9 Pullins Green

George Mansell Williams

George was born in Thornbury in 1850.  The 1851 census shows that his family lived in the High Street.  His parents were James, a cordwainer, and his wife, Elizabeth.  George's grandfather, Thomas, a retired farmer, lived with the family at this time.  In 1861 the family were still in the High Street and the father's business was doing well enough for him to employ someone.  There were still only two children, George and his older sister, Emily.  By 1871 George at that time aged 20, had become apprenticed to his father.  

On 19th April 1875 George married Adelaide Screen at the Congregational Church, Thornbury.  The Church records show Adelaide was 'of Tockington', but she must only have been working there.  She was born in 1847, the daughter of  Arthur Screen, a farmer and his wife, Caroline who were living in Morton in 1851.  The 1861 census shows them living on a farm of 95 acres in Duckhole Lane.  It is interesting to note that Adelaide's father was 55 when she was born.  By 1871 Adelaide had become a dairy woman in Cromhall.

George must have been studying alongside his bootmaking as his career took a very different turn.  By 1881 George and Adelaide were living in Grovesend Lane and had four children aged 5, 3, 1 and 11 months and George was an accountant.  George was also listed as an accountant in the Thornbury Trade Directories of 1899 and 1904.  His activities extended beyond being just an accountant.  The Directories of 1897 and 1902 show him as 'Correspondent to the Bristol Mercury'.  The 1901 census show him as 'Clerk to the County Court Registration and Magistrates'.  The 1914 Directory gives more detail showing him as 'Registrars Clerk & Bailiff to County Court & Secretary to Thornbury Permanent Benefit Approved Society'. 

By 1891 George and Adelaide were living in 9 Pullins Green.  Their four children children were George Mansell, a tailor's apprentice aged 15, Violet Adelaide Sarah aged 13, and Florence aged 11, and Agnes Frances aged 10.  The United Reformed Church records show that George Mansell Junior and his sister Violet Adelaide were both baptised in November 1877.  The family's address when the children were baptised is shown as Crossways.

The records of the United Reformed Church show that Adelaide died in June 1895 aged 47 and was buried in Thornbury Cemetery.  George married again in 1897, this time to Sarah Stagg.  Sarah was born in Rockhampton in 1850, the daughter of James Stagg, an agricultural labourer and his wife, Charlotte.  By 1891 she was still unmarried and living with the family of her brother, Thomas, in Lower Morton.

George and Sarah continued living at 9 Pullins Green for many years.  We have been told by Miss Higgins, that George was the Honorary Secretary of the Thornbury Institution for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.  This organisation was founded in London in 1828 with the objective of publishing information to people who were unable to obtain formal teaching or those who preferred self education.

George died on 6th June 1922.  We don't know when Sarah died, but she is shown in the electoral registers as living in Pullins Green until at least 1935. 

 This page was last updated: 23/06/2008