Emma Salmon was born early 1775 and baptized at St Mary’s Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire on 21 Sep 1775. Her father was John Salmon, a Woolstapler. She married John Breakspear, the son of a local publican in Chipping Norton on 22 Dec 1801.
What little we know of her early married life is revealed only by the baptisms of her eight children. They are in multiple places across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and finally Birmingham where her family put down roots from about 1820.
Her oldest daughter Ann was baptized in Chipping Norton in 1803 (buried in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire in 1807). Her daughter Jane was baptized in Kings Langley in 1804. Her third child, a son John was also baptized in Kings Langley in 1807. So we might conclude that the family was living from 1804 until some time after 1807 in Kings Langley.
Her fourth child, Eliza Ann was baptised back in Chipping Norton in 1811, Her fifth child Emma was baptised in Brill Buckinghamshire in 1813. Her sixth child William was baptized in Old Swinford, Stourbridge in 1815. Her seventh and oldest surviving child Thomas was baptized in Handsworth in 1817. A final son Henry was born in 1819 and baptised in Birmingham in 1820 but he does not seem to have survived infancy.
The latter three baptismal records give the profession of John Breakspear as Excise Officer. This we can presume is the reason for the movements. From 1820 onwards, John Breakspear reverted to his father’s trade of Publican and he ran a series of pubs in Birmingham. We can presume Emma whose children would have largely reached adulthood by 1830, was actively involved in running these pubs.
John Breakspear, who finished his varied career trying to run Aston Flour Mill, died in 1838. Emma, recently widowed, cannot be found in the 1841 census.
In the 1851 census she is living, aged 73(?), next door to the Malt Shovel Pub in Lower Tower Street together with a nephew called Thomas Salmon, aged 14. This entry reveals an interesting story. The baptism of this ‘nephew’ would appear to be recorded in St Philip’s Birmingham. where a Thomas Salmon, born 29 Jan 1839 is baptised 11 Sep 1840. The father is recorded as Thomas Breakspear [Salmon], an agent, and the mother as Eliza Salmon. It is not clear who Eliza Salmon was and she may well have been related to Emma. However, an Eliza Salmon is recorded as living in Ludgate Hill in the 1841 census and being buried from the same address on 23 Apr 1843, aged 26
It therefore seems likely that the father was Emma’s youngest son Thomas, who left for Jamaica about this time. Emma’s second youngest son William had previously set out for Jamaica as early as 1836 and was seemingly successful in setting up a trading business in Kingston. His younger brother, Thomas, must have set out to join him leaving the poor Eliza behind. He may not even have known she was pregnant. It would seem that Emma helped pick up the pieces and the young Thomas Salmon continued to be part of the larger family. He is recorded as living with one of her daughter Jane’s children in the 1861 census.
Emma herself died a few months before the 1861 census, aged 86.
Sources and Notes
- Death Certificate of Emma Breakspear, 17 Mar 1861, reported by Eliza Ann Francis
- The Birmingham Archive Wolfson Centre holds two letters (MS1364/1. and MS1364/2) to Jane Davis, Emma’s daughter both from Jamaica, one from brother William in 1836 and one from brother Thomas in 1857. These confirm William died in Jamaica in 1857 and by implication Thomas had married out in Jamaica in Jan 1843 before the death of Eliza Salmon back in Birmingham.
- In 1851 the Malt Shovel, Lower Tower Street, was run by John Davis, Emma’s son in law husband of her daughter Jane.
- The marriage certificate of Thomas Salmon on 9 May 1866 states the groom’s father is Thomas Breakspear Salmons (sic), a Factor.