I dropped the vase this week and have not been well enough to complete a full feature-length blog post around the theme of flowers for my Cutting tree.

Although a perfect title for my Cutting ancestors, I was unable to plant an idea that could blossom during this last week. So instead, I am going to cut my losses and focus on next week’s them of ‘Joined Together’. (Oh too many metaphors I hear you say.)

In this brief post, I just wanted to give a tribute to all my Robinson Clan ancestors who are slowly emerging from the past to tell me their stories. This poem was a favourite of my mother’s, Winifred Edith Cutting; she would often quote it to me when the occasion arose.

Kind hearts are the gardens,

Kind thoughts are the roots,

Kind words are the flowers.

Kind deeds are the fruits.

Take care of your garden

And keep out the weeds,

Fill it with sunshine,

Kind words and Kind deeds.

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 Sending a floral tribute to the family of my great grandfather George Robinson; and those who pioneered in the world of Hotel Management back in the 1860s and 1870s.

Great Aunt Eleanor Dolling (Robinson)

In particular, my great aunt Eleanor (Ellen) Robinson was born in 1833 in Woodmansterne, Surrey, and married Job Dolling at St. Johns, Croydon, in 1857. There is a story brewing there and I am doing some detective work to find out what. Just a little history here that was of interest for Job Dolling who was born in 1831 in Buckland, Somerset. He was listed as a police officer on their wedding certificate and as a Metropol Police Constable on the 1861 census.

However, the most intriguing part of their story, is that both Ellen and Job died in the same year at the Clock Tower Tavern, a pub in Battersea Park Road, Brompton, London, just three months apart. I found just a brief newspaper article about Ellen’s death in the South London Press, dated 8 April 1876.

Transcript: On the 1st inst. at the Clock Tower Tavern, Battersea Park Road, Ellen, the beloved wife of Mr. Job Dolling, aged 43 years.

https://search.findmypast.com.au/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000213%2f18760408%2f046&stringtohighlight=job%20dolling

They were not just living there, they were running the pub. They had successfully managed two other pubs before this one; as I discovered from the History of Pubs at the Pubwiki here: https://pubwiki.co.uk/LondonPubs/Camberwell/Alliance.shtml

1865 Licensee Green Dragon, Bermondsey Road, Bermondsey

1867 White Horse, Little Britain, transfer of licensee

1871 Licensee Alliance Public House, 260 Sumner Road, Peckham.

How do I know that Ellen died just 3 months apart from Job, her husband?

One newspaper reported his sudden death and burial at Brompton Cemetery – this was an article about the Battersea Tradesmen Club Excursion:

DEATH NOTICE 24 June 1876 South London Press

Transcription: the lamentably-sudden and recent decease of Mr. Job Dolling, one of the most respected members of the club, who the day previous had been interred in his last earthly home.

https://search.findmypast.com.au/bna/ViewArticle?id=BL%2F0000213%2F18760624%2F042%2F0011&browse=true

Questions linger in my mind. Did they both have the same illness? Or was there some other tragedy in their lives?

I delved into historical records to find the burial for Job Dolling and found this:

Burial date 20 Jun 1876

Place Brompton

Age 44

Residence 400 Battersea Park Road

Brompton Cemetery burial book no. 282, references 82900-83200

https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/brompton-cemetery/about-brompton-cemetery

Now here is where I got sidetracked – and I ventured down into the catacombs at the Brompton Cemetery, not realizing how famous these were and what I would find. Check these out for yourself: https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/brompton-cemetery/explore-brompton-cemetery/tales-from-the-catacombs

I will be back with further discoveries of my Robinson clan, in the next blog post with the theme of ‘Joined Together’.