Melbourn & Cambridge Plucks
Origins
This Tree was formerly Tree 1003 - one of the "Orphan" trees. When I was last working on this tree, several years ago, I did not feel able to connect Thomas and Mary to any member of the set of Linked trees. I did not have enough data to allow me to make a link with any confidence. New evidence,however, has allowed me to reduce the number of candidates to a single person.
The evidence for this choice is based on his death certificate (which is in the possession of Jeanette Wallace). Thomas died in Fowlmere in October 1847, aged 77, which gives a birth date of 1770. In the 1841 census his age is recorded as 66, which gives a birth date of 1773. The census age, which was probably supplied by Thomas himself, is likely to be the most accurate.
I know of three Thomases who were born within the 1768-1775 timeframe:
- baptised on 18 Sep 1768 - the son of John and Ann of Saffron Walden;
- baptised on 2 Jul 1772] - the son of William and Elizabeth of Arkesden; and
- baptised on13 Jun 1773 in Portsmouth - the son of Peter and Ann.
I am confident that the first Thomas, who was born in Saffron Walden, is
PL12 who belongs in Tree 2. Thomas married Ann Elbourn in Hildersham in 1791
and they went on to found the Kent Branch (Tree 5).
The Thomas born in Portsmouth is probably a member of the Irish Pluck branch.
Quite a few of the Irish Plucks were named Peter and quite a few were also
sailors.
Which leaves the Thomas who was born in Arkesden [PL409 in Tree 4]. The birth
year fits well, he "disappeared" from Arkesden, and the first "Pluck
record" in the Fowlmere parish records was Thomas's marriage to Mary
Pearce on 1 May 1798.
PL No |
Surname |
Forenames |
Notes |
| 1255 | BECKETT | Elizabeth | C1901 |
| 2802 | BOTTRILL | Glenys | Mother's maiden name: Saunders |
| 1212 | BRADSHAW | William | a widower when married to Mary (source: Evelyn Tate) |
| 1209 | BROOKS | Mary Ann | C1881; C1891; C1901 |
| 3385 | EAGLE | William James | First husband of Florence Selina PL1284. |
| 3404 | FLACK | Cecilia Eliza | A GRO birth record has not been found. |
| 2832 | FLEMING | George J | There is a possible death in Q2 1919 in the West Ham RD, aged 36. |
| 3389 | FORDHAM | Mary | Parents were William & Elizabeth Fordham. C1841: NF; C1851: b.1793 in Melbourn. Possible deaths in Royston RD in Q4 1838 or Q1 1841. |
| 2804 | GODBER | Emma | Father: George Godber; mother: Sophia Milthorp |
| 3388 | GRIMWOOD | Jack R | Mother's maiden name: REEVE |
| 3403 | HARD | Sarah | C1871: lodging in Luton with Rebecca Pluck (PL1186) |
| 1185 | HAYDEN | Mary | C1841; C1851; C1871 |
| 3425 | HEDGCOCK | Frederick George | Also found as Hidgcock. C1901: 31, grocer, b. Billington (BDF). |
| 1284 | HOPKINS | Florence Selina | To the best of my knowledge she was born Florence Selina HOPKINS, but I have not been able to find a birth record in the GRO index. She married William James EAGLE under this name in Q2 1897; he died less than a year later. She married James Yelling PLUCK in 1900, using the name EAGLE, however her father was recorded as Henry Johnson. The most likely explanation is that he was her step-father. The birth certificates for her sons gave her maiden name as Hopkins. |
| 1226 | KIRBY | Caroline Wright | C1901; C1911: married 28 years, 7 children, 6 living. |
| 4319 | KNIGHTS | Charlotte | C1871: b. Swaversey. |
| 3421 | MACROFF | Lilian A | Surname recorded as MAYCROFF in daughter's birth registration |
| 3402 | MARRIOTT | Timothy Bletsoe | His wife died Q3 1899 (St Ives 3b, 181, age 61) and he married Rebecca about a year later. Presumably she was still living in his house. He died 28 February 1922 and Rebecca was granted probate on 18 May [£128 14s 8d - about £5000 in 2011]. |
| 1200 | MASON | Sarah | Widow, previously married to John Pettitt. C1841: born in Cambs ca 1772. |
| 1240 | MONEY | Harriet Emily | C1901; C1911. The 1911 census records that she was a widow, working as a charwoman, with ten children, all still living. |
| 1242 | MONEY | Herbert William Pluck | C1901; C1911. His birth was registered under his mother's surname, i.e. MONEY, presumably because he was born before his parents married. When he married in 1910 he used the surname PLUCK-MONEY and this was also the name on his death certificate. |
| 4302 | MONEY | Violet Mabel | C1911, age 3 months, living in Beccles. |
| 2614 | NEEN | Esther | b. on 31 March 1924 (GRO death index) |
| 1258 | OSBORN | Mary Ann | C1901 |
| 1207 | PATMAN | Mary Ann | Her father, Yelling Patman, was killed by lightning in 1867. |
| 3383 | PETERS OR HOLMES | Hilda F | When two surnames are given in the GRO index this usually indicates a previous marriage? No children found under either maiden name. |
| 1183 | PLUCK | Abraham | C1841; C1851: 12, ag lab living in Fowlmere; C1861: 23, railway servant, living in Saxmundham; C1871: 32, railway porter, now married, living in Beccles; C1881: 43, no change; C1891: 52, railway guard; C1901: 62, no change, still in Beccles. |
| 1229 | PLUCK | Agnes | C1881; C1891: a servant in Albury (Albury is near Bishop's Stortford); C1901: a parlour maid in Hitchin. There is a marriage in the index which looks very likely: Q4 1901 Agnes Pluck, Hitchin 3a, 1019; Free BMD gives two possible husbands: William John SPICER or Philip Frederick SCHOLL. |
| 4300 | PLUCK | Agnes Rose | C1911 |
| 1249 | PLUCK | Albert Victor | C1901; C1911: 18, living with widowed mother, a carpenter's apprentice. |
| 1228 | PLUCK | Alice Maud | C1901; C1911; age 15, net machinist. |
| 2615 | PLUCK | Ann-Marie Maud | Two children: Neil Adrian and Anne-Marie. |
| 1245 | PLUCK | Arthur Frederick | C1911. |
| 1196 | PLUCK | Benjamin | C1841: NF; C1851: in Melbourn, ag lab, age 55, b. Foulmire. Benjamin & Mary have a nephew, Fordham Loates, aged 9, with them. Next door are John (31) and Mary (34) Loates with three sons aged 11,8 and 5. This is almost certainly Fordham's family. This information was useful in identifying Benjamin's bride. |
| 1269 | PLUCK | Bertha | Bertha and Arthur had two children, Jean and John. |
| 2831 | PLUCK | Brian | Marriage alternatives have been excluded 20/1/17 |
| 1275 | PLUCK | Brian | Buried 10 Nov 1997; a lorry driver, living at 41 Tower Hill, Beccles. |
| 1270 | PLUCK | Dorothy | "The Pluck name is well regarded here in the village. Indeed we have the Dorothy Pluck room in our village church in memory of that lady. She lived well into her nineties and was a stalwart of the local community." Source: Debora Roberts, Vice-Chairman of Fowlmere Parish Council. 27/9/2014.<br> You can read more about Dorothy, and her sister, Ruth, in History 371. |
| 1257 | PLUCK | Dorothy Irene | C1901; C1911; no occupation. |
| 1217 | PLUCK | Edgar Arthur | C1901: living in West Ham, a railway guard, no children. C1911: not found. |
| 1243 | PLUCK | Edith Maud | C1901; C1911. |
| 2612 | PLUCK | Edward Bryden | My dad (Edward Bryden Pluck) left Beccles at 15 years of age to go to naval school at HMS Ganges at Shotley. He ended up at sea and in the war at a very young age and served from start to finish - he saw the four corners of the globe as a radio telegraphist . He ended up in the pacific conflict and was on the Indomitable whilst it was being dive-bombed by kamikaze pilots.<br>After the war he was disabled out withTB. This was not long after the twins were born. In those days TB was a death sentence but somehow he recovered and ended up working as a store manager for Woolworths. He died in 2014 at the age of 91.<br>Jonathan Pluck 13/10/15. |
| 2819 | PLUCK | Ernest A F | Debt of Honour Register<br>Ernest Arthur Frederick Pluck M.M.<br>Lance Serjeant, 1st Bn Durham Light Infantry.<br>He died on 29 November 1944 during the 8th Army's drive northward through Italy, aged 29, and was buried at the Cesena War Cemetery, Italy. Cesena is just to the north of the Appennine mountains. |
| 1213 | PLUCK | Ernest William | C1901; C1911: railway engine driver. |
| 1210 | PLUCK | Ernest William | Ernest emigrated to Australia at age 18, departing from Plymouth on 10 Mar 1888 aboard the Scottish Lassie (a three masted barque) and arriving in Bundaberg on 10 Jun 1888. Ernest then sailed from Rockhampton on the steamship Glanworth arriving in Sydney on 4 Feb 1889.<br> Tony Pluck ,17/10/11. |
| 1238 | PLUCK | Ethel May | C1901. There is a possible marriage in Q4 1905 Mutford 4a 2249 to either Arthur CURL or Edward Charles ALBROW. |
| 1241 | PLUCK | Ethel May | C1901; C1911. |
| 1190 | PLUCK | Etheldreda | C1841; There is a marriage in the GRO index: Q2 1852 Etheldreda Pluck, Hitchin 3a 272, Free BMD gives husband as either John CANNON or John STANFORD. I can not find her in subsequent censuses. |
| 1187 | PLUCK | Fanny | C1841; C1851: 18, unm, housemaid in Hitchin. Not found subsequently. |
| 1239 | PLUCK | Frank William | C1901: He worked on the railways (his father was an engine driver) and he suffered an accident in 1912 when a train ran over and cut off his foot. |
| 1222 | PLUCK | Frederick | C1901 in Chelmsford, a brass moulder, unm, boarder in Bartlett household. There is a possible death in Maidstone in 1941. |
| 1227 | PLUCK | Frederick James | C1901; C1911: age 21, living with parents, railway engine cleaner. |
| 2616 | PLUCK | Gladys Janette May | Two children: Michael and Scott. Michael is married and has a daughter names Mille. |
| 2602 | PLUCK | Gloria Alma | Gloria married Jean-Michel Guimbart (30.10.1955) on 31 May 1975. They have three sons Loïc Reginald Michel (1.11.1975 in Cambrai), Michael David Gérard (26.10.1978 in Cambrai) and Kevin Loîc Michael (4.6.1985 in Cambrai).<br>Loïc's partner is Virginie Michel and they have two daughters Kimy (27.5.2002?) and Lilou (15.10.2004).<br>Michael is married to Lucy and they have a son Sacha 18 Aug 2006.<br>Carole Pluck 14 Apr 2008. |
| 1205 | PLUCK | Hannah | C1851; James and Hannah married in Fowlmere on 23 December 1865; they had five children. |
| 1191 | PLUCK | Harriet | C1841 |
| 1256 | PLUCK | Harry Ernest | C1901; C1911: 18, living with parents, a brewer's labourer. |
| 1189 | PLUCK | Hephzibah | C1841; There is a marriage in the GRO index: Q4 1854 Hephzibah Pluck, Hitchin 3a 335, Free BMD gives husband as either George MATTHEW or Jabez WORBOYS. I can not find her in subsequent censuses. |
| 1221 | PLUCK | Hephzibah | In 1901 census working as a cook at Gloucester Gardens, London, age 30, single. |
| 1219 | PLUCK | Herbert | C1901: farmer's labourer. |
| 1233 | PLUCK | Herbert John | C1891; C1901: not found; C1911: living in Shepreth. |
| 2818 | PLUCK | Ivy A I | I am slightly uncertain about connecting Ivy Pluck to Rodney Waterfield,
chiefly because she would have been 26 when they married and Rodney would
have been 55. Unusual, but definitely not out of the question. A search for Rodney in the 1901 census finds him in a group of 15 people living in three caravans. They are the final family listed in the census of Aylsham in Norfolk [RG13/1830, f.32, p.26]. Today we would usually call them travellers, in 1901 they would probably have been called gipsies. The head of the family was Henry Gray, 59, Horse Dealer (travelling). His wife, Lavina, 40, born in Bedford, would have been Rodney's mother. Rodney is recorded as Roddy Waterfield, 18, stepson, no occupation, born in Cley Next the Sea in Norfolk. Rodney and Ivy had four children: Rosalind P A [1941], Harry J R P [1942], Brian P [1944] and Carole E V [1946]; all births were registered in the Wisbech R.D. |
| 3431 | PLUCK | Jack Adrian | The birth was registered again in Apr 2000 (Stockport C66A, 0131C, 066). |
| 1206 | PLUCK | James | C1851; C1881; C1891; C1901 |
| 1211 | PLUCK | James | C1881 |
| 1272 | PLUCK | James | There is a possible marriage to Martha Welch in the Hertford RD in 1941. |
| 1246 | PLUCK | James Ernest | C1901; C1911. |
| 1285 | PLUCK | James Stanley | Recorded as Stanley James in the GRO death index. Date of birth in index confirms identity. |
| 1214 | PLUCK | James Yelling | C1871: 7, scholar; C1881: 17, engine driver (maltster); C1891: 28, railway stoker RGD; C1901: now married, rail goods driver. |
| 2623 | PLUCK | Jane A | Two children - Tom and Katie. |
| 1184 | PLUCK | John | C1841: ag lab; C1851; ag lab; C1861: ag lab; C1871: farm labourer.<br>In 1867 John appeared in front of the Melbourne Magistrates charged with "accumulating dung on his premises". Read more about it in History 320. |
| 1193 | PLUCK | John | John and Thomas were probably twins. John was baptised on 30 Apr 1833 and Thomas on 2 May. John probably died soon after baptism. Another John came along in 1842. |
| 1203 | PLUCK | John | C1851; C1861: 19, ag lab, living with parents; C1871: 29, no change; C1881: 39, ag lab, a lodger at the Green Man (public house) in Thriplow - his parents are now dead. Not found subsequently. |
| 2620 | PLUCK | Jonathan Edward Lockhart | Has lived in Warsaw and Calgary. He currently lives in Kuwait.. |
| 1223 | PLUCK | Laura Lucy | Did not marry. |
| 2806 | PLUCK | Lillian Sophia | Two children: William Norman and Isabel (Source: Tony Pluck). |
| 1230 | PLUCK | Lily | C1881; C1891: a domestic servant in Cambridge; C1901: married, one son and 2 daughters. |
| 2604 | PLUCK | Linzy Gail | two children: Camille Victoria (5 Nov 1999: Dunkirk) and Gabriel David Joseph (7 Mar 2004). |
| 1247 | PLUCK | Mabel Violet | C1901; C1911. She had a son by Henry W Smith: GRO birth index gives: Dennis R Smith, Q2 1923, Wangford 4a, 1940). The GRO record of her marriage to John Moody is unusual in that her name appears twice in the index: as MONEY, Violet M P and as PLUCK MONEY, Violet M. The entry is also unusual in that her surname ought to have appeared as SMITH. A possible death in Newton Abbott in March 1970. |
| 1204 | PLUCK | Mary | C1851 |
| 1251 | PLUCK | Olive Maud | C1901; C1911. |
| 1186 | PLUCK | Rebecca | unmarried, aged 45, born in Foulmire. C1891: 53, unm, straw bonnet maker, still with the Marriots but now recorded as "lodger; C1901: now marrried to Timothy Marriott. Lived until she was 90. |
| 1250 | PLUCK | Reginald Harold | C1901; C1911: age 16, living with widowed mother, a newspaper boy. |
| 2795 | PLUCK | Reginald Walter | He is buried in the Brussels Town Cemetery. |
| 2808 | PLUCK | Robert | Never married. |
| 1231 | PLUCK | Rosa | C1881; C1891: In Toxteth Park, Lancashire in the household of Isaac and Mary Mathews, a general servant. Isaac was an assurance agent born in Whittlesford a few miles from Fowlmere, which explains why Rosa has moved so far from her home. C1901: in Salford, a domestic servant in the household of Thomas and Martha Lord. |
| 1236 | PLUCK | Rosa | This is John Tate's grandmother. |
| 1253 | PLUCK | Sydney Edward | C1911. |
| 0409 | PLUCK | Thomas | 1841: ag lab. There are two "Thomas Pluck entries in the GRO death index in Q3 of 1847, bothin Royston and both in Volume 6, one on p379 and one on p381. The other could have been his grandson (PL1192). |
| 1192 | PLUCK | Thomas | C1841. Not found in subsequent censuses. There is a probable death in Q3 1847, possibly within days of his grandfather (Thomas PL409). There was a lot of cholera around in 1847. Even in country areas the water was often contaminated. |
| 1218 | PLUCK | Thomas | C1891: married, living in Beccles, a journeyman tailor; C1901: a tailor. |
| 1232 | PLUCK | Thomas | I can't find a GRO birth index record for Thomas, however, he is clearly
recorded in both the 1881 and 1891 censuses. Not found in the 1901census. |
| 4320 | PLUCK | Thomas | Thomas died age 0, so therefore doesn't appear in a census, which makes his assignment to these parents slightly problematic. I have placed him with this family because it is the only Pluck family within the Wangford RD at that time. Confirmation is provided by the 1911 census which records that Jane had had four children of which one had died. A birth certificate would be needed to provide absolute proof. It may seem strange that his death appears to have taken place before his birth but deaths must be registered before a burial can take place. You get 5 days (after 1852, 8 before) to register a death (under normal circumstances where no coroner is involved) and 42 days to register a birth. It is possible that he died late in December and the birth was registered early in January. |
| 4301 | PLUCK | Thomas Leslie | He joined the Royal Navy as a "boy" in 24 February 1924 at the age of 16. He spent his first year at HMS Ganges - a Navy training establishment. He was on the battleship HMS Centurion for a month and then joined HMS Royal Sovereign (a Dreadnought class battleship) on 6 May 1925. A few weeks later, on 6 May he was promoted to the rank of Ordinary Seaman. He died on board the Royal Sovereign on 16 September 1925. The ' Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services, 1853-1928' records the outcome of a Court of Enquiry : "Died from Heart Failure following an operation. No blame attributable". His family believes that "he was in a race in the Navy and dropped down dead". |
| 1244 | PLUCK | Walter Abram | C1901; C1911. |
| 2624 | SMITH | Nigel | Mother's maiden name: Smalley |
| 1274 | SONES | Eva May | marriage record not in GRO index |
| 1248 | VINCENT | Jane | C1901; C1911: age 43, widow, confectionery dealer. Married 43 years, 4 children, 3 living. |
"An Orphan"
These are people that I have come across in the GRO birth indexes for the general areas covered by this tree, but have been unable to assign to any parents.
Thomas Pluck: his birth was registered in Q1 1889 (Wangford 4a, 1107) and his death in Q4 1888 (Wangford 4a, 483). I expect his parents overlooked the need to register the birth. He could fit into several families but I am inclined to favour Thomas Pluck and Jane Vincent who married in Q2 1888 and had three children in 1892, 1894 and 1896. A birth certificate would be needed to confirm this.
Acknowledgements:
I am grateful to Carole Pluck, Mark Pluck, Jeanette Wallace, Alicia Moyles and Tony Pluck for their help in compiling this tree.
... and finally
I have never been to Fowlmere. The name, Fowlmere, conjures up a vision of a shimmering lake covered in ducks, swans and other wildfowl. This image, however, is spoilt when one finds that the old parish registers called the place Foulmire. An example of modern sanitisation of old-time reality, I suppose? There is a village in Bedfordshire, a few miles from my birthplace of Stotfold, which is now called Shillington. It was Shitlington until about 1860.
