Fersfield sign
Fersfield in 1939

The Lanchesters
(Nigel Peacock)

The 1939 Registration shows 8 people named Lanchester. These were in two family groups.

Horace and Eliza, a married couple, were living at Bates Lane, Horace a labourer. They had married in 1894 in Hargham Church and had three known children, Horace, Frederick and May Jane. For some of the time between their marriage and the 1939 Registration they had lived in Palgrave, Suffolk, where he was listed as a horseman and a farm bailiff. Little is known of their lives from then until their deaths in 1954 and 1953, both buried in St. Andrew’s Church in Fersfield.

Perhaps the most interesting member of Horace and Eliza’s family was their son Frederick Neave Lanchester. He was not recorded on the 1939 Registration as he was then living in Australia. At the time of leaving this country, 18 October 1924, his home address was given as Church Road, Brome, Norfolk, listed as a farm labourer and he was bound for Melbourne, Australia, on board the “Ormuz” (3rd class), a ship of the Orient Shipping Line. The voyage took 35 days. He returned home on board the “Baradine”, landing at London on 18 July 1929, again with his given home address as Church Road. His stay was quite brief as he was again bound for Melbourne on 18 January 1930, this time on board the “Orford”. Were his parents living in Brome from 1924 to 1930? (After World War I the Commonwealth took active control of immigration and encouraged new settlers, with the result that in the 1920s about 300,000 settlers arrived in Australia, mostly under assisted schemes such as the Empire Settlement Scheme - possibly the way Frederick came to emmigrate.) He married Eliz Ann Daws in 1935 somewhere in the State of Victoria. He died on 13th July 1987, and was buried on 16th in Fawkner, Victoria, Australia in the Fawkner Memorial Park, one of Australia's largest cemeteries.

The second family group was headed by James and Frances Maria. (James was the brother of Horace listed above.) In 1939 they lived with 4 of their children and Emma Hill, a 55 year old retired widow (was she a relation?).

James was born in Fersfield on 21st August 1868 and baptised there on 30th November 1877 aged 9. He was living there until around the time of his marriage to Frances Maria Briggs in Kenninghall on 1st October 1895. According to Census Returns of 1901 and 1911 and Electoral Roll of 1919 they were both living in Kenninghall but by the time of the Electoral Rolls of 1925 and 1931, and the 1939 Registration they were back in Fersfield. From various sources they appear to have had 13 children, but there may be some confusion over names, especially between Alfred and Albert. Most of the children were known to have been born in Kenninghall. By 1939 there were still 4 children living at home: Norman Thomas, Alfred Edward, Walter and Russell. The registration of James and Frances' deaths both took place in Depwade District so could have still been in Fersfield.

Prior to her marriage to James, in 1891 Frances was known to have been a 15 year old general domestic servant in Gissing in the home of Nelson Lamham, a 51 year old farmer.

Their son Norman Thomas was born on 22nd August and baptised there on 28th January 1910. By 1931 he was known to have been living in Fersfield and still there in 1939, an agricultural labourer, working on the land like many of his family. He died in Bressingham on 20th December 1980, aged 72. His probate showed an estate valued at £19,690 and a notice in the London Gazette asked for claims against the estate to be filed by September.

Little is currently known about Albert Edward, Walter and Russell and research into their lives is ongoing,


The people, their dates and events .....



Frederick LANCHESTER, 1900 - 1987<br /> Fawkner Memorial Park<br />Fawkner, Moreland City, Victoria, Australia
Frederick LANCHESTER, 1900 - 1987<br /> Fawkner Memorial Park<br />Fawkner, Moreland City, Victoria, Australia
Frederick LANCHESTER, 1900 - 1987<br /> Fawkner Memorial Park<br />Fawkner, Moreland City, Victoria, Australia
Frederick LANCHESTER, 1900 - 1987
Fawkner Memorial Park
Fawkner, Moreland City, Victoria, Australia



Albert Edward LANCHESTER, 1910 - 2006<br />Bressingham Cemetery
Albert Edward LANCHESTER, 1910 - 2006
Bressingham Cemetery



Russell LANCHESTER, 1918 - 2009<br />Wymondham?
Russell LANCHESTER, 1918 - 2009
Wymondham?



To help progress this project further, please see the list below .....



  [ Home ]  [ Projects ]  [ Fersfield 1939 ]  

Page last updated: 24 Sep 2022
© Nigel Peacock & Diss Family History Group 2022