Nat Gould

Norman Bennett 1829-1879

Norman Bennett was born in 1829 in Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire, the son of William Bennett 1797-1879 and his wife Ernestina Mary von Schultz 1801-1865. His father was a solicitor and attorney, and he followed him into the profession, qualifying in 1865.

In 1867 he married Caroline Ferns at Congleton in Cheshire. She was born in 1839, the daughter of Thomas Morten Ferns, a solicitor in Stockport, Cheshire. They had the following children, all born at Chapel-en-le Frith :

Walter William Bennett. He was born in 1869 and died in 1871.

Norman Robert Ottiwell Gifford Bennett 1867-1961. He became a clergyman and married Mabel Grace Rose Hutchinson.

Robert Creighton Bennett. He was born in 1872, and died at Chapel-en-le Frith in 1894 aged 22 years.

Francis Grey Bennett. He was born on 13 October 1872. He entered Christ’s College in Cambridge at Michaelmas 1891, and became a medical doctor. In 1901 he married Florence Maude Mary McClure 1874-1922 in Camberwell, London. He died in 1960.

Charles John Bennett. He was born in 1875. He became a land agent.

In 1871 Norman Bennett was living, with his wife and eldest son, at his parents' home Well Close in Market Street, Chapel-en-le-Frith.

Norman Bennett died in 1879, as did his father William Bennett (1), and when the 1881 Census was taken, his widow was still living at Well Close with her three younger sons, and they were still in 1881, although Caroline Bennett was by then the head of the household.

By 1901 Caroline Bennett had moved to 29 Maitland Park Villas, St. Pancras parish in London, where she was living with her two youngest sons, both unmarried. Francis Grey Bennett was then a medical student 28 years and his brother Charles John Grey was an Imperial Yeoman aged 26. With them then was also a niece of Caroline Bennett named Mary E.F. Bennett, living on her own means, aged 41 years, born in India and married, but not with her husband.

When the 1911 Census was taken, Caroline Bennett aged 72 years was living with her unmarried son Charles John Bennett at The Cottage, Barrow-on-Trent near Derby. She had borne five children, of whom three were then still living and two had died. Charles John Bennett was then recorded as being a Land Agent.

She died in Derby in 1928 aged 91 years.

(1) "Mr. Norman Bennett, the son and partner of the late Mr. William Bennett, died on the same day and under the same roof as his father. He was in his fiftieth year, having been born in 1829. He was admitted solicitor in Hilary Term 1865". The Law Times volume 67 page 70.