Mitson was Norwich born and bred. He was born on the 14th September, 1805, and baptised at St John de Sepulchre Church on Ber Street the day after. 

Not much is known about his early life but we do know that he married his wife, Mary Ann (née Vout), in 1828 at St Julian’s Church. He was 23 years old and she was young, by today’s standards, at 17 years old. The X marks for each of them on the Parish register shows they were both illiterate. 

They had a long and apparently happy marriage of 53 years, living in the King Street area for most of that time, until Mary Ann died in 1881. 

Samuel and Mary Ann had 12 children, though information on some of them is quite scant, even on official records.  

There must have been a lot of sadness, however, over the years — at least five of their 12 children died young. We can see that three of their sons died in their 20s. One died of smallpox aged three, and a 9 week-old baby boy died of a severe form of malnutrition.  

The others, however, did live long lives, though their eldest son, also called Samuel, died in an asylum following many years of mental illness. He was 80 years old and his sister was with him when he died. 

Samuel Senior seems to have been relatively wealthy, compared to most other occupants in the King Street area, despite his occupation — which was alternately listed as weaver, labourer, carter, and scavenger. 

He did, however, build and develop several properties behind what is now known as Dragon Hall and that is, presumably, where the name Mitson’s Yard comes from. He worked with Mark Ketterer (a jeweller) to finance the building of the properties; Ketterer lent him the money and Samuel paid him back.  

He first bought property off St Ann’s Lane in 1854 and then took out further loans in later years for further development. 

You can see above a plan for a two-bedroomed cottage (which is still visible today as part of No. 14, St. Ann Lane) from 1887, to be built in Mitson’s Yard, in addition to his other properties. It wasn’t approved, but where ‘Mr Mitson’ is written shows where his other properties were situated. Therefore, it would seem that he was doing well financially.  

The cottage is still standing, in the grounds of Dragon Hall, and is known as Rose Cottage. When the area was archeologically excavated and examined in the 1980s, it was known as St. Ann Cottage. 

Another document suggests that Samuel Mitson was quite wealthy: when his daughter was accused of stealing water from the tap of a neighbouring yard in a court case in 1861, he was described as ‘well to do’. 

Samuel was fined for his daughter’s crime. This may sound unreasonable but what it shows us is how his material belongings stood in contrast to his neighbours and tenants many of whom were living in poverty.   

Samuel also had properties elsewhere —  down the road in the Parish of St Ethelred, in Magdalen Street, and some freehold land in Sprowston. 

Samuel was again in court, in 1866, when he was ordered to pay money for the upkeep of his grandson. George Samuel was the son of Richard Mitson, aged 27, who died before George was born. Samuel had been told by the courts to help Richard’s widow as she was destitute. He had done so initially, but had stopped abruptly. In court, his lawyer tried to argue that Mitson did not own property, denying that the homes in Mitson’s Yard and elsewhere were not in his name, but the authorities were unconvinced and ordered him to resume payment. We don’t know why Mitson did not want to help his grandson as a child, but a George Samuel Mitson was later recorded living in ‘Mitson’s Yard’ and so we can hope that he was eventually welcomed into the family fold. 

We know from a court case that Samuel was also employed moving ‘night soil’. This was excreta he collected, probably from the community toilets. Such a grim job was unsurprisingly poorly paid. He had been late picking his load up one night and was charged as a result.  

In fact, he seemed to be a rough and ready chap, ready to fight if anyone crossed him.  

Samuel Mitson’s death certificate in 1889 recorded that the 75 year old who died of  ‘senile decay’ had also remarried a mere four years earlier to a woman called Eliza.  

His probate/will verified this marriage as he had left money to his wife Eliza Rebecca Mitson, to the sum of £51 8s.  

This second wife (nee Bartram) appears to have had a very chaotic life, with suggestions of prostitution and anti-social behaviour. There is even a newspaper report dating from 1883 showing that Samuel accused her of stealing his wallet from his bedroom (she was very drunk, according to the police). It emerges in this report that she had been living as his wife for several years, which he denied at the time. Another mystery of Mr Mitson’s life perhaps — did he fall in love in his later years, or was he taken advantage of in his infirmity?   

Eliza appears to have had a hard life, which ended in much the same way as, tragically, she died in the Infirmary of the Workhouse in 1915, when she was 82 years old. Only the Master of the Workhouse seemed to have been present.