Stoke Ferry’s Blue Bell Pub dates from at least 1794 when its landlord was John Drake.
From 1858, for a hundred years, the licence was held by three generations of the Lock family. From that year until his death in 1887 at the age of 81, the landlord was John Lock. His son, Edward, who had earlier been a mail coach driver, then took over the premises but by 1888 the licence had passed on to his wife, Mary Ann. Edward died in early 1890. In the 1891 Census guests at the Blue Bell included Edmund G. Fuller and his wife Emma (nee Wing, of Suffolk). Emma was Mary Ann’s younger sister. In the Census, Edmund G. Fuller listed his occupation as ‘Marine Artist’.
Edmund George Fuller 1858-1940[1] was a British painter/marine artist/postcard artist /metal worker who lived in the Blue Bell for a while with his wife Emma whose elder sister was landlady at the time,
A founder member of the Royal West of England Academy, a recent description of him states:
On his death, Fuller was described as ‘painter, architect, comic artist and metal worker’ and he distinguished himself in all these disciplines, but it was as a marine artist that he achieved the highest renown. The son of a military father, who became a General, Fuller was born in Brompton, London and educated at Sandhurst. He married Emma Wing, a Suffolk girl, in 1882….’
In 1925 the licence for the pub transferred to Mary Ann’s two spinster sisters, Bertha and Florence. Mary Ann stayed there until her death in 1938, aged 91. Bertha and Florence continued to run the pub until 1958.
On his death in 1940, Fuller was described as “painter, architect, comic artist and metal worker” and he distinguished himself in all these disciplines, but it was as a marine artist that he achieved the highest renown. The son of a military father, who became a General, Fuller was born in Brompton, London and educated at Sandhurst. He married Emma Wing in 1882 and they lived initially in London. He first started exhibiting in 1888. After their stay at the Blue Bell, Fuller and Emma moved Scotland and then, in 1892, to St Ives, Cornwall. He and his wife taking part in the Carnival Masquerade held that March. They settled in 1 Barnoon Terrace and Edmund immediately took a studio on the harbour beach, which was to be his workplace throughout his time in St Ives. It is envisaged that, should the campaign to keep to keep the pub open be successful, a full display of the life and works of Edmund George Fuller will be on show at the Blue Bell; including examples of his postcard artwork.
[1] Sources:
A Farthing for the Ferryman; the surprising history of a Norfolk village, Richard L. Coates, Harpsden Press, 2019
Messums Art Gallery website: www.messums.com/artists/view/399/Edmund_G_Fuller (25.02.2020)
Jim's West Norfolk Notes 