Alonzo Freeland in Kibworth
Correction of dates for the life of the talented Alonzo Freeland
Contrary to your report, the 1891 census does not show that the chemist’s shop on Station Street was owned and run by Alonso Freeland. His wife, Mary, and daughters Mabel and Cecilia, appear, but Alonzo (note the z) does not. He was away from Kibworth on census day (April 5th) because he had returned to Sussex to attend his father’s funeral. There’s also no mention of chemist on the Freeland entry; it’s not until the 1901 census that Alonzo appears as a chemist in Kibworth.
The first entry that I can find that mentions the chemist’s shop is from 1881, when it was occupied by William B. Brown, 38, pharmaceutical chemist, born in Preston.
Alonzo and Mary arrived in Kibworth from Sussex in 1884 and lived in the shop until 1923, when the business passed to F. Bentley. Alonzo retired to Dorset and died there in 1925 aged 68.
He was variously a chemist, a photographer, a dentist, a musician, a poet and a conductor as well as being responsible for building houses on Weir Road, and he was my great, great uncle.
John Freeland
Fleckney and Kibworth Running Club May 22
