Eighteen years ago, I started looking for my great-great-grandfather – George ‘Robert’ Lendrem – of Barnard Castle. And, this week, with the help of the Teesdale Mercury Archive, I finally got to visit his grave. It was not where we expected.
When my father died in 2003, we inherited
a partial family tree on a piece of paper. At the top was 'George Robert Lendrem
1822-1892, Barnard Castle'. We knew from
my father and grandfather that Robert was a Barnie man. We were very fond of the town and as kids in
the 60s we visited our great-aunt 'Auntie' Jane and her husband 'Uncle'
Bob and played down by the river. A note in the margin of that piece of
paper marked him as 'Drowned' and, in brackets, 'Irish Sea?' And so began
the search for Robert Lendrem and the mystery surrounding his death.
And it was the Teesdale Mercury
Archive that led to the breakthrough.
Robert was born George Robert Lendrem
in Ashfield, Cootehill in Ireland. Like many young Irishman he left to seek his
fortune in the 1840s. Robert travelled
to Barnard Castle where he found work in the mill at Barnard Castle. There he met
Jane Wigham - the mill owner’s youngest daughter. It seems she falls for his Irish charm and
the couple are wed on the 6th April 1845. With the Irish connection, the Irish Sea is
looking like a good bet. Perhaps he drowned on a return visit to Ireland?
To clinch it we find a death
certificate for a George Robert Lendrem in 1893 on the Irish coast. Surely
confirmation of the Irish Sea Theory?
But no. This was another George Robert
Lendrem. Born in 1892. An infant death.
By
1851 our George Robert is working in the mill as a carpet weaver. They have a
daughter Mary Ann and they live in 36 Bridgegate near the mill. Most of their
neighbours living in Bridgegate work at the mill.
Fast forward ten years later and they are now living
in 128 Bridgegate to accommodate their growing family. Jane is now working as a
minder at the mill and though still at school the eldest daughter Jane is
looking after the younger children Sarah, Charlotte, William, Robert and baby
Catherine.
By 1871 Robert and Jane are living at 65
Bridgegate. Robert is still at the woollen mill and girls - Mary Ann, Sarah and
Charlotte - are all working as minders at the flax factory. The boys William
and Robert have joined their father and are working as carpet weavers. The two youngest
– Catherine and George – are both at school. And Mary Ann has an illegitimate
daughter – Sarah Jane – Robert’s first grandchild.
Then, in 1878, Jane dies and Robert loses his
wife for over thirty years. He moves to
a smaller house on Bridgegate – number 90 – where he lives with his daughter
Catherine and his son George. Catherine is a domestic servant and George is an
apprentice clogger. Robert may be
getting on a bit but he’s still working - as an overlooker at the flax factory.
Fast forward again to 1891. Robert has retired and is living alone at 94
Bridgegate. His health is deteriorating and there is some concern about the
balance of his mind. Perhaps this is when
he drowns? In Barnard Castle? Robert wouldn’t be the first to fall into the
Tees and drown? A well-known poacher,
his second son, Robert, knows the Tees well.
In between appearance before the magistrates for salmon poaching, the Teesdale
Mercury reports that Robert’s knowledge of the river is often called upon to recover
bodies from the Tees.
Concerned
about his father, his eldest son, William invites his father to share Christmas
in Hallgarth Street in Durham – with his wife Sarah, and their children –
Robert’s grand-children. But it seems that
Robert is reluctant to return to Barnard Castle. On 24th January 1892 he sets off for a walk
along the river with his grand-daughter Jane. Part way he turns her back,
sending her home to continue his walk alone. Robert goes missing that day. Despite an extensive search, Robert simply
disappears.
It’s
not until May 26th 1892, four months later, that two boys - George
and Thomas Oliver - are playing by Fatfield bridge about ten miles downstream
from Durham when they find his body. The
body is recovered from the river but is badly decomposed. Mr Graham, the coroner, calls an inquest at
the Dun Cow Inn in Fatfield. The
verdict? ‘Found Drowned’. The body is interred immediately in St
George’s Churchyard, Fatfield. Later that week, his eldest son William,
identifies the body from the contents of Robert’s pockets – a silver snuff box
and a white-handled pocket knife.
The
following year, the Teesdale Mercury carried a short notice to mark the
anniversary of Robert’s death.
In sad and loving memory of George Robert Lendrem, of
Barnard Castle, who departed this life January 24th, 1892. He is
gone but not forgotten. Never shall his memory fade.
And
it won’t. At least not for a few more
years.
Mystery
solved - Robert did indeed drown. But
not in the Irish Sea as we thought. Nor
in the River Tees at Barnard Castle. But
in the River Wear at Durham. And he was
taken in by the people of Fatfield and buried in St George’s. William marked his father’s grave with a
simple headstone. Sadly, this was lost when the Old Churchyard closed in 1971. But with the aid of an old map and the help
of the Rev Nick, with Jo-Anne and Lorraine in the Church Office we found his
grave.
