Harold Drake RANDELL 1872
Harold Drake Randell was born in April 1872 in Ixworth, Suffolk the son of Emma Drake and Nathaniel Randell.
Harold lived with his parents in Ixworth until he travelled north to Cromer, the birth place of his father. In Cromer he initially worked as a House Painter and this may offer a rational explanation for his hand writing style.
The 1891 census records Harold Drake Randell living alone in Hans Place, Cromer but recording his relationship to the head of the household as nephew. I suspect the simple explanation was that he was staying with his Uncle Ephraim at 'Studley House' but on the night of the 1891 census, Ephraim was holidaying in Ixworth with Harold's father, Nathaniel.
In 1899, Harold set up his own home in Alfred Road, Cromer following his marriage to Agnes Ellis. Agnes was born in 1878 in Hythe, Hampshire and was the daughter of Robert and Jane Ellis. Robert Ellis was the Chief Officer in the Coast Guard, a position of some merit.
The marriage of Harold Drake Randell and Agnes Ellis took place 25 January 1899, at the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Cromer. The Parish Register states that the groom was a bachelor aged 26 years, currently employed as a Decorator and Agnes was 21 years with no occupation. Harold's parent, Nathaniel and Emma acted as witnesses for the groom whilst Agnes was represented by her father and brother.
In Kelly's Directory of Norfolk, 1912, Harold Drake Randell was listed as a Tobacconist with a premises at 1 Garden Street whilst Mrs Agnes Randell had guest accommodation at 'Kandahar' in Prince Of Wales Road.
The equivalent publication of 1904 had much the same information but the premises in Prince of Wales Road had not yet acquired the imaginative name and included in the advertisement was the option of hiring an "Albemarle". I'm not entirely sure what an Albemarle would have been, it was a type of heavy bomber during World War Two but in this instance it may have been a fishing boat. In either case a bombing run over Suffolk or pulling in a few crabs up the coast could have provided an interesting afternoon.
H. D. Randell appears in the British Phone Book commencing from 1927. The entry was 'H D Randell, Boarding Establishment, Kanadhar', telephone number 'Cromer 71'. The only other Randell in the phone book from the Randell family at the time was Harold's brother Edwin, who was in Ixworth, Suffolk.
The census of 1911 shows Harold and Agnes living in Prince of Wales Road, Cromer with three children. They had one other child, Grace Evelyn Randell but tragically she died age four.
Harold, who filled out the form in his own self assured hand writing, noted his occupation as "Tobacconist (dealer)" and stated he was an employer. He was aged 39 years at the time and the family had a local girl as a live in domestic servant. He signed the form with a flamboyant signature worthy of a celebrity. The whole form is filled out with excentric flourishes and under the section "write the number of rooms", he did just that and wrote "Seventeen".
Harold Drake Randell appears to have outlived Agnes by twenty years and died aged 78 years. He left a Will, which states H D Randell of 741 Filton Ave, Filton, Bristol, died 16 June 1950. Administration of effects £289 8s. 10d. to Joyce Winifred Milne married woman.
Oddly James Randell, Harold's cousin, died at the home of his son, Austin, which was 51 Dunkfeld Ave, Filton, Bristol. The two houses are less than a mile apart.
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Agnes ELLIS 1878
Agnes Ellis married Harold Drake Randell in Cromer, in the first quarter of 1899.
Agnes Ellis was seventh of nine children born to Robert Ellis and Jane MacKett. She was born in Hythe, Hampshire in the last quarter 1877.
Robert Ellis was a Chief Officer with the Coast Guard. He was stationed in Cromer from 1880 but had been born in Ireland in 1835. I suspect that he may have hailed from Kilglass in County Sligo, and spent a period in the Navy prior to joining the Coast Guard. 'The Coastguard' came into operation in 1822 to combat smuggling and strengthen coastal defence. Officer's were posted away from home for fear of collusion with smugglers. Coastguard Stations were commanded by a Chief Officer who was a Royal Navy lieutenant. By the 1890's the emphasis had drifted to concentrate on sea rescue.
Robert married Jane MacKett in the summer of 1865. The marriage took place in Dymchurch a small rural village on the coast of Romney Marsh south of Canterbury and oddly not far west of Hythe, Kent. Jane MacKett was the daughter of John and Elizabeth MacKett both who had been born in Dymchurch. As was John's father, also called John, who lived with them. Both John and his father were farm workers.
Robert Ellis and Jane MacKett started their married life in Kent but the birth places of their children track Robert's career. Their nine children are born in four different counties in a fourteen year period.
In 1901 Agnes and Harold, recently married, were living in Alfred Road, Cromer, and Harold was a House Painter, aged 29. Two years later the couple are recorded in Kelly's Directory providing accommodation at a 'Prince of Wales Road' address. Agnes appears to have run the accommodation which expanded to be the oddly named 'Kandahar'. The current Cromer Buildings of Historic Significance register identifies 'Kandahar Flats' as a building located in West Cliff, a road which with a bit of imagination may have once intersected Prince Of Wales Road.
Whilst the couple had no children in 1901, a gravestone in the Cromer New Cemetery states Grace Evelyn Randell, aged 4, daughter to Harold & Agnes Randell. The 1911 census finds the couple with three children; Nora Kathleen born 1903, Roy James 1904 and Joyce Randell aged six months on census night, 2 April 1911. The census record notes the couple had four children but lost one, Grace Evelyn Randell was buried 4 October 1910 which virtually coincides with the birth of her sister Joyce.
The children continue to appear in the records Nora Kathleen Randell married Norman Major and Joyce W Randell married Alexander Milne whilst Roy James Randell appears on at least one passenger list travelling with a wife Elsie (Fenton) and two children. It seems reasonable to assume these are one and the same people who are recorded as children in Cromer.
Agnes Randell died 10 April 1930 aged 52 and was buried not far from her daughter Grace.
Harold and Agnes had the following children:
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