edith was a boot fitter. In 1881 Alfred Charles Barcham (b. 1861) was working as a draper’s assistant for Owen Williams in the department store at 18-20 Westbourne Grove, Paddington. Alfred was living nearby with 37 other young men and a housekeeper at 4 Westbourne Grove Terrace. Nos 1-3, 8 and 9 were lodgings for another 135 unmarried male shop workers, and Nos 15-25 were lodgings for 229 unmarried female shop workers, including several French sales girls. It is not known how many of them were employed by Owen Williams.

Benjamin Barcham Barcham (b. 1829), the fifth child of Maria (née Sunman) and Benjamin Barcham, was a grocer and draper in the High Street, Sheringham. In Kelly's 1892 Directory, his eldest daughter, Amelia (b. 1855), is listed as running the Post Office at Fern House, Lower Sheringham, and a grocer’s and draper’s shop in Upper Sheringham. Benjamin’s second daughter, Eliza (b. 1860), married a boat builder, Lewis Buffalo Emery. In 1903, Eliza became postmistress of Sherringham.

The Pegg family is related to the Barchams through the marriage of Susannah (b. 1814), daughter of Thomas Pegg, to Robert Sunman Barcham in 1844. Robert (b. 1822) was the son of Maria (née Sunman) and Barcham Barcham, Thomas Pegg was a master butcher in Upper Sherringham. Susannah died in 1850, aged 35. In 1851, when Robert married Elizabeth Hellis, he was a blacksmith in Cley. Their son William Banfather Barcham, married Eliza Ann Harlow at St Mary's Church, Whitechapel, in 1878. According to the parish register William was a general dealer, living at 285 Manchester Road, Poplar (where his uncle, Richard Barcham was enumerated in the 1881 census).

THE JULER BRANCH

Sarah Barcham (b. 1726), William, John and Benjamin Barcham’s aunt, married John Juler, a clock and watchmaker in North Walsham, a business that continued for three generations. Sarah and John Juler’s granddaughter Mary (b. 1791) married William Lound in 1779. He became a linen draper and later a commercial traveller in London. Their son Henry Lound (b. 1830) was a ‘shipman in Marylebone’, before emigrating to Australia in 1852 where he became a mercer in Sydney, New South Wales, and later a partner in Lound and Geary, merchants of Wynyard Lane, Sydney.

Sarah and John Juler’s great-grandson Charles Juler (b. 1812), was an iron founder in Cambridge. He married Sarah Douce in 1835. Several of their children became shopkeepers: Charles John Juler (b. 1847) was a baker and grocer at 36 Norfolk Street, Cambridge, and one of his sons Percy Charles Juler (b. 1877) followed his father’s trade; a daughter, Harriet Battell (b. 1849) married Josiah J. Biggs, a tailor and robe maker at 36 Paradise Street, Cambridge; and the youngest child, George Juler (b. 1856), became a greengrocer.