Read an extract

Synopsis:

The night of 28 November 1848 was wet and cold. At eight o'clock Isaac Jermy, the owner of Stanfield Hall was relieving himself outside the Hall when a masked man emerged from the darkness and shot him dead. The man went into the house, shot three other people, including Jermy's son who also died, and then disappeared into the night. The following morning the police arrested a neighbour called lames Blomfield Rush, who was living at Potash Farm with his mistress Emily Sandford. He was found guilty of the murder and hanged outside Norwich Castle in front of an enormous crowd on 21 April 1849. He maintained his innocence to the last.

In February 1967 a note was discovered during alterations to 30 King Street, Great Yarmouth. It read 'This was put in here by the Husband of Emily Sandford in 1852. The Stanfield Hall Murders Originated from the Barbarous conduct of the Yarmouth Magistrates towards Mrs. Blyth, [signed E WhitesidesJ'.

This book sets out all the information known about the backgrounds of two very different families: the Rush family of central Norfolk and the Whitesides family of Yarmouth. It is entirely based on sources available in Record Offices and Libraries and has two general aims:

1. To give an impression of aspects of Norfolk life in the nineteenth century through the histories of these two families.

2. To give some idea of the range of sources to those interested in tracing their family history in this period.