GOWING
Several members of the GOWING family lived in Trunch during the 18th. and 19th. Centuries, but they were a family who also moved to other places. The first was Thomas (1800-1870) who was born in Buxton. He was living in Trunch in Townrow's building in 1851 with his wife Mary and 6 children and working as an agricultural labourer. However by 1861 he was living in the Dog Pits area of Newchurch, Lancashire. Like many Norfolk farmworkers he had answered the call from Lancashire for more workers in the cotton factories. He and his 4 daughters aged 13-22 were all working in the factories. Thomas died in 1870 and his widow and daughters stayed in Lancashire with 2 of them still working in the cotton factory.
While Thomas was in Lancashire 2 of his sons were in Trunch. John the eldest, (1831 - ?) was an agricultural labourer, living in Brewery Street and Chapel Street. He married Sarah Slapp from Felmingham and they had 3 children born in Trunch before he retired to live in North Walsham. Samuel (1836-?) married Mary Fitt from Lammas and they had 4 children. Samuel worked as a groom, beerhouse keeper and gardener and by 1871 had moved to Gorleston on the coast where his son John was a fisherman.
Another son Frederick (1834 - 1895) was a publican at the Plough Inn in Ridlington in 1871, having married Deborah Hall but by 1881 they were back in Trunch where he worked in agriculture and as a maltster. I don't think they had any children. I can't find any information about Thomas' son Thomas born in 1841 and an Elijah died at age 1 in 1851.
Another son Frederick (1834 - 1895) was a publican at the Plough Inn in Ridlington in 1871, having married Deborah Hall but by 1881 they were back in Trunch where he worked in agriculture and as a maltster. I don't think they had any children. I can't find any information about Thomas' son Thomas born in 1841 and an Elijah died at age 1 in 1851.
The next generation are interesting. John had 2 sons. George Frederick (1858 -) was a gardener when he lived in Trunch but then moved to Grammar School Road in North Walsham where he worked as a carpenter and joiner for Cornish and Gaymer, a well known local firm. He had married Emma from Bungay and they had 2 daughters; by 1921 he was a widower, living with his youngest daughter.
John's other son Thomas William (1863 - 1930) set me a puzzle. In 1881 he was a gardener in Trunch, then after marrying Evelyn/Evalina Blogg in 1890 he worked on farms in Trunch but by 1911 the family had moved to Pulham St. Mary in South Norfolk. In 1921 he was a gardener at the Airship Station near Pulham. The puzzle was about what happened to his son Reginald George who was born in Trunch in 1891. He did not appear in any census after 1911, although there was another Reginald of a similar age also living in Pulham St Mary but his father was Frederick not Thomas. Eventually I found that unfortunately Reginald George was killed in the First World War in Greece and his name is on the Pulham St. Mary War memorial. He was a Lance Corporal in the Essex Regiment.
Another interesting fact came up in Reginald's death notice of 1915. It said that his parents were living in Harrolds Cottage in Pulham St. Mary. I thought the name was familiar and in fact Ellen FORREST and her daughters, who had lived in Trunch Hall, were living in the 12-roomed Harrold House in Pulham St Mary in 1911. I imagine that the cottage the Gowings lived in was on the estate and it seems likely that the families knew each other as they were both in Trunch in 1901.