The first letter (From Emma to Minnie) Sandra sent me was dated 17 June 1902.
My response to it was:
I can't, immediately, place the Savages, but I'll have a good look. The reference to "peace" in 1902 rings bells. The first interest I had in Glemsford's history grew out of studying the school log books -
and the end of the Boer War caused quite a stink in the village, which is referred to in the books!
So I wandered off into the records I could find on-line. On 18 April, I replied:
The Savages have been giving me real bother, particularly that letter of 1902 which has "E Savage",
living at Hill House, Glemsford.
There are two possibilities here (I'm thinking as I type): either it could be Mill House, or
what is now Hill House Farm, which is next/near to Brick Kiln Farm on the Lower Road, the main road which runs from Cavendish
to Melford.
I mention both, because the only Savages I can find on the census in the Glemsford area lived in Cavendish,
but every family was too poor to have even thought of having servants - they were more likely to BE servants!
BUT: a little further afield, there was a rather more prosperous Savage family in Great Thurlow (about 10 miles)
who were Millers. They had a daughter Ellen of about the right age to be "acquainted" with the Brown children
(how, I wouldn't know).
Unfortunately, neither the 1891 nor 1901 Census shows them with servants.
How, in retrospect, I could wish I’d never typed that!
We can eliminate the Great Thurlow connection (unless you know better!) – they seem to play no part –
but that reference to the Cavendish Savages being “too poor to have even thought of having servants”
now makes me curl up with embarrassment.
Anyway, just to prove I’m not entirely stupid, I added:
But I think there's another clue.
The letter from E Savage talks of their having been "in town all last week saw Rillo and Gersham they are alright",
which suggests they travelled up to London and back on a regular basis, which might explain why Brick Kiln Farm,
for instance, in the 1901 census was occupied only by 2 servants - Annie Wright (23) and Tom BROWN, a gardener (74).
The owners were away.
Not earth-shattering wisdom, but I was then somewhat startled to be able to report:
as I've been typing, I've had my machine earning its money, searching London for Savages
[in the 1901 Census], and lo and behold, I have the following:
At 88/90 York Road, Lambeth (which is basically Waterloo), William Savage (33) was living with his wife Ellen (31).
He is listed as a Hotel Manager (although whoever finished off the census wrote in "pub" above Hotel!).
He was born in Sudbury, she in Regents Park, London.
8 people are listed as employees in this place, including 2 from Suffolk, including one from Glemsford.
Name? Ferillo Brown.
Age: 24
Occupation? Cook.
I wrote at the time that the earlier references to Rillo and Gersham, and the last, to Ferillo, identifiable as children of George and Susanna Brown, represented one of those “Gotcha moments”.
As it turned out, not quite in the way I thought!