A Jowett Burial in Basford Cemetery

On my earlier visit to Basford Cemetery I found two headstones relating to my Jowetts.

The first was that of my 2x Great Uncle, William Jowett

William is the son of my 3x Great Grandparents, Edmund Jowett and Sarah (nee Morton). I don’t have a birth certificate for him, but I do have his baptism, which took place on the 26th February 1854 at Wilne, in Derbyshire. The family had moved to Basford in Nottingham by the 1861 census.

In 1871 William had married Elizabeth and they were living on Rawson Street in Basford together with John Wright aged 5. It appears that John is Elizabeth’s son from a previous relationship, he was born in Sheffield. William gives his age as 19 when he’s actually nearer 17. Elizabeth is 23, so I wonder if he’d told her the truth about his age when they met!

By 1881 William, 28, Elizabeth, 32, and John, 16, have moved to Gawthorne Street, still in the Basford area of Nottingham. The two men are employed in the local lace industry, William as a lace maker and John as a brass/lace bobbin winder.

William has a change of career by the 1891 Census – he is a licenced victualler at the Sycamore Inn, Sycamore Street, Nottingham. He’s also ‘caught up’ with his real age of 37! Elizabeth is 46. John is no longer living with them.

By 1901 William 47, is working as a lace maker once again and is living with Elizabeth, 56 on Gladstone Street, Hyson Green, Nottingham.

According to the burial records for Basford, William died on the 21st April 1910.

Eliza Jowett, 66, widow, appears on the 1911 census on Sturton Street, Nottingham. She is working as a charwoman and also has a lodger, David Holmes, 74, who is living on his own means. Elizabeth died on the 12th May 1929.

Although they’re not my direct ancestors I’d still like to find out more about John Wright and Elizabeth’s first marriage. So I’ll order a couple of certificates and see what they reveal.