Robert Gilbourne

When Robert's father died in 1881, he and elder brother James became the family breadwinners at the ages of 10 and 12 respectively. At the time, James was in Tottenham, London, a general servant to Charles E.T. Roberts, Chaplain Curate to the Bishop of Bedford. It is not clear exactly when James returned to Brinsley, but in the 1891 census he was shown as working in the mines there.

Robert's mother was clearly a strong character, because she allegedly would not let Robert marry because of family circumstances. It was not until 1895, when he was 24 years old that he married Martha. By this time they had had the first two of their 13 children, all but one of whom survived until marriage. (James also did not marry until he was almost 24.)

Robert worked in Brinsley pit, becoming the mine deputy.

One of his hobbies was photography, but although two of his cameras have survived unfortunately very few of his pictures have. Some of those few can be seen on this site. He was also a regular pall bearer at funerals, keeping a suit and pair of white gloves especially for the occasion.