In week 65 I blogged about my great grandfather William Cole Benson who emigrated to South Africa without his young family. He was the youngest of three siblings and this week I want to tell you about the middle sibling, Annie.
Annie Benson was born on 5th August 1844. She was a "minor", being just under 21, and six months pregnant when she married 26 year old Charles Washington Augero Eves on 13th April 1865. This was two weeks after her older sister, Mary, had married Joseph Russell. Mary's husband was a witness to the marriage, as had Annie and Charles been at Mary's wedding. Annie and Charles had at least six children although one died in infancy.
On the 1871 census Charles is described as a "Colonial Merchant" and, in both 1881 and 1891, as a "West India Merchant". In fact Charles was a prominent merchant based in London with extensive West Indian commercial interests. He represented Jamaica, British Honduras and the Bahamas and, as an active member of the Royal Colonial Institute, authored the first publication in the society's series of handbooks which were designed to provide schoolchildren with better texts in imperial history and geography. His manual on the West Indies first appeared in 1889 and went through later editions in 1891 and 1893. Like the other books in the series, Eves' West Indies received the endorsement of the School Board for London. He took a prominent part in promoting the Colonial Exhibition of 1886 for which he received the decoration of a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1890 Queens New Years Honours list.
The family lived at 49 Highbury New Park, Islington in the 1881 census. This was where Charles died suddenly as a result of a fall down stairs into the basement while doing some DIY in 1899. The inquest was reported in The Times as follows :
"Evidence was given to the effect that early on Thursday morning Mr Eves went into the basement of his residence to fix some electric burglar alarm bells. As he did not immediately return to the dining room Mr Edward Moorhead, a ship owner of Cardiff, and a son-in-law of the deceased, proceeded to ascertain the cause of his absence, and found him insensible at the bottom of the staircase, his head being injured. A doctor was at once summoned, but death ensued within a few hours from compression of blood on the brain, coupled with concussion. The Jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death."
His estate was valued for probate purposes at £8,636, equivalent in today's value to £868,000 using the retail prices index.
On the 1871 census Charles is described as a "Colonial Merchant" and, in both 1881 and 1891, as a "West India Merchant". In fact Charles was a prominent merchant based in London with extensive West Indian commercial interests. He represented Jamaica, British Honduras and the Bahamas and, as an active member of the Royal Colonial Institute, authored the first publication in the society's series of handbooks which were designed to provide schoolchildren with better texts in imperial history and geography. His manual on the West Indies first appeared in 1889 and went through later editions in 1891 and 1893. Like the other books in the series, Eves' West Indies received the endorsement of the School Board for London. He took a prominent part in promoting the Colonial Exhibition of 1886 for which he received the decoration of a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1890 Queens New Years Honours list.
The family lived at 49 Highbury New Park, Islington in the 1881 census. This was where Charles died suddenly as a result of a fall down stairs into the basement while doing some DIY in 1899. The inquest was reported in The Times as follows :
"Evidence was given to the effect that early on Thursday morning Mr Eves went into the basement of his residence to fix some electric burglar alarm bells. As he did not immediately return to the dining room Mr Edward Moorhead, a ship owner of Cardiff, and a son-in-law of the deceased, proceeded to ascertain the cause of his absence, and found him insensible at the bottom of the staircase, his head being injured. A doctor was at once summoned, but death ensued within a few hours from compression of blood on the brain, coupled with concussion. The Jury returned a verdict of Accidental Death."
His estate was valued for probate purposes at £8,636, equivalent in today's value to £868,000 using the retail prices index.
After losing her husband, Annie moved south to Hove, in Sussex, where she was living at 48 Ventnor Villas (seven rooms) on the 1911 census with an unmarried daughter, a cook and a housemaid.
Annie died of a heart attack in Hove on 15th May 1924 aged 79.
After losing her husband, Annie moved south to Hove, in Sussex, where she was living at 48 Ventnor Villas (seven rooms) on the 1911 census with an unmarried daughter, a cook and a housemaid.
Annie died of a heart attack in Hove on 15th May 1924 aged 79.