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Charles Jempson died aged 69 in 1907.  He is buried at EF J20.  Buried in the same grave, on the same day, is Henry Truman.  As Charles Jempson died in the Workhouse, Ore, it would appear that this is a Pauper’s Plot, or common grave.

Charles Jempson was landlord of the Greyhound, Wish Street, Rye, from 1864 to 1873.  Te previous tenant had been declared bankrupt.  After eight months the brewery found another tenant and reopened the Greyhound, Rye in early 1864.  Charles Jempson, worked by day as a shipwright. Jempson, his wife and three small children moved into the Greyhound and stayed until 1873, by which time they had seven children.  According to a descendant, Jane Jempson died the following year giving birth to an eighth child. She was then aged 40 and her death certificate records that she died from ‘breast cancer, confinement and exhaustion’. The baby died the following day just 24 hours old.   

Charles Jempson is not an unusual name, so it is hard to be sure we have the right one in every case.  The 1861 and 1871 Rye FreeCen results show the following, and the age corresponds, his father is a Timber Hewer.

JEMPSON   Charles   Son     M   M   24   Shipwright    Sussex - Mountfield

JEMPSON   Charles   Head   M   M   34   Inn Keeper    Sussex - Whatlington

But what happened to him after this?  Did the reputed ill-luck (www.ryenews.org.uk/living/tragedy-strikes-greyhound) of The Greyhound strike George Jempson?  Was he unable to care for his family after the death of his wife?