Anyone fancy solving a mystery?

[neomneomneom]

When my father died, in amongst his papers I found a large A4 size book of handwritten notes. They all pertain to various aspects of Leicestershire life dating back to 1895 - politics, local stories, cricket scores - all written in a beautiful script. The inscription inside says ''Written by John Barrass who died July 22 1912 aged 70 years'.

There is no one in my family by that name. So I figured it might be nice to reunite the book with John Barrass's ancestors.

I have attached a picture so you can see just how lovely his script was and what a snapshot of history I have.

If I can't find any family, I wonder if a museum may like it. Any ideas wise mumsnetters?

I’d say the Richard Barrass in your book inscription is the sane fellow buried on July 24th in Thurmaston. The 1881 Leics census for has a Belgrave-born Richard Barrass down as a ‘general labourer’ but by 1891 he’s a ‘grocer and farmer’ and has acquired a servant. No children listed on either census however, which may limit your chances if finding a descendent..

same fellow I meant!

If they didn’t have children OP there may be a family link (perhaps through his wife?) that might explain how the book came into your family. Although as he married an Elizabeth Jane Smith in 1871 it doesn’t give an unusual name to work with 🙂

Yeah, Thurmaston is in the Barrow registration district. Richard in 1851 is on the same page as some of the people in my tree (very convoluted but I was born in that village so have shoehorned in as many people as possible. Not got the Barrasses though).

Someone on ancestry has him in their tree without any children (which fits in with the census records they have). I could sent them a message if you like?

(does he by any chance have any events in Kirby Muxloe?)

I will have a look through again and see if he mentions Kirby Muxlowe.

In light of the fact it looks like Richard Barrass had no children, I think I'm actually going to offer it to one of the Leicester museums as I think it's a nice thing to be shared.

If they're not interested then I may try and track down extended family.

Thanks everyone 😊

Whilst it's perfectly possible that Richard Barrass is your man, I would hesitate to assume that's correct without some evidence. And then it's assumption on top of that to say that he didn't have any children based on the census.

Are there no other clues in the book about family, where he lived or anything like that? The part that you posted in the first post was actually about a lady from Grantham which is in Lincolnshire, but I don't know if she was at an event in Leicestershire? But it might mean that he lived in Lincolnshire for some of his life?

My vote is that you offer it to a local museum or archive, OP. It sounds like a wonderful piece of social history and would make a great research resource

Sorry I missed your second post with pictures, not sure how I managed that, so forgive the second question.

Oh! Sorry now I see the inscription, his name is Richard not John! You wrote John in your OP so I thought we were still working on the fact that he might have Richard for a middle name or something.

So much more likely to be your right man.

incidentally, the 1911 census definitively states that Richard and his wife had no children.

Mrs Hannah Bursnell (nee Pepper) was born in Wymondham Leicestershire, as was her daughter Rebecca Joyce. Rebecca's husband was a stonemason which I've found is the kind of job which often relocates.

Hannah's baptism was 1807... it's possible that she was born in 1804, especially if they were non-conformists. She died in 1909, so over 100 anyway.

Oops many apologies! I don't know why I wrote John in the original post - spectacularly unhelpful on my part.

I have written to the Leicestershire records office and offered them the book. They are closed due to Covid-19 so I received a standard message but I'm sure they will eventually respond.

Interestingly there are a couple of entries about Mrs Bursnell. Clearly an interesting local character who lived through the reigns of various monarchs and remembered the Battle of Waterloo.

I’m sure they’ll be very happy to have it, OP! One last thing I found in my searches was that (according to local gazetteers digitised for Leicester Uni’s Special Collections ), your Richard may have had a shop in Gaddesby

noraclavicle that document mentions also a stephen barrass....

OP, this is a fascinating thread and a kind thing for you to do.

As to why your late father may have had this, just a thought based on experience of clearing my own father’s things - mine had bought a LOT of stuff like this at auction towards the end of his life. We never really understood why! Could it be that? Alternatively, a writer thing, part of research? The notes are charming.

@AncientRainbowABC - that may easily have been how it came into Dad's possession. He was a Leicestershire man - born in Lutterworth but moved to Lincolnshire. So many fascinating little connections. He may well have chosen the book because it had places he was familiar with.

I intend to take the book up in person if the Records Office staff are interested (after this whole pandemic has receded.) I shall have a little tour of the places mentioned and sneak in a cream tea while I'm there. Small pleasures and all that ...

What a lovely heartwarming thread this has turned out to be thanks to you people who have been so generous with your time and advice.

OMG, OP, this is a fabulous little non-fiction piece of writing waiting to happen! You already have eager readers right here for a start! 😁 Lovely idea to go.

Someone more talented than me could weave some literary magic around this.

Sadly, I can only commit to giving you all an update sometime when I finally make it on my 'non-essential but historically important' journey up to Leicester when and if it happens ....

A pleasure on my part, OP - am furloughed from my not-entirely-unrelated job so it’s nice to do something relevant and useful, however small
Would be lovely to see it taken in by the Record Office and digitised - I bet there’s all sorts of wonderful local history stories they could create from it. Good on you for offering to donate!

There's a death of a Stephen Barrass on FreeBMD in Mar Q 1906 aged 70, in Hinckley, and another Stephen died aged in Dec Q 1915 aged 64 in Melton Mowbray.

Going from those ages at death, it is possible that they were related, maybe an uncle, brother, cousin or nephew.

If Richard Barrass of Gaddesby is your man, then he has a brother Thomas living with him in 1891. He is single at 46 though so possibly not about to generate any descendants. His brother Thomas doesn't appear on the electoral register a couple of years later, but both Stephen and Richard do. It looks rather likely that Stephen is another brother, and Stephen had a big family. His son Ralph has the middle names Stephen Richard.

Having seen the post above, that is the Stephen who dies in 1915. Melton Mowbray is the administrative district for Gaddesby.

And final post, Ralph Barrass seems to have a decent sized family too, so it's not at all unlikely that you or the local office could identify some relatives who may still be living locally!

I'll wait for the Records Office to get back to me but may well look into trying to trace relatives if only to let them know that the book is there if they're interested. 🙂