Chapter 18: Matthew Eggleton (b.1846 d.1908)

Matthew appears to have spent all his life within at various addresses within the family area on and near Tewkesbury Road to the north-west of Cheltenham. When living at home he was servant then labourer. He later became a cellarman in a local brewery, a job he held for nearly thirty years, until his death in 1908. He was buried in Cheltenham Cemetery.

On 8 September 1867 Matthew had married Cheltenham born Sarah Hemmings in the local parish church, St Peter’s. The couple had eight children in the proceeding sixteen years. Sarah died in 1890 at the age of 47, seven years after the birth of her last child. Twelve months later Matthew married Harriet Price who was to outlive him by fifteen years.

Matthew’s oldest son, Albert Edward (known as Edward Albert) became a plumber. He established his own business, Eggleton & Company, and branched out in to decorating and general building work. From the early 1890s until 1902 he had premises at 1 Preston Place, near the family home area on Tewkesbury Road. By the following year he had moved to 3 Townsend Place, Tewkesbury Road. Before 1906 the company depot moved to Baker Street whilst Albert Edward remained resident at Townsend Place. The firm appears to have carried on trading as Eggleton and Co. for about sixteen years after Albert Edward’s death.

Albert Edward’s brother, Charles Henry, served an apprenticeship as a gas fitter, but later became a shopkeeper on Exmouth Street, to the south of Cheltenham town centre. Another brother, Frank Ernest (Chapter 19), learned blacksmithing. William (Chapter 20) moved to Birmingham. Youngest son, John, was a plumbers labourer at the turn of the twentieth century, possibly working for his bother, Albert Edward. John become a tailor living at 1 Alstone Place on Gloucester Road, Cheltenham, then at number 80 on the same road. He died without issue. In at least the last address he lived with his spinster sister, Elizabeth Mary. When she died Elizabeth Mary left an estate valued at £3389, which was divided between her nieces, nephews and friends. She left her half share in Rock House, Cleeve Hill, to the Youth Hostel Association; a tenant in it at the time. Elizabeth Mary’s ashes were scattered on her father’s grave.

The Youth Hostel Association sold Rock House in 2000.

. . . . .Matthew EGGLETON b.1846 d.1908 m.#1Sarah HEMMING #2 Harriet PRICE
. . . . . . Albert Edward (aka Edward Albert) EGGLETON b.1870 d.1937 m.Emma BEALE
. . . . . . . Nellie May EGGLETON b.1893 d.>1939 m.George Henry EVANS
. . . . . . . female EGGLETON
. . . . . . Charles Henry EGGLETON b.1871 >1914 m.Elizabeth -
. . . . . . . Ronald Charles EGGLETON m.Amy B
. . . . . . . . .Robert Charles EGGLETON m.Angela
. . . . . . Louisa EGGLETON b.1874 d.>1891m.Sidney ASHLEY
. . . . . . Frank Ernest EGGLETON b.1875 d.1930 (Chapter 19)
. . . . . . William EGGLETON b. 1878 d.>1911 (Chapter 20)
. . . . . . Elizabeth EGGLETON b.1879 d.1882
. . . . . . John EGGLETON b.1881 d.1947
. . . . . . Elizabeth Mary EGGLETON b.1883 d.1964