Brampton Bound...

Good Friday, April 14. Cloudy mild.

Our car and driver arrived at 9.00 as arranged. It was a black van with the owner of the company at the wheel. An English born Indian gentleman. Well educated and knowledgeable in all things English. If you closed your eyes he was just an Englishman.

We were soon out of London and on the M-1 bound for The North. Our first stop was to Wellingborough where Grampa Herbert Robins lived when his recently widowed mother sent him, 12 at the time, to become a Printer, indenturing Herbert to a Mr. Bellamy in Wellingborough in 1882. He was paid three shillings and six pence per week for the first year.

Grampa was born in Chapel Brampton in 1870. His father was a horsler, or horse handler for a local Estate, we believe. The Estate owner would house Grampa's dad and family as was normal at the time. When Grampa's dad died at the age of 40, in 1881, the widow and her three boys, Herbert, William and Frank were then forced to move off the estate and were homeless. 

They moved to Wellingborough, about 12 miles away. She sent Herbert to become a printer and the other two boys, William and Frank, we know not where they went. We do know that Frank eventually joined the British Army eight years later in 1890 and came to Canada in 1903. William must have become a shoemaker because he came to Vancouver and joined a shoe maker firm in 1905. [Northampton area is a shoemaker area], my Grandfather came to Vancouver, in 1912, to join his brothers.

We actually found their address in Wellingborough, it is still a working class area and the exact same stone structures still exist.

Next we went to Chapel Brampton to visit the churchyard where there are 13 Robins buried. We scrummaged there for a bit and then had a pub lunch in The Spencer Arms where our cousin Mark was the manager in 1911 and for some time thereafter. 

We enquired at the pub if there were any Robins in the area and the lady directed me to a Gent called Collin, enjoying his pub lunch at a nearby table, whom I talked with, he gave me the address of a lady whose mother managed the pub from the 40s to 70s. I visited them and they were delighted to talk to me but could offer no new information.

That was basically our day. We did see how wonderful the countryside is around The Bramptons as they call it.

Our conclusion was that the early death of our Great Grandfather at age 40, split up the family and that is why we as a family exist, and reside in Vancouver, Canada.

#5 High Street Place, Wellingborough, rear. Where the Robins Family lived after Chapel Brampton, approx. 1882, after the father, our great grandfather died.

Front of #5.

The Church at Church Brampton, family graves are here. 

Craig pulling off the ivy to see the name Robins under it.

At our great grandfather's grave. Died at 40. Craig is thinking he must have been kicked by a horse, as others lived quite long lives.

The family lies beneath the trees mid-right.

The Spencer Arms, our cousin Mark, was the manager in there in 1911.

The Spencer Arms.

Inside the Spencer Arms.

Inside the pub.

The current bar maid?

Mary Anne Robins, [Nee Leveratt.] Our great grandmother. Mother of the three Robins boys.

The boys in 1874. Left to right: Herbert, William, Frank.

Herbert 1916. Age 46.

Frank, 1916, age 45.

Billy Robins, son of the elder brother, William. Billy won the Military Medal at Vimy Ridge in 1917, he lived.