It was a fortuitous enquiry that introduced the Wallbrook Glee Singers.  

John Woodfield, collector and researcher, was looking to reduce his accumulation of photographs and made some searches on the web for possible information on a large mounted group portrait of four gentlemen, entitled “Walbrook Glee Singers”.  The photographer was “Speight, Rugby”.  The photograph had been in the collection of his grandfather who had been a photographer himself, but it did not seem to have any family connections.

Having Emailed copies of parts of the image to the author, a little research on the group and the individuals portrayed followed.  After replying with some preliminary thoughts, the owner felt the photograph might be better kept in Rugby together with other Speight material.  Following a rendezvous in a car park just off Junction 22 of the M1, the photograph was generously donated to the Speight Archive by John Woodfield in memory of his grandfather, Charles Henry Christie of Birmingham.

So who were the Glee Singers?  There was nothing helpful on Google, but the on-line Newspaper Archive, although it does not yet include any Rugby newspapers, did provide several references to the group.  The Rugby Advertiser had to be searched in the traditional way!  

The Walbrook Glee Singers were indeed based in Rugby and sang in the area and occasionally further afield.  So far references to them have been found between 1894 and 1903.  

The name is a mystery.  The fact that there was actually a Mr. Walbrook who sang “Glees” back in the 1860s in the Aldershot area is assumed to be a coincidence;  also, there appear to be no connections with the Wren church, St. Stephen’s, Walbrook in the City of London, although the earliest performance traced was in the London area.

The press reports suggest there was an earlier “line up” than the four gentlemen depicted in the photograph, but these later singers seem to have come together by June 1900.  The two “line-ups” had one member in common, Charles Sapsed, although misprinted “Tapsed” in the early report!

The Performances

That earliest performance traced was in Richmond on 21st January 1894, when “The Richmond Central Musical Society gave a concert at the Greyhound Masonic Hall on Tuesday … The Walbrook Glee Singers gained hearty encores for their efficient rendering of four well-known part songs.”  

There appears to be a gap until October 1899, when they are reported as being from Rugby.  They were in Northampton for the fifth annual banquet of the Licensed Victuallers. “The Walbrook Glee Singers, an accomplished male quartet from Rugby, sang a number of songs and glees (without accompaniment) with extraordinary skill and taste.”    The next month they were again in Northampton for the Mayoral Banquet on 9th November 1899.  “During the repast, … The Walbrook Glee Singers rendered with exquisite taste a number of songs and catches, for which they were several times encored.” 

This apparent preference for Northampton reflects the fact that a Northampton newspaper has been scanned and can be more easily searched.  

In January 1900, an evening concert in the National School, Turvey, Northants, in aid of the church roof fund included an appearance when: “Mr F H Mardin, (chief constable of Northampton), … had specially engaged the celebrated Walbrook Glee Singers - Messrs. T. Sparkes (alto), A. J. King (first tenor), F Stannard (second tenor), and C. Tapsed (base), who contributed some of the best singing ever heard in Turvey, and were much appreciated.”   The programme included: “Banks of Allan Water”, “Lass of Richmond Hill”, “Simple Simon”, (encored and “She wore a wreath of Roses” given),  “The Old Folks at Home” (specially arranged) … (encored, and “A Catastrophe” given), “Robin Adair”, ( encored, and “Cats” given), and “Good Night”.

That earlier group of performers has not been satisfactorily identified.  Frederick G Stannard could be an L&NW Railway draftsman who was born in Cotesbach in 1867 and appeared in the 1891 census.  Thomas Sparkes, might be a club steward, born in 1877 in Hampton in Arden, who was living at 3, Albert Street, Rugby in 1901, and who become a compositor in Coventry by 1911.  No obvious A. J. King has emerged.  

On 31st March 1900, at Rushden, in addition to various contributions from the audience and by “local talent”, “The Walbrook Glee Singers from Rugby provided the programme at the weekly “smoker” on Saturday night.  This was their first visit to Rushden at the club; and their singing was highly appreciated by the large audience.  They contributed  “A Catastrophe”, “Simple Simon”, “The Old Folks at Home”, “Lass of Richmond Hill”, “Good Night”, “Rub-a-Dub”, “She wore a wreath of Roses”, “On the Banks of Allan Water” and “Robin Adair”.   

By 12th June 1900, the personnel seen on the photograph have become the established line-up.  They performed at the Patriotic Fete at Harpole, “To celebrate the glad tidings of Lord Roberts’s triumphal entry into Pretoria. …  At half past two, the Walbrook Glee Singers (Mr. Charles Sapsted, Mr. Ernest Brooks, Mr. Walter White, and Mr. Sidney T. Laughton) commenced the entertainment with some quartets, which were well sung and heartily appreciated.”  

On 14th June 1900, at Jephson Gardens, Leamington Spa, there was an Al Fresco Concert with “…some pleasing quartettes rendered by the Walbrook Glee Singers …”.   The items performed included:  “A Catastrophe”; “The Old Folks at Home” plantation melody with imitation banjo accompaniment; and “Simple Simon”.

On 13th November 1900, they performed at an evening concert in Leicester.  “The Walbrook Glee Singers from Rugby visited the Town Hall here on Tuesday night and gave one of their highly-pleasurable and characteristic entertainments, which more than sustained the high reputation the party have gained for refined harmony and melody, and although the audience was small the applause was such as to show well-merited approbation. …  The humorous recital of Mr. Ernest Brookes was well received, as was a duet by the former and Mr. Sidney Laughton, while the quartets were all of exquisite harmony, calling for repeated applause and repetitions.  Mr. Walter White’s songs were also very enjoyable.  Mr. Sapsed (secretary and bass) may be congratulated on forming such an excellent party.”   This perhaps confirms that Charles Sapsted had a leading organisational role, having also been in the earlier line-up.

They ventured further from home in August the next year.  On 24th and 31st August 1901, the Hastings newspaper announced the forthcoming appearances of the Glee Singers.    They appeared at the twelfth annual “Hastings Pier Promenade Concerts” on Saturday 31st August and a report of the event followed the next week.  

“The Walbrook Glee Singers (Messrs. Ernest Brooks, Walter White, Chas. Sapsted, and Sidney Laughton). … In their humorous quartets and in the beautiful arrangement of “Anne Laurie” the Glee Singers were conspicuously successful. … In the evening concert, … The quartet, “Lovely Night,” by the Walbrook Glee singers, was much admired. … The Walbrook Glee singers reappeared with the well-known humorous quartet, “Simple Simon”, which they gave with inimitable humour, winning an encore, and responding with “Annie Laurie”. … Mr Sidney Laughton sang “A mariner’s home’s the sea,” and the Walbrook Glee Singers closed with “Good-night, Beloved.” 

On 2nd October 1901, the Glee Singers were included in a concert organised by Mrs. Rylands in Rugby in aid of the Hospital of St. Cross and headed by Alice Gomez, a contralto.  “The Walbrook Glee Singers (Messrs Ernest Brooks, W White, C Sapsed, and S Laughton) contributed quartettes, including one entitled, “Italian Salad”, which was the most elaborate piece we have heard them attempt.”   A further concert for the same cause was given in November 1901; they gave a “quartette, “Italian Salad”, … (encored, and “Jenk’s Compound” substituted).” 

The latest reference found to date is 16th June 1903, when the singers gave a concert as part of the “various entertainments” at the Liberal Demonstration held by the North Bucks Liberal Association at Bletchley Park: “… the Walbrook Glee Singers gave two excellent concerts in a huge marquee.”  

The Performers

Whilst the performers featured in the photograph are named, that does not immediately identify them.  The initial assumption that Speight was their local photographer was confirmed later by the news items that stated that they were from Rugby.  A guess was made of their ages, and by assuming the photograph was taken in the early 1900s this provided estimated birth dates.  The estimates were: Walter White, say 45, born c.1855 [act.1858]; Charles Sapsed, say 35, born c. 1865 [act.1866]; Ernest Brooks, say 30, born c.1870 [act.1871]; and Sidney Laughton, say 25, born c, 1875 [act.1876].  The various names were then searched using the Ancestry and FreeBMD websites.   The guessed ages from the photograph were remarkably accurate! 

Helpfully, there were not too many options, and local Rugby born identities were quickly suggested for three of the four.  The more difficult candidate was Charles Sapsed, but after searching the papers for Walbrook references, the various individuals were also searched and strong candidates emerged.

Charles Sapsed 

Charles was born in Beckenham, Kent in about 1866, the youngest son of Mr. J. Sapsed, later of Kingston-on-Thames.  In 1881, he was a fifteen year old clerk, working and boarding in Saffron Walden.  In 1888, he left Saffron Walden, after being presented with a Gladstone bag by a few friends at the Cross Keys Hotel on 9th March.  “Mr. R. A. Williams, on behalf of the donors who included some of Mr. Sapsed’s musical and personal friends, … in a speech referred to the willing matter in which Mr. Sapsed always responded when asked to give his services at any entertainment.”   In 1891, he was working in London, lodging, as was his warehouseman elder brother, in Kentish Town and still a clerk.  Could he have “collected” the Walbrook name in London for some reason? Could he possibly have formed a group there, as he seemed already to be such an accomplished “entertainer”.  He married Clara Hughes, “the eldest daughter of Mr. T. H. Hughes”, on 4th October 1893.   He must have met her during his musical time in Saffron Walden.    At some time there was a move to Rugby, as their first two children were born there in 1895 and 1897.  

He is listed in Rugby in 1899 and 1900 living at Langham Villa, Murray Road.  He was still a clerk, and in 1904, the family had moved to 155, Clifton Road.  They moved away and by 1911 he was in Camberwell, a manager in printing and publication with three children.

Walter White      

Walter’s birth was registered in Rugby in Q1, 1858 [Rugby 6d, 433], and he was christened on 14th February 1858 at the parish church.  He was the son of James White, a railway porter born in Barby, and his wife Elizabeth, born in Ullesthorpe.  

He married in Rugby in 1891, with a Sarah J Cryer, from Kilsby when he was living at 23, William Street, a fireman with the L&NW Railway; in 1901, they were living at 108, Old Station, now with a nine year old daughter, a son of seven and a new baby daughter of two months.  He had now been promoted and had progressed to be a railway engine driver.  By 1911, he had been married twenty years; their address was now 108, Newbold Road, he was still a railway engine driver and his son, now seventeen, had started on the railway career ladder as an engine cleaner.

Ernest Walter G Brooks  

Ernest Brooks is important for other reasons than his singing alone.  In 1884 the Rugby Portland Cement Company was wound up and a partnership was then formed between G. H. Walker's sons, Henry Edyvean Walker and Arthur Caldecott Walker together with Charles Hall, a cement maker who was managing partner.  In 1898, Charles Hall died but was not replaced.  Instead, a works manager was appointed, the first being Isaac Brooks, born in 1838 in Blaby.  He was an accountant, and in 1898, he was aged sixty.  

The birth of his son, Ernest Walter Guardner Brooks, had been registered in Q4 1871 [Rugby 6d, 470] and he would also work at the cement works, indeed, the 1901 Census indicated that he was a “Secretary at Cement Works”.  Isaac’s death was registered in Q1 1912, he was then aged seventy-four [Rugby 6d 755].  Before that date he had retired and Ernest had succeeded him, and it seems likely that he took over as Manager in 1906, as he was presented with a silver salver for twenty-five years service on 30th June 1931.  That is now held by the CEMEX / Rugby Cement Archive.  In 1911 he was living at 61, Regent Street, Rugby, aged forty and married for seventeen years with two children: a son sixteen and daughter twelve.  The business carried on as a Partnership until 1925 when it became again a private limited company.

He died on 16th January 1933, when living at Holyoake, South Kilworth.  He left an Estate with a gross value of £4484, with net personality of £1464.  Probate was granted to his widow, the sole Executrix.

 

Sidney Thomas Laughton  

Sidney was born on 4th September 1876, and the birth was registered in Q4 1876 [Rugby 6d, 546].  He played some cricket and is recorded playing for Rugby Onwards -v- Rugby at Rugby Cricket Ground on 23rd June 1900.   He batted at No. 11 and was not out, having scored nine runs.

It appeared he had some formal singing training as on 10th October 1900, at Leamington Spa Town Hall, he was presented with a prize in the local music examinations held by Trinity College London: “Senior pass: Sidney Thomas Laughton (Hubert Lamb, Mus. Bac.) singing;”.  He also sang a song during the afternoon’s proceedings.    

In 1901, he was with his parents, Samuel Laughton [1844 - 1904], a cabinet maker from Warwick and Lavinia Frances (née Wingell) Laughton [1854 - 1936] from Walcott.  Sidney was then following his father’s trade.  They lived at 24, Dunchurch Road, just a few doors away from the Speight family’s photographers’ studio at No. 16, where it may be that the portrait of the group was taken!  

His marriage was registered in Q4 1922 at St. Georges, Hanover Square [St. Geo. H. Sq. 1a, 965] to Dorothy Chamberlain.  They had two children: the first, Richard Dennis Vereker Laughton [1923 – 1924] died very young and the second son, Dennis Sidney Laughton [1924 – 2005] would become a barrister at law and later his father’s executor.  

Sidney had travelled to USA in 1926, apparently as a “Detective” and travelled there again in retirement.  He died on 25th April 1958 aged 81.

Conclusions

It seems from the dates that it was Charles Sapsed who probably formed the group.  Whether the name, Walbrook, deliberately included parts of the names of two members, Wal[ter White] and [Ernest] Wal[ter] Brook[s] must be pure speculation!

Ernest Brookes would certainly have had increasing responsibilities at the works as his father neared retirement in about 1906.

John Frearson

 

Adaptation of a talk given at a Members’ Evening in 2006

Many family historians have traced interesting stories of their relatives’ service during the First World War, but at present there are a lot fewer from the Second.  I was keen to find out about an episode from my father’s time in the Royal Navy of which he would speak very rarely, and then only in a general way.  It was however to have a profound effect on his life and that of his family after the War.

My father Maurice Herbert Holifield was the second son and third child of a family of six, born in Wembley Middlesex in 1913.  He was a very gentle, patient, easy-going man, rarely losing his temper.  He married my mother Florence Cecilia Bradwell (Celia) in 1938, and they moved to a small bungalow between Pinner and Rayners Lane where I was born in 1940.  In 1941 Dad was called up and opted to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR).  He said his choice was governed by the fact that he hated heights so would be no good in the RAF, he didn’t like walking much, so that ruled out the Army, but he could swim so the Navy seemed the least of the three evils! 

After initial training he served for a while on minesweepers round the British coast, eventually being promoted to Lieutenant in 1943. He was later on the Queen Elizabeth when it was used as a troop ship bringing Americans over from New York to Europe, and remembered fondly the enormous hospitality of the Americans towards those in uniform.  The incident I was interested in however took place at Anzio in Italy.  Dad had mentioned that he had been to Naples and picked ripe oranges off the trees – there was no comparison in taste with those we could buy in the shops after the war - and had visited the volcano Vesuvius which was very smelly.  

He also said, when I asked him when I was about sixteen why he never went to a Remembrance Day service, that he didn’t need a special day to remember his fallen comrades, he would remember them all the days of his life, a very telling and poignant reply.  In his effects after his death in 1988, I found a pair of little metal oak leaves which he had told me had been awarded to him at the time his ship was sunk.  

When Dad came home after the war, he suffered from depression and dreadful nightmares.  He was advised on health grounds to leave his office job in the bank, and take on manual work in the open air.  From being a schoolboy, he had always been interested in growing things, he had an allotment from that time, and kept bees and chickens, so he was at last able to take a course at an agricultural college, then buy his own farm near Gweek in Cornwall in 1948, with the help of a sickness pension from the bank and a gratuity from the Navy.

What was the cause of his depression?  It was clearly related to his experience during the war, and in 2006 I felt that as a tribute to him I should like to find out what happened at Anzio, spurred on by the sixtieth anniversary celebrations of the ending of the war in Europe.

Firstly through the Internet I read a number of articles on the Anzio campaign, called “Operation Shingle”, and an associated website listed all the minor vessels of the Royal Navy which had been lost during WW2.  A passing remark of Dad’s had been that he was thankful he hadn’t been a soldier having to exit a landing craft under enemy fire.  This led me to think that his vessel may have been a landing craft.

Another remark was that he had been on the quay at the time the ship sank, which also implied that it was after the initial landings, during the period when the landed forces were being supplied with stores and equipment by vessels from Naples and southern Italy. 

http://freespace.virgin.net/gordon.smith4/WW2BritishLosses4Amphib.htm listed all the landing craft losses, and the date and place where they sank.  There was only one which had been lost at Anzio during the period after the landings, LCI(L) No 273, which was sunk on 17 March 1944, so I decided to pursue this one first.  

These craft were American, but had been leased to Britain under the Lease Lend programme.  They had a displacement of 387 tons fully loaded, and were 160 feet long with a speed of 15.5 knots.  They had a crew of three officers and at least twenty-one men, (although I think Dad’s had more than this in the complement) and could carry almost two hundred troops or seventy-five tons of cargo in three troop holds.  As a comparison, they were slightly larger than the three masted sailing barques which were commonly used in the 19th century to travel all over the world with cargo!

I consulted the National Archives Catalogue on their website searching in the Admiralty documents under “Anzio”, and found a reference to a file dealing with bravery awards to members of the crew of this vessel when it was sunk at Anzio (ADM1/29571).  This sounded as if it could be the vital evidence I was seeking, so on the next visit of the Rugby Family History Group to The National Archives at Kew, I requested this file and opened it with great anticipation.

There it was!  A report by my father, who was the Commanding Officer, on the circumstances of the loss of the Landing Craft, together with the recommendations by the Commander in Chief Mediterranean for the award of gallantry medals to two of the crew, and a Mention in Despatches for Dad. 

The landing craft was hit by a heavy bomb in the early hours of the morning while lying alongside the jetty (mole) at Anzio.  From a later survey it appeared that the bomb hit the jetty about three feet from the ship’s side, and ricocheted off, exploding against the ship’s side.  The force of the impact blew away the bows and No 1 troopspace completely, and the ship immediately began to list.  The men on the bridge were all thrown to the deck and a rating suffered severe injuries.  Four ratings in No 3 troopspace and the rest of the crew off duty in the Mess Deck (no numbers given) managed to get clear.  

In No 2 Troopspace were twenty-one ratings, but the blast had blown away the companionway and jammed the escape hatch.  Once Dad and the First Lieutenant, Christopher Finlayson, had managed to force it open, they saw that the men were too injured to get out on their own.  Finlayson and Leading Stoker Thomas Forrest (of the Canadian Navy) climbed into the severely constricted hold to try, with the aid of only a small handtorch for light, to help them up through the escape hatch.

The hold had been badly damaged by the bomb, and as the vessel was listing badly, all the crewmen had been thrown into one corner with baggage and broken pieces of metal from the bunks.  They managed to help two men up through the hatch, but as they were getting the third man up, the vessel listed even more and water began to gush in through a damaged bulkhead. They tied a rope round the injured man and lowered him into the water as the vessel capsized, he was picked up shortly afterwards by a motorlaunch.  Sadly the other men did not survive.

For their bravery in rescuing the three crew members, Lt Finlayson was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) and Stoker Forrest the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM).   Dad was Mentioned in Despatches as he “gave a splendid example of leadership, and did all that was possible to save lives and his ship”.  The awards were made on 3rd June and published in the London Gazette on 20th June 1944 in Supplement 36672.

I now see why Dad never needed to be reminded of his lost crew.  Such a traumatic experience would have remained with him always, but he did overcome the health problems it caused, and make a success of his farm.  He was a loving husband, father and grandfather, and was respected and admired by all those with whom he had contact.  He was a public spirited man, and served on many committees of local organisations during his life.  His example of leadership clearly showed here as time was never wasted on his committees!  Also as a tribute to his tireless endeavours in fundraising for it, Gweek Village Hall after his death was renamed the Holifield Memorial Hall in his honour.

Ann Luntley

What sort of sources do you use for your Family History, and how much can you trust them? If you are researching Rugby’s local history you will rely on the writings of Matthew Holbeche BLOXAM (1805-1888) the antiquarian, whose home was the building now known as the Percival Guildhouse – home of Rugby Family History Group. But can you trust him? I recently had cause to doubt his word.

Earlier this year I attended Who Do You Think You Are? Live at Olympia and spent a couple of hours manning the FFHS stand. One of the many questions that we received concerned Rugby, so I tried to help. Laura Hunt was trying to locate the Manorial Documents of Hillmorton. One of her ancestors, Thomas Penn VERNON, was named as Lord of the Manor there. Since I live in Hillmorton this was of particular interest to me, so after taking her details, I promised to look into the matter.

On my return it was obvious that Laura’s information had come from the Victoria County History of Warwickshire, which stated that: “The last ASTLEY to hold interests in Hillmorton was Sir Edward, who was lord in 1764–5. He presumably sold it to one of the YARDLEYs, as in 1784 the manor was held jointly by Thomas Penn VERNON and Mary his wife, and Alice and Martha YARDLEY”

I then checked Bloxam’s Account of the Parish of Hillmorton, which had been published in one of the Rugby Almanacs. What a shock to discover that he said something completely different. He said that the Manor had been sold by Sir Edward ASTLEY, in 1771, to James VERE, a London merchant (for £10,120). James VERE died in 1778/9 and left the manor to: “William GROVE  and Richard BURGH, of the city of Coventry, Esquires, and Jeremiah LOWE, of the same place, gentleman, their heirs and assigns, upon trust for sale, after the death of certain persons in his will mentioned.”

In 1797 the only surviving trustee was Richard BURGH and more trustees were appointed, Charles NEWCOMB and John WOODCOCK. In 1808 changes were made: “under the provisions of an Act passed in the second year of George the Second to enable lunatic trustees to convey trust estates, the Manor was conveyed to Robert BAXTER, his heirs and assigns, to the use of Charles NEWCOMB, John WOODCOCK, and Peter VERE, the latter a new trustee, their heirs and assigns for ever.”

The Lunatic was Richard BURGH and Bloxam said “At one time he was legally, though a mere trustee, sole Lord of the Manor of Hlllmorton. He was under the care of Mr FOSBROOKE, a medical gentleman, at Rugby, who lived where Mr J. MORETON now lives. Mr BURGH used to ramble about with an attendant always accompanying him”  He also gives a vivid account of his funeral in 1813. Bloxam witnessed this event himself, the grandest he ever saw in Rugby, from “a first floor window of the house now occupied by Mr. BILLINGTON”

So who to believe and how could I find the truth?

Luckily a quick look at the TNA website showed that most of the people named had their Wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) and on the next trip to Kew I was able to print most of them off. Also in the Catalogue was a Chancery Document of 1806 concerning “Richard Burgh, esq of Coventry, Warwickshire: commission and inquisition of lunacy, into his state of mind and his property.” so I ordered this and made a copy.

The first Will I looked at was that of Thomas BURGH (Richard’s father) proved in 1771. He was a Doctor of Physick, of Coventry. He mentioned no property in Hillmorton (or Rugby) and his executors were his wife and son Richard.

Richard’s Will (written in 1803 and proved in 1813) described him as Esquire, of Coventry and he left property in the County of Stafford, in Wolscott in Warwickshire and in Coventry. Would there be any mention of Hillmorton in the Lunacy document?

This inquisition took place at the Kings Head Inn in Smithford Street, Coventry on the 3rd April 1806 and was: “directed to inquire (amongst other things) of the Lunacy of Richard Burgh of the said City of Coventry Esquire upon the Oaths of Joseph SMITH, Robert BUNNEY, George LANT, Thomas MORRIS,, Thomas EWBANK, Joseph NEWCOMB, Thomas OSMOND, William Ward EAGLE, John CARR, Charles LILLY, Charles RADFORD, Joseph SADEN, William SEALE, Thomas TEASDALE, William NEWCOMB and George ELD good honest and lawful Men of the said City and County of the same City who being Sworn and charged upon their Oaths say, That the said Richard Burgh is at the time of taking this Inquisition insane and not capable of managing his own Affairs and has been so for thirteen years now last past” It lists the property owned by Richard – the same as mentioned in his will, plus a house and farm in Radford Semele in the county of Warwick. This property was valued at more than five thousand pounds, but Richard had sold it one Isaac DODD for three thousand pounds. This was the sign of his insanity!

All very interesting, but there was no mention of the Manor of Hillmorton, so I turned to the VERNON and YARDLEY wills.

Thomas Penn VERNON was an apothecary, of Coventry. His will (written 1805 and proved 1806) mentioned property in Coventry “wherein I dwell” and elsewhere in Coventry, plus more property in Bewdley, Worcestershire. Nothing in Hillmorton.

Alice YARDLEY (1803/1805) was the spinster sister of Thomas’s wife Mary and lived in High Street, Coventry, with her other sister Martha and also owned a coach house in Cow Lane, Coventry. She mentioned “The estate of the late James VERE esquire at Hillmorton”

Martha YARDLEY (1805/codicil 1809/ 1812) the third sister was also a spinster, now living in Earl Street, Coventry, though she still owned the coach house in Cow Lane. She gave a bit more detail: “Money which will arise from the sale of a certain Estate at Hillmorton in the County of Warwick late the property of James VERE Esquire deceased and by him devised In trust to be sold at the decease of the Survivor of myself and my late sisters” was to be divided between children of Thomas Penn VERNON.

We can assume that this “certain estate in Hillmorton” is the Manor, although it doesn’t say so directly. How could I confirm it, and what was the relationship between James VERE and the three YARDLEY sisters?

Surveying the documents I had obtained, I realised that I had omitted to get the vital one – the PCC will of James VERE. By now the next trip to Kew was not until next autumn, so I decided to pay the £3.50 at TNA documentsonline. This will was worth every penny – it was fifteen pages long! Thankfully the information I was looking for was on the first page.

James VERE, Citizen and Merchant Taylor, of London left, to “Joseph VERNON, son of Thomas Pen VERNON and my niece, Mary his wife”, a parcel of land amounting to 21 acres “which I purchased of Edward DAY of Lutterworth in the County of Leicester Gentleman now in the Tenure or Occupation of Richard PETEVER and his Son of Hillmorton aforesaid” This was not the Manor, that was mentioned next “And I hereby give devise and bequeath my Manor of Hillmorton in the County of Warwick with the Rights Members and Appurtenances thereunto belonging and all other my Estates in the said County of Warwick or elsewhere except the said parcels of Land  therein before by me given and devised to my said Nephew Joseph VERNON  unto William GROVE and Richard BURGH of the City of Coventry Esquires and Jeremiah LOWE of the same place Gentleman their Heirs and Assigns Upon Trust from time to time to pay the Rents and Profits of my said Manor and other Estates (Except as aforesaid) unto my Nieces Mary the Wife of the said Thomas Pen VERNON Alice YARDLEY and Martha YARDLEY” After several pages of the details of this trust at also mentions the “present Lease to William LOVETT  of Hillmorton aforesaid Yeoman of the premises”

With this and other information included in the will (James VERE seems to have been unmarried and very rich, so mentions many other relatives) Laura was able to identify the relationships, which, together with the appearance of the family in Burkes Landed Gentry, enabled her to extend her family back several generations back to 1650. It turns out the family originally came from Cester Over House, in the parish of Monks Kirby. Perhaps with more research she will get even further.

And I have discovered more about the Manor of Hillmorton, although we still haven’t tracked down the Manorial Documents (the details of where they are, should be at TNA).

I don’t know enough about the legal Ins and Outs of Trusts to be able to say exactly who was the Lord of the Manor of Hillmorton for this period, whether it was the Three Sisters or the Lunatic, but the Victoria County History and Bloxam’s account have been reconciled. In the end they were both right.

Christine Hancock

Sources:
TNA:
Various PCC Wills
C 211/3/B204 – Inquisition of Lunacy
Burkes Landed Gentry (Google Books)
Victoria County History of Warwickshire (online at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/ )
Rugby Almanac (in Rugby Library)

PART ONE

 Last spring I had been going through one of those periods of ennui and despair that affect us all when, faced with not one but several blank walls, we fail to make even the smallest knothole in any of them. Leaving out the apocryphal stories about the Spanish lady shipwreck and the hasty marrying of one of Earl Stanley’s housemaids to the coachman - no, really, better not go there, as they say nowadays!

These aside, despite the very pleasing progress I had made with most lines of my family, there were still several intractable problems. However, just as I was beginning to wonder whether I could go no further, I stumbled on two wonderful finds within a couple of weeks of each other and both involving Canadian records.

The family of my father’s mother, Mary Agnes Williams, posed several problems. Her mother’s family, the Joyces, of course derived from Ireland, despair of many an amateur genealogist. However, I was able to shelve that can of worms for a later date, as my Great Grannie Mary Agnes Joyce asserted on census forms that she herself had been born in Southport, Lancashire. This at first seemed a very unlikely place for Irish immigrants to start a family, but North Meols FHS and the Rootsweb Southport link proved helpful and informative. Many Irish immigrants had in fact landed there and later made their way to the Liverpool or Manchester areas. There was even a community of them living virtually on the sands!

I acquired from North Meols FHS transcriptions of the baptismal registers of St. Marie on the Sands RC Church for 1831 to 1852. Here I found a likely record of the birth of Mary Agnes to Michael Joyce and Eliza, nee Sharland on 3 June, 1852. Although this date was a year later than census forms suggested, I knew that ages given were often approximate, either owing to enumerator error or to the persons themselves having unclear ideas of their age and birth dates.

This was where things started to get difficult, however. Repeated perusal of census records failed to unearth more than one likely couple as candidates for the parents, Michael and Eliza(beth) Joyce, in the Liverpool area. Unfortunately, I could find no record of any daughter for this couple, only a son, baptised in Liverpool. True, children did go out to work very early in those days. Dad’s mum herself had been in service at 11, so perhaps her mother had been living and working elsewhere by 1861. I did find a likely Mary Agnes on the 1871 census, a 17 year old servant in West Derby . Her birthplace was given as Welshpool, but as her colleague Sarah Jones was described on the same form as born in Southport, I felt fairly confident that a mix up during enumeration had occurred. I amused myself with the idea that perhaps two young girls had enjoyed a joke at the form filler’s expense.

Previous research had revealed that Mary Agnes had married Charles Williams in 1873. The certificate I obtained then showed that Michael and Eliza Joyce were both present at the wedding in St. Anne’s RC Church, Liverpool. Clearly both parents were still around.

The census of 1881 found the Michael and Elizabeth Joyce of the 1861 Liverpool census now resident in Garston. For the first time, instead of the usual “Ireland” given as Eliza’s birthplace, the magic word “Spain” appeared, followed by the words “B. Subj.” Could the Ionian bride of family legend have been found at last?

By 1891 a widowed Elizabeth was living at the same address in Garston, with son Edward, and this time her place of birth was made clear: “Gibralter”. Very excited, I sent off for the death certificate of Michael Joyce, whom I discovered to have died in the workhouse at Kirby, where he presumably had been taken for medical treatment, as his occupation was given on the certificate, “Watchman of Garston”.

Just to round out what I was now sure must be a picture of my Great Grandmother Joyce‘s family, I sent off for the birth certificate of Edward Joyce, the son of Michael and Elizabeth, born in Liverpool in 1853. When it arrived, I found written on it the words that at a blow destroyed all my carefully composed hypotheses. Edward’s mother, Eliza Joyce, was “formerly Riley”, not “Sharland”. She could not be the Eliza Joyce whose daughter had been born in 1852 in Southport. So which was the wrong Joyce family, those given on the baptismal registration or those whom I had so happily traced via the census forms, whose promising family records could solve my Spanish mystery? How could I find out?

Whilst I was cudgelling my brains over this problem, I had been gnawing away at others. I had tried without success to find on those embarkation lists online any record of the departure for Canada sometime in the Twenties or Thirties of my father’s uncle Herbert Williams and his wife Annie, with Herbert’s sister Evelyn. Then a letter arrived from my sister in Niagara Falls, stating that Great Grandmother Bennett, formerly Williams, nee Joyce, (I’ll explain the name changes later) had also emigrated. What was more, Lola went on to state, she had died in Niagara!

A trawl of Ancestry’s Canadian Death Records brought up the record I was seeking. A photocopy of the register page appeared and I was thrilled to find how detailed these Canadian records were. Each page holds the records of three deaths, arranged vertically in columns with topic headings at the right hand side of the page. I found the tiny print very hard to read and it would be impossible to reproduce here. There are 37 headings, 10 of which give details of medical treatment and cause of death.

Mary Agnes Bennett died on 8 September, 1929, of cerebral haemorrhage and vomiting, having been ill for 59 days. She had been resident with her son in Niagara Falls, Ontario, for the whole duration of her 6 year stay in Canada. My Great Uncle Herbert was the informant and did not know many of the facts about his mother and her family. Her place of birth is simply “England” and her parents names “Unknown”. He guessed that her father had been born in England.

However, Uncle Herbert was confident about the date of his mother’s birthday (Great Grandmother must have celebrated it every year!): “3 June, 1853”. The day and month corresponded exactly with those written in the St. Marie’s Baptismal Register of 1852, thus confirming for me that this was the correct birth record. So unless some strange error had resulted in an incorrect maiden name having been entered there for Eliza Joyce twice (there was also an earlier birth of a sister), or there had been an error on Edward Joyce’s birth certificate, the family I had tracked down through several Liverpool censuses could not be my ancestors.

As well as helping me to clarify the date and time of my Great grandmother’s death, the amazing detail in the Canadian record had also provided me with information that should prove useful in pinning down two other dates that had so far eluded me: the year when my father’s uncle and aunts emigrated, and the date of death of my great grandfather Alfred Bennett. The first is still outstanding as I write, but the second already has been found.

The widowed Mary Agnes Williams had married Alfred in 1900, shortly after the death of Alfred’s first wife, Mary Stanley, and two years after the union of her daughter, Mary Agnes Williams, with his son, Edward Bennett. It now seemed likely that Alfred’s death took place just before Mary Agnes emigrated to Canada in 1921. A search through the BMDs quickly turned up a possible entry and the certificate confirmed that Alfred Bennett, aged 70, had died from cancer of the bladder on 8th February 1919, at 46 Church Street, Widnes. His son, my grandfather, Ted Bennett, husband of Agnes Bennett, had registered the death. Another piece had fallen easily into place, thanks to the Canadian death records.

Despite the fact that the death record from Canada has not helped me to determine where Michael and Eliza Joyce went after the birth of their second daughter in Southport, I am now certain that the St. Marie’s registration is the correct birth record and this couple were my 2 x great grandparents. Where they went next and whether they were indeed the same Michael and Elizabeth of the Liverpool censuses is a puzzle yet to be tackled.

In my next instalment I’ll be describing how a Canadian institution lent a massive helping hand in advancing my researches into another apparently insoluble problem, the death at sea of Mary Agnes’ first husband, Great Grandfather Charles Williams.

PART 2

In my previous article , I described how Canadian death records had assisted me in clarifying details of the birth of my great grandmother, Mary Agnes Joyce. In this second instalment, I turn to the fascinating wealth of information I found out, again with Canadian help, about her first husband.

Charles Williams had been described on their wedding certificate of 1873 as “Sailor”. The census return of 1881 revealed him absent, presumably at sea, occupation Ship’s Steward, and father of four children, youngest of whom was my grannie. I could find no trace of the family on the next census. A search through BMDs and censuses for details of Charles’ birth and family was every bit as hopeless as I had feared, given the fairly common last name and the fact that his father was also a Charles. I also had no idea whence the family originated, which made impossible any attempt to pick a likely Charles Williams from lists ranging all over the British Isles. I therefore decided to try working things out from the wrong end, so to speak, and look for a death record.

The marriage certificate of Alfred Bennett and Mary Agnes Williams, giving a marriage date of 31st March, 1900, suggested that, unless I numbered bigamists among my ancestors (not unheard of at this period), Charles died sometime between this date and that of the 1881 census return. The details of the 1901 census helped to narrow it down further, however, as included amongst the younger members of the Williams family residing in Garston with the Bennetts was my Great Aunt Evelyn, the youngest child, then aged 10 years. It was very likely that Charles had died between 1891 and 1900. However, despite several searches of the BMD records online, I could find no record of a suitable death during this period. He must have died at sea.

I then read in one of the family history magazines that The Genealogist website had recently acquired lists of deaths at sea, so this seemed a good place to start. I took out a subscription and was delighted to discover two possible records for the death of a Charles Williams between 1891 and 1900. The age of one of these men being too old by a few years, I marked on the printout the entry for the death of Charles Williams, aged 45, on the Wallachia in 1892.

I now needed to find whether there existed a copy of the Wallachia’s Crew List covering 1892. I discovered that TNA had disposed of most of the lists formerly held there, keeping only a random 10%. The Wallachia was not among them. Nor was it kept by Liverpool Records Office or Maritime Museum. The only remaining possibility was the Maritime History Archive at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. I logged onto their friendly website and discovered that indeed they did possess the document I wanted. Furthermore, they offered research and photocopying facilities.

I sent off an email explaining the details I hoped to find and was thrilled when a couple of days later I received a reply confirming that the Wallachia’s Crew List did in fact contain the name Charles Williams - 8 times - and the details of his death. At present they had no secure facility for online payment of the quite modest fee for copying 8 pages and suggested either sending banking details on a series of separate e mails (at which I boggled) or simply ringing them up.

It had been a long time since I’d indulged in a transatlantic phone call and I was a little startled by how quickly and clearly my call to Newfoundland was put through. I spoke to a friendly Canadian voice who informed me that she was Tracy and yes, she had indeed the relevant document right at hand. She would send the photocopies by airmail within 5 days.

She was true to her word. The documents when they arrived were utterly fascinating. Charles Williams, Ship’s Cook, born in Herefordshire or Hertfordshire had signed on for a voyage to Savannah, Georgia on 2 January 1892. (They were perhaps picking up a cargo of cotton or tobacco.) By 9th April, they had returned to Liverpool and, the crew having signed a new agreement, set off for Genoa. Charles Williams died of apoplexy only four days later, on 13th April, 1892. The ship reached Genoa on the 20th and a statement on a stamped certificate reads:

British Consulate
Genoa
April 25 1892

I certify that on arrival the master reported to me the death of Chas. Williams who died from heart disease on the voyage and that his wages (if any) and effects will be accounted for to the vessel’s arrival in the United Kingdom.

The document is signed by Edmund G. Reader, Vice Consul.

I gleaned a great deal of interesting information from this sheaf of documents, which included the crew agreements and pay record for both voyages, as well as the certificate quoted above. The name and place of birth of each crew member was recorded, as well as his occupation on board. These details were all written on each document in one authoritative hand, presumably an officer’s. The handwriting differed from one Agreement to the other, showing a change in scribe. This probably accounts for the fact that Chas. was recorded on one Agreement as born in Hertford and in the other Hereford.

The crewmen were a varied bunch, with sailors from Sweden, Ohio, Germany and Corsica mixing with local Scouse lads. Each seaman signed his name in the final column agreeing that the information was correct. Those who could not write, like my great grandfather, made their cross between forename and surname as written by the officer in charge.

The Agreements shed an interesting light on the composition of a merchant vessel’s crew of the period. After the Master was listed the Mate and Second Mate, with their Certificate numbers. Then came, as next in importance, Carpenter, Bosun and Steward. The Ship’s Cook, rather surprisingly, came next, followed by six Able Seamen, three certified Engineers and 5 assorted firemen, stokers etc. On the first page of each document was specified the provisions per day: 1lb of bread, 1.5lb of beef or pork, half a pound of flour every other day, alternating with a third of a pound of peas (no other vegetables listed except the statutory Lime and Lemon Juice). Small quantities of tea, sugar and coffee were doled out each day as well as three quarts of water. What a diet! No wonder Charles had apoplexy.

Tellingly, both Crew Agreements had been stamped “AT THE MASTER’S OPTION NO SPIRITS ALLOWED”. A lengthy description of the conduct required of the crew and the deductions from wages to be made for infringements is followed by a handwritten addition:

Any member of the crew using insulting or obscene language to any officer will be fined 5/- for each offence.

The crew agree to work overtime when required (Sundays included) at the rate of 6d per hour.

At the end of each voyage the payments to the crew were made and receipted. The monthly wage ranged from nine pounds for the Master to around four pounds, so a five shilling fine for obscene language was truly a serious deterrent.

Many men, including Charles Williams, had been advanced a portion of their wages before leaving port. My great grandfather had taken half of his five pound wage before he set sail for Savannah. Again, he was advanced two pounds ten before he left on his final voyage to Genoa, of which he completed four days of the 26 day round trip. I hope the owners didn’t demand that his grieving family pay back the advance.

The information contained in these documents is helping me to break down a major brick wall. Formerly I knew very little about my seafaring great grandfather other than the fact of his marriage, for he had been at sea when censuses were taken. Now, having studied the data on the Crew Agreements, I looked online for a birth record around 1847 in Herefordshire or Hertfordshire for Charles Williams, son of Charles Williams. I didn’t find one, but I did find 5 year old Charles Williams recorded on the 1851 census born and living in Longney, Gloucestershire, on the very border with Herefordshire, a few miles from the Bristol Channel. His father, Charles Williams, is described as “Waterman”.

In 1861 both Charles were absent from their home in Bristol, probably both at sea. A note made by the enumerator in the margin records that “Captain Williams” had left home on 7 June. Given the places and family connection with the sea, I am fairly sure that I have succeeded in identifying the background of at least one of my problem great grandfathers.

None of this would have been possible without the Maritime History Archive of the Memorial University of Newfoundland. It’s strange to think that, when our own National Archives were set to destroy these fascinating historical records, a Canadian institution expressed its concern and gave them a home. Canada came up trumps - again.

Linden Osborn