LiveTheirStory

On 16 February 1906 it was clearly a slow news day for the Chelmsford Chronicle, and so a small item from the village of Moreton in Essex was published:

Struck by Lightning: A man named Alex Nash was stopping the mill at Mr Rippon’s during the recent storm, when he was struck by lightning and rendered temporarily unconscious. He was able to resume work the next day.

Alexander worked as a journeyman miller for Alfred Rippon, who ran the Moreton mill for 46 years before retiring, and then for the new owners, Gould Ltd. Mill work was heavy labour, and by 1939 he had turned to being a jobbing gardener (for 16 houses – still active at 71!)

Mr Rippon was from Lincolnshire. The 1891 census reveals that his mother Susannah also lived in Moreton (though not with him, having her own means), and living with her was a 17-year-old Florence Seward, who is described as her niece. Florence was from Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, and my great-great-uncle worked for her family…