Emily Jane Southgate 1871 ~ 1898

Emily Jane was the eldest child of Laban and Charlotte Southgate, born 3^rd August 1871 in Barking, Suffolk where Laban was farming 57 acres, next door was Robert Southgate, Emily’s grandfather, also farming.

By the time of the 1881 census, when Emily was 10 years old, the family were living at Badley, and Laban was farming 110 acres employing 2 men and 1 boy, Emily had four younger siblings so the household was very busy.

Sometime around 1890 when Emily was 19, the family moved to Stowupland, Laban and Charlotte had ten children, and on the 1891 census Laban described himself as “living on own means”, they were living at Tyrrells Farm, Stowupland. This farm was sold in 1892 and the family moved to Lings Lane, Chelmondiston, where Laban was a farm labourer.

The 1891 cemsus[showed that Emily had left home and was working as a housekeeper for a Joseph Pawsey in Haughley near Stowmarket:

Figure 1 Emily Jane Southgate in the 1891 census

Emily Jane Southgate in the 1891 census Residence: New Street, Haughley, Suffolk
5th April 1891 Census:
Name & Surname	Relation-ship to head of family	Condition as to marriage	Age	Profession or Occupation	Where Born
Joseph PAWSEY Emily SOUTHGATE	Head Servant	Widower Single	74 19	Farmer Housekeeper domestic	Battisford, Suffolk Barking, Suffolk

Joseph Pawsey was a respected member of the town of Haughley, Suffolk as well as being a rate collector.

Whilst Emily Jane was working as a housekeeper for Mr Pawsey, when she was washing dishes or clothes by the kitchen window many men would look for her. Emily Jane was reputably very beautiful.

 On 22^nd August 1893 Emily Jane gave birth to a daughter, Daisy Emily in Haughley, Suffolk.

The realization that he would lose his reputation in the town when Emily's baby was born led Joseph Pawsey to hang himself in his own Gig Shed. He was discovered, still warm, at 7am on the 22^nd August 1893 by one of his farm labourers.

Figure 2 Daisy Emily's birth registration

Birth Registration of Daisy Emily Southgate
When & where Born:	Name:	Sex:	Name & surname of father:	Name & maiden surname of mother	Rank or profession of father:	Signature, description & residence of mother:	When registered:
22nd Aug 1893 New Street, Haughley	Daisy Emily	Girl		Emily Jane Southgate, a farmer’s housekeeper		Emily Jane Southgate mother Chelmondiston as per declaration dated 25 Oct 1893	22nd Oct 1893

Emily went back to her parents Laban and Charlotte in Chelmondiston. It was there that she left her baby, Daisy Emily Southgate, with her parents who then handed baby Daisy onto another family in Lings Lane, Chelmondiston as a Nurse Child.

An inquest was held on Wednesday at the White Horse Inn at Haughley relating to the death of Joseph Pawsey[aged 76, a farmer. The deceased had been greatly upset in consequence of the confinement of his housekeeper, a single young woman. Verdict: Suicide while temporarily insane was returned.

Figure 3 Bury Free Press 26th Aug 1893

 Baby Daisy Emily Southgate was sent to the Garnham family in Chelmondiston to be cared for, and she would have had her grandparents and cousins all around her.

Emily Jane went to London. She was found in the records four years later when in April 1897 she married John Spurgin in Lambeth. John was a greengrocer. Two months after the wedding on 14^th June 1897, in Camberwell, she gave birth to a son, John Montague Spurgin.

18 months later, on 6^th December 1898 she gave birth to a daughter, Emily Ruth Spurgin, and six days later Emily died at the age of only 27. Emily Ruth died at the age of 3.[12]

Emily Jane’s son, John Montague went onto live a long and eventful life. A very interesting essay about his life was written by his grandchild:

“John Montague Spurgin, at the age of 12, had a falling out with, in his words, his drunkard father. He left home and changed his name, adopting his mother's maiden name of Southgate.  His mother had passed away several years earlier. From this time he was always known as Jack Southgate.  He was taken in by a Jewish pawnbroker in London's East End.  He spoke with a cockney accent all his life.  At some point he headed north and settled in Leeds where he became a Master Printer and ran a shop until it burned in 1935.  He had an illegitimate daughter, Shirley, around 1930 with whom he was reunited in 1980.  He met Muriel Gibson and had two children, John Robin (1935) and Terence Malcom Southgate (1937).  During WWII they moved several times ending up in Blackpool, where he was a major player in the black market, known as "Jack All Sorts".  In 1945, after the end of the war, the family emigrated to Ireland, living in Dalkey, just south of Dublin.  In 1952 the family emigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto.  He and Muriel moved to Wallaceburg, Ontario, where their son, Robin, lives, in the mid 1970s.  After suffering a stroke, Muriel passed away in 1979.  Jack was very involved in the community and spearheaded several civic projects.  He passed away in 1983, active until he died”.

Figure 4 John (Jack) Montague Spurgin Southgate 1897 - 1983

Daisy would have been 5 years old when her mother died and probably had very little recollection of her. She was found on the 1911 census[at the age of 18, working as a scullery maid at Orwell Lodge, Belstead Road, Ipswich for the Paul family.

In 1921 at the age of 27 she married a Frederick Britton in Ipswich, Frederick was 54 and had been married and widowed and had several children already. In the June 1921 census[Daisy and Frederick were living at 14 Hayhill Road, Ipswich.  Frederick was a bricklayer, and his two adult children, Frederick, 28 and Edith, 17 were in the household. Later,

On 3^rd December 1921 Frederick and Daisy had their only child, a daughter, Nancy Ellen Britton, whose daughter, Maggie Anderson kindly shared a lot of this information.

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