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| St Paul Street and St Paul's Church, Tiverton cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Roger Cornfoot - geograph.org.uk/p/3417969 |
Alfred Beamer, Private RMLI of Cecil Street, Plymouth, son of Alfred Beamer and Mary Ann White, married Emily Luxton (b. 22 Jun 1882, bap. 9 Jul 1882, at St Peter’s Church Tiverton), daughter of James Luxton and Anna Maria Hawkins, on 14 Dec 1905, at St Paul's Church, Tiverton. Emily's address at the time of the marriage was Heathcoat Square, Tiverton. Emily's younger sister, Jessie Luxton, was one of the witnesses (bridesmaid perhaps).
Emily's father, Sergeant James Luxton (b. 1841 in Taunton, Somerset), had served in the British Army for 13 years, 320 days, with the 10th Reg Of Foot between 1860 and 1874. He spent over nine years serving abroad in the Cape of Good Hope, St Helena, Japan, China and the Straits Settlements. He was discharged in 1874 as he had been found unfit for further service. On the 1881 census, James Luxton (40), described himself as Grocer (Chelsea Pensioner) in Bampton Street, Tiverton. James Luxton died in 1886, aged just 45.
In 1891, Emily lived in Sewards Court, Leat Street, Tiverton, where her widowed mother worked as a silk lace mender and all of her older siblings worked at the lace factory (Heathcoat Lace Factory, Tiverton, Devon) - her brother Arthur being a machine boy there already at age 10. By 1901, Emily and her younger sister, Jessie, had become silk winders, working at the lace factory too.
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| Former workers' housing, Heathcoat Square, Tiverton cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Chris Allen - geograph.org.uk/p/6690635 |
Alfred and Emily's son, Alfred James, was born on 15 Mar 1908 and baptised on 29 Mar 1908 at St Peter’s Church, Stonehouse, Plymouth. But the infant died, in the third quarter of 1908, having bearly reached six months of age.
Alfred Beamer, who had enlisted in the Royal Marines on 15 Aug 1896, just shy of his 16th birthday, was discharged, invalided, on 15 Oct 1908. On 7 Mar 1909, Alfred Beamer (29) Labourer of 40 Neswick St, Plymouth, was admitted to the Devon and Cornwall Sanatorium for Consumptives Didworthy.
Consumption was another name for Tuberculosis. The record shows that Alfred had first developed the disease 7 months previously - which ties in with the date he was discharged from the Royal Marines - when he was discharged from the sanitorium on 15 Jun 1909. In the notes it says, "light work - dead".
Such a concession! What kind of light work can the dead do, FFS?
By 1911, Emily Beamer (28), widow, had returned to Tiverton, at 1 Melbourne Street and was again working at the Heathcoat Lace Factory, as a spinner.
In the 4th quarter of 1912, Emily Beamer remarried to a John Heard, in Tiverton. The couple don't appear to have any children. I've not been able to identify when John Heard died, but by 1939, Emily had been widowed again and was living with a single lady, Beatrice E Gollop, at 26 Castle Street, Tiverton.
Emily Heard died, in Tiverton, in 1962, aged 79.
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| Castle Street, Tiverton cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Roger Cornfoot - geograph.org.uk/p/6587133 |