Mardler October 2018 JS

Local History
One of the Barkaway sons though had a somewhat checkered
career. George Barkaway was born in 1802, one of 5 children
and he also became a fellmonger. He married Mary Masterson
in Starston, Norfolk, on 1 October 1824 when he was 22 years
old and settled in Brockdish where he had seven children with
Mary before she tragically died in 1836, only two months after
giving birth to her last child.
After Mary’s death, things started going wrong for George.
First, his oldest son, also George, died when he was 11years
old and soon afterwards in 1838, George and his other six
children were admitted to the Pulham Workhouse. Why was
the family destitute? Why not supported by his brother or other
members of the family? The family situation is unclear; even
prosperous tradesmen had little spare cash to give to
extended family members. Perhaps there was insufficient work
or George was not a reliable worker, or quite possibly he was
in a poor mental state after his bereavements. Soon after
going into the workhouse, another child, Emma, died.
George must have seen that the only salvation for him and his
remaining children was to find work. But how do you search
for work when you are in the workhouse? In late December
1839 George ran off from Pulham Workhouse without
permission and found himself a fellmongering job in
Cambridge. He took with him the respectable clothing the
workhouse had given him…a waistcoat, a shirt and a pair of
stockings and left behind the old stuff he had been admitted
with. That was a ‘larceny’ according to the workhouse master,
James Hardy, who sent a constable off to Cambridge to
apprehend poor George, who was then paraded before the
Magistrates. He pleaded guilty to the theft of the clothes but to
his surprise Mr Wilson, Chairman of the bench, told him he
should plead not guilty as he was surely intending to return the
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