69 - The Bellott Family

The Bellott family seem to have been plagued by premature death through the years.

Joseph Bellott, who originated in Fairfield, Derbyshire, appears to have had many jobs, from farm labourer to gentleman's servant, bricksetter to collier. He married Mary Pinder Gale in 1867 and they went on to have 4 children together in Romiley. Mary's father was a wheelwright from Nottinghamshire.

Joseph Bellott died in February 1880 aged 32 and Mary took her 4 children with her to Laxton, Nottinghamshire to be near to her family, working as a charwoman to make ends meet. Just months after settling back home, her eldest child Mary Elizabeth died at 12 years of age.

By 1891 the family had moved to Sheffield. Anthony worked as a Railway Porter and Frank as a labourer. Daughter Catherine Jane had married a coal miner named Albert Fogg and had a baby daughter named Lily.

It seems that Catherine and Albert's marriage had broken down by 1901 as she and Lily lived with Mary and Frank Bellott. Catherine worked as a bottle washer. She went on to live with another man and have a child with him.

A year later, in 1902, Mary died.

Anthony had married Jane Gunn in 1893 and they were settled in Sheffield with their children Ethel, George, Leonard and Stephen. In 1902, the same year that Mary died, little Stephen also passed away. Stephen's brother George would follow in 1911, along with both Anthony and Jane, leaving Ethel and Leonard orphans.

Leonard had a life long illness that made his body weak. He was deemed fit to join up in 1914 but by 1915 he was considered medically unfit. He died less than 2 years later.

When we find Ethel in 1911 she had just lost her father, mother and brother and was working as a servant in Morecambe for a widowed lady and her family. She was then taken in by her uncle William Gunn and his wife Alice. Whilst William was a cabinet maker, Alice ran her own confectionery company and Ethel joined the team.

Sadly, Ethel died aged 33 in 1927.