The Balmer Family of Wooler and Gateshead
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Frederick Balmer and his wife Mary Ann Halliday had ten children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. The couple married in 1885 in Wooler and in 1891 were living in Cheviot Street. By 1901 the family had moved to Middleton Hall, Ilderton, where Frederick worked as a stockman on a farm. Later the family left Glendale and by 1911 its members were dispersed.
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Frederick Balmer seems to have been born in Tweedmouth, Northumberland in either 1847 or 1849. His parentage and origins are uncertain beyond the facts recorded at the time of his wedding that his late father was called Frederick and was a blacksmith by occupation. It is probable that Frederick was born in 1847 rather than 1849, and originally was named Roderick, and was the youngest but one of the five children of Frederick (or Roderick) and Jane Balmer. Frederick the father who worked as a blacksmith had died by 1851, when the family lived at Ford Forge. By 1871 the family had moved to Chatton.[Note 1]
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Mary Ann Halliday and her twin sister Margaret Jane were born in Wooler in 1864. Their parentage is also something of a mystery. In 1871 the twin sisters (aged 7) and their two younger brothers Robert (aged 2) and John (aged 2 months) were living with their grandmother Jane Halliday (b 1815) at Path Head, Wooler. Also living with Jane were her two children Margaret (aged 28) and George (aged 20). It seems probable that the young twin girls and the two younger boys were the illegitimate children of Margaret Halliday.[Note 2] In 1881 Mary Ann Halliday was working as a general servant in Alnwick.
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Mary Ann Halliday married Frederick Balmer on 20th May 1885 at the Glendale District Register Office in Wooler. Frederick was a labourer and Mary Ann a domestic servant. Frederick's father’s name, Frederick Balmer, and occupation, blacksmith, were recorded but no father was recorded for Mary Ann. Mary Ann’s twin sister Margaret Jane married Andrew Guthrie, cartman, on 6th June 1885 at the same Register Office. Again no father’s name was recorded for Margaret Jane.
In 1891 Frederick and Mary Ann were living in Cheviot Street, Wooler, with three young children Jane (8 years; b c 1883), Robert Albert (5 years; b 1886) and Thomas Frederick (2 years; b 1889). Also lodging with them was Robert Halliday (aged 22) who was one of Mary Ann’s younger brothers. In 1901 Frederick Balmer was working as a stockman and the family lived at Middleton Hall, Ilderton. By then they had five further sons: James (9 years, b 1892), George Halliday (7 years, b 1894), John William (4 years, b 1896), Sydney (3 years, b 1897) and Arwin Lindsay (4 months, b 1900). Another son William was born in 1902. By 1911 the family had moved from Wooler but had become dispersed. Frederick the father was working as coal miner and lodging with the Hurrell family at 30 York Street, Blyth. His wife Mary Ann (recorded as May in the census return) was living at 4 Back Row, Preston, near North Shields with one son John, aged 14, who was a ‘putter’ in a colliery. In the census return Mary Ann gave her occupation as 'char woman' and described her marital status as ‘separated’. This had been crossed through and ‘married’ inserted in a different hand. The census return confirms that she had nine living children, and records that another child had died. It is unclear whether the separation from her husband was by force of economic circumstance or due to marital discord, however it seems that the couple had reunited after 1911 because the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database gives the address of Frederick and Mary Ann Balmer as 13, Morrison Street, Gateshead, which is the address that Sydney Balmer gave when he attested in May 1917. Frederick Balmer the father died in early 1919 at the age of c 73 years. |
Frederick's and Mary Ann's eldest child Jane Balmer married Robert Foggon in 1909. Robert was a shepherd and was born in Sharperton, Northumberland. In 1911 the couple were living in Waterside House, Alnwick. They seem to have had only one child, a daughter Mabel, who was born in the summer of 1911. In 1921 Robert and 'Jeanie' Foggon were living at North Gate Morpeth with their daughter Mabel Clare. Robert Foggon was described as a farm steward and shepherd. Lodging with them is Jeanie's brother Robert Balmer (aged 34).
Jane Foggon died in 1970 aged 88 and her death was registered in the Durham North Western District, which comprised the civil parishes of Blaydon, Consett, Ryton, Stanley and Whickham, but her husband Robert may have died in 1923: the death of a Robert Foggon was registered in South Shields District in that year. Robert Albert, the second child and eldest son of Frederick and Mary Ann, may possibly be identified with the Robert Halliday Balmer listed in the 1911 Census working as a coal miner and lodging with Joseph and Hannah Young in Choppington. Although his age is given as 29 years rather than 24 or 25 years old, it is quite probable that neither Joseph nor Hannah Young knew his exact age. The combination of the names Halliday and Balmer echoes George Halliday Balmer who was certainly one of the children of Frederick and Mary Ann Balmer. Robert Balmer (aged 34) who as noted above was lodging with his older sister and her family in 1921, is described in the 1921 census return as a 'cripple' and 'unable to work' although his occupation is listed as 'stone work underground' and his employers as the 'Bebside Coal Company'. In 1911 Thomas Frederick the third child and second of son of Frederick and Mary Ann Balmer was staying in a lodging house run by a Mrs Mary Robinson at 12 Clark Street, Cowpen. He was working then as general labourer. There is no evidence that he ever married. The third son James, aged 19, was working as coal miner in 1911 and together with his youngest brother William, aged 9, was lodging with Watson Taylor Mills and his second wife Ellen Mills (née Robinson) who were both originally from Wooler. Watson Taylor Mills was a coal miner. He had married his first wife Margaret Ann Nicholson (b c 1860) in 1879, but she had died in 1901 and Watson Taylor Mills remarried in 1903. His second wife Ellen had been born in Wooler in c 1879. The couple lived at 10 Madison Street, Cowpen, and James and William are recorded as 'nephews' [Note 3] In 1914 James Balmer was living in Bebside and worked for the Bebside Coal Company. He married Agnes Weatherburn of Bebside in late 1914. In 1911 George Halliday Balmer , aged 17, was an ‘inmate’ of the Netherton Training School for Boys, Morpeth. His younger brother John Balmer was living with his mother and working in a colliery as already noted. Sydney Balmer, aged 11, was an ‘inmate’ of another industrial school - Green’s Home - in South Shields. Green's Home, or 'Green's Sailor Boys Home' was the shore-based junior establishment of the Industrial School Ship Wellesley, which was moored on the Tyne at North Shields. Sydney Balmer later worked at the Redheugh Gasworks, Gateshead. Lindsay Balmer aged 10 was an ‘inmate’ of the Abbot Memorial School, Durham Road, Gateshead, which was another industrial school.[Note 4] As noted above the youngest son William together with his older brother James were lodging with Watson Taylor Mills and his wife at Cowpen. |
Five of the eight sons Frederick and Mary Ann Balmer died in the Great War. There is no evidence that Robert Balmer served in the forces during the Great War.[Note 5] In 1915 Robert was living at Cavil Head, Acklington, near Morpeth, where his sister Jane and her husband were also then living. He did not marry. James Balmer (q.v.) seems to have joined up in September 1914 and was posted to the 9th (Service) battalion Northumberland Fusiliers and died in November 1915 aged 24. Thomas Frederick Balmer (q.v.) was a munitions worker and died from lyddite poisoning on 2nd January 1916. He was j27 years old.
Sydney Balmer (q.v.) was called up on 14th May 1917 and was serving with the 1/6th (TF) battalion Cheshire Regiment when he died of wounds in March 1918 at the age of 19.
Lindsay Balmer was born on 10th December 1900, and was registered under the names Arwyn Lindsay Balmer. He joined the Army near the end of the war but was too young to serve abroad. He was a bandsman with the 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Later in life he was recorded as Irwin Lindsey Balmer. In the 1939 Register, Irwin L Balmer was recorded as one of the lodgers in a lodging house run by Mrs Louisa Gliddon at 63, Blomfield Road, Paddington. Irwin Balmer was then 39 years old and working as a 'garage hand'. Irwin Lindsay Balmer had not married and died on 12th December 1954 in the City Hospital, St Albans, Hertfordshire. His home address was listed as 22 Holme Road, Hatfield Hertfordshire and probate was granted to his widowed older sister Jane Foggon. William Balmer (b 1902, Wooler) was too young to serve in the Great War. In 1921 aged 19, he was living with his widowed mother Mary at 13 Morrison Street, Gateshead. William was working for the Newcastle & Gateshead Gas Company at its Redheugh Works. Also in the household was a lodger Lawrence Bertram O’Brien, who worked as a 'road repairer'. William died in 20/05/2018 - 03/11/2021; 27/11/2022; 01/03/2024; |