Great Fransham: the Cases in the 18th century

“The family of Case was formerly of great respectability and opulence in Norfolk, some of which resided at Great Fransham for nearly two centuries.”

So it says in the obituary for Philip Mallett Case published in The Gentleman’s Magazine in 1834. Philip Mallett Case was first cousin once removed to Philip James Case (my Norwich great grandfather), and I’ll return to him briefly, but first to Great Fransham, which I tracked down on a fairly large-scale map, near Swaffham, about 25 miles west of Norwich.

There is no longer anything great about Great Fransham. It is a tiny village, perhaps marginally bigger than Little Fransham, which you would miss if you blinked. It’s in the heart of farming land in West Norfolk. It has a small and quite old church, about a mile out of the present-day village. My research told me that several Case ancestors were buried in the churchyard, and there were also monumental inscriptions on the floor of the church itself. But when I got there, the church was under scaffolding and the entire churchyard was fenced off. The “keep out” notice told me that the heritage church was being restored and was now a dangerous construction site. It was hit by a flying bomb during the war, and painstakingly repaired soon after, so the current work must be for other problems.

All Saints, Great Fransham, 2009

So I couldn’t get into the church to see the inscriptions – a disappointment – and I couldn’t find any Case tombstones in the churchyard: but as they date back to the early part of the 18^th century, it’s quite possible they had been moved or discarded – or possibly destroyed in the bombing.

The earliest Case I have on record at Great Fransham is William Case, born in 1560. The line of descent is unclear, but comes into focus with Thomas Case, born in 1663, and recorded as a freeholder of Great Fransham. Late in his life he moved to Saham Toney (yes, coincidentally where my mother was born 200 years later) leaving his second son, Thomas (b 1695) in charge at Great Fransham. The family stayed at Great Fransham for another three generations. Our line of descent comes from this Thomas, through his second son Edward (1735), and Thomas Henry (1773) to Philip Case (1815) who moved toNorwich, and founded Case and Steward in 1860. By 1854, White’s directory ofNorfolkshowed there were no Cases living in Great Fransham, although the 1883 directory showed 16 farmers called Case scattered acrossNorfolk.

Part of Testerton Hall, 2009

It was the older Thomas Case’s other sons who did especially well. The eldest, Edward Case, built Fransham High House, but then went to Toftrees, a few miles to the north (close to Testerton Hall) where his family lived and farmed for several generations. Young Thomas’s daughter Esther married Daniel Burslem, a vicar from Staffordshire, who settled in the district. Their son Tommy was also a local vicar (of several parishes). One of the younger Thomas’s other grandsons (Philip Mallett Case, who we’ve mentioned before) built Testerton Hall a few miles to the north, but left no children. (Later research shows that there were three, including Colonel William Case who was killed in the Indian Mutiny. However, due to complex will arrangements,) the estate, which the Gentlemen’s Magazine tells us “comprised the entire parish”, was passed to his niece Mary. Testerton Hall is still there, but only one wing of the original mansion remains.

Finally, the youngest son, Philip Case (born 1712) was really the success story of the Norfolk Cases. To follow his story, I drove north to Kings Lynn, a charming market town and port near the mouth of the Great Ouse where it flows into The Wash. I had booked into the Globe Hotel, at the corner of an enormous square known as Tuesday Market. It wasn’t Tuesday, so it was easy to park in the square. In the morning, while leaving my car to have a tyre replaced (the result of clipping an unseen kerbstone where a country road suddenly narrowed), I set out to find the traces of Philip Case: my fourth great grand uncle.

• Introduction
• Banham Rectory: Canon R W Longley
• St Bartholomew’s, Norwich
• Aspland House, Norwich: Thomas Henry Case
• Great Fransham: the Cases in the 18^th century
• Kings Lynn: Philip Case, four times mayor of Lynn
• Conisholme: Canon Thomas Longley 
• Monk Bretton: Alfred Lambert
• Leeds: the Longley family of builders
• More relatives . . . or probably not