Laura, Job, the ironmongers and Gloucester

Ironmongery shop in Cockermouth, Cumbria we visited in 2014 featuring Emma Jane's 2nd great grandson and 3rd great grandson

The suitor who wins Laura's heart is Job. She is living and working as an assistant at a mourning warehouse (Jarrolds) in Norwich in 1881. She is 21, so she doesn't need Jane Betsy's permission to marry him. We don't know what her mother thinks of her daughter's decision to marry an ironmonger and work in the business with him, but by 1883, when Emma Jane marries Joe Joyce and moves with him to London, there is only Rosa May, aged 18 dependent on her mother. Rosa May must marry someone Jane Betsy approves of, or wait until she is 21 to get married.  
   After the luckless Alfred King, who signs his name with a bit of a flourish, accepts his rejection from Laura, she meets Job Sharpe an ironmonger's assistant and farmer's son from Lincolnshire.
    After their marriage at the church of St John de Sepulchre, Norwich, October 1882, their first daughter is born in Norwich in 1883. Their three other daughters and son are all born in Gloucester, where they run an ironmongers shop together.
   I have Laura's letter of December 1886 to her sister Emma Jane, in which she thanks her for a Birthday present and talks about making mince pies and puddings for Christmas. This letter  gives the first hint Jane Betsy's annuity is being underpaid and is insufficient.
   The philosophical Job thinks the fund might belong to Harry or is lost and they should not worry about it, but be thankful for what they have.
    Job and Laura have bought their ironmongery premises in Lower Barton Street, and, as the sweet shop next door is up for sale. They are hoping Emma Jane and Joe might like to buy it, to live and work next door to them.
  Emma Jane, Joe and her family visit Laura and Job in Gloucester and their children and grandchildren meet up and keep in touch. Two of the Sharpe girls become teachers and their son trains to be a pilot to serve in the First World War.
   I have a picture my 12 year-old aunt Nancy took of Laura  in 1928 as a passenger with Mrs Malpas in a car. it is to be hoped they are waiting for a driver who can see over the steering wheel.

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