Watermills in Norfolk ..

I didn't get very far with my morning wander through the cartes de visite on ebay today. On page one I struck a fun-looking fellow with a rather familiar name, so I thought I'd stake him out ...

He is lavishly if rather oddly annotated on his verso ...

James Henry Orde might have been a Major in the RVC, but it was the least of his achievements. Born in Jersey, 30 September 1830, educated at Bembridge Parsonage and Oriel, Oxford, he married Margaret Barclay Gurney, the daughter of Daniel Gurney of North Runcton, banker, and his wife, daughter of the Earl of Erroll, and himself became a landowner, JP and personage at Hopton Hall, Great Yarmouth. His genealogical details have, thus, found their way into Burke... seven children, and death at 49 (21 February 1880).

Our penman here seems to have been very proud to have been his friend. But I wish that I understood the subscription 'But for him Old Tom and Old Ned might not have had The Good Old Ship .. what?'

Well, I think I have an idea who the penman may have been, because a little further on I found this chappie ...

He isn't named, but he too was photographed in Great Yarmouth, and the back is heavily inscribed in what looks very like the same hand, and in the same odd style

   

                            

Well, it's father telling son to write to him.  'You must ferret old **** and do so incessantly'. And then the pretentious cod-Latin tag which fits ill with 'I'll thump your skull'. Pater to his Frater? Father to his brother? That fits ill with father dear to his prodigal son.

Well, annie-tique who has posted this wee selection on ebay says that the card is 1880s and that the sitter is connected with the Cookes of Aldborough .. so ... next step ...

Ah! Here's another. With a very firm identification. Henry Carter Cooke. The Mill, Aldborough. 

Yes, indeed, Henry was the Miller at Aldborough, taking over at the death of his ?elder brother, William Carter Cooke, sharing his home with his sister Emily, and running the place up till his death in 1911. Oh, please don't think of a miller as a chappie carrying sacks of flour on his back. Crushed Corn. The major mills of Norfolk and Suffolk were often pendant to sizeable estates (see 'Mill Plantation') and the 'Miller' was an administrator as much as anything.

Anyway the Cooke family had been, for generations, in the Milling business all round the county. Unfortunately for me most of them were called William, Thomas, Henry, even Edward. But repeated over the generations was the name of Robins Cooke. So I delved just a little.... Thornbury, Glanford, Great Livermere, Bury St Edmunds ...

But, the photos. When I looked, there were more. Who is this little lady, 4 years and four months old.

Charlotte Mary Cooke. So where does she fit in? Seems she's a niece of the above Henry, daughter of his younger brother, Robins. Born 9 July 1880. So the photo is 1884. Oh, her mother was Charlotte Hannah Rayner of Chantry Hall, Norwich. The family is getting gentrified! Although father is still listed as 'miller' at Glandford. Charlotte went on to marry Alfred Thomas Ralph Steadman, had three daughters ... 

Another. Hannah Cooke. Hannah C Cooke. The C is probably the Carter that all this generation seem to have popped in to their nomenclature whether thus christened or not. 

This is surely Henry's sister. We can see the family at the Mill in Aldborough in the 1871 census. William born Glandford 54 miller and merchant, wife Elizabeth (née Wigg), and children William, our Henry, Emily and Hannah (13). She looks interesting. I see she married an Edward Burton in 1875. So this photo must be before then.

REVISION!!! Edward Burton of North Walsham, farmer, in the 1881 census with wife Hannah and three children including one year-old Emily Dunning Burton. And here she is! alas, the wee mite only survived to the age of seven...

Then there are two maybes ..

Well, I suppose they are connected, since they come from the same batch. How sad to see a family collection broken up ..

And one last one. Later. Because Sawyer and Bird have now handed over their business to one Albert Coe...   

Well, the part of this little bundle that I've enjoyed the most is finding two grand websites (after I'd finished!) on the Mills of Norfolk

http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Watermills/aldborough.html

http://captainahabswaterytales.blogspot.com/2010/01/aldborough-mill-norfolk.html

As usual, I've written this little piece to make sure this little piece of history is preserved. If anyone is connected to the story, I hope they will find me...