Anna Maria Bullimore

Photograph of Anna Bullimore taken in Norwich by Albert Coe. The date is unknown, although Albert Coe was taking portrait photographs from the mid-1860s onwards. (In 1870, Anna would have been 45.)

Early Life

Anna Bullimore was born in Norwich, in January 1825, two years before her brother, John.

Anna and John Bullimore had lost their mother to tuberculosis in late 1827 when Anna was nearly three. Their father was unable to take care of them so brother and sister William Ottey Burton and Maria Burton, in Wreningham, had become guardians to both children. Whilst John Bullimore grew up to become a central figure and stalwart of Wreningham, involving himself in multiple aspects of the village, Anna had set out on a very different path.

We don’t know much about Anna’s early life although there is a happy poem she wrote entitled ‘To my brother on his birthday’, dated: the 24^th January 1845. It would have been his 18^th. He retained this in his private papers and it remains with us, today.

In the 1841 census, Anna is recorded, alongside her brother, living at Burton’s Farm (today, The Poplars). That same year, when John, as a 14-year-old, is recorded in a letter (William Ottey Burton to John’s father) as having left school, two short sentences refer to older sister, Anna, continuing in education. This was unusual for girls in their mid teens and demonstrates the high level of support given to both children by the Burtons.

Perhaps it’s little surprise that the 1851 census lists Anna as a schoolteacher. The unexpected aspect is that Anna was teaching at a school in Bristol. This was no ordinary school; it was the George Muller school for orphans.

John and Anna’s father, William Mark Bullimore, had remarried, to Rebecca Sewell, in 1834 but died in 1843. William Bullimore had spent a number of years as a shopkeeper living with his second wife in Dereham. It’s not known if his health had suffered as a result of his first wife’s tuberculosis, but he was relatively young.

Of course, at the time of her father’s death, Anna was still below the age of majority (then 21) so, technically, she, and John, had become orphans. Yet both had also been lucky enough to receive the considerate and generous benefits from their substitute (Burton) family. Did Anna see a parallel in George Muller’s Bristol-based orphan school? The orphan school was taking homeless children off Bristol’s streets: feeding, clothing, housing, and educating them – finally sending them off to a world of gainful employment. Thousands of them!

George Muller and his orphan school

George Muller was a Prussian evangelist who arrived in England in 1829 and his work with orphans began in Bristol in 1836.

He established houses for orphans to live, run on Christian principles. The admission criteria were based on the orphans being born from parents in wedlock but who were no longer living, with the children being left needy.

He prayed for divine help in raising funds to pay for everything and discovered swathes of the poplution making financial donations. Over his lifetime, he received nearly £1m in gifts which had supported more than 10,000 orphans in his homes. Five houses eventually were able to house over 2,000 children at a time.

The homes provided accommodation, food, clothing and education. Teaching staff were employed at the homes and the orphans wore school uniforms. Lessons included scripture, Reading, arithmetic, English grammar, history, Swedish drill and singing. When children were old enough to leave, they had no difficulty getting employment.

Muller became known both nationally and internationally. Although he died in 1898, his orphan work was continued by others until the late 1950s.

The Intermediate Years

It’s not clear how long Anna was teaching at the Bristol orphan school but it appears to have been relatively short-lived. By the time of the 1861 census, Anna was back in Norfolk, although not in Wreningham. She was living on the outskirts of Norwich. Her brother’s 1861 diary describes the final days of their stepmother in Lakenham and Anna’s involvement. He also recorded the times when he and Anna exchanged letters and lists Anna’s occasional visits to Wreningham. In 1861, Anna made a further move to a more central location in Norwich.

After her return to Norfolk, we might suppose Anna was still fully capable of teaching but neither the 1861 nor the 1871 census documents showed Anna in any kind of employment. Was she being financially supported by John?

An earlier photograph had showed Anna with her brother and their aunt, Barbara Denny. In 1840, Anna had been a (very young) witness at her aunt’s wedding when her husband, Stephen Denny, was marrying for the second time.

The photograph is believed to have been taken in about 1858 and shows them all very well-dressed.

Was Anna living on an allowance? This would never be the same as having independence.

Brother and Sister Difficulties

From the number and frequency of exchanges listed between Anna and her brother in his 1861 diary we might suppose their relationship was still cordial. However, there are also a series of other (undated) letters from Anna which survive, together with several drafts of his replies. These show there were significant disagreements between Anna and her brother. As these documents are partial and largely one-sided, the full nature of the problems are not clear. However, the texts suggest differences in their views about finer points of religious dogma.

Both John and Anna had been raised as nonconformists, a religious position shared by both the Burton and Bullimore families. It’s even possible that John Bullimore took issue with some of the religeous views of George Muller. Whatever the problems might have been, under the common practices of the time, John Bullimore appears to have had the financial control of his (still single) sister’s affairs. Had Anna wanted to remain teaching at the Bristol school? Did John instruct her to return to Norfolk? We will probably never know.

In 1870, when Maria Burton died (William Ottey Burton had died in 1857) she bequeathed Anna £500. However, under the terms of the will, the money was to be invested on her behalf, the capital sum remaining under the control of her brother, John. The same sum, but left directly to Anna, might have financed her independence. Did Anna feel trapped?

Marriage

In April 1873 Anna married Harold Thomas Rose, in Thetford.

Once working as a missionary, Harold had become a schoolteacher. He was 44 years of age at the time of their marriage; Anna was 48. Harold had lost his first wife, born Esther Randle, about 18 months previously.

At the time of his marriage to Anna, Harold had a daughter, Esther Eleanor, of about 3 years and a son, Benjamin Harold, who was about 18 months.

If Anna had previously felt trapped by her brother’s control, she was probably now in a better place. In 1875, Anna was also a significant beneficiary of (her aunt) Barbara Denny’s will.

The next census – 1881 – shows Harold and Anna living in Shaftesbury, Dorset. (Had they moved to Dorset directly after their marriage?) The big surprise was that it was now Harold who was in the employment of George Muller’s Orphan school! Anna is simply Harold’s wife.

A point to note is that Shaftesbury and Bristol are nearly 45 miles apart. This suggests that Harold was employed in some type of (teaching?) field work on behalf of Muller.

George Muller is known to have partnered with schools across the country; specific records detailing the arrangements do not appear to have survived. However, it’s known that funds raised by Muller were responsible for providing many of these other schools with large numbers of Bibles. It is understood that scores of such schools were included in the partnership. George Muller himself was a prolific author and lecturer, mostly publishing books describing his work and his travels, both domestic and international. Throughout, there was extensive fundraising.

One of Muller’s books, published in 1886: ‘A narrative of some of the Lord’s dealings with George Muller – written by himself’ contains the sentences:

‘The master of the School at Shaftesbury reports: “God has graciously answered our prayers and efforts in turning one to Himself, and stirring up many of the elder girls, both in the Day and Sunday Schools, to be concerned about their souls. A special weekly prayer meeting is now held for these, and is well attended.” ‘

Is this an oblique reference to work being carried out by either Harold Rose, or (eventually) his Shaftesbury successor? [NB The existence of ‘elder girls’ in the above-referenced school also corresponds to one theory relating to the group photograph, below.]

A school group photograph

Rhodes & Stone photographers were only known to have been in partnership for a short period after the mid-1870s, yet Harold appears significantly older than in the other (‘Shaftesbury’) photograph shown on this page, potentially taken in a similar period.

Without evidence, we can only speculate about why the above photograph was taken and the location. Whilst it might be related to Harold Rose’s employment with the Bristol-based orphan school, the school children are not dressed in the Bristol school’s uniform. If the photograph had been taken in Shaftesbury, why was a Gloucester-based photographer employed? If it wasn’t taken in Gloucester, who paid for the photographer’s travel? Group photographs are often taken for a reason and the inclusion of Anna might have had significance.

Might the photograph taken at the time of Harold’s retirement or Harold and Anna’s departure from the area?

At this period, there was a school operating within the Shaftesbury workhouse situated not far from Harold and Anna’s home on the southern side of the town. Looking closely at the school group, this could account for the large number of teenage girls standing at the back who are probably older than the regular school-age children of the time. NB The number of younger girls at the front approximately corresponds to the number of girls receiving education at the Shaftesbury Workhouse in the 1881 census.

The archivists currently researching the history of the Bristol orphanage school do not believe a workhouse school would have had connections with Muller. In that case, did the group in the photograph fall within a (local) group of Dorset schools which had connections with the Bristol school? Clearly, there is more to know.

The 1881 census showed Harold Rose’s daughter living with them in Shaftesbury. The same census year shows Harold’s son boarding at a private school in the nearby town of Wincanton.

Final days

Harold and Anna returned to Norfolk for a brief period and lived in Norwich. They died within months of each other, Harold (57 years) in January 1886 and Anna (61 years) in September of the same year. At this time, Harold’s daughter would have been about 18 and his son about 16. Sadly, young people without living parents is the constant theme of this story.

Amongst John Bullimore’s papers are two memorial cards one each for Anna and Harold. They show both were buried at the nonconformist ‘Rosary Cemetery’ in Norwich and share a grave: plot 1/2109 in Section M of the cemetery. Who made the two sets of arrangements? The memorial cards have an almost identical design, so, presumably, everything was undertaken by the same person. Was it John Bullimore?