Landlords and Families at The Rose and Crown PH

 

The Rose and Crown PH on Wivenhoe Quay in 2020

Keith Bunting

The Rose and Crown was built before 1760 on part of Garrison House land. Seafaring and London connections are significant to the pub. Past landlords include a ships master, seaman and sailmaker. There have been many landlords over the years and families connected to The Rose and Crown P.H.

Rose and Crown occupants (ages in brackets)

1841:  Edmond Seaborn (30), Matilda Seaborn (25), Hephzebath Collen (22), Sarah Willier (25) all born Essex

1851:  David Durrell ( 60), Martha Durrell (wife,42), William Lee (Servant, 14 of Elmstead)

1861:  James Gardner (59), Jane Gardner (Wife, 35), & two sisters Eliza Turpin, 25 & Mary Turpin, 18 (both of Wivenhoe)

1871: James Gardner (62),  Jane Gardner (Wife, 45), Amelia Manford (servant, 17)

1881: James Gardner (innkeeper, 70), Jane Gardner (Wife  55), Jane Turpin Sr (Jane’s mother, 75) Beatrice Mary Hardy (James’ niece, 9 of Halifax, Yorkshire) & Mary Ann Kent (Domestic Servant, 20 of Wivenhoe)

1891: Jane Gardner (Wife aged 66) died 1900, Jane Turpin (Mother of Jane G aged 87), Annie T Burgess (aged 19), Beatrice Mary Hardy (Niece, 19) & Lucy J Smith (17)

1901:  Edgar James Went (Innkeeper, aged 50) born Brightlingsea, Marian Went (wife aged 38 born Clerkenwell), Olive Violet Went (daughter aged 8 born Highbury, London)

1911:  Edgar James Went (Innkeeper, aged 60 living at Quay Cottage), Marian Went (wife aged 48 born Clerkenwell)

Families living at The Rose and Crown

The Gardner family:  James and Jane Gardner are the longest serving landlords of The Rose and Crown (1861 to 1899). James was born about 1811 at Great Bromley near Wivenhoe. On 26 May 1845 he married Wivenhoe born, Jane Turpin at St Mary’s church Wivenhoe. On 15 May 1851 he qualified as a ships masters & mate and it’s possible that, like many other Wivenhoe publicans he continued working on ships, leaving the day to day running of the pub to his wife. They employed a variety of young local female servants, listed in the census, as 1871: Amelia Manford, aged 17,  1881; Mary Ann Kent aged 20 & 1891; Lucy J Smith, aged 17. When James died in 1895, Jane took over as landlord until the year before her death in 1900. James and Jane had many relatives lodging with them, including in Jane’s sisters Eliza  & Mary & James’ niece, Beatrice Mary Hardy who lived with them as a child for at least ten years from 1881 to 1891. By 1902 she moved back to Yorkshire and married. By 1881, Jane’s Mum, Jane Sr was  living at the Rose & Crown till her death on 10th July 1896, although she had spells in the Stepney Workhouse, from 15 Feb 1875 to 7 Jul 1877, and from April 1882 to January 1884.

The Went Family: Edgar Went was landlord for 10 years from 1901 to 1911. Born in Brightlingsea about 1851, by 1871 he’d moved to Chipping Ongar to live with the Hayward family, Robert & Lucy, their 3 children & 5 lodgers. He worked at their Grocer & Wine Merchants and did occasional work as an ‘able bodied seaman’ on ships. The 1871 census (inadvertently) recorded that on census night he was sleeping at the Grocers and the ‘Purveyor’ boat. In 1887 Edgar married Marian Roberts in Islington. By 1901 he’d taken over at the Rose & Crown, living there with his wife, Marian and their 8 year old daughter, Olive Violet. He remained for ten years, but at the 1911 census  he’d moved next door to Quay Cottage and his daughter Olive, now 18, moved to Tottenham. A year later in 1912, Edgar moved to Chelmsford to become landlord of the Cricketers Pub, where he stayed until 1917. He died, aged 73 in the Braintree area on 5 August 1924. Olive, at the age of 20, married Herbert Frost on Christmas Day 1913 at St Marks, Haringey and in 1939 was living in Romford. She died on  9 Oct 1967, aged 75.

The Davis family:  Charles B Davis was born in Wivenhoe on 3 August 1884. The census in 1901 lists him as a ‘shipyard worker’ and in 1911 as a single man and ‘ships Platers Helper’. His father, also Charles was landlord of the Blue Boar, Colchester, whilst from 1933-37 Charles Jr was landlord of the Rose & Crown. In 1939 he took over as the licensee of the Grosvenor Hotel, Wivenhoe. He died October 1962, aged 78.

Links to other pages on this website:

• The history of the Rose & Crown