In Search of a Cavendish Family

Lots of questions left to answer

Such as:

• Who was Emma Savage?
• Where were the hotels?
• How did they come by them?
• Who was William Savage?
• Why was Minnie Brown the “dear friend” of Emma Savage?

The more we looked, the more questions there were to answer.
Or not.
As with all history, there are still gaps and uncertainties. Some of what we have deduced has to remain conjecture.
We may seem to be presenting a lot of information here as "given fact".
We are fully aware that a lot of it is open to dispute.
A lot of the conclusions are based on a reading of Census and Registration material. We are well aware of the incomplete nature of a lot of this evidence, and the inaccuracy of some of it.
But we feel, after careful consideration, that a balance of probability means that we are near the truth.
Sandra’s letters add a lot of substance to the answers, or, at least, clues to those answers. The letters themselves are essential reading, and full of detail, but what follows here is a digest of the rest of the search.

• Dora Smith was born in Glemsford.
  In 1891 she was working at Sharman's Hotel, 144-6 Stamford Street, Lambeth.
• Sharman's Hotel was being run, in 1891, by Charles J Sharman, aged 25, and his wife Ellen J M Sharman. Charles was born in Cavendish. His father was Butler at Houghton Hall in 1871, living in the "porter's Lodge" with his wife, Catherine, and Charles.
  Ellen was born in Bloomsbury. They had a son Owen, who was 1 in 1891. Owen is referred to in Martha Brown's letter of 28 February 1894.
• In 1881, Charles was living in Acton, near Sudbury, Suffolk. At that time his father was Butler.
  The Foxearth and Dictrict LHS website carries this entry:
  March 7 1882: There was an inquest on James Sharman aged 42 and was butler to General Darvell of Acton Place. He was driving a pony and cart in Melford when the bit gave way and the animal bolted down Fitch Lane. Deceased jumped from the cart and landed on his head, he died that evening. The pony and cart were found overturned in the Hall Mill stream. Accidental death.

• According to the 1881 Census, 144-6 Stamford Street (Sharman's Hotel in 1891) was occupied by the family of Thomas May, a "Coffee House and Dining Room Keeper", aged 37, born in St Pancras, Middlesex.
• May's wife was Susannah, aged 40, born in Suffolk.
  Also resident at the time were their daughter Ellen, aged 14 (born St Pancras), and 3 servants.
• On August 25, 1888, there was a marriage, in Lambeth, at St John's, Waterloo Road, involving Charles J Sharman and Ellen Jane M May.
• Charles was registered as an "Hotel Keeper"; the couple's address is given as 144 Stamford Street. Charles's father was James, a Butler, and Ellen's father was Thomas, an Hotel Keeper.

• In 1871, Thomas and Susannah May (aged 27 and 30 respectively) were living at 13 Southampton Mews, Bloomsbury, with their children John (7), Ellen (5) (born St Pancras), Annie (3 - born Bloomsbury) and Henry (1).
• Thomas, a "cab proprietor", was born in St Pancras; Susannah was born at Cavendish in Suffolk.

• When the 1861 Census was carried out in early April, Thomas May (18) was living with his parents, Joseph and Hannah, at Hertford Place, St Pancras.
• Thomas was a Cab Driver, Joseph was a Cab Proprietor
• Thomas had older brothers, Henry and William, and a younger sister, Emma. All had been born in St Pancras.

• Also in 1861, a "Coffee and Eating House" at 28/9 Griffin Street, Lambeth, was being run by Joseph and Susannah Bird (aged 45 and 42).
  Joseph had been born at Limehouse; Susannah - at Cavendish in Suffolk.
• Griffin Street lay off the Waterloo Road
• They had two children (Annie, 10, and Joseph, 5) and two servants.
• One of the servants was Susannah Savage, aged 20, born at - Cavendish in Suffolk.
• On January 17, 1864, a marriage took place at St John's Church, Waterloo, between Thomas May, "minor", a Coachman, son of Joseph May, and Susannah Savage, "of full age", daughter of John Savage.
  Their residence at the time of marriage is given as "New Cut" - another of the roads off Waterloo Road.

• On 28 December, 1872, a marriage took place at St Pancras Church, between George Savage and Emma May. George was an "Omnibus Conductor", and the son of John Savage, Carpenter. Emma was the daughter of Joseph May.
  The witnesses of the marriage were Thomas May and
  Maria Savage.
  The newly married couple gave their address as 81 Drummond Street, St Pancras, which matches a reference in one of Emma's letters.
• A further hint lies in the presence in Cavendish, at the time of the 1881 Census, staying with John and Jane Savage (George, Maria and Susannah's parents), the 5 year old George MAY.
  Whose son he was, we are not sure, but we are sure of a clear link between the Savage and May families from the 1860s.
• Oh yes, and for neatness sake, in 1901, Thomas and Susannah May, "retired hotel keeper", were living, with their son Charles, on Beaconsfield Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire.
  Susannah's birthplace? Cavandish, Suffolk (sic).

So: my suggestion is, that Susannah Savage married Thomas May, and that HER brother George, through the family connection, met and married Thomas's sister, Emma.
And between them, through the light of experience in various forms of the hospitality trade, they started their hotel businesses.
The evidence seems to point at Susannah having moved to London first, followed by George, who began life in London in the cab/omnibus business, before shifting into the pub/hotel trade along with his wife, Emma.
And Emma went on to become the author of all the letters to Arraminta Brown.

That still leaves the matter of William Savage,
and where were these hotels?

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