Joseph Beeson Sams (1887 - 1946)
Gunner and Bank Official
Joseph, born in Worthing, was the third son of William Sams and Betsy (nee Beeson). He also had 3 sisters. He was christened in St Botolphs in August 1898.
Father William, born in Bardfield, Essex, became Manager for George Beer who built several glasshouses on land by Chesswood Villa in 1872. There were 2 vineries, a cucumber house and a house for peaches. It was the first commercial glasshouse industry in Worthing.
Mother Betsy, who was from Albury in Hertfordshire, was working as a Cook in a Rectory in Hastings in 1871.
William and Betsy married in 1874 in Kensington and Chelsea.
In 1881 the Sams family were living in Manor Road. William, Nurseryman, and employer of 3 Labourers, with Betsy, and sons William, Verles and Edward, plus Betsy's now retired parents, William and Sarah. (I haven't found anything about Verles anywhere else.)
In 1891, living at Stortford House, Manor Rd. were William, Nursery Man and Fruit Grower, wife Betsy, and children William John, who followed his father into the Nursery trade, Joseph Beeson, Edward and Dolly, all born in Worthing. William lived between 1861 and 1871 in Bishops Stortford, probably the source of the name of his house. (Which is on the corner of Manor Road and St Michael's Road, very close to the Cemetery.)
In 1901, aged 13, Joseph was a boarder at Cranleigh School. The school was opened on 29 September 1865 as a boys' school 'to provide a sound and plain education, on the principles of the Church of England, and on the public school system, for the sons of farmers and others engaged in commercial pursuits'. It grew rapidly and by the 1880s had more than 300 pupils although it declined over the next 30 years and in 1910 numbers dropped to 150. Cranleigh started to admit girls in the early 1970s and became fully co-educational in 1999.
His parents, with William John, Dora and Bessie, were by then living at the Elms, in Boundary Road.
Joseph was a Bank Clerk by 1911, working in Banks throughout his life, (and was also one of the Executors of his father's will.)
In 1911 he was then living with his parents and older sisters Daisy and Bessie at the Elms. They had one female General Servant.
In WW1 he was a Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery, and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The RFA was the largest branch of the Royal Artillery, providing howitzers and medium artillery near the front line.
In 1921 he was a Boarder in Rowlands Road, described as a Bank Cashier.
On September 15th 1921 Joseph married Phyllis Marjorie Page, in Cuckfield. Phyllis's father Archibald, was a Stockbroker, living in Haywards Heath.
In 1939 Joseph, Phyllis and 15-year-old son William were living at 45 Manor Road, Joseph was described as a Lloyds Bank Official.
When sister Bessie died in 1944, Probate was given to Joseph, described as a Bank Official.
Joseph died, aged 58, a wealthy man, in the Royal Masonic Hospital, Hammersmith, in May 1946, his home address being given as Stortford in Manor Road. Probate was given to Solicitors and to Vernon Page Sams, Teacher.