abraham ashton + judith bryant
Abraham was born in Donyatt, Somerset in 1833, the eldest surviving son of Edward Ashton and Sarah Lang. He apprenticed as a Shoemaker in Chard but later moved 100 miles north to Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. On 23 February 1859, he married Judith Bryant at St Mary and one year later, on 12 March, their first daughter, Louisa, was born; when she was baptised at St Mary on 27 May, Abraham and Judith were living at 2 Russell Street.
Judith Bryant was born in Cheltenham in 1837, the daughter of Frederick and Judith Bryant. Frederick Bryant was also a Shoemaker and it is possible that Abraham worked for him when he arrived in Cheltenham.
In 1861, Abraham and Judith were still living at 2 Russell Street along with their one year old daughter but Abraham was working as a book-binder maker rather than a shoemaker. Judith’s occupation was listed as a shoebinder, someone who stitched the shoe together before the sole was nailed on, a trade she no doubt learned at home while working with her father.
Abraham and Judith had two more children, Frederick Edward, born in 1866 and baptised at St Mary on 20 May, and William born in 1870 and by 1871, they had moved to a larger house at 26 Beer House on Townsend Street and Abraham returned to work as a shoemaker. Also living with them were Judith’s parents and her uncle, William, who was also a Shoemaker. Frederick Bryant’s occupation was listed as Gentleman which may indicate that he had retired and possibly passed his business on to Abraham or other family members.
Their two sons were later followed by two daughters, Edith Kate was baptised on 9 March 1873 at St Peter and Clara Helena baptised on 11 July 1875 at St Mary. At some point between the two censuses, Abraham made a rather dramatic career change from Shoemaker to Publican and in 1881, he was managing The Royal Foresters public house on Townsend Street and living above the premises with his family. Their daughter Louisa had left home the previous year when she married William Addis and moved to 3 Syndham Terrace in Wotton St Mary, a small village between Gloucester and Bristol, where William Addis was employed was as a Shopman in a sewing machine factory.
Their two sons Frederick and William also left home after marrying. Frederick married Clara Speary on 22 October 1887 at St Peter and they were living on the High Street with their children, Wallace and Sidney, but sadly, Sidney died only months after the 1891 census was taken. Frederick was employed as a Hairdresser although it is not known whether he was managing or working in the shop. One year after their son’s death, Frederick and Clara had a daughter called Gladys Ada.
William was working as a Plumber when he married Louisa Leech at St Mary on 15 June 1889. One year before their wedding, their daughter Maud was born and her birth was registered under the name Leech. In 1891, William was away from his family and working as a plumber in Birmingham while Louisa stayed in Cheltenham with her daughter and her brother William but he later returned to Cheltenham and settled into work as a House Painter. They were living at 5 Marlborough Place when their son, William James, was baptised at St Mary on 18 August but he died only a few months later.
Abraham and Judith’s youngest daughters, Edith and Clara, did not marry and remained at home with their parents. Abraham continued to manage the pub on Townsend Street in Cheltenham until his death on 22 November 1891 and he left an estate valued at £156. Abraham was buried at Cheltenham Cemetery on 26 November.
It is not known whether Judith gave up the tenancy on the pub after Abraham’s death or if she continued to run it herself but by the next census in 1901, she had moved to 17 Beaufort Buildings, which stood between Portland Square and Albert Place, along with her two daughters and niece Florence Alcock. Also in the home was 6 year old Rupert Ashton who was listed as Judith’s son but he was in fact her grandson, Hubert, born on 3 December 1894 to her youngest daughter Clara. Hubert was registered under the name Ashton and when he was baptised at St Mary on 18 August 1895, no father’s name was listed on the register. His mother appeared as Clara Ashton, single woman, living at 17 Portland Square in Cheltenham.
On 18 February 1904, their daughter Edith died in Cheltenham aged only 31. She was living with her mother and sister at 17 Beaufort Buildings and probate on her £265 estate was granted to her brother-in-law, William Addis. She was buried at the Cheltenham Cemetery on 23 February. Five years later, the family suffered three more losses when Frederick, aged 42, Clara, aged 33, and William, aged 38, all died within months of each other.
Frederick died in Warwick in January although his family had been living in Cheltenham up until the 1901 census. At that time, Frederick was working as a Hairdresser from his home at 3 St Georges Street along with his wife but it also appears that they were running a lodging house as they had eight lodgers including Clara’s younger brother Sidney. Following Frederick’s death, Clara left Cheltenham with her daughter and worked as a Domestic Servant in Carshalton in Surrey while Gladys worked as a Nurse Domestic for the Secker family in south west London. Her son Wallace married Florence Harker in 1912 and later moved to Banbury in Oxfordshire where they raised their seven children. Clara Speary married a second time, to Fred Trusler, in Epsom in 1918 but Gladys has not been traced beyond 1911.
William Addis once again acted as the executor for the family when he managed Clara’s estate and also took over responsibilty for her 14 year old son Hubert. William and Louisa had moved back to Cheltenham where he worked as a Caretaker at the Public Library for over 20 years and in 1911, they were living at 2 Jersey Place along with Hubert.
William and his wife Louisa had seven more children between 1896 and 1907 leaving Louisa a widow with a large family to support. In 1911, Louisa and six of her children were still living at 5 Marlboro Street but it does not appear that she was working and there is no indication of how she was supporting the family. Her eldest son was working as an Errand boy and the remaining children were all attending school. Louisa died in Cheltenham in 1932.
After losing three children in one year, Judith Bryant died in Cheltenham on 15 December 1909 and and was buried at Cheltenham Cemetery three days later.
Louisa Addis was the last surviving child of Abraham and Judith and she died in 1944 having been predeceased by her husband William in 1937. In 1939, she was living on Montpellier Parade in Cheltenham in a retirement home. The research on Abraham and Judith's family is not complete but the line continues with 11 grandchildren and more than 30 great-grandchildren, many of whom remained in Cheltenham.