The Life of  Henry William Alcock (1863-1925) and his Family.

Henry was born in 1863 at Martham as the seventh child of John ALCOCK & Christiana, nee GOTTS. He grew up living with his parents at The Green at what is believed to have been the building later known as Cockings or Cobblers Cottage and later Mountfields. By the time he was 18 he was a painter’s apprentice. Henry married Sarah Ann AYRES in 1885 at Burnham Overy, North Norfolk which is where she had been born on 14^th November 1865. They went on the have twelve children who were all born at Martham and are listed in Appendix ‘A’ below.

Henry & Sarah were married in the second quarter of 1885 and their first child, Arthur, was born later that year at Martham so they must have moved there by then. The Electoral Registers for the period 1890 to 1898 tell us they were in living at Pyman’s Yard, off White Street, Martham and this is confirmed by the 1891 census when Henry was a plumber and glazier living at Pyman’s Yard as shown in the census form below.

By 1901 the family were living at The Green, Martham but it is not clear exactly where. We then pick the couple up through the  Inland Revenue Duties list, compiled under the Finance Act 1909/10, when Henry was listed as being the occupier of Loxwood Villa in Repps Road which he rented from the owner who was Mrs Emily Mary HOGGETT of Little Cressingham. The house was described as being set in one acre of land and was valued at £14 10s 0d. So, Henry & Sarah had moved into Loxwood Villa sometime between 1901 and 1909.

1909/10 Inland Revenue Duties list: This tax was known as increment value duty and was based on the difference between the amount of two valuations. The value on 30th April 1909 was the basis for the increment value duty, and a second value was made on the date of any subsequent sale, lease, transfer of an interest in a piece of land, or the death of a landowner. The assessment of subsequent value was part of the duties of the district valuer and his staff until the increment value duty ended under the 1920 Finance Act.

Henry & Sarah and their growing family remained at Loxwood Villa for the rest of their lives and Henry continued working from home as a self-employed plumber and painting contractor. Their sons Alfred, Charles, Herbert and Harry all became painters under the guidance of their father and were living at Loxwood Villa with their parents in 1911 and/or 1921 so the property must have been a hive of both family and business activity. Henry died on 9^th October 1925 and Sarah died on 1^st January 1947. They share a grave at St Mary’s graveyard section H, plot F4 as shown below.

Appendix A

1. Arthur Henry ALCOCK who was born in 1885. He married Ethel Maud GARROD on 21^st April 1915 at Acle, Norfolk. Ethel died on 25^th January 1979 and Arthur on 1^st January 1955. They were buried together at section I, plot A13 of St Mary the Virgin at Martham.
2. Emma Gertrude ALCOCK who was born in 1887. She died, aged only 12, in 1899 at Martham.
3. Elsie Clara ALCOCK who was born on 8^th March 1889.  She remained single and died on 20^th September 1975 at Loxwood Villa. Elsie was the last of the ALCOCK family to live at Loxwood Villa which was sold after her death to Mrs Cicely Tyson.
4. Blanche Elizabeth ALCOCK who was born on 4^th June 1891. She married Donald NICHOLS in 1924 at Great Yarmouth. She died in 1959 at Great Yarmouth.
5. Marshal William ALCOCK who was born on 19^th November 1893. Marshal grew up living with his parents. By 1911, when he was 17,  he was employed as a grocer’s assistant working for James William Bane at the Central Cash Store that was part of what later became Norwich House on The Green. This was significant because he later married James William Bane’s daughter Marguerite Alice Bane in 1924 at Great Yarmouth. James William Bane died in 1936 and Marshal & Marguerite took over the store that became known as M. W. Alcock. Marshal died at Norwich House on 8^th December 1949, aged 56. Marguerite continued to live in Martham until her death on 13^th January 1970.
6. Alfred Ernest ALCOCK who was born in 1896. He married Olive Margaret MORGAN in 1919 in Wales. He died on 24^th January 1963 at New Costessy Hospital, Norwich.
7. George Bircham ALCOCK who was born on 20^th November 1897. He married Maud Mildred TAYLOR in 1927 at Newton Abbot, Devon and died there in 1968.
8. Albert Frank ALCOCK who was born on 13^th December 1898.  He died on 21^st November 1948 at Loxwood Villa. He did not marry.
9. Charles John ALCOCK who was born on 22^nd April 1901 and as a young man  became a painter working with his father. He died, aged only 25,  in July 1926 and was buried at St Mary the Virgin, Martham on 22^nd April 1926 in an unknown grave.
10. Herbert Francis ALCOCK who was born on 2^nd November 1903. As a young man he worked with his father as a painter and in the late 1940’s worked with his brother, Marshal, as a grocer’s assistant at M.W. Alcocks store on The Green. He did not marry and died in 1971 at Great Yarmouth.
11. Harry William ALCOCK who was born on 5^th August 1906. He married Phoebe Eleanor PALGRAVE in 1938 at Great Yarmouth. He died in 1948 at 3 Railway Terrace, Rollesby Road, Martham aged just 41. His wife, Phoebe, died on 10^th January 1984 at 23 Rollesby Road, Martham. They were both buried at St Mary the Virgin but in an unknown plot or plots.
12. Thomas Edward ALCOCK who was born on 6^th November 1908.  He remained single and in mid-life worked for his brother Marshal at M. W Alcocks Store. He lived all his life at Loxwood Villa and died there on 9^th January 1963.

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