What you are about to read is based upon information gleaned from the Ancestry family history website, together with some judicious internet searching through various White’s, Morris’ and Kelly’s History, Gazetteers and Directories of Lincolnshire and two publications: The Bassingham Story by Bill and Connie Wilson, and the late Helen Ash, edited by Rona Pounder (2015); and finally the Bassingham Village Walk leaflet from the early 1990s. In several cases I have made assumptions as there is often no way to discover what happened between dates for which I have concrete information, and also the censuses do not at any point give any further address details other than simply “Village Street”, “Main Street” or sometimes even nothing at all where these businesses/occupants are concerned. Because of this a certain amount of guesswork has gone into the following, but it is at least educated guesswork!
The sensible approach was to start with what and who we know and subsequently work backwards through the censuses and other sources, hoping to find the same proprietor in situ, or perhaps a name or location that looked right, and I believe that the trail has indeed led me back along the correct route to the earliest occupant, John Burt(t), which is where my account starts…
Our tale begins in 1760. In The Bassingham Story, there is mention of one JOHN BURTT/BURT opening a draper and grocery store in what is now called Green’s making him the very first person to sell from these premises. Nothing more is known of him, although it looks like he could have married Sarah Hutchenson/Hutchinson of Gainsborough in a Quaker marriage “at a Publick Meeting of Friends and others at a Friends Meeting-house in the City of Lincoln” on 16th May, 1770.
It is also possible that he died and was buried in Gainsborough in June 1797 as there is a record (below) of a John Burtt, “Shopekeeper of Gainsbro’” who died aged about 58 years on the third of the month, which would suggest that he left the village and headed the 20+ miles north to take up the reins in another shop; not entirely out of the question and so is most definitely a strong possibility.
The Bassingham Village Walk leaflet gives us a clue to the next occupant…
According to that document JOHN STORR and his wife Mary (née Thompson) were later (if not the next) owners and occupants of the shop and from the time of their Bassingham marriage on 28th April 1796 John supplied goods to the Poor Law Overseers. Turning next back to The Bassingham Story we learn that it was also during Storr’s tenancy in 1833 that a certain William Mosley, a labourer aged 27, was convicted of breaking into the shop (Green’s) and stealing 40 yards of blue woollen cloth, 15 yards of olive broad cloth, three handkerchiefs, and fifty shillings in cash, for which crime he was transported for life to New South Wales, Australia on the ship ‘Fairlie‘ the following year. It’s a very hefty punishment for a relatively minor crime but is indicative of the type of sentence handed down in Georgian times in an effort to stamp out even the most innocuous of crimes; they certainly didn’t believe in the reform and rehabilitation of criminals back then.
The story then moves to the various census and Directory/Gazetteer sources which are available to us. A glance at White’s History, Gazetteer & Directory of Lincolnshire for 1842 tells us that four “Grocers &c.” are listed and if we turn to the previous year’s 1841 census (below – taken on the night of 6th/7th June), the earliest such national count taken in this country, we can find all four. Of the names listed, the obvious one is WILLIAM STORR, who was born in Bassingham in 1803 (baptised 26th July), the son of John and Mary. By the time of the 1841 census he was a grocer and draper living with his wife Mary (born c1808 in Louth), son William Thompson Storr (aged 3), and daughters Mary (aged 2), and Rachel (aged 1) – all born in Bassingham – together with his sister Ann (who is about 25 years old and of “independent means”). There are also several others living in the house, namely George Sewards (a “shopman” aged 20 years), Thomas Ashling (an “apprentice” aged 15 years), and servants John Kirk (20), Sarah Sibsey (sic – I think that this should be Sibcy) (25) and Mary Smalley (25). Note that in the 1841 census enumerators were told to round the ages to the nearest multiple of five, so they are not particularly reliable. It’s a large family and with the various other people ‘living-in’ he would have needed to be in possession of a large property which also points towards the current building on the elbow of the High Street.
It is also interesting to note the number of professions in the village at this time, indicating local outlets for bakers, brewers, blacksmiths, boot & shoemakers, brick makers, butchers, corn millers and tailors, proving that it was a thriving little community in a time when there was no such thing as an old age pension and people had to work until they dropped otherwise there would be no food or shelter, save what was on offer in the Workhouse.
The Post Office Directory of 1849 lists Storr – and presumably his family – as being in the shop, and it is worth noting at this point that schoolmaster Robert Boole was nominated as the receiver of all things related to the Post Office itself because this was a service as yet unconnected with the shop. In fact the Post Office used to be located at what is now “Witham House”, down Newark Road, beyond the School and beyond “Yew Tree Cottage”. If you look closely you can see the location of the original posting box on the wall at the right of the frontage. It’s not until somewhere between 1892 and 1896 that the Post Office moves to the shop.
When the 1851 census was taken on the night of 30th March/1st April, Storr’s family were listed as being resident on “Principal Street” which must be the High Street. By now he is listed as a “Grocer & Draper employing 5 apprentices”. His wife, Mary is still there, as are daughters Mary (now aged 11 years) and Rachel (aged 10) together with new offspring Ellen (aged 2), Joseph (aged 4) and Charles Edward (aged 1). Incidentally, there is a headstone in Bassingham St Michael’s churchyard for a 4-years-old child, Sarah Storr, born in 1843; infant mortality during this period of history was probably at its peak. In 1851 the family was wealthy enough to employ a “live-in teacher”, 17-years-old Ruth Bainbridge who had been born in Lincoln, and “apprentices” Charles Strong Mansfield (aged 20, born in Lincoln), John Curtiss (18, Harby, Notts.), James Jackson (14, Northamptonshire), nursemaid Elizabeth Sibey (Sibcy again?) (aged 21, born in Stapleford, Lincs.), Elizabeth Theaker, a “cook” aged 23 from the village, and Peter Massey aged 11 from Skinnand, Lincs. who was employed as a “groom and porter”. Phew – that’s quite a houseful! In fact, it’s probably worth noting that, at fourteen residents, this was the largest household in the village in the 1851 census (which took quite a bit of doing, given the number of farms in the village).
Meanwhile back at the shop…
The next record that we can consult is the White’s History, Gazetteer & Directory of Lincolnshire of 1856 which indicates that Storr is still in situ, one of three “Grocers, &c.” now along with Joseph Newbut (sic) and Ellen Wilson, whilst Boole is still in charge of all Post Office activity. However, by the night of 7th/8th April – that of the 1861 census – whilst Storr appears as a “Retired Grocer & Wesleyan Preacher” and is still living in the village on the “Main Street”, he was now within a much reduced household comprising simply his wife Mary, daughter Rachel and son Charles, together with just one “housekeeper“, 18-years-old Martha Speed from Bracebridge. It is unclear as to whether the preaching had become his new occupation or whether that was something from which he had also retired. William Storr subsequently died many years later in Lincoln on 29th April, 1885 aged 82, and there is a large stone in Bassingham St Michael & All Angels’ churchyard commemorating him, along with several other graves for his wife and family.
And so we must now turn our attention to the new “Grocer & Draper” of the 1861 census, one JOSEPH HOLMES who was born in South Scarle around 1835. In the June quarter of 1860 he had married Betsy Jane Bayles (who was born in Riseholme around 1833) and living with them in Bassingham was his sister, Betsy (aged 23 and also from South Scarle) who was recorded as a “Draper’s assistant”; John P. Reynolds, a 19-years-old “Draper’s assistant” from Thrupp, Gloucestershire; and finally Ann Gibson, a 23-years-old “House Servant” from North Collingham, Nottinghamshire.
The 1881 census is a landmark document in that it actually recognises a more accurate address: the Holmes family is resident at the “Grocer’s Shop”. Although he is recorded here as merely a “grocer & draper” we can safely assume that he also continued with the other strands of his occupation listed previously. Wife Betsy and children Mary and George were still assisting him in his duties, but along with newcomers James Todd (22, born Bardsley, Lincolnshire) and Eliza Savage (22, born Beckingham, Lincs.) Also present was one Frances Dawson, a 28-years-old “Grocer’s assistant” born in Grainthorpe, Lincs.
The 1891 census has a little surprise in store for us; Joseph’s son WILLIAM BAYLES HOLMES was currently the Head of the Household as it would appear that his father was not at home. The clue to this is that wife Betsy was in residence, married, and was not widowed. In the brief absence of his father, William had clearly assumed the role of Head rather than his mother as was often the case in those days. Most of the live-in staff had also changed over the ten years since the previous census, and only draper’s assistant Fanny (Frances) Dawson remained, now joined by John H. Roberts (“grocer’s assistant”), aged 24, born North Somercotes, Lincs.), Alice Annie Fletcher (“draper’s assistant”, aged 19 and born in Branston, Lincs.), George W. Battersby (“grocer’s apprentice” born in in the village around 1863) and Sarah Coop, a “general domestic servant” born in Thorpe on the Hill and aged 23. The address this time was “Main Street” and this entry was immediately prior to the next record which was given as “Cross Street” which I take to be what is now Little Eastgate (although I could be wrong, but it certainly makes sense.)
Joseph Holmes died in the December quarter of 1894 and the business gauntlet was evidently picked up by his erstwhile partner as detailed in the 1896 Kelly’s Directory where Enderby is the sole proprietor and is recorded as being a “draper, grocer, provision merchant, baker, confectioner, flour & offal dealer, and Post Office” and we can therefore presume that it would have been his name over the door/window. An interesting addition in that Directory entry was that, for the first time, the Post Office services came under the auspices of the shop. However, by the time of the 1900 Kelly’s Directory, Mr Enderby’s brief tenure of the business had come to an abrupt end. He did not die until 12th December 1915 in Woodhall Spa, so he had presumably simply had enough.
Enderby had been replaced by JOHN MORSHEAD – that could well be him in the tinted postcard above – who was by now listed as a “milliner, draper, boot & shoe dealer, grocer, provision merchant, baker, confectioner, flour & offal dealer & insurance agent, Post Office.” Mr. Morshead had been a beneficiary named in Enderby’s will and clearly he did not feel cut out for teaching any more. Well, he was certainly going to be kept very busy by all of the businesses in the shop! He was also the sub-postmaster and as such was responsible for “Post, M O. & T. O., T. M. O., Express Delivery, Parcel Post, S. B. & Annuity & Insurance Office”, all of which I presume means that letters, money orders, parcels and telegraphy fell within his remit. Letters would arrive from Lincoln by horse conveyance at 8:30am and would be dispatched by 4:45pm. Morshead’s name is also the first to appear above the windows of the premises in the postcards and photographs that we have.
That same Kelly’s Directory of 1900 also sees the first mention of a significant rival to the shop; The Lincoln Equitable Co-Operative Industrial Society Limited (No. 16 branch) is listed with ARTHUR BATES as its manager and we know from photographs that this building was a mere stone’s throw away on the High Street close to the “Five Bells” public house. Occupants of the old shop would certainly need to diversify in order to fend off the threat from this giant intruder!
Mr. Morshead was still there in a series of sources including the 1901 Census, both the 1905 and the 1909 Kelly’s Directory, and the 1911 Census, the latter dutifully completed in his own fair hand. Mr. Morshead continued his occupation through the Kelly’s Directory of Lincolnshire, 1913, that of 1919 and, although public access to the 1921 Census is still pay-per-view, I know that Morshead was running the shop along with wife Fanny, 44-years-old Emily Jane Wells, and three as yet unknown others at that point. Confirmation of this can be found in Kelly’s Directory of Lincolnshire (1926) where we discover that he is still there. The final entries of his name can be found in the 1930 edition of Kelly’s Directory and that of 1933. John Morshead died aged 68 years in October of 1934 and you can read much more about his life, career in the Stores, and the circumstances surrounding his tragic death by clicking HERE.
Here is is a delightfully different view of the shop taken c1905 from a position at the end of Eastgate and looking north up the street. It captures both The Stores, “The Tall House” next door, and in the distance on the right we can see the “Five Bells” and the Co-Op. It has the inked “Bassingham” at bottom left which appears on so many village postcards of this time. (Again taken from the Bassingham Memories FB group)
The 1911 Census is interesting in that as well as confirming that the business was in possession of John Morshead, it also informs us that the building had ten rooms and was clearly one of the larger buildings in the village at that time.
He is still there in
And so we come to a new name in the final official document – for now – the 1939 Civil Registration, the data for which was harvested on 5th October. The UK Government enacted this as an emergency measure on 29th September in order to manufacture a system of identity cards with the requirement that they must be produced when required to do so, or be presented to a police station within 48 hours. It also helped the government to ascertain exactly who would be in need of ration books. The importance of this record to genealogists is increased when you consider that the 1931 Census records for England and Wales were destroyed by fire during the Second World War, and no census was undertaken during 1941 because of the fighting. This Register has a bonus in that it records the precise date of birth of those registered.
Here we find the name of ROBERT GREEN. Born in Lincolnshire on 15th September 1894, Green was wedded to Flora Harrison, their marriage registered in Lincoln in the December quarter of 1919. In the 1921 Census the Greens were living in Bassingham, although I do not know precisely where because I haven’t paid to find out. With them, however, was their infant daughter Betty Evelyn Green (her birth registered in Newark, December quarter, 1920). At the moment I do not know exactly when Green took charge of the shop but, once again, we have to presume that it would have been upon the death of the previous proprietor, so quite possibly in 1934. Certainly by the time of the 1939 Register we find that Green (from whom the shop obviously takes its name) was running these premises. We are told that he lived with Flora on the “High Street” and gave his occupation as “Grocer, Postmaster, & Farmer”, whilst Flora was responsible for “Domestic duties & assisting in [shop]“. There was also a third person in the household, the name of whom has been redacted as an “officially closed record” although this is almost certainly their younger daughter, Mollie A. Green (birth registered at Newark, September quarter of 1923).
I have no records for the shop beyond 1939, although it would seem that Robert Green had long since moved on By the time of his death at 5 Toynton Close, Lincoln, on 1st December 1972, aged 78 years. Probate records reveal that he left effects to the value of £6919 but to whom is not known, although it is more than likely that the beneficiary would have been his wife. Flora herself died and was cremated on 20th December 1991 in Lincolnshire, but again, there are no details as to precisely where.
And until we have full access to other records and details from 1921 that is about as far as I can go. I am pretty certain that all of the preceding information is correct, as I really do think that I have gone “down the right lines”, although perhaps we shall never know for sure.
Rushing right up to date, in recent years the business was run to great effect – winning several community awards in the process – by MICHAEL SAUNDERS and TRACY RAYBOULD before passing it on to new owners, KANA & FAMILY, in early April 2024.
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