E - Emma Timms

My Nana’s father was the youngest in his family. He had five older sisters and one older brother. His mother died when he was about nine months old. For five years or so his eldest sisters probably cared for him along with their grandparents who lived nearby.

Nana didn’t talk about her aunts or uncle or cousins though, apart from one. Most of them were a lot older than she and her siblings, so it is possible she didn’t even know them.

Alice was fourteen when her youngest brother was born, almost fifteen when her mother died. She was born in Mason Street, Milverton, Warwickshire. In 1881 on the census, she is recorded as a Scholar even though she was eighteen. After this census though each time she is recorded as an Inmate or Pauper living in the Warwick Union Workhouse (later known as the Warwick Union Institution and the Warwick Public Assistance Institute). She died in1944 at Shipston Hospital in Shipston-on-Stour.

May was eleven when her brother was born and twelve when their mother died. In 1881 on the census, she is recorded aged fifteen, living away from the family (but still in Milverton) as a housemaid for a retired Army Major General and his family. She was married in 1887 to William Byford and they had five children, one of whom died in infancy. This is the family Nana sometimes mentioned, they were Green Grocers in the early 1900s. May died in 1946.

Mary was nine when her brother was born and their mother died. Before 1889 she moved away from Milverton to Birmingham. Most likely for work as Birmingham offered many opportunities not found in Milverton. She was married in Birmingham in1889 to Henry Edward, a Pork Butcher and had four children. Sadly, Mary died eight days after the birth of her fourth child and her husband returned with his young family to live in Leamington and Milverton. One of Mary’s daughters lived for a time with her aunt May.

Fanny was six when her brother was born and their mother died. Fanny possibly moved to Birmingham at about the same time as Mary. In 1891 on the census, she is lodging with a family in Kings Norton and was employed as a Metallic Bedstead Decorator. Two years later in 1893 she was married to John Ashford a Cycle Polisher, in Birmingham. They had five children and spent the rest of their lives in Birmingham. Fanny died in 1941.

James was the first son in his family; he was two when his brother was born and their mother died. He became a Cellarman in a brewery but later was a much-respected inspector for the RSPCA. He married Ellen Newey and they had three children. They lived in Emscote and Leamington. James died in 1943.

George, the baby of the family was born in 1877 and his mother died in 1878. His father remarried when he was five years old to a widow with no children who lived across the road. She died in 1932, thirty years after their father. As far as I recall she was never talked about by Nana, though surely, she knew her as they lived almost next door.

But this blog is about Emma – I have shared briefly what I know about all the other members of the family. We have DNA matches with the descendants of most of them. But what about Emma? 

Emma was four when her brother was born and their mother died; her fifth birthday was the day after her mother died. Her full name is Emma Jane; she appears aged seven on the 1881 census although she was eight. And that is it! She has just vanished. By the 1891 census she would have been eighteen, she could have married, emigrated or died, but so far (over probably 20-30 years) I have not been able to find one little clue.

Are any of these people your great great aunts or uncles too? Or great great grandparents perhaps? Do you know anything about Emma? If you do, please share I would love to hear from you.