The main character to emerge from my Bloomfield research is my GGGGrandfather, George William Bloomfield, this is his story. 

George William Bloomfield was born in a small Suffolk village called Cavenham, the illegitimate son of Mary Blomfield on September 14th 1828. Three years later his mother, Mary married Richard Dennis and moved to the neighbouring village of Lackford, George stayed in Cavenham with his grandparents. In 1841 he was living with his widowed grandmother at Cavenham Hall where they both worked. Soon after his 19th birthday George enlisted with the Royal Artillery at Bury St Edmunds.

By 1850 he had been sent to Ireland and was stationed in the garrison on a small island in the Shannon estuary called Scattery Island. During his service there he met a young local girl called Bridget McMahon. On the 17th July 1850 George and Bridget were married in a civil ceremony at the Registrar's office in Kilrush. Civil marriages were unusual at the time, it may be that Bridget's parents did not approve of the marriage or a matter of differing religions we will never know.

The birth places of their children indicate the different places that George was stationed.  In 1851 their first child, George was born in Ireland, In 1853 their first daughter Mary Ann was born in Woolwich, Kent.  In 1855 Henry was born in Scotland and in 1860 Susan was born in Gibralter.  George served for 3½ years in Gibralter but the actual dates are not known. In 1862 William was born in Seacombe, Cheshire and all their subsequent children were born in this area.

In 1870 George was discharged from the army after almost 23 years service, at the time of his discharge he is described as being 5' 8½" tall with a fair complexion, grey eyes and brown hair, his trade is as a labourer and he intended to live in Seacombe, Cheshire. In the 1871 census he gives his occupation as carpenter.

In 1880 when their youngest child was only six years old Bridget died, she is buried in Flaybrick Lane Cemetery in Wallasey, Cheshire.

In the census from 1881 George is living in Poulton cum Seacombe with five of his children still at home including his daughter Susan who is now married and has a child of her own. He has changed his occupation to Post Office Letter Carrier.

By 1891 George had re-married to a young widow called Catherine Elleray (nee Warner) and was living with her and her young son Thomas in Windsor Grove, Everton. Where he has had another change of occupation to Cab Owner (Groom) presumably a horse-drawn hansom cab owner.  All George's own children are either married or living with married siblings by this time. George's new wife Catherine died in 1895 and in the 1901 census George is living alone at the Windsor Grove address, his stepson Thomas has not been located but is not living with George or any of George's own children. At the age of 63 he was unlikely to take on a 5 year old child.

According to the 1911 Gore's Directory George had moved again back to Liscard, Wallasey, Cheshire, where he remained until his death at the beginning of 1919.  He was buried at the Wallasey Cemetery on 31st March 1919 aged 90 years.

His Grandmother had died in 1850 and his mother 5 years later. His marriage to Bridget had given him 11 children, all but one succeeded him.  His children had gone on to live in South Shields, Scotland, Birmingham and London, between them he had at least 30 grandchildren and at the time of his death at least 3 great grandchildren. His sons had all received a good education, one became a teacher in London, one the manager of a weighing machine company in the Midlands with his younger brother working there too and the fourth an accountant in Cheshire his daughters  were all married to labourers, seamen and one to a publican and had large families of their own.

This story is by no means complete and we are continuing to research this family. Hopefully one day we will be able to fill in some of the gaps.  The family tree is below:-

The majority of our research is carried out on the internet and we would like to recommend a couple of books which have been particularly useful.

 The Good Web Guide to Genealogy  and The Good Web Guide to Tracing Your Family History

both contain a wealth of information on websites, their content and how to get the best from them. 

Try our USEFUL TITLES for more books on Cheshire genealogy.

Happy Hunting!

Here are some of our own recommended websites hope you find them helpful.

The Cheshire BMD Website  A fabulous site for births, deaths and marriages in the various Cheshire registration districts, easy to search and with huge quantities of records already available.

Andy Suttons Wirral Site A great site for all things 'Wirral' a must for anyone researching in this area, easy to navigate and full of information.

Carls Cam A fantastic site full of pictures from the Cheshire area, photos of people and places all with the genealogist in mind.

The Suffolk Surnames List Suffolk surnames and a whole lot more including a look up service, online records and loads of valuable background information on the parishes of Suffolk.

Historical Directories Online A website of transcriptions of historical directories from all over the UK and for various time periods, searchable online. Particularly helpful for post 1901 information.

1. JOHN¹ BLOMFIELD was born 1771, and died December 19, 1831 in Cavenham, Suffolk. He married JEMIMA RONDS January 28, 1795 in St Andrews, Cavenham, Suffolk, daughter of HENRY RONDS and ANN.

Children of JOHN BLOMFIELD and JEMIMA RONDS are: