| 4. | Abraham NUNN was born on 17 May 1797 in Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK (son of John NUNN and Mary FLACK); died on 21 Apr 1881 in Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK; was buried on 22 Apr 1881 in Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK. Other Events and Attributes:
- Occupation: Agricultural labourer/husbandman
- Census: 1841, New Cottage, Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK
- Census: 1851, Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK
- Census: 1861, Ruffin's Farm, Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK
- Census: 1871, Seighbeighs Cottages, Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK
- Census: 1881, Brookes Corner, Seighbeighs Cottages, Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK
Notes:
The following letters were written in response to the accidental death of BK1257 Alfred Nunn, son of Abraham Nunn.
The Napoleon Nunn mentioned appears to be the base child of a Naomi Nunn, daughter of John Nunn and Sarah (Sally) Silverstone. There is no relationship yet established between the two Nunn boys although a family connection seems highly likely.
This letter published in the Bury and Norwich Post, and East Anglian, November 29, 1843, was in response to one published earlier regarding Alfred Nunn's accidental death.
Alleged ignorance at Chevington and Whepstead. To the editor. Sir, - Will you oblige me by inserting if your next paper the following statement, which I trust will be found a sufficient answer to the letter of "One of the Jury," on the inquest upon the body of Alfred Nunn, appearing in your last.
Napoleon Nunn, who occasioned the death of Alfred, is not a son of poor parents; he has been brought up by his grandfather, until lately an occupier of a farm of above hundred acres in Chevington, and never was an object for admission into a Charity School. Abraham, the father of Alfred, has had seven children, of whom six have been taught to read, and received religious instruction in my schools; the remaining one is afflicted and incapable of learning. All poor parents in the parish have the opportunity offered them of placing their children, at the age of seven, in the day-school, where they may remain at least three years, and be thence transferred to the Sunday School, where they are allowed to continue till the age of fifteen, or more: the object of the Sunday School being chiefly religious instruction; and, although the parents are often compelled to put their boys to work at a very early age, and, I grieve more to say, that there are some that neglect or refuse to send their children to school, who consequently grow up ignorant and vicious; yet, I believe that the number taught, about sixty, is quite equal in proportion to that prevailing in other places; the schools are supported by me and members of my family, without assistance from any endowment or Society. The other two boys, Henry and Arthur Wittam, who were examined on the inquest, aged thirteen and ten, live in Whepstead, and belong to the Sunday School there; but being at a great distance from the church, and often necessarily employed on the Sunday in the care of stock, &c., their attendance has been very irregular, and they have but little knowledge of their catechisms; the eldest, however, can read the Testament decently, and has a distinct knowledge of retribution hereafter; and stated that his parents always instructed him so. It cannont, therefore, be said, that these boys "have not the remote idea of a future state." Your obedient servant, John White, Chevington Rectory, Nov.24, 1843.
The offending letter follows: Bury and Norwich Post 22 November 1843
Ignorance of the peasantry. To the Editor.
Sir, - You will no doubt report in your columns of this week the result of an inquest held at the Suffolk Hospital on Wednesday last. The fact are simple these: that one boy carelessly caused the death of another boy by a gun-shot wound. But the grave and important question, is the worse than gothic ignorance in which the rustic population of Whepstead and Chevington appear to exist. The coroner in his charge was justifiably severe in describing the absence of all moral instruction, were removded
but by a slight degree from the position of a savage state. One lad, the principal in the accident, acknowledge that he did not know the Lord's Prayer; that he had no knowledge of the name of the clergyman of the parish, and, in fact, that he knew nothing of responsibility with respect to good or evil. The two other lads stated they belonged to the Sunday School; they knew the Lord's Prayer, but had not the most remote idea of a future state. And is this the education of the people, for which so much money is paid? If it is, look at the result; one harmless lad is hurried into eternity, and the innocent cause of it. untutored and uninstructed, knows nothing of the responsibility of hastening his companion to another world. But are the clergy, the paid educators of the people, wholly blameless? Was the rector or curate of these villages wholly ignorant of the existence of these boys, or were they negligent in endeavouring to lead their minds and cultivate them to the pursuit of virtue, or leaving them in reckless idleness to tread the path of infamy and crime? Sir, we frequently marvel at the spread of crime in the rural districts, at incendiarism, and acts of violence; but when we see the germ of human intellect thus untutored, neglected, and even crushed, - can we wonder that the mind, thus brutalized, its energies cramped and contracted, should in the moment of supposed or real injuries rush to the perpetration of wild and savage revenge? Yet when any plan of educating the people is proposed, it is generally met with all the fury of orthodox resentment? Take this instance of proof of the careful teaching of the rustic population, and it there is a feeling of moral reflection amongst your readers, they will in unison with me blush to think, tt\hat within a range of six miles from a town like Bury, with a church in the village, and, I dare say, a tolerable benefice, that human beings should be found, whose ignorance, as far as Christianity and morality are concerned, would disgrace the savages of the wild, or the Hindoo worshippers in India. Yours respectfully, One of the Jury.
[We insert this letter for the lamentable facts which it relates, but not admitting the justice of all its inferences. Unless a minister had the power of compelling the people to come, and send their children to be instructed, there may be instances of such ignorance as is here described, in spite of all the efforts of the most faithful pastor. - ED.]
Copyright British Library Board
Birth:
From Chevington OPR
Abraham son of John Nunn and Mary his wife (late M. Flack spr) was born 17 May 1797; privately baptised 21 May 1797
Occupation:
From Chevington census record
Census:
1841 census for New Cottage, Chevington: http://tinyurl.com/cgptop
Abraham Nunn, aged 45, ag lab
Martha Nunn, aged 45
Samuel Nunn, aged 15
Eliza Nunn, aged 15
David Nunn, aged 10
Alfred Nunn, aged 10
Harriett Nunn, aged 5
John Nunn, aged 20, ag lab
Phoebe Nunn, aged 20
Census:
1851 census for near Moat, Chevington:
http://tinyurl.com/cgptop
HO107; Piece: 1791; Folio: 213; Page: 18; GSU roll: 207440.
Abraham Nunn, head, widower, aged 54, garden labourer, born Chevington
Samuel Nunn, son, unm, aged 29, farm labourer, born Chevington
Eliza Nunn, dau, unm, aged 27, born Chevington
David Nunn, son, unm, aged 25, farm labourer, born Chevington
Alfred Nunn, grandson, aged 4, born Chevington
Census:
1861 census for Chevington, Ruffin's Farm:
http://tinyurl.com/cgptop
John Nunn, head, aged 42, Ag Lab, born Chevington.
Phoebe Nunn, wife, aged 39, born Naughton.
George Nunn, son, unmarried, aged 17, Ag Lab, born Chevington.
Harriet Nunn, dau, aged 14, employed at cloth factory, born Chevington.
Frederick Nunn, son, aged 11, scholar, born Chevington.
Abraham Nunn, father, widower, aged 65, Ag Lab, born Chevington
Census:
1871 census for Seighbeigh's Cottage, Chevington:
http://tinyurl.com/cgptop
John Nunn, head, widower, aged 52, ag lab, born Chevington
Harriet Plummer, dau, married, aged 24, soldier's wife (housekeeper), born Chevington
Ellen Plummer, grand dau, aged 4, born Chatham, Kent
Alice E. Plummer, grand dau, aged 2, born Chatham, Kent
Abraham Nunn, father, widower, aged 75, ag lab, born Chevington
Census:
1881 census for Seighbeigh's Cottages, Brookes Corner, Chevington:
http://tinyurl.com/cgptop
Abraham Nunn, head, widower, aged 86, born Chevington (imbecile)
John Nunn, son, widower, aged 63, ag lab, born Chevington
Buried:
Transcribed from Chevington OPR held at Bury St Edmunds by Warren Nunn October 2004:
Burial No 673 Abraham Nunn aged 86 Apr 22 1881
Abraham married Martha GILBY on 13 Nov 1817 in Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK. Martha (daughter of John GILBY and Sarah MACRO) was born on 18 Nov 1792 in Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK; died on 25 Jul 1844 in Chevington, Suffolk, England, UK. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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1849 - 1873 (24 years)