Bath Road

Number 5

Unfortunately we don't have a photograph of the house, but we've collected quite a lot of information about the house, the owners and occupants.  

We don't exactly know when the house was built.  We know it was there before 1840.  The earliest owner referred to in any of the records that we have found is George Knott who, in an abstract of title for the property later known as 3 Bath Road, is said to be a previous owner and occupier of the property next door to the east of that property (i.e. number 5).

The Knotts - George Knott was born in Thornbury on 27th November 1779 and baptised there on 5th December 1779.  He was the son of John and Esther Knott who had an earlier son named George who was born in 1775 and must have died.  George married Alice Belcher from Dursley on 12th August 1800.  They had Charles born on 9th November 1800, George born on 27th November 1803 and Hannah born on 21st November 1806 and christened 4th September 1808.  The baptism record shows that George was a member of the Wiltshire Militia at that time.

George died on 27th May 1838 aged 61 years.  In the 1840 Tithe Survey the cottage was part of Plot 329 which consisted of two houses: a cottage and garden owned and occupied by Jane Hancock (which we know to be number 3) and a cottage and garden owned and occupied by Charles Knott (which we know to be number 5).  In the 1841 census Alice Knott was a charwoman aged 76 living with John Knott a sawyer aged 21.

Alice died on 3rd December 1844.  She was buried in St Mary's Churchyard in the same grave as her husband George and his parents, John Knott who died on 26th December 1814 aged 72 and Hester who died on 13th August 1822 aged 84.

We have been given some interesting information about George's son, Charles, found by by one of his descendants.   Charles moved from Thornbury to London where he became a policeman in Islington around the period 1832 - 1835.  He then moved to Chipping Norton to become a police constable there.  We understand he became Police Sergeant and the first 'professional policeman' in the borough.  The 1840 Tithe Survey record for Thornbury suggests that Charles may have moved back to Thornbury as he is shown as the owner and occupier of the property.  This however conflicts with the fact that we know Charles was in Chipping Norton from 1835 and was listed as living there in the 1841 census where Charles was living in Middle Row, Chipping Norton living with Eliza his wife, Emily aged 9, Eliza aged 7, Alfred aged 4 and Maria aged 2.

He remained in Chipping Norton for 10 years before transferring to Wellesbourne in Warwickshire.  By the 1861 census he had given up being a policeman and become the postmaster in Wellesbourne.

The Rate Books show us that at some stage the ownership of the house passed into the hands of John Williams, the tailor.  On his death in 1897 it passed to his son, John Hodges Williams who was the owner until at least 1926.  We do not know what happened to the property after 1926.

We have a pretty good record of the occupants of the house from 1851 until it was demolished in early 1960's.  We are particularly lucky in this case because it was only occupied by two families and the second family was descended from the first.

William and Ann Walker - the 1851 census shows the house was occupied by William Walker, an agricultural labourer aged 43 from Brighton, Sussex.  He is living with his wife, Ann aged 41 and their children: Joseph aged 7 and Alice aged 10 months.  In 1861 they were all still living in the same house.  Joseph had become a baker's porter.  In 1871 William and Ann are living with just Alice, a general domestic servant aged 20 and a boarder, John Phillips aged 10 from Dursley. 

William died aged 65 and was buried on 8th November 1873.  In the 1881 census Ann was a widow lodging with George White at the top house in the High Street.  It seems that this is only a temporary move - she is still listed as the occupant of the house in the Rate Books of 1885 and 1890 and in the 1891 census she is shown as living there again.  In 1891 she is sharing the house with her daughter, Alice, now married to Uriah Wall Stockden (see below).  Ann died aged 86 and was buried on 1st August 1896.

The Stockdens - in the 1881 census the house was occupied by Uriah Stockden and his wife, Alice, the daughter of George and Ann Walker who had lived here previously.  The Stockden family were to continue living in the house up until the time it was demolished in the 1960's.

Uriah was born about 1843 in Iron Acton, the son of John Stockden an agricultural labourer and his wife, Louisa.  They were living in Coalpit Lane in the 1851 census.  In 1871 Uriah married Alice Walker in the Clifton area of Bristol.  The 1881 census shows Uriah Stockden, a platelayer aged 37 from Iron Acton, his wife, Alice aged 30 and their children: Louisa aged 6, William Walker Stockden aged 5, Emma aged 3 and Ann Elizabeth aged 1.  The 1891 census shows the Stockdens still living in 5 Bath Road.  They were sharing the house with Alice's mother, Ann Walker.  This census shows Uriah Wall Stockden a railway platelayer aged 48, Alice aged 41, Louisa aged 16, William Walker Stockden aged 15, Emma aged 13, Ann Elizabeth aged 11, Henry aged 9, Frederick Charles aged 4, and John Wall Stockden aged 1.  Another son, Joseph, had been baptised on 3rd August 1884 but he had died in 1887 aged 2.  The 1901 census shows that they took over the house from Alice's mother.  They now had two extra children: Sidney Thomas aged 8 (baptised in 1898) and Alice May aged 7 and their son, Henry, had become a plasterer.

Uriah died aged 71 and was buried on 11th January in 1917.  Alice continued living in the house with her unmarried children.  We don't know when she died although she appears to be listed in the 1921 electoral register.  The house was thereafter shared by Henry, Alice May, John Wall and Louisa although in certain years some of them appear to be missing from the electoral registers.  We are puzzled by one name - that of Alice Nott Stockden (which might suggest a link to the Nott family which lived in the house in the early 1800's) - and feel she must be a wife of one of the boys or related in some other way.

Of Uriah and Alice's children, we know that Emma married Frank Young, a warehouseman from Eastville on 2nd September 1901, and Annie Elizabeth married Arthur Henry Cook a subpostmaster from Walton in Gordano on 19th November 1903.  Louisa remained unmarried and died in Bath Road in February 1947.

On 27th December 1941, Alice May married a marine engineer whose full name was Bartley William Richard Wilde Felstead.  Richard was an officer in the Merchant Navy aged 57 when they married.  Alice was aged 48. 

Tragically it was discovered that Richard was already married and was still spending some of his leave from the Navy living with his other wife.  Unfortunately we didn't note down the date of the newspaper article reporting on the case, but believe it was in 1942. 

Felstead met his wife while he was a soldier and married her while he was home on leave in 1915.  He served in Canada and India.

Felstead had got to know Alice in 1919 and had written to her and met her until he finally married her in 1941.  Felstead had continued seeing both wives and the Court was told that on one occasion he broke his ribs and was nursed by the first wife until he was well enough to go to Alice who then also nursed him.  Felstead broke down in tears in Court and passed some of his story to the judge in a written note.  The story must have been good as the judge said he had done good works in the past and hoped he would do more!  His sentence was so short that he was immediately released.

It is interesting to note that during the trial he was released on bail with the surety of Alice Stockden.  Richard and Alice Felstead are listed under those names in the 1946 electoral register (which may have been based on out-of-date information).  By 1950 Richard was no longer listed and Alice had returned to the name of Alice Stockden.

Alice May continued to live in the house with her brother Harry until the house was demolished.  One local mentioned that Alice was confined to a wheelchair.  The 1961 and 1965 electoral registers show Alice May in Thornbury Hospital.  She died in March 1968 aged 74.

This page was last updated: 23/08/2010