Mary and Robina Newton

Mary Ann (1838-1878)

Robina Euphemia (1839-1931)

In 1841, Mary, aged 4, and Robina (aged 2) lived in the remote far-eastern end of the parish, near where Dingle Farm now stands. The blue circle indicates the probable location. Their parents, John, a woodsman, aged 27 and Jane, aged 28, completed the household. John, Jane, and Mary, were all born in Scotland, and Robina had been baptised in Chiswick, London.

reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

A decade later, they were all living in Crudwell, Wiltshire, next to Eastcourt House. John was now a gardener in charge of 3 men, and Mary and Robinia had been joined by two brothers, John Benjamin, baptised in Crudwell, and George, only 14 days old at the time of the Census. In 1861, they were living at the Gardeners Cottage, with another brother, Thomas, born 1853.

In 1862, Robinia married William Emery, a gardener, at St James Church, Clerkenwell, London. In 1871 they lived in Malmesbury with their first 2 children, and Robinia’s brother. They moved to Ireland and had 7 children in all. In 1901 and 1911 they lived in Loughfea, Monagham, but in 1911 William died. Robinia died 20 years later in Belfast.

Robinia in old age.

Mary married Alfred Appleby, a servant, in Paddington in 1861. Sadly, he died only a year later, before the birth of their son. In 1871, she was working as a servant in Chelsea while Alfred, her son, was living with his grandparents in Crudwell. Mary died in 1878 and was buried in Southwark.

Alfred moved to Ireland, and married Adelaide Blanche Titherley in Dublin, in 1890, when he was 27. They went on to have 6 children. He was a seed shop manager in Dublin in 1901, and, in 1911, had moved to Tipperary.

I presume that Alfred moved to Ireland with his aunt Robinia and her family, but, unfortunately, the Irish Census’ for 1881 and 1891 were destroyed – hence the gap in the narrative for both Robinia and her nephew.