William C Crumbleholme 1877-1973

Birth & Early Life : 

William Clarke Crumbleholme [Cro0250] (1877 - 1974) of Weymouth  (my grandfather)

1877 - 4th November : William Crumbleholme son of Richard Crumbleholme [Cro0245] and his wife Mary Ann (nee Hunt)[Cro0246] 

1881 : The Census - records him aged 3 years living at 5 Excelsior Terrace, Wyke Regis in Weymouth

Photographs below show William as a young man  :

Below : He was given the silver ink stand upon his retirement from the Regiment . His grandson (x 3)  William James Crumbleholme (b 2007) now owns this having been kindly been given it by (my brother) Bill Crumbleholme. (b1954)  

Below : A reprint of the title page of William Crumbleholme [Cro0250] 1st prize paper written in 1904. 

Marriage :

1909 : 25th December : William married Ethel Brown [Cro0251] daughter of Albert Brown on Christmas Day 25th December 1909.

Below : An article in the April 1952 Journal of the National Registration of Plumbers. 

William was certainly the oldest registered plumber in England at his death in 1973 aged 96 years. He gives some interesting facts about his early life. The annotations are William's. 

I can also recall him telling him that he also spent some time in G R Crickmay's Architects office in Weymouth after leaving school.

Children :

Daughter :  Vi (Violet) Dorothea  [Cro0256] was born on 13th May 1912 and married Robert Jolliffe (b12/11/1909 - d 4/2/2002). Vi died on 21st September 2010.  They had two son Anthony & St John. Sir Anthony Jolliffe was Lord Mayor of London in 1983.

Son  : "Dick"   Richard Albert Crumbleholme [Cro0254] (my father) was born on 1st May 1916 and died on 28th September 1998.

Ethel worked with her husband William in the family business founded by William's father Richard in 1889 : R Crumbleholme & Son based in Great George Street, Weymouth.  Ethel was in charge of the administration and the books becoming a very astute business woman. Together, they built a very successful business employing over 70 men before WW2 and owned many properties in Weymouth. 

23 Greenhill, Weymouth

William and Ethel built their new home at 23 Greenhill, Weymouth (photo above - the Portland Stone Bay was designed by local architect Crickmays; the identities of the two craftsmen are not known).  It was largely designed by their son Dick whilst at the Brixton School of Building in London and was completed just prior to the start of WW2 in 1939. 

WW2 - Ethel Crumbleholme was going to go down fighting !

There is a family story that Ethel had several guns and lots of bullets (obtained by her son Dick) and fully intended to use her shooting skills if a German invasion happened during WW2. Her vantage point was to be on top of the bay ! This bay top had a good parapet wall and the two craftsmen are shown standing in front of its access door. As a child, I can remember ditching bullets from our boat !

Another house on the same plot below Greenhill at 24 Melcombe Avenue was built afterwards and had to be left half completed during WW2. Dick Crumbleholme [Cro0254] lived there having married Pamela Mary Large [Cro0255] in 1948.  Their sons Richard (me - 4/8/1950) and William (my brother - 10/9/1954) were both born there. 

1954 - Ethel Crumbleholme [Cro0251] died 1st July 1954. (aged 67)

1961 - William Crumbleholme's recording of his "Ghost Story" (see file attached at base of this page). Made in 1961 when he was 84 years old. He recorded it with Bill Braines who was an old employee of his at the family business of  : R.Crumbleholme & Son Builders & Plumbers of Weymouth. It is a true story of a job out in the countryside of Dorset where William and his men were installing heating in an old manor house (c 1920/30 ?). 

William loved his craft especially leadwork and taught at the local Technical College for many years. His last job which he took on himself was lining the font in All Saints Church, Wyke Regis in lead. His great grandson Simon Richard Crumbleholme (b1978 - my son ) seems to have inherited his skills.

William dies :

1973 - William Clarke Crumbleholme [Cro0250] died on 14th March 1973 aged 96 years.

The Brown Family : 

(Ethel Crumbleholme (nee Brown) ’s family.) ( see Main Crombleholme family on Ancestry - see Home page)

1887 - 22nd May : Ethel Brown (William C’s wife) was baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Weymouth. Her parents are recorded as Albert and Jeanette Brown, living at Cove Cottage, Hope Quay, Weymouth. Albert is noted as a fisherman. It appears that Ethel was their only child.    (Source : Par Reg 1813-1906 page 8, entry 22, Holy Trinity Weymouth via Ancestry). 

Ethel’s mother was Jeanette Brown (nee Cox) who was born in Yeovil, Somerset in 1863. She married Albert Brown in Weymouth in July 1886. It is not known how they met.

1856 : Her father, Albert Brown was baptised at St Thomas Church in Lambeth, London on 10th August 1856. His sister Emily was also baptised at the same time although she was a few years older than Albert. Their parents were Abiah and Mary Anne Brown (nee Musgrove) living at 33  Webber Row in Lambeth although they both came from Devon. Abiah is recorded as working as a labourer. As will be seen below, the family moved around quite a lot.

1826 : Abiah Brown :  Born c1826 in Sidmouth, Devon. (Abiah is a biblical name meaning "God is my father”). His father was Thomas Brown. He is noted as 15 years old in the 1841 Census and living in Colyton Rayleigh in Devon. When married in 1846, he is recorded as a servant living at Greenland Place in St Pancras, London. His bride and father-in-law were also servants in the same place. By the time his first child was born in 1848, he and his wife were living in the Channel Isles at St Sampson (to the north of St Peter Port) on Guernsey. Abiah is recorded as an agricultural labourer. The 1851 Census notes that they were living in St Peter Port whilst in the 1861 Census they were in St Sampson on the island. They must have moved to Weymouth in Dorset shortly afterwards as a daughter Jane is recorded as being born in Weymouth in the same year. The family is recorded as living at 9 Rodwell Street, Weymouth and Abiah as being a fisherman. Abiah died in 1896 aged 70 and was buried in Weymouth.

1825 : Mary Ann Brown (nee Musgrove) : Born c.1825 in Sidford (just outside Sidmouth), Devon. In the 1841 Census she is recorded as 16 years old living in Sidbury, Devon. Her mother Elizabeth Drake Musgrove (nee Matthews) died in the same year. It is presumed that she moved to London with her father Henry Musgrove and that they both worked as servants at Greenland Place, St Pancras. She must have met her husband whilst they were both servants in St Pancras, London. She survived her husband dying in Weymouth aged 80 in April 1905.  

They married on 16th August 1846 at St Pancras Church, St Pancras, London.  Abiah Brown is noted a servant living at Greenland Place, St Pancras as was his bride Mary Anne Musgrove and her father Henry Musgrove. Abiah’s father Thomas Brown is recorded as “dead”.      They had 9 children :

Mary Jane Brown : Baptised 14th November 1848 nr le Havre (?) St Sampson, Guernsey CI; she sadly died 25th December 1849.

Alfred (Fred ?) Brown : Baptised 20th September 1850 in Guernsey (Channel Isles)

Emily Brown aged 18; 

Albert Brown aged 14

Henry Thomas Brown aged 12; 

Jane Brown aged 10; 

Maria Jane Brown aged 7; 

Anne Ellen Brown aged 3 

Elizabeth Brown aged 1.

The 1871 Census (above) is the earliest in which he is recorded : 

Albert is noted as aged 14, living in Rodwell Street, Weymouth and having been born in Surrey.

His father is noted as Abia (sic) Brown aged 45 and his mother as Mary Ann Brown aged 46. 

In the 1881 Census, Albert Brown is recorded aged 24 and living as a lodger with the Stordley family at 11 East Street, Melcombe Regis, Weymouth.

1886 July : Albert marries  Jeanette Brown (nee Cox) in Weymouth

Jeanette (or Jane) Cox was the daughter of Charles Cox a sawyer / carpenter who lived in Yeovil Somerset she was born 1862

In the 1891 Census, Albert Brown aged 34, is recorded as a fisherman living at Cove Cottage in Weymouth with his wife (Jane) Jeanette (nee ??) aged 28 and daughter Ethel Brown [Cro0251] aged 4.

Albert’s birth place is given as City of London whilst his wife’s is Yeovil in Somerset. Their daughter Ethel is noted as having been born in Weymouth.

In the 1901 Census, Albert Brown aged 44, is recorded as living at 5 Cove Row, Weymouth with his wife Jeanette aged 28 and their daughter Ethel [251] aged 13. There do not appear to be any other children. 

Below : Extract from Royal Commission  on Historic Monuments (RCHM) (Dorset) which gives the date of building of 5 Cove Row as June 1808 by William Fowler. The buildings were constructed on reclaimed land - part of the filling in of what is now Hope Square. The RCHM also has the a drawing for No 5 from the original lease.

Below : Listed Building Detail