In the previous article in this blog series I described the life of Robert and Salley Nurse.  They had a number of children - Robert Nurse was the youngest son and he was my great-great-grandfather.

He married Ann Jane Taylor at St. Michael, Two Mile Hill on 30^th May 1854, two months after his father Robert Nurse died. [1]

Ann Jane Taylor, Robert Nurse’s wife, was a descendent of John Taylor, the Landscape Painter. John Taylor's father, Abraham Taylor was a prosperous Philadelphia merchant and friend of Benjamin Franklin, before the American Revolution.

It is through the Taylors that the Nurse family is linked to the Gordons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania- a junior branch of the Scottish Gordon clan, and the Luther family of Kelvedon Hatch, Essex, an important family of that county.[2]

Robert and Ann were Innkeepers at the Rose and Crown, a public house in a fairly good area of St George, on the eastern outskirts of Bristol. [3] As discussed above, the licensed trade had long been a family tradition, and several members of the family ran public houses in the locality.

Robert's elder brother, Samuel also operated the malting and brewing business, which the two brothers had inherited from their father.

Over the next ten or eleven years, Robert and Ann Jane had six children, four of these children surviving infancy.

Figure 1 - Robert Nurse and his sons, William Richmond and Robert Francis (c 1870)		Figure 2 - Ann Jane Nurse and her daughters, Alice Mary Couche and Salley Jane (c 1870)

The family, although not rich, was fairly well off, running their own businesses and owning a moderate amount of land around the eastern outskirts of Bristol.

The boys, at least, were well educated, Robert Francis initially attended the local Church School, Two Mile Hill but both boys finished their education at Dr. Nunn's School, a private boarding school in Portland Square, near the centre of Bristol.

Figure 3  - The Family of Robert and Ann Jane Nurse

In 1871 Robert Nurse died. Ann took over as licensee of the Rose and Crown Inn [4] and also acted as co-trustee with Robert Willis Nurse (son of Silas Nurse and Robert’s nephew), in the running of her late husband's share of the malting business.

Figure 4 - Two Mile Hill, St. George (c. 1926) and the Rose and Crown Inn (rebuilt in 1905)

Robert had directed in his will that they should run the business until his eldest son, Robert Francis (my great grandfather), had reached the age of 21. [5] At that time he would be offered the opportunity to purchase the concern at a price to be ascertained by a fair evaluation by "some competent parties to be appointed by the trustees".

Ann eventually moved to Bedminster where she lived with her surviving daughters, until she died in 1912.

Bibliography and Notes

[1] I have a copy of the Marriage Certificate for Robert and Ann.

[2] I will go into more detail on the Luther, Taylor and Gordon history in future blog articles.

[3] Bristol City Pubs, 1856, www.gloucestershire-pubs.co.uk.

[4] 1871 National Census. Microfiche copy held at the Bristol Reference Library.

[5] The Will of Robert Nurse, dated 3 Jun 1871; Bristol Wills, vol. 38, Bristol Record Office. (see Appendix A on Page 76)

In researching my Nurse ancestors in the Chew Magna area of North Somerset, I came across the following entry in the Chew Stoke parish register.

“5 Jan 1695 – Robert Nurse was buried
Rebecca Nurse of Chew Stoke hath made affidavit before Robert Payne ___, of Norton Malreward in the presence of Mary Lassey and Jone Walker for burying in woolen. – January 12 1695”

Although the first Burial in Woollen Act was passed in 1666, the 1678 Act provided much useful documentary evidence.

The Act generated a great deal of paperwork, which was required to prove that the Act’s conditions had been met, and was a classic piece of protectionist legislation. It stated that no corpse (other than those who died of plague) ”… shall be buried in any shirt, shift, sheet or shroud or anything whatsoever made or mingled with flax, hemp, silk, hair, gold or silver, or any stuff or thing other than what is made of sheep’s wool only …”

Within eight days of a funeral, an affidavit had to be made before a Justice of the Peace or a clergyman to confirm that the body had been buried in wool only. A close relative of the deceased usually swore the oath. Non-compliance carried the heavy penalty of five pounds, which was chargeable on the estate of the deceased.

In my previous article in this series I described the life of Samuel Nurse and his marriage to Rachel Dolman of Keynsham.  Samuel and Rachel had 9 children – one daughter and eight sons.  Robert Nurse, my great-great-great-grandfather was one of four boys to survive childhood. He married Salley Couch at Bitton Parish Church on the 15th March 1803. [1]

Robert and Salley Nurse had seven children during their first 18 years of married life, one daughter, Rachel - the eldest child and six sons (see Figure 1). All of these children, except one - Silas, were baptised at Hanham Church, and all but William survived childhood and were married. William died in 1814, at the age of six and was buried in Bitton on 21 Aug 1814. [1]

Figure 1 – The Family of Robert and Salley Nurse

The naming of the children followed the custom of the day - Rachel the eldest (and only) daughter, being named after Robert's mother; Jonathan Couch, the eldest son (and second child) being named after Salley's father; Samuel, being named after Robert's father, and Robert, the youngest being named after Robert’s grandfather (and uncle). [2] [3]

This generation of the family marked a period with the beginning of the industrial revolution where the children were more likely to move away from the family base.

Both Rachel and Silas were married in St. James, Bristol and Richmond and Jonathan were married at St. Stephen's also in the city of Bristol. [4] The youngest child, Robert, my great-great-grandfather, married Ann Jane Taylor, eldest daughter of Francis Fane Taylor in St. George, a parish to the east of Bristol. [5]

Most of the children returned to the Hanham area and were involved in some way in the malting/brewing business. Richmond, however, settled in the city of Bristol. He worked as a carpenter and is listed in the Matthew’s Bristol Directory[6] and the 1841 census [7] as resident in St Paul’s. He died in 1846 and was buried at St. Anne, Oldland on 7 June 1846.[8]

According to the 1841 [7] and 1851 [9] censuses, Silas Nurse settled in Longwell Green as a Shoemaker, although he later joined the other brothers as a brewer (1861 Census [10]) and eventually became a licensed publican (1871 Census [11]). Kelly’s Gloucestershire Directories list him as the licensee of the “Crown” Public House in Longwell Green. [12]

Salley was the first to die in 1843 at the age of 62 and was buried at St. Anne Oldland. [8] Her husband outlived her by 11 years dying in 1854 at the age of 72. He was also buried at St Anne, Oldland on 10 Mar 1854.

Figure 2 – The Grave of Robert and Salley Nurse in St.Anne’s Oldland

In his will [13] Robert Nurse left the malting/brewing business to his three sons, Jonathan, Samuel and Robert and to their heirs. When Jonathan died [14],[15] without an heir in 1862, [16] he left his share in the business to his two brothers. [17]

Bibliography and Notes

[1] Parish Register for the Parish of St. Mary, Bitton, including the chapelries of Hanham and Oldland, 1571 - 1934. Microfiched by the Bristol Record Office, Bristol.

[2] This naming pattern can be used as confirming evidence to the fact that Robert Nurse was the son of Samuel and Rachel Nurse and that Salley Couch was the daughter of Jonathan and Betty Couch.

[3] Robert Nurse the youngest son and my direct ancestor, was most likely named after his great-uncle Robert, his grandfather’s brother and partner in the malting business, as he had died only two years before Robert’s birth.

[4] Bristol Marriage Index 1800-1837, Bristol and Avon Family History Society.

[5] Civil Register of Marriages, 1854, Vol 6a, No279.

[6] Matthew’s Bristol Directory, 1839-1846.

[7] 1841 National Census. Microfiche copy held at the Bristol Reference Library.

[8] The Parish Register of St. Anne, Oldland, 1842 – 1912. Microfiched by the Bristol Record Office, Bristol.

[9] 1851 National Census. Microfiche copy held at the Bristol Reference Library.

[10] 1861 National Census. Microfiche copy held at the Bristol Reference Library.

[11] 1871 National Census. Microfiche copy held at the Bristol Reference Library.

[12] Kelly’s Gloucester Directories 1863, 1870 and 1876.

[13] The Will of Robert Nurse, dated 20 Aug 1854; Consistory Court of Canterbury Wills, Ref No. 11/2196, Public Record Office. (see Appendix A on Page 71)

[14] Parish Register of Christ Church, Hanham, 1842-1912. Microfiched by the Bristol Record Office, Bristol.

[15] Avon Monumental Inscriptions, Society of Genealogists.

[16] Jonathan Couch Nurse was buried at Christ Church, Hanham on 9 Aug 1862 with his wife Sarah, who died in 1849 and was buried on 6 Jul 1849.^33,34

[17] The Will of Jonathan Couch Nurse, dated 5 Nov 1862; Bristol Wills, vol. 25, Bristol Record Office. (see Appendix A on Page 71)