mary fulcher + charles bullen
Mary was on born in Yaxley on 28 June 1839 and baptised at St Mary on 4 August. She was the fourth daughter born to Thomas Fulcher and his wife Mary Hunt.
Mary married Charles Henry Bullen on 8 October 1868 at St Mary in Yaxley. Charles was born in Bury St Edmunds on 14 November 1840, the only son of Thomas George Bullen and his wife Margaret Debenham. Thomas Bullen worked as an Upholsterer in a shop in the Butter Market area of town but died in 1850 when Charles was only nine years old. Margaret carried on with her husband’s business and by 1851, the shop employed 8 men. In 1861, Charles was lodging at 56 Upper Huskinson Street in Liverpool while he completed his apprenticeship as an Upholster and his mother and sister, Susan Dora, were still living in Butter Market and running the family upholstery shop. Charles' older brother, Thomas George, articled as a law clerk and later worked as a solicitor in London.
Following their marriage, Mary and Charles settled in Bury St Edmunds and had three daughters — Edith Margaret in 1870, Mary Fulcher in 1871 and Evelyn Mary in 1873. Charles continued to work as an Upholsterer and took over the family shop from his mother in the late 1860s and built it up into a successful business; at the time of the 1871 Census, he employed 21 people including 2 clerks, 14 men, 3 boys and 4 females at his shop at 20 Butter Market. His wife and young daughters lived above the shop along with two house servants.
Sadly, after only five years of marriage, Mary died in 1874 leaving Charles to care for three daughters under the age of four. His mother and sister still lived in Bury St Edmunds and no doubt helped him and he also remained close to Mary’s family in Yaxley. In 1881, Charles’ sister left Bury St Edmunds following her marriage and several months later, his mother Margaret died aged 79 years. His daughters were all studying at Anne Fulcher’s boarding school a few streets away and Charles was the only family member listed at home at the time of the census. But by 1891, his daughters had returned home and lived with him above the shop for the next twenty years.
In 1911, his daughter Mary was recorded in the census at the Bron Y Graig Lodging House in Bala, North Wales. No other family members were listed with her so it is not known if she was living in Wales or simply visiting. One year later, Charles’ youngest daughter, Evelyn, married Harcourt Master in Bury in 1912. Harcourt was born in Rollesby, Norfolk in 1871, the son of Charles Truston Master and his wife Eliza. In 1911, Harcourt was living with his parents at Mistley Hall in Mistley, Essex and his occupation was listed as a gentleman of private means but ten years earlier, he was employed as a Coal Agent.
Neither Edith or Mary ever married and they remained at home until Charles’ death in Bury St Edmunds on 19 March 1923. He was listed as an auctioneer and valuer and he appointed his relative, Edward Percy Debenham, a solicitor to be the executor of his £70,000 estate. The details of his will are unknown but it is assumed the bulk of his estate was inherited from his older brother, Thomas George, in 1906.
Edith died at 40 Crown Street in Bury St Edmunds on 2 February 1954 and left at estate valued at £30 000 to her sister Mary. Evelyn died on 21 January 1960 at The Grange in Smallburgh, Norfolk; her husband Harcourt pre-deceased her six months earlier on 1 June 1959. Mary remained in the house on Crown Street for the next ten years and she died on 1 January 1965 at Planche Hall in nearby Thurston; her estate was valued at £60 000 but the beneficiaries are not known.