ann elizabeth fulcher + william lankester
Ann Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas and Charlotte Fulcher, was born in Yaxley and baptised at St Mary on 11 February 1819. She married William Lankester at St Mary, Yaxley in August 1845.
William was born in Old Newton, a small village just outside Stowmarket, in 1804 to William Lankester and Elizabeth Posford. In 1841, he was farming in Dagworth before moving back to Bridge Farm, in Old Newton in 1851 to take over the farm from his father.
Ann and William’s first son, William Henry, was born in Old Newton in 1846 and although he was blind from birth, he had a natural musical talent and went on to work as an organist and music teacher. Their second son was born one year later and was strangely christened William as well — William Frederick Eustace — but was commonly called Fred.
Ann and William had three more children: Charlotte in 1852, Joseph Antrim in 1854 and Catherine Mary in 1857 who were born at Bridge Farm. With help from his brother Robert, William expanded his farm from 270 acres in 1851 to almost 500 acresby 1861.
Ann Fulcher and William Lankester welcomed their sixth child, Edith Emily, in 1865 but five years later, William died and was buried in the church yard at St Mary, Old Newton on 9 July 1870. He left an estate valued at £5000 which was a substantial sum in 1870. Ann and her children remained at Bridge Farm for the next 30 years. When the 1871 Census was taken, Ann was in Westleton visiting George Lankester at his Grocer’s shop. He was most probably William’s brother and Ann may have been meeting with him to settle details related to William’s estate which was not proved until July 1871. While Ann was in Westleton, her sister-in-law Eliza was staying at Bridge Farm with her family and several other Lankester relations.
Ann’s son Fred married Sarah Harrison in Ipswich in 1876 and they had three children. Fred moved to West Ham in the late 1870s after obtaining a job as a Conductor on the railway but by 1891, he was working as a Commercial Traveller and still living in West Ham with his family. He died in West Ham in 1895 but his family remained in the area.
Charlotte married James Hughes in 1879. James, originally from Staffordshire, was a Chemist and Dentist and had a shop in Bognor Regis, Sussex on the south coast. Following their marriage, James and Charlotte returned to Bognor Regis and lived on Steyne View for the next thirty years. They did not have any children and following James’ death in the early 1900s, Charlotte returned to Bridge Farm and acted as Housekeeper for her brother William.
Joseph Antrim Lankester remained on Bridge Farm and helped his mother run the farm. He married Ellen Shearing in 1903 and later moved to his own farm called The Firs near Stowmarket. Ellen was twenty years younger than Joseph and widowed with two children. Her son, Leonard Bedwell, was boarding at Framlingham College but daughter Olive remained with her and Joseph at The Firs. A year after their marriage, they had a son of their own, William Joseph Lankester. Joseph died at the National Hospital in Bloomsbury on 7 July 1913.
Ann’s two youngest daughters, Catherine and Edith, never married and Catherine remained on the farm with her family for her entire life as did her elder brother William. Edith also appears at Bridge Farm in every census except 1881 when she was attending school at her cousin Ann Fulcher’s Ladies Boarding School in Bury St Edmonds. Edith died in Old Newton on 14 August 1895 but Catherine’s death record has not been located. William Henry Lankester died in 1924.
Ann Elizabeth died in Stowmarket in 1911.