THE MANSFIELD / MANNING MOB

My great Grandmother, Lydia Jane OSBORNE, was born into the MANSFIELD family, in 1861. She was one of three girls and five boys, born to John MANSFIELD and Betsy MANSFIELD.

A tragedy of some kind befell the family during the 1860s, with only Lydia Jane, her eldest brother, Robert James, (1858-1930), and youngest brother, Herbert S, (1867-1908), surviving childhood. Two set of twins, in 1860 and 1864, named Henry (twice) and Emily (twice), and one boy, Arthur, died in infancy.

There's an interesting tale of how her mother and father came to be here!


Let's go back to the small hamlet of Great Wilbraham, in Cambridgeshire, in 1824. Lydia Elizabeth Jane 'Betsy' MANSFIELD was born to one, Stephen MANSFIELD and Mary MANSFIELD (née BALES ?). In another part of Cambridgeshire, in a town called West Wratting, in the District of Chesterton, her cousin John MANSFIELD, son of Aaron, was to be born, nearly six years her junior.

On October 22nd, 1848, Betsy, grown up, and in love, married one Luke Waterloo MANNING, bachelor, of Great Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire. Everything went fine, until 1854, when Luke died, leaving Betsy widowed, with a baby son, also named Luke, (1853-1944), to care for.

It was in 1856, that the relationship blossomed between Betsy and the aforesaid cousin, John MANSFIELD, resulting in their Marriage on Nov.15th, 1856, in Great Wilbraham. It was also during this time, that her brother Stephen, and his wife, emigrated to Australia, specifically, to Morpeth, NSW.

John and Betsy, with young Luke in tow, decided to join Stephen and his wife, Lydia, (née SOUTH), in Morpeth. John, Betsy, and young Luke, were a family. Luke, however, took his birth name, of MANNING, grew up, and married Isabella (née PIDDING).

And, so it was, that the family was started, and in 1858, Lydia's eldest brother, Robert, was born. To call it a tragedy, is perhaps putting it mildly. The loss of twins, Henry and Emily in 1860, would have been hard enough, but to do the same again, with Lydia Jane's younger brother and sister, Henry A. and Emily in 1864, followed by brother, Arthur in 1866, must have nearly killed Betsy. However, she did manage to have one more child, Herbert, in 1867.


What stern stuff our forebears were made of,


It seems this was all too much strain, stress and heartache for Betsy, who passed away in 1873, leaving a girl of 12 yrs of age to cope with a drunken, loudmouth, in the 'family' ...

The above report was made on Dec, 30th, 1879. I don't know for sure, where James fits in to the picture.


This left Lydia Jane, just 18 years old, by this time. At 19, she met and married, my great grandfather, Charles George Knight 'Charlie' OSBORNE, in 1884.

A good deal of the family, named MANSFIELD, is now covered in the Heritage Links, on this page.


Betsy's older brother, Stephen, and his wife, Lydia, are buried at Morpeth ...


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