A Panamanian Venture

Early life

James Edward Mortimer was born in the summer of 1869 in Yorkley, Gloucestershire, the fourth child and eldest surviving son of James Mortimore and Sannabia his wife. His father James worked as a colliery engine driver and grocer, a rather unusual combination! The family lived at Yorkley near Parkend, Gloucestershire. In 1881 he was attending school and was listed as a scholar in the census record. Sadly, in 1884 when James was 14 his father James died, leaving the family without a father. His mother Sannabia remarried to Edwin Thomas Curnock, who also worked in a colliery, variously as a fireman, miner and roadman.

Finding an occupation

Before 1891, James had decided on following the same occupation as his father, as in the 1891 census we find him working as an engineer in the city of Gloucester. He was boarding with George Harris and his niece Eliza as a lodger. George Harris was from Ross, Herefordshire and may have been a family friend. It was about this time that James changed the spelling of his name to Mortimer, which it has remained ever since. This is the most common spelling of the name. He maybe encountered other unrelated Mortimers on his travels and decided this was the way it should be spelt.

James E Mortimer’s younger sister and brother Blanche and Percival both became teachers, like their mother. In 1891, aged 23 and 20 respectively they were teaching in the Forest of Dean and living with their mother and step father.

Marriage and children

James met his future wife Gertrude Caroline Poulton in Gloucester, they married 27 Jan 1894 Gloucester St Luke church and below is the record of their marriage.

James Edward Mortimer & Gertrude Caroline Poulton marriage

James Edward Mortimer was aged 24, a bachelor, living at 18 Cecil Rd, working as an engineer in Gloucester. His father was James Mortimer, engine driver. He was deceased by this point but this isn’t stated in the record. Gertrude Caroline Poulton was aged 23, a spinster and she lived at 9 Bristol Villas, Bristol Rd. The marriage was witnessed by Edward and Elizabeth Poulton, brother and sister of the bride. Together the couple had four children:

1. Hubert James Mortimer (1894-1992)

2. Douglas Edward Mortimer (1898-1980)

3. Gertrude Olive Mortimer (1904-2003)

4. Kathleen Blanche Mortimer (1906-1982)

Travels and later employment

According to family sources, after 1906 James Mortimer moved to Panama to aid in the construction of the Panama canal. The passenger shipping records that show his journeys to and from America presumably haven’t survived. His engineering skills and ability to drive a steam engine were in high demand at the time. It would have been a high pressured environment and the ability to work under pressure he had developed at home would have helped him carry out his work. During the construction, James would have been working with hundreds of other engineers and labourers from around the world and it would have been an interesting change in cultural experience for him. Below are a series of pictures which show the Panama canal being constructed. Challenges included the frequent mudslides which disrupted the construction work and railways. A feat of engineering, the Panama canal was the largest and most expensive engineering work of the World at the time.

Back home, the Mortimer brothers moved into diverse occcupations. James E Mortimer became an engineer, then a steam engine driver before 1901 and finally a blacksmith. His brother George Phipps Mortimer became a coal miner before 1901, then a tobacconist by 1911. He then became a milk vendor and died in 1946, aged 72. Percival became a teacher and later moved to Pangbourne, Berkshire and died in 1969. He was the last surviving and longest lived all the Mortimer siblings.

Later life in Gloucester

Unfortunately neither of James Mortimer’s sisters attained a great age. Annie Mortimer married William Evans in 1889 and died in 1901, aged 35. Blanche married three times, in 1904 to Albert George Price, 1915 to John Henry Chew and 1924 to Mansfield Collins. She died 24 Apr 1926, aged 49. Their mother, Sannabia, lived to the age of 90 and died in 1931, outliving both her daughters. All the family members were buried at Viney Hill church yard, except for James Mortimer, who lived for the rest of his life in Gloucester. In 1925 he bought a house in Gloucester for £300. He lived at 31 Seymour Rd with his wife Gertrude Caroline and died on 15 Apr 1949 aged 79. Probate was granted the 20 Jul to his daughter Gertrude Olive Blackwell.

Gloucester Northgate St, old postcard