Diss Family History Group

I was emailed to say that the DFHG are collecting information about the Lophams. I do have some photos and information, as both my mother and grandmother were born in South Lopham. My grandfather, although born in Bressingham, lived for several years at Brook Farm in South Lopham.

When my mother was two, in 1926, my grandparents moved from a thatched cottage on the Low Common in South Lopham to Rickinghall. My grandmother said that she couldn’t live on the Low Common any longer as she was bored to tears, so she rented and later bought a shop in Rickinghall Superior. My grandfather, Fred Fellingham ran a poultry business from the old stables at the back.

I could paper the walls of my lounge with photos of Rickinghall as my family kept a record of all the important events, but I also have a few photos of people and places in South Lopham that may be of interest.

When I was doing a ‘house’ history, or rather the history of the terrace of cottages that my grandmother bought (her shop was on one end), I found something interesting that connects up with your project.

At the opposite end of the terrace from the shop, was a two up and two down cottage that was occupied in 1871, by Emma Fortis, a single woman with seven illegitimate children. Her occupation is given as ‘dressmaker’! Emma’s cottage is now part of what is now ‘Chestnut View’ as two cottages were later made into one.

I knew that I had heard that surname Fortis before, so I did some research and found that she was the niece of George Fortis who was hanged at Norwich Castle in 1822, at age 29, for stack burning. Although George was living in Bressingham at the time of his execution, he was born in North Lopham. His father George Snr was also born in North Lopham.

A few months ago I came across a book which you may know about ‘From Waterloo to the Gallows’ by Mike Leeder with Dick Malt, published by MousePress 2024. It is a really interesting book as it not only tells you about George but also about the civil unrest around Diss at the time.

The book states that George’s brother, John, (who was the eldest child of George snr,) had a daughter Emma b.1830 who died in infancy but the author has missed the fact that he and his wife Anna Jake also had another Emma who was baptised at the Methodist Church Diss on 30 May 1831, having been born on 28 April 1831. This is definitely ‘my’ Emma, the niece of George who was hanged!

The surprising thing is that I have two hangings and two transportations in my family tree, but I didn’ t expect to find another connection to crime in the house history of that row.