George and Alice Fordham (nee Anker)

George Fordham was the second child of Adam and Mary Ann Fordham (nee Bloomfield), born on Tuesday 1st September 1840 in the village of Coney Weston, Suffolk.

George Fordham and Alice Anker married on Thursday 17th November 1870 in the parish Church of Whittlesea St Mary, Cambridgeshire, where Alice was born.  The witnesses at the wedding were  Ellen Fordham (George's eldest sister) and Joseph Anker (Alice's brother).

It is interesting to note that George's parents also married on 17th November 1838 - so he married Alice Anker on his parents 32nd Wedding Anniversary.

Alice was the daughter of Abraham Anker, a local farmer in Whittlesea, Cambridgeshire.

Little is known of their personalities although their grandson Edward Alan Fordham (my grandfather Felix) recorded "Was a local policeman, drank heavily in later life, always rows in the family home, wife later took to drink."

In the Census of 1861 George is listed as being an Agricultural Labourer in Coney Weston, in 1871 he is a Police Constable in Up Street, Castor, Peterborough; on the birth of his son James in 1874 he is a Policeman, at James' wedding in 1899 he is a Police Officer; and by 1904 at the wedding of his son George he is retired.

The family clearly moved around quite a bit - at first in Ailsworth and Castor and subsequently to Eye and Barnack.

Alice and George had eight children:

1. Polly Fordham, born 1870
2. Madeleine Fordham, born 1872, married Henry Humble in 1922, died c.1930
3. James Robert Fordham, born 12th February 1874, married i) Harriet Sarah Wren 17th August 1899, ii) Margaret Olive Cox 1922, died 4th March 1957
4. George Edward Fordham, born 16th December 1875, married Edith Woodcock 5th May 1904, died 11th may 1970
5. Arthur Alfred Fordham, born 1877
6. Zephaniah Fordham, born 1879
7. Alice Ellen Fordham, born 1882, married Steven Walter William Heaver 1909, died 29th September 1941
8. Albert Ernest Fordham, born 1884, died c.1899

For a time towards the end of his life George lived with his daughter Madeline in Herstmonceaux, Sussex, but he actually died in Coney Weston.  He was visiting relatives there when he died on Sunday 6th February 1921 bending down to tie up his shoelaces.

I have so far not managed to trace the death of Alice Fordham (nee Anker) but presume that it was prior to 1921 as there is no family mention or record of George leaving a widow.

The 1871 Census records George and Alice living in Up Street in Castor, near Peterborough.

The 1881 Census records George and Alice living in Castor, near Peterborough, but with their young family - it's worth noting that some of the children are recorded as being born in Ailsworth - the neighbouring village.  It is possible that this just reflects the fact that the family lived in police houses and so moved fairly frequently (every 3-5 years)