Susanna INKSON, b: ABT 1781

Susanna Chamberlain née Inkson b. ABT 1781 Kings Lynn, Norfolk

Susanna was a daughter [and last child] of George Inkson b. ABT 1735 and Margaret née Chapman. She was baptised on 26 Apr 1781 in St Nicholas', Kings Lynn.

A Susanna Inkson, spinster, married William Briston Chamberlain, batchelor - both 'of this parish' in St Nicholas', Kings Lynn in 1814. There was only one Susanna Inkson known at that time so she must have been Susanna Inkson b. ABT 1781. This is supported by the fact that one of the witnesses was Mary Cozens [née Inkson], the sister of Susanna Inkson b. ABT 1781.

The children on these pages are listed on the basis of being the son or daughter of William Briston and Susanna [or Susan] Chamberlain in the Kings Lynn parish records. There is a possibility of another son, William, born in 1823 to a couple called just William and Susanna Chamberlain near Norwich but he has not been included here.

In the 1841 census William [no mention of his second name] and Susanna plus two of their children, Edmund and Sarah, are living on Purfleet Place, Kings Lynn and he is described as a 'Collector'. Purfleet Place was [and still is] right opposite the Customs House he seems to have worked when he came ashore [he is described on Susanna's tombstone - see below - as the 'Collector Of Tonnage' in Kings Lynn.

By the 1851 census, Susanna is a 72 year old widow living in one of the five houses of Chamberlain's Row on St James Street, Kings Lynn and described as a house proprietor [presumably of all five houses] so William must have made a lot of money in his time. Living with her were Edmund and Sarah - neither married - and an Ann Chamberlain, a spinster described as a sister and aged 65 which would mean being born in ABT 1786. Susanna didn't have a sister Ann and, in any case, she would have been Inkson if a spinster but knowing William Briston's parents meant that we could find his sister Ann baptised in St Margaret's, Kings Lynn on 7 Aug 1786.

[The name Ann Chamberlain has special significance however as Ann Inkson b. ABT 1808, daughter of Susanna's older brother Thomas b. ABT 1772, is thought to be the Ann Inkson who married a David Chamberlain b. ABT 1810 and ended up living in Grimsby in 1871 sheltering Inkson youngsters. That story deserves a page of its own one day.]

By the 1861 census Susanna is living with a James and Sarahann Robertson and their family in North Runcton, just south East of Kings Lynn. She is described as James' mother in law, a widow aged 83, so her daughter Sarah must have changed her name to Sarahann. Susanna died and was buried in North Runcton, aged 88. The inscription on her tombstone reads :

Sacred To The Memory Of SUSANNAH Wife Of WILLIAM BRISTON CHAMBERLAIN (Collector Of Tonnage Kings Lynn) Who Died June 22 1867 Aged 88 Years