William Harman Howes and Violet Rose Matilda Cheer

St Mark's church in Lakenham - the apse
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Evelyn Simak - geograph.org.uk/p/2056898
Built in 1843 "for the poor and very populous" district of Lakenham

William Harman Howes (b. 14 Dec 1895), son of William Harman Howes and Elizabeth Eliza Blazey, married Violet Rose Matilda Cheer, on 8 Feb 1920, at St Mark, Lakenham, a district on the south of Norwich, Norfolk. Both were 24. One of the witnesses was William's sister, Alice May Howes. 

On the marriage certificate, Violet gives her father's name as Edmund Cheer, deceased. The only registration of a birth of a Violet Cheer was in 1895 S Quarter in NORWICH Volume 04B Page 122. She was registered simply as Violet, with no other given names and her mother's maiden name left blank. Violet Cheer doesn't appear anywhere on the 1901 or 1911 census. 

The only record of a Violet Rose Matilda, anywhere, ever, was for the baptism of Violet Rose Matilda Fox, at St Martin At Oak, Norwich, the following year, on 8 Oct 1896, daughter of Robert and Mary Fox. Although, there was no corresponding GRO birth registration under this name. 

The answer, therefore, had to be that the potentially illegitimate child born Violet Cheer in 1895 was baptised a year later as Violet Rose Matilda Fox and, upon marriage, reverted to her birth surname. They are the same person:

Robert Fox (49) widower, son of James Fox, married Mary Cheer (45) widow, said to be daughter of William Chant, on 1 Feb 1896 at St Martin at Oak, Norwich. (Robert Fox had previously married Mary Ann Rayner in Great Melton, Norwich on 29 Jan 1876. Mary Ann Fox had died in 1894.)

There is a record showing that Mary Chant had previously married Edward Cheer, in the 4th quarter of 1879 at Saint Mark, Old Street, Shoreditch and in 1881, Edmund Cheer (42) Ostler (huntsman) from Shepperton, Middlesex, wife Mary Cheer (27) Charwoman from Wilton, Wiltshire were living at 218 Old Street, Holborn (see 1884 photo of the Holborn Restaurant, 218 High Holborn), along with four of Cheer's children from his previous marriage (1853 in Kensington) to Eliza Cass, who had died in 1878.

By 1891, however, Mary Cheer (36) Widow, was employed as Officers Cook at Bakers Row Infirmary Whitechapel Union (Whitechapel And Spitalfields Union Workhouse), although the record suggests that Mary herself was 'on the parish' (receiving charity from local authorities). We must assume (no record found) Edward or Edmund Cheer had died in the interim decade. 

In 1901, Robert Fox (56) Farm Labourer from Eaton, Norfolk was living at Hudson Buildings, Norwich; with wife Mary Fox (48) from Wilton, Wiltshire; Violet R Fox (5) Daughter; Kate L Fox (0) Daughter and Alice L Cheer (16) Step-Daughter, born in Whitechapel. (Kate Lucretia Fox b. 1900 D Quarter in NORWICH Volume 04B Page 165 mother's maiden name was CHANT. Alice Louisa Cheer b. 1884 D Quarter in MILE END OLD TOWN Volume 01C Page 506 also had the mother's maiden name of CHANT.)

This still leaves the question as to whether Edward / Edmund Cheer was Violet's father, as claimed on her marriage, which is highly unlikely in 1895, when it appears he was dead before 1891, or was it Robert Fox, who claimed her as his daughter in 1896. It could, of course, have been neither.

In 1911, at 52 Coburg Street, Norwich, were Robert Fox (63) Gardner labourer; Mary Fox (57) Charwoman; Violet Rose Fox (15) Chocolate Maker (guessing at Norwich's chocolate factory, A J Caley and Son); Lucretia [Kate Lucretia] (10) and Dora Bush (4), who was also listed as their daughter. (Born Alice Louisa Bush in 1907 D Quarter in NORWICH Volume 04B Page 114, 'Dora' was actually Mary's granddaughter, the daughter of Alice Louisa Cheer, who had married George Bush, in Norwich on 23 Jul 1905.)

In 1921, William Harman Howes (25) Cordial Maker at A J Caley and Son, was living at 3, The Elms, Unthank Road, Norwich, Norfolk with Violet Rose Matilda Howes (25) and Joyce Mary Howes (b. 1920).

In 1939, William Harman Howes (b. 14 Dec 1895), Mineral Maker, Violet Rose Matilda Howes (b. 10 Aug 1895), Joyce Mary Howes, (b. 27 Jun 1920 J Quarter in NORWICH Volume 04B Page 380), another daughter born in 1924 and a son born in 1932 - the latter two could, theoretically, still be alive - were living at 49 Unthank Road, Norwich, Norfolk. 

We can assume that William and Violet had met working for the same employer: Albert Jarman Caley had begun selling a range of mineral waters and soft drinks in Norwich in 1863. He diversified to produce cocoa (1883), chocolate (1886) and Christmas crackers (1898). Caley’s bought The Elms, 49 Unthank Road which became the HQ of the Recreational Association with space for 250 people plus six grass tennis courts and a large bowling green and was also the location of almshouses for retired workers of John Mackintosh's chocolate factory. A J Caley chocolate company in Norwich, had finally been bought by Yorkshire confectioner, Mackintosh's, in 1932.

In 1942, Joyce M Howes married James D Wright, at Holy Trinity, Heigham.

William Harman Howes died in the 2nd quarter of 1977, aged 81.

Violet Rose Matilda Howes, born 10 Aug 1895, died in 1978, aged 82.

Anthony Frederick J Brady and Maggie Dorothy Howes

St Peter and St Paul's Church, Swaffham
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Dixon - geograph.org.uk/p/4609546

Anthony Frederick John Brady, son of Anthony Brady and Ethel Berry, married Maggie Dorothy Howes, daughter of William Harman Howes and Elizabeth Eliza Blazey, on 4 Oct 1936, at Holy Trinity, Norwich (the same church where her sister Alice May had married in 1922). The witnesses were both named William Harman Howes, the bride's father and brother. 

At the time of the marriage, the bridegroom's father, Anthony Brady (b. 1882 in Belfast, County Antrim, d. 1957 in Norwich), was described as an Omnibus Driver. He had married Ethel Berry (b. 1883 in Norwich), in 1905, in Norwich. Anthony Frederick John Brady was born, on 8 May 1908, in Andover, Hampshire. In 1911, his parents were both on the census in Yorkshire at the Infantry Barracks 3rd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Anthony Frederick John Brady was baptised at Holy Trinity, Heigham, in 1913.

In 1939, Anthony F J Brady, Local Government Officer, Audit Secretary, his wife Maggie D and son Lawrence Cormac Brady (1938-1997), were living at "Spinney Edge", Cantley Road, Cringleford, Norfolk.

Maggie Dorothy Brady, of Coronation Grove, Swaffham, died, aged just 45, and was buried at St Peter and St Paul's, Swaffham, on 19 Oct 1955.

Anthony Frederick J Brady died in May 1995, the month of his 87th birthday.

William Harman Howes and Elizabeth Eliza Blazey

St. John the Theologian, Norwich
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Graham Hardy - geograph.org.uk/p/160332
St. John's at the junction of Ber Street and Finkelgate in 
Norwich is historically known as St. John Sepulchre.

William Harman Howes (b. 15 Jul 1874), son of John Robert Howes and Martha Burrows Woodhouse and Elizabeth Eliza Blazey, daughter of Samuel Blazey and Elizabeth Wiggins, both of 3 Butchers Arms Yard, Ber St, married on 2 Sep 1895 at St John Sepulchre, Norwich. Witnesses were William Walter Tillett and Martha Elizabeth Hunt, the groom's sister.

William and Elizabeth had three children:

1. William Harman Howes b. 14 Dec 1895
2. Alice May Howes b. 31 Oct 1899, bap. 16 Mar 1910 at Holy Trinity
3. Maggie Dorothy Howes b. 4 Apr 1910, bap. 1 Jun 1910 at Holy Trinity

In 1901, Elizabeth Howes (27) - no sign of her husband - was living at 15, Manchester Street, Heigham, Norwich, with William (5) and Alice (1).

Before 1911, William Howes (37), Elizabeth (37), William (15), Alice (11) and Maggie (0), had moved to 19 Manchester St, Norwich, where her father and grandmother had lived. Alice May Howes was born at this address.

In 1921, still at 19, Manchester Street, Norwich, were William H Howes (46) Bricklayer's Labourer for Norwich Corporation; Elizabeth E Howes (47), Alice M Howes (21) Chocolate Moulder at Caleys Ltd; and Maggie D Howes (11).

And in 1939, still living at 19 Manchester Street, Norwich, Norfolk, were William Howes, Builder's Labourer Retired and wife Elizabeth.

William Harman Howes died on 27 Nov 1944, aged 70, at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, St Stephen's Road, Norwich, Norfolk. 

Eliza Elizabeth Howes (née Blazey) died, aged 78, from Cerebral thrombosis, arteriosclerosis, on 19 Jan 1951 at 60 Suffolk Street, Norwich, Norfolk.

George Charles Breame and Alice May Howes

Spire of Holy Trinity, Norwich
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Graham Hardy - 
geograph.org.uk/p/167498

George Charles Breame, son of Robert Breame and Caroline Bell, married Alice May Howes, daughter of William Harman Howes and Elizabeth Eliza Blazey at Holy Trinity church, Heigham, Norwich, Norfolk on 3 Jun 1922.

George and Alice had two sons, born at 23 Manchester Street, Heigham:

1. George Charles Breame b. 31 July 1923
2. William Robert Breame b. 21 Nov 1924

In 1939 at 15 Henderson Road, Norwich, Norfolk. George Charles Breame Snr, b. 20 Nov 1890, was a Builder's Labourer. Living there also were Alice May Breame, son George Charles Breame, who at that time, was employed as a Saw Mill Labourer, and a closed record that must relate to his younger brother.

In the 3rd quarter of 1945 (the same time as my parents married), George Charles Breame Jnr married Anna Thornton in Cleveland, Yorkshire. This couple had three daughters - all young enough to still be alive - who are my 4th cousins. I remember meeting them once when I was a child.

In 1946, William R Breame married Doris Buck, in Norwich.

George Charles Breams (sic), but date of birth quoted correctly as 20 Nov 1890, died in the second quarter of 1974. He will have been 83.

Alice May Breame died in Oct 1984, in East Dereham, Norfolk. She would have celebrated her 85th birthday at the end of that month.

George Charles Breame Jnr died in February 1998, aged 74.

William Robert Breame died on 21 Aug 2007.

Alice May Howes was my grandmother's 2nd cousin and is exactly the same age and is related to her in the same way as the singing, dancing, Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail, about whom I'm certain we knew nothing. Three very different women, brought up in three very different countries. 

Growing up, I'd met "Cousin George from Norwich", George and Alice's son, a few times, but had no idea whose cousin he was or how we were connected. This is why I had to follow this line down to work out that he was my father's 3rd cousin. You have to go right back to Francis Stephen Blazey and Hannah Minns, my 3rd great-grandparents, to find our common ancestor.