Benjamin Ginn of Royston d. 1859

The Royston Ginns seem to have been involved with virtually every occupation involving inns and coaching.  Benjamin here, son of Benjamin in my post of  19th March 2013, was no exception, being variously described as an ostler, maltster, postboy (postilion), post chaise-driver and alehouse keeper. 

In their early married life the couple lived in Royston High Street, suggesting that they lived in one of the inns (as Ben Snr had done) though I doubt that it was the ‘Black Swan”.  Keziah has not been researched but would appear to have been about 34 when she married, suggesting an age of 48 or so when she had her last child.  There does not appear to be an entry in the Royston burial register, but is it known through an M.I. that Keziah died in 1834, quoted as being 54 years of age.  In 1837 Ben remarried Charlotte Beale, a spinster from an old Royston family of bakers and millers.  She was 39 and they only had the one child, Emma, but sadly she died in infancy.

                                           Barkway church

It took me many years to work out, but by the early to mid 1840s the couple had bought the "White Horse" public house in Barkway, selling this in 1849 and buying the “Fox and Duck”, an alehouse on Market Hill in Royston which is now, alas, no more. (see papers from Rowley & Sons (Estate Agents & Auctioneers) at CRO (ref. 296/B330).
 

Ben Jnr died in 1859, he was 70 and is mentioned on his eldest son’s M.I. Charlotte took over the pub and was running it throughout much of the 1860s and later.  Sadly she died in the workhouse in 1882; she was 83.

Benjamin and his wives had a number of children

William - he married Mary Livings in 1838 but they did not have any children.  Originally an ostler and postilion, William was the landlord of the “Catherine Wheel” pub in Melbourne Street for a great many years.  It was discovered in 1998 that he also owned and ran a small firm called “Ginn & Co’ from the same address.

Ginn and Co is not (so far as I know) mentioned in any surviving directory, but the sale particulars of the stock are mentioned in the personal name index to be found at the Cambs Record Office: the auction details were deposited there.

It appears that William ran a small omnibus enterprise from the pub, this consisting of two horse drawn vehicles with a respective capacity for 11 and 7 passengers.  It seems likely that this (obviously limited) service provided transportation to Cambridge, though he had stiff competition as Royston was on a major coaching route, the reason for the vast number of inns in the town.

A number of books have been written on the development of the Hertfordshire railway system, all are universal in their mention of the devastating results for the various omnibus services.  The Hitchin line was extended to Royston in October 1850, and it is no surprise to find that within a year Ginn and Co was no more, William putting the stock up for sale in the autumn of 1851.

Still running the pub, William died in 1868: he was 53.  There is a large monumental stone in Royston churchyard which mentions him, his parents and a number of his brothers and sisters.  Mary died in 1907: she was 94 and is also mentioned on the memorial.

Benjamin - see later post

Thomas - a coachman.  He worked in London, never married and his body was sadly pulled out of the Thames near Upper Mall, Hammersmith on 3rd April 1881.  He was 62, and although the Inquest verdict is unknown it is not thought that the drowning resulted from foul-play

Eliza - died unmarried at 21.  She is noted on her brother’s MI.

Hester - It was the local historian, Tom Doig, who discovered the marriage of Hester.  She married John Taylor at Barkway Independent Chapel in 1843.

George Henry - as a young man he helped out in the local shops.  He died at Tilbury in 1861 (aged 33) but the death was registered at Royston and he is on his brother’s M.I.  He is presumably buried there.  It is not believed that he ever married.

Ann and Emma - both died in infancy,  Emma is buried at Barkway