EZEKIEL CHARLES BUTTON
Photograph courtesy of Jan & Jon
Born: 30th August 1869, Ipswich.
Died: 13th June 1916, age 46; Died – Tuberculosis of the Lungs & Heart Failure. At his home of 396, Spring Road, Ipswich with Eliza at his bedside.
Residence: Sweet Shop, 396, Spring Road, Ipswich.
Service:
Confirmed in Rating – 14th April 1915.
Despatch from Ipswich Port 16th April 1915 to -Destination ‘Pembroke’ – 16th April 1915.
Hired Trawler ‘Elmira’ – 21st October 1915
Hired Trawler ‘Croxby’ – 21st October 1915
‘Actaeon’ – 22nd October 1915
Hired Trawler ‘Croxby.’
Invalided to his home 396, Spring Road, Ipswich – 3rd March 1916.
Character and Conduct – Very Good.
Rank: Leading Deck Hand; Service Number: SD 10.
Regiment: Royal Naval Reserves, Mariner Merchant Service, No. 1603, Hired Trawler ‘Croxby.’
Grave Reference:
Ipswich.
CENSUS
1871 Cook’s Yard, St. Clement’s, Ipswich.
Ezekiel was a year old and living with his parents & brothers.
James Collingham Mullett Button, 28, a Mariner, born Ipswich.
Ann Button (nee Spurling), 27, a Dress Maker – own account, born Ipswich.
Henry James Button, 6, born Ipswich.
Edwin John Button, 4, born Ipswich.
1881 Cavendish Street, Ipswich.
Ezekiel was 12 years old a scholar and living with his mother & siblings.
Ann, 38.
John, 13.
Harriet Anne Button, 9, born Ipswich.
Grace Louise Button, 8, born Ipswich.
George William Button, 1, born Ipswich.
2 Lodgers.
1891 ‘Cognac Packet’ River Wear, Sunderland, Durham.
Ezekiel was 21 years old, he was married and an Able Seaman on the ‘Cognac Packet’. His father James Button was the Master.
5 other members of the crew.
1901 30, Albion Place, Ipswich.
Ezekiel was 31 years old, a Waterman on Barge – own account. He was married & Head of the Household.
Eliza, 32.
Annie, 7, born Ipswich.
Grace Louise Button, 5, born Ipswich.
Florence Amelia Button, 3, born Ipswich.
Lily May Button, 1, born Ipswich.
1911 65, Waterworks Street, Ipswich.
Ezekiel was 42 years old a Seaman. He was living with his family.
Elizabeth, 43.
John, 21, a Milkman.
James, 15, a Milkman.
Annie, 17, a Machinist.
Grace, 15, a Machinist.
Florence, 13.
Lily, 11.
Elizabeth Charlotte Button, 9, born Ipswich.
Ezekiel Charles Button, 6, born Ipswich.
David George Button, 4, born Ipswich.
Nellie Violet Button, 1, born Ipswich.
Ezekiel’s mother, Ann Button died 1914, Ipswich. His father James Collingham Mullett Button died June 1915, of Panama House, Upper Abbey Road, Beledere, Kent.
Photo taken onboard a merchant ship, picking up coal at Sunderland dock. Ezekiel seated on the deck, centre.
In 1889, Ipswich, Ezekiel married Elizabeth Ann Bromley, born November 1868, Ipswich, daughter of David Bromley, an engine fitter at a foundry and Elizabeth Bromley (nee Haggis), of Regent Street, Ipswich.
They had 11 children:
John Charles Button, born August 1889, Ipswich.
James Stanley Button, born February 1891, Ipswich.
Jessie Florence Button, born 1892, Ipswich – died 1893, Ipswich.
Annie Elizabeth Button, born March 1894, Ipswich.
Grace Louise Button, February 1896, Ipswich.
Florence Amelia Button, born February 1898, Ipswich.
Lily May Button, born August 1899, Ipswich.
Elizabeth Charlotte Button, born December 1901, Ipswich.
Ezekiel Charles Button, born March 1905, Ipswich.
David George Button, born November 1906, Ipswich.
Nellie Violet Button, born July 1909, Ipswich.
‘COGNAC PACKET’
The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy (RN). Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903, formed a vital reserve made up of formally retired Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and experience seafarers who were trained to support in a combatant roll.
A FAMILY NOTE:
“Ezekiel was my great grandfather. My grandmother recalled him bringing a live bear home one day after a sea trip as he had won it in a card game…his wife wouldn’t let it in the house. My mother recalls visiting him when he was at Spring road as it was a sweet shop. Fascinating that you have been able to find a photo. His father was the master of the cognac packet ship which at one time was the oldest ship afloat as it was in service for nearly 100 years. Nigel Buck”
On Monday, 28th June 1880, James Button, of Cavendish Street, Ipswich was summond to the Town Hall before the Mayor, D.H. Booth, Esq. (chairman), G.C. Sampson, Esq., and Admiral T.H. Mason, C.B., charged with neglecting to cause his child to be vaccinated.
On the 26th September 1882, James Button, of Cavendish Street, was ordered to send his children to school or face a fine.
2 Comments
This is a fascinating find. Thanks SO MUCH for posting it. My great, great Grandmother was Harriet Andrews, then Anderson, nee Button. She was Ezekiel’s aunt and James Collingham Mullett Button’s sister. She had several brothers who, family legend here has it, were all able seamen and sailed the world.She was the only daughter. Harriet married Henry John “Harry” Andrews on 22 July 1866 in Ipwich, aged 22, and they immigrated to Wairoa, New Zealand arriving on board the ‘Celaeno’ in 1871 with their two young sons. Harry was a painter decorator but he died of phthisis in 1878 leaving her a young,vulnerable widow during the Maori Land Wars. She and her young children were thankfully evacuated by the Anglican Church to safety here in Napier, New Zealand. She remarried, Johan Adolph Frederick Anderson – “Hurricane Charlie”, a bad tempered sea captain from Sweden, on July 17, 1883. They lived in a rented cottage by the sea on the Spit, Port Ahuriri, here in Napier until he was killed in a wharfing accident. She stayed on to after the 1931 Napier Earthquake. Her father William Button was a shipwright. My Great x2 grandmother Harriett (named after her mother)was born on March 25, 1844 in Ipswich. We knew she had several decorated seafaring brothers who served in the Crimean War and in Indo-China and were decorated. We would love to know more about them if anyone else knows? Harriet herself had 9 children,including Rose my great grandmother who married and became Rose Hastings. The Buttons, Andrews and Andersons are the subject of ‘From Ipswich to Ahuriri’, a NZ-based family history written by one of Harriet’s sons. Sorting out the family history hasn’t been easy at our end as some of the Buttons, called themselves, Burtons and Burrtons even though they were siblings. We initially thought Harriet was a Burton. Or officials wrote their names that way because they were illiterate and probably had strange accents. Loved the bear story and seeing a photo of Ezekiel.
Incidentally, one of Harriet’s brothers – William Button (thence Burrton), married her first husband Harry Andrews’ sister – also called – wait for it – Harriet Andrews. This other Harriet was Harriet Burrton (think Button) nee Andrews. They also immigrated here to Napier, New Zealand and had children including, unbelievably a daughter also called Harriet. Harriet Andrews (nee Button)’s 1883 marriage certificate to her second husband – JAF aka Hurricane Charlie Anderson – makes for interesting reading as the other Harriet Burrton (nee Andrews)- obviously a close friend and not just her sister-in-law was one of the two witnesses. The marriage official made special mention of which Harriet was which and had been married to who on the form. The web became more tangled when Harriet (daughter of Harriet and William Burrton) died early in life – and her husband Benjamin Shardlow remarried in 1899 – this time to the other Harriet’s daughter – Ada Andrews, born in 1878. Oh what a tangled web they all wove…and to think it all began back with the Buttons of Ipswich.