Mark Pratt (1757-1832) and his wife Mary, nee Drake.

Mark PRATT was an example of a new breed of self-employed men who thrived in Martham as the village expanded in the early 19th century. He was a glove maker, which was a fairly unusual trade in the village, but more of that later. Mark was born in 1757 at South Walsham, Norfolk to James & Hannah Pratt and was baptised on 26^th April 1757 at St Lawrence with St Mary Church at South Walsham. When he was 28, he married Mary DRAKE, the daughter of John & Phillis DRAKE from Clippesby, on 18^th January 1785 and in a break with tradition, they married at the groom’s home parish of South Walsham.

Mark & Mary went on to have five children as follows:

1. Mark who was born on 2^nd April 1785 at South Walsham. He became a leather cutter which he probably learnt whilst helping out his father but later he moved to Great Yarmouth where he continued in that trade. He did not marry and died at Great Yarmouth in 1848.
2. Elizabeth who was born in 1788 at Martham. She was married twice, first to  Francis ALLARD on 18^th October 1828 at Filby and then again, after he died, to John PARKER on 24^th July 1838 at St Nicholas Church, Great Yarmouth. Elizabeth died in 1863 at Filby aged 76.
3. Mary who was born in about 1790. She remained a spinster and died in 1842.
4. Rebecca who was born on 21^st January 1797 in Martham. She also remained single and lived in Filby for many years, where she died on 6^th January 1877.
5. James who was born on 20^th May 1801 at Martham. He married Judith DYBALL on 29^th August 1819 at Rollesby. They lived in Great Yarmouth where James was a wine merchant and auctioneer.  Judith died in 1853 and James in 1869.

You can see from their children’s births that the family moved from South Walsham to Martham sometime between 1785 and 1788 by which time Mark was already a glove maker, a trade he no doubt learned from his father, who had the same occupation at South Walsham.  By 1807 Mark & Mary were living in a cottage in Repps Road, Martham that was owned by Rebecca Benslin, according to her claim form made under the 1807 Martham Inclosure Act.  

Mark must have done well in his business, or inherited money from his father, because later events tell us that he started investing in land and property. On 30^th November 1822 he bought some land on the north side of Repps Road from a farmer called John Carrier. Mark paid £150 for the field that was known as Clamps Close and measured three acres and twelve perches. Mark made a Will on 24^th November 1824 and left all his estate, including Clamps Close, to his wife Mary. Mark died in July 1832, and Mary inherited all his estate and made her own Will the following year naming her two sons, Mark & James as Executors.

About nine years passed and the first national census was carried out in 1841 and Mary could be found living in a cottage at Black Street with her daughters Mary & Rebecca. The land that Mark had purchased off Repps Road was listed the following year as plot No.49 in the 1842 Martham Tithe Award. It was let and helped provide an income for Mary as a widow.

A double tragedy then struck the family when Mary’s daughter, who had been born in 1790, died in early July 1842 followed by her mother shortly afterwards. Both were buried at St Mary the Virgin, Martham, Mary Jnr. on 11^th July and her mother on 18^th July 1842.

Mary’s Will instructed her sons to sell all her ‘land and properties’ which reflects what she had inherited from her husband. Her Will also made it clear that towards the end of her life she had informally agreed to sell Clamps Close to Daniel Manship. As Executors, her sons honoured this arrangement and in selling all their mother’s estate, also completed the sale of Clamps Close to Daniel on 20^th December 1843 for £250. 

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