The Anchor, Bunwell
For the 1871 census David and Alice were in Bunwell. The transcription shows CHILBAER, but the original record clearly shows CHILVERS. Interestingly, David is an Inn Keeper. An easy search of www.norfolkpubs.co.uk quickly reveals that David A CHILVERS was licensee of The Anchor (later called the Crown & Anchor) in The Street, Bunwell from 1871 to 1872. The pub closed on 8 January 1961. At home are Arthur S (5, scholar, born in Old Buckenham), Albert G (3, also from Old Buckenham) and Bartremd H (sic) (4 months and born in Bunwell).
By 1881 they were running the 27 acre farm in Fen Street, Old Buckenham. An indication of their speech was that the enumerator has written the name as CHILVES. If you are following the LDS transcripts beware that Alice has been incorrectly transcribed as "Acics". According to the census return they had three sons: Arthur (aged 14), George (aged 12) and Bertrand (aged 10). A check of births in Guiltcross shows up the birth of Arthur S (?Samuel) CHILVERS registered in the June quarter of 1866, and Albert George was born to David and Alice on 31 July 1868 in Old Buckenham. David's occupation was shown on the birth certificate as Miller's Van Man. There is also the birth of a Bertrand Herbert CHILVERS (Bertie Bertie??) in the December quarter of 1870 in Depwade (where Bunwell is) - vol 4b Page 225.
The added bonus that David and Alice had on census day 1881, the 3 April, was that both fathers, the two of them now widowed, were living with them - Alice's father then being 80, and old Samuel CHILVERS at 73 (although shown in the census as 70). We don't know what changes befell everyone absolutely, but we must assume that Samuel YALLOP died fairly soon after (there is record of the death of a Samuel YALLOP in the December quarter of 1881 with age noted as 82 (Vol 4b Page 153), and in 1883 David's father died in Brighton.
The 1883 White's Directory for Old Buckenham shows the entry for "Chilvers David, farmer" but he doesn't appear in the 1890 version of the same directory, at least not in Old Buckenham.
By the 1891 census David is recorded as being a Farmer and Carter, and they were living at number 62 Workhouse Common in Attleborough, an area of the town on the far side from Old Buckenham. Arthur (shown as aged 25, which would put his date of birth correctly as 1866) is still unmarried and living with his parents employed on a farm, but the other two had by then flown the nest. Albert George was lodging in Great Yarmouth in 30 Northgate Street in the household of Arthur and Eliza EBBAGE. He is single and a Harnessmaker.
In 1901 David and Alice were in Besthorpe. The census notes David as being a Farmer, with status as "employer". They lived in Turnpike Road. The norfolkpubs.co.uk website shows that David was licensee of the Fox and Hounds in Turnpike Road from 1900 to 1904, and it is clear that he engaged in both occupations.
Arthur has by now married a lady named Anna, shown as being 42 to Arthur's 34, a Norfolk lass from North Elmham. They have 4 children, born in various parts of Norfolk, indicating something of an unsettled lifestyle: Alice (8, born in Hackford), David (6, Gislingham), Percy (2 from Ixworth) and little Anna (1, born in Norwich). The family lived at 23 Bodolph Street in Norwich, and Arthur's occupation is shown as Pork and Grocery Shop Keeper, working on his own account.
There is no clear trace of an Albert George, but there is a George CHILVERS aged 32 born in Old Buckenham (so likely to be our man) in Norwich City Lunatic Asylum - but rest easy! He's working there as an attendant. This George is said to be married, but there is no easily identified indication to whom, or where they lived. However, we can track the marriage of Albert George to the beautifully named Easter HOWLING on 10 November 1892 in Wayland District. Easter was born in North Elmham in the June quarter of 1865 (Vol 4b Page 292), daughter of an Ag Lab John and Sarah Ann. What is interesting is that in the 1881 census Easter is in the household of her uncle, John CAPES who was described as being a farmer and licensee of the Crown Inn in Attleborough. Hold that thought for a moment. Walter George CHILVERS was born in the June quarter of 1893 in Wayland District. The 1901 census finds a 33-year-old Esther (sic) CHILVERS from North Elmham living with her 7-year-old son Walter who was born in Attleborough. They are in Drayton St Margaret, just a few miles to the north-west of Norwich, so not too far away from Albert. Walter married Rosa WARD in 1918. Albert died in 1959 aged 91.
Moving back to Arthur, the much mentioned norfolkpubs website mentions an Arthur Samuel CHILVERS as licensee of the Crown Inn in Church Street, Attleborough in 1916 and 1922 - yes, the same pub previously run by Albert's future wife's uncle. Which is where we consider the evidence - Anna is from North Elmham too, and there seems to be a connection with John CAPES, Arthur's wife's. Is there an Anna HOWLING in the 1891 census? There certainly is! In The Oaks, Hearts Ease Lane in Thorpe Next Norwich there's a cook, Anna HOWLING aged 32 (so the right age) born in North Elmham in the household of a tannery owner Samuel BEARE. So it looks like Albert and Arthur married the HOWLING sisters from North Elmham. Arthur and Anna's wedding was in Wayland District in the September quarter of 1891 (Vol 4b Page 450) - a year or so before Albert and Easter's.
Going back 10 years to 1881 we find Anna as a 22-year-old cook in Norwich St Giles, working for an auctioneer and valuer, George STOCKINGS.
We can track Bertrand through his marriage in the March quarter of 1895 (Vol 4a Page 998) in Blything District in Suffolk. He married Mary Effie HARPER, the daughter of James and Eliza HARPER, who was born in Theberton in Suffolk around 1860. The 1901 census shows the couple living in Leiston in Suffolk, with a 2-year-old daughter Hilda (this seems to be Hilda Mary born in Ipswich in the September quarter of 1898 (Vol 4a Page 953)).
I now engage in a little speculation, but in the September quarter of 1923 a Mary E CHILVERS died in Blything District, and in the September quarter of 1927 Bertrand H CHILVERS married a lady named KILLICK in Brentford, Middlesex. Whether this is our Bertrand is unclear, but there is the death recorded of an 81-year-old (so of the right age) Bertrand H CHILVERS in the March quarter of 1952 in Ipswich (Vol 4b Page 917).
There is the record of the death of a 70-year-old David A CHILVERS in the December quarter of 1915 in Wayland (Vol 4b Page 292). Further speculation points us to the death of an Arthur S CHILVERS aged 61 in Wayland District in the March quarter of 1928 (Vol 4b Page 278). Attleborough is of course in the Wayland District, as actually was Old Buckenham by then. An Alice J CHILVERS aged 84, so born around 1845, died soon after in Wayland District in the December quarter 1929 (Vol 4b Page 246).
Page last updated 15 May 2007
