The Barritts of the Fenlands - Page 7
George, son of Samuel and Mary Barritt
The third son of Samuel and Mary, George was born on Feltwell Fen and baptised 1st June 1819 at Feltwell. At the age of twenty he married Martha, daughter of Jeremiah Kidd, a farmer, at Feltwell St. Mary on 12th May 1838.
They lived on Feltwell Fen where George was an agricultural labourer and where they had seven sons and three daughters. In 1873 George, like his brother Robert, was listed in the Register of Electors entitled to vote in the Western Division of Norfolk by virtue of having a freehold house and land on Feltwell Fen.
When Martha died in 1875, the family seemed to break up. All the elder sons had either married or died, leaving the three daughters and the youngest child, Samuel, who was just twelve years old. Mary Ann, the eldest daughter married the year after her mother died, Hannah married and went to King's Lynn and Rachel went into service at Nottingham.
In 1881 George was living at the Crown and Anchor, Southery, and was admitted to the Ely Union Workhouse on 16th March 1885. He died there of asthma and bronchitis and was buried at Littleport, 18th January 1887.
Martha Kidd was born about 1821, most likely at Lakenheath, and was only seventeen when she married George. She died of a diseased liver on 31st March 1875 and five days later was buried in the south eastern part of the churchyard of St. John Little Ouse. A headstone showing a Celtic cross marked the grave.
The church was declared redundant and sold, so in 1986 I obtained permission from the new owner to make a search of the churchyard, which I did with a relative, Louie Gill of Nottingham. Martha's headstone was the only one in our family that we could find. It was completely covered in ivy and coarse grass and it was only when we removed the overgrowth that we could read Martha Barritt in the inscription. Martha was Louie's great grandmother.
The following year I went again to St. John Little Ouse but could not find the headstone. The owner, with the Bishop of Ely's permission and after due advertising, had removed all headstones and placed them flat on the ground around. the perimeter of the churchyard. I found the stone, cleaned it up as best I could and became determined to remove it to Feltwell where Martha had been married.
It took seven months of negotiating, but eventually the re-siting was carried Out on Tuesday 10th March 1988 by four members of my family; Gordon Barrett, Marjorie Ellis, my son Martin, myself and Mr A. J. Orange of Feltwell Parochial Church Council.
In order to move the headstone, I had to write to or gain permission from many people before a Faculty was issued by the Chancellor of the Diocese of Ely. These were: Redundant Churches Fund; Feltwell Parochial Church Council; Church Commissioners; Miss Usher of St John's Church House, Little Ouse; The Bishop of Ely's Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches; The Registrar of the Diocese of Ely who required a fee of �29.13; The Rector of Feltwell.
Martha's headstone is now safe and sited at the edge of the Chancel Lawn of Feltwell St. Nicholas.
© Ron Barritt - March 1995