Rumbelow & Descendants
Rumbelows of West Row UK

Before deciding to sail to South Australia aboard the barque Pestonjee-Bomanjee, Malen Rumbelow (Malen 1st) lived in Plough Road, West Row via Bury Street St Edmonds in the English county of Suffolk. The name Malen may have derived from his mother’s maiden name Maling.  

Sarah Maling was born in 1777 in Mildenhall and her parents were John Maling & Elizabeth Godfrey. Sarah married Robert Rumbelow in 1797. Malen was their sixth child.

Malen, a labourer, married Alice Pitches in 1831 and had  nine children (six girls and three boys).

In 1851,  Malen’s oldest sister Mary and husband Mark Last left England for Australia. Their two sons  Mark and Joseph may have sent reports back from the colony which encouraged Malen and Alice to take the courageous step in 1854 that changed their lives forever.

Walter heard from his father (who was not born until 1846, so the information was second hand) that “Uncle Malen only had one eye but could see and tell the time by the Mildenhall church clock better than normal people. Uncle Malen went to Australia because poor people were so badly off at that time they could hardly get a living”.

Whilst not a lot is known about the life of Malen and Alice in England but a letters from Walter Rumbelow (a grandson of Malen’s brother Thomas) to an Australian cousin in 1952 does give some insight (below).

Letter from Walter Rumbelow

14 Pothall Rd. West Row via Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk 

28/10/1952 

Dear Madam, 

The letter you sent to the President of the Mildenhall Women's Institute asking for information about the Rumbelow family, was read at their meeting, but they knew no one of that name in Mildenhall so they sent it on to the West Row Women's Institute and I have received it. 

I sent a note to Mildenhall WI to thank them for sending it and told them I would write to you. 

I have often heard my father talk about his uncle Malan who went to Australia over 100 years ago because poor people were so badly off at that time they could hardly get a living, so Malen went to Australia to try to get a better living. 

The family were natives of West Row which is a large village in Mildenhall Parish and is about 2.5 - 3 miles from the town of Mildenhall. 

I named one of my sons Malan V. Rumbelow and have another son named Walter which is also my name. Malan is a deacon of the Baptist church here and also a Sunday School teacher. 

My grandfather's name was Thomas, a brother of Malan and there are only three of us alive belonging to the third generation. I am nearly 79 years old, my sister is nearly 71 and my cousin Emma Smith three days older than I am, and there are a few belonging to the 4th and 5th. generations. 

There is an aerodrome about half a mile from here and about 18 years ago there was an air race from here to Australia and we could stand outside our door and see the aeroplanes start. 

We had a house built 40 years ago and are still living in it. At that time you could get a good house built for 200 pounds now it would cost about 1200 pounds to get one built. 

I and my two sons are in the coal business and get a decent living, we also farm 12 acres of land, growing barley, potatoes, and sugarbeet, though I do not work much at my age. 

Yrs. etc. 

Walter Rumbelow

Letter from Walter Rumbelow

14 Pothall Rd. West Row via Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk 

07/02/1953 

Dear Cousins, 

Just a line to wish you and all your family and all Australian cousins a happy and prosperous new year. I received your card of laughing Jacks during the weeks before Christmas and by the way, do you eat them? As some people eat birds in England such as partridges and pheasants. 

I expect you are having summer time in Australia while here with us it is the wintry season though we have been having a lot of fog and just now it is rather mild for the season and there is a lot of illness about and four people were buried in our chapel yard in three weeks two of them in one day both of them superintendents of our Sunday School. 

The above was written a few days ago and the pen ran dry so I had to wait to get a fresh one and now 3 more persons died in one night at West Row. We have had very bad colds but they are better at present thank God. 

I was going to write some weeks ago and send by ordinary mail, but I will send this by air mail hoping you will receive it all right. 

Now I will tell you what I heard my father say about his Uncle Malan but he could not have known him as he was not born until 1846 but being the youngest of Thomas Rumbelow's family he may have heard his father or elder brothers talk about him.

He said his Uncle Malan had only one eye and could see and tell the time by the Mildenhall church clock better than other people could with two eyes.

He told me about a gardener in West Row (whom I will call Mr. E) who had a job of planting to do for a farmer some miles away and he took 2 men with him to help him and when the farmer went to him on the land he said " I'm sorry Mr. E. to see you have only one eye", and Mr. E. replied, " my men here are just the same, they only have one eye where we come from", and when the farmer saw the 3 men with "one eye" only each he did not know what to say and one of them was Malan Rumbelow who went afterwards to Australia. 

My son Malan Victor has 2 sons in the R.A.F. and one has got his wings and is a Pilot in the R.A.F. The other son is a radio mechanic in the R.A.F. He also has a daughter working in a canteen at the aerodrome here for the Americans. My other son Walter has a son who has just served his time in the R.A.F. and now is home again to work as a carpenter which was the work he was doing before he was called up. 

I do not know whether any of our other relatives are writing to you or not though I gave them your address but I am writing this time as you may like to receive a line from England sometimes as we like to hear from Australia sometimes. 

Yrs. etc. 

Walter Rumbelow

West Row War Memorial

West Row, Suffolk, United Kingdom

• Private Arthur Rumbelow

West Row is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is generally considered the edge of The Fens. West Row lies on the north bank of the navigable River Lark, about 2 miles west of the town of Mildenhall.

The name of the town was first recorded in 1050 as Mildenhale, believed to mean a nook of land belonging to a woman called "Milde" or a man called "Milda".

The area around Mildenhall has been settled by humans since at least the Bronze Age.  Following the Roman Empire invasion of Britain, Mildenhall was the site of a Roman settlement. 

The Mildenhall Treasure, a major hoard of highly decorated Roman silver tableware from the fourth-century AD, was discovered in West Row. The hoard was discovered by farmer Gordon Butcher while ploughing in January 1942. He did not recognize the objects for what they were, and the hoard did not come to the attention of the authorities until 1946.  An inquest was held in June 1946, when the find was declared treasure trove and acquired by the British Museum in London.

In 2020 some inhabitants of West Row campaigned to have the hoard renamed as the West Row Treasure, to more accurately reflect where it was found. The treasure is the most notable of a number of Roman finds from the village.