Thomas Err RANDELL 1817
Thomas, the eldest son of Mary Ann Gray and his namesake Thomas Randell was born 17 July 1817 in Cromer but christened at Church Gate-Wesleyan Chapel, North Walsham on 3 April 1825. It seems likely that the family swept up in Wesleyan vigour rechristened him and that he had an earlier undiscovered christening.
Thomas married Judith Anne Mayes, 9 March 1839, when they were both 21 years old. The records of both his christening and marriage chronicle his full name as Thomas Err Randell but on the latter occasion you could make the case it was 'Ere'. This impression is strengthened on the marriage certificate of his daughter Eliza when his name clearly reads as 'Ere'.
Whatever spin we put on it, 'Err' or 'Ere' is an unusual name. Given the tradition of using the grandmothers maiden name as a middle name Err, ought to lead to some astonishing breakthrough. Unfortunately, Thomas is literally the only person in East Anglia called 'Err' but 'Ere' is a slightly different story. In 1861 around twenty people all within easy reach of Cromer were named 'Ere'. Beyond that, the explanation may lie in the pronunciation of the name, as in Jane Eyre. Once Eyre, Ayer, or Aire enter the equation we have hundreds of options but none leap out as obviously connected to either the Grays or the Randells.
Thomas Ere signed his own wedding certificate, as did his witness David Vial. Judith Anne and Elizabeth Mayes on the other hand recorded their attendance with a neat mark. By 1861 significantly less than half the population of England could read or write even their own name.
Once married Thomas and Judith commenced family life in Brooks Street, Cromer. Together they had nine children over a period of 20 years. The first six being boys and the last three girls. It appears they had two Williams, the first of which died within a few days of his birth.
Thomas Randell Jnr. was recorded as an Ironmonger at his Brooke St., address in White’s Directory of 1854. Nine years later J.G Harrod & Co.'s Directory of 1863 still had Thomas as a shopkeeper in Brooke St., but sometime around 1857 the family moved to Hall St, Holt. Their youngest daughter, Eliza, was born in Holt in 1860, which may mean the family lived in Holt but he maintained a business in Cromer. Given the distance of ten miles, that all sounds a bit heroic.
Thomas Randell (b.1817), was listed though out his life as a Tinman and Brazier. Tinmen and Braziers created a range of essentially hand made copper or tin wares and expanded to plumbing and the like. Generally they hand made items used in normal domestic living. However he could have been crafting fine decorative pieces, such as vases and ornamentation. Equally he may have been assembling the simple utilitarian items found in farming.
Many of the Norfolk Randell’s of this period were in similar or allied occupations. Blacksmiths, White smiths, Tinmen and Braziers, Bell Hangers, Ironmongers and Clock Makers all have an associations with hot metal and engineering.
A 'Thomas Randall' was buried 23 April 1884 at St Andrews Church, Holt. Thomas was recorded in the register as aged 67 years and therefore born 1817 but significantly a resident of Thorpe (Lunatic) Asylum in Norwich. Senile dementia, epilepsy and a wide range of other illnesses fell under the broader term of 'Lunacy' so a sympathetic interpretation of his plight might be he was simply old. Given the date of his death it's seems his stay may have been relatively short as the 1881 census finds him, retired, deaf and still living in the same house with his wife Judith Anne and his youngest daughter Eliza, who had recently married Arthur Wade.
By 1891 Judith Anne was living alone in Holt, a widow, supported by her children.
A family story which has rolled through the generations casts Thomas as a deeply religious man, in fact, a raving zealot, who was a pain to be around. In his defence I would have to say this is totally unsupported hearsay but it came from two completely separate sources and a significant number of his children did leave Norfolk forever during his lifetime.
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Judith Anne MAYES 1818
Judith Anne Mayes was born 31 May 1818 in Cromer. She was the daughter of Francis Mayes and Ann Holmes, who had married in Cromer, 16 December 1810. She married Thomas Err Randell 9 March 1839 at the Parish Church.
Her father Francis was recorded as a fisherman in the UK census, but this may be doing him something of a disservice, as he is regularly recorded in directories of the day as a fishmonger. A typical entry would be Whites 1854, in which he is one of two fishmongers in a list of around thirty five prominent Cromer residents. Even this may undersell his roll as the same publication records "In Cromer the chief employment is fishing ~ this is generally a lucrative occupation as the sea in this neighbourhood swarms with shoals of scaly brood of exquisite flavour ~ highly esteemed by the continuous influx of wealthy visitors."
Francis and Ann Mayes lived in Church Street when Judith was a child but later moved to Terrace Road. Their immediate neighbour in Church Street was Thomas Holmes, glass and china dealer, who may have been Ann‘s brother.
Francis Mayes was born in 1789 in Cawston Woodrow, Norfolk. I’m unable to find his parents but William and James Mayes were also born in Cawston around the same time.
Ann Holmes, was the daughter of Judith Rooke and Charles Holmes who married in Cromer, 30 January 1786. Ann was born the following year, 12 January 1787 and is entered in the Parish Register as Nan. In the 1861 census, age 70, the name Nann briefly reappears but on every other occasion she is Ann.
Judith Anne Mayes was one of several children, her sister Jane Rook Mayes married fisherman, James Bulitude but continued to live with her father, presumably caring for him in his old age. Francis Mayes outlived his wife and died aged 88 in May 1875. Judith's mother Ann, died aged 80, around November 1869.
Judith Anne was married to Thomas Randell for almost fifty years and together they had nine children, three who moved to the far side of the world. Nathaniel went to New Zealand, Honorine to America and William had the misfortune to die in Australia. Thomas left for Chertsey, Benjamin to Sunderland and even youngest child Eliza drifted into Kent. On the other hand Ephraim and his sister Mary Ann lived out her entire life within a few miles of their birthplace.
Judith 'Randall' of 'The Lodge Cottage, Holt' died aged 78 years and was buried 27 May 1896 after a service held at St Andrew Church.
Thomas and Judith had the following children:
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