SELF
1ST GENERATION
Most of the SELF families in Trunch originate from a William (1774-1867) who moved to Trunch from Worstead and worked here as a small farmer renting about 6 acres of arable land from James Legood. In 1843 he was the subject of a highway robbery when a silver watch, a nankeen purse, a hat and cash were stolen from him. The woman involved in the robbery was transported to Australia for 15 years. William's 5 sons went on to have families in Trunch.
Most of the SELF families in Trunch originate from a William (1774-1867) who moved to Trunch from Worstead and worked here as a small farmer renting about 6 acres of arable land from James Legood. In 1843 he was the subject of a highway robbery when a silver watch, a nankeen purse, a hat and cash were stolen from him. The woman involved in the robbery was transported to Australia for 15 years. William's 5 sons went on to have families in Trunch.
2ND GENERATION
William (1801 - 1872) was a brick and shoe maker and in 1828 he served 12 months hard labour for stealing a quantity of leather from John French a cordwainer in Trunch (probably his employer) He married Jane Sexton in 1820 and they had 4 children including another William - see below. After Jane died he married a Sarah from Antingham.
William (1801 - 1872) was a brick and shoe maker and in 1828 he served 12 months hard labour for stealing a quantity of leather from John French a cordwainer in Trunch (probably his employer) He married Jane Sexton in 1820 and they had 4 children including another William - see below. After Jane died he married a Sarah from Antingham.
Robert (1811 - 1899) married Sarah Dennis in Trunch in 1833 and had 2 children here and others in North Walsham. After Sarah died he married a Hannah from Plymouth and then a Charlotte from Norwich, finally settling in Worstead (where his father came from) and living to the age of 89. He served 4 months hard labour in 1848 for receiving a pig stolen by his nephew William - see below. Two of his sons left Norfolk - see below.
John (1817-1875) worked as an agricultural labourer in Trunch all of his life. He married Hannah Beckerson and they had 11 children in Trunch, two of whom left the village to live elsewhere.
Joseph (1819-1865) obviously had a troubled start to his adult life in Trunch. At the age of 22 he enlisted in the Light Infantry for a bounty of £3 17s 6d but he only served for just over a year because of chronic pulmonary disease. Back in Trunch he married Hannah Easto, worked as an agricultural labourer, and they had several children. But in 1850 the workhouse records state that he was summoned for misbehaviour (with no more detail). Then in 1851 he was imprisoned for 6 months for stealing a donkey from a farmer's field. This was obviously enough for Joseph and he moved his entire family to Spotland in Lancashire. His children and some of his extended family worked in the cotton mills, which had been advertising in Norfolk for workers.
James (1825-1913) was an agricultural labourer and carter, married Mary Ann Clarke and had at least 9 children here. In 1882 he was fined for brewing beer without a licence and then in 1884 he was found guilty of being drunk and disorderly so perhaps he was still brewing!
3RD GENERATION
William's son William (1823-1897) married Mary Ann Fuller in Trunch in 1846. They didn't have any children of their own but they adopted Charles Hedge. He was the child of Tabitha who had two previous children in North Walsham with no father mentioned. At the time of Charles' birth Tabitha was a servant in the house of the Rector of Swanton Morley. At first Charles was looked after by Ann Watts who lived two doors from the Selfs before his adoption. Charles went on to marry Harriet Hopkins from Aylsham, worked as a railway plate layer and ended up living in London.
William himself served 4 months hard labour for stealing a pig from Mr. Primrose in 1848 and was fined in 1889 for stealing 10lbs of oil cake from his employer. Although wrong it is understandable how a poor agricultural worker might have been tempted to obtain more food for the family.
William's son William (1823-1897) married Mary Ann Fuller in Trunch in 1846. They didn't have any children of their own but they adopted Charles Hedge. He was the child of Tabitha who had two previous children in North Walsham with no father mentioned. At the time of Charles' birth Tabitha was a servant in the house of the Rector of Swanton Morley. At first Charles was looked after by Ann Watts who lived two doors from the Selfs before his adoption. Charles went on to marry Harriet Hopkins from Aylsham, worked as a railway plate layer and ended up living in London.
William himself served 4 months hard labour for stealing a pig from Mr. Primrose in 1848 and was fined in 1889 for stealing 10lbs of oil cake from his employer. Although wrong it is understandable how a poor agricultural worker might have been tempted to obtain more food for the family.
Robert's son Anthony Porter (1833-1863) married Rebecca Yeo in Plymouth, Devon in 1860, and they had two children born in Great Yarmouth. Anthony joined the Royal Navy as a boy and his first training ship was the Waterloo; he died at sea in 1863. After his death Rebecca went to Salt Lake City in America and had two more children who were given the surname SELF. She never remarried and died in 1923 in America.
Three more of Robert's sons went to work as coal miners in the north of England. James Dennis (1838-1918) started his working life as an agricultural worker in North Walsham but then moved North to work as a coal miner in Northumberland. He married a Mary from Northumberland and when he retired he lived in the Foster Memorial Homes at the Cowpen Colliery in Blyth, Northumberland.
Joseph Christmas (1841-1919) also worked as a coal miner near to his brother in Northumberland and Robert (1846-1918) went to Northumberland first but then moved to Durham for the rest of his life. The sons of both of these brothers also went on to be coal miners.
John's son James (1846-1890) was with his uncle in Lancashire in 1861 and working in a cotton factory. He then came back to Trunch, married Mary Wright, had four children before returning up North, this time to work as a coal miner in Northumberland near his cousins. He died at the young age of 43. The other son William Henry (1858-1915?) became a lime-burner in Norwich.
James' son Benjamin became a blacksmith in North Walsham and Thomas was another one who became a coal miner in Northumberland. It was his son William (1859-1936) however who became most well known in Trunch. He was a bricklayer who married Matilda Bane, who already had a daughter Rose, and they had 9 children together in Trunch. In his younger days William had a few fines for being drunk and disorderly but judging by the great and the good who attended his funeral he obviously became a pillar of Trunch society. Three of his sons also became bricklayers in the local area.