Family Tree Family Group Sheet
Charles W was born on 18th November 1844 in Upgate, Louth, Lincolnshire. He was baptised at Louth on 26th Jan 1845 - a reasonable time later (unlike his father!)
He is recorded as a scholar, living in Ramsgate, Louth in the 1851 census. However, by 1861, the family had moved to Portsea, Hants and were into the asphalting business. Charles W, however, although he was by now 16, had no occupation recorded against his name. However, it is probable that he was already working in the family business.
By 1871, he, like his father Charles, is recorded as living in Bedminster, Bristol and being a Contractor in Asphalte. His age is noted as being 25 though since he was born in November 1844, he must have been 26.
On 14th October 1872 he married Fanny Agnes Tarver in St Luke's Church, Bedminster and 10 months later, William Tarver Bradshaw, the first of their 6 children, was born. Fanny's father, William Tarver, was described as a Road Contractor and a Railway Contractor in the 1851 and 1861 census respectively. Both William and his wife Jane originally came from Hampshire.
By the time of the 1881 census, Charles W is living in Aston, Warwickshire with his wife, Fanny Agnes and his six children, the eldest of which now being only 7! However, he now describes himself as an Asphalte Importer. The family legend is that before he married, he went to find his fortune in the West Indies and found the Pitch Lake in Trinidad. This is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world, and is located at La Brea in southwest Trinidad. It is said that he negotiated an agreement to import asphalt to England for the use of Bradshaw & Co, one of the family's asphalting businesses.
In this census record, Ancestry has recorded Fanny's age as being 21. However, having looked more closely at the original record, I think it is 28, a much more reasonable figure and one that is consistent with her recorded age in other censuses. In this census entry, where they are old enough to have an occupation, the children are recorded as being scholars.
No trace has been found of the registration of Fanny's birth. She was baptised, along with several of her sisters, in the parish church at Wolverton, Warwickshire in 1860 when she was about 8 years old. Between 1837 and 1874, it was the responsibility of local Registrars to see that births and deaths were registered in their own areas. As she was born to a peripatetic family, it is likely that reason no record of her birth can be found is because her birth was not registered! In 1874, the Births and Deaths Registration Act made registration compulsory, imposing fines for late registration. The onus for registration of a birth was passed to parents, or the occupier of the house where the birth took place. However, this does not help with Fanny.
By 1891, the family has moved to High Road, Tottenham, London, where it stayed until Charles W died. He is described as an Asphalte Imported and Contractor. His eldest son, William, who was 17, is following in the same line and is described as a Measuring Surveyor, perhaps what nowadays would be called a Quantity Surveyor. Charles's other children have no occupation against their names. Fanny's mother, Jane, is now living with the family.
In 1901, the family is still in High Road, Tottenham, but have now moved to Waterford House, 685 High Road. With the exception of his son, George, and possibly my grandfather, Charles Henry, all his sons were working in the family business. Charles H was described as a Civil Engineer and to judge from his later career, was not working for Bradshaw & Co. George was described as a Student of Music and later became a Roman Catholic Lay Priest.
Charles William died on 13 April, 1919. In his will, which is dated
9 June 1917, he left his entire estate of £3,767 to his son George Stanley
who had persuaded him that the money was best used by himself and his
church. Charles Henry had died of a heart condition about three months
before this will was made,
and his entire estate, which was only £483, was left to his wife who was
therefore very hard up, having little capital and no income. His two sons were sent to what one of them, my
uncle Fred, described as an orphanage although I believe it was a home for
the sons of distressed masons. My mother, Joan, went with her mother to live
with her mother's father, William Sawyer. Charles William's will is
therefore very surprising and must have caused much hard feeling in the
family at the time.