James, Ann, John and Albert Smethem (also Smetherne/Smitham/etc)

James (1833-1889)

Ann (1836-1859)

John (1838-1859)

Albert (1841-1910)

All baptised in St Martins Church

Image reproduced with the kind permission of Geoff Gwatkin

At the time of the 1841 Census, the children were living with their parents James and Elizabeth (nee Wyatt). James was a weaver, originally from Ilminster. James and Elizabeth had nine children, but only seven were living at home on Census night. Also in the household was Mary Wyatt, Elizabeth’s mother.

The family were still in Pit Court at the next Census.

In 1861, John, employed as a servant, was living with his parents and his nephew Henry Allen (Henry’s mother and baby sister had died four years previously). He died in 1867, aged 29.

James became a soldier, and was married to Emma Jessup in London in 1862. He and Emma went on to have seven children. In 1871 he and Emma were living in 7 Colebrook Street, Winchester. James is recorded as being a sergeant in the Scots Fuselier Guards.

In ’81, the family were living in Warminster, and James was an ostler. He died in 1889, aged 55, and was buried in Warminster Churchyard.

Ann was murdered by John Sheppard in 1859. They had been ‘keeping company’ but she decided to finish their relationship because of his ‘dissolute lifestyle’. She was sitting at the window of her house, sewing, when he fired a gun at her. He then committed suicide himself.

Albert married Arabella White at the Church of St John the Baptist in Gloucester in 1863.

In 1871, the couple were living with their first three children in Back Street, Kingscote, Gloucestershire. James was a carpenter. Ten years later, the family were living on Hyde Hill in Uley, and their last daughter, Maud Elizabeth Harriet had been born (ten years later than her nearest sibling). From being a carpenter and wheelwright, Albert appeared as a farmer in the next Census, living at Hodgcombe Farm in Uley.

Albert died in 1900, aged 59, and was buried at Cam Church. Arabella died in 1906, and was buried in the same place. In her will, her estate was valued at £227 14s 3d, and probate was given to, not her sons, but Pierce Hancock Holloway.