LOIS SOANES 1828-1917
Smoking the herring. Lowestoft
www.taleoftheherring.com
I was intending to write Lois' story under the theme of 'Steps.' However this was not to be, but I hope that you will agree that 'stormy weather' certainly features within her story as much as the various 'step' relationships.
Lois was born in Corton, a village neighbouring the port of Lowestoft in Norfolk the 2nd surviving daughter of Robert Taylor Soanes and his wife Esther, nee Youell.
By the 1841 census, a widowed Esther is a shopkeeper in Corton. I have previously written about Lois' brother, John Soanes, who in later life became caretaker of Lowestoft yacht pond, now it is his sister, Lois' turn to take the spotlight.
Map of the coast from Lowestoft and Yarmouth including Gorleston and Corton.
In 1846 Lois married local fisherman of Corton, George Charles Hannant, at St Batholomew Church, Corton, on 19th Jul.
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Sadly baby George's life was very short and he died at just 11 weeks old and was buried on 26th March 1849, again at Corton Church. (Information from the National Burial Index.)
Lois and George Charles' eldest daughter, Maria, was born on 16th April 1850 and was baptised at Corton on May 19th of that year.
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The 1851 census shows Lois, George and their 2 children living with her widowed mother, Esther on the High Street in Corton. Lois married sister Mary Ann (Hewson) is living there too.
Just over year later, another daughter was born in January, Sarah, she too was baptised at Corton Church on Feb 6th 1853.
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A second son, named George was born on 17th September 1854 and was again baptised at Corton Church on 25th November that year.
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Sadly, a year later, tragedy was to strike Lois and her young family, when her husband, George Charles Hannant, died on the 29th May 1855. 
The Grave monument reads:-
www.gravestonephotos.com
George Hannant who was drowned with all crew 29th May 1855 whilst engaged in Mackrell fishing aged 28
A newspaper report of the event was printed in the Norfolk News on the 9th Jun 1855. (partial transcription)
Loss of the 'Ruby' and her crew.
On the night of Tuesday the 29th ult, we were visited, as our Yarmouth readers know, by a very severe gale indeed, which although abated somewhat the next morning, blew without interruption for the two following days. Anxious fears were felt and expressed which had to brave the hurricane on the open sea, none of which boats entered the roads at their usual time. On Friday morning, however all, over 100, but one had returned home. The exception being the 'Ruby', belonging to Mr G Byford.....
.... A report by the crew of the 'Whimper' stated that on Tuesday night, they had seen at a distance, a fishing boat in distress, and at daybreak of the Wednesday, they had picked up a quantity of spurs and pods which they saw floating about......
..... the conclusion that the 'Ruby' had foundered at sea was further indicated when further spurs and equipment belonging to the 'Ruby' were picked up by Mr Byford's sister boat on it's next trip to the fishing grounds....
The Ruby was supposedly approx 30 miles from Yarmouth when she foundered, on board were 8 men and a boy.
John Huson, master. (35) of Corton.
George Hannant, mate (28) Corton.
James Newson (38) of Flixton.
George Mitchell (22) Corton.
William Crisp (40) Corton.
David Bullen (19) Yarmouth.
James Pye (19) Corton.
George Davey (24) Hardley
and
William Mitchell (16) Corton.
By the time of the 1861, Lois and her family had moved to Whitesman Lane in Gorleston. Her children, Charles aged 14 is now citing an occupation of 'fisherman', Maria and George are with their mother, whilst her daughter, Sarah, is staying with her paternal grandparents, Thomas and Hannah Hannant in Corton. Lois' mother, Esther is visiting. Surprisingly there is another son listed, Samuel, aged 3 born in Gorleston. Lois also had a lodger, Samuel Glasspoole, a fisherman.
Samuel Glasspool Hannant was baptised on the 8th November 1857 at Gorleston Church, mother Lois, father Samuel Glasspoole, fisherman. A second son, John Glasspool Hannant was born in census year, 1861.
Tragedy struck Lois and her family again in 1862, her sister died on 31st August of Phithis. However 3 weeks earlier on the 11th August, her son, George was drowned, having fallen into the river, despite attempts to save him, his Grandfather, found his body washed up on Corton beach.
Ipswich Journal 30th Aug 1862Less than 4 months later, Lois found herself alone again as Samuel senior died in August of 1867, leaving her with 7 children the eldest aged 21, the youngest 3 months. However before the year had ended yet another tragedy was to befall the family.
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Charles had married Martha Snow in 1866, he now left a widow, a 2 year old son, born before Charles and Martha married, Albert Hannant Snow and an as yet unborn son, William Charles Hannant.
Upsetting of the Gorleston Salvage Lifeboat at Yarmouth
The Illustrated London News Dec 14 1867 p.20
Stormy Weather 2
From rnli.org (Gorleston Station.
1867: The Rescuer was returning to harbour in an easterly gale after a service to the brig George Kendall, when the fishing lugger James and Ellen collided with her. She capsized and 6 of her crew and 19 people were drowned. They were C Hannant, J Leggett, T Moreley, W Moss, J Sheen and N Spurgeon.
The Suffolk Chronicle 7th Dec 1867A stone memorial of the event is sited within the Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth.
www.en.wikipedia.org
But tragedy never seems far from Lois' door and in 1873 it struck the family again, with the death of her 12 year old son, John Glasspoole Hannant.
From the Norfolk News 18th Oct 1873
The Running down of the lugger Young Charles of Gorleston:-
Henry Burroughs, fishing master of the fishing lugger Henry and Ernest of
Lowestoft has made a deposition to the Receiver of Wreck at Lowestoft, as to
what he saw of this sad catastrophe. He says:- on Wed October 8th at
7am, tide – flood, weather – clear, wind – north west blowing a moderate
breeze, the lugger with our crew was engaged in hauling in our nets, about 14
miles off the coast of Lowestoft within the stream of Smith’s Knowl. There were
many other fishing craft similarly employed close to me, and amongst them was
the lugger ‘Young Charles’ of Yarmouth within my port quarter, to a distance of
a quarter to half a mile, so near enough for me to see her crew working her
nets, when a screw steamer approached and passed on my port side, heading as
near as I could say south on south by east. In about 10 minutes afterwards I
noticed the steamer had stopped at or about the spot where the Young Charles
had been hauling her nets. The steam was blowing off and her boat had been
lowered but nothing could be seen of the Young Charles. I then remarked to my
crew that I believed the steamer had run down the lugger Young Charles. I
launched my boat and took one man with me and rowed to the spot where the Young
Charles had been.
While I was going, I spotted the steamer’s boat with four
hands pulling about the spot, but before I could arrive the spot the boat had
joined the steamer, which had drifted about half a mile and in about half to
three quarters of an hour of the disappearance of the Young Charles, the
steamer went on her passage. When I was rowing, I observed an object floating,
which I took to be a man but on coming up to it I found it to be a live dog,
and I took it on board. I have since been told that it belonged to the Young
Charles. Four casks from the Young Charles afterwards fouled my boats nets. I
landed the dog at Lowestoft.
The following are the names of the crew of the Young Charles:-
Charles Wood – master (Grandson of owner), Edward Pye – mate, Francis Eke –
oarsman, William Shreeve – waterman, Robert Bracey – net ropeman, George Wright
– net stower, George Furnace, Edward Leech and John Thurston – capstanmen and
John Hannant – boy. The man picked up by the steamers boat was so exhausted he
soon died, so that the whole crew had been lost. We understand that some of the
crew of the Osborne are in custody in Leith. The father of the master of the
Young Charles who was only 19 years of age has offered a reward of 10/- for the
recovery of his son’s body.
Indeed, the website www.scottishindexes.com has High Court of Justicary trial papers related to the case against James Sinclair aged 27 of Orkney charged with Culpable Homicide on the high seas, off the coast of Norfolk or Suffolk. Listing the victims as above, including John Glasspool Hannant, Teasdale Buildings, Gorleston, Great Yarmouth
However, at trial James Sinclair was found not guilty.
Dundee Courier 16 Dec 1873A request for banns to be called, show Henry Cleveland, a widower and fisherman, living in Yarmouth for 1 year. He states his father a Samuel Cleveland, an ostler.
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By the time of the 1881 census, Lois, a fisherman's wife is at home in Gorleston with her sons, Samuel, a fisherman and Henry, a butchers boy alongside Mary Ann Bugg a visitor. Henry isn't with the family, perhaps at sea, although I have not found him on any 1881 census details.
I have been unable to find any further records for Lois until the 1901 census, where she surprisingly is found living in Tynemouth, Northumberland, housekeeping for James Fenn, a widower of 67, a barge waterman and from the same village as Lois, ie Corton in Suffolk. Interestingly Lois has reverted to her Hannant surname and states she is a widow. The same census shows Lois', son William is lodging with the Richardson family a few houses away, whilst there is probably James' son John G Fenn from Gorleston living just down the road too.
Lois remained in Wallsend, Tynemouth, in the 1911 census she is boarding with the Wilson family. Despite so much tragedy in her life Lois lived until 1917, when she died aged 89 years, having lost 2 fathers to her children and 3 children to the sea.
The occupation of fisherman continues to rank in the top 10 of most dangerous occupations. Lois' story bears witness to the historic dangers too.
Whilst researching this blog post I also looked at the history of the Yarmouth and Lowestoft bloater. This is a smoked fish that are salted and lightly smoked, but unlike a kipper are not gutted, giving the fish a 'gamey' flavour. If anyone is interested this is an article from 1869. LH1868-Bloaters.pdf (victorianvoices.net)
Samuel Glasspool(e) 1830-1867
At the age of 14, Samuel enrolled with the Merchant Navy for 4 years, from 1845-1849. By the 1851 census he was living with his parents and working as a fisherman. On 23rd March 1856, he married Eliza Charlotte Brown, 1830-1891 a Corton girl, the daughter of Agricultural Labourer, Robert Brown and his wife Mary Ann.
In the Jun quarter of 1856 a male Glasspoole child is registered as having been born and died in the Mutford and Samford district of Suffolk. It would appear that after this Samuel and Eliza (sometimes Charlotte) parted company as the 1861 census has her living with her parents in Corton.
Samuel died in August 1867 and was buried at Gorleston Church on 12th August. Perhaps a surprise is that his wife Eliza Charlotte gave birth to a daughter, Ada Mary, who was baptised on 5th September, no father is identified on this record. Perhaps this is because Samuel had predesceased her baptism or he may not have been her birth father. However Ada's marriage certificate of 1888, records Samuel as her father.
Henry George Cleveland.
I believe Henry to have come from Ramsgate in Kent, as identified in the 1871 and 1891 census'. If indeed this is the man who married Lois, he may have married her bigamously. He married Frances Ahern on the 8th Feb 1861 and their daughter, Mary was born a few months later on 15th April 1861. In 1871, the census details indicate that the family are living in Ramsgate, but by 1881, Henry is with Lois, Mary has married and I have been unable to pinpoint Frances, perhaps she died, but again I cannot find a suitable death record.
By the 1891 census Henry appears to have left Lois and is living with Kate Cleveland as man and wife in Ramsgate, however I have been unable to find a marriage to a Kate, Katherine or Catherine.
Charles Hannant 1846-1867 drowned
George Hannant 1849-1849
Maria Hannant 1850
Sarah Hannant 1853
George Hannant 1854-1862 drowned
Children of Lois and Samuel Glasspoole. 1830-1867
Samuel Glasspoole Hannant 1857
John Glasspoole Hannant 1861 - 1873 drowned
William Glasspoole Hannant 1863
Henry Glasspoole Hannant 1867
Possible child of Samuel Glasspoole and Eliza Charlotte Brown
Ada Mary Glasspoole 1867
Child of Henry Cleveland and Frances Ahern
Mary Cleveland 1861
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