John, known as Leonard, was the first-born son of George Lovell Harmer, John Harmer’s oldest brother. This makes him John’s nephew. John Leonard was baptised at All Saints Church, Heathfield, on 13th July 1844. You can read more about the family’s early life in Heathfield here.
First marriage
John Leonard married Esther Burt (born 1844 at Ovingdean, Sussex) on 2nd February 1867 at St. Nicholas Church, Brighton.
In the 1871 census John (26), named as Leonard, was living at 13 Newark Place, Brighton. He was working as a journeyman carpenter. With him were his wife Esther (28), their daughter Lydia (2) and their son George (4 months), as well as Esther’s 70 year old married mother Ann Burt, a former laundress born at Buckland in Surrey.
In June 1873, when she was 29, Esther died at Brighton. Her mother Ann also died around this time, aged 73. The coincidental timing of their deaths suggests a contagious disease, such as T.B., may have taken the lives of both mother and daughter, but this is conjecture.
Second marriage
On 22nd December 1877 widowed John Leonard (27), married Fanny Wickens (24), who was born in 1853 at Rotherfield.
In the 1881 census John Leonard (36) was living at his old family home at 43 Albion Street. With him were his wife Fanny who gave her age as 25, and his children Lydia (12) and George (10) from his first marriage, who were both at school. John Leonard and Fanny had had a child of their own, Frederick, aged one. John Leonard was still working as a carpenter, a trade which he maintained until his death.
John Leonard appears on the Electoral Roll for 1886 and 1896 at no. 43, by which time he had purchased the house.
John Leonard and Fanny had been blessed with another four children by 1891’s census; Bertie (8), Mary (6), Nellie (4) and Sidney (1). Apart from Sidney the older children were all at school, even Nellie. George (20) was working as a general porter. Visiting them was widowed Sophia Wickens (80), of Rotherfield, who was probably Fanny’s mother. Another son, Charles Leonard Walter who was born in 1888 had died in 1889 when he was a little over one year old.
By 1901 John Leonard and Fanny had purchased and moved to 41 Albion Street, one door up from his old family home. They had had another two children together; Arthur (6) and Frank (4). Of the other children, only Albert (19), who was working as a grocer’s assistant, and Sidney (11) were still living at home. Another three children had been born and died at or under one year of age between 1892 and 1900.
Death
On 13th February 1907, when he was 62 years of age, John Leonard hung himself. At the time he was living at 41 Albion Street. Fanny ‘told the Coroner that she believed that her husband must have been taken with a sudden fit of madness to do such a thing, when he had no trouble or anything to worry him.’
Life after John Leonard
By 1911 Fanny (52) was living at 88 Coleman Street, Brighton. Living with her were her sons Sidney/Sydney (21), who was by then an electrical engineer, and Arthur (16) who was working as a furniture porter. Fanny recorded that she had given birth to 11 children, of whom seven were still living. In 1921’s Electoral Roll Fanny is still living at no. 88, with Albert Edward and Frank Leonard.
Children with Esther Harmer née Butt
Lydia Harmer Sep Q 1868 – ????
Lydia married Frederick Comber, a pork butcher at Brighton in Mar Q 1896. They were were living at 35 Upper Lewes Road in 1901, and had moved to Chelmsford by 1911.
George Harmer 1870 – 1955
Children with Fanny Harmer née Wickens
Fanny had 11 children with John Leonard; four children had died at or under one year of age by 1911 (Charles Leonard Walter in 1889, Edith Alice in 1892, Alice Emily in 1893, Alfred John in 1900).
Frederick Leonard Harmer (1879 – 1955)
Albert (Bertie) Edward Harold Harmer (1882 – 1954)
Mabel Beatrice Sophia (known as Mary) Harmer (1885 – 1972)
Ellen Annie Harmer (known as Nellie) (1887 – 1942)
Charles Leonard Walter (1888 – 1889)
Leonard Sydney (known as Sydney) Harmer (1890 – 1965)
Edith Alice (1891 – 1892)
Alice Emily (1892 – 1893)
Arthur Douglas Harmer (1894 – 1956)
Frank Leonard Samuel Harmer (1897 – 1948)
Alfred John (1900 – 1900)
