Person:Walter Robson (3)

Walter Robson (or Robertson) was baptised on 8th December 1816 at Norham, son of a mason called Alexander Robson and his wife Alison, a house servant. Norham at that time was a detached part of County Durham, but in 1844 it was transferred to Northumberland. The parish is immediately south of the Scottish border.

Walter's father appears to have died in 1834. Walter has not been found in the 1841 census. His mother and some of his siblings were still living in Norham at the time.

On 20th April 1845, aged 28, Walter married a woman called Elizabeth Nesbit. They married at Coldstream Bridge, where the toll house at the northern end of the bridge was a popular destination for irregular marriages, being the first building reached in Scotland when crossing the River Tweed from England. Their marriage was reported in the Berwick Advertiser, describing the couple as Walter Robson of Norham and Alice (sic) Nesbit of Crookham.

After their marriage, Walter and Elizabeth settled in Elizabeth’s home village of Crookham in the parish of Ford, Northumberland, about eight miles south of Norham. They went on to have six children in Ford between 1845 and 1854, although one, a daughter called Elizabeth, died when only one year old in 1853.

The 1851 census finds Elizabeth and the children living in Crookham, whilst Walter was away from home on census night, working as a labourer at Longframlington, about thirty miles to the south. Walter’s mother was still living at Norham in the 1851 census. She would later leave the Norham area and move to Wallsend where Walter’s brother Alexander had settled.

On 13th October 1854, Walter’s wife Elizabeth died giving birth to a daughter, suffering a uterine haemorrhage. The baby survived, and Walter named her Elizabeth.

Just over a year later, in December 1855, Walter’s mother died in Wallsend.

Sometime between 1854 and 1858, Walter appears to have married again to a Jane Patterson, who was from Roxburghshire in Scotland. No official record of their marriage has been found, although it may have been an irregular marriage, like Walter’s first marriage.

Walter and Jane appear to have had four children together between 1858 and 1864, although the younger two both died as babies.

Walter and Jane appear in each census from 1861 to 1891 living at Crookham. Walter was described as an agricultural labourer and carter. By 1891 all their children had left home, and the census that year also notes that Jane and Walter’s home had just one room.

Walter died from pneumonia at Crookham on 31st January 1892, aged 75. Jane survived him by ten years.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish registers of Norham, Northumberland, 1653-1960
   Durham / Norham / 1767-1841, image 132 of 242.

   BAPTISMS solemnized in the Parish of Norham in the County of Durham in the Year 1816
   No.	When Baptized	Child's Christian Name	Parents' Name		Abode	Quality, Trade, or Profession	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   			Christian	Surname
   101	Dec[embe]r 8th	Walter son of	Alexander & Alison	Robson	Norham	Mason	Rob[er]t Green

   Whilst no named connection has been found, this baptism has been linked to the Walter Robson who as an adult settled in Crookham on the basis that in the censuses he consistently claimed to have been born in Norham around 1816, and he named two of his elder children Alexander and Alice (presumably a variant on Alison). No evidence has been found to suggest that the Walter baptised at Norham in 1816 died young or was anyone other than the Walter who settled in Crookham.

   
2. ↑ England. 1851 Census Returns for England and Wales. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 2423; Folio 189; Page 13, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: Long Framlington, Northumberland
   Hannah Burn, head, married, female, 30 [1820/1], Receiving Alms, b. Barmear Lane End, Northumberland
   John Burn, son, unmarried, male, 4 [1846/7], b. Thrisly Haugh, Northumberland
   Mathew Burn, son, unmarried, male, 2 [1848/9], b. Thrisly Haugh, Northumberland
   Joseph Burn, son, unmarried, male, 4m [1851], b. Framlington, Northumberland
   Robert Alexander, lodger, unmarried, male, 37 [1813/14], Labour, b. Scotland
   Walter Robson, married, male, 31 [1819/20], Labour, b. Norham, Northumberland
   John Main, lodger, unmarried, male, 21 [1829/30], Labour, b. Crokham, Northumberland

   Walter was clearly away from home on the night of the 1851 census.

3. ↑ England. 1861 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG9; Piece 3890; Folio 70; Page 3, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: Crookham, Ford, Northumberland
   Walter Robson, head, married, male, 40 [1820/1], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Norham, Northumberland
   Jane Robson, wife, married, female, 36 [1824/5], b. Scotland
   Margaret Robson, daughter, female, 12 [1848/9], Scholar, b. Ford, Northumberland
   Mary A. Robson, daughter, female, 10 [1850/1], Scholar, b. Ford, Northumberland
   Elisabeth Robson, daughter, female, 6 [1854/5], Scholar, b. Ford, Northumberland
   Hannah Robson, daughter, female, 3 [1857/8], Scholar, b. Ford, Northumberland
   Jane Robson, daughter, female, 1 [1859/60], b. Ford, Northumberland
   Walter Robson, son, male, 1m [1861], b. Ford, Northumberland

4. ↑ England. England and Wales. 1871 Census Schedules. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG10; Piece 5187; Folio 62; Page 4, 2 Apr 1871.

   Address: Crookham, Ford, Northumberland
   Walter Robson, head, married, male, 55 [1815/6], Carter, b. Norham, Northumberland
   Jane Robson, wife, married, female, 46 [1824/5], b. Scotland
   Jane Robson, daughter, female, 11 [1859/60], Scholar, b. Ford, Northumberland

5. ↑ England. 1881 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands: . (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG11; Piece 5133; Folio 59; Page 2, 3 Apr 1881.

   Address: no name, Crookham village, Ford, Northumberland
   Walter Robson, head, married, male, 64 [1816/7], Carter, b. Norham, Northumberland
   Jane Robson, wife, married, female, 46 [1834/5], b. Scotland
   Jane Robson, daughter, unmarried, female, 21 [1859/60], General Domestic Servant, b. Ford, Northumberland

6. ↑ England. 1891 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG12; Piece 4270; Folio 56; Page 1, 5 Apr 1891.

   Address: Crookham, Ford, Northumberland
   1 room occupied
   Walter Robson, head, married, male, 74 [1816/7], Carter, neither employed nor unemployed, b. Norham, Northumberland
   Jane Robson, wife, married, female, 67 [1823/4], b. Scotland

7. ↑ Death certificate, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   Registration District Glendale
   1892 Death in the Sub-district of Ford in the County of Northumberland
   No.	When and where died	Name and surname	Sex	Age	Occupation	Cause of death	Signature, description and residence of informant	When registered	Signature of registrar
   442	Thirty-first January 1892 Crookham Ford R.S.D.	Walter Robertson	Male	75 years [1816/17]	Cartman	Pneumonia Certified by R. Murray Lyon M.B.C.M.	John Bell Son-in-law Present at the death Sandyfords Ford	First February 1892	Thomas A. Robson Registrar