Lost & Found: George Robert Lendrem 1822-1892

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 6^th 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 26^th 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 24^th, 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.