THE THORPE FAMILY IN ELFORD

My Family Link with Elford

During my research into my family history I discovered that my great-grand-mother, Clara Thorpe, on my fathers side was born in Elford in 1849. The daughter of Charles, who worked at the flour mill, she left home as a young woman and went to work in service in London. There she met Frederick Brooks, a book-binder, married him and had three sons one of whom was my grand-father.

I wanted to know more about Clara's background and where she was born so I visited Elford in August 2000. I was enchanted by the village. It lies nestled in a quiet backwater and accessed by a single road. With no through road to speak of it is incredibly peaceful. Many of the houses and cottages date back to the 18th century.

After some research I traced the line back to Thomas Thorpe born after 1750 . Clara's father, Charles, worked in the mill at Elford but as he got older (in his 60s) he was listed in the census as a labourer. Without the modern social services to fall back on people worked until they were too old, sick or they died.

In April 2001 I visited the village again and was able to look at the parish registers (Thanks to the kind help of Mr & Mrs P. Hodgetts). I discovered that Clara's mother, Caroline, lived until the age of 86 and was buried in 1910. I found a reference to Clara's sister, Mary Emily, who married Charles Lovelock in 1894 and then I discovered a skeleton in the family closet. A Fanny Thorpe, aged 40 and "illegitimate daughter of Clara Brooks (Thorpe)", married Fred Tustin, aged 33 in April 1909. Clara married my great grandfather, Frederick Brooks, in 1877 in Bayswater, London. She was working in service at the time of her marriage. The 1881 census shows Clara's parents, Charles and Caroline, living in Elford with a grandaughter, Fanny aged 12. This then is the illegitimate child left behind with the parents while Clara went to London. I was surprised at the number of baptisms of 'bastards' as they are described in the registers. It would seem that having children out of wedlock was not uncommon in the nineteenth century.

There is much more work to do on this branch of my family tree. Many more Thorpes lived in the next village of Clifton Campville and my next task is to look at the parish registers there. Also, there was a gap in the Elford registers from 1812 to 1872 and I am hoping that the Lichfield Record Office may be able to fill it.

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