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Contents

INTRODUCTION 8

My Father's Ancestors: 1. INSLEY 19 2. ECCLESTON 115 3. PITRON 119 4. LE PAGE 126 5. MOURANT 131 6. LE GROS 159 7. LE MAISTRE 176 8. BOYD 188 9. MOREL 197 My Mother's Ancestors: 10. ROBINSON 214 11. WALKER 250 12. WOOD (including MICKLEBURGH) 255 13. RAVENSHAW 307 14. BRITTAIN 319 15. NEAME 324 16. WRIGHT 357 17. GRIX 363 18. TURNER 371

EPILOGUE 376

INDEX 379

7

Introduction

I have found on several occasions that when some people start their research into their family history and begin to make some headway in tracing their forebears, that they then become fascinated with the idea that they may be descended from an old noble family and that they may be entitled to use an old "Coat of Arms" and Family Crest. I have often smiled at the thought that there should be so many individuals whose grandparents or great grandparents, or earlier forebears, should have turned their backs upon their noble families and that Armorial Bearings were there waiting to be "claimed".

My own interest in my forebears started when a retired Schoolmaster, Francis Pimblett Insley, noticed in 1955 the announcement of my engagement to Jane Goldsmith which had been placed by her parents in the Daily Telegraph. That announcement included my parents' address and "FPI", as we came to know him, wrote to my father to tell him of his own interest in researching his own family forebears and asking whether my father had any information which might be helpful to him.

As a result of that letter I began to seek information about our INSLEY forebears, beyond the details which were provided for us by our elderly great aunts and great uncles who were then living in Bournemouth. It was my great uncle Ernest (born in 1879) who was the seventh of ten children, who wrote to provide information about his father, who had been born in Warwickshire in 1834 and who had been the first of the family to go to St.Malo in Brittany (in 1860) to start an export business. That export business was to continue until the arrival of the German armed forces early in June 1940.

Over the following ten years or so FPI and I worked together to try to trace our respective branches of the family and wondered whether we might even be distantly related. Those were the days before the "explosion" of interest in family history research and before the IGI was widely available. The International Genealogical Index, or the "IGI" as it is usually known, has been produced by the Church of Latter Day Saints, the "Mormon Church". After obtaining approval for the micro-filming of old parish registers they then produced indexes of marriages and baptisms in most of the old parishes in Great Britain, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Those have since been followed by the filming of other old records held by Non- Conformist churches in this country as well as other records in other countries.

As copies of the IGI became available for purchase by County Record offices and private individuals this greatly helped those who were interested in researching their ancestors. The whole process "snowballed" and old County Records, which had previously not been available for general research by members of the public were also made available on microfilm and microfiche. FPI and I were not to find any direct link between our two branches, although ultimately I suppose that such a link may well have existed.

FPI was one of those who would dearly have liked to trace his descent back to a noble family. At the beginning of 1956 he wrote to The College of Arms asking that a search should be carried

8 out to see whether Armorial Bearings had in the past been granted to a member of the INSLEY family.

On 23rd.January 1956 Robin de La Lanne-Mirrlees, "Rouge Dragon", wrote to FPI to report upon the result of the search which he had arranged to be carried out. There was a record of a Visitation in Leicestershire in 1682, which gives the pedigree of HENSSLIE or INSLEY having an Irish extraction. He provided a copy of the Arms, which had appeared in Nichols History of Leicestershire in Volume IV on page 272.

Captain Richard HENSSLIE, or INSLEY, had three sons and two daughters. The first son, Thomas, married twice. By his first wife he had one son who died unmarried and three daughters. He then married Catherine, the widow of Gabriel ABBOT, by whom he had two more daughters and a son, Gabriel, but Gabriel, in his turn only had three daughters. Richard's second son, also Richard, died unmarried and the third son, Simon, had three daughters and no sons.

It is, thus, documented that the male descent from Captain HENSSLIE had died out and it was clear that neither FPI, nor any other INSLEY, could have been descended from him by male descent! Rouge Dragon told FPI that he had also carried out other searches but had found no record of a pedigree of the name of INSLEY, nor any support for the falcon's head crest which had been mentioned by my great uncle Ernest INSLEY! Rouge Dragon concluded his letter to FPI by explaining that in order to have the right to use Armorial Bearings it is usually necessary to possess a pedigree in the Official Records of the College of Arms showing the direct male line of descent from an ancestor already appearing in those records as being officially entitled to Arms. FPI decided at that stage to "drop" these enquiries as Rouge Dragon had also told him that the only way forward would be to arrange for a petition to be made to the Earl Marshall, the Duke of Norfolk, which seemed to be a very expensive procedure!

Ever since FPI sent me this information I have sought to dissuade others who had vague visions of being able to prove their descent from a noble family and thus entitled to use an old Coat of Arms.

In those days when FPI first wrote to me - 1955 - I was about to be married but even so I was willing and able to become involved in some correspondence and visits to parish vestries to look at the old registers, which were generally still held by the Vicars in those days. Over the next few years my growing family took up more and more time and my job also became more demanding so that the time which I was willing to devote to "family history research" was quite limited. From time to time, however, I picked up bits of information and wrote to, and received letters from, others who were also researching their INSLEY family forebears. It was, however, really a case of putting any such letters into an old file - not quite an "old shoe box!" - and promising that one day I would try to sort them all out. After 1982, when I obtained copies of some of the IGI, I was able to look at these but even then I was not willing to devote sufficient time to this latent hobby.

The "sorting out" did not really happen until I retired at the end of 1989, 35-years later! I decided to give myself a retirement present - a small PC - and started to learn how to type, with about four or five fingers!

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It was at this stage that I realised that I had actually gathered quite a lot of information over the years about the INSLEYs whose names appeared in various old records as well as the IGI, in addition to those particular members of the family who are, in one way or another, connected to my particular branch. Those details are available to any others who are researching their own branches of the family if they care to write to me. Those names are NOT referred to in this book, which is intended to be the Story of my own branch only.

As I have already mentioned, my great uncle Ernest, who was the seventh of ten children, had written a letter in 1956 giving me information about the time which his father, Edward, (1834- 1917) had spent in the United States of America a hundred years earlier, when he had made his fortune - and when his partner had then "lost" it, whilst Edward was on a visit back to his parents in Warwickshire. "Uncle Ernest" had also then recorded the story of his father's later decision to start an export business in St.Malo.

I had also had "passed down to me", by my mother, some notes which her father had made after his retirement as the Director of Railways in South West Africa (now Namibia) in 1922, in which he had recorded details of his career as a railway engineer in South Africa between 1897 and 1920. My grandmother had also left the Gold Medal and Illuminated Award with which she was presented at the direction of the Shah of Persia in 1893, which now hangs on the wall of my study, the story of which I tell in the ROBINSON FAMILY STORY.

Details of another branch of my forebears, the WOOD family of Shropshire, had also been "left" to me by a favourite old great aunt (in truth a "cousin", not an aunt) which was in the form of "family trees" which had been prepared by an (un-named) American cousin at some time during the 1930s.

Having started by trying to trace back my INSLEY forebears, and then being handed a copy of an incomplete WOOD family tree, which also included some of my ROBINSON ancestors, who were directly linked with the WOODs, I slowly began to realise that I had already forgotten stories, which had been told to me many years before by my parents, who by that time had died.

It seemed to me that there was relatively little point in my being able to produce long "genealogical trees", if I was unable to add any "flesh to the bones" by being able to record some stories about the individuals whose names appeared on these "trees". So the idea of writing a collection of "family stories" took shape.

My first aim was to complete my concentric "extended family tree" which would at the very least provide the names of my thirty-two great, great, great, grand-parents. As will be seen from my current version of this "tree", I have been able to trace at least the names of all thirty-two of my gt.,gt.,gt.,grandparents but for various reasons several of the dates and places of birth/baptism have not been found. Three of the Channel Island families go back over 200-years to individuals who came to Jersey at the time of the French Revolution and I have not been able to trace their origins. In the cases of six others of the same generation, who were born in England, I have been able to trace their marriages but have not yet discovered the places of their baptisms. Family history research is a continuing hobby!

Having (nearly) completed this concentric tree I then started to collect - from cousins and others - "family stories" of eighteen of these 32-families. The genealogical trees of some of these

10 eighteen families go back to the 1600s and, in the cases of two of the Channel Island families, from whom my father's mother was descended, I have been able to provide some details of those families which go back to 1550 or even earlier.

In some cases I have found an original record of a marriage which shows that one, or both, of the couple did not know how to sign their name in the old parish register and merely "made their mark". In such cases I have shown this by adding "(X)" after their surname in the "Descendants Charts" and in the "Lines of Descent", which are included with the stories of these families. The real "family stories", which I have included in this book, include those of my sixteen great, great grandparents together with stories of two other families, the LE MAISTRE, from Jersey and RAVENSHAW from Shropshire.

That means that there are still families for whom I am providing very little information of any kind, apart from the names of these great, great, grand-parents - with some limited information which appears in the stories of their husband or wife. Perhaps when others read this book they may wish to extend the search for even more information about the other families!

In addition to two of the Jersey families, to whom I have just referred, who have been traced back to about 1550, I have traced our branches of both the INSLEY and ROBINSON families back to the early 1600s. That was all a long time ago and, in relation to those times, I was interested to learn, recently, that it was in May 1549 (just over 450-years ago), at Pentecost, that lay members of the Church of England in this country were able - for the very first time - to hear the Service of Holy Communion said in their parish churches in English, rather than in Latin.

Reading the stories about these families will soon reveal that several of the families originated in the Channel Islands and, indeed, many of the present generations of those families still live in those islands. It is not long ago that the language spoken by those families was "Jersey French" or "Guernsey French" - not really French, but more closely linked to French than to English. That is not surprising when one realises that Jersey is only about 14-miles from the French Normandy coast. I mention this in order to remind those who may read these stories that prior to the 20th.century names were often recorded in the old parish registers in the local "Jersey French" language. The name Jean, therefore, is the boy's name of John and is not the girl's name, of the same spelling in English. The similar girl's name would appear in the old registers as Jeanne. Where appropriate I have recorded the names of many others as they appear, so that Edward is given as "Edouard" and Philip appears as "Philippe".

After having compiled the concentric tree I then used this as the basis for the writing or collection of "stories" about these different families. It will not be surprising to see that I have written most about my own INSLEY family forebears. But the story of my maternal grandmother's elder sister, Janet, who was the governess to the son of the last of the Emperors of Russia, and which is told in the NEAME FAMILY STORY, makes fascinating reading as well. Much of the information, in some of the other "family stories", has been provided for me by cousins, some of whom I knew whilst even the names of other cousins were completely new to me when I started this research. In some cases the facts which they gave to me have been confirmed by others or have been traced from copies of old newspapers which I have found in County Record Offices. But not all "stories" are guaranteed to be accurate. Indeed doubt is cast upon the story of one of the WOOD forebears who was severely gored by a lion, whilst he was

11 in the Army in Africa, and where, fearing sepsis in his wounds, he was immersed for several days in a solution of potassium permanganate!

The collection of stories, most of them true and capable of verification, has given me much pleasure, principally as a result of the contacts which I have made with cousins, close and distant - in several cases with "sixth" and "seventh" cousins. They have told me about members of their branches of their families, who nevertheless are also some of my own ancestors - or are the descendants of those ancestors.

I have intentionally made very little reference to the present members of these families who were born after about 1940/1945. I decided that it would probably be unfair that I, now one of the "older generation", should try to say something about these, the "present generation". It is more than likely that their jobs may change and, in some cases, that their marriages may not "survive" and that they would not welcome comments by me. So, I have given names and years of birth and marriage, as the case may be, and will leave them and their children to bring the story of their own family "up-to-date" at some time in the future, should they be sufficiently interested to do so.

Many researchers have found, as I have, that few members of a family are seriously interested in their ancestors. It is not until one nears retirement age that even those who are mildly interested have the time to devote to this fascinating (for me) hobby. As my interest in this hobby started with my constructing "family trees" it will not be surprising that in the cases of the earlier generations (prior to 1800) I often have little personal information about the members of those families and the personal stories often only start about 150 years ago.

Nevertheless I hope that the members of my wider family who receive a copy of this book - and any others who acquire a copy - will obtain some pleasure from reading these "family stories" and that members of other families too may be encouraged to write their own family "histories", before those stories too are "lost" to future generations. Perhaps, however, I should make it clear at the start that these stories about my family are not written with literary skill, which might win a prize for an English essay, but are written in a manner which I might use when telling these stories to my children and grandchildren and as I have been told by my parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts and others.

I believe that anybody who carries out extensive family history research must, from time to time, make mistakes. I have done my best to check and cross-check the details which I have included in this book and I think that all of the details which are given are correct. However, I am bound to accept that there may be errors. To those who may notice or find such errors I offer my apologies. I would be very pleased to hear of any such errors so that I may correct my own records and, where appropriate advise others who may be interested.

* * * * * * * * *

Those who know me and my wife, Jane, will know and those who read this book will learn that we both have many very happy memories of New Zealand. These stemmed originally from our family contacts in that country. Jane's great uncle, her grandfather's brother, was an early settler in that country. Jane forged a close link with her GOLDSMITH cousins who live near

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Palmeston North, in the North Island, when she spent nearly two years in New Zealand in 1953/55.

My links started when I was about 8-years old, when I was encouraged to "swap stamps" with my sixth-cousin David EXLEY. We share a common ancestor, William INSLEY, who was the son of an agricultural labourer, and was born in 1791 in Warwickshire. It was not until 1989 that I fulfilled a promise made to my wife in 1956 and took her back to that lovely country and met David in his own home. Our previous meetings had been in England and in New York in the USA. I fell in love with the country - and we have spent other wonderful, long holidays there in 1992 and 1998. It has been this attachment to New Zealand as a country and my interest in the history of the country and of the Maoris, that has led to my reading several of the books written by a Maori author, Witi Ihimaera. He was born in 1944 at Waituhi, near Gisborne, in the North Island, New Zealand's most Easterly city. It was at Gisborne that Captain Cook made his first landfall in New Zealand on 9th.October 1769. The first Maoris settlers probably arrived from Hawaii about 1,000 years ago. Maori culture developed without hindrance from other cultures for hundreds of years and as those early Maori settlers had no written language their history and culture is recalled through story-telling and songs.

The author, Witi Ihimaera, now teaches in Auckland University. He has become well known as the author of a number of Maori stories and anthologies and, I now gather, is in demand to speak in the USA - and Singapore, too. The more of Witi Ihimaera's books that I read the more I am attracted to the Maori culture.

The following is a short story, published for the first time in a collection of Maori stories in 1995 under the title "Kingfisher Come Home". I hope that you, the reader, will enjoy it - even though you may not know the full meaning of all of the Maori words which are incorporated. With Witi's full agreement, I have decided to include this short story as it seems to provide an explanation of my own fascination with my "family history", in a delightful manner which I would never hope to be able to achieve in my own words.

"KIGFISHER COME HOME."

Whenever I think of home, I think of the kingfisher. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because the quick silver flash of his reflection across the river seems to define my memories of home: magical, happy with a warmth which I have not often found in the city.

I have been here now, in Wellington, for about fifteen years. I haven't been home for some time. I'm happy enough in the city. Yet at times when I am walking along the crowded streets, I find myself thinking : There's something missing here. Something wrong.

I find myself stopping, looking at my reflection in the window of a department store, while the passersby stream across the glass. I pause, I wonder, and always the same answer comes to me : There's no whanau here.

I go to parties, I drink with my mates at the pub, my life is filled with laughter and excitement. I play hockey for the only Maori team in Wellington our team is usually a scratchup one, filled

13 with mates we've found drinking in the pub who have never played the game before and most time I never think of Waituhi. Then, when I least expect it, when I am laughing and enjoying myself, the kingfisher casts his wings across my mind, and I remember my whanau, my family, again. The world around me recedes and all I can hear is the call of the kingfisher.

These are my homecalling moods. Whenever I feel them, all I want to do is be alone. I will walk away from a party. I will even ask for a few hours off from work, if the homecalling is strong enough.

Sometimes I have got out of bed in the middle of the night, flung a coat around my shoulders and walked down to the beach at Lyall Bay, there to sit among the rocks and watch the moon shimmering on the rippling water.

Once, Gillian came to sit with me, in silence, with her head resting on my shoulder.

Matiu, ever since your father returned to Waituhi, you've gotten worse and worse, she said.

That's not the problem, I answered. I miss the old man, sure. But he was never happy here after Mum died. I'm glad he's gone back.

Then what is it? she asked. You're too sentimental. You're too nostalgic. You can't have your childhood back.

I don't want my childhood back.

You live too much in the past.

It's not that either.

Gillian paused.

And you carry too many ghosts in your bones.

Ghosts. That may well be true. All those ancestors, not behind me but before me, to whom I am accountable. Always cajoling, like anny Miro. Or reprimanding like Riripeti, the great spiderwoman of Waituhi. But I would not want to be without them.

I tried to explain to Gillian that she had got part of it right but not all of it. How does one begin to explain or even define whanau?

It is more than family. It is more than place.

I suppose you could start by saying it is a feeling of belonging and having a shared history that has its source in a valley which has a river running through it. or is it just a contemporary history but one which goes back to the beginning of Time, when Earth Mother and Sky Father span out of Chaos.

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It has to do with always being taught that you have a purpose. A kaupapa. A reason for your life. This reason is not only to be a good son to your parents but also son, father, brother and friend to the rest of the whanau.

It is about living closely together, clustered around the painted meeting house, Rongopai, and never forgetting that life is a continuum, like a great rope of Man twisting and turning to the end of Time. The small rituals of life, like cleaning the gravestones in the family graveyard, honour the people who have been part of it.

It is meeting together as an iwi (a people) and sharing the joys, sadnesses and triumphs of living. The meetings range from the sublime, like the action song competitions, to the ridiculous, like the hockey and other sports tournaments held on the paddock where sheep have to be shooed off before you can play. Within this social framework it is about pitching in. Putting down the hangi. Cooking the kai. Making the meeting house ready for the visitors.

It is about taking people in when they are old or lonely or don't have any other place to stay.

It is the tangi, the sorrow of the marae, (the traditional meeting house) when one of the whanau dies. It is the women calling to the visitors : Haere mai ki o tatou mate e ... Come to our dead ...

The tangihanga is the final homecalling. One of the great honours of life is to witness the passing of one of the whanau. o matter how far away from Waituhi the whanau may go, there will always be somebody to bring you back home again for your final resting. "If you are born a Maori", Dad used to say, "you die a Maori."

All of these describe whanau and remembering the whanau makes me yearn for home.

My past and present are in Waituhi and my future, too, I guess. There, also, are my bones, my ghosts.

My passion.

It was Mum and Dad who brought me and my sister, Roha, to Wellington. I must have been about eight when we came. I went down to the river to say goodbye to the kingfisher.

I remember that trip down as if it was yesterday. Dad had bought an old car from Mister Wallace. He was tired of the gypsy life as a shearer and thought there was a better way of living. It took us two days to get to Wellington. Two days. It was like being on a yellow brick road but there were signs along the way which should have warned us : STEEP GRADE. CHAGE DOW. OE WAY. LIMITED SPEED ZOE. ROAD ARROWS. STOP. WIDIG ROAD. GO. COCEALED EXIT. TRAFFIC LIGHTS AHEAD. GREASY WHE WET. O EXIT. O PASSIG. O STOPPIG.

As it happened, life in Wellington turned out to be just a continuation of that journey. Full of challenges. Full of you can't do this and you can't do that. And always the people who were issuing the orders were Pakeha. (White people) As I grew up and got on I realised that this was racism, but my father would never have used that word himself.

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Some Emerald City.

I was nineteen when Mum died. Dad took her back to Waituhi. I thought he'd stay, but he came back for a few years to be near me and Roha. Then I married Gillian and Roha married Charlie and Dad decided to return to Waituhi for good. By then it was too late for me and too late for my sister, Roha.

You've done this on purpose, Roha said to Dad.

o, he answered. Your life is in front of you. Mine is at the back of me. You have to stay here. What do you think your Mum and me brought you here for!

So now you are leaving us stranded, Roha grumbled. High and dry. Both of you have to get on with your lives. You've had a good education and now you have good jobs. As for me, I reckon I should go back to what I know best. Shearing. Helping my sisters. Still plenty of jobs for me to do back home. All I am doing here is collecting a pension and getting old. And there's another reason. If I go back, then you'll be forced to come to see me.

What are you talking about! Roha scolded.

You can be seduced here, Dad answered. Seduced by the Pakeha life. You need me to keep on reminding you that there is another place. A place called Waituhi. Your home. Your whanau.

Roha was so cross with Dad that she purposely stayed away on the day that we took him back to Waituhi. Sometimes she is like that, Roha.

Dad was right really. It was so easy to be seduced. To get so busy that you would forget. To become so Pakeha in our ways that you forgot about being Maori. My sister managed, by virtue of being married to Charlie, to remain in a Maori lifestyle. But as for me, my life was like an arrow aimed at the heart of Pakeha society. The more I approached the centre the further away from my culture I became.

I thought that was what everyone wanted. What Dad wanted. What the people of Waituhi wanted. I didn't know how much I had changed until I went to stay at Uncle Pita's house.

He made me welcome and showed me where to sleep. During the night I got up. I wanted a drink of water. I walked toward the kitchen and, in the sitting room, I found my uncle and aunt sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

Then I knew.

I woke them up.

Please don't do this to me, I said. Please don't treat me as if I was a Pakeha.

Since that time that flash of memory, of going to see the kingfisher, has become more and more vivid. With it comes the sound of the kingfisher calling.

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I think that the real reason why I am so nostalgic is because I have realised just how dangerous and perilous my identity has become. I need that kingfisher to remind me. I need that flash of green fire to remind me not just about Waituhi and whanua but also about ...

Who I am.

And sometimes I wonder :

Does the kingfisher still nest by the river?

Author: Witi Ihimaera.

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One ISLEY FAMILY

1st Generation That I have researched! Although our branch of this family has been traced back to the early 17th.century yet very little is known about those members of the early generations. The baptismal records of Rowley Regis, about 5-miles to the West of Birmingham and on the Staffordshire and Warwickshire border, give us the names and the dates of baptism of the children of Henry ISLEY and his wife Alice but their own marriage has not yet been traced. Henry was probably born about 1615, when King James I was on the throne of England. In those days, few besides the nobility and landed gentry were able to write their own names, and many entries in the church registers were actually made by the parish Clerk, and not necessarily by the Vicar or Curate. This was over 200-years before the introduction of compulsory registration of births, marriages and deaths, and the spelling of surnames was often a question of interpreting the local dialect. Where the surname was well known there was less likelihood of mis-spelling, but if the surname was in any way unusual there was little to guide the person who made the entry in the registers. In those days, too, the letter "H" might also be added, or dropped, at the beginning of a name which started with a vowel!

The name INSLEY is still one of the unusual surnames in England. I have mentioned in the introduction to this book that the largest set of baptism and marriage records have been collected by the members of the Mormon church, who have now made microfilm copies of virtually all pre-1850 old parish records and these provide one of the basic sources for family historians.

Of all the INSLEYs who are listed in Great Britain in these Mormon records (the International Genealogical Index - known as the "IGI") it is interesting to note that of those listed between 1700 and 1899 88% were in the four counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire. In the previous century, excluding 17 entries in London, there were only six entries in the whole country which were outside the same four counties. Those four counties almost meet at a single point where the parishes of Netherseal in Derbyshire, Chilcote in Leicestershire, Newton Regis in Warwickshire and Clifton Campville in Staffordshire adjoin each other. Even today there are only about 350 INSLEY entries in the 103 telephone directories which cover the whole of Great Britain and still 50% of these live within 30-miles of Clifton Campville.

It is easy to appreciate the difficulty faced by a parish clerk when being told, in a strong "country" accent, the surname of a bridegroom, or father, who was providing the details for an entry in the register who did not, himself, know how to spell his own surname. INSLEY, INGSLEY, INGLEY, ILSLEY all sounded the same, without the added complication of those who seemed to introduce an "H" at the beginning. So, in those early days, we find examples where the spelling of the husband's name in the church register, at the time of his marriage, and of his surname when registering the baptism of his children could easily include three or four variants in the case of one single family.

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In order to provide simple cross-referencing I have adopted my own spelling of INSLEY for all my forebears but where the old registers showed a different spelling that variant is then given in brackets in the charts which are included in this book.

So, in the case of the first member of our "family" we find that Henry's name was entered as INGSLEY when his first daughter was baptised in 1641. But in 1643 his son, John, was entered as INGLEY to be followed by William HINSSLEY in 1645 and HINSLEY in the cases of his last four children who were baptised between 1648 and 1656. A few of the old original parish records no longer exist having been lost by fire or other causes. Where one is able to refer to the original registers one often finds that up to 1800, and even later, the bride or groom who were required to "sign" the parish register were unable to do so and merely recorded their "mark" with a cross. So it is understandable that they were not able to ensure consistency in the spelling of their surnames in the church records.

2nd Generation When the eldest son of the second generation, John , was married to Joyes (Joyce) BISSELL at Rowley Regis in 1668 his surname was recorded as INGLEY but the baptisms of their three children, John, Mary and Joseph between 1669 and 1673 recorded the surname as HINGESLEY, INGLEY and HINGSLEY.

3rd Generation 3(a). Joseph (1673 to 1728) married Hannah HARALL in 1703 and they had eight children between 1707 and 1726, but once again the baptism entries record seven different spellings for the surnames of those children, including INGHLEY, INGELLEY and even ENGLIS! Their first child, Joseph, died at the age of five months, but the following year their second son was also named Joseph - as was the common practice. They were to have only one other son, James, and five daughters and the records which have been traced showed that they all lived and died in the Rowley Regis area.

4th Generation 4(a). Joseph (born 1708) married Mary DOWNING in Halesowen in 1732, only a mile or so away but in the county of Worcestershire, but Joseph and Mary's three sons and two daughters were all baptised in Rowley Regis. The first of these sons, Joseph, was to marry Sarah TROWMAN at Rowley Regis but after their first son's baptism at Rowley Regis the other five children were all baptised at Halesowen, which suggests that some of the family moved a few miles away from their parents.

4(b). It is from James (born in 1713), the second son of Joseph and Hannah HARALL, that our family are descended. James married Mary WESTWOOD in Rowley Regis in 1740 and they were to have three sons and seven daughters between 1741 and 1753. Of these ten children, one son and three of the daughters were each to die before they reached the age of one year and their first daughter also died just before she was 3-years old.

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5th Generation James, (17411826) the eldest son of James and Mary WESTWOOD, married Ann FOWNES in the Halesowen parish church in 1760, just after his 19th.birthday. When he was buried in 1826 he was referred to as a Yeoman and thus, for the first time, a small item of personal information has been discovered. It is more than likely that his forebears, who were descended from Henry who was born about 200-years before James' death, were also humble agricultural labourers. Certainly I have discovered no evidence yet to the contrary. James and Ann were to have four sons and four daughters between 1761 and 1783 and it is from their eldest son, Joseph, that our family are descended.

6th Generation 6(a). Before we follow the eldest son, Joseph , entered as INSLEY in the 1761 church register, and his offspring, let us glance at his brothers and sisters.

6(b). The second child, Samuel , was baptised in 1763 and entered as INGLEY. He was to marry Sarah WILLITTS in Rowley Regis in June 1788. Samuel was a butcher and he and Sarah had fourteen children who were baptised between October 1788 and 1814. Only their first child is known to have died young and the records of the marriages of seven of their other children have been traced.

6(c). James and Ann's third child, another son James, (1766 to 1846) married Mary BILLINGHAM in 1791 and between 1792 and 1816 they had 13 children. There are records that nine of these married and only one, Leah, died before she was one year old.

The fourth son, Thomas, and three of his four sisters also married and lived in the Rowley Regis/Halesowen area - and all seem to have retained their surname spelt INGLEY.

6(a). But back to the first child, Joseph , who was born in 1761 . He decided to leave his family home - although the reason is not known - and first moved (probably to work) to Clifton Campville, about 25-miles away in East Staffordshire, to which I have referred.

By the time that Joseph was 20-years old he had moved to Nether Whitacre, a small country village in Warwickshire about 12-miles from Clifton and a similar distance from his parents in Rowley Regis. Joseph was married to Ann BARTIL on 26th.February 1781. Joseph signed the parish register "Joseph Insley" in a neat hand but his wife "made her mark" with a cross. There is doubt about her actual surname and its spelling. The marriage register gives both BARTIL and BARTILL but one of the witnesses to their marriage was entered as James HARTIL (but, once again, he "made his mark" with a cross). Other entries in the old records of this parish mention others with the name HARTILL at that time and this may well have been Ann's correct name. When Joseph was buried in 1827 the register referred to him as a "labourer". In this area, which is still a rural community, he must have been a farm labourer. Joseph and Ann had eight children. Their first daughter, Elizabeth, died just before her second birthday but their five sons and two other daughters survived to adulthood and were all baptised in Nether Whitacre between 1783 and 1802.

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7th Generation 7(a). Joseph and Ann's first child, Elizabeth (born 1783) died before her second birthday.

7(b). The first son, Joseph, (born 1786) married Mary ROBINSON in 1808 at Rosliston, just over the county border in Derbyshire. (No connection has been found between this Mary and our other ROBINSON ancestors, who came from Leicestershire.) They were to have three children; Sarah (b.1813); Joseph (b.1816) and John (b.1820).

The 1851 census records that Joseph and Mary were living at the old market town of Sutton Coldfield, 7-miles from Nether Whitacre, where Joseph was an agricultural labourer. Little is known at the moment about their children except that the youngest son, John, was later also described as an agricultural labourer in the 1881 census return.

7(c). Joseph and Ann's second son, John, (born 1788 ) married Mary EAVES in the neighbouring parish of Coleshill in 1815, when he too was entered as a labourer. They had two sons who were baptised in Nether Whitacre; John (b.1816-1818) and Thomas (b.1818). At the moment I have not been able to trace what happened to Mary EAVES but it seems that she may have died about 1819.

7(d). The fourth child, William , was baptised in 1791 but we will return to him shortly.

7(e) and (f). Ann (17941876) and Sarah (b.1797) were also baptised in Nether Whitacre and seem to have made their lives in the village.

7(g). Thomas (17991840) was married 10-miles away at Higham-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire in 1824 to Maria GRIMSTONE and they had two children :- Maria (b.1825) and William (1827- 1870). After his wife, Maria's death in 1830, Thomas married again the following year to Elizabeth HAWKESFORD and between 1832 and 1839 they had another four children :- George (b.1832); Ann (b.1834); Harriet (b.1837) and Thomas (b.1839).

7(h). Joseph and Ann BARTIL's last child, George , was baptised in 1802 . He, too, left the village and in 1832 he married Sarah HARGREAVE from Aston, in Birmingham. They also lived in Sutton Coldfield, the small old market town seven miles away. George and Sarah had six children :- Joseph (b.c.1833) and an apprentice in 1851; James (1835), who was a farm servant in 1851; George (1838); William (1841); Mary Anne (1844) and Sarah (1846). In 1841 and 1851 George was an agricultural labourer but when his son, William, was married in 1866 George was a game keeper.

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7(d). William (17911869) must have started as a labourer like his father Joseph but he eventually "left the land" and took a part in the early days of industrial development in the Midlands. In 1813 he married Ann ECCLESTON at Handsworth parish church, 10-miles away and at that time in Staffordshire. Neither William nor Ann were able to sign their names in the register and Ann's surname was entered as ECCLESIR. Other entries in that parish register clearly indicate that this spelling was incorrect and many years later her grandson, Ernest Eccleston INSLEY, who was given her maiden name for his second name, was able to tell me a little about his grandfather, William.

William and Ann had eleven children, all of whom were baptised in Nether Whitacre, and seven of whom are known to have married:- George (b.1816); Ann (b.1817) who married Robert GARRATT; Thomas (b.1819); Sarah (b.1822); Mary (b.1823); Elizabeth (b.1827) who married James LYONS, a herring merchant; Charlotte (1829-1868) who married James BAKER, a Police Officer; William (b.1831) who went to Ireland; Edward (1834-1917) from whom we are descended; Jane (b.1836) who married a Mr. BISHOP and Charles (1839-1845).

At the time of the 1851 census William was registered as a "carrier", but his grandson told me that by 1854 William was working as a "gunlock filer", making guns for the British Army in the Crimea war. He must have been an able businessman for, in 1864 when his son, Edward, was married, William was described as a "property owner".

In his will William appointed two of his sons-in-law as his executors. One was James LYONS, a Herring Merchant, whilst the other was James BAKER, a Police Officer. Apart from their ninth child, Edward, relatively little is known about the lives of these children.

8th Generation 8(a). John (b.1816) , the first child of John and Mary EAVES, was baptised at Nether Whitacre but when the child was buried only 18-months old he was referred to as "of Kingsbury", the neighbouring parish, which suggests that the family had moved to a cottage in that parish.

8(b). Ann (b.1817) was the second child of William and Ann ECCLESTON. Soon after she was 18-years old she married Robert GARRATT, who had been born nearby in the parish of Churchover. In 1847 Robert was an engine driver and at the 1871 census he described himself as a warehouseman. Ten years later, at the age of 65, he had retired. Ann and Robert lived in the Rugby area, where they had ten children between 1837 and 1858.

It was their second son, and fourth child, Edward GARRATT, who married Mary Anne GORMAN in Walsall, Worcs. in 1866 and who was to emigrate to New Zealand. Edward went out to visit New Zealand in 1883, liked the country and returned home to fetch his wife and ten children and returned with them to settle permanently near Christchurch in the South Island. But Edward must have been in poor health - perhaps he had decided to emigrate to a country having a better climate - because he died unexpectedly less than a year later. His wife, Mary Anne, was heartbroken. During the remaining 18-years of her life that she outlived Edward she told her children, who in turn passed down to their children, that Granny would never consider returning to England because her husband had wanted his family to live in the new country.

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In the custom of those days (before telephones, FAXes and the Internet!) Mary Anne kept in touch with her and her husband's "family" in the "old country" by letter. When she died in 1903 that task was passed on to her daughter, Gertrude, "Gertie", who was to write regularly to my great aunt, Charlotte (nee INSLEY) the wife of Richard DREW (see 9(j) hereafter) for over 50- years. It was through Gertie GARRATT's introduction that her great-nephew, David EXLEY, and I started to write to each other when he and I were about 8-9 years old. Encouraged by our mothers and great aunts we started to collect and exchange postage stamps as they saw this as a way to maintain the distant links between the members of our family in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. David and I have "known" each other for over 60-years and although I do not include in this family STORY the full story of the New Zealand GARRATTs yet I include the story of my cousin, David John EXLEY, after my own "section", which is included as 11(j).

8(c and d). Little is known about Thomas (b.1819) and Sarah (b.1822) but when Sarah was only 13-years old she had a son. There is no record of a marriage nor the name of the father but as the child was baptised Joseph Round INSLEY, it is likely that the father's surname was ROUND. The baby died before his second birthday.

8(e and f). Two more daughters followed : Mary in 1823 and Elizabeth in 1827 . At the time of the 1851 census both sisters were house maids in Birmingham. Mary was a housemaid with the family of John COOPER a licensed victualler who lived at 85, Moore Street. Her sister, Elizabeth, was described as a general servant in the house of Charles LOVERIDGE at 29, Bell Street.

It was Elizabeth who was to marry James LYONS, later a Herring Merchant, who was to be one of the executors under the terms of her father, William's, will. Their two sons, Alfred and James were born in Birmingham about 1855/1857.

8(g). The fifth daughter, Charlotte (b.1829) was recorded as a House Servant at the dates of both the 1851 and 1861 census. Charlotte then married James BAKER, the Police Officer, who was also to be one of the executors under her father's will.

8(h). William , who was born in 1831 is reputed to have gone to Ireland, but I have not been able to trace his descendants. The "family stories" are that he had a son, George, about 1850, who was followed by two daughters. The first daughter, Ann, married a Mr. O'GRADY, at one time the (Lord) Mayor of Castlereagh whilst the other daughter was to marry The Reverend WAGNER, at one time the Archdeacon of Dublin Cathedral. I have not yet been able to confirm these "stories".

8(i). Edward , was baptised in Nether Whitacre in 1834 . The grandson of an "Agr. Lab." and whose father had "left the land" and by 1851 had become a "carrier", Edward was to have an interesting life as we know from old records as well as personal details which have been passed down by one of his younger sons, Ernest Eccleston.

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At the time of the 1851 census, just before his 17th.birthday, Edward recorded that he was an agricultural labourer. His son told me that his father went to "America" - the USA - "whilst quite a young man" - probably before he was 21-years old - and became a partner in a sawmill business, possibly in the State of Illinois. The business prospered, largely owing to the fact that the Illinois Central Railroad Company required thousands of railway sleepers. Many years later at least two of Edward's sons including Harold, my grandfather, are known to have held shares in the Illinois Central Railroad Company and also in "Bournemouth Markets Ice and Cold Stores Limited" and these shares had been inherited from their father, Edward, which suggests an involvement in some way with those companies.

Edward returned home a few years later for a six month holiday. One can imagine the welcome given in a small rural community to the return of a wealthy son - the grandson of an agricultural worker.

Upon his return to the United States he found that his business partner had speculated during his absence and had lost their entire capital in addition to the sawmill. When it looked as if civil war was about to break out between the States, Edward decided to return home again.

Soon afterwards Edward was reading a newspaper in which he read that the duty had just been lifted on eggs being imported from France. This must have been in the Spring or early Summer of 1860 - Edward would then have been only 26-years old! - as it was on 7th.March 1860 that an Act of Parliament was passed amending the Laws relating to Customs Duty payable on goods and chattels imported from France.

Edward thought that, after his sawmilling business in the USA, this news offered him another opportunity. He studied a map and realised that trade from France to England would come through the Dover-Calais route or to Southampton from the ports of Cherbourg in Normandy or from St.Malo in Brittany. He did not know at which of these latter two ports he should try to launch his new venture and, literally according to his son Ernest, he tossed a coin which decided him to go to St.Malo instead of Cherbourg. It was, therefore, upon the toss of a coin that he started by establishing a business at St.Malo which exported eggs to England.

As this was the background to the family export business I was fascinated to read of a report, produced in 1994, which mentioned that whereas the region of Brittany had a land area which was equivalent to 5% of the land area of the whole of France, yet (in 1994) 28% of the French egg production was produced in Brittany. I cannot help wondering whether the export business would have been as successful had it been started in Cherbourg.

In view of our present-day experience of intensive production of hens and eggs in this country and many other countries in every continent of the world, it is interesting to realise that in 1860 there should have been such a shortage of hen’s eggs in England. At that time "Roast Chicken" was only served to the well-to-do. Some long time before this, at the beginning of our Millennium in AD.1000, poultry food was, indeed, a luxury in this country but, even then, it was recognised as a therapeutic diet for invalids, particularly in broth form. Whilst Edward was obviously aware of the shortage of eggs in this country in 1860 I doubt, however, that he realised what the position had been 860-years earlier nor what the position would be a hundred years later.

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The export of farm produce from Brittany was also linked with import of coal from South Wales to France, although there are no longer any records about this "side" of the business. However, one does not have to stretch one's imagination too far, particularly after reading the "story" of our branch of the MOREL FAMILY from Jersey who started a shipping company in Cardiff. Jean MOREL went to Cardiff from Jersey about 1856 and although Edward INSLEY did not marry a girl from Guernsey until 1864 yet, as many families on these two small islands are linked, it seems likely that in succeeding years there were business connections between the INSLEY export business in St.Malo and the MOREL shipping business, which was based in Cardiff. Edward INSLEY was obviously an enterprising young man and we know that at a later stage he also had a half-share interest in a three-masted Newfoundland cod-fishing boat called "Marie Ange".

Edward's son, Ernest Eccleston, tells of another story when he met the Chief Librarian in Bournemouth who told him that the name INSLEY is of Scandinavian origin meaning "Meadow". Ernest was told that the Coat of Arms is "The head of a Falcon and a muscled Arm brandishing a Scimitar" and the Motto is "Country often - King ever". I have never been able to find any support for this information.

As Edward and his family were to live in St.Malo for three generations perhaps I should provide a little information about that old French city.

Old historical information claims that the Christian saint, Malo, returned from Wales in the sixth century and converted the Gallo-Roman settlement to Christianity and Malo became its first bishop, based in a part of the present city, now known as St. Servan, but which I remember as a child as being a separate town. The area within the present city walls of St.Malo was then a small uninhabited island. Later, in Norman times, the local people moved to the island, which they surrounded with walls to provide an easy defence against Norman attacks. The town belonged to its bishops and took no part in provincial rivalries and, at the time of the League, St.Malo declared itself a republic and kept its independence for four years, declaring "Ni Francais, ni Breton, Malouin suis". (I am neither a Frenchman, nor a Breton but a man of St.Malo.)

The name Brittany was derived from "Little Britain" when, from about 450 to 650 AD. Celts who were driven from Britain by the Angles and, later, the Saxons settled in the area. From about 850 to 950 Brittany was a separate kingdom - the last King of Brittany, Alain, died in 952.

I remember learning at an early age that an old farmhouse, in Place du Canada, "just down the road" from my parents house, had been the home of one of the early explorers, Jacques Cartier. Christopher Columbus had "discovered" America in 1492. 42-years later, in 1534, Jacques Cartier left Brittany to look for gold in Newfoundland and Labrador. Instead he discovered the mouth of the St. Lawrence river. As the word for "village", in the Huron language of the Red Indians whom he encountered, was "Canada" Jacques Cartier used that word to name the country, when he took possession of that land in 1534 in the name of the King of France.

These events took place at a time when English and French privateers were beginning to battle for ascendancy of the high seas. (Sir) Francis Drake was born at about the same time as Jacques Cartier, about 1540, at Tavistock, close to Plymouth in Devon, where I was to live for many years four centuries later. It was in the 17th. and 18th. centuries that privateers, including those

35 from St.Malo, were granted "letters of marque" from the King of France which encouraged them to attack warships and merchantmen of other countries without being treated as pirates. These privateers inflicted heavy losses on the English, Dutch and Spanish.

The English ships were frequently involved in running battles with their French counterparts but the walls and ramparts of St.Malo were never breached. Even five hundred years later the same walls withstood attacks from the advancing American forces when the Germans sought to stop the advance of the liberating forces as a battle raged from 1st. to 14th.August 1944. But more of that anon.

In the days of Edward Insley's move to St.Malo in 1860 this was the start of the most direct trade route from the farms of Brittany to Southampton and then on to the markets in the heart of England.

There appears to be no firm evidence as to precisely where in St.Malo Edward first established his export business. It is, however, known from early birth certificates that in March 1869 Edward was living in "Rue des Grands Degres" ("road of the large steps") inside the old city walls. He then purchased at auction a property, about 500-yards outside the city walls, on the "Chaussee du Sillon" lying between the sea and le Quai Napoleon. This property included a warehouse on the (North) seaward side, with a dwelling house approached from the Southern end. The house, courtyard and stabling for two horses, would have overlooked the inner harbour, in which tall masted sailing ships would still have been moored. It is believed that this property provided the business premises which he needed, as well as his house, until the early years of the century when the business premises were moved into, what was then, the new commercial district of St.Malo, at Rocabey - about half a mile outside the old city walls.

There are few surviving records of that time but it seems that when Edward moved his business premises he also moved to another house not far away in "Le Sillon". Certainly by the early 1930s the business was firmly based in premises overlooking the large Church of Rocabey and the adjacent wholesale market square to which the farmers from the region brought their vegetable produce for sale to the wholesale buyers/exporters. The market square is now a public car park and the family's warehouse premises were acquired after the Second World War by the city council as a part of the site for the new Chateaubriand College.

By an extraordinary coincidence, when we were staying in 1996 at a hotel at Sables d'Or Les Pins, on the North coast of Brittany about 20-miles West of St.Malo, I was talking to the owner, Theo Orio, and told him that my great-grandfather had established a business in St.Malo in 1860 to export eggs from France to England. Theo could hardly wait for me to stop speaking, when he told me that his own great-grandfather, whose father ran the village bakery business, had started to buy eggs from the local farmers in 1860 and had taken these for sale to St.Malo.

I later met Theo's mother, who was also interested in family history, and who remembered being told that her father's father, Theodore BON, had indeed started the collection of eggs from local farmers in 1860 for re-sale to St.Malo. In those days the roads in the area, not far from Cap Frehel, had been very poor and Theo BON had collected the eggs in two large pannier baskets which were slung on each side of his horse and then he had taken these baskets by horse and cart each week to St.Malo. It is too much of a co-incidence that this local collection of eggs should have been started in 1860, unless this had been initiated by Edward INSLEY travelling around

36 the district to make contact with local people who were encouraged to buy eggs from the farmers in their areas, in relatively small quantities, and then to transport these to St.Malo for purchase by the INSLEY family who then exported them in large quantities to England. I know that this is exactly what was done "between the Wars" when "Insley Freres" were buying early potatoes and cauliflowers for export to the English markets.

Having moved to live in Brittany, Edward decided that he needed a wife, but was unwilling to consider marrying a French girl. There is no information as to how he met his wife, but a copy of the certificate of their marriage, which took place in St.Malo on 17th.November 1864, when he was 30-years old, records that he married Marguerite Elisabeth PITRON, a girl then 24-years old who was born at St. Peter Port in Guernsey and who was a Teacher and was, at that time, living at St.Malo. Perhaps she was teaching English at one of the French schools in St.Malo and, being English, had met Edward. We will probably never know.

Edward and Marguerite had ten children. From their first child, Emma Alice, born in 1865, to their ninth, George Henry Pitron, born in 1881, they were all born in St.Malo but their last child, Charlotte, was born in 1883, when Edward was 49-years of age and after he had retired and was living in Bournemouth, Hampshire.

The export business which Edward had established in 1860 had thrived and in twenty-two years he had earned sufficient to be able to retire in comfort in the coastal town which was becoming one of the main South coast holiday areas. His eldest son, Edward Augustus, was, however, only 15-years old at that time and for a while Edward must have continued his family business in St.Malo with a manager, probably making regular visits to St.Malo until his son, or sons, were able to take over full-time control of the business.

When Edward first retired to live in Bournemouth he rented a substantial house for himself and his family. "Old Studley" had previously been the home of the Misses Talbot who were the aunts of the Earl of Leven & Melville, the owner at that time of the whole of the Talbot Heath area of Bournemouth. The house needed to be "substantial" to accommodate the large family. I was surprised to find that there was no reference to Edward and the younger children in the 1891 census, until I realised that the census had been taken on 5th.June. St.Malo is always at its best in June and it seems more than likely that Edward, his wife and the younger children had all returned to spend a part of the Summer with their eldest son, Edward Augustus, who was then running the family business in St.Malo.

"Old Studley" was to be the family home for 25-years but when his wife died in 1906 and as only four of his children were still living at home with him he decided to move to a somewhat smaller property. Two of his two sons, Ernest and George, had quite recently started their Surveyors and Architects' business and they designed and built a new family home at 1, St. Winifred's Road, which was given the name "Eccleston", and in 1908 Edward and his three unmarried daughters, Emma, Marguerite and Charlotte took occupation.

After Charlotte's marriage in 1912 to Richard DREW her sisters, Emma and Marguerite, kept house for their father until his death in 1917. When Emma died in 1925 her sister, Marguerite, continued to live there until her own death in 1960, when the house, which had then passed by will to Charlotte, was sold.

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Before "leaving" Edward, however, I should make reference to some details which I have extracted from his grand-daughter, Nellie's, book about the English Hospital for French Soldiers in St.Malo during 1914-1916, which hospital was given such considerable support by the Insley family. Extracts from this book are given later in the section which refers to Nellie, but the English surgeon, Mr. Henry Curtis, F.R.C.S., who contributed so much to the work of this hospital, in his "prefatory note" to Nellie's book, wrote :-

"Mr. Edward Insley was instrumental in sending out clothing, shirts, bandages, etc., so badly needed by the French wounded (who were) consigned to St.Malo at the outbreak of the War; and it was through him and his daughters in Bournemouth that the first British doctors, and the nurses, went over to see how they could help in St.Malo. Once the Hospital was fairly started, he assisted chiefly by subscriptions, as the grant from the French Government was so inadequate and was never very large."

Edward originally described himself as "Merchant" at the time when his first son was married. But in 1912, when his youngest daughter was married, he was described as "Gentleman", and his photograph taken at about that time suggests that this was a fair description!

8(j and k). The last daughter of William and Ann, Jane (b.1836) is reputed to have married a Mr. BISHOP, whilst William and Ann's last child, Charles (b.1839) died soon after his sixth birthday.

8(l and m). Maria (b.1825) and William (b.1827) were the two children of Thomas INSLEY and Maria GRIMSTONE. William, a waggoner in 1851, was to marry Sarah CLARKE in 1853 and they had a daughter, Catherine Elizabeth INSLEY in 1857.

8(n, o, p and q). After the death of William's first wife Maria, he married again in 1831 to Elizabeth HAWKESFORD. They had two sons and two daughters about whom very little is known. George (b.1832) was an agricultural and then a railway labourer and married Sarah Ann THOMPSON. Ann and then Harriet were born in 1834 and 1837 , the latter marrying James PADBURY in 1877. The fourth child was Thomas (born 1839) .

8(r). William (b.1841) , the fourth child of George, and Sarah HARGREAVE, was an office clerk when he married Sarah NASH in 1866 in Aston. They had four children, Thomas (b.1861); Mary Ann (b. 1867); William (b.1868) and John Henry (18711951) who later married Hannah LEAP a dressmaker from Hunslet, Yorks. They emigrated to New South Wales in Australia where William died in 1951.

8(s). Mary Anne (b.1844) , the fifth child of George, and Sarah HARGREAVE, married Lewis BAYLISS in Sutton Coldfield and they had twins, Bertrand and Elizabeth, born about 1875 , who were followed by Jessie Adeline in 1876 .

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9th Generation 9(a). Emma Alice (18651925) did not marry and there is little left in the way of record of her life, apart from the fact that after the death of her mother in 1906 she kept house for her father for the next ten years or so.

9(b). Edward and Marguerite's eldest son, Edward Augustus , was born in 1867 . It is assumed that at first he joined his father in his exporting business, but the details of any such arrangement is not known. His brother, Harold Charles, born in 1873, probably also learnt about the trade by working for the family firm as well, but that would have been after his father had retired to Bournemouth in 1882. It must have been about this time that the eldest son, Edward Augustus, took over the family business, although his father may have retained a financial interest for a few years longer.

The indications are that Edward Augustus may have taken over from his father the house in "Le Sillon". The brothers were aware of the complications of nationality if they were to marry French girls and they too, therefore, looked to the Channel Islands for a bride - and doubtless had opportunities to meet girls from Jersey as well as Guernsey when they visited their mother's home. Edward Augustus was to marry, in 1884, when he was only 17-years old, and when his wife, Eliza MOURANT also born in Guernsey, was only sixteen and a half.

In 1898, when Edward would have been 31-years old, and by which time he had four children, he agreed to take his younger brother, Harold Charles, then aged 25, into his family business. On 21st.December 1898 this Harold, Edward's young brother, was to marry his wife's younger sister, Mary Morel MOURANT, and with this forthcoming marriage in mind the two brothers decided that they should join together in a business partnership which would thereafter be called "Insley Brothers" or "Insley Freres". On 31st.December 1898 the new partnership came into effect, where Edward held a two-thirds share and his younger brother held the other one-third.

The partnership agreement between the brothers still exists and it is interesting to read (in today's prices) that Edward was to be allowed to draw ,20 a month whilst Harold could draw ,10 a month, but on the understanding that if these withdrawals were to exceed the annual profits they would "forthwith repay the excess"! Their partnership was established for an initial period of nine years but there seems to be no record of how long this was to last - perhaps for 25 years or more. Edward was always regarded with affection as a "great character", both by his family and by his business contacts. His nephew remembered that he would frequently close his business letters - no doubt to his friendly business contacts - with "Love from Edward".

During the First World War not only did the allied armies in Northern France lose millions of dead soldiers, but they lost even larger numbers of horses which provided most of the army transport. These horses were "requisitioned" from farmers all over France, with the result that by the end of the war in November 1918 there were few farmers left who had working horses. Edward decided that he would travel to South Wales, where the family business still had connections, and try to buy pit ponies which were no longer strong enough for use down the coal mines but which could still gave a few years service on small Breton farms. A few days later his brother, in St.Malo, received a cablegram to advise him to meet a particular cargo ship which

41 would be docking in St.Malo in a couple of days' time and to make arrangements for the unloading of 104 Welsh pit ponies. The arrangements were made and the cargo ship was duly met. The pit ponies were counted as they were discharged : 99, 100, 101, 102, 103 - all in order - but then they found that the 104th. pony only had three legs! One up for the Welsh agent!

From the early days when the family business had been established to send eggs to England and had then expanded so as to include early potatoes and cauliflower, it had been the practice to handle other crops which could provide an income and "turn an honest penny". During one period Edward would travel to the Loire Valley at the appropriate time in order to buy complete orchards of pears. Other merchants soon decided to follow suit and one year another buyer, in competition, started to offer to the fruit farmers in the Loire Valley "more than Monsieur Insley will pay". Edward heard about this offer. The next day he went to another grower and offered him an absurdly high price! He then took a couple of days "off" to allow the other buyer to go around to the owners of other orchards capping this high price! When his competitor had exhausted his funds Edward then carried on his buying at a much lower price. There were no flies on Edward!

Edward Augustus had one son and three daughters, whilst his brother Harold had three sons. At some stage, soon after the end of the War, the two brothers, Edward and Harold, decided that they would split their partnership into two separate businesses. Thereafter they traded in friendly competition in separate premises on each side of the market square in the new commercial district in St.Malo. We know, from his daughter Nellie's book, that by 1924 Edward Augustus had himself retired to Bournemouth, although he kept his house in Le Sillon until 1922. His business interests had been transferred to his only son, Edward John (Eddy).

Edward's nephews, Ernest and Gerald, with their father, Harold Charles, traded under the old title of "Insley Brothers". When Edward Augustus and his wife, Eliza, retired they joined "the family" in Bournemouth, where Edward died in 1939 and his widow in 1949.

9(c). Albert Alfred was born on 5th.September 1868 but died when not quite a year old on 30th.August 1869.

9(d). "Aunt Marguerite", (Marguerite Blanche 1869 to 1960) did not marry. When living in "Eccleston", one of the family houses, she is remembered as a charming eccentric in her latter years. Even at the age of 75-years she used to bathe in the sea on most days of the year near to the Bournemouth pier. She and her brothers and sisters still living in Bournemouth used to visit each other on a regular basis for coffee in the morning or for tea in the afternoon and the family maintained a tight-knit group into which her brother, Charles Frederick was to be joined briefly during the last years of his life.

9(e). Edward and Marguerite's first daughter to marry was Amy Ellen, born in 1872 . She was already 34 years old when, in 1906, she married William FOX.

William FOX was the youngest of the four sons of Anthony Stoddart FOX, who had himself been born in London in 1838, and who had started his family Estate Agents business in

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Basingstoke in 1873. The first office in Bournemouth had been opened in 1889 and in 1894, a year before the youngest son, William, joined the firm as an office boy, the name of the firm was changed to Fox & Sons. That year too, George Pitron INSLEY was articled to William's elder brother Anthony. It was in 1904 that William FOX opened a small office at 44, Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth and became the partner who was responsible for that office. It was on the strength of this new position in the firm that William FOX was to marry Amy about two years later.

Whilst at that time the firm had offices in Bournemouth and one in Southampton, under the control of Anthony FOX who had moved there in 1901, yet within a few years the business and the number of offices in Bournemouth expanded considerably. In 1919 the firm sold their first town - the town of Shaftesbury in Dorset - and during the next 20-years William FOX, who had become the senior Auctioneer, was to sell a large number of agricultural and urban estates throughout England and Scotland. In 1921, after his success in the sale of Shaftesbury two years earlier, William was instructed to offer the town of Swanage in Dorset for sale in lots.

William and Amy were never to have any children. The years "between the Wars" saw the establishment of Bournemouth as one of the premier holiday resorts of the country and as more and more families came to visit this seaside town so the demand for homes in the area continued to expand. William's reputation as a property auctioneer was one of the core reasons which led to the expansion of his estate agency practice and he was well placed when he and Amy were selecting a site for their new home. They built a 5/6 bedroom house of high quality (but not "over the top"!) on a site opposite the new private Tennis Club courts in a select area of the town.

When I was "articled" to William Fox in 1947 - I lived at the YMCA in the town centre - I was regularly invited to join them for lunch on Sundays, when they often had other guests as well. They were always very kind to me and, having no children of their own, they took a genuine interest in all of their nephews and nieces and great-nephews and great-nieces.

One small incident, which occurred on one of my Sunday visits, has always remained with me. We were seated around the large table, having finished the meat course, when a part-time, temporary housemaid had cleared away the plates and dishes for that first course. Aunt Amy's usual housemaid was away on holiday and her place had been taken by a replacement who helped on such occasions. The maid brought in a hot apple pie and placed this pie dish in front of Aunt Amy for her to serve in the usual manner, and the maid then went out to fetch the hot plates.

Aunt Amy continued her conversation with one of the other guests whilst preparing to serve the pie. She cut the first two or three pieces and then, in her usual manner, served the first slice onto the top plate - which the maid had not yet placed in front of her!! The slice of the fruit pie landed on her own place mat! We were all taken aback, but what has remained in my memory was that, as the temporary maid re-entered the dining room, with the five or six plates, Aunt Amy's remark to the maid was "Oh! The plates are ALWAYS placed in front of me BEFORE the fruit pie is brought in!" (from the kitchen). Such mistakes were, however, so unusual that this one memory remains.

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Life, in those days, could be quite grand. A full time housemaid, a chauffeur/gardener who had a flat over the garage, and a part-time bedroom maid who helped with the clothes-washing on Mondays were not unusual in a house standing in a half-acre garden. Fifty years later these events seem to belong to a different world.

Amy died in 1951, following which William retired from business and he died two years later.

9(f). Just over a year after Amy's birth, Harold Charles was born and I have referred to his marriage in December 1898 in Jersey to Mary Morel MOURANT, the sister of Harold's elder brother's wife. She was "petite" in stature and was always known as "Dolly". The bond between the two brothers, who were in business partnership together, and who had married two sisters was always to be close. Whilst Edward owned a substantial "town house" in Parame, now a part of the city of St.Malo, his brother Harold, and his wife Dolly, bought a small "chateau" about 1910 in the country just outside Parame and St.Malo, Le Chateau de la Grande Riviere. "La Grande Riviere", as it was known to the family, included formal and vegetable gardens, woodland and an attractive pond close to an old chapel, later used only for storing the home-made cider, a tennis court which his family and friends would use during the next 20-years, fields and orchards. To his grandchildren it was "a large house in a large estate" and we were surprised to "discover" many years later that it extended to only just over 20-acres! To the family and to the many friends who visited them it was, however, a charming property as can be seen from the photographs.

I remember very little indeed of the interior but an often repeated story tells of an American visitor to the chateau (at some time "between the wars") who was so enamoured by the impressive wide staircase which led to the first floor that he did his best to persuade my grandfather to allow him to buy the staircase, which he would then remove and take back to the USA to install in his house, and upon the understanding that he would also arrange for a fine new staircase to be installed in "La Grande Riviere"! The American did not mange to persuade my grandparents to agree!

I had understood that during the First World War, with the enormous casualties and wounded, it was used for a while during that war as a "convalescent home" for wounded British and American troops, where Edward's daughters helped as volunteer nurses. I now believe that this may not have been correct and was a mis-interpretation of details which were given to me when I was young, as will be seen when reading about Edward's grand-daughter, Nellie, later in the story of this family.

Harold's grandson, Gerald, recounts a story about the cider which was made and stored in the old chapel by the entrance gates at the bottom of the drive leading up to "La Grande Riviere". Two grades of cider were made. One, for the family and their guests, was as naturally fizzy as champagne - and there are many stories of overseas visitors who would not take advice about its ability to intoxicate! - whilst the other inferior rougher grade was provided for the outside staff of gardeners and labourers who, in accordance with local custom, were provided with free ad lib cider whilst working. When an old gardener was asked by Harold's wife whether he did not consider that 15-litres a day was rather excessive he replied "Well, Madame, if I did not drink it, I might feel thirsty"!

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During the years between the two World Wars, Harold enjoyed horse riding and, in the 1930s, was frequently to be seen early in the morning riding his horse from his chateau for a gallop along the superb beach, which stretches for about four miles from Parame to St.Malo, before then going to join his two younger sons at their business warehouse in St.Malo.

In the 1930s the main part of the family business consisted in merchanting early potatoes and cauliflower during their respective seasons. Early in the morning on the "market days" farmers from the hinterland would bring their horse-drawn carts to stand in rows in the market square in front of the large parish church at Rocabey in St.Malo. There the buyers from the local merchants, including the "Insley Brothers", would bargain and buy complete loads, to meet the orders which they planned to fill. The loads would then be driven to the various warehouses in the vicinity for unloading. During these years Harold would act as the buyer for his family business, whilst his brother Edward bought for the business which he ran with his son, Eddy, on the other side of the square. After unloading, Harold's two sons, Ernest and Gerald, supervised the sorting, weighing, grading and packing of the vegetables for onward transport to the docks for shipping to the English markets or for carriage to the railway station for transmission to the Paris market.

It was at this time that the French potato crop became infested with Colorado beetle and the British government banned the import of French potatoes. That was 65-years before the French banned the import into France of beef, which might have been taken from cattle having BSE.! "Insley Freres" had to find new markets and it was at that stage that they developed their contacts in Paris. In order to achieve this they decided to market a superior quality product. To do this they offered washed and graded potatoes. As the potatoes which had been purchased from the farmers were brought into the warehouse they were tipped into water-filled tanks from which they were taken on slatted metal conveyor belts under spray heads past the women workers who picked out the rejects before the potatoes were tipped into sacks. In order to allow the wet potatoes to dry off and breathe, to avoid deterioration during transport to Paris, new loose weave hessian sacks were developed by Jean Noury, in his neighbouring sack and canvas business. Eventually other merchants in St.Malo were to adopt this washing process to achieve a high grade produce.

In 1938 the family decided to expand their business in a new direction by producing potato crisps - at that time still a little known delicacy in France. With the help of a friend in England, the father of a boy who was at school with me, one of the warehouses was set up with large gas- driven deep friers and during the Summer of 1939 production was started. The arrival in St.Malo early in 1940 of British Army garrison troops provided a ready local market for this new venture, little knowing what would happen only three or four months later.

In those days between the two World Wars the Insley family were largely responsible, with other members of the English community, for the upkeep of the small English Anglican church in Parame, the Church of St.John the Baptist, which was then under the patronage of the S.P.G. (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel). In the early days they provided a full-time resident chaplain (one of these was later to become Gerald's father-in-law when he married Mary TURPIN), but later visiting chaplains only came during the Summer season. At other times members of the family took services as Lay Readers and acted as Churchwarden and treasurer, drove the harmonium, ran the lending library and generally maintained regular services.

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The story of his sons will be told later, but at this stage it is relevant to say that Harold and Dolly's life was to be turned upside-down in 1940, when Harold was 67-years old, when the German forces were to invade France. We have seen that Harold's brother, Charles, who was three years younger and who had a farm nearby, remained in France throughout the War. Early in the morning of 15th.June 1940 Harold's son, Ernest, heard, by word of mouth, from some French friends that the invading German forces were closing in on St.Malo, having passed through the region capital city of Rennes, and were less than 40-miles away. Ernest and Barbara decided that they should try to leave France without delay, as my father was told that the last cross-channel boat for civilians was to leave St.Malo that morning.

Whilst Barbara packed a suitcase for each of them, which they had been told was the maximum amount of luggage which any passenger would be permitted to take, Ernest drove to "La Grande Riviere" to persuade his parents that they too should leave by the same boat. It meant having to leave everything for which they had worked during the whole of their lifetime, but they too agreed to leave - each with only one suitcase! Their world was being turned upside down but, like many others all over Europe, they had to accept the inevitable.

No record remains of what Harold and Dolly thought about their upheaval, but Harold must have realised that their departure in June 1940 came (almost exactly to the month) 80-years after his father, Edward, had arrived in St.Malo in the early Summer of 1860. Much had been achieved but now it seemed that all would be lost. At first there were thoughts that, perhaps, the invading German forces would soon be repelled and that they would be able to return "home" but that was not to be.

When it became possible to exchange "Red Cross" letters a couple of years later the family heard from their French friends that La Grande Riviere had not been occupied and was being cared for by their staff and for a few years there was still the hope that they might be able to return. With the surrender of the German forces in St.Malo in September 1944 it again became possible to correspond regularly with those in St.Malo and from our friends we heard that "La Grand Riviere" was no more.

One story which was told to us, was that the German officer commanding the garrison in St.Malo, a fanatical Nazi, had announced that his forces would make a stand at St.Malo, as the Russians had at Stalingrad, and would not surrender to the advancing American forces. "Le Chateau de la Grande Riviere" stood on a rise with views as far as St.Malo and across the district and, fearing that the house might provide a vantage point which would help the advancing American army, this officer gave orders that the German artillery around St.Malo were to shell the chateau so that it could not be of value to the American forces.

However, that is not supported by a locally written history of the "Battle and Liberation of Parame" which was published in 1945. This book refers to the advancing American forces deciding to launch an artillery barrage over the area and refers to the chateau and two nearby farms, including "La Godelle", which belonged to Harold's brother, Charles, going up in flames. The German artillery would naturally have responded and we will never know exactly what happened that morning of Tuesday 8th.August 1944. All we do know is that the family home was reduced to a pile of rubble as one of the casualties in the battle of St.Malo. Harold was, of course, heartbroken when the news reached him and his sadness was not helped when his son, Gerald, who was with the Ministry of Food, was sent in January 1945 - before the

48 end of the War - to St.Malo and Brittany to report upon the local production of potatoes, as a part of the government's concern for the general supply of food in England. Gerald was able to visit what was still left of "La Grande Riviere" and naturally, on his return, told his father what he had seen.

Harold died in April 1945 at his son, Gerald's, house in Oxford, before VE-day ("Victory in Europe Day"). His family were always thankful that, although he had heard of the destruction of his home, yet he was not to see the one ruined end wall of the house, which was all that was to be visible when I was eventually able to return with my parents a year later in the Summer of 1946.

9(g). Charles Frederick (1876 1960) appears, at first, to have had an uneventful time for the first 64-years of his life. He did not marry and had his own small farm, La Godelle, near to his brother, Harold's, Chateau de la Grande Riviere, outside St.Malo. When I was a child my own recollections of (great) uncle Charles were that he kept himself to himself and seemed to have made an adequate living to match his humble needs.

His great nephew, Gerald Julian, recalls that our grandfather, Harold Charles, and probably his two brothers Charles Frederick and Edward Augustus, were sent for a time to a French secondary boarding school and remembers a story that the dining/refectory table incorporated a small drawer under the tabletop for each place setting. At the end of the meal the boys were expected to wipe over their plate and utensils with a morsel of bread before these were placed in the drawer so as to be ready for the next meal. The "morsel of bread" was, of course, then eaten!

Gerald's recollection and assumption about Harold, Charles and Edward going to a secondary school are clearly based upon fact. As the family were all born and lived in France, their parents were determined that the children should all be fluent in French. Their father, Edward, the grandson of a humble English farm-worker, probably remembered the difficulties which he must have encountered when he first moved to France to establish his export business. My own recollections of all of these members of the family were that they were certainly all as fluent in French as when speaking in English.

When, in 1953, Charles had moved to live in Bournemouth with his remaining brother and sisters, his brother, Ernest wrote a small book of his own "recollections" which he gave to Charles as a present. That book (handwritten, in French, but bound in a stiff cover) still survives and in it Edward mentions the time when Charles (probably followed by his two brothers, Harold and Ernest) was at the Lycee (secondary school) in Rennes, the regional capital of Brittany. Their father, who had arrived in St.Malo in 1860 without knowing a word of French, was very keen that all of his children should be fluent in French and that his sons, whom he hoped would join him in the thriving family business, would not merely be fluent but would have a good command of the language. In those days, whilst English was beginning to be established as the international language of commerce and trade, yet French was still very much the accepted as the world-wide "diplomatic language".

Little is mentioned about that "Lycee", but Ernest does record that it was in the Square in front of the Lycee in 1893 that Alfred Dreyfus, a Captain on the General Staff of the French Army was falsely charged with handing over to a foreign government documents which were

49 connected with the national defence. Dreyfus was court-marshalled and Ernest writes that it was in the Square that he was degraded. His sword was broken, his medals were torn off his tunic one by one, and these were thrown, with all of the buttons on his uniform, onto the ground. From there he was taken to prison by four soldiers and a corporal and from there was transported to Devil's Island in the West Indies. That event and the efforts of his wife and friends to prove him an innocent victim of malice, injustice and forgery plunged France into a chaos of militarism and anti-Semitism. It was not until thirteen years later, in 1906, that Dreyfus won a pardon and was re-instated. He was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1919 - and died 16-years later. The fact that these events were included in Ernest's "recollections" clearly indicates that the events must have made a profound impression upon both Charles and Ernest, although Ernest does not specifically record whether he or Charles were pupils at the Lycee at the time.

In his "recollections" Ernest refers to Charles being the first (of the brothers) to learn to smoke, the first to have a bicycle, the first to own a motor car, the first to own a gramophone, the first to own a "TSF" ("telephone sans fil"- ie. a radio), the first to fly from Paris to England and the first to own a shotgun. From these and other recollections of the past it would seem that the reclusive great-uncle Charles, whom Gerald and I knew, had not always been so withdrawn!

His brother also recalls that Charles' first car was a "Phoenix", a car which Ernest describes as "a poor man's car". Charles was certainly always careful with his money and, it would seem from some of his brother's stories, was slow to repay any money which he might have borrowed from his brothers! His younger brother, Ernest, remembered that he once borrowed Charles' bicycle to cycle to St.Malo. In those days the owners of bicycles in France had to pay a small annual "tax", for which one received a small metal "disc" which was supposed to be displayed on the bicycle. Edward told his brother that he had noticed that Charles' tax disc was five years out-of-date!

Ernest also recalls in his "recollections" that soon after his elder brother, Harold, had agreed to buy "Le Chateau de la Grande Riviere" he, Harold, took Charles to see the house, accompanied by the estate agent. As they passed a nearby property "La Godelle", Charles turned to the agent and asked whether that property was also for sale. "No" said the agent, "but if you will wait a moment, I will go and see if the owner is there and whether he is willing to sell". This the agent did and he returned shortly to say that the owner would be willing to sell his property for 30,000-francs which, said the agent, "does not sound too expensive". Ernest recalls that Charles reflected on this for a few minutes and then suddenly said "tell him that I am the buyer at his price". The agent again got down from the car and quite soon returned to report that the owner had said "It is arranged. Tell him that there is nothing else to do but to go to St.Malo to place the matter in the hands of his notary."

Ernest, himself, was in Chicago in the USA at the time and did not return home to St.Malo for another two years. His little niece, Nellie, then showed him the way to "La Godelle", which was by then in good order. Charles had spent another 30,000-francs in putting the whole property into good condition. The previous owner had been heard to complain that he had not been given time to reflect and that he should have been able to obtain 50,000-francs. "C'est probable" wrote Ernest fifty years later!!

Charles enjoyed music, particularly grand opera, and after he had eaten in the evening, he would sit and listen to his gramophone, beating time with his head and his feet, and when his brother,

50 who was living in Bournemouth, was planning to visit St.Malo, he would be bidden to take half a dozen new recordings for Charles. At one point Ernest recalls that he had said that his brother was not brave - but then goes on to say - "he is brave, he held fast with the Gestapo and insisted that they should provide him with a receipt for all of his effects!" That refers to the time (probably in 1943) when Charles was arrested by the Germans and sent to the huge jail at St.Denis in Paris, as we shall see later. Nevertheless in the book which Ernest gave to his brother, he tells him "Charles was eccentric" - a statement which I regard as an "understatement"!

When in June 1940 Charles' brother, Harold, with his wife and sons, decided to escape from France in advance of the arrival of the German invading forces Charles opted to remain in his small farm. He said that he was fully accepted by the local French community and he felt that "an old man of 64" would not be of any concern to the German forces. At the beginning it seemed that his judgement was correct. For the first two or three years or so the Germans seemed to take no interest in him or of others in a similar position. It was some time after "Pearl Harbour" and the entry of the USA into the war, that the occupying Germans appear to have taken a different view.

We know, from "Red Cross" letters which my mother received from one of her close friends, Guilaine Donston Le Chevalier, and her mother who lived in St.Malo, that Charles had lunch with them on Sundays and that he joined them on Christmas day 1942. It must have been early in 1943 that the Germans decided that Charles (then aged 67-years) and many other "undesirables", should be arrested and he was sent to one of the largest jails at St.Denis in Paris where he was held for 3-months. By the time that he was released the German occupying forces had decided to exclude all "undesirables" - both French as well as foreigners - from a 50- kilometer coastal strip along the West coast, so that Charles was refused consent to return to his farm. He found shelter and care for the remaining years of the War with "Les Petites Soeurs des Pauvres" (Nuns) in Rennes, the capital city of Brittany.

Charles was eventually able to return to La Godelle on 26th.September 1944 after Brittany had been freed from the German occupation. He found that the whole of the house was in ruin, having been seriously damaged and completely vandalised during his enforced absence and he was never able to live there again. As I have already mentioned it seems that the house was, in fact, on the line of the advancing American troops on 8th.August 1944. At the age of over 70, in deteriorating health, Charles was finally persuaded by his sisters to move to live with them in Bournemouth. His "younger" sister, Charlotte, (then herself nearly 65- years old) invited him to stay with her for six weeks. He stayed for 3-months and would have stayed even longer had not his brother-in-law, Richard, pleaded with him to move. His sister, Marguerite, found him lodgings nearby but he always considered that the amount which he paid for board and lodging was excessive!

His brother records that Charles never bought a newspaper - preferring to go round to see one of the other members of his family where he read their paper, but he still bought books! He also enjoyed going to see the local Bournemouth football team playing at Boscombe.

But Charles was like a fish out of water. He felt lost, away from his farm in Brittany, and his brother, Ernest, recalls that he spent many hours walking here and there about the town. Some

51 said that he was abnormal and it is certain that he would not have survived without the support of his sisters and brother. He died in 1960, at the age of 83-years.

9(h). The eighth child, Ernest Eccleston , (1879-1965) (he was given his grandmother's maiden name as his second name) was only three years old when his father retired to Bournemouth in 1882 and, except as a visitor, had no clear memories of his early years in France, but he always spoke fluent French. He was 27-years old when his sister, Amy, married William FOX, a son in the expanding estate agent's business, and Ernest was obviously aware of the potential for any business in the field of housing development in Bournemouth.

Ernest and his younger brother, George, set up as Surveyors and Architects. Although this did not, in those days, include a professional qualification, yet they established a valuable practice which provided a service for others as well as providing the expertise needed to enable him to carry out speculative and building projects for himself. One of their early projects was to design and build "Eccleston" in St.Winifred's Road for occupation by their father and sisters after the death of their mother. During the 1914-1918 War Ernest was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps where, as a result of his fluent French he was appointed as a Billeting officer, in which position he remained for some years after the war sorting out property war claims.

Ernest married Dorothy Evelyn POOL in 1908 and Bournemouth was always their home. Like his sister, Amy, Ernest and Dorothy did not have any children. Ernest died in 1965 at the age of 85, a year before his wife.

9(i). George Henry Pitron was the last of the children of Edward INSLEY and Marguerite PITRON to be born in France, in 1881 , and he too, therefore, was brought up in England. When he was 15-years old he was articled to Anthony FOX, the brother of his sister Amy's husband, in the firm of Estate Agents, Fox & Sons. About 10-years later he joined his brother Ernest in their own Surveyors and Architects business. It was a year or two later that George was to marry Alice Lucy "Mabel" RIDOUT in September 1907. A year later their first son, Kenneth George was born but he died when only three months old. He was followed by a second son, Hugh Maxwell, of whom more anon, and then by their only daughter, Evelyn Marguerite in 1912.

At about that time George and his brother, Ernest, offered to provide a job to Richard DREW, following his marriage to their younger sister, Charlotte.

George's wife, Mabel, was then aged 34, and was expecting her fourth child when in January 1917 her husband, George, died of peritonitis before her youngest son, George Ernest, was born in June of that year. Mabel was left with only limited means to bring up and educate her surviving three small children. Her elder son, Hugh, was only seven years old. She continued to live in Bournemouth and died over 50-years later in 1969.

The Surveyors and Architects business, Insley & Insley, virtually ceased during the First World War and, following the death of one of the two partners, was to cease as a firm about 1925, although Ernest was to continue as a developer in a small way for many years, acting on his own behalf and for one or two close friends.

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9(j). The last of the children, and the only one to be born in England, was Charlotte Mary who was born in 1883 about a year after her father had retired to live in Bournemouth.

In 1912, when Charlotte was then 29, she married Richard Collins DREW, who was four years her junior. During the First World War Charlotte served as a volunteer nurse. Richard was not a "high flier" and must have been pleased when offered a job as an assistant by his brothers-in- law. He was not to be taken into partnership and after the business ceased he was able to retire - at the age of about 39-years! - no doubt with some financial help from his wife.

Richard and Charlotte had a sad life. Their first son, Richard Edward Insley (Dick), was born two years after their marriage but it was to be another ten years before their second son, Ernest Robert (Bobby), was to be born.

Dick was a sensitive young man and had just qualified as a solicitor at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. He found life hard in the Army during his initial training as a "sapper" in the Royal Engineers. About a year later he joined a troop-ship which was sent via South Africa to the Eastern Mediterranean.

During the few days that the ship spent in Cape Town Dick was invited to visit a South African family who wrote to his parents to express their pleasure at having met him. After that visit his parents heard nothing further from him and there was no record of his reaching Egypt. For many years his parents hoped that he would turn up and would be able to explain his disappearance, but that was not to be. In June 1941 the War Office wrote to his parents and formally reported him as "missing".

By an extraordinary coincidence, I was recently reading the "life story" of Hugh Oxley, a distant cousin of my wife, Jane, on her father's side of the family, who was on HMS Birmingham, one of our most advanced Royal Navy cruisers in the early part of the War. He tells of the "Birmingham", with the battleship, HMS Rodney, and two other cruisers which provided the main escort for twenty five ocean liners and large merchant ships on their voyage to Cape Town early in 1941. On board this huge convoy were over 30,000 men and in addition were all of the equipment and motor transport for a complete armoured division, with all of the ancillary equipment and troops which were required to back up this division.

Hugh Oxley did not, of course, meet Dick Drew, but the details which Hugh provides certainly suggests that the two of them were a part of that enormous fleet of men and ships. Hugh also tells of his first sight of Table Mountain and of the few days that he spent ashore in Cape Town.

Dick's younger brother, Bobby, was mentally retarded and after finishing his schooling he lived in sheltered accommodation until his death in 1947 at the age of only 22-years.

Both of his parents were deeply involved in the Richmond Hill Congregational Church in Bournemouth but they never really recovered from the loss of both sons in sad circumstances. Charlotte died in 1962 at the age of 78. Her husband, Richard, then seemed to take a new lease of life and survived her by another 17-years and died at the age of 93.

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10th Generation 10(a). The first of the tenth generation descended from Henry INSLEY (INGSLEY) was Edward John (Eddy) , the son of Edward Augustus, who was born in 1890 . As Edward Augustus had been born in France it was important under French law, if the parents were to maintain British citizenship for their children, that these children - the second generation - should be born in the United Kingdom. It was for this reason that Eliza travelled to stay with her parents-in-law in Bournemouth for her son's birth. Her three other children were to be born in Jersey for the same reason.

Eddy grew up in St.Malo. Having originally been trained in horticulture Eddy's first idea was to start a horticultural business, but this was not successful and he joined his father in his export business, after his father and uncle, Harold, had decided to "split" the original family firm, as I have explained. In 1919 Eddy married Paule Marie Le CONTE, an attractive young French girl who was known to her family as Paulette.

Paulette's mother's family had originated in Guernsey and, even in the year 2000, her son, Jack, still owned an interest in a small piece of land in that island, which he had inherited from his mother. Jack also has a small old book (about 14cm. x 8.5cm.) printed in 1733, which had been passed down through his mother's family, and which contains the New Testament and the Psalms of David. This leather bound book, with silver corners and two silver clasps, contains the following inscription :-

"This book is presented to Olimphe MAHY by icolas HERY as a pledge of promise to marry in the year 1754. Olimphe MAHY was born 1734 on 2nd.March killed or murdered by a Soldier of His M.King George III on Sunday morning on 15. of May 1808. On her tombstone are written the following Psalm 59 verses 14. The Soldier was the last man to be hung publicly in a field, now the Ford Garage on Les Banques, St.Peter Port, Guernsey."

When Eddy and Paulette's two sons were born, although Eddy had himself been born in England, the same concern about sons being born in France did not apply, as Paulette was herself French. Both of their sons were born in St.Malo.

We believe that it was about 1920/22 that Eddy's parents retired to Bournemouth and Eddy continued his export business on his own for another fifteen years, but he had always been more interested in growing than selling crops and in 1936 he decided to sell his export business and set up a market garden business in England. After farming for a short time he moved his family to Bourne in Lincolnshire and established a market gardening business which thrived during the war years.

After the end of the war he retired and he and Paulette moved to Wethersfield near Braintree in Essex. For several years, Paulette had her own high quality haberdashery shop, known as "The

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Spinning Wheel", from which she derived much pleasure. After Eddy died in 1979, Paulette was to survive her husband by another four years and, having moved to live with her younger son, Jack, and his wife, Ann, in Birmingham she died there in 1983.

10(b). Lily Marguerite was born in 1892 in Jersey at her grandmother's home. She did not marry but, in the tradition of those times, she lived with her parents and looked after them in their retirement and old age and she also died in Bournemouth in 1964 when she was 72-years old.

10(c). May was born in 1894 and was to marry Arthur Ross "Eric" WILSON. Eric was a New Zealander but his parents "split up" and Eric and his parents moved to England, whilst the remainder of the family stayed in New Zealand. May and Eric's marriage did not last and they were divorced in 1940.

May's father, Edward, was never able to accept this and the drafting of his will was later to have a major impact upon his daughters. Edward's will made provision that his four children should share his "estate" in equal parts - AFTER his wife's death. However, he then provided that Eddy should receive a quarter share of the capital but that his three daughters should, initially, receive their share of the income only - but not of the capital - which was to pass, in due course, to any children of his daughters. Then he made specific provision for his unmarried daughter, Lil, who cared for him and his wife in their old age, to be able to receive immediately her share of the capital. This was followed by a similar provision for his daughter, Nellie, "being happily married". But there was no like provision for his daughter, May, who was divorced from her husband. The full story of these provisions were not "discovered" by the next generation until over 50-years later, when I was able to obtain a copy of the will from Somerset House. The precise reason for the provisions, so far as May was concerned, are not known. Perhaps he was trying to ensure that May's share of the assets would, indeed, pass to his grand-daughters and not to any children or step-children of a subsequent marriage. He may, merely, have been very annoyed with May and wanted to prevent her having total control of that capital. At all events, after the death of his widow in 1949 there was a major rift between May and her brother and sisters - particularly her sister, Lil - and May moved to Jersey.

May and Eric had three children. Joyce May (1925), who married twice, William Henry WESTON, and in 1953 to Mervyan Charles COOK, and moved to Australia in 1956. Ian Ross who was born in 1927 and married Marjorie TAVINNER. They emigrated to Canada and they had two daughters. The third child, Marguerite Insley, married Howard WORTH. Her marriage did not last and after meeting Reginald BROOKER in London she too emigrated to Australia in 1973 and married Reg 9-years later.

In 1961, at the suggestion of her elder daughter Joyce, May sold her house in Jersey and moved out to New South Wales in Australia. She was well provided for. Not only had she by then received a substantial sum from her parents but she was also a beneficiary under the will of her uncle, Ernest Eccleston. In 1979, with both of her daughters in Australia, May passed on to her three children their share of the capital, which she had received from her father. This enabled Marguerite to pay off the mortgage on her house and, with this help, May moved to Brisbane where she lived with Marguerite until her death in 1980.

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10(d). The fourth child, to be born to Edward and Eliza in 1895, was ellie. She too, after being born in Jersey was brought to St.Malo and her cousin, Ernest, told of the many occasions when she and her brother and sisters were to play tennis at La Grande Riviere.

When writing about her grandfather, I have already mentioned a book, privately produced, which was written by Nellie when she was still only 19-years old. This book recounts, under the title "The Story of a Great Adventure", of her involvement as a young woman, and that of the Insley family, in the "History and Foundation of the English Hospital for French Soldiers at the old Chateau at St.Malo from September 1914, which was then transferred in March 1915 to the Grand Hotel des Greves", until it was finally handed over to the French Red Cross in October 1916.

Although written by Nellie, there is a long introduction by a London surgeon, Mr.Henry Curtis, F.R.C.S., who volunteered to work in the hospital during the Summer of 1915, and who clearly would not have assisted in the production of a biased account of the work of this hospital.

The book and its photographs provide a fascinating insight into the conditions of those times, but it would be inappropriate to incorporate all 26-pages. A few copies of the book still exist and the following extracts will, perhaps, give an impression of the whole :-

"After the Great Retreat from Mons and Charleroi, when the Allied Armies made their stand at the Marne, thousands of wounded were sent from the battlefields as far south and west as possible. Accordingly, in a very short time, all of the hospitals in St.Malo were filled to overflowing, and, although new ones were being opened up almost daily in all the large hotels and important buildings, the total number of beds was hopelessly inadequate.

On Saturday, September 17th. 1914, the Hotel Franklin, St.Malo, was requisitioned, and that same night a large convoy of wounded arrived. As no preparations had been made, the poor men were obliged to stay all night in cattle trucks at the station, for it had been impossible to equip a sufficient number of ambulance trains. The next morning, beds were hurriedly carted from the barracks to the Hotel Franklin, and, as soon as each bed was ready, one of the "blesses" waiting outside was brought in and laid on it. Several members of the English colony who had previously offered their services, were quickly called up by telephone, and these, with a number of French ladies, received the wounded, and looked after their wants as well as they were able. Over six hundred arrived that day, and some of the hospitals were so full, that they were obliged to turn out into the street several of their men who had arrived only a few days before, and whose wounds were by no means healed. Happily, we received that morning, from Bournemouth, a large supply of shirts and bandages which proved a most timely and useful gift, as nothing had been prepared for the equipment of the Hospital. Most of these shirts were sent to us from "Craghead", a Red Cross hospital in Bournemouth. They had heard from Mrs. Fox, (Edward and Harold Insley's sister) that trainloads of wounded were arriving in St.Malo, and that, unfortunately, the majority of Hospitals were badly equipped, and were also in need of urses. In view of this need, "Craghead" offered a Staff of Trained urses, with Doctors, for work in one of the hospitals. This generous offer was immediately laid by Mr.E.Insley before the Major of the "Franklin". The latter, however, answered to the effect that "he would be very pleased to have Trained urses, but that he was in no need of a Surgeon". To this proposal Mr.Insley could not agree, and for the time being no further steps were taken.

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On the following Wednesday, September 18th. a telegram was received stating that Miss Girdlestone, the Commandant of one of the V.A.D. detachments at "Craghead" was crossing that night with her friend Mrs.Castell. Accordingly, Messrs. Edward and Harold Insley, with several members of their families, met the boat the next morning, and were delighted to hear that these ladies had come over for the express purpose of arranging matters. After breakfast, they went down to interview the "Franklin" Major and, as he was still in need of urses, he finally offered the second floor containing about one hundred and fifty beds. This offer Miss Girdlestone accepted, and she then arranged that a Staff should cross on the following Saturday night from England and take the entire charge of those beds. The Major also promised to write a letter of invitaion to the English Doctor; and, in order to save time, a telegram to that effect was sent to Craghead."

But even then matters did not proceed as quickly and smoothly as had been hoped. With the "Franklin" Major raising difficulties, as the building was under military control. Even with the help of Dr.Hervot, of St.Malo, who had been asked to start another hospital, it was necessary to seek the help of General Gillot, the Military Governor of St.Malo. Even so he had, first, to obtain the formal sanction of the regional General-in-Chief at Rennes, before the welcome telegram arrived saying "Acceptez d'urgence". This gave final approval for the English medical staff of nine Nurses, three Doctors and the Honorary Secretary to take over the running of the new hospital.

Nellie continues :- "That first tour of inspection must have been decidedly discouraging to both Doctors and urses, coming, as they did, from English hospitals fitted with every convenience. Part of the 47th.Regiment had just been turned out, and the rooms were naturally in an extremely dirty condition, especially as the men were only then beginning to whitewash the walls and scrub the floors. Our first and greatest difficulties were those of lighting and water supply, there being neither gas nor electricity in the building, and water was laid on only on the ground floor. As it was impossible to await the sanction of the French Government, Mr.Halcombe and Mr.E.Insley guaranteed the sum required on condition that electric light should be laid on everywhere in as short a time as possible. The remainder of Monday, both morning and afternoon, was spent in shopping. Basins, kettles, brooms, and other necessities, were purchased for the new hospital, as nothing was to be found at the Chateau, indeed, the only articles of furniture in the place were four tables and a few benches.

The next morning, Tuesday, Sept. 24th. a convoy of wounded arrived, and twentyeight men were sent in to us. Early that morning the new hospital staff, with many willing helpers from the English colony, busily unpacked the huge bales of sheets, shirts, cotton wool, lint and gauze, etc., which they had brought over with them. Whilst they were thus engaged, the first "blesses" were carried in on stretchers. Fortunately, three of the rooms had been whitewashed and were ready for use, so the military beds were immediately put up and prepared for the men. Those beds left much to be desired! They consisted merely of three wooden planks which fitted into the iron legs at the top and the bottom. The planks, also, were only covered with a thin straw mattress, the straw being usually heaped up into a mountain at one end, leaving nothing but the outer dirty linen covering at the other. In spite of this even these beds seemed too soft, at first, to the poor men who had been sleeping on the ground for two months!

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The first days must indeed have been most tiring, as well as trying, for the Staff. At night, all the dressings had to be done by candlelight and, when the electric light was turned on for the first time, everyone revelled in the luxury. Unfortunately, as the electric fittings were only temporary, the light often had an inconvenient way of going out suddenly in the middle of a bad dressing.

After the electric light had been put in, the next question was that of water supply, as all the water for the wards had to be carried upstairs in cans by the Orderlies or "Infirmiers". aturally, they were never by any means particular, and the nurses often found themselves pouring out cider for the surgeons hands, in spite of the fact that the men had been repeatedly told to use the cans only for carrying up water!"

With the arrival of more convoys of wounded men and the differences between the customs of the French and English nursing teams the problems mounted until, Nellie wrote :-

"During the month of ovember, Mr.E.Insley decided to take the matter in hand, and he went up to Rennes to interview the Head of the "Service de Sante" the Army Medical Corps. He arranged with the latter to take over the catering at 1/2d. per head, but this sum was also intended to cover the expenses of fuel and laundry. The only stipulation was that a French Major should be appointed nominal head of the Hospital, in order to sign all military documents, and inspect the men, before evacuating them to the Convalescent Depots. This arrangement soon proved very satisfactory, and the extra allowance was a great help as, although the Doctors and urses gave their services voluntarily, they were, of course, boarded at the expense of the Hospital. At first, several of the nurses were offered hospitality in French as well as in English households, and the remainder put up in one of the hotels; but this plan was soon found to be utterly impracticable. It was naturally very tiring for those nurses who lived at any distance from the Chateau, and, when "blesses" arrived at night, it was almost impossible to warn everyone."

"From the very first, our Surgeons had asked for "grands blesses" and the authorities soon recognised the fact that the men sent to the English side of the Chateau received every care, and were most skilfully operated upon. Many men were brought in from other hospitals for operation, and, as Dr.Hervot himself was not a Surgeon, he also was constantly sending us patients. By this time the Operating Theatre (under Mr.Maitland Scott) was the pride of the whole Hospital".

"During the months of October and ovember 1914 we had several cases of Tetanus and, as nearly all the other hospitals were in the same plight, it was only with the greatest difficulty and expense that we were able to get Antitetanus Serum, of which an amount to the value of ,1 was injected into each patient each day. At one time we had three men with Tetanus, and we are proud to say that we saved them all. As Mr. Scott had been obliged to return to Bournemouth through overwork, Dr.Harris was now Chief Surgeon, and he was most successful in treating this terrible disease."

"During those first weeks the poor men who were brought in were, naturally, in an awful state, as they had not been able to change their clothes since they had left home in August."

"Dr.Buller, who came to us from Guernsey, had a tale to tell about rats. He had set a trap in one of the rooms, and had managed to kill a rat, which he showed with great delight to "Sambo", a

59 young Algerian, who had a severely fractured leg, and was very ill indeed. At lunchtime that day, Dr.Buller brought over a nice piece of steak; but, to his astonishment, Sambo began to make quite an uproar, and absolutely refused to touch the meat, for he declared that "it was the rat which the doctor had had cooked!"

Nellie refers to "several Guernsey ladies offered their services through the "Society for Helping French Wounded". This Society has been most generous, and has greatly helped the Hospital, both financially and materially", and also refers to "Our Jersey friends, also, continue to support us most generously. From the beginning, they have contributed most liberally to our Hospital Fund, and by every boat they still send us gifts of all kinds. either do we forget the fact that the Red Cross Society in Jersey, and the St.John's Ambulance, provide us with two Probationers, and defray their expenses."

Mr.E.Insley is again mentioned by Nellie when "he was obliged to go to Rennes and interview the Authorities (in March 1915) when a rumour was spread that the military authorities intended to take over the "Chateau" again for use as Military Barracks. Indeed he had to return to Rennes again a few days later in order to obtain "after some difficulty" the use of the "Hotel des Greves" for use as the new hospital.

At the end of her "History" Nellie's "Great Adventure" records that within the first year " nearly one thousand patients had been through the Hospital and we are proud to say that we have only lost eight men" and that was despite an outbreak of Tetanus, which she recounts, and extreme shortages of drugs and medical requisites.

In the introduction, the London surgeon, Mr.Henry Curtis, FRCS. refers to Mr.Edward A.Insley, his son and three daughters, Lily, May and Nellie, and also to Harold Insley and his three sons, Harold, Ernest and Gerald. Amongst the fifteen photographs there is a charming one of Nellie and her two sisters and the whole is, indeed, a fascinating "History", which now provides an insight into the events which occurred in 1914 and 1915 over 80-years ago.

After the First World War, when Nellie was 30-years old she met Dr.H.Philip GOLDSMITH at a Student Christian Movement conference. He was the son of a long line of Norfolk farmers and the first son of that family who had decided to "leave the land" and take up medicine. They were married in St.Malo in 1926 in the English church which her parents had helped to establish. Her husband had a general medical practice in Newark, Nottinghamshire and they lived there for the next 40-years where they were held in high regard in the community. In those days, as well as practicing as a family doctor, Philip took an active part in the General Hospital where his abilities in minor surgery and orthopaedics were much valued by the community. Nellie and Philip had three children. Jane Alison (1929) followed by twins boys, Philip Selwyn and Roger Wharton, in 1932.

After Philip's retirement they moved in 1966 to Newton Ferrers, on the coast near Plymouth in Devon, where their daughter, Jane, and her family lived. Jane had married her second cousin, Val, the author of this "family story", and his parents, Ernest (son of Harold) and Barbara had also at the time retired and were already living at Newton Ferrers, when Nellie and Philip bought the adjoining bungalow.

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They quickly integrated into the local community where they lived very happily. In the Summer of 1978 they received a telephone call from the hospital at Exeter asking them to go immediately to see their grandson, Christopher, whom they had been told had been involved in a car accident, whilst Jane and I and our other children were still on a camping holiday in France. By the time that they were able to get to Exeter Christopher had died. As with my own mother, they were very shattered by that experience. As an elderly person one does not expect one's grandchildren to die before oneself. Philip died in 1983 and his widow, Nellie, remained in the area until her own death, at the age of 92.

As I have explained the reason for my writing this book is to try to record something about the families who, together, make up my ancestors. I have wanted to research and collect not only the "facts" of the dates and places of births, marriages and deaths of those in these families but also, where possible, something about their lives. I can hardly suggest that the forebears of my father- in-law, Dr.H.Philip GOLDSMITH, for whom I had a very high regard and affection, comes within the category of one of MY ancestors. However, my own 70th. birthday has now past and I recognise that if this book is of interest to anybody, that it is possible that it may interest my children and my grandchildren. So I have decided to include a story about one of Philip's forebears as the younger members of my own family can, legitimately, look upon the GOLDSMITHs as some of their own ancestors, although not my own.

After the death in 1864, of my father-in-law's grandmother, her eldest son, Philip Wharton GOLDSMITH, who was only 21-years old, went to live with some cousins. When they emigrated to New Zealand in 1879, Philip Wharton decided to accompany them. There he met and married Kate WILLIAMS and they had a son, Tom Selwyn. In 1883 when he was 24-years old, Philip Wharton's younger brother, Horace Henry (who was to be the father of my father-in- law, H.Philip GOLDSMITH) travelled to New Zealand to visit his brother, who was then farming near Christchurch in the South Island. Horace Henry kept a detailed diary of that trip, which was eventually passed to me and which my wife and I later deposited in the Christchurch museum. A copy has also been deposited with the Norfolk Family History Society records in Norwich. That diary started my interest in the branch of the GOLDSMITH family in New Zealand and of their forebears who included some of the very early settlers.

Prior to Jane and I visiting New Zealand in 1989, we planned to stay with Tom and Lorraine HENSON, who lived near Palmerston North, in the North Island. I had learned that one of Lorraine's grandmothers had been Philip Wharton GOLDSMITH. During our stay Lorraine told me that the life of her other grandmother, "Tina" McIlvride, was included in a book, entitled "Petticoat Pioneers", which told the stories of the wives of some of the earliest settlers in New Zealand. Tina McILVRIDE had married Richard G. PROUSE and I have decided to include in this book a part of the story of "Granny Prouse", (as she was known for many years). I have included a simple "line of descent" which shows the links between Lorraine, her father, Tom Selwyn GOLDSMITH, and Richard Prouse and his wife Mary who had left Aveton Gifford, near Plymouth as some of the very earliest settlers in New Zealand.

Richard G.PROUSE was the grandson of Richard PROUSE and his wife Mary, who were living in 1839 at Aveton Gifford, a village a few miles outside Plymouth and close to Newton Ferrers, where my wife's parents were to retire in 1966. As my parents moved, with my two sisters and me, near to Aveton Gifford in 1941 and as Plymouth was my home from the time of my own marriage in 1956 until 1997, I knew this village well.

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Richard and Mary PROUSE had five small children. Their sixth child died soon after birth in October 1839 and when they tried to arrange for a funeral for their child the vicar of the parish refused to bury an un-baptised child in consecrated ground in the churchyard. When the parents found that the Methodist minister adopted precisely the same inflexible attitude they decided, within a week, to leave England for good and take their family with them and emigrate to New Zealand.

Close to the "Mayflower" stone on the Barbican in Plymouth, which commemorates the departure of the first settlers leaving Europe to settle in New England in the U.S.A., there is another plaque to commemorate the departure of the first settlers from England who left for New Zealand. The S.S.Tory left Plymouth in 1829. It is interesting to realise that, in those very early days, a couple with a humble background should have decided to leave their home, wider family and friends and sail for the other side of the world to search for a better life and more "Christian" people.

The ship in which they sailed, The Duke of Roxburgh, had a terrible journey and the Captain was lost overboard during a gale. They reached Wellington in February 1840.

Richard and Mary PROUSE's second son, also Richard, married Janet GORRIE in Australia and in 1879 their son, Richard G. PROUSE married 19-years old Christina "Tina" McILVRIDE, whose family had emigrated from Scotland some years earlier.

From an early age Tina had learned to know and understand the Maori people as she grew up on a 30-acre farm 9-miles from the nearest small settlement at Lower Hutt (now a suburb of Wellington).The following are a selection of extracts from her story in the "Petticoat Pioneers".

"From the age of twelve she rode her horse twice weekly over the narrow hill track while she carried the Wainuiomata mail to the Lower Hutt Post Office and collected the mail for the Wainuiomata settlers. The distance was 9miles each way, and despite Winter southerlies the task was accomplished without falter from either girl or horse for seven years. At times when the doctor was needed in the middle of the night it was Tina who rode to fetch him from Lower Hutt."

"Tina's first baby, a son, was premature and lived only a day and a half. She then had four daughters, Isabella Grace (1880), Jessie Agnes (1883), Gertrude Mary (1884) and Christina Mabel (Lorraine's mother)(1885). She soon learnt that a sawmill is never free from accidents and therefore prepared herself to meet the need of first aid by the purchase and study of a course of medical books. The more serious accidents were sent or taken to the doctor at Lower Hutt but the men soon appreciated Tina's good sense and capabilities, and when accidents occurred she was sent for at once.

One day while in Wellington she hurried into H.Brittain's chemist shop and asked for a set of surgical needles. When asked what she needed it for she replied that she had just sewn up a man's hand with a darning needle and she was not going to do that again! She left the shop with a full kit of medical supplies which were to be kept in her special cupboard which had a red cross on each door."

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"By 1891 Richard and his brother, James, had decided to move to the new settlement of Levin and establish a sawmill in the 4,000acre block of bush, purchased by the Government from Maori owners and surveyed in 1888." (Levin is about 60-miles to the North of Wellington.)

"Tina's house had been built and the mill established by the time she arrived to settle in Levin. When the move was made the children and Fanny, the servant, were left with an aunt at the Hutt while they drove via gauranga to Paekakariki."

"Life in the two community centred round the two sawmills. The dense bush had wild pigs, wild cattle and horses roaming through it and one of the favourite sports of the mill hands was chasing wild pigs which, if caught, were put into styes."

"For Tina homemaking began again, with the garden and orchard to be established. Her next three children, Eunice, Richard Allan (1894) and Phyllis Elizabeth (1898) were born in Levin, and despite the young ones about her skirts she was amazingly efficient and her capacity for work astonished everyone.

During the early years in Levin there was also the problem of banking money and collecting the wages for the men. The Bank was 60miles away in Wellington and it was Tina who made the monthly train journey to deposit the money and collect the payroll. On arrival in Wellington the same "cabbie" always took her from the station to the Bank, waited while she transacted her business, then returned her to the station. According to the timetable the period between the arrival of one train and the departure of the next was twenty minutes.

Although she was not a registered nurse Tina accepted as her duty the task of caring for the sick and needy, and it was Tina to whom the millhands and settlers turned in times of illness, disaster or distress. She possessed a dominant personality, but with it was a serenity that cheered and encouraged others, and whether the issue was life or death that calmness remained.

She hated fuss or sham under any disguise, never broke a promise and could not tolerate dishonesty. She deplored gossip, maintaining that if a kind thing could not be said about a person it was better to remain "tightlipped". She kept open house, giving hospitality to people from all walks of life, some occupying high positions, others being runaway delinquents.

She knew all the difficulties of pioneering when accidents occurred at the sawmill, and with no doctor nearer than Foxton the stories she could tell of attending severe cuts and broken limbs became legion. Those were the days of bush surgery when staves from a nail keg were padded and used as splints. She would set the broken limb, apply splints and bandages, and the patient was then carried on a stretcher to the railway siding where the southbound train would be flagged and the patient would be put in the guard's van to endure a bumpy journey to Wellington Hospital.

One morning two bushmen arrived at the door supporting an injured comrade whose toe had been sliced off with an axe. As Tina began the dressing he dipped his hand into his pocket and produced a grubby handkerchief which he unwrapped carefully. "Der's m' toe, Ma'am", he remarked as he handed it over, obviously expecting it to be replaced.

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There was another day when a small barefooted boy rushed to her door and shouted for her to come at once because Mummy was dying. She hastened with him through the bush and mud. Hours later when asked what had transpired she explained that she had just brought another baby into the world.

eedless to say this was a common occurrence as she was the midwife to the bush community and it was natural that she acquired the name of Granny Prouse. Leave everything to Granny, they said. Everything would be all right if Granny Prouse was there."

"On another occasion a boy had eaten the poisonous tutu berries. Someone rode to Foxton for the doctor, going via the coast and then crossing the unbridged Manawatu River, while in the meantime Tina did her best for the boy. Convulsions had set in and at one stage she thought that she had lost him, but having read that cows have been saved by kerosene used as an antidote for tutu poisoning she managed to get a dose into him and so saved his life.

Tina never missed an opportunity to help another in distress and always knew exactly what action to take. On one of her many journeys to the Bank in Wellington a blind man was helped into the train at Ohau. When Tina spoke to him, asking him what had affected his sight, he explained that he had been blinded by smoke while fighting a bush fire and was going to Wellington Hospital. Offering to help him she placed his head on the windowsill of the jolting carriage, opened one eye wide and rolled back the lid, then licked the eyeball until the saliva and roughness of her tongue had removed the film and he could see. She repeated the treatment with the other eye. Amazed and delighted he left the train at Manakau and walked back to Ohau.

From the earliest days in Levin the Prouse family took an active interest in the Methodist Church, donating the land for the Sunday School which commenced in 1895 with Richard as Superintendent. James provided the site for the present church, and his wife Clara, with Tina, laid the foundation stone. Over the years they have been generous and have helped in the leadership of the Methodist Church life. Tina held offices for some fifty years and was responsible for the floral work until a few years before her death.

During World War One she was actively engaged in caring for the sick and wounded soldiers recuperating at the Weraroa Hall which had been turned into a hospital. She took charge as Matron there and many dangerouslyill men were pulled through by her wise and careful nursing. Again, when the 1918 influenza epidemic struck, she did sterling work a submatron at a temporary hospital sited at the school."

"Tina's own personal sorrow came when Richard suffered a severe stroke in October 1921. The doctor gave no hope and she remained day and night beside his unconscious form until he died four days later at the age of sixtysix."

"As the years passed she looked forward to birthdays with as much enthusiasm as in her youth, declaring that it may be grand to be only nineteen, but it was just as grand to be ninety. Tina, who had been Granny Prouse to so many, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of ninetyone."

10(e). Harold Charles and Mary Morel (Dolly) were to have three sons, the first two being twins. Harold Mourant and his twin, Ernest Boyd, were born at First Tower in Jersey on Christmas

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Eve 1899 , the home of Dolly's parents. As with his younger brothers, Harold went to Cranleigh College in Surrey, where his uncle, Philip MOURANT, had previously been a schoolmaster. Harold then went to Victoria College in Jersey before joining the Honorable Artillery Company during the latter part of the First World War.

For a period of five or six years after the end of the War Harold farmed a small farm at Le Moulin du Colombier, a kilometre or so from Le Chateau de la Grande Riviere. During this period he must have been considering the possibility of ordination in the Church of England. In 1924, he was to meet a retired Captain in the Royal Navy, at that time aged 54, his wife, who was 7-years younger than her husband, and small son, Harry A.Williams, who all came, with Harry's two elder sisters, to live in St.Malo and spent some years as members of the English community in Parame.

Many years later, Harry, who was himself to be ordained and was a Member of the Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield, wrote his own biography under the title "Some Day I Will Find You", which still achieves sales and is in circulation. Harry Williams, at one time Chaplain at Westcott House Theological College in Cambridge, later became the Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge. It was at that time that he was regarded as at the height of his powers, after the publication of his Trinity College sermons under the title "The True Wilderness". During this period Harry Williams met H.R.H. Prince Charles, and many years later he was asked to perform a special blessing at the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana the Princess of Wales.

In this autobiography Harry Williams makes reference to his early life in St.Malo and their contacts with other local English people through the English Anglican church where Harry's mother joined the choir. As a result of this she met a family, to whom Harry gives the surname of "Branson" in his autobiography. They were, in fact, the INSLEYs. His reference to "Valentine" was not to me, as I was not to be born for another four years!

In Harry's autobiography he tells how his mother fell in love with the eldest INSLEY son, 23- years her junior, whom Harry calls "Clifford". His twin brother, Ernest, is referred to as "George", whilst their younger brother, Gerald, is given his own name and he also correctly refers to Gerald's wife as Mary Turpin and her brother as Julian. Harry also makes reference to "Uncle Eddie" (see 10(a) above). There are references to Harry being taken by his mother to Clifford's parents’ chateau where "Clifford" was, at that time running their home farm. In fact the home farm, Le Moulin du Colombier", was a mile or so from their chateau and, as I have mentioned, Harold was to run this until 1927.

Harry Williams writes that on one occasion when he was six years old "I went to a seldom frequented corner of our house and found "Clifford" and my mother in a close embrace. She was looking rapturously into his face saying "Sonny", whilst he was looking rapturously down into hers saying "Mummy"." Harry Williams then continues by writing "For reasons which will become clear soon, their physical intimacy certainly did not extend beyond that limit. In some ways it might well have been better if it had". The Williams family moved from St.Malo back to England in about 1926.

Harry Williams tells that his mother was to become a very intense Christian. Perhaps it is not surprising that this period in the life of the family in St.Malo was never discussed with the next generation. Many years later, as a result of a visit which I paid to Mirfield from Southwell for a

67 day's retreat, I learned that Harry Williams had eventually retired to live once more as one of the Brothers at Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield in West Yorkshire. At the time of my visit he was over 80-years old and was becoming quite frail.

It was not until many years after Harold's death that his second wife, Phyllis, was to draw my attention to Harry Williams' autobiography and was to discuss the impact which this period was to have upon her late husband. Despite being married to him Phyllis felt that Harold was always very reserved and withdrawn and rarely showed, even to his wife, any signs of affection.

In 1928 Harold went up to Oxford where he obtained his degree. He then went to theological college in Lincoln, where he was ordained in 1932 and then accepted an appointment as a curate at Grantham that Advent. It was there that he first met Phyllis JOHNSON, whom he was to marry many years later, after the death of his first wife. At that time Phyllis was a piano teacher. Then, and indeed for the rest of her life, music was one of her greatest interests.

The parish magazines of St.Wulfram's Church of that period record the contributions which Harold made to his work with young people, his efficient contributions to the parish magazine and his general support and leadership in the parish. He lived at 22, Northgate and then at 79, Westgate. In November 1935 Harold left the Diocese of Lincoln to take a post at Guildford Cathedral with particular responsibility for a district church, but within a year he decided to join the South African Church Railway Mission where he took up a post in 1936.

In 1940 he moved to Port Elizabeth where he ministered until returning to England in 1945. Returning at first to Guildford Cathedral, he first accepted a living as the Rector of Ash in Surrey and then later at Great Kimble, Buckinghamshire until he retired to Bovey Tracey in Devonshire in 1967.

Whilst attached to Guildford Cathedral in 1945, Harold visited the neighbouring hospital where he met Constance Eva TOKLEY "Connie" whom he married. He was then 45-years old. They had one child, Harold Tokley Mourant who was born in 1946. Connie died when her son was only 16-years old and for a year Harold and his son were able to manage together until, in August 1964, Harold married Phyllis Edith Isabel JOHNSON, whom he had first met so many years earlier.

Soon after his retirement from full-time ministry in 1967 Harold and Phyllis moved to Bovey Tracey in Devon where Harold accepted a position as an Assistant priest and helped the vicars of several parishes in that area. During the next 25-30 years Phyllis was able to enjoy her love of music through her membership of the Exeter Musical Society.

Harold died in 1983 and for ten years his widow remained in their bungalow until she had to move to a nearby residential home. Phyllis died early in 1999 at the age of 91-years. Her funeral in Bovey Tracey was followed by cremation and her ashes were then later interred in her parents' grave in the cemetery at Grantham.

10(f). Ernest Boyd , Harold's twin, was born a few minutes after his brother. His schooling was similar to Harold's except that Ernest and later his younger brother Gerald were to go to Elizabeth College in Guernsey after their start at Cranleigh. Ernest, too, joined the Royal Horse Artillery in

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February 1918 in the Regiment of the Honorable Artillery Corps. His final "Demob" certificate refers to him having been a "Driver" and having "served for one year and 62 days with the Colours", for which he later received two service medals.

Surprisingly, I know little about the work which my father did during those early years after that War. This is one of the reasons why I feel that some notes should now be made for the interest of our successors. Ernest was involved in a motor business, but it seems that this was not financially successful. His younger brother, Gerald, joined the family export business at the time that their father, Harold, and uncle, Edward, split the business into two separate businesses, and it seems that Ernest joined the business a little later - possibly about 1930. In those days the Insley family in St.Malo clearly had a fairly prosperous and easy-going life. Ernest's father, Harold, went riding along the beach at Parame for an hour or so before going to work and the partners of the family business were supported by efficient staff who clearly did much of the "donkey work".

There was an established British community living in St.Malo, Parame and Dinard in those days and there were frequent opportunities for dances and outings to the Casino, the yearly Race meetings and, of course, tennis and house parties at Le Chateau de la Grande Riviere.

I imagine that it happens in nearly all families that the younger generations do not remember stories which they are told by their parents - and uncles and aunts - about family events of earlier times. As I have said this is the main reason which has prompted me to try to collect "stories" about our families, for the interest of future generations.

I have a very vague recollection of hearing the name of "Jack" DALLAIN as being one of my grandfather's Jersey "cousins" and someone who was also a keen horseman and who used to come to St.Malo each Summer for the main horse-racing calendar in June. I have only recently been able to link "Jack" DALLAIN as being John Simonet DALLAIN, one of the descendants of Pierre DALLAIN who was born in France about 1650 who moved to Jersey with his wife Michelle Le BAS and who were the forebears of one of the old Jersey families whose story has been researched and published by Henry COUTANCHE. Jack DALLAIN was a "cousin" of my grandmother, Mary Morel MOURANT, through her MOREL forebears, and was a close friend of both of my grandparents. Jack DALLAIN and my grandfather, Harold INSLEY, were among those who looked forward to the St.Malo races each Summer.

It was into this community that Mansergh and Norah ROBINSON came to visit the district after his retirement from South Africa, with their daughter, Barbara (see ROBISO FAMILY story) and in this way Ernest met his future wife. Ernest and Barbara were married in 1927 at the small English church to which I have referred when telling the story of Ernest's father, Harold Charles (see 9(f). The marriage service was conducted by Ernest's uncle, The Revd.Philip J.Mourant (see MOURAT FAMILY story) after the Civil Marriage at the British Vice Consulate at St.Malo.

When recording the story of his parents, Harold and Dolly, I have referred to my father, Ernest, going to see his parents early on the morning of 15th.June 1940. He gave them the latest news of the advancing German forces and helped them each to pack one single suitcase, which was all that they would be permitted to take with them when they travelled on, what was to be, the last civilian ship to leave St.Malo for England.

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During those days in mid-June 1940 a "fog of war" had descended over the Northern part of France. The French army was in complete rout and disarray; commanders were out of touch with each other; there was no longer a clearly defined "front"; communications and broadcasts were based upon out-of-date or inaccurate information; the French government was on the move and rumours were rife. It was known that thousands of men had been rescued from the beaches of Dunkerque on 30th.May and 1st.June but in the following days very little information was provided over the radio about the precise state of any advance by the German forces in France. The news of the advancing German forces, which was given to my parents by word of mouth early that morning, was shattering.

Since the outbreak of War in September 1939 my sisters and I had spent our holidays in Devon with a great uncle, The Reverend Thomas WOOD-ROBINSON (see the ROBISO FAMILY Story) who was at that time the Rector of Doddiscombsleigh, a small parish near Exeter. It was to him that Ernest and Barbara naturally planned to turn for shelter on their arrival in England with their two suitcases. They would not forget some of the circumstances of their arrival in Southampton that June day.

Their ship had been packed with many other British people who were also fleeing from northern France, with no prior notice. On landing all refugees were being closely questioned about their intended destinations. Like my parents, many had lived abroad for some years but had just travelled across France in difficult circumstances before arriving at St.Malo and were still in a state of shock. One particular immigration officer had been pressing, in an officious manner, for precise details of the intended address to which these refugees were travelling - when their only thought had been to flee from the advancing German forces. Some were almost reduced to tears. When it came to the turn of my parents, my father replied to the enquiry, quite quickly, "Doddiscombsleigh in Devon". The immigration officer was taken aback and was obliged to ask my father to repeat this destination. This my father did, equally quickly - trying to give the impression that any reasonable person would, of course, know this very small village on the edge of Dartmoor and, moreover, would know how to spell the name of the village! The officer was obliged to ask my father to repeat the name once more and ask how it was spelt! As my parents slowly moved forward in the queue of advancing refugees, they were pleased to hear that those who were behind them in the queue were being treated in a more understanding manner.

Those events occurred on 15th.June. On the 17th. the converted Cunard liner "Lancastria" had been sent to the South Brittany port of St.Nazaire, about 80-miles to the South of Rennes, to help to collect some of the remnants of the 40,000 British troops who had reached that port. Over 4,000 troops and civilians lost their lives when that ship was struck by bombs from a German bomber. When this was reported to Winston Churchill he decided that news of the terrible event should not be released. It was the following day that Churchill delivered his famous "Their Finest Hour" speech". In the situation which existed at that time the censorship of that story was forgotten and it was many, many years before it was published in Britain.

The next day the French government applied to the Germans for a cessation of hostilities and a week later the French delegates accepted terms for an armistice and just after midnight on 25th.June 1940 hostilities officially ceased.

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My parents often said in later years that their world seemed to come to a stop at that time. But in later years Ernest's diary showed that it was for only a little over a fortnight, by which time he had been able to obtain a labouring job with the Forestry Commission. Ernest and Barbara were also able to rent a small "two up and two down" cottage in the village, which was to be our family home during the next six months.

It was not until many years later that I was told how the "fall of France" on 25th.June had shattered our cousins in Galveston, Texas in the USA. Having heard the news on the radio that morning, and fearing that Ernest and Barbara had been trapped in St.Malo by the advancing German forces, Helen ROBINSON, at that time a school-mistress in Galveston, had sent a cable to May MORRELL (the mutual cousin who owned Bellan House Boarding School at Oswestry in Shropshire) saying "Send us Barbara's two girls if she consents. Can meet ship. Is Barbara in England?" In the event my parents decided that we should all stay together as a family, whatever the outcome of that decision might be.

Before the end of the year Ernest had been appointed as a foreman/manager to take charge of a new "team". This team was largely made up of Norwegian fishermen who were returning home from Antarctic waters when their country was surrendered to the Germans and who decided to join the allied forces in this country. The younger ones joined the Armed forces whilst those who were then over 40 or 45-years took jobs with the Forestry Commission, or worked on farms, which had been their "second trade" at home in Norway.

My father's appointment coincided with major tree felling on Lord Mildmay's Flete Estate at Holbeton, in Devon, about 12-miles to the East of Plymouth. The Agent for the Flete Estate was Eric Haslehurst, who was provided with a substantial house on the Estate. Anticipating being required to accept "evacuees" from the East end of London, Eric and his wife, Doris, took in "refugees" from France! Eric and Doris had no family of their own and a very happy bond was to be forged between us all, which was to last for many years until their death, even though we were to move to Yelverton on Dartmoor a year later. It was at "Efford House", the estate house occupied by the Haslehursts, that my sisters and I joined our parents for our holiday that Christmas 1940. After having lived in a tiny "two up and two down cottage" at Doddiscombesleigh we not only enjoyed the luxury of quite a substantial house, but there was a full time housemaid and others who came in from the village to help from time to time.

We returned there too for our Easter holiday. Although Plymouth had been badly bombed by the Germans in March 1941 we were not fully aware of the devastation which had been caused. It was estimated that during the two nights of 20th. and 21st. March 1941 that over 20,000 properties in Plymouth had been destroyed or badly damaged at a cost of over ,100-million (which in those days was an enormous sum!). But Holbeton was over 12-miles outside the city and as petrol was severely rationed, with very little to buy in the shops even if one journeyed there, the younger members of the village community knew little of these events.

Our parents met our train at South Brent, about 20-miles before it reached Plymouth, and we travelled to Efford House without the need to go into Plymouth. The first few days of that Easter holiday were spent in the peaceful rural surroundings of Holbeton and we were able to enjoy the woods adjoining the beautiful Mothecombe estuary. I accompanied my father on several days as he visited his forestry gang who were at work in the Flete Estate woodland plantations. It was during these outings with my father that I got to know some of the Norwegians, as well as the

72 men and women of Holbeton. They were all now involved in the tree-felling and extraction of conifers, which were mainly used for the production of pit props for the Welsh coal mines.

On 22nd.April Ernest, my father, was overseeing this work in one of the plantations and was talking to two of the foresters when there was a loud shout from another, who had been preparing one of the trees for felling. A sudden gust of wind had caught the tree and blew this towards my father and one of the Norwegians. But there was insufficient warning and the tree crashed to the ground, with my father underneath! In those days there was no nearby ambulance, no National Health service and few doctors in the country areas, as many were serving with the armed forces. The forestry gang carried my father to a ride in the woods and by tying a tarpaulin across the back of an open lorry they made a makeshift stretcher on which they were able to take him to the Greenbank Hospital in Plymouth.

On arrival at the hospital he was carried into a ward and the men returned to Holbeton with the news of the accident. At first it was not known exactly what he had suffered - but the men had seen his smashed face with blood coming out of his mouth. One of his legs was seen to be broken and at least some of his ribs were also thought to have been broken too.

The previous night Plymouth had suffered from another air raid and the hospital staff were under enormous pressure to deal with those who had been injured in the bombing. There seemed to be little point in spending much time with some poor man who had had a tree felled on him and who did not seem to have much chance of survival! He was gently "cleaned up" and told that they would come for him later for X-rays, which would determine what part of his body needed priority attention.

A few hours later the air raid sirens sounded again to warn the local populace of the return of the German bombers! As the bombs started to fall, the Sister of the ward called to "all those who can walk" to follow one of the nurses down to the basement, which had been converted into an air raid shelter. "Those of you who are unable to walk had better get underneath your beds - and those of you who cannot move will have to stay where you are - and you had better say some prayers!" Dad was one of those who could not move!

That night a wing of the hospital was hit and the hospital was at full stretch trying to deal with the injured from all over the city.

The following morning the nurses were, by all accounts, quite surprised to find that my father was still very much alive and when they took the X-rays they found that his injuries were not as serious as at first thought. He had a broken leg, but that could be put in plaster. The tree which had left him with a "smashed and bloody face" had, fortunately not done serious damage to his skull - although it had broken several teeth and his right cheek bone. Much of the blood had come from this and he seemed to be able to breath, albeit with a little difficulty. When my mother telephoned the hospital at mid-day she was told the results of the X-rays and the steps which had been taken to put his leg in plaster and to bind up his chest and head. Having heard of the bad air raid during the night she asked whether he would be "released" if she could arrange to collect him and to care for him at home. The hospital staff were delighted to have another bed to offer those who were still being brought in, as the searches continued for those who had been buried during the bombing raid.

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At this point Eric Haslehurst "worked wonders". He was able to find an ambulance of sorts and they drove to the hospital to collect my father and take him back to "Efford House". But even that simple statement does not explain the problems which they encountered in weaving a way through the war damaged streets in the nearby areas of the city, which had suffered enormous damage during the previous night's bombing.

I feel that at this point I should record that after the bombing of Plymouth on 21st. and 22nd. April 1941 there was yet another major bombing raid on the following night. Those bombing raids were to be followed by two more nights of bombing the next week, which together resulted in the destruction of virtually every property in the City Centre. Plymouth had the unenviable record at the end of the war of being reputed to have suffered more bomb damage than any other city in the country, when comparing its population with the population of other severely damaged cities. The City records state that in those five nights at the end of April a total of 590 civilians were killed, 427 serious casualties were detained in hospital and double that number of "walking wounded" were treated at out-patients departments. The German bombers dropped about 1,140 high explosive bombs, 17-parachute mines and tens of thousands of incendiaries. On the first three nights the incendiary bombs started 1,378 fires whilst in the two nights of the following week over 932 fires continued the mass destruction.

As the incendiaries rained down on the city night after night the local fire-fighters did their best, but casualties were heavy. The fire-fighting forces of England as a whole had never been organised to deal with such mass destruction. When distant fire-fighting teams arrived in Plymouth to give support to the local forces they found that their equipment would not fit the City hydrants and the fires in the City Centre had to be left to burn themselves out! This story has been graphically told in the book "Plymouth Blitz - The Story of the Raids".

But during all of this Dad was "brought home" and to us, as children, he seemed to be all right. He was to be nursed over the following weeks by my mother and the housemaid, with occasional visits from the local doctor and nurse.

A few days later my sisters and I returned by train to our schools in Shropshire and we had little knowledge of his recovery during the next ten weeks. When we returned to Devon for the Summer holidays we found him able to walk with a crutch. His face was still discoloured and his right eye seemed to be of no use to him. His cheekbone had also been broken and this had resulted in the loss of support for his right eye, which had dropped slightly in its socket thus giving him double vision. To overcome this, the optician had fitted his spectacles with "frosted" glass to the right lens - or "lavatory glass", as we teased him! Gradually however, over the next ten or fifteen years, nature helped and in time the facial muscles slowly exerted an upward "lift" so that his right eye was raised in its socket. The double vision ceased and he was able to do away with the frosted glass to the right lens in his spectacles. In those days, of course, nobody even thought of a claim for industrial injury!

Within a couple of weeks of his being fetched from the hospital he had insisted that one of the forestry workers called to see him every day to give him a report on the progress of their work and to discuss the work which was to be done during the next few days. It was an indication of the respect in which he was held by those workers, that the production of the pit props during his

74 absence did not fall at all. Quite soon he was able to be taken in his car to the woods to see for himself how it was all going. After the woodlands on Lord Mildmay's Flete Estate had been cleared of suitable trees for pit props, the work continued on Lord Roborough's Estate to the North of Plymouth and it was at that stage that Ernest rented a semi-detached, three-bedroomed house at Yelverton, on Dartmoor, where we lived for the next five years. Eventually in 1947 he was able to buy a bungalow at Dousland, which was literally on the edge of the moor.

It is difficult today to look back to those years during the War between 1940 and 1945. I was, of course, too young really to understand what an impact it all made upon my parents, partly because my sisters and I were away at boarding school in Shropshire, a rural county on the Welsh border, and partly because our parents naturally tried to shield us as much as possible from all of their worries and concerns.

Writing about the life of our family at that time - now over fifty years later - there are many details and events which have been forgotten and remain unrecorded until a chance remark or a sentence in a newspaper brings back a memory. I am sure that all children who had meals at school during those years complained about those meals! I have no clear recollection about our meals at home (during the holidays) but with hindsight, all mothers must have struggled to provide food which their children would happily eat. It is now, perhaps, worth noting that in those days the Ministry of Food "ration" for both adults and children included ONLY one egg EACH WEEK, two ounces of butter and four ounces of meat EACH WEEK. Fish was so rare that it did not need to be rationed and both fruit and vegetables were, in practice, restricted to what was grown in the area. All sweets were in very limited supply and chocolate was virtually unknown.

How many mothers of teenagers today would burst into tears, if there were NO take-away meals, which could be bought, and if their full weekly catering for their families was limited strictly to these quantities. Every family grew some vegetables, either in their own garden or in an allotment and both adults and children learned to accept these restrictions - because they had no other choice! It is also, perhaps, worth remembering that all these restrictions did not come to an end in May 1945 and food rationing continued until 1954. The position of those in other European countries was often much worse than it was in England.

I remember, too, that in 1949 my parents gave me, as a 21st. birthday present, the cost of a return trip by boat from Southampton to New York, (at a cost of ,100.50p.) where I visited a number of our American cousins. I was truly astonished to see so many sweets and chocolates in the shops in the USA and this was particularly impressive at a time when there was still strict sweet rationing in England - four years after the end of the War. Many years later I began to appreciate what the loss of their home had meant to my parents - and particularly the destruction of my grandparents' country house. St.Malo had been my father's home for all of his life. He was born in December 1899. He and my mother had married in 1927 and St.Malo had been their home whilst they brought up my two sisters and me. During those years in St.Malo my father, and then my mother as well, had made a large circle of friends, both English and French, who had been added to the wider family.

Then in June 1940 all that had been changed. There was no longer any possible contact with any of those friends. At that time there was no mail service at all between England and France. My

75 parents were safe but they were desperately worried about their friends and cousins - (See the WOOD FAMILY story which mentions Jack and Gertie WILLIAMS who did not escape from France).

It was not until 1942 that the Red Cross - the "War Organisation of the British Red Cross and Order of St.John" - were able to make arrangements with the Germans that the Red Cross could pass "Letters" between England and France. Those "letters" on a thin single small sheet of printed paper, containing not more than twenty five words, could be sent to those in St.Malo. The first letter which my mother sent was to one of her greatest friends, Miss Guilaine Donston Le Chevalier, was later returned to her. The official stamps, including one saying "Passed" (presumably by the censor) which it bears also include a Red Cross impressed in Geneva on 22nd.September 1942. The German Red Cross stamp bears no date. I have no doubt that Guilaine would have replied almost by return of post and it was dated by her on 9th.December 1942. It reached my mother in Plymouth on 28th.February 1943.

That first letter, in French, read "Dear Guilaine, Give news of the three of you, and Madeline, Viva, Marie and our dog. We think and pray daily for all of you. Kisses to you all, Barbara." (The French version had five fewer words!).

From that day onwards my parents felt that the close links which had been shattered so abruptly could once more be reconnected - even if only with twenty-five words at a time. The school exercise book in which my mother kept those letters which passed from Devon to St.Malo in the following months until D-Day on 6th.June 1944 (my birthday!) still provide interesting and touching reading.

It was whilst at Dousland that Dad and Mum bought an Irish red setter, Rufus, which for the first time replaced their old English setter, Jock, whom they had been forced to leave in France in June 1940. (Jock, about whom mother had enquired in her first letter to Guilaine, had been taken in by "Tante Madeline"). Rufus provided an excuse, if any was needed, to take walks around the nearby Sheepstor reservoir, one of the local beauty spots, and we were all introduced to the delights of Dartmoor, which my wife, Jane, passed on to our own children in the years to come when they, too, came back home from their boarding schools.

At the end of the War the qualified foresters were offered back their posts and although Ernest could have obtained a new post this would have been conditional upon his taking a Forestry Degree - at the age of 46! Instead he took an appointment as the Secretary for a small China Clay company with workings on Dartmoor, not very far from one of the larger china clay pits in the South West.

When it was announced at the beginning of 1946 that cross-Channel ferries were again to be re- introduced, my parents, Ernest and Barbara, were very keen to be able to "return home" to St.Malo and in June I joined them in that first visit after the War. My old passport incorporates an Entry Visa which had been obtained from the French Consul at Southampton in which I was granted permission to make this visit. The terms upon which this Visa was granted were (in French) "Valid for one single journey and one visit to France for one month. Reason for the visit "Compassion - business trip with his parents".

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Whilst the prime reason for the visit was to meet old friends and colleagues yet, having heard of the destruction by the Germans of the old family home, "La Grand Riviere", my father naturally wanted to see for himself what had happened to his own home, as well as to see the remains of his parents' home.

That visit was both very happy and very traumatic for both of my parents. At that time there was virtually no petrol available, even for essential use, never mind for visitors. Indeed my recollections are that there were very few cars of any sort on the roads. My parents and I had taken our bicycles on the ferry with us and we cycled, or walked, everywhere.

My parents' friends and our old housemaid, Marie, who had married a farmer, gave us a wonderful welcome. My mother's friend Guilaine had died at the end of the war and we stayed with Madeline de Pierpont, who was then to remain my mother's dearest friend for the rest of her life.

During the previous two years - between D-Day in June 1944 and our return to St.Malo in June 1946 - my mother had continued to receive regular postcards, and a few letters, from her friends in St.Malo. In October 1944 Madeline wrote of the destruction of my grand-parent's home during the battle for St.Malo, when her family too lost their house and all the contents. She told that they now had no bed linen, no shoes and that her husband, who worked outside, had no mackintosh nor overcoat. Madeline had asked whether my mother might be able to send underclothes, blouses and shoes for her three daughters - who were about the same age as my own sisters. She wrote of the destruction of "La Grand Riviere" and told my parents that "Uncle Charles" was now looked after by the Nuns at the local convent and that she was going to invite him to have lunch with them on Sunday.

It was with that background, that we then returned to St.Malo in 1946. Food was still in very short supply, unless one had a productive kitchen garden. Fortunately the house in which the de Pierponts were then living at that time had a large kitchen garden and we had lots of vegetables and fruit. There was very little meat and I well remember being told not to comment on the meat when any was served to us. It was horse meat and rather tough, despite the skilled French cooking! In those days horses which could no longer work for their living were soon sold to the horsemeat butchers. Beef, lamb and pork were virtually unknown!

Of course we visited our old home very soon after our arrival. Whilst our old housemaid, Marie, had welcomed us with open arms and had immediately shown us those items which she had "saved" for us, on other occasions when we had called unexpectedly to visit other old neighbours and had seen some of our pictures, china and glass in their houses, they had not "flickered an eye" and we realised that those items which we saw on display were not to be offered back to us! I naturally asked my parents whether they would press for their return. Their attitude was that we had all been fortunate to escape to England, where we had all been safe and that we had not had to live through five years of fear under the occupying German forces. We had now heard and seen at first hand something of what the de Pierponts had had to suffer. Even knowing of the destruction of my father's family home by the Germans did not alter his opinion. The survival of his wife and children, and his own survival though the blitz of Plymouth, was of far greater consequence to my father than the loss of a few chattels - which he had managed do without for the past six years!

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Soon after we had disembarked at the port of St.Malo we had seen vast heaps of cut granite which were piled up outside the city walls. When we later cycled back to make a visit to look inside the walls we were completely astonished by what we saw. We had been used to the war damaged City Centre in Plymouth, with the heaps of debris and the wrecks of damaged houses and shops.

Until our return to St.Malo in 1946 I had not realised that many of the old buildings inside the City walls had been built with not only one, but often two, layers of cellars underneath. In preparation for the re-building - with considerable financial assistance from the French Canadians of Quebec - the old cut granite, from the external walls of the properties which had been destroyed, had been recovered from the debris and had been piled up for re-use, in huge mounds, outside the city walls. This had resulted in a "city-scape" which was the complete opposite of Plymouth. Instead of large mounds of rubble we found that, inside the old city walls, the roadways were often one or two storeys above the lowest floor levels of those old basements. I can remember remarking at the time that the damaged areas inside the walls looked like a human skeleton - the roads "stood up" like bones, with nothing in between.

One of the other particular memories which remains with me, arose from a meeting with an old French friend of my parents. When asked about the time which they had spent during the German occupation, he had stressed most of all the total loss of self-respect, and self-esteem, both at a personal level as well as at a community and national level. Their loss of that personal dignity was something which he strongly believed that we would never be able to understand. There have been a few occasions during the following fifty years when other friends have made similar comments.

There was, of course, also so much that my father wanted to see. He and I spent several days cycling around the countryside where he was keen to call upon farmers with whom he had done business before the war - buying their potatoes and cauliflowers to export to England. There were several occasions when we were cycling along a country road chatting together and he would see a farmer working in his field along the roadside. We would stop and my father would call out "Bon Jour, Monsieur Ozanne" (or whatever was his name). The farmer would look up, and recognising my father in astonishment, would shout out a greeting to him and come hurrying across the field to shake him firmly by the hand. For several minutes I would then stand in silence and listen to the farmer's warm welcome and their mutually happy chat and banter about long lost days.

But such occasions of happiness were also tinged with sadness when we heard of those who had died during the war or when we saw with our own eyes the difficulties under which many were still living. I will never forget one occasion, which I have often recounted to my own children. My father and I were cycling from Parame, now a part of the city of St.Malo, to St.Coulomb on the way to Cancale. As we cycled past one small farm we saw a farmer pushing a small old single-furrow plough whilst his wife was taking her turn to pull the plough, to which she was "harnessed"! This was one of those farms where there was no horse to help to "work" the field and, of course, there was no tractor or mechanical cultivator of any sort! It was a shattering experience to see this happening at a time when farmers in England still had their horses, which had not needed to be killed for food!

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As we cycled towards Cancale we remembered reading the following summary of the calamity which had befallen that small fishing town in the late Summer of 1944.

"Early in the morning the locals had heard the marching feet of soldiers. They thought they were American troops, as the Germans had left the day before. But they were Hitler's mercenary troops, drunk on cognac, pouring into the town.

What nationality they were I am not prepared to say, because these French peasants were too incoherent with their sorrow.

The troops marched into the town, firing their guns and began to loot. Windows were broken and the goods which they contained spilled out onto the pavements. Houses were broken open and entered.

People were thrown into the streets, and for a few hours pandemonium broke loose. These people do not give up their homes easily. They are fishermen by trade and, like the Cornish people, strong of heart and strong in their traditions. They retaliated and fought, there in the streets, a bitter battle.

They stood and died fighting with inferior weapons against the machinegun and grenade of these drunken, bloodthirsty, mercenary soldiers. Forty of their people died there in the brilliant sunlight that washed the tiny streets. But they saved their town and routed the enemy."

But our return to St.Malo was not, of course, all so harrowing and sad. My parents were back amongst their closest friends - many of whom had, of course, been my father's friends for much of his life. They met their personal friends, my father's business friends and acquaintances and our "old" housemaid, Marie.

There was one event which occurred during that first visit back home, which has been the subject of one of my own "family stories" which, perhaps, bears repeating for those who may read this record.

Marie invited my parents and me to have lunch with her and her husband, whom she had married during the War and whom by parents did not, therefore, know. She had written to my mother and had told her that she had married a local farmer and we knew that Marie was a good cook. We thought that when we were invited to lunch with Marie, and as a farmer's wife, she might be able to give us some "proper" meat, which few others were able to purchase.

The welcome which we received when we arrived at the farm house - "Come in good time so that I can introduce you to my husband and we can have time to catch up on all the news" - was something which not one of us ever forgot.

At about mid-day, after a welcoming aperitif, we were invited "a table". I was seated between my parents and Marie and her husband sat opposite to us. We started with a vegetable soup. I do not remember the hors d'oeuvres, but that was followed by a fish course. Roast chicken had always been a favourite when I was young, and Marie had not forgotten that. We had been well served, with wine to accompany each course, but we were all pressed to have a second helping! That was followed by the main meat course - it was probably beef but it may have been veal, I

82 do not remember. When we had begun to finish that course, we were again pressed to have a second helping of that as well! My mother, and then my father, politely refused - but as I was about to do so - my mother "dug me in my ribs" and whispered to me "You must have a little more. It is rude if we all say "No", and Marie has cooked this meal specially for us!" I was persuaded to have a little more! The main meat dish was followed by crème caramel, which Marie knew was one of my mother's favourite deserts, and then cheese and fruit.

At four o'clock I decided that I would leave Marie and her husband talking to my parents over coffee and a cognac and that I would make my way, on foot, back to "Tante Mad" and my bed! I could not look at food again that day, nor the next lunchtime and it was not until the following evening that I decided to have a little of Tante Mad's homemade soup.

Eventually we returned to England. My parents had been able to meet many, many old friends. They had seen the devastation which had been caused, not only to my father's old home, but also to the City of St.Malo, lying within the old walls, which had originally been built to defend the town against the English "privateers". They had also been able - within the distances which we had travelled by bicycle - to see some of the countryside in which the INSLEY FAMILY had lived for nearly the last hundred years. Their hearts were full - of joy as well as of much sadness.

Life returned to near normal as they reached their "new" home on Dartmoor, but I realised that despite all that they had lost as a result of the War they would always regard St.Malo as their true "home" until the end of their days. They had accepted that they would never be able to return to settle there again. How different it all might have been had the Germans not destroyed "Le Chateau de le Grand Riviere"!

When my father returned home to Dousland after that first visit to St.Malo he went back to a very different world. Perhaps inevitably, the small China Clay company for which he was working did not keep up with the enormous expansion which was then taking place in the industry and the business was sold to one of the large companies only three or four years later, which then ceased production.

Once more without a job, Ernest and Barbara decided to buy and re-open a small Dartmoor Tea Room, which had been closed down at the outbreak of the War and this provided them with a small income until their retirement at the end of 1964, when they moved to a bungalow which they had had built in Newton Ferrers. The next ten years which they spent in this bungalow overlooking the estuary, with a small rowing boat (with an outboard motor) moored just below, were to be happy years.

Ernest died in 1974. His wife, Barbara, continued for some years to live in Newton Ferrers. She, as with my wife, Jane's, parents were shattered when our son, Christopher, their first grandchild, died in 1978 following a car crash. As a widow, Barbara, found it difficult to accept that her grandson had died, when she would willingly have "taken his place". She later moved to live with my sister, Bet, in Oxfordshire, before returning to a nursing home in Plymouth where she died in 1984.

During my own early days in Parame and St.Malo, we lived on the corner of the road leading from Parame to St.Ideuc and one hundred yards or so down that road, in a large house named "Bonneville", lived the family of Pierre and Madeline de Pierpont and their three daughters,

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Nanette, Nicolle and Kinette, who were each a year or two older than my sisters and me. I have mentioned that Madeline, "Tante Mad" to my sisters and me, was for many years my mother's greatest friend and, naturally, my sisters and I had a close friendship too with her three daughters and, later, with their husbands.

Many years later, after the death of my mother at the end of 1984, and soon after our first grandson, Christopher HARRISON, was born I received a letter from Nanette, which I kept. I had written to tell her of my mother's death. Having recently come across Nanette's letter, I feel that it is worth recording in full for its interest and Christian understanding (despite its imperfect English). Sent to me from Dinan on 10th.January 1985 it reads :

"Dear Val,

How good is God ...A new Christopher opens his eyes, an old lady, his great grandmother, shuts hers ... Yes, I am sorry, as you write; but, strange to say, I am also happy because an old lady I loved has now recovered her youth in the arms of the Father.

I was very fond of her and I feel the same kind of emotion that I felt for my Daddy ... An impression of a large blue sky above a large blue sea, and a white bird, like a seagull, hovering, happy, cool, merry ... free at last! o more pains, no more difficulties, no more sufferings ...The soul at last delivered from the body after such a long life; an infinite space full of immaterial joy, and the ghost flying in a perfect stillness; a clear light bathing everywhere you see ...We can only be happy and thank the Lord. The end of your mother's life has been quiet. Your wounded filial heart can be both pacified and comforted.

Your mother's image is bound with an important part of my childhood. When you were in school (in England), and your two sisters, your mother was alone, without children at home. The first time when Pat went away, "Aunt Brum" came to Bonneville and said to my mother : "Well, Madeline, you have three children at home, and I have no more. You have to "give" me anette a week a month."

And I went to your home a week each month. I was at school at Choisy, in front of your house and came back to your home for dinner, tea, evening and night. I lived in your own room, on the right of the staircase, upstairs. Sometimes your grandmother, Mrs.Robinson, was there. Between Aunt Brum and her mother, I was very cosy ... I remember the drawing room, in Winter. It was a fire in the fireplace; your mother sat on the divan, on the right; your grandmother on a deep armchair on the other side; and I was on my knees, on the carpet, toasting bread with a long brass fork and giving the toasts to your mother and grandmother. When I think of that, I feel again the taste of the cherry jam ("cherryglue", as said your mother, because the jam was a little overdone!) I had to speak English. Every French word costed me a penny (in a little box to buy a purebred dog). "Roy" (our English setter) was old. As I had no money I was obliged to speak English or keep silent ... evertheless, I think that the new "Jock" dog was, morally, a tiny bit mine.

I remember also the Christmas gatherings with the Bastides, Gerald, Teddy, Jacky, Laurie and your other English friends, and the fancy dressed balls during the Christmas holidays ... also the skating with you, Val, when Uncle Ernie drove us in "Caroline" to our "rink", on the quay of your father's workings, in Rocabey. Do you remember it?

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I want also to tell you what a pleasure was your "family letter". The news you give are so sympathetic, full of live! And the mind is so neat, so clear. I find again my dear Aunt Brum. You are her very son, her true son; and that is so good to read! The beginning of your letter "I have decided that I like getting old". That is quite your mother! I hear yet her saying to my mother "Mais, Madeline, c'est ca la vieillesse!" speaking of old age's advantages and disadvantages. Your mother seeing the first, and mine the seconds ...

(Nanette then gave me news about her own children and grandchildren, before closing.)

We all think of you and your sisters. We speak often very kindly of your dear parents, Uncle Ernie and Aunt Brum.

We hope you will come to France. We would be happy to host you and Jane to stay in our house ... Holidays are free ... when you want.

We congratulate you on your new Christopher ... (were you not named Val in remembrance of your uncle Valentine? The same thing, one generation later ... ) and we draw up greetings for the boy.

With love for you and Jane. anette.

P.S. Please, excuse my awful English. It is not easy to translate deep feelings in another language .... "

What stories can one tell about one's parents? It was certainly not until I had a family of my own that I was able to understand, in part, the trauma that my father must have gone through in June 1940. Hearing the news of advancing German forces early one morning and having to take the decision to leave France and to persuade his parents to leave all that the family had built up over the previous 80-years; taking no personal belongings and no money and having no home to go to must have been shattering from all points of view. Then to arrive in Devon and to experience difficulty in finding a job - with no hope of working in an "export business"! - whilst realising that his three young children were happily settled in boarding schools (even though paying only modest fees) must have tested his and my mother's faith to the limit. Dad did later say that when he was able to get a job as a forestry labourer and to rent a four-room cottage the clouds seemed to be lifting. In all of the years which were to follow I never heard him say that he felt that life had treated him badly. The first cottage was furnished with beds and bedding, a few chairs, a couple of tables and the very minimum of other household items, all of which were provided by family and friends around the country. There was, quite literally, no money to buy anything.

From these events I learnt quite early that a "home" is not a particular house but is the place where one's family are able to be together. I have always realised that as long as the family are alive and together that we have many blessings - and so many others in 1940 were not as fortunate as we were. The family was kept together and nurtured by both mother and father, through many times of difficulty and through easier times - although Dad was never, for example, in a position to be able to afford to pay into a pension scheme, apart from the small compulsory state scheme.

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As I grew up I also came to realise how much my parents were loved and respected, not only by the family but also by the communities in which they lived. This was certainly, in part due to their willingness to help others in all sorts of ways. Perhaps a short poem, which I have recently come across, illustrates this :-

Love ever gives Forgives Outlives Ever stands With open hands and while it lives It gives. For this is love's prerogative To give and give and give.

10(g). Gerald Morel was born three years after his twin brothers and had similar schooling. As a child of about 5-years old he suffered from an attack of "infantile paralysis" which left him with one leg slightly shorter than the other. He was too young to be considered for the forces during the 1914-1918 War and like his father and his brothers he did not go to university. After the restructuring of the family business he joined "Insley Freres" a little before his brother Ernest.

In September 1927, five months after his brother Ernest had married, Gerald married Mary Eleanor TURPIN, the daughter of The Revd.Julian James Turpin, who at that time was the resident Anglican chaplain in Parame. A little over a year later their son Gerald Julian was born.

It was in April 1940 that Mary took her son back to boarding school in England and then, after a few days with her mother in Seaton, Devon, Mary found that she was not permitted to leave the country and return to her husband in St.Malo. A few weeks later Gerald left France to join his family in Devon.

After a short course in Bournemouth, learning to operate a lathe and starting to make Naval shells, Gerald was offered a post with the Ministry of Food, Potato Division, in Cardiff but early in 1942 he moved to their Headquarters, then located in St.John's College, Oxford. After the war the Potato Division reverted to being the Potato Marketing Board with which organisation Gerald continued working until his retirement in 1968.

Gerald and Mary had a late child, John Keith in 1952. Gerald died in 1975 only four months after his brother, Ernest, but his widow lived for another 18-years during which she was cared for by her two sons.

10(h). When writing about Edward and Marguerite's family I mentioned the children of their youngest son, George, and his untimely death which left his widow to bring up her three small children and after her first son had died when only six weeks old.

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The eldest surviving child, Hugh Maxwell (1910 1989) was to train as an Articled Pupil under his uncle (by marriage) William FOX whom he joined in 1927 at an initial salary of 5-shillings a week (25-pence). Hugh qualified as a Chartered Surveyor and like his uncle he developed into a highly skilled property auctioneer and an astute estate agent. Hugh obviously looked to the future as in 1928 he changed his name by deed poll to Hugh INSLEY-FOX. For three years from 1931 to 1934 Hugh gained professional experience by joining other firms in London and he returned to the firm's Head Office in Bournemouth in 1934. In those days Fox & Sons were selling estates and whole towns all over the country : St.Blazey in Cornwall, Milton Abbas in Dorset, Huntly in Aberdeenshire, the Savernake Estate in Wiltshire, the Glencoe Estate in Argyllshire, including the famous pass of Glencoe where the MacDonalds were murdered by the Campbells.

Just before he was married, William Fox and his brothers, who were then the sole partners of their Estate Agents firm, agreed to invite Hugh into partnership in the knowledge that, as the only partners were members of the FOX family, Hugh had already arranged to change his name by deed poll to Hugh INSLEY-FOX. But War was on the horizon. Hugh had already joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Supplementary Reserve, whom he described at the time as "The Yachtsmen's Reserve", and he spent most of the next six years at Wick where, for a while he served in destroyers with the Home Fleet, and achieved the rank of Lieutenant. Hugh returned to the firm in 1947 to find that I had also joined the firm in 1945 as an Articled Pupil to "Uncle Will". Although Hugh had started his "articles" at 5-shillings a week (in 1927!), I was being paid 15-shillings (75-pence) a week!

Hugh was to take an increasingly important role in the partnership as only one of the other FOX partners was to be followed by his own son. I have mentioned that the leading partner, William Fox, and his wife Amy did not have any children. Sadly Hugh and his wife, Theresa MENZIES, whom he married five months before the outbreak of war in 1939, did not have any children themselves. Hugh devoted himself to the business, as had his uncle William, and despite a period when the older partner seemed to be jealous of his nephew, he achieved great expansion of the business in the years following William's death in 1953. But the structure of professional firms of Chartered Surveyors was changing too and by 1985 the loose arrangement, which linked five separate Fox & Sons partnerships along the South Coast of England, came to an end when all of the individual partnerships were taken over by different insurance companies. Hugh found this almost impossible to accept and died four years later.

10(i). Evelyn Marguerite (born 1912) was only 4-years old when her father died. She was to join the A.T.S. where she met and later married Sergeant Walter CROCKFORD in 1941. They had two children, Anthony Maxwell was born in 1942 and their daughter, Jennifer Ann was born in 1945.

Evelyn's mother, Mabel, told her son, George, many years later that one night, some years after her husband's death, she had a dream when she "saw" her husband and when he told her that he expected one of his children to join him. Mabel was, of course, very disturbed by this dream and for a long time she was very protective of her two sons and her daughter. She was to remember the dream when, in 1947, Evelyn was to catch polio and died at the age of only 35, leaving her

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92 husband with two small children. So, in the course of only two generations, history had repeated itself. One can only imagine the impact that this was to have on her mother, Mabel.

10(j). The youngest member of this generation was George Ernest , born after the death of his father in 1917 . After completing his education George spent an interesting year in Germany in 1936, where he saw at first-hand some of the early activities of the new Nazi party members. Upon his return, George joined the 4th.Battalion Dorset Regiment and was later transferred to the 5th.Battalion with whom he served during the war until his discharge as a Major in 1946. George then trained as a solicitor and later established his own professional practice in Bournemouth, sometimes on his own and for many years in partnership. An important part of the practice, as with many other similar firms in this rapidly expanding holiday resort, was the conveyancing associated with the ever-expanding residential estates. A share in an hotel on the Isle of Wight and a passion for antiques were to provide other interests in addition to his family. In 1940 George married Freda Edwina MITCHELL who came from Manchester and they have three children, Catherine, Christine and Michael.

11th Generation 11(a). Eddy and Paulette had been married seven years before their first son, Edward George "Ted" was born in 1927 - the first member of this generation of the family. As his mother was French, Ted was encouraged from an early age to develop his linguistic skills and to consider the future possibility of joining the diplomatic service. He and his brother, Jack, joined me at Ellesmere College in Shropshire and Ted's schooling was then followed by compulsory military service where, on one occasion, he "cleaned" a pile of coal before an inspection by a visiting Officer! After obtaining his university degree he followed his mother's wish and joined the Foreign Office - but in the MI6 Section. It was whilst he was employed by the Foreign Office that he met his future wife, Sally. Ted's spell in the "Hush hush" office came to an end as a result of a conflict with his immediate senior - but he left with a high recommendation. Perhaps he took after his father, in his business interests and abilities, and with the benefit of the Foreign Office reference he joined EMI and later RCA, the international music groups.

In his first post he was to move to the Far East, where he became the "trouble-shooter" in Hong Kong, and he later moved to a similar position in South America in Buenos Aires. As a result of his demonstrating his outstanding business skills he was then promoted to Paris, at a time when RCA had no recording centre in France. The establishment of this large new enterprise gave him the opportunity to develop his business talents as well as to make full use of his command of the French language. In 1956 he married Sally Jane CUSCADEN. An amusing recollection from the reception after their marriage was the reading aloud of congratulatory telegrammes by his brother, Jack, who was his best man. Jack came to one telegramme, which had come from Paris, which read "Cheri, come back. All is forgiven. (signed) Mimi." Peals of laughter from the guests!

For some years Ted and Sally waited for the arrival of a child and when it seemed that their hopes might not be fulfilled, they adopted Marie Clare Jane who was born in 1964. In 1992 Clare married Simon POWELL.

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As has happened before, the adoption of a child then seemed to lead to the couple having a child of their own. In 1966, two years after Clare had been adopted, Edward Guy Cuscaden was born whilst Ted and Sally were living in Hong Kong and before Ted's job brought him back to Europe.

In 1982, without any prior warning, Ted was to be diagnosed as having cancer. RCA immediately arranged to transfer him back to England and were most supportive to him and to Sally. Sadly, with neither of their children having reached adulthood, Ted died in 1982.

11(b). Ted was followed by his brother, Jack , who was born in September 1928 , also in St.Malo. In his early days he seemed not to be the "apple of his mother's eye", as was his brother, although Jack has told me that he was completely unaware of this. Despite his brother's achievements in the commercial world which he chose, Jack's own achievements outshone those of his brother and, indeed, those of all the other family members of his generation. His medical qualifications are impressive in the extreme. Originally a Bachelor of Science, his M.B. was then followed by B.Chir(Cantab), F.R.C.P.Ed., D.C.H. From the basis of a Consultant Paediatrician Jack specialised in dwarfs and genetics and his expertise was recognised overseas as well as in this country. This was illustrated by the fact that, upon his retirement from full time work in this country, he was recruited to take up a visiting consultancy post in these fields at the Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, where he and his wife, Anne, spent a very happy year and a half.

But that visit was at the end of his career. Jack married Anne Josephine BONNEY in 1960 and they have two children, Nicholas Paul (1962) and Catherine Anne (1964). Catherine and Neville BLASZK now have a daughter, Annie Frida INSLEY-BLASZK (born 1996). After much heartache, Catherine separated from Neville in 1999 (they had never married) and married William "Bill" Richard LEWIS, an Australian anaesthetist from Sydney, whom she had met some years before.

11(c). Joyce May WILSO, born 1925 , was the first of the three children of May INSLEY and Eric WILSON. After an unhappy first marriage to William Henry "Harry" WESTON, Joy was to marry Mervyan Charles "Mervyan" COOK in 1953. Mervyan was an Australian who had been living in England for several years. In 1956 both Joyce and Mervyan obtained formal permission to "emigrate" to Australia. In 1961 Joyce persuaded her mother, who was then living in Jersey, to travel to settle with her and Mervyan in New South Wales in Australia where she was to die in 1980. Joyce and Mervyan had no children. Mervyan died in 1986 and Joyce subsequently moved to live in Queensland, where she is quite close to her sister, Marguerite.

11(d). Ian Ross, born 1927 . He was "called up" for military service during the War and after he was "demobbed" in 1946 he obtained a grant to go to Agricultural college. Whilst there he met and later married Marjorie TAVINNER in 1948. They had their first child, Annette in 1952 and the following year they emigrated to Petawawa in Ontario, Canada, where he had arranged to work on a farm. Unfortunately the farmer went bankrupt so Ian joined the Canadian Army, where he became a Sergeant in the Stores. When he retired from the Army he worked for a while in a civilian capacity at the same Army Camp until he eventually retired from that too. Ian and

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Marjorie's marriage has lasted over 50-years. They have two children, Annette Insley (1952) and Alisa Daphne (1954), and a grandson, Sean.

11(e). Marguerite Insley, born 1929 , married a solicitor, Howard Ernest Knoyle WORTH in 1959. They lived in Nottingham but the marriage did not last. In 1971 Marguerite met "Reg" Reginald BROOKER, who had emigrated to Australia in 1953, whilst he was in England for his first return visit, and she too emigrated to Australia in 1973. Reg had originally trained as a plumber but later trained as a psychiatric nurse at a famous mental hospital where, after completing his training, he stayed for 8-years. But he was always on the move and he transferred to Darwin Hospital and later moved again to the First Aid and Security Department at a large bauxite mine. It was whilst he was working there that Marguerite and he were married in 1982. Reg and Marguerite then moved to Brisbane where Reg worked at large glassworks, where he stayed for 15-years until he died in 1996. Marguerite continues to live in Queensland.

11(f). Jane Alison, born in 1929 , thought for the first fifty years of her life that she was the first child of her parents Nellie INSLEY and Philip GOLDSMITH. It was not until Jane was talking to her parents after they had each watched a fascinating television programme that her parents told her that, in the custom of those days long before, they had never mentioned to her that Nellie had had a stillborn boy child before Jane's birth.

After primary schooling in Newark and a brief period at Bellan House School at the beginning of the War, Jane was sent to her mother's old boarding school in Surrey, which she did not enjoy. Whilst she was there the pupils had experience of the German V1 "Doodlebugs" passing overhead and later their V2 Rockets. Jane then went to the Froebel Training College in London where she trained as a teacher of young children. She taught for a few years in Surrey before then paying her passage to go to New Zealand where she hoped to get jobs as a "supply" teacher. Such jobs did not become available and she did a variety of other work. During holidays, which she took between jobs, Jane saw much of that lovely country, before returning to England in 1955 when, to her mother's initial surprise, we became engaged to be married. The story of her later life is told with my own as a part of this INSLEY FAMILY story.

11(g). Three years after Jane's birth, Nellie gave birth to twin boys. Philip "Selwyn" GOLDSMITH was a delicate child who, for this reason, was the centre of his mother's life until the end of her days. When Jane and her brothers first heard, about 50-years later, that Nellie had lost her first son at birth, this seemed to throw into perspective their mother's concern that she might also lose her second son. Selwyn was later to take a degree in architecture at Cambridge. Soon after, he went on holiday to Italy with friends.

It was whilst in Italy in the Summer of 1956 that he caught polio. His recuperation took some years and left him with a handicapped right hand and leg. This disability was a major hurdle for a young prospective architect and it was not surprising to find that he became deeply involved in the design of buildings for handicapped people. The first book which he published in 1963 under the title "Designing for the Disabled" was to become one of the leading reference books which were used by architects all over the world. Indeed, it was the recognition which he obtained for his work in this field which was to lead to his being invited to lecture to architects,

95 and others who were interested, in many countries both in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the USA and Japan. His specialised knowledge and opinions in his field were always put forward without fear or favour and this did not always endear him to other officials in the Ministry of Local Government for whom he worked for the last 20-years of his professional life.

In 1960, Selwyn married Felicity ALERS-HANKEY and they had two sons. David Francis was born in 1966 followed by Benedict Martin in 1967. Sadly their, sometimes turbulent, marriage did not last and they were divorced in 1973.

After obtaining a degree Selwyn's elder son, David, for a while taught English in France and also taught English to "foreigners" in this country. Whilst in the Far East, where he was also planning to teach English, David met Tan in Thailand and they were married in 1992. They have a son, Harry Firatee, who was born in 1996 and David now teaches in Christchurch in Hampshire.

Ben, Selwyn's second son has been in Queensland, Australia, for a number of years.

For nearly 20-years Selwyn lived a "single" life, whilst keeping in close contact with his two sons until, to the delight of his sister and brother and his wider family, he remarried in 1989 to Rebecca Mayala COBDEN, a 50-year old spinster who had devoted her non-working life to caring for her parents.

11(h). Roger Wharton , born a few minutes after his twin brother, was a healthy child and, therefore, did not need his mother's constant care and in his youth he was able to join his sister for outings in which his brother, Selwyn, was unable to join. Again his education was followed by three years at Cambridge University where he read Geology.

One day Roger telephoned his sister, when his parents were away on holiday, to discuss an offer which he had received, whilst still at university and before the results of his final exams were known. An American company were looking for young geologists to go to work for them in Libya. After listening to her brother, Jane recommended that he should accept the offer, which later resulted in his being in the small team which "discovered" the first oil well in Libya. When offered a senior job with the company Roger turned this down as he said that it would lead to his having a "desk job" and he was not yet ready for that. Instead he eventually joined Shell International and held a variety of posts for that company in prospecting for oil in several different parts of the world.

In 1965 Roger was to marry a Dutch girl, Nellie Grieta CORTS, whom he had met whilst working for "Shell" at their headquarters in Holland. Roger's work continued to take him overseas as will be realised from the fact that Michael Roger was born in 1966 in Trinidad in the West Indies whilst Peter Selwyn was born in 1969 in Lagos in Nigeria.

Five years later Roger and his family returned to the UK - he and Nell were realising the problems of educating two small children in those parts of the world in which he had been working. Roger obtained a post with Robertsons, an international company of consultant geologists, and whilst his work still took him to various parts of the world yet this was to be for

96 professional visits rather than longer term residence. He was later to be a director of his company until major reorganisation took place and he took early retirement.

11(i). Harold Tockley Mourant , son of The Reverend Harold Mourant INSLEY and Constance (Connie) Eva TOKLEY, was born in 1946 . In the section referring to his father I have mentioned that his mother died when he was only 16-years old. This was, naturally, to have a profound effect upon him during the years that he was growing into adulthood.

Harold too achieved an impressive list of professional qualifications in his chosen field as a Civil Engineer. He has spent most of his career in the Far East including Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea. He married Betty OLA, from the Philippines in 1984 and they have an adopted daughter, Anne-Marie Ola (born 1989).

11(j). Harold's twin brother, Ernest, and Barbara had three children of whom I, Val Boyd, was born in St.Malo in Brittany in 1928 after Ted but was three months older than his brother, Jack.

Over the years I have often been asked whether my name was really Val, or was this short for Valentine? My children have heard my reply many times, but for the sake of future generations I have decided to record the reply which I have given in the past. My mother, Barbara nee ROBINSON, had an elder brother, Valentine who was killed during the First World War (see ROBISO FAMILY Story). When I was born she suggested to my father that I should be called after her brother, Valentine. However, Dad explained that in France, where I was born, Valentine was a girl's name and they, therefore, decided that I would be christened with the shortened form of "Val", which I have, of course, always used.

I was born on Derby Day in 1928, which happened to be held on 6th.June in that year. In later years I was told a story associated with my birth which always caused a smile - and gave an insight into my paternal grandparents. I have already referred to the fact that my grandfather was a very keen horseman. He was regular in his attendance at "the races" when these were held at St.Malo. In those days there was no "tote" on the racecourse and as an experienced horseman my grandfather and his Jersey cousin, Jack DALLAIN, to whom I have referred earlier, were amongst those who "judged" the horses and riders with great care, as they were paraded around the ring, before deciding which horses he would "back" during the various races.

In 1928 the races were held at St.Malo during the first week in June and, of course, my grandfather was there. He returned home to his wife at La Grande Riviere on the sixth of June and told her, with great glee, that he had won at the races that day and proposed to give his winnings of one hundred francs to his first grandson. His wife was horrified! She made it quite clear that no grandson of hers would be "blemished" by being given ill-gotten winnings from horse racing! Her husband was bidden to give the winnings to her - and she then put these into her purse and in return she then handed her husband a similar amount of "clean" money so that he could give that to their small grandson!

As members of the INSLEY family who were then living in St.Malo, we all had a happy, carefree and structured life in those days before the War.

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As my great grand-father, Edward, had moved to establish a business in St.Malo in 1860 and as this business had, at the time of my birth, continued successfully for about seventy years the Insley family were well known in the area. The family had been responsible for establishing a small English church, and inevitably had made many friends among the local French business and professional people. By the very nature of their export business they also knew many of the farmers within forty or fifty miles of the town and this all seemed to set the scene for a happy and fulfilling life for the extended family.

In my "old age" I do not have many memories of my early days in Parame, at that time a separate town but now a part of the city of St.Malo. My parents lived in a house on the corner of two roads close to the centre of Parame. Indeed the back wall of the house abutted the road, with no adjacent footpath and there was a high stone wall along the return frontage. In this second wall were high iron gates, covered in iron sheeting to provide privacy, painted in green. The house had three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and sitting room, dining room and kitchen on the ground floor. In the garden alongside the garage was a wash-house, where the washer- woman, who came each week, did the family clothes wash.

About a quarter-of-a-mile along the road down to the wonderful Parame beach was a large detached house, probably with five bedrooms, where my great-uncle Edward (whom we knew as "Unkie") lived with his wife, Lily. Their son, Eddie, also lived in Parame and, having no brothers, I remember with affection the good times which I spent with my two second-cousins, Ted and Jack, who later joined me at boarding school in Shropshire. I have only a vague memory at that time of Unkie's daughter (my aunt) Nellie, who lived in Newark and who was married to a doctor, coming to Parame in the Summer and bringing her daughter, Jane, and her two small twin sons, Selwyn and Roger, to visit her parents.

Whilst those visits by my aunt Nellie and her daughter (my future wife) and sons are only vague yet my memories of Parame beach are much more vivid. Anybody who has ever visited that beach will understand why this should be the case. The wide, very gently sloping, beach stretched for the four miles to the walls of St.Malo and are washed clean twice a day by the rising tides.

At an early age I learned that the tides at St.Malo are second only to the tides in Newfoundland as providing the greatest fall from high tide to low tide in the whole world. Indeed it is this difference of 40-feet in the tide levels which led to the construction about 50-years ago of the barrage across the river Rance, which meets the sea at St.Malo. This barrage which holds the river water at high tide and then discharges it at low tide now generates electricity for the French national grid.

My other memories of my early life are mixed with stories which my sisters and I were told by our parents so that I am now uncertain whether a particular event is based upon my memory or upon my mother's recounting of the stories in later years.

I do, however, remember well the de Pierpont family who lived quite close to us a short way down the road leading to St.Ideuc. Tante Mad, her husband Pierrot, who managed horticultural nurseries nearby, and their three daughters, who were of similar ages to my sisters and me, were all close friends. The parents had fled from their home in Belgium in the First World War and had come to settle at Parame so as to be near to another family who were their cousins. When

98 we were young my mother often took us for short walks down the road past the de Pierpont's house and as far as Jacques Cartier's old farm before returning home along other country lanes.

In those days in the early 1930s when my mother was getting to know Tante Mad, my mother had invited her to afternoon tea with some of my mother's English friends. Tante Mad spoke only French but all of the English community had to be fluent in French although, of course, speaking English to one another. Many years later Tante Mad reminded my mother of that occasion. She had been offered thin sliced bread and butter and jam, scones, jam tarts, sponge cake and fruit cake. In the customary manner my mother had offered her guests a second slice of the fruit cake and the tea party seemed to have been a great success. It was not until much later that Tante Mad reminded my mother that when, at that first tea party, she had been offered a second slice of the rich fruit cake - which was a delicacy not normally produced in France - she had replied, in the courteous French manner of the time, "non merci", and had fully expected (and hoped!) to be "pressed" to have another slice! But being then unaware of the custom of French society, my mother had accepted her refusal at face value. Despite this faux pas on the part of my mother she and Tante Mad developed a strong bond that saw them through thick and thin and lasted until my mother's death.

It may seem that tea parties were an important feature of our life, but I do not think that this was so - although we certainly had very many happy picnics in the Summer on the Parame beach.

However, my mother also used to mention another tea party at home - to which it seems that other children and their own mothers were also invited - it must have been during the 1933 Christmas holiday after my first term at school in England. The table in the dining room had been laid out for the tea party - a large "Christmas" printed paper table cloth with scones, jellies, cup cakes, and other attractions for the children and their mothers. Whilst in the kitchen, my mother had become aware that the chatter and excitement which had been coming from my sisters and me in the dining room, as we awaited the arrival of our guests, had changed to near silence. She came quietly to the door into the dining room to see and hear Bet (aged 3) and me (aged five and a half) holding our young sister, Pat by her hand (still only aged two and a half) and leading her around the table. It seems that Bet and I had seen that Pat had been feeling the decorated paper table cloth and had tried to "take off" some flowers from the design and, in doing so, had torn that table cloth! The two of us were walking Pat around the table and were doing our best to explain to her that she had damaged the "cloth" which mother had so carefully prepared for the party! Mother saw that her little two year old daughter was not being bullied, but she was certainly being told by her "big" brother and sister that such behaviour could cause great upset for a party, which had been taken much time to prepare! Mother considered that our gentle admonition was much more effective than anything which she could have said! In such ways we can learn from each other!

Having mentioned two tea parties I do not wish to give the impression that we were not treated, from time to time, to some of the superb French patisserie. Indeed I remember the patisserie shop so well that when Jane and I took our children to St.Malo and Parame in the 1960s we always made a point of visiting, on at least one occasion, the patisserie shop, "Chevestrier", in the main road in the centre of Parame. Those visits remind me too of a local custom in Parame, which may be practised in other French towns, although I have not come across it elsewhere.

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Whit Sunday is one of the major feast days of the church and early on the Sunday morning the two main shopping streets in Parame were closed to traffic. Teams of helpers then arrived to decorate the tarmac roadway. A long time ago the decorations may have been carried out entirely with flower petals (but, if so, the wind must have played havoc with the decorations!) but in my time I believe that it was bags of coloured dry sawdust which were the foundations for these road decorations. The whole of the carriageway was slowly carpeted, away from the church along the two principal roads, with colourful designs which were first sketched out in coloured chalk and then "filled in" with the different coloured sawdust, with special features being highlighted with flower heads and petals. I do not remember the specific nature of the designs but I well remember them being wonderfully attractive. At the end of the main morning service, a procession led by the priest with band and choir, followed by local dignitaries, then walked down the road and returned through the town centre to the church carrying their banners. It was a most colourful event.

In September 1933, at the age of five, I started my schooling at Bellan House Preparatory School in Oswestry, Shropshire, which was then owned and run by "Aunt May MORRELL" (see the WOOD FAMILY story) - as my family will never forget, as I have referred to it so often! I claim that at the age of five I learnt to make my bed every day (in the days before anyone used a duvet).

After my first term or two, my parents put me on the overnight cross-Channel ferry from St.Malo to Southampton, where I was met by Dr.Norman and Pam Leask, who had been one of my mother's bridesmaids. After being given breakfast I was then put into the care of the Guard on the express train to Shrewsbury where Auntie May and her sister, Dolly, met me for the drive to Oswestry. That pattern was followed when I was joined by my sisters, Bet (at the age of six) and Pat (at the age of seven) at the same school.

In telling the story of my mother, Barbara Robinson, in the ROBISO FAMILY Story, I have referred to the time which she had spent at Bellan House School before, and during, the First World War, when one of the other girls (seven years her junior) was Betty MORRIS (later to marry Will SHEPPARD, who many years later was to suggest that I should follow his career and become a Chartered Surveyor and Land Agent).

Betty was a skilled dancing teacher and has often spoken about teaching both of my sisters and me "dancing" when we were aged from 5-years to 10-years old! When Betty was over 90-years of age she and I were to attend the centenary of the opening of Bellan House School, which we had both attended as pupils in our own times.

Many years later, after the death of her husband, Will, Betty retired to a small house in the country close to Oswestry, which has enabled her to maintain her "connection" with Bellan House School - for many years as a Governor - and she has watched with interest the change from a private school to one of the Education Authority schools, which is still highly regarded locally.

As I have mentioned, my two sisters, Bet and Pat, followed me to Bellan House School and then continued as "boarders" whilst they continued their secondary education at the Oswestry Girls High School. Pat must have "left" Bellan, as a pupil and then as a boarder whilst at the High School, about 1950. Bearing in mind the close connection which my mother had also had with

100 the school - and the fact that May and "Dolly" MORRELL were both cousins - see the WOOD FAMILY Story - my mother was keen that some small token should be provided to note the 17- years (1933 to 1950) during which my sisters and I had been educated and cared for at the school. It was eventually decided that a small brass "ship's bell" should be given to the school. At that time my parents were living near to Plymouth on the edge of Dartmoor.

I had forgotten all about this gift when, nearly fifty years later, my old dancing teacher, Betty SHEPPARD, told me that on one of her visits to Bellan House School the Head Teacher had asked her whether by any chance she had any idea who "Val, Bet and Pat" were, whose names (and the years "1933-1950") appeared on the "school bell" which was in daily use! The bell is cleaned regularly and still seems to be prized!

In the WOOD FAMILY story, when I have referred to Cre MICKLEBURGH and Bea WILLIAMS, I have recorded some of the details about Bellan House School and the public gardens and park which adjoined the school. I am not the only one of the cousins who at this stage went to Bellan House, who remember concerts being given by the Town Band in that park during the Summer months and the large parades which always took place on 11th.November in memory of those who died during the First World War. At 11am. all movement in the town came to a stop. People got out of the buses and cars and stood in silence for two minutes. At the end of the two minutes the military band which had preceded the Mayor and Corporation into the park played the "Last Post" and, as the traffic again started to move on the roads, small crosses and wreaths of poppies were laid in memory of the fallen - one of whom was the brother, Valentine, of Barbara ROBINSON, my mother. Following five years at Bellan House School I then spent the next six happy years at one of the Woodard Schools, Ellesmere College, only eight miles away. From there I was able to make occasional visits to see my sisters at Oswestry, as well as the elderly WOOD family aunts, Bea WILLIAMS and Cre and Rose MICKLEBURGH at Llangollen, in their home, "Bryn Meirion", beside the Llangollen canal.

By a quirk in the regulations, I was not required to do military service, as the date of my birth meant that I fell between the war-time "call-up" regulations and the peace-time military service. Instead, on 1st.February 1945 at the age of sixteen and a half, I started my "articles" as a trainee chartered surveyor with my great uncle William FOX at the Bournemouth head office of Fox & Sons. At that time Hugh INSLEY-FOX was still in the Royal Navy. Hugh had recorded that he was paid the sum of 5-shillings a week during the first year of his articles, which had started in 1927. By 1945 when I started my articles this weekly sum had risen to 15-shillings a week (75- pence). I qualified first as a Chartered Auctioneer and Estate Agent, then as a Chartered Surveyor and later as a Chartered Land Agent. When many years later these three associated professional bodies were amalgamated I made enquiries and found that I was one of only a handful in the whole country who had become qualified in all three of these differing associated "fields" of the profession.

In 1949, after a visit to the USA, where I met a number of our American cousins, I joined the Inland Revenue Valuation Office in Plymouth. After three years I decided to enter "private practice" and obtained an interview by the Agent who acted for Lord St.Levan of St.Michael's Mount in Cornwall. At my interview we seemed to get on well together and he asked me how much I was being paid. I replied that my annual salary had recently been increased to ,500 a year. Before we parted company I was offered a position as his Assistant Agent, at a starting salary of ,450 pa.! - which I accepted. In 1955 I also assumed responsibility as the Assistant

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Agent for the management of the nearby Estate in East Cornwall belonging to Sir John Carew Pole. Four years later, following the sudden retirement of the Chief Agent, I was appointed as the Chief Agent for these estates. During the next five years other rural and urban estates in the area were added to my responsibilities and, perhaps, the maintenance of old estate records developed my growing interest in family history.

In 1954 I had assisted with the detailed professional work relating to the transfer of St.Michael's Mount by Lord St.Levan to The National Trust. This gift, with a big endowment, was made upon the understanding that The National Trust then granted a long lease back of "The Mount" to Lord St.Levan. That endowment was largely in the form of rented houses in Devonport and my continued "management" of those houses for The National Trust meant that I also became an Agent for The National Trust.

That professional work in 1954 was to stand me in good stead when Sir John Carew Pole decided that he would hand over his home, "Antony House", to The National Trust in 1961. This time I was totally involved in all stages of those negotiations.

In January 1972 Lord St.Levan was becoming worried and anxious about the general economic situation. There were fifteen staff in the Estate Management office at Devonport, who included Chartered Surveyors, an Architect and the four technicians in his department, as well as a Chartered Accountant and two other accountancy staff, and in addition to the secretarial staff. Lord St.Levan was becoming increasingly concerned about his responsibility for the continued employment of this staff - and their future pensions. Whilst I acknowledged that his policy of gradually selling the estate properties in Plymouth was leading to a slow reduction in the size of the Estate yet it seemed to me that an Estate Management staff would be needed for many years to come.

After long discussions with him I recommended that, in order to meet his concerns, I and all of his estate management staff should be "sacked", upon the understanding that I would either set up my own professional practice, or would join an established professional firm, and would then continue to manage his estates as an independent consultant rather than as an employee. He accepted this advice and after discussions with my cousin, Hugh INSLEY-FOX, and his partners of Fox & Sons at their new Exeter office I joined the partnership and opened offices in Devonport and in the Plymouth City Centre. I retired from full-time work in 1988 and after 18- months of part-time work I retired completely at the end of 1989.

When, at the end of 1953 my second cousin, Jane GOLDSMITH, went to New Zealand, where she hoped to obtain "supply teaching" work in differing parts of that wonderful country, we still kept in touch with each other but it was not until her return to the U.K. in August 1955 that I "proposed" to her. We were married in Newark in 1956 and were to have four children.

Christopher Boyd was born in 1956. By the time that Chris had reached about four years old Jane and I had started to plan for our children's secondary education, after they had spent the first few years at our local "state" schools in Plymouth. My time at boarding schools, at Bellan House in Oswestry and at Ellesmere College, only 8-miles away, had been particularly happy times and I was keen that our children should be given similar opportunities - if that was financially possible. Jane, on the other hand, whose home had been in Newark in Nottinghamshire, had been sent, at the age of 12, to her mother's old boarding school in Surrey.

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In those war-time years it was not possible for her parents to visit her and, as a result, she was far from keen that our children should be sent far from home and she was adamant that her daughters should not go to an all-girls school.

We made many enquiries and eventually decided, after visiting the school, that for his secondary schooling Chris should go to King's College, Taunton - a "sister school" to Ellesmere College in Shropshire at which I had been so happy. I knew that we would have to plan very carefully if we were to be able to afford to send our children to boarding schools for their secondary education. As I prepared our pattern of saving, I noted that, at that time, King's College Junior School were charging fees of ,100 a term for their young boarders! That financial planning had to be up- dated many times during later years before the secondary education of our youngest child had been completed! In the event my own hopes were fulfilled and Jane and I were delighted, both with the standards of education and approach to life to which our children were introduced during the following years.

As a result of my later introducing Chris to the Y.M.C.A. in Plymouth, he took an active interest in the work of the Y.M.C.A. and in 1974 he took part in a "work camp" visit to Ghana. After completing his BSc.(Estate Management) degree at Portsmouth in 1978 at the age of 21, he planned to join a firm of Chartered Surveyors in Southampton which was associated with my own West Country firm. Before doing so, however, he was chosen to lead a group of young Y.M.C.A. members from different parts of the U.K. to another month long "work camp" at Martandam in South India.

We later heard that that work camp had been a great success but three days after his return, whilst my wife, Jane, and I and our other three children were returning from a camping holiday in Europe, he was involved in a car accident outside Exeter when driving from Plymouth to Southampton, from which he later died. One never "gets over" such an event, although we all said at the time that the prayers and support of our wider family and friends became tangible and enabled us to continue our lives with our three younger children, although never forgetting Chris.

Jennifer Jane was born in 1958. Her secondary schooling was at Sidcot School in Somerset, a co-educational school with a Quaker foundation, where she was to become the Head Girl. She was then to go to Hull University where she became the first woman to obtain a joint Geology and Geography Honours degree at that university. Whilst at Hull Jennie met David John HARRISON who, like Jennie, had qualified as a geologist. They were married in 1979. David, who is with the British Geological Survey, has developed specialised knowledge in the marine sand and gravel resources around the British Isles and in other fields. For a number of years, he has also been involved, as a part of the British government's aid to overseas under-developed countries, in travelling to many countries around the world to help and advise upon their use of their mineral resources. Jennie and David have three children, Emma Jane (1983), Christopher John (1984) and Clare Elizabeth (1987).

Our second son, Philip Roger was born in 1961. After also going to King's College Philip then took a BSc. degree in Horticulture at Nottingham University. After obtaining his degree he then started, in 1983, with the benefit of a government grant of ,40 a week for 12-months, in a partnership with another student, as specialist horticultural growers in the Vale of Evesham. He

103 married Lucy Ruth ANSELL in 1994. Their son, Sam Luke, was born in November 1997 and Zoe Gemma was born in January 1999.

It seems to me that the story will always be told about Zoe's birth. At four o'clock in the morning Philip was woken by Lucy who told him that "something was happening and she needed to be taken to hospital" straight away. Within a few minutes Sam had been taken to friends and Philip and Lucy set off for the hospital - some 20-minutes by car. Whilst driving around the Evesham bye-pass, Lucy told Philip to stop as the baby was arriving! The baby's head appeared as Philip was phoning (on his mobile phone) to call out the local ambulance. When the two ambulance men arrived a few minutes later they said that they had never had to handle the delivery of a baby - but they managed it very well! The emergency doctor and mid-wife (called by the ambulance men) arrived a few minutes later and Lucy and Zoe were then taken to the hospital in the ambulance. Mother and baby were "checked over" and both were back home by 4-o'clock that afternoon. As Philip said to his mother "Lucy always does things in style!"

Our fourth child, Katherine "Kate" Elizabeth was born in 1963. She too completed her secondary schooling at Sidcot, but left to enter the Sixth form at King's College, where her brothers had been at school. Prior to going to Bath University to take a Sociology Degree Kate spent a year in Nepal with the International Nepal Fellowship (INF). Since gaining her degree she worked as a Probation Officer with much success.

Kate married Nicholas David ETHERINGTON in 1986, having first met him when she went to King's College, Taunton, when Nick was at that school. They also have three children. James David (1991), Rebecca Jyoti (1992) and Toby Christopher (1995). Since the birth of their children, Kate has continued to work on a part-time basis as a Probation Officer, although she still hopes to return to full-time work when her family are all in full-time education. Earlier in the Story of this family I have referred to Auntie Gertie GARRATT in section 8(b) above, when I have mentioned my cousin David John EXLEY, of my own generation. In her generation Auntie Gerty had accepted the role of writing regular letters to her INSLEY cousins so as to keep in touch with those members of her family who were descended from her great grandmother's brothers and sisters. Thinking of the "next generations" she encouraged David to write to me and, at the age of only eight years, I started to exchange letters with my sixth cousin, David, for the purpose of exchanging foreign postage stamps.

It was not until 1953 that I first met David when he came to England as a young newspaper reporter and when I was able to obtain an introduction for him to one of the Editors at the "Daily Express" in London. During that first visit to England we began to establish a very special bond between the two of us. That Summer, I was able to arrange an extended three-week annual holiday and, also accompanied by an American girl, whom I had met during my visit to the USA in 1949, and an English girl friend from Devon, we travelled to Paris, Strasbourg, down the Rhine to Coblenz and Cologne, Brussells and Amsterdam, back to Dover followed by a quick (very quick!) tour of England, Scotland and Wales. That trip was to develop a friendship between David and myself which was very special to both of us.

Three years later, David agreed to be one of the Godfathers of our first child, Christopher Boyd. David and I did not meet again until 1971, when another member of the Plymouth Lions Club and I were to attend their International Convention in Atlantic City and had the chance to stay

104 for 48-hours with David in New York. We then did not meet again until after we had both retired and my wife, Jane, took a six week holiday and visited New Zealand in 1989.

I have decided to refer to David in some detail as his is one of the interesting personal stories of our generation which needs to be recorded for the interest of future generations.

In 1998 David EXLEY was finally persuaded to write an article for inclusion in a commemorative journal to be published by his old college, Wellington College in New Zealand and, whilst written in a different format to my own attempts, yet I feel that I can do no better than to include this (excluding only the names of a few boys and staff) as follows :-

"People and Events that Shaped my Life"

I'm glad that my mother did not listen to our neighbour next door who advised her to "send that young fellow out to work" when I finished Form II at gaio School. If she had, I wouldn't have made it to Wellington College and my life might have been very different.

oone could have blamed my mother had she sent me out to work. She was a solo parent and it was a struggle to bring up two young children in those postdepression years. My parents were divorced when I was seven. We never saw our father and he never paid a penny towards our upkeep. I told school friends that he had died when I was young, because I felt the stigma attached to that sort of thing in those days.

I marvel now at how Mother did so well at a busy accounting job in a Wellington office all week and then spend the weekends looking after us, cleaning house, cooking meals and doing the laundry.

Our grandparents helped to take care of my sister (Eve) and myself after school. We had a fairly strict upbringing, one that taught us respect for our elders, to do what we were told and not to answer back. And we had our share of daily chores. But we were well cared for and well loved. I remember it as a happy childhood.

I suppose I was rather naive when I first went to Wellington College, prepared to believe the teachers were always right even when one of them tried to tell me my fingers would unscrew! It was not so much what we learned from our books (and it was drummed into us that we had to pass That Exam!) but what we learned from our teachers and each other that were of most value in my later life.

Perhaps that's why my most enduring memories of those College years are of the masters. I learned from them about values, about the will to succeed, about selfexpression, selfdiscipline and for the record I don't consider the occasional strap on the hand was a bad thing!

Right from the start I always wanted to be a newspaper reporter. One day, I imagined, I might even be the Editor of "The Evening Post". Mother always wanted the best for her children, so in my last year at College, she took me off to meet Henry Percy Fabian Blundell, one of the proprietors, to ask him to give me a job on "The Post". And he did! I started work in 1944 as a copyholder in the Reading Room at 27s/6d. a week. After about a year, I became a cadet

105 reporter, then moved up the ranks from shipping reporter to Court reporter, the defence round, diplomatic round, etc..

After finishing work around 3.30pm., I took the cable car up the hill to attend evening lectures at Victoria University. It took me five years to complete my B.A.degree. It was hard grind, working all day and studying at night, and I wouldn't wish it upon others. At least when I graduated I didn't have any debts, unlike many students today. I deplore the fact that today's students don't have the same access to a free university education as we did.

Looking back over the years, I've come to believe in destiny that some things are meant to be. So often the course of my life was changed because of friends or because I happened to be in a certain place at a certain time.

It was a family friend who encourage me to seek a Fulbright Scholarship to study journalism in the United States. The Fulbright grant paid for the travel but I didn't have enough funds for tuition and board. So I wrote separate letters to 15 American universities to enquire about possible scholarships. Thirteen of the fifteen replied, and five offered financial help. One of these was Stanford University in California where I enrolled in the School of Journalism in 1950 and completed an M.A. in Journalism.

It was an English friend at Stanford who told me about the annual Summer interne programme for graduate students at United ations Headquarters in ew York and urged me to apply. When I learned I'd been selected one of 36 students from 28 countries I had to take a gardening job on campus to earn enough money for the train trip to ew York. Once there, the internship paid our expenses in ew York for the twomonth programme.

We were told that the interne programme was not supposed to be a stepping stone to a career in the U, but that is what happened in my case. It didn't happen immediately, and I got permission from the U.S.Immigration Service to work on newspapers in Massachusetts for 18 months, and then headed off to Britain to meet my mother.

It was Coronation Year and I had managed to land a job in Fleet Street on the reporting staff of "The Daily Express". For mother it was the trip of a lifetime, a wonderful adventure, far from the daily cares she'd left behind. We lived in the same boarding establishment in London, and I still remember all the drama over her purchase of a new hat to wear to the Garden Party at Buckingham Palace! A highlight for me was having my byline in the "Express" on Coronation Day.

After all that excitement, we returned to ew Zealand by sea through Suez, Bombay and Columbo on the old S.S.Strathmore and I began to look for a newspaper job at home. I had worked for only two days on the "Auckland Star" when an unexpected letter arrived from ew York announcing my appointment as a press officer at the United ations. Within a few weeks I was back in ew York. I'd never have believed, had you told me then, that I'd work for the U for the next 33 years.

My mother was proud and happy that I'd been hired by the U and concealed any sense of loss she must have felt that I was going away so soon. She died less than three years later in 1956.

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By this time my sister, Eve, had joined me in ew York. Mother was ambitious for Eve too. She always wanted to send her to a private school, and no sooner had she finished putting me through college than she managed to send Eve to Marsden. Eve went on to have a successful career as an advertising copywriter in Auckland and ew York.

I'm glad mother never knew I caught polio in Gaza two years after her death while serving as press officer for the first U peacekeeping force in the Middle East or that I was in an iron lung, first in Israel and then in ew York, for six months. After one year I was able to return to work on crutches.

It was Eve and my U friends who got me through that first year. Eve was a tower of strength. She always worried about me and still does. And she's always been there to help.

I had been walking only a few months when I had a severe accident. Whilst walking along Third Avenue with a friend on the way to a restaurant I tripped and fell and broke both bones in my ankle. Thank God he was there, as he knew exactly what to do and stayed with me until I was in hospital. The doctors feared I might not walk again. But within a few months I was back on my feet and continued to walk and travel the World on crutches for the next 28 years.

The U was a good employer. I don't believe my disability affected the assignments I was given or my chances of promotion, as I held a number of very visible posts in ew York and travelled as far afield as Addis Ababa and Santiago to help organise meetings for the U. The highpoint was my assignment to Tokyo in 1973 as Director of the U Information Centre and Representative of UICEF. Those years in Japan were the happiest of my career.

1981 was the International Year of Disabled Persons and, again, I think it was meant to be that I was in Japan. The disabled there had long been neglected and in the past were often kept by their families out of sight. But things were changing, and I like to think my very public role for the U during IYDP may have helped encourage others in Japan.

After more than 11years in Tokyo it was time to retire and I decided to return to ew Zealand in 1987.

Today it's as if I have gone almost full circle. The circle began in Wellington when we moved to the top flat of a friend's home high up on the hill in Roseneath with a breathtaking view of the harbour and the city and the incoming ships. I often thought about that view when I was overseas. ow, once again, I'm living on a clifftop with a panoramic view of the harbour and the city, except this time the city is Auckland. And my sister and her American husband live down the end of the road. Mother would be pleased."

David Exley was appointed as the Director of the UN Information Centre in Tokyo in 1973, and the Representative of UNICEF. During the ensuing three years he clearly made a considerable impact on many with whom he came into contact including the, then, Crown Prince and Princess of Japan.

David tells that those years were, perhaps, the happiest of his career but others may have thought that the pinnacle of his career came during his return spell in Tokyo from 1980 to 1986, which was arranged to co-incide with the 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons. In his short

107 article, which he was finally persuaded to write for his Wellington College Class History, David explains that even as recently as 1980 many Japanese families kept disabled members completely "out of sight" of the general public. As this resulted in the impression being received that there were only very few disabled persons in the country, there was no call upon the Government or local authorities to make any provision at all for the disabled.

Much was to change during 1981 - and David's high profile role on behalf of the United Nations, often being seen in his wheel chair, provided him with an excellent opportunity to encourage the Japanese to look upon their disabled members in a new way.

It was fortunate that during his first spell in Tokyo he had come to know the Crown Prince who, like so many others, had formed a high regard for this tall New Zealander, who demonstrated his ability to maintain his happy out-going personality and his capacity to deal with the physical shackles which bound him. David's efforts in 1981 to support and publicise the IYDP were not only encouraged by the Crown Prince and some other leaders of Japanese society, but the personal support and approval which they provided ensured that the press also gave a high profile to these efforts.

It is absolutely typical of David that his article for the Wellington College publication should end with his decision to retire and return home to New Zealand in 1987 without referring to one or two subsequent "high profile" events. These events illustrate the high regard in which he was held by those who came into contact with him during those years.

It has seemed to me that two quite separate events have illustrated this high regard which the Japanese had for David's work for UNICEF and his efforts for the disabled in Japan.

Jane and I returned to see David in Auckland (again) in 1998. At the end of a happy day with him, we were chatting around his dining room table after supper looking across Auckland harbour towards the City Centre. As the sun had set behind Rangitoto and dusk turned to gentle darkness, David told us a little about his time in Japan and of some of the highlights and difficulties which he had encountered.

The first "event" had occurred in Tokyo in 1985 at the former Olympic stadium, known as Budokan, during the official national commemoration of International Youth Year.

As the day of the ceremony approached he questioned his staff about the minor details of what he would be expected to do. The ceremony was to take place in the large hall where over 2,000 guests would be seated and would take place before the Crown Prince and Princess.

The protocol envisaged that the Crown Prince and Princess would be seated on the stage whilst a small group of five or six dignitaries, including the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and David, who was to represent the United Nations, would already be seated in the audience below in the first row. These dignitaries would then be called one by one to take their places on the stage after bowing to the Imperial couple. David was to be one of the official speakers and had been asked to deliver a short speech on behalf of the United Nations.

At his request David's staff had established that there would be a firm handrail, to help to steady those who were mounting the steps to the platform. Although by 1985 David was finding it

108 more and more difficult to use his crutches and was making greater use of his wheelchair, yet he accepted the invitation to speak. He asked his staff to confirm that, like all of the other speakers, he would be pleased to follow the planned procedure and, using his elbow-crutches and steadied by the handrail, he would mount the five steps to the stage.

The preparations for the day all went according to plan, until David entered the hall - where many international, national and civic dignitaries were already seated - to see that the "firm handrail" had been forgotten!

As the ceremony was about to start David determined that he would keep to his plan and, come what may, would manage to climb the steps to the platform.

The time came for his name to be announced and for him to move to the platform. He rose - with difficulty - to balance on his crutches and stepped forward. A "hush" descended upon those in the vast hall as they realised what he was intending to do. He reached the first step and, carefully, raised himself onto that step. Balancing on his crutches he then negotiated the second step. Step three - and there was not a sound in that hall. Step four - and he knew that every eye was upon him - and many hearts seemed for the moment to stop beating! At last he took the fifth step and stood on the platform.

David will clearly never forget the effort of climbing those steps, nor the loud applause which broke out spontaneously throughout the hall. He told us nothing about his own feelings as he had turned towards the Emperor and bowed, but the manner in which he recounted the events of that day provided a very moving illustration of the respect in which he was held by those who were there - including the Crown Prince!

At the time of his decision to retire in 1987, David was uncertain where he should make his home for the last years of his life. He had left New Zealand in 1950, when he enrolled at Stanford University in California. In later years when he had worked for the UN, he had gladly accepted their general requirement that every second year he should spend his main annual holiday in his home country in order to maintain his links with that country. During the following 37-years he had spent 23-years in New York and 11-years in Tokyo, where he had been so happy and fulfilled. It was not an easy decision and he now tells of the loneliness which he had at first felt when he had finally settled in Auckland.

He must have longed to return for visits to both Tokyo and New York - and in 1992 the best possible reason was presented to him to make that return visit to Tokyo, but not before another "event" had taken place. The second of these events actually took place in the official residence of the Japanese Consul-General in Auckland.

The previous Emperor of Japan had died and the Crown Prince had succeeded his father. At the request of His Majesty the Emperor, the Consul-General presented David with the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, at a ceremony to which David's family and friends were invited, on 29th. day of the Fourth Month of the Fourth Year of Heisei (1992). David now keeps that Decoration, with its sixteen rubies, with the illuminated scroll, sealed by the Prime Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa, in his glass-topped hall table (together with the key which was presented to him at the time that he was given the Freedom of the City of Osaka). David keeps a small photograph, which he produced for us, showing the Cousul-General reaching up to

109 place the Order hanging from the Ribbon, around his neck as he bowed his head. Even on his crutches this tall New Zealander, with his head bowed, stood taller than the Consul-General!

It was following the presentation of that Order that David made his return visit to Japan later that year. He told us that he wanted to thank his staff for their help and support over the years which had contributed to his receiving the Award. He was also able to show them the insignia of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, which they had never before seen so closely.

These recollections provide a glimpse of a remarkable man, who has refused to allow his life to be wrecked by his disability and who has clearly provided an outstanding example to others whom he met during his 33-years of service as the Representative for the United Nations Childrens' Fund.

The idea of providing some form of record of the families from whom I am descended was conceived some years ago when Jane and I were still living in Plymouth. As I have recorded, I first moved to live in Devonshire at Christmas of 1939 and it was early in 1941 that my parents, my sisters and I moved to Holbeton in South West Devon. Many of our friends were, therefore, concerned on our behalf when Jane and I announced our intention of leaving Devon and moving to live in Southwell, the old Minster and market town only 6-miles from Newark in Nottinghamshire where my wife Jane was born. As we have since told so many of our friends and family, that move has proved to have been a wonderful decision in so many ways.

Jane has always been the one who has been willing to find the time to read. I have said that my work required a large amount of reading and it is only in recent times that I have begun to make the time to widen the scope of my reading. An old fan of Alistair Cooke, I have recently been fascinated to read the biography of his life written by Nick Clarke. I have been interested and amused to find that we both share at least one feature of our lives in common. Alistair Cooke's biography closes :-

"The luckiest thing in life is a good marriage. It is important for me to share my life. There are people who manage not to do it. I marvel at them."

11(k). Elizabeth ancy "Bet" was born in 1930 . During her early years Bet's life followed my own. Preparatory school at Bellan House and returning to St.Malo during the school holidays. This was followed by the Oswestry Girls High School, when she "boarded" at Bellan House in the manner which had been envisaged by Cre MICKLEBURGH (see WOOD FAMILY story) so many years earlier.

After schooling Bet entered Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, with its world-wide reputation, where she qualified as a Registered Children's Nurse. She followed this by further training and qualification as a State Registered Nurse at the main Plymouth hospital. These nursing qualifications were to lead her into her life's work as a school matron.

First, a spell back at Bellan House was to be followed by fourteen years at Haileybury Junior School at Windsor, Berks. Then in 1975 she moved to the Junior School of King's College, Taunton in Somerset, the Woodard School where my sons had started their secondary education. Whilst at this Junior School, Bet met Jane Lewis, who was then the school caterer and when

110 they reached the age to retire from their respective posts they jointly bought an old house in the Cotswolds, which they converted and opened as a Guest House. Seven years later they sold their guest house and retired to Milton-under-Wychwood, another small Cotswold village.

Amidst all of the affection between the members of our family, Bet has a special place, as she has continued for over 20-years, since his death following the car crash, to help us to remember the happy day of the birth of our elder son, Christopher, by sending flowers to us to celebrate that birthday.

11(l). Helen Patricia "Pat" was Ernest and Barbara's third child, born in 1931 . Once more the pattern of her early life was the same as her brother and sister - except that the age of starting at Bellan House had, as with Bet, been delayed a little longer. Pat only started just before the War and she too followed by going on to the Oswestry High School. She was to be the only one of the three of us who went to university. Her interests and fascination had always been with things growing in the garden and she took her Horticultural degree at Sutton Bonnington in Nottinghamshire before going on to do research at the Horticultural Research Station at Camborne in Cornwall.

As an aside, many years later we were interested to meet Blanche and Jeremy Sayers when our daughter, Jennie, was about to start going to Sidcot School, and whose elder daughter, Alison was already at Sidcot. Blanche and Jeremy had met each other at Sutton Bonnington and had been there as students with Pat. Jane and I learnt that they had a thriving nursery on the Eastern side of Plymouth and that Jeremy was a leading member of the National Farmers Union - Horticultural Section. About ten years later, Jeremy was very interested and helpful in encouraging our son, Philip, when he also wanted to train as a horticulturalist.

After Pat had achieved her degree she worked for a time at the Horticultural Research Station at Camborne in Cornwall, before then taking a post at the East Malling Research Station in Kent where she worked from 1957 to 1967. After a visit to New Zealand she decided to go to South Africa, where she joined the government Plant Protection Research Institute at Pretoria.

When preparing notes about my sister, Pat, for this book, I thought that I should refer to her work at Pretoria. I had a recollection that Pat became a specialist in research into "scales", which affect fruit crops, but I had no firm record of this work which she undertook there over a period of six or eight years, although I believed that she had discovered a new "scale", which was then named after her.

My lack of factual information has now been resolved as a result of my writing to the present Director at Pretoria. The reply which I have received from Dr.Gerhard Prinsloo is as follows :-

"I am one of the few people left in our Institute who was acquainted with Pat, with whom I worked in close association for a few years. I met her for the first time in 1970 after joining the Institute fresh from university and was fortunate to have spent my first four years as a budding entomologist under her guidance in Dr.Annecke's laboratory.

She did not actually work on scales as such, but on the classification and identification of the minute little wasps which parasitise scale insects and which, therefore, play an important role in controlling these pests. A main aspect of our research was to survey and collect the parasitic

111 wasps associated with the various species of scales, a task resulting in numerous wonderful field excursions to some of the most remote and beautiful parts of South Africa. Travelling long distances by car and often journeying by train to get to a particular part of the country from where our trip would start, Pat and I covered many thousands of miles together, crisscrossing the country in search of scales, from which we reared parasitic wasps. Although we often worked long hours under difficult field conditions Pat simply loved every moment of those trips and was at her happiest to be out in the open veld admiring nature and collecting plant samples on which the scales are found.

Back at the office her work, together with Dr.Annecke, involved the classification of these wasps and the scientific description of new species, of which she discovered and collected a large number during her fieldwork. In fact it is largely due to her efforts that we managed to assemble one of the finest collections of these insects in the world and, even after 30years or so, I am still describing new species from some of the specimens collected by Pat. The results of her research culminated in four scientific articles, coauthored with Dr.Annecke (who died in 1983). As a matter of interest, two of these are enclosed. The superb drawings in these articles were all done by Pat, who was renowned and much admired both locally and abroad for her outstanding work as a scientific illustrator of these minute insects.

She did not have a scale insect named after her, but Dr.Annecke and I named two parasitic wasps after her in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the study of these insects. The two species in question are Metaphycus insleyae and Insleyi crassus , the descriptions of which I have enclosed for you to see.

Pat came to visit us from time to time after her marriage to George and took great pride in bringing her son along to show us just how fine he was getting along. Her death was a great loss to me as we got on very well as colleagues and especially because she meant so much to me in my formative years. For this I am greatly indebted to her."

Dr.Prinsloo also enclosed an extract from "Key to Genera of Ethiopian Encyrtidae" referring to the ISLEYIA gen. nov. which records that "this new tetracnemine genus is named for Mrs.H.P.Bornemissza (nee INSLEY), formerly of this Institute, who collected a great deal of material on which our studies of African Encyrtidae are based, including the type-series of Insleyia crassus", which is distinguished from the Charitopus Foerster.

Whilst at Pretoria, Pat met Dr.George Francis BORNEMISSZA, whom she married in 1973. George was of Hungarian descent but a naturalised citizen of Australia and was at that time carrying out research into the African dung beetles. He was later to receive international recognition for his work in connection with the controlled introduction into Australia of suitable dung beetles, of which he is now a world-wide authority. In the Australian continent there had been no need for nature to provide dung beetles as there were no indigenous cattle, buffalo, elephants or other mammals which dropped dung. George had realised that the introduction of these beetles could achieve enormous benefits by the widespread control of the cattle "bull flies" which caused havoc, on a scale not known elsewhere in the world. Following controlled breeding of suitable beetles in laboratory conditions in Africa and further breeding in laboratories in Australia, beetles which were suitable for different areas in Australia were then put out into the countryside and resulted in vast benefits to the cattle farmers. The dung beetles buried the cattle dung and thus reduced the "home" of the vicious "bull flies", and the production

112 of beef was increased very dramatically in many areas. The Australian Government recognised the value of this work by awarding George the "Britannica Australia Award for Science" for his application of Ecology to Human Benefit.

Whilst in Pretoria in South Africa, Pat and George had a son, Zoltan Francis (1973). Pat and George retired to Hobart in Tasmania, with their young son and from there George continued his research by overseas visits, on which Pat sometimes accompanied him and when she gave him much help and encouragement. With her own scientific background she always delighted in the award which her husband had received.

When she was only fifty-six, Pat developed a rapidly advancing cancer and she died a few months later in 1988. As in the case of her uncle Harold, Pat's death left George with his 15-year old son, Zoltan.

For the next eight years George guided Zoltan through school and university. Having completed his honours degree at Hobart university, Zoltan has now been selected by Shell International to be one of the first Australians to enter the company's international executive development programme and has recently been sent to their London headquarters.

After nine years, in April 1997, George married Anna. Anna had emigrated to Hobart in the 1970s with her parents and has two daughters from her first marriage. Whilst Anna continued her life's work as a sister at a nursing home, George continued with his interests in a quiet and less stressful way. Sadly their second marriage did not last and they separated two years later.

11(m). Unlike his cousins, Gerald Julian was not born in St.Malo but in Bournemouth in December 1928 . His mother soon returned with her infant son to St.Malo and the roots of this next generation were laid in the happy life on the North Brittany coast. Gerald's schooling took him to Cranleigh School in Surrey where he followed his father and great uncle. In 1947 he did his "compulsory military service" in the Royal Army Educational Corps and upon his discharge in 1949 he then took an M.A. in modern languages in Oxford University, studying French and Spanish. With his short term commission behind him he decided to make his career in the Royal Army Educational Corps and, at various times, was to serve in Egypt, Kenya and Aden as well as in the UK. He was able to retire with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel at the age of 48 after 25- years service. He then, with his brother, John, devoted himself to the care of his mother during the last years of her life.

11(n). John Keith was born in 1952 , when Mary was 45-years old. He was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford and at Cranleigh School, Surrey. He later embarked on teacher training. I have always regarded John as one of the younger members of my own generation but am now "caught" by my (arbitrary) decision that I would leave the stories of those born after about 1945 to be added in years to come by those members of these later generations. John's story will therefore, feature in any addenda to this history of the ISLEY FAMILY which others may add in the future.

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11(o). Anthony Maxwell CROCKFORD was the first of the grandchildren of Mabel and her late husband, George, and was born in 1942 . He married Rosemary KEMP-WELCH.

11(p). Jennifer Ann was born in 1945 and married Brian ALLEN in 1948. They have three children : Julia Evelyn (1970) who, in 1993, married Paul HILL; Phillip Anthony (1973) and Laura Jennifer Kathleen (1977).

11(q). Catherine Marguerite , the first child of George and Edwina was born in 1942 . She married Michael Hubert PRESSLY in 1966 and their family are James Winchester (1967), Louise Catherine (1969), and Rebecca Christine (1970).

11(r). Christine Diane was born in 1944 . She was an Egyptologist and Consultant with Christie's Antiquities Department and married Michael GREEN in 1983. They have one child, James Michael George Insley GREEN, who was born in 1986.

11(s). Michael George Pitron was born in 1947 . After taking a theology degree he was ordained into the Church of England. For a few years he lectured in Theology at St.John's Theological College at Nottingham before moving to his first parish in Sussex. He then spent some years in further parochial work in the diocese of Chichester, during which time he was appointed as one of the Canons to the Cathedral. In 1975 he married Jane Elizabeth WOOLGAR and they have two children Timothy Daniel (1975) and Christopher David (1978).

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Two ECCLESTO FAMILY

Whilst I have found out that my great, great-grandfather, William INSLEY married Ann ECCLESTON yet no family stories about my ECCLESTON forebears have been passed down to me. The only detail, of which I am sure, is that Ann spelt her surname ECCLESTON. I know this, as it was her grandson, my great uncle, Ernest Eccleston INSLEY (born in 1879), who told me that his second name was his grandmother's surname.

It is relevant to mention this fact as the record of Ann's baptism has not been found but her surname was shown as ECCLESOR in the old parish marriage register, when she was married to William INSLEY in the parish church of St.Mary, Handsworth in Staffordshire on 19th.September 1813. Neither William INSLEY nor Ann ECCLESTON were literate at that time and both "made their mark" with an "X" in the parish register, so that we have no signature to which we can refer.

We know that Ann's father, John, had married Mary BROOKS at St.Matthew's Church, Walsall on 10th.May 1792. Once more, John's surname had been spelt in a different manner when he was baptised in August 1769 - when his father's name was spelt "ECKLESOR".

When John's father, William, was baptised in the same church of St.Matthew, Walsall, in April 1748 it was entered as ECCHALL. We also know that he was married in 1768 to Ann JAMES, but neither Ann JAMES, nor her daughter-in-law Mary BROOKS, had been able to sign their names.

So, to confuse the spelling still more, when William was born in 1748, the second child of another William, I have to note that his surname was recorded in the old parish register as ELLISMORE. With this extended introduction to the story of the ECCLESTON family the following details about the family are those which have been extracted from the old parish records.

1st Generation That I have researched! The first known member of this family was William , the father of William who was baptised in the parish Church of St.Matthew, Walsall in 1768. The father, William, would therefore have been born about 1720. In those days, as applied in this case, the entry of a baptism would often only record the father's name without also referring to the name of the mother. In this case the entry in the register makes no mention of the name of the child's mother.

2nd Generation 2(a). Fanney was baptised in 1746 and

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2(b). William was baptised in 1748 . When he was 20-years old William married Ann JAMES in the same parish church and they had eight children over the next 23-years. I have traced the baptism eight months later of the first child, John, from whom I am descended, but I know nothing, apart from the records of the baptisms, of the other eight children who were :- William (bap.Aug. 1771 and buried Sep. 1771); Thomas (b.1774); Nancy (b.1776); Joseph (b.1779); Edward (b.1781); James (b.1782 and buried January 1783) and another son also christened James (b. December 1783).

3rd Generation 3(a). John , who was born in Walsall in 1769 , married Mary BROOKS in May 1792 when she was only 15-years old. They had three children - Sarah (b.1793); Ann (b.1794) and John (b.1800).

4th Generation 4(a) and 4(c). Apart from Sarah 's and John 's baptisms I know nothing about these two children.

4(b). Ann was probably born about 1794 but I have not traced her baptism. In 1813 she married William INSLEY in the parish church of St.Mary, Handsworth, Staffordshire. William was the son of an agricultural worker and was born only about 12-miles away in Nether Whitacre in Warwickshire. We know that a few years later he was a "Lock filer" and it may well be that he was working in Walsall or Handsworth when he met his future wife. They had eleven children and their stories are all told in the ISLEY FAMILY Story, including the fact that Ann was to be buried in Nether Whitacre in 1876, when she would have been about 80-years old.

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Three PITRO FAMILY

Many of the old Channel Islands families are able to provide records which show that their early forebears were amongst those who fled from France at the time of the persecution of the Huguenots, when almost a century of religious tolerance in France was ended by King Louis XIV when he revoked his predecessor, Henry IV's, Edict of Nantes in 1685. That action condemned tens of thousands to imprisonment, torture and death, and drove hundreds of thousands into emigration.

Jersey, and the other Channel Islands, are only 15-miles from the coast of Normandy and the Protestants who fled there found a welcome and a safe home under a Protestant monarchy and were able to integrate with those of English descent. However, many of these families who were already resident in the Channel Islands as well as those who were escaping from persecution in France, claim descent from the even early Vikings who settled in the Islands and the Normandy coastal areas many centuries earlier.

The effects of Louis XIV's action in 1685 are still remembered today when, each year, more than 10,000 French Protestants meet on the first Sunday in September for an annual assembly near the town of St.Jean du Gard in central France. Seen as a group these Protestants look different: more lighter haired, more solid and more like the North Europeans than the rest of the French population. They are a thriving Christian church and are still, perhaps somewhat grudgingly, admired as having particularly high standards of honesty and integrity, which is given as one of the reasons for the appeal of Protestantism in France today.

Other families have old records by which they are able to show that their forebears first came to the Islands about 100-years later. The outbreak of the French Revolution is regarded as having started with the "Tennis Court Oath" which was taken on 20th.June 1789. King Louis XVI was executed on 21st.Junuary 1793 whilst his Queen Marie Antoinette went to the guillotine on 16th. October 1793.

In my younger days I remember being told the story of "great grandmother" - or was it "great, great grandmother?" - whose hair turned white overnight, when she received news of the outbreak of the Revolution, just at the time that her husband was visiting Paris. She thought that he had been caught up in the fighting and had been killed. In the event her husband did not become involved in the fighting in Paris and eventually returned home safely.

Until I started to research the PITRON family I had found nothing to link this story with a particular branch of our family but it now seems more than possible that the story that I was told did, in fact, refer to our PITRO ancestors.

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1st Generation That I have researched! The early days of this family in Normandy are still vague. Jean PITRO and his wife, Anne MICHEL had a son, Louis, about 1760 . He would have grown up immediately prior to those years of the Revolution and would have been about 30-years old when life in France was in such turmoil. In those days bread was the people's staple diet. Most workers spent half of their wages on it, as opposed to 15% on vegetables, oil and wine. At that time a carpenter might earn about fifty sous a day whilst a labourer might only earn about twenty or thirty sous . A fourpound loaf of bread then cost about eight sous . The turmoil of those years, growing unemployment, bad harvests, the very severe Winter of 1794/5 and increasing inflation led to the price of bread rising to over forty-five sous a pound ! The gap between rich and poor was becoming almost as wide as before the Revolution, yet profiteers and speculators were making sudden fortunes, which they spent as rapidly as they were made.

The stories of the days of the September massacres at the end of 1792 and the execution of the King in the following January provide horrific reading. Those times were then followed by the "Days of Terror" in the Autumn and Winter of 1793 when 3,000 executions took place in Paris and over 14,000 executions were reported to have taken place in the provinces. Countless people lived in constant fear of death and went to bed dreading the sound of a knock in the middle of the night, when most arrests took place.

It was during this period that many people left France and perhaps Louis and his wife were influenced in their decision to emigrate to Jersey by all that they experienced in those times.

At the moment we still do not know even when Louis PITRON and his wife and family moved to Jersey. Local records do, however, note that in 1795 there were 3,500 French persons living in Jersey, which included the writer Chateaubriand, and smaller numbers of Poles, Russians and Italians. A further additional influx some 50-years later included Victor Hugo.

Nothing is known about Louis' early life until he married Marie Anne Magdaleine NEEL in Octeville, now a part of the town of Cherbourg, in 1798. They had two children, who were both born and christened in Octeville, Auguste and Jacqueline.

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Many of the basic features - even the "facts" - of everyday life had been changed by the Revolutionary Council, including their decision to replace the traditional Roman calendar by their new calendar. Auguste's date of baptism was 18th.April 1798 but, under the terms of the compulsory new calendar, this was recorded as the "Second day of Floreal (Blossom) in Year Six of the Revolutionary Calendar". In the same way his sister Jacqueline's birth on 3rd. January 1801 was recorded as taking place on "13th.Nivose (Snow) in Year Nine of the Revolutionary Calendar".

2nd Generation 2(a). Auguste , born in 1798 as I have noted, in the early days after the French Revolution, emigrated to the Channel Islands when he was probably about 21-years old. Neither the exact date of his arrival in Guernsey, nor the reason for his departure from France are known but it seems very likely that the turmoil in his home country was the cause of his departure to the Islands. He was to be recorded as a Dealer in Marine Stores and in 1823 he married Ann (or Nancy) Le PAGE who came from an old local family.

Auguste and Ann had eight children, all of whom were born in St.Peter Port : Louisa (b.1826); Aimable-Anne (b.1828); Adolphus Peter (born in 1833 and who died when only two months old); Joseph Victor (b.1835); Anne Emma born in 1838 and, whom family recollections say, married a Monsieur DUCHCENE a French cashier in a Paris bank; Marguerite Elisabeth (1840- 1906) who was to marry Edward INSLEY; Emilia Mary (b.1841) and Betsey who was born in 1844.

Auguste's wife Ann/Nancy must have died about 1845/6, leaving Auguste with a family of eight, three of whom were under six years old.

In 1848 Auguste married a second time, to Judith ROUSSEL and the following year they had a son, Honore Auguste. Auguste, himself, seems to have died about 1855.

2(b). Apart from Jacqueline 's birth in Octeville in 1801 nothing is known about her. She did not emigrate to Guernsey with her brother and I have not carried out research in the Octeville/Cherbourg record office.

3rd Generation The old records in Guernsey recording the births and baptisms of this family give their surnames in some cases as PUTRON instead of PITRON. Such a mis-spelling is no more surprising than many similar examples which are to be found in old parish registers of the time throughout England. Few people, other than those of noble and professional families, had much education.

Until recently I suggested that as 200-years ago many ordinary people did not know how to spell their own surname, the spelling of a surname, particularly of those who were not of well-known local origin, was left to the "clerk" to interpret what may often have been a regional or foreign accent. This applied in the Islands just as much as on the mainland of England.

I recently came across the record of the marriage at St.Helier in Jersey in June 1760 of Helier De PUTRON, of Guernsey, to Jeanne MOURANT, of St.Helier, in Jersey. It has made me wonder

122 whether Auguste PITRON travelled to Guernsey in the early 1800s knowing that Helier De PUTRON was already living there. This may have been one of the reasons why some of the entries in the registers of the children of Auguste and Ann/Nancy were entered as PUTRON instead of PITRON.

3(f). Marguerite , who was born in 1840 , is the only one of the children of Auguste and Ann Le PAGE about whom much is known - except for the recorded death of baby Adolphus when not yet two months old. We know from Marguerite's marriage certificate, when she married Edward INSLEY in St.Malo in Brittany in 1864, that she was at that time a school teacher who was teaching in St.Malo. Whilst there is nothing to substantiate the fact, it seems likely that having been brought up to be bilingual - as were most in the Channel Islands - that she was teaching English to children in one of the local French schools. Perhaps, being English speaking, she and other Channel Islanders who were living in and near St.Malo at that time naturally met the few other English people who were living there at the time. I have no evidence that there was a large English community at St.Malo at that time - as there was to be forty years later - and the few from England would naturally have made contact with those from the Channel Islands. It was not to be for another 20 years or more that St.Malo and Dinard were to become one of the most popular holiday resorts for those English families who chose to travel abroad for their Summer holidays. The story of Marguerite's life after her marriage is told as a part of the "INSLEY FAMILY Story".

3(i). Honore Auguste , the son of Auguste's second marriage to Judith ROUSEL, was born in 1849 in St.Peter Port. At the time of the 1871 census, when he was just 22-years old, he was recorded as being a Policeman. He later became an Insurance agent and by 1873 he had moved to London as he married Jane STROWBRIDGE in Stoke Newington in October that year.

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Four LE PAGE FAMILY

Whilst writing briefly about the PITRON FAMILY I mentioned my great, great-grandfather, Auguste PITRON who married Ann, or Nancy - the names are frequently interchanged - Le PAGE in St.Peter Port, Guernsey. Although, when doing so I said that Ann was a daughter of that old Guernsey family, yet I know very little about Ann's branch of that family.

1st Generation That I have researched! Charles Le PAGE , would have been born about 1700 . He married Ester LAMOUREUX in January 1724 at St.Peter Port, Guernsey. I think that Ester was the daughter of Isaac and Marie LAMOUREUX, but I have yet to find a record of Ester's baptism and of her parents' marriage. Charles and Ester had six children, all of whom were baptised at St.Peter Port Church between 1726 and 1740, but I have no other information about the family. Jean, the first son, was followed by four sisters - Charlotte, Suzanne, Rachel and Magdeleine - before his brother, Charles was born in 1740.

2nd Generation 2(a)-(e) Jean (born 1726), Charlotte (born 1728), Suzanne (born 1730) and Rachel (born 1732) are, at the moment, merely names to me.

Charles was born in 1740 . He married Marie COLLENETTE in Catel in Guernsey in 1764. I know nothing about this couple other than the fact that they had eight children - Marie (b.1765) ; Charles (b.1766) who must have died whilst very young as a third child was baptised with the same name of Charles in 1768 . Jean (b.1770); Charlotte (b.1772); Daniel (b.1774); James (b.1778) and icolas (b.1781) .

3rd Generation 3(a) and 3(b). Marie was born in 1765 , but I have no other details about her, and apart from the early death of the first son, Charles (b.1766) I know nothing about him either.

3(c). Charles was born in 1768 , 21-months after the child of the same name. Charles was 32-years old before he married Elizabeth BLONDEL on the last day of the year 1800 in the Town Church of St.Peter Port, Guernsey. Elizabeth was the first daughter, and second child of a family of seven children, of Thomas BLONDEL and Elizabeth ROBERGE. I only know of Charles and Elizabeth having one child, Ann, who was probably born in 1801.

4th Generation 4(a). Ann, sometimes referred to as ancy, was probably born about 1801 and in 1823 she married Auguste PITRON in St.Peter Port. Auguste had come from a town close to Cherbourg 126

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in Normany in France. I discovered in 1999, that there are old registers in Jersey which list the arrival in Jersey of immigrants from France in the 18th. and early 19th. centuries but unfortunately similar old records are not to be found in Guernsey - if these ever existed. For the moment, therefore, I have no accurate information about the date when Auguste PITRON arrived in Guernsey.

Ann Le PAGE and Auguste had eight children whose story is told in the PITRO FAMILY Story.

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Five MOURAT FAMILY

As the most recent of my forebears who was born in the Channel Islands was my father's mother, Marie Morel MOURANT (born 1870), I feel that I should start the Story of this family by including general comments about these islands and Jersey in particular.

There is good evidence that Jersey has been inhabited since about 3,500 BC, as the island contains one of the best preserved Neolithic burial chambers in Europe. "La Hougue Bie", in the present day parish of Grouville, is a remarkable 40-feet high prehistoric mound inside of which is a tomb and neolithic place of worship.

Since 1066 and the time of the Norman invasion, the islands have formed a part of the Duchy of Normandy and the association with the British monarchy has persisted ever since. The island remains a "peculiar of the Crown", although having its own Government. Originally in the Diocese of Coutances (on the Normandy mainland) one can see the spires of Coutances Cathedral on a clear day, when standing on a headland at the North-East corner of the island in the parish of St.Martin.

Some 200-years after the Norman invasion the islanders started to build Mont Orgueil Castle to provide a defence against a French invasion. It was 300-years after that, in 1590, that a start was made to build a new defence on an islet in St.Helier Bay, which was to replace the old castle, and this new castle was called Elizabeth Castle after Queen Elizabeth I. It was to remain in continuous use as a fortification until early in the 20th. century and is today a major tourist attraction.

The origins of the MOURANT family have been researched by several historians during the last 200-300 years and I have been able to refer to a genealogical "precis", which was published in Paris in 1941 (during the 1939-1945 War!), of the French branch of the MORANT family from Normandy, Brittany and Anjou, as well as a history of one of the Jersey branches of the MOURANT family.

The Paris publication refers to the founder of the "House of de MORANT" as a Danish Viking, who was established in Normandy following the Treaty of Saint Clair-sur-Epte, in 911. He received a fief (land held in fee or on condition of military service) and gave his name to it : les Cours Morant, from the Danish "gaard" (domain or post) and from "morant" (sailor).

The MORANTs were intent on perpetuating the memory of these origins by incorporating into their arms cormorants (corvus marinus), the emblem of "sea crossing". At the start of the XVII century the various branches of this House preferred to adopt Swans in place of cormorants on their coat of arms. And, a bit later, they added the particle (i.e. "de") to their Name in order to follow the general fashion among the noble families at that time.

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The French authors of this "precis" continued :-

"The civil wars and, in particular, the Hundred Years War (13371453) which for so long devastated ormandy, prevent us from tracing the descent of this family in the dark ages, most of the documents having been burnt or taken away by the English to the Tower of London. It is, therefore, difficult to link up the various individuals carrying the ame who feature in the cartularies (registers) of the Abbots of ormandy."

My cousin, Gerald Julian Insley, who has undertaken the translation from the original French "precis", has commented that we should remember that the French aristocracy have been rather "beyond the pale" since the Revolution. Much of their self-justification and pride in ancestry has tended towards the esoteric. He suggests that much of their "evidence" in the "precis" is based upon fairly flimsy wishful thinking! There appears to be a shortage of "hard substantiated facts" and the most telling item is the one about historic records having been burnt or removed by the "dastardly Brits".

The story of the Jersey MOURANTs in "An Armorial of Jersey" refers to the branch of the Normandy family whose antiquity and possessions were equally famous. Hasted, in his "History of Kent", records that William, Jordan and Henry de MORANT were possessed of the manor and lands of Morant's Court, near Sevenoaks, in 1293 during the reign of King Edward I. This history suggests that a member of the English family migrated to Jersey in the fifteenth century, probably at the time of the Wars of the Roses, which were disturbing the realm of England. It is, however, probable that earlier settlors of this family in the Channel Islands had arrived direct from Normandy or Brittany, if not at the time of the early Vikings from Scandinavia. Certainly by the time of King Henry VIII, the MOURANT family were then numerous and influential in the island.

The noted Jersey historian, The Revd. Philippe Falle, MA. Rector of St.Saviour, wrote on 23rd.October 1733 to the Jersey scholar, The Revd.Philip MOURANT MA. who had been nominated, at the recommendation of Queen Caroline, to the office of Preacher in the English church at Amsterdam, saying, "You see that I have erased the "u" in your name, which indeed I believe to have crept in without reason. Many times in the island I have disfigured in like manner, by adding or subtracting a letter or two. And, as to yours, I have a confused remembrance of having read MORAT in some history. I think it was the name of a Chancellor of France. Perhaps I may meet with the place again." When writing again later that year Falle says "Looking into the 27th.volume of Fleury I meet this passage "At Amiens, John MORAD, Doctor of Theology and Canon of that Town, etc.." This is certainly your name, although written with a "d"; for whether with a "d" or a "t", the pronunciation is the same." Philip MOURANT was, himself, later to be acknowledged as a historian when he wrote the "History of Essex".

The surname is indeed of very great antiquity, as is proved by its figuring in the famous ballad of "Tristam", which is supposed to have been written in the thirteenth century. This romance was one of the most celebrated in the Middle Ages. The exploits of the Knight were commemorated in France, Italy, Germany and even in Greece and Iceland. To the modern English reader it is best known from Sir Thomas Malory's compilation of the "Morte d'Arthur". In this, the giant MORANT, or MORAUNT, is brother to the Queen of Iceland and is sent over to Cornwall to levy the tribute exacted by the Milesian king, and is there slain by Tristram.

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We shall probably never know whether our branch of the MOURANT/MORANT family were descended directly from the Danish Vikings who settled in Jersey, or from a branch of the Normandy Viking settlors or even from an English branch of those early Normandy settlors. My cousin, Gerald, would bid us to remember that the French - and others, perhaps! - may be prone to wishful thinking when tracing back their forebears beyond the earliest records.

The French "precis" also makes reference to the town of MORANT in Jamaica. This is situated at the mouth of the River Morant and owes its name to a famous navigator, ancestor of Admiral Digby MORANT, one of the English branch of the Normandy MORANTs.

The "precis" also states - "The "House of MORAT" has been descended very many times in the female line, by the VIEUXPOTs and BAUFFREMOTs, from the "Royal Blood of France" which makes it descend from all the ancient Kings and Emperors of Europe, establishes its consanguinity with 31 contemporary sovereigns, and relates it with 110 Saints, Blesseds, (ie. those beatified), Popes and Martyrs. It has been descended, finally, from the "Glorious Blood of Joan of Arc", by the VILLEBRESMEs and the du CHEMIs." As Gerald wrote to me "Just imagine - we are descended from Saints and Popes, although I fail to see how the "Maid" of Orleans could have passed on any blood to us".

We can let our thoughts run through these ancient treatise but I can offer no firm link between my great grandfather, John MOURANT, and any of these "noble lines" - not even the first MORANT who faced King Arthur's knights!

In a book published in 1995 by the Channel Islands Family History Society, Andrew Glendinning records :-

"When King Charles II died in 1685 he was succeeded by his brother James II, who was of the Roman Catholic faith and immediately set about overthrowing the Church of England, to the dismay of most of his subjects. He intended to rule as an absolute monarch, but his fouryear reign was characterised by revolts and massacres, ultimately resulting in his removal from the throne when his second wife, Mary of Modena produced a male heir.

In Jersey the effects were felt a year later. When the British Garrison changed in 1686, it was replaced by regiments containing Roman Catholic officers and mercenary soldiers. Fearing the security of the Island, the Lieutenant Bailiff arranged that the Castles should be guarded by equal numbers of British soldiers and local Militia. So when James fled to France and sides were drawn, once reinforced by the Earl of Bath's Regiment on 1st.April 1689, the Island had little difficulty in declaring for the Protestant Succession, represented by Mary, elder daughter of James II and her husband, William of Orange.

One of the first major events to occur was the English declaration of war against France, mainly due to Louis XIV's support of James. In 1690 the French fleet succeeded in overcoming the English at Beachy Head and James landed in Ireland with a French army, but was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

In 1692 the English regained control of the Channel after the Battle of La Hogue, French invasion plans were scrapped and James had to revert to subterfuge. He planned to send Sir George Barclay down from Scotland with French money to recruit another army and abduct

133 and kill William at Turnham Green as the King returned from Richmond. The plot was not a well kept secret and was uncovered ten months before it could be executed. However the King turned this to his advantage by asking Parliament to demand an Oath of Allegiance from all "men of importance".

An Act of Association was quickly passed, requiring such men to solemnly vow to "combine with others for the better protection of His Majesty's Royal Person and Government."

When the news reached Jersey in 1696, the Islanders were keen to show their allegiance to the King. With the French War, the Channel Islands were being threatened by the closeness of the French fleet at Brest and privateers operating out of St.Malo, so Jersey was keen to maintain its links with England.

For three hundred years the Jersey Oath of Association Roll has been stored in London and forgotten. With the tercentenary of the signing of this Roll due in 1996, and the enormous growth in family history, it seemed to Alex Glendinning and the Channel Islands Family History Society an obvious candidate for publication and these extracts and comments are taken from my copy of this book.

Among the most common family names on this Oath of Association Roll of 1696 were included the men of the MOURANT families, of whom there were nine in the parish of St.Saviour, as well at T.MURANT and Elie MORANT. Eleven others were recorded in other Jersey parishes. The Roll is in the form of a list of individual signatures, some more elaborate than others, of the leading "men of importance" in each parish. No details are given about the signatories so that in St.Saviour's parish, for example, one finds two signatures of Jean MOURANT and two of Philippe MOURANT with another J.MOURANT. In commenting about the position of individual signatures on the parish list the author mentions "jostling for the most important position, the top left hand of the roll" and in the light of this remark I was interested to find that J.MOURANT signed on the second line of the top left of the parish list. In the absence of any corroboration from another document (eg. a title deed of landed property) it is not possible to state with certainty exactly to whom these signatures relate. However, they do provide evidence that at that time a number of the members of the MOURANT family were regarded with respect in their community.

Alex Glendinning mentions that the second most common surname in that parish at that time was FALLE, and we find six of the men of this family having signed in the top twelve lines (out of 75 lines). In the same top twelve lines there are five MOURANTs with the first Philippe MOURANT appearing on line 16. Altogether 243 men of the parish of St.Saviour signed the roll, and "marks" were made on behalf of 37 others who were not literate, out of the total parish population of 1,176, which was a little under 10% of the total population of the island.

The full story of the signing of the Oath Roll in Jersey, which is held for safe-keeping in the Public Record Office in London, is graphically told in the CIFHS publication which also provides much fascinating information about all aspects of life on the Island at that time.

Whilst I was in Jersey in October 1998 carrying out some more research I met Henry Coutanche, a distant cousin by marriage and a Deputy of the States of Jersey and at one time the Chairman of the Societe Jersiaise. Henry made suggestions about various lines of research

134 which I might carry out. One suggestion was that some of the very old copies of the "Bulletins" of the Societe might make reference to members of the Mourant family in the past, which included links with my own research. Adopting this suggestion I came across a summary (in Court French) of the following :-

"Lists de Denonciateurs de la Cour Royale"

(Lists of those denounced before the Royal Court)

" 5th.ovember 1585. JEA MORAT, son of Philip, being so forgetful of his salvation that having made a pact with the Devil using the diabolical art of witchcraft for which he was apprehended in justice and having been formally indicted he was brought before a criminal enquiry of life and death which was brought before a jury of enquiry and in the accomplishment and confirmation of it the aforementioned Jean Morant has, from his own mouth, confessed his acquaintance with the devil by marks on his body and confirmed under pledge and gift of one of his members, under which oath and conduct he has committed infinite crimes and murders, on account of which Jean Morant has been condemned to be strangled until he is dead and his corps burned until it is totally consumed and all of his goods, furniture and inheritance shall be confiscated. "

Note :

There is no evidence that this Jean Morant who lived - and died - in 1585 was one of our forebears!!

Little detail is known (at the moment) about the earliest members of our branch of the MOURANT family whom I have traced in Jersey. I have mentioned the Oath of Association Roll which was signed in 1696 and that J.MOURANT signed on the second line of the parish roll and that the first of the two Philippe MOURANTs signed on line 16. Knowing previously very little about our branch of the MOURANT family prior to their living in St.Lawrence and in the light of these particular details I have now been interested to "discover" the earlier members of our branch of this family as follows :-

Philippe MOURANT, who would have been born about 1660, married Rachel VIVIAN at St.Saviour on 29th.January 1687/8. They had a son and in the record of his baptism in October 1697 he was named "Jean, the son of Philippe, son of Philippe". (Both his father and grandfather were called Philippe). We know, therefore, that the father of Philippe, who married Rachel VIVIAN, was also Philippe MOURANT and he would have been born about 1630. It may well be that the Philippe MOURANT, who signed the Oath of Association Roll in 1696, was the grandfather of Jean, and would, at that time, have been about 66-years old.

In January 1720/1 Jean married Marie FALLE (who was baptised in January 1696/7) and they had a son, whom they also called Jean after his father, and whose story and that of his descendants is given below as residents of the parish of St.Lawrence. Marie FALLE died in 1796 and her husband died four years later and both were buried at St.Saviour.

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I hope to find out whether Marie was of the same family as the Philippe FALLE who was to become the Rector of St.Saviour at the beginning of the 18th.century and the "noted historian", as I have already mentioned.

1st Generation in the Parish of St.Lawrence 1(a). Jean (17211785) . The old marriage records of the parish of St.Lawrence refer to Jean MOURANT, from the parish of St.Saviour, marrying Elizabeth LE FEUVRE dit FILLASTRE in 1758. It was the marriage of this couple that started the family's continuous involvement with the parish of St.Lawrence which was to last for nearly 200-years.

St.Lawrence then, and still today, is a farming parish and includes a number of the pink granite houses which are such a feature of the island of Jersey, together with the old manors and parish churches which have been built of the same stone. The traditional farming nature of the parish is now acknowledged and remembered in the Hamptonne Country Life Museum, a favourite visitor centre which shows how the Jersey people have lived during the past six hundred years.

The parish of St.Lawrence is also now known for another newer and more unusual reason. During the Second World War, whilst the Channel Islands were to be the only British soil which was to be invaded and occupied by the German forces, that ruthless military machine was to leave an indelible mark upon the quiet countryside. Using hundreds of forced labourers, augmented by Russian prisoners of war who were treated as no better than slaves dressed in rags, these poor wretches tunnelled in an underground hell through solid rock on the construction on a bomb-proof artillery barracks and ammunition store. In the weeks leading up to D-Day (6th.June 1944) this underground construction was converted into a hospital, although never used and eventually sealed off. At the entrance to what now provides an extraordinary experience for visitors, the plaque reads "Those who survived will never forget; those who did not will never be forgotten."

But all that was to come about nearly two-hundred years after Jean and Elizabeth were to come into the parish of St.Lawrence.

I have mentioned that Jean was born in November 1721 in the parish of St.Saviour the son of another Jean and Marie FALLE. Jean and Elizabeth had two children : Jean, born Dec.1758, and Philippe born in 1761, both of whom were baptised at St.Lawrence. It seems that these two were their only children - a small family in those days. Jean, the father, died about 1785 but his wife survived him by another 40-years as she was not buried until 1825 at the age of over 90- years. As we shall see their eldest son, Jean, later lived in a house "of quality". As Elizabeth was to be the principal heiress under the terms of her sister's will this may well have contributed to the financial standing of Elizabeth's own children.

2nd Generation 2(a). Jean (17581844) , the elder son of Jean and Elizabeth, was to marry Jeanne DALLAIN in 1780 and we know that they had ten children. Jean must have made a good living as a small farmer. They lived at "La Qualite" and it is possible that this property had been inherited from his parents.

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In a reference book which gives information about "Old Jersey Houses" by Joan Stevens, she writes about "La Qualite" as follows :-

"We are all familiar with the term "quality" nowadays, indicating excellence in an object, usually one offered for sale. Here we have the word attributed to a house, and the only one (on the Island) so named. It is indeed a very delightful one, so tucked away that it is not often seen. It has a standard 17th.century arch, 3ft.1in. wide and 6ft. high, and the house is of the type with only three windows above, and all of the windows have been enlarged. There are "volieres a pigeons", surprisingly, and there is a large stone in the garden, which could have been an old cross base, of a smaller and simpler type than the main ones as illustrated, but very like one which is now in the Museum courtyard."

Jeanne was the eldest of the three children of Gedeon DALLAIN and Catherine LE MONTAIS and had been baptised at St.Lawrence in 1762. Her grandfather, Gedeon DALLAIN, (1705- 1756) and his siblings had been the first members of the DALLAIN family to be baptised in Jersey. That Gedeon's father, another Gedeon, (c.1675 - 1724) had been brought to Jersey about 1687 as a small child, by his father Pierre, having been born near Bayeux in Normandy. In 1692 Gedeon (b.1675) is listed in the muster of the trained band of St.Peter, holding a musket as his father's eldest son and it seems that this was the parish in which this refugee family first settled. This refugee family were amongst the many Hugenots who chose to leave their home country as the result of the persecutions which were mounted against them, but it was only Gedeon's younger sister, Susanne, who is recorded as having publicly renounced the Roman Catholic faith in 1696 in St.Helier's parish church. It was at that time that it was noted that this refugee family had arrived in Jersey nine years earlier.

Jean MOURANT and Jeanne DALLAIN had ten children : Jeanne born 1781 who married Jean RENOUF; Jean (1783); Philippe (1786); Anne (1789); Edouard Samuel (1791); Gedeon (1795); Pierre (1797); George (1800); Marie (1804) and Elizabeth (1808). Jeanne was buried a week after the baptism of her youngest child Elizabeth and perhaps she died in childbirth. Her husband, Jean, survived her for another 36-years dying at the age of 86. We also know, however, that in 1821 Jean had made a formal appointment of his friend, Jean Langlois, as the guardian of his younger children which would come into effect in the event of his death.

Before that would occur, however, there is another item of local history which is of interest. In 1815 General Sir George Don, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, ordered a Militia census to be taken. He wanted an accurate picture of the number of men available in the island in case of attack by Napoleon. All men in Jersey between the ages of 17 and 65 had to serve in the Militia. (Not unlike the "Home Guard" in World War II.)

The 1815 census gives the names of males over the age of 17, their age and their position in the Militia. When the male is the head of the house, it also shows the number of women, boys and girls within the household, but for the most part, not their names. Thus it is possible that if widows or single women headed the household, they might not have been included in the census. Similarly, foreigners living in the island, unless they were in the regular army, may also have been omitted.

Those who have been interested in researching their forebears living in mainland England will know that, with few exceptions, the first census was taken in 1841, when ages were recorded to

144 the nearest 5-years. Here, in Jersey, we have the benefit of this census which was taken over 25- years earlier.

Jean, born in 1758, is found, at the age of 56-years, as a Sergeant Major in the Militia, living in the parish of St.Lawrence, in the locality known as "Coin Tougis Sud", living with one female, one son and two daughters, whom we know were his wife, his son George and his daughters Mary and Elizabeth.

Living separately were his married son, Jean, aged 32-years, who had no rank in the Militia at that time, but who had in his house his wife and sister, one son and five daughters. His brother, Philippe, was living in another house, on his own, whilst his younger brother, Pierre, was also living in a house on his own, but he was noted as being a "Soldat in the Regiment of St.Lawrence".

2(b). Philippe the brother of Jean and the second child of Jean and Elizabeth LE FEUVRE was baptised at St.Lawrence in 1761 . I have not found any information about him. He may have died young or may merely have moved away from the parish.

3rd Generation 3(a). Jeanne, born in Feb.1781 , the first of this generation, was to marry Jean RENOUF at St.Lawrence in 1804. They had one child, Jean Philippe but I have no further details about this family. 3(b). It is from Jean , the first son of Jean MOURANT and Jeanne DALLAIN, that we are descended. He was baptised in 1783 and at the age of 22-years, in 1805, he married a daughter of another old Jersey family from the same parish of St.Lawrence, Susanne LE GROS. As he was the eldest son, Jean inherited the family home at "La Qualite" and continued the family tradition of farming. Jean and Susanne had six children : Jean Gedeon (1806); Susanne Elizabeth (1809); Jeanne Rachel (1812); Anne (c.1815); Marie (1819) and Edward (1823). When Susanne died in 1838 her youngest child, Marie was still only 18-years old. Her death must have shattered the life of that family. Within four years Jean had given up the farm and for a couple of years he worked as a carpenter. It was probably at this time that he built "La Maison des Montagnes", which is quite close to "La Qualite" and which is referred to in another old reference book. Perhaps this was the house to which he then moved when he retired. He died there 13-years later at the age of 68-years.

3(c). Philippe was baptised in 1786 . I have found out nothing about him beyond the fact that he was living on his own at the time of General Don's census which was taken in 1815, to which I have referred.

3(d). Anne (born 17891851) was to marry Philippe BERTAUT, who died seven years before his wife.

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3(e, f, g). Edouard Samuel (1791) and Gedeon (17951806) who died when he was only six years old, and Pierre (1797) are at present only names from the baptism register although, as I have mentioned, Pierre, too, was included in the 1815 Militia census.

3(h). George (1800) was to marry Jane and they had four children between 1830 and 1848, all baptised in St.Mary parish church : Jane (1830); Mary Ann (1835); Charles Edward (1836) and Emma D. (1848). At the time of the 1851 national census, George and his family were living in the parish of St.Mary where he described himself as a "Landed Proprietor" - of 5-acres. Their three elder "children" - aged 25, 21 and 16 - were living with them together with their young daughter Emma, who was only three years old at the time. There were - and still are - many families who make a living in Jersey out of only 5-acres, although it was for very many years the tradition that the younger sons would also join the cod-fishing boats during the Winter period, which sailed across the Atlantic to reach the rich cod-fishing areas at the Grand Banks, off the coast of Newfoundland. The "Story of the MOREL FAMILY" provides some interesting details of the life of a small Jersey farmer in the 19th.century. Those remarks apply just as much to other Jersey farming families from whom we are descended as it does to the MORELs.

3(i). Marie (18041860) married Philippe BERTAUT and they had a daughter Caroline in 1829.

3(j). Elizabeth , the tenth child of Jean MOURANT and Jeanne DALLAIN, was baptised at St.Lawrence in 1808 and married Jean Edouard LE ROSSIE. Elizabeth was buried at St.Helier in 1878.

4th Generation 4(a). Jean Gedeon (born 1806) was the first of the six children of Jean MOURANT and Susanne LE GROS. Like many other members of his family, both before and afterwards, Jean Gedeon worked the family farm and at the age of 45-years, at the time of the census that year, he was living at "La Fontaine", another property which was to remain in the family for many years, and again he was described as a Landed Proprietor.

Once again Joan Stevens' book of Old Jersey Houses is found to refer to this house in the following terms :-

"This is a traditional house with an enclosed "bel", though no wall now encloses it to the South. The East and West wings are there, and the front door and all the windows are chamfered. There is an external stairway leading to the upper storey of the East wing, and a mounting block outside the courtyard. On the back of the building is a stone with PM 1734, doubtless recording some later addition. The "Fontaine" concerned must be "La Fontaine St.Martin in the dip nearby to the East, now the property of The ational Trust for Jersey." (See also the story of the MOREL FAMILY which refers to Morel Farm, which is the neighbouring property to the West of "La Fontaine" and which was the first property to be given to The National Trust for Jersey).

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Jean Gedeon married Elizabeth LE GROS in 1838 and they had eight children : John (1839); Elizabeth (1841); Mary (1842); Philip (1844); Edward (1846); Thomas Richard (1847); Harriet Ann (1852) and George Charles (1854).

In the April 1851 census Jean Gedeon described himself as being a "Landed Proprietor" and in addition to his children, who were still living with him and his wife, the census return indicates that he had two servants, both of whom came from France.

At the age of 75-years, at the time of the census in April 1881, Jean Gedeon was still living at "La Fontaine" with his wife, his daughter Elizabeth (unmarried and aged 40-years), and his son Edward (also unmarried and aged 35-years). At the time of that census there was also had staying with the family, Sophie BROWN, a niece from England, and Eleonore HERVIEU, Jean's sister-in-law who was described as a widow aged 54.

Jean Gedeon died the month following that census, at the age of 75-years, and his wife survived him by another five years.

4(b). Susanne Elizabeth (1809) married Ferdinand Gustave VINCENT. They had a daughter, Maria, who was born about 1850. At the time of the 1881 census he was "a farmer of 9-acres". In their retirement they were living at Beaumont House, St.Peter. Ferdinand died in 1880 and his wife survived him by another 12-years.

4(c). Jeanne Rachel, born in 1812 , married her sister's brother, Jean Auguste Frederick VINCENT in 1836 when she was 23-years old and he was 35. (He may have been a brother or cousin) They had a daughter, Jeanette, born about 1855. I have not found either of the parents in the 1881 census return.

4(d). Anne (18151883) , was born in "Leda House" which, according to Mary MOREL, is "across the road from Morel Farm". She married Thomas MOREL and they had five children before Thomas died of Yellow Fever when off the coast of South America in 1849. Their story of Anne and Thomas and their four daughters and one son : Anne (1839); Mary (1842); Eliza Clara (1844); Alice Jane (1848) and Thomas (1849) is told in the MOREL FAMILY Story . Anne died in 1883 at Leda House and Mary MOREL told me that descendants of the family still live in the house.

4(e). Marie was born in 1819. She did not marry. At some stage she must have taken over some of the family land - or rented other land - as, in 1881, she was living in "Middle Hill House" which she had taken over following the death of her younger brother, Edward, in 1875.

4(f). Edward, born in 1823 , married twice. His first wife was Marie Morel MAUGER who died in 1866 after they had had one child : Marie Anne Morel Mauger MOURANT who was born in 1857.

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After Marie's death Edward married again, to Susan LE GROS. - Perhaps she was the sister of Elizabeth who married her brother-in-law Jean Gedeon. As often happened with younger sons, Edward was not also able to make his living from the small family farm, which was only adequate to provide for his elder brother Jean Gedeon. Instead Edward went to sea and became a ship's captain. Upon retirement from the sea he was appointed, for a while, as the under-keeper at the Corbiere lighthouse. He lived with his nephew, Mr.VINCENT, the son of his sister and after giving up his job at the lighthouse he worked on a farm belonging to Elie De Carteret. When his parents died in 1852 he inherited their house, La Maison des Montagnes, and also "Middlehill". His wife, Marie, died in 1866 at the age of 48-years. Edward then married again to Susan Le GROS. In 1875 he committed suicide with a cut-throat razor whilst suffering from melancholia. Susan lived on for another 23-years, dying in 1898 at the age of 75-years.

5th Generation 5(a). John , the first child of Jean Gedeon and Elizabeth Le GROS, was born in 1839 and followed his father as a small farmer. When he was 25-years old he married Eliza BOYD, who had been born in Guernsey, and who was the grand-daughter of John BOYD, an Irishman who had settled in Guernsey about 50-years earlier. They had six children Jean Gedeon (born 1864); Philip John (1866-1845); Eliza (1868-1949); Mary Morel (1870-1948); Henry Boyd (1873-1916) and John Thomas (1875-1955).

At the time of the 1881 census, when he was 42-years old, he was living at "La Qualite" and stated that he was farming 14-acres, but 14-acres of productive land at that time was sufficient to support a family. Indeed in April 1881 John and Eliza had their five surviving children living with them together with John's sister, Mary, who was 38-years old and had not yet married.

5(b). Elizabeth , but known as Elisa, was born in 1841 . She did not marry but, in the custom of those days, she looked after her parents in their old age. In 1881 she was living at "La Fontaine" keeping house for her parents and her brother Edward, who was not yet married, and who was described as the farmer of 12-acres whilst their parents were "retired". Elizabeth died in 1907.

5(c). Mary was born in 1842 . At the time of the 1881 census she was recorded as visiting her brother, John, and his family at "La Fontaine" which John was then farming. Later Mary married Mr.Hilliar, but at present I have no further details about her.

5(d). Philip was born in 1844 but seems to have died when he was only about 10-years old.

5(e). Edward was born in 1846 . By the time of the 1881 census he had taken over the family farm of 12-acres at "La Fontaine". He was recorded as the Head of the house, but with his parents and sister, Elizabeth living with them. It was not until he was 35-years old that Edward was to marry Hannah Frances PIROUET, but known as "Ann". They had three children Edward John (1880- 1963); Clara Frances (1886-1955) and Hannah Lily (1888-1961).

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In 1997 I was interested to receive, from a Mrs.Doreen Bisson, a copy of an old Contract for Sale dated 24th.November 1888, which appears to be in the form of a sworn Affidavit, which was made by Edward before Sir George Clement Bertram, Knight, Bailiff of the island of Jersey and two named local Jurymen. In this contract Edward agreed to sell "La Qualite" for the sum of ,1,980:8:0d. to Alfred John LeSueur, who was Mrs.Bisson's great, grandfather, and when Edward MOURANT contracted to give possession on 25th.December 1888. The contract, or affidavit, states that Edward's wife, Hannah Frances nee PIROUET, was present throughout and voluntarily declared that she renounced and abandoned all widow's dower claims on the property in the event of her surviving her husband. The deed concludes with the statement that "all parties bound themselves by oath."

That had taken place in 1888. I do not yet know to where they then moved, but when Edward died in 1920 he was living at Canterbury Place, Stopford Road in St.Helier. His widow survived him by another 25-years. She died in 1945 soon after the end of the War at which time she was living at 50, Stopford Road.

5(f). Thomas Richard was born in 1847 . He died in Quebec, Canada, in 1874 when he was only 26- years old, but the reason for his travelling to Canada and the cause of his death is not known.

5(g). Harriet Ann , who was born in 1852 , married twice, to George Martin BIENVENU and John LUCE, but seems not to have had any children. She died in 1909.

5(h). George Charles, born in 1854 , was the last of the eight children of Jean Gedeon and Elizabeth Le GROS, but he was only 5-years old when he died.

5(i). Marie, born in 1857 , was the only child of Edward and Marie Morel MAUGER. In fact she was christened Marie Anne Morel Mauger MOURANT. She died when she was only about 8- years old, and her mother died a year later. Although her father remarried he had no other children.

6th Generation 6(a). Jean Gedeon, born 1864 , was the first of the six children of Jean and Eliza BOYD but he died whilst still young.

6(b). Philip John was born in 1866 at "La Fontaine", the family home which is close to MOREL FARM. Philip must have enjoyed his schooling. He went to Cambridge, where he took a Classics degree, and then for a time he was a school teacher, teaching classics at Cranleigh School in Surrey, but before long he took a degree in Theology, was ordained and spent an initial period as the Priest-in-Charge of St.Andrew's Church at Mont Cochon in Jersey. In 1903 Philip married Leila Le GROS who, although a Channel Islander had been born in Derbyshire. They had two children : John Philip Boyd who was always known as "Boyd" (born 1907) and Sydney "Andrew" Boyd (born 1911).

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About 1920 Philip was appointed as the Chaplain at the Workhouse at Newport in the Isle of Wight.

In 1930 Philip was offered, and accepted, the living as the Rector of St.Lawrence in Jersey, where he was much liked and respected. In June 1940 his daughter-in-law, Peggy GODFREY, travelled over to the Channel Islands from England to help Philip and his wife, Leila, to pack up some of their possessions and to escape to England from the advancing German armed forces, and like their INSLEY cousins in St.Malo in Brittany, they too caught the last passenger ship to leave before the German invasion. For a while they lived near their son in Rugby, where Philip was known to his grandson, John, as "Grandpa Pip" whilst his wife was known as "Granny Mou"(ie.Mourant). Later they moved to Penalt in Monmouthshire where they lived with The Reverend Du Haume, the Rector of that village, who had a lovely house overlooking the Wye Valley. Their grand-daughter, Philippa, remembers that she and her brother spent three happy holidays there when they were children.

Philip was to know that his beloved Jersey had been freed in the late Spring of 1945 and they were able to return a few months later. Their grandson, John, visited them in the Summer of 1946 at which time "Granny" still regularly swam in the sea. But Philip died that December. His widow, Leila, who was 8-years younger than her husband, lived the remainder of her life in Rugby, near to her elder son, Boyd. At the age of over 85 she was still to be seen riding her bicycle around Rugby. She died there in 1962.

Over 50-years after Philip's death I was visiting Jersey to carry out some family history research when I met Robin Cox, a local researcher of note. He told me that he had chanced to come across information about a small piece of land between the coast road and the sea near to the Corbiere lighthouse which was purchased by Philip (presumably about 1935/1940?). St.Lawrence is one of the few parishes which does not have any coastline and Philip had always been very supportive of old traditions, such as collecting seaweed for spreading on the farmland as fertiliser. It seems, therefore, that he was probably intending that this piece of land should be given to, or retained by, the parish for the use of the farmers in the parish of St.Lawrence when collecting "wrac" for their farmland.

Sadly the War intervened and although Philip and Leila were able to return to Jersey after the War, yet the events of the previous years must have driven from his mind the plans which Philip seems to have had for this small piece of land. As his two sons, Boyd and Andrew, have both died his elder grandson, John Nicholas Boyd, is now hoping to fulfil in a suitable manner what his grandfather is thought to have planned.

6(c). Eliza was born in 1868 in Guernsey, possibly at the home of her grandmother. She was always known as "Lily" and when she was only 16-years old she married a young 17-year old Englishman, Edward Augustus INSLEY, the son of a wholesale merchant and exporter who had a thriving business in St.Malo in Brittany. She and Edward were to have four children : Edward John (born 1890); Lily Marguerite (1892); May (1894) and Nellie (1895) and the story of this family is told in the ISLEY FAMILY Story .

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6(d). Mary Morel , who was born in 1870 in Jersey, was always known as "Dolly", perhaps she was a "petite" child and even as an adult was small and slight. Dolly naturally had got to know her elder sister's husband and family and it probably came as no great surprise when her brother-in- law's younger brother, Harold Charles INSLEY, asked her to marry him in 1898, at a time when he was about to be taken into partnership in the family business by his elder brother. Dolly and Harold had three sons, Harold Mourant and Ernest Boyd (twins born in December 1899) and Gerald Morel (1903) and the story of this family is again told as a part of the story of the ISLEY FAMILY .

6(e). Henry Boyd was born in Guernsey in 1873 and was always known as "Harry". He died when he was only 43-years old.

6(f). John Thomas , but known as "Jack" was born at "La Fontaine" in 1875 . He married a girl from England, Caroline "Carrie" Elizabeth DIXON, and they emigrated to the USA and their first child was born when Jack was 25-years old.

I met Jack and his wife, Carrie, when I visited the USA in 1949. By then Jack had retired and they were living near their second daughter in Connecticut. They had three girls, all of whom married. Dorothy Boyd, but also known as "Dolly", (born 1901); Mary Lillian, and known as "Lily", was born in 1905 and Leila Le Gros was born in 1908.

It has interested me that Mary Morel "Dolly" and her brother John Thomas "Jack" should have decided to include as second names for each of their children the surname of one of their other forebears, a tradition which was followed when I was born and which my wife and I later followed with our elder son, Christopher Boyd. Jack died in 1955 and his wife, Carrie, in 1965, at their daughter, Lily's home in Connecticut.

6(g). Edward John Gedeon , but known as "Eddy", was the first of the three children of Edward MOURANT and Hannah Frances PIROUET. He was born about 1885 . When he was about 35- years old he married Florence Melanie HUELIN and they had two daughters : Jean (born about 1926) and Mary (born about 1928). Eddy died in 1963.

6(h). Clara Frances was born in 1886 and married Edward F. ROMERIL and they had four children : Robert who was to marry Hilda ??? ; Esme; followed by twins : Sheila who married Derek SMITH; and Ruth who married ??? OLSON.

6(i). Hannah Lily , "Lily", born in 1888 , the fourth of Edward and Hannah's children and the last of this generation did not marry and died in 1961.

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7th Generation 7(a). John Philip Boyd , but always known as "Boyd", was born in 1907 , the first of the two sons of The Revd. Philip John MOURANT and Leila Le GROS. He was born at "Somerset House" in Jersey, which in those days was the house offered to his father as the Priest-in-Charge of St.Andrew's Church, Mont Cochon. They later moved to "Mandelay" now an hotel near First Tower.

At the age of five - just at the time of the birth of his brother, Andrew - Boyd was sent by his parents to school in St.Malo, in France, to learn French. Action which was, many years later, to astonish his daughter. Boyd's father, Philip, had always had a close bond with his sister, Dolly, who had married Harold INSLEY, and Boyd's stay at "La Grande Riviere" was the beginning of a strong bond of affection with his cousin, Ernest, who was then twelve years old. Fifteen years or so later, on Boyd's 21st. birthday, he received from his aunt and his cousins a gold watch which was inscribed with the simple message "From the Family". That watch was to remain one of his most treasured possessions and, following his death, was "passed down" to his son, John.

When his father was appointed as the Chaplain of the Workhouse at Newport in the Isle of Wight, Boyd was sent to school at Winchester until he was 15-years old when he was taken away from school and coached at home by his father. He sailed with local fishermen and rowed with the Newport Rowing Club, where at the age of 16-years he won the "Open Sculls", thus beating a man who won the "Diamond Sculls" at Henley Regatta the following year! On one occasion Boyd rowed a single scull across the Solent at Southampton, which was a practice not to be copied!

The following year Boyd went to Keble College, Oxford, to study for an Honours degree in Engineering, but his father banned him from rowing as he thought that his son might not work hard enough at his studies! At the age of only 20, Boyd had achieved his Honours degree but when his father said that he should study Theology Boyd said "no" and took a job as a graduate apprentice with B.T.H. at Rugby! He worked hard and about 1930, whilst there, he married Hilda May HARRISON. In 1933 their daughter, Philippa Noel was born and she was followed by John Nicholas Boyd in 1936.

They lived in Rugby until 1939 when Boyd moved to work for the London Passenger Transport Board, where he had a senior position during the War years. He was responsible for keeping the London Underground services running in spite of unexploded bombs, etc. Although Boyd was a highly skilled Electrical Engineer, he retained his love of the sea, which must have derived from his early home in the Channel Islands, as his abiding interest was always sailing.

His son, John, remembers his father telling the story of the time when he was sailing his dinghy around Noirmont Point, to the West of St.Helier, when the Jersey ferry started to give way to him! However, Boyd tacked before they hit the rocks!

He was not only a sailing enthusiast but in 1946 he started to convert a ship's lifeboat for use for family sailing. Then in 1956 he bought the shell of a Fairey Atalanta and with help from his family and others he completed her. "Allouette de Mer", number 7 of the Atalanta yachts, became a passion after his retirement. His wife, Hilda, and later his second wife, Monica, his

153 children, Philippa and John, as well as my own son, Philip, were to spend many happy holidays crewing for him during his trips all around Great Britain, the Channel Islands and along the French coast.

Although Boyd had rejected his father's wish that he should study Theology at Oxford, yet he was a deeply committed Christian. Soon after moving to Rugby he qualified as a Lay Reader in the Church of England, and served in this capacity for over 50-years, which was an outstanding record.

In 1971, whilst sailing back with his daughter, Philippa, from a trip to Guernsey, Boyd had a coronary attack. Fortunately as Philippa was a qualified doctor she was able to help and to sail the boat into Dartmouth where he was rushed to Torbay hospital. When he was able to leave hospital Boyd and Philippa went to stay with his cousin (my father, Ernest, and my mother) to recuperate. It was then that Philippa first heard the full story of her father's early boyhood in St.Malo and the university vacations which he had spent there.

Hilda, who had always been very energetic and capable, contracted Parkinson's disease and was nursed by her husband during a long terminal illness until she died in 1974. Three years later Boyd married Monica GODFRAY, a distant cousin, whose parents had been born in Jersey, although she had been born in London. Monica was "given away" by her cousin George Trachy PIROUET. Boyd and Monica enjoyed a few years of happiness before Boyd died of another coronary in 1982.

7(b). Sydney Andrew Boyd , known as Andrew, was born in Jersey in 1911 . He went to Victoria College in Jersey and not to Winchester College with his brother. Andrew entered the Royal Navy as a Paymaster Cadet at the age of 17. Having decided to enter the Royal Navy, Andrew formally changed the spelling of his surname to MORANT. In 1937, when he was a Paymaster Lt., he married Peggy GODFREY the daughter of General W.W.GODFREY, who was at that time the ADC to King George VI. Andrew took part in the evacuation of the British troops from Greece in 1941, as a result of which he was awarded the DSC. He later served in the Combined Ops. Head Quarters and then was Secretary to the C.in C. in the Far East Station before serving, with the rank of Acting Captain, as Secretary to the C.in C. Allied Forces Northern Europe.

Andrew and Peggy had three children : Caroline Mary, was born in 1939; William Andrew (Bill) was born 1941 and Helen was born in 1945. Andrew left the Service in 1961 and was able to enjoy over 25-years of retirement before his death in 1987.

8th Generation 8(a). Philippa oel, born in 1933 , qualified as a Doctor of Medicine in 1958 and for 17 years she practiced in London.

When her father re-married in 1977 to Monica GODFRAY, Philippa met, for the first time, one of her distant cousins, George PIROUET, whom Monica had asked to "give her away". Following that meeting in 1977 Philippa married her cousin, George Trachy PIROUET, a year later in the same church, and joined him in his family private hotel in Jersey. Whilst being

154 responsible for the "household" staff, Philippa still maintains her medical skills by acting as a locum and part-time partner in a local practice, where she practices as Dr.P.N.MOURANT.

8(b). John icholas Boyd was born in 1936 . John took up farming. In 1960 John married Jennifer de Boyne KNIGHT, (a school friend of his sister, Philippa) whom he had known since he was a teenager. They moved to Swinford near Lutterworth, where John joined his cousin, Jack Simons, as a partner in his farm. John and Jennifer had two sons : Michael Rupert John (born 1964) and Paul Nicholas Alexander (born 1968).

For nearly thirty years John and his cousin worked in harmony and when Jack Simons died in 1989 John inherited the 400-acre arable and grass farm on which he and Jennifer grew cereals and lambed 250-ewes.

Tragically, after seeing her elder son, Michael, qualify as a farming accountant, marry and provide her with a grandson, Jennifer died very suddenly early in 1997, only five months before their younger son, Paul, was also married.

For a while after Jennifer's death, John decided to restrict his farming to the breeding of his sheep on the grassland and he transferred the 250-acres of arable land to his two sons, Michael and Paul, which Michael looks after with the help of contractors. In the year 2000, however, John was finally able to sell some of his farm land for development and he then sold his flock of sheep and rented out his grassland so that he could retire from his farming business and have more time to enjoy his sailing.

8(c). Caroline Mary (born 1939) was the first child of Andrew and Peggy. With her father's Service background it was, perhaps, not surprising that she married Charles Alan FREMANTLE, who was in the Royal Navy and, who, eventually retired as a Commander. They have three children : Naomi Juliet was born whilst her parents were based in Malta in 1961. Timothy Charles was born in 1967 when his parents were in Canada; and James Justin who was born in Portsmouth in 1971.

8(d). William "Bill" Andrew was born in Devon in 1941 . He is a Chartered Accountant and in 1966 he married a Canadian, Catherine Gloria BOWES, (who was born in Nova Scotia) in Montreal, Canada. They, too have three children : Philip Lawrence (born 1968); Judy Elizabeth (born 1970) and Jennifer Mary (born 1974).

8(e). Helen Margaret , the youngest of Andrew and Peggy's children, was born in 1945 and in 1966 she married William "Stuart" FROST. Again they have three children : Andrew Stuart (born 1969), Peter William (born 1971) and Alexander Edward (born 1975).

9th Generation 9(a). Michael Rupert John, born 1964 in Rugby, followed his father's interest in farming - but in the financial sphere, when he qualified as a farming accountant. In 1991 Michael married Felicity

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Alison Leslie JONES at St.Mary Bourne, near Andover. Michael is now the distribution manager at the largest abattoir in England and lives at the family farm at Swinford, where he is responsible for the arable acreage. Their first son Thomas Rupert Nicholas was born in 1995 and Charles "Charlie" John Harry was born in 1999.

9(b). Paul icholas Alexander was born in 1968 . His interest lay in music rather than farming. He is a trumpet player and also teaches music. In 1997 he married Sarah Catherine McCLURG and Benjamin Nicholas Jack was born in October 1999.

9(c). aomi Juliet FREMATLE (born in 1961) . In 1990 she married Stuart John HILL and they have three children : Matthew Augustus Fremantle (born 1992), Georgina Elizabeth (born 1994) and Hannah Juliet (born 1996).

9(d). Timothy Charles FREMATLE was born in 1967 in Nova Scotia.

9(e). James Justin FREMATLE was born in 1971 in Portsmouth.

9(f). Philip Lawrence MORAT was born in 1968.

9(g). Judy Elizabeth MORAT was born in 1970.

9(h). Jennifer Mary MORAT was born in 1974.

(9i). Andrew Stuart FROST was born in 1969.

9(j). Peter William FROST was born in 1971.

9(k). Alexander Edward FROST was born in 1975.

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Six Le GROS FAMILY

My father's mother, Mary Morel MOURANT, was the grand-daughter of Jean Gedeon MOURANT and his wife, Elizabeth Le GROS. Jean Gedeon had, in fact, married a sixth/seventh cousin. His mother was Susanne Le GROS, who was descended from Elie Le GROS, the second son of Thomas Le GROS and Marguerite Le BOUTILLIER. Jean Gedeon's wife, Elizabeth Le GROS was descended from Thomas, the elder son of Thomas Le GROS and Marguerite Le BOUTILLIER. It all seems quite complex until one looks at the simple "tree" which shows those early generations!

Researching Jersey ancestors who lived during the past 200-years or so is often helped by the tradition, in the Channel Islands, of recording the names of the Godparents as well as the names of the child's parents but, on the other hand, the frequency by which succeeding generations of a family use the same Christian names does lead to much confusion in earlier records where the names of the Godparents are not shown. In addition, in a relatively small community such as then existed in the Channel Islands, there were inevitably many cases where marriages took place between cousins and the "family trees" which then result are even more confusing!

Christopher Le GROS of the Hotel Santa Monica, in First Tower, has been willing to take responsibility for co-ordinating the work of those who are researching their Le GROS ancestors. Not only has he allowed me to refer to these details but has generously permitted me to quote from them for the purpose of my writing this version of my own Le GROS forebears.

By referring to old records in the Lord Coutance Library and making use of research which has been undertaken by others during the last century, I have traced my Le GROS forebears back to Guillot Le GROS, who would have been born about 1550. His son Guille married Elizabeth BISSON and it was their son Thomas who was to marry Marguerite Le BOUTILLIER to whom I have already referred.

Chris Le GROS' history of the family suggests that the Le GROS family have lived in the island "since time immemorial" and that the family name was first recorded in Burgundy in the middle of the 5th. century. "Payn's Amorial" records that the name appears in the official records of Guernsey of the XIII century and is found in the Jersey records of 1292. There, in an instrument dated on St.Clement's day, Guille Le GROS appears as one of twelve sworn men called upon to declare the King's rights and dues in the parish of St.John. The surname is also recorded when, in the latter part of the XVI century, a Peter Le Gros, "late of Her Majesty's Isle of Jersey", is shown as holding property at Peckham. In later generations other members of the family are noted as holding property in the parishes of St.Saviour, St.Helier, St. Lawrence and Trinity all in Jersey.

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Our two associated branches of the family are traced back to:-

1st Generation That I have traced! Guillot Le GROS and his son, Guille who would have been born about 1580.

2nd Generation Guille must have married Elizabeth BISSON at the beginning of the 17th.century. At this stage I know nothing more about them but that they had a son, Thomas , who was to marry Marguerite Le BOUTILLIER.

3rd Generation In the tradition of those times, when Thomas and Elizabeth BISSON had a son they called him Thomas after his father. He was followed by two more sons, Elie and Abraham.

4th Generation Thomas , the eldest son, who was probably born about 1600 , married Sarah ANLEY, about 1625. Elie, the second son, married Jeanne BONHOMME, about 1635. I do not know whether Abraham married.

At this stage a bit of old Jersey history may be of interest and the following is an extract from a publication from T.G.Hutt entitled :-

"The Manifeste of the Parish of St.Lawrence, 1646."

Events in Jersey at the beginning of the Civil War were very confusing for the inhabitants. Some were for the Parliamentary side, but the castles were held for the King; and by 1643 ordinary men had got tired of the fighting and wanted to get back to their farms. In that year Captain (later Sir) George Carteret was appointed Bailiff and LieutenantGovernor, becoming practically a dictator.

His first object was to secure the Island against a Roundhead rising, so he issued a manifeste, passed by the States, (the Jersey Parliament) on which all head men on the Island and all those capable of carrying arms were to sign and swear an allegiance to the King, the protestant faith and their own Island laws. On 18 March 1645/6 the lengthy manifeste with the names of the States members who had already signed it was read out in every parish.

Chevalier, the diarist, admits afterwards that "the people's bodies were under control, but their hearts had not been won." He also said that those who lived in Leoville, St.Ouen, refused to sign, saying that "they had no arms to take up on behalf of either party". In St.Saviour and St.Lawrence some also refused to sign but were permitted to do so later.

In St.Lawrence, the only list extant, the heads of the parish signed first. Of the 250odd signatories, about 80 could not sign their names, so their marks were witnessed by the Greffier who wrote in their names clearly for the most part; several names or initials are, however, half obliterated by ink blots. The list is of particular interest as it antedates the St.Lawrence Parish Registers. It was issued in facsimile by the Societe Jersiaise in 1886, and is still available in local antiquarian bookshops."

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The original list shows, by a *, those men who were parish officials.

The names of the signatories of this manifeste do not include any members of the MOURANT family. The first member of our branch of that family to live in the parish of St.Lawrence was Jean MOURANT, who was born in 1721 in the parish of St.Saviour and moved to live in St.Lawrence after marrying Elizabeth Le FEUVRE dit FILASTRE. Jean's father, another Jean, was baptised (1697) and buried (1773) in the parish of St.Saviour.

A number of men of the Le GROS family signed and these included Elie Le GROS, whose name is "starred". We know, from independent research, that Elie Le GROS was Connetable of the parish of St.Lawrence from 1656 to 1661.

5th Generation 5(a). Thomas, (c.16301679) was the son of Thomas and Sarah ANLEY and was probably born about 1630 and, for the first time, we know a little bit about a member of this family. Thomas was married in 1658 in the St.Lawrence parish church to Catherine BALEINE. Research which has been done by others shows that they had five sons - perhaps, however, they also had daughters whose names I have not traced. Their first son was again christened Thomas, born in 1659 but buried just two years later. He was followed by Philippe (1660), Nicolas (1662), Daniel (1664) who died when he was eleven years old, and George (born 1667), who later married Marie GODEL and from whom we are descended.

5(b). Elie, (c.1640c.1692) was the son of Elie and Jeanne BONHOMME and was also named after his father. Elie, the son, married Susanne ESTHUR in the parish church of St.Lawrence, Jersey in 1664 and we know that his father died just three years later.

We know that Elie and Susanne had four children and like their cousins they also seemed to have all been baptised in St.Lawrence church, thus suggesting that the two families were established in that parish. The first child was a girl, called Susanne after her mother and born in 1666. She was followed by a sister, Sara, in 1669, who later married Jean Le BROCQ. When the next child was a son, born in 1670, he was called Elie after his father. He was to marry Sarah Le BRUN. A third daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1673.

Susanne ESTHUR must have died a year or so after the birth of her daughter and we know that her husband re-married four years later as Elie was married that year to Jeanne GROSSIER, by whom he had seven more children between 1678 and 1688.

Elie and Jeanne's first child was Jean (the male form of his wife's name) born in 1678 from whom we are also descended. Then followed Jeanne (1680), Thomas (1681) who died a fortnight later, David (1683), Francois (1685), Josue (1687) who died when he was 12-years old and Marthe (born 1688) who died when she was only three years old.

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6th Generation 6(e). George (1667after 1761) is the only one of the five children (sons) of Thomas and Catherine BALEINE of whom anything seems to be known. George was baptised in 1667. In 1690, at the age of 22-years, he married Marguerite Le GROUPIL in the parish church of St.Lawrence. They had three children. I have researched nothing about these children beyond their names : George, Anne and Marguerite, and the fact that Anne was later to marry Philippe Le GROS.

I do not, at the moment, know the date nor the cause of death of George's wife, Marguerite, but the old parish records seem to show that George was married again in St.Lawrence Church in 1741, at the age of 74-years, to Marie GODEL, who was only just 31-years old.

During the next nineteen years they are recorded as having eight children :- Marie (b.1742); Elizabeth (1743-1755); Catherine (1746-1755); Susanne (1748-1768); Jeanne (b.1751); Catherine (b.1756); George (1758-1790) and Jean (b.1761). Whilst these "facts" have been doubled-checked for me, yet I am still rather sceptical as it will be realised that the youngest child was born after George reached the age of 94-years. Somebody may carry out more research which will find a fault in these details, although there were few other Georges at that time.

6(h). Elie (16701716) was the only son and the third of the four children of Elie and Susanne ESTHUR and virtually nothing is known of their three daughters. It was not until he was 33- years old that Elie married Sarah Le BRUN at St.Lawrence. Their first child, Elie, died before he was only two years old. They had another son, whom they also christened Elie, and a daughter, Elizabeth. Once more, nothing is known about this branch of the family apart from the fact that the (second) son, Elie was to marry Susanne LANGLOIS in 1731 and they had four daughters and a son : Sara (b.1734); Elie (b.1737); Susanne; Jeanne (1742-1743); and Jeanne (b.1744).

6(j). Jean (b.1678) was the first of the seven children of Elie (c.1640-1692) and his second wife Jeanne GROSSIER, and the only one of this family who has been traced. It is from him and his wife Marie REMON, who were married in 1704, that their grand-daughter (my great, great, grandmother) Susanne was descended. Like Jean's parents, he and Marie REMON had seven children between 1705 and 1726. Nicollas (b.1705); Jean (b.1707); Elizabeth (b.1710); Marie (b.1715); Sara (b.1718); Elie (b.1720) and Marie (b.1726).

7th Generation 7(g). George (17581790) was the seventh child of George and Marie GODEL but only their first son. Their last child, another son, was Jean, (b.1761). The traditional inheritance arrangements which applied in the Channel Islands at that time are well illustrated by this family. Although he was the seventh child, yet because all of his older siblings were sisters it was he who was to inherit such assets as were left by his father. George married Anne JANDON (sometimes spelt JANDRON and sometimes GENDRON) in the neighbouring parish of St.Peter in 1781. They had four children - George, who was to marry Esther BERTAUT; Jean (1785-1861); Philippe (b.1790) and Anne (b.1797).

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An extract from "Old Jersey Houses" by Joan Stevens, refers to George having purchased "La Retraite" in St.Lawrence from Jean AMY in 1793 and writes "Although near to the St.Lawrence main road, it is so concealed that one might take a long time finding it. Across the valley in the distance one can just see the double arch of the beautiful Badier Farm. This little house is built right into the side of the hill, but all that remains of antiquity is the round arch, for all the windows have been altered, with the second row of vousoirs, outlined with rows of tiny stones on each side."

"La Retraite" later passed to George's son, Philippe, who married Elizabeth Le MAISTRE, when he bought the property in 1816.

7(q). Elie (b.1720) was the sixth child of Jean and Marie REMON. He was only 16-years old when he married Catherine ARTHUR in January 1737 and their first child, Elie was born two years later. Seven was a "favourite number" as Elie's parents then had six more children : Jean (b.1742); Catherine (b.1744); Elizabeth (b.1747); Jeanne (b.1750); Anne Douce (1754-c.1755) and another daughter also christened Anne Douce (b.1756).

8th Generation 8(a). George (b.c.1883) was the first child of his father, George, and Anne JANDRON. I know nothing about him beyond the fact that he married Esther BERTAUT and that they had two children Elizabeth (b.1805) and George (b.1807).

8(b). Jean (17851861) was the second son and married Elizabeth LAURENS. They had five children :- Jean (b.1813) must have died before he was seven years old; George (b.1816); Elizabeth (b.c.1818) was to marry Edouard LAURENS; Jean (b.1821); and Philippe (1822-1887) who later married Lydia Henrietta SALMON and had five children.

8(c). Philippe (b.1790) was the third child of George and Anne JANDON. In those days, when farming families made a living from quite small and highly intensive farms, it was often the case that the sons did not marry before they had reached the age of 30-years. However, this was not the case with Philippe who, unusually, was to marry before he was 21-years old. In January 1811 he married Elizabeth Le MAISTRE and less than seven months later their first child Elizabeth was born. Philippe must have been a hard worker. He and Elizabeth had seventeen, or eighteen, children and in the 1851 census he was described as a "Landed Proprietor" farming 12- acres. He was, however, also noted as being a Widower.

Philippe and Elizabeth Le MAISTRE's children included :-

Elizabeth (1811-1886), my great, great grandmother who was to marry Jean Gedeon MOURANT and their "story" is continued in my story of the MOURANT FAMILY.

The second child was Anne (b.1812) who married Philip PAYN; Philippe (1814-1870) who married Sarah DOWNING; Jean (b.1815); Mary (b.1817) who married Amice BERTAUT;

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Francois (b.1818); George (1819-1823) who died before he was four years old; Jeanne (b.1820) who married Philip ANLEY.

Susanne (b.1822) married quite late in her life. She married Edward MOURANT after the death of his first wife, probably when she was about 45-years old. She had no children.

Esther (b.1823) married Jean PIROUET. They had two children but in 1881 Jean was described as a "Retired Ship Owner - a Widower". (Their daughter, Hannah Francis was later to marry her first cousin Edward MOURANT).

Harriot (b.1825) married Frank FLEURY a farmer of 20-acres in 1881 and they had one child; Eleanor (b.1827) was a spinster living with her brother-in-law, Jean Gedeon MOURANT, and her sister Elizabeth in 1881. Eleanor later married Joseph HERVIEU.

George Charles (b.1828); Eliza (b.1829) married Charles Daniel MAUGER; Lidie (b.1831) married George William MAUGER; Sophie Marie (b.1832) married William BROWN; Edouard (b.1834) married Solena WHITCOMB. I also have a note that one of Philippe and Elizabeth's daughters married a Mr.D'ALLAIN, but perhaps that was a second marriage.

8(e). Elie (17391798) was the first of the seven children of Elie and Catherine ARTHUR. In 1770, when he was nearly 41-years old, he married Jeanne BADIER (1751-1798). They too had seven children.

Elie (b.1770); Jeanne (1772-1777); Jean (b.1775) who married Marie Anne HAMON.

Susanne (1778-1838) was my great, great, great grandmother who was to marry Jean MOURANT in 1805. They had six children and I refer to them in my story of the MOURANT FAMILY.

Edward (b.1781) who married Jeanne Le FEUVRE; Charles (b.1786) and Elizabeth who was born in 1788 and was buried three weeks later.

Although I must have later Le GROS cousins in Jersey, yet I have not been able to make contact with them and am unable to add any "family stories" referring to the more recent generations.

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Seven Le MAISTRE FAMILY

The LE MAISTRE family do not appear amongst my forebears until I reach back to my great, great, great grandmother, Elizabeth LE MAISTRE, who was one of twins, born in 1788 in the parish of St.Ouen, Jersey, and who was to marry Philippe LE GROS in 1811.

In these circumstances it is, perhaps, not surprising that I do not know and have not been able to obtain information about my LE MAISTRE cousins and their immediate forebears and the inclusion of this Family Story has only been possible with the kind help of Dr.Frank LE MAISTRE, O.B.E.. Dr. Le Maistre, an Officier dans L'Ordre des Palmes Academiques, Dr. es L.(Caen), F.R.A. (Upsala), M.d'A. (Caen), Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, etc. in addition to having this most impressive list of Awards and Distinctions has, with his wife, been a keen researcher into the history of his family forebears. He has very kindly allowed me to include in this book a story of the LE MAISTRE family which he prepared in December 1972. Dr. Frank Le Maistre originally wrote this family history in French and as my own linguistic skills would not enable me to provide a suitable translation in English I sought the assistance of my cousin Gerald Julian INSLEY M.A. and the following story has, therefore, been produced as a result of the combination of their skills.

" The LE MAISTRE family has been established in Jersey ever since 1274, and very probably since long before that. It is even possible that the family, like many other old ones, dates from the time when the "orthmen", the Vikings swept down on the coasts of ormandy (literally "orthmen's Land") and the Channel Islands, thus having its origins on the spot.

This St. Ouen's branch of the family is not necessarily complete as far as the parish is concerned. Much more research needs to be done, and many other details could have been included alongside certain individuals in the family tree. Suffice it to say that above all we wished to record, be it only roughly in a genealogical form, the greater part of the information which was gathered and extracted from parish registers (especially those of St. Ouen's) just so that it should not be lost. Off and on over several years we spent hundreds of hours on this task, be it consulting registers or otherwise. Errors and omissions excepted this is the result.

It should be noted that the "Armorial of Jersey" by J.B.Fayne is very prone to error on the subject of our LE MAISTRE family, as indeed it is for many other genealogies in the book.

The family name would seem to explain itself quite simply as being the master (maistre) of an estate, or head of a family, or locality etc. As for the spelling, the forms LE MESTRE, LE MAESTRE, LE MOESTRE, ..., with or without capital letters, can be found .

Members of the LE MAISTRE family, at one time or another, have been Seigneurs (Lords of the Manor) of St. Ouen, of La Hougue Boete and of Quetivel. Several have been elected as "Connetable" (The Civic Head of each parish, who represents it in the "States" (Island Parliament), presides over the Parish Assembly, and is head of the parish police. There is no 176 similarity with the word "constable" now used in England today). Other members have served as Anglican clergy, etc, etc, and at least one of the sons of the family, F.W.S.LE MAISTRE, has distinguished himself as a painter/artist. Yet another one, who became famous long after his death, was Le Sieur Thomas Le Maistre, who has left us his manuscripts of great value which are now held by the Societe Jersiaise. evertheless the most eminent would surely have been those ordinary individuals of the family who have contributed down the centuries, like so many hundreds of thousands of Jerseymen and women, to the life of the Island in every way and in every occupation, but particularly as humble but steady sons of the soil the real yeoman of Jersey.

Members of the LE MAISTRE family of St. Ouen's have been found in the parish for more than 700years and are still there today. The genealogy cannot be traced between 1331 and 1550 because the relevant registers are missing. At the latter date Sylvestre lived at "La Cache" (La Chasse d'Eglise), said to be originally the property of the de Carteret family. This house stayed in the family until the end of the last century when John Charles LE MAISTRE died a bachelor. The family has remained well established up to the present time in several places in St. Ouen's, but some branches have spread into other parishes on the Island.

The old registers of baptisms, marriages and burials of St. Ouen's contain hundreds of LE MAISTRE names, especially with the good old forenames of Jean, Francois, Thomas, Edouard, Elie, George, icolas, Philippe, .... and Marie, Elizabeth, Rachel, Marguerite, Jeanne, Sara, Douce, ...

The family Coat of Arms includes a "fleur de maitre" (known to botanists as Chrysanthemum parthenium) or by its common English name of "Feverfew" . The motto being "Ferme et Fidele", or "Steadfast and Faithful".

Our own branch in direct line has always tilled the soil, "the soil of our ancestors", and we still own as "freehold" a pleasant little valley with hillsides or "cotils", ("Cotil" is a Jersey word which refers to a hillside, generally covered with gorse and heather, but sometimes cultivated, and then providing land for early crops which compensate for the difficulty of working small patches of steep sloping ground.) - known as "Les Vaux de Carteret" (literally the "de Carteret Vales", evidently once belonging to the de Carterets) - which has been in our family for over 400years.

To sum up, although the LE MAISTRE family may not have reached extraordinary greatness, many of its members have excelled in all occupations, but especially in the peaceful cultivation of this good Jersey soil, an occupation which (according also to the Greek philosopher) is the noblest of professions for the man of high intellect.

December 1972. Translated from the original French of Dr. Frank Le Maistre, O.B.E., M. d'A. (Upsala et Caen), DocteuresLettres, etc. by Gerald J.Insley M.A.

With this contribution, which has been made by Dr.Frank Le Maistre, it will be realised that it has not required a lot of additional work on my own part to trace this branch of my ancestors back eleven generations before my grandmother, Mary Morel MOURANT, who was born in 1870 in the nearby parish of St.Lawrence.

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1st Generation Which has been researched! 1. Sylvestre LE MAISTRE is likely to have been born about 1520/30. He is known to have been living at the property known as "La Cache", in the parish of St. Ouen, in 1550 and he had six children : Elie, Jean, George, Marie, Jeanne and Thomas.

2nd Generation 2(a). Elie , ( born c.1550 ) but sometimes known as "Helier", married and had two children : Jean and Elie, Junior. Nothing is known about the first son, Jean, but Elie was married first in 1637 and after the death of his wife he married again, to Sara BICHARD.

2(b). Jean is assumed to have been born about 1580/90 and married Sara, the daughter of George CHEVALIER. Jean was described as "of Cosnez". Jean and Sara had ten children, the youngest two of whom, possibly twins, died in 1666. Their exact dates of birth or baptism are not recorded.

2(c). George , the third son of Sylvestre, married Douce DAUVERGNE, but they had no children.

2(d). Marie , the first daughter, is not recorded as having married.

2(e). Jeanne married Jacques De RUE of Guernsey. They appear to have had no children and by the time that Jeanne died in 1652 she was described as a widow.

2(f). Thomas , the youngest of Sylvestre's children was described as "of Val de la Mare" when he was buried in October 1664.

3rd Generation 3(a). icollas , ( born c.1615 ) the first of the ten children of Jean and Sara, was to marry Marguerite Le MARQUAND. They had only one child, Marguerite who was born in 1644 and who married Philippe HAMON in 1670.

3(b). Nothing is known about Catherine the second child.

3(d). Jean , possibly born about 1625 , the second son, married Priscille GASNIER, who died in 1644. Jean was married a second time in 1646 to Marguerite BICHARD, the daughter of Jean, and probably the sister of Sara who married her first cousin, Elie, and during the following twenty years they had nine children.

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3(e). George , who was "of Grantez", married Jeanne LE BROCQ in 1656. She died in 1664 and they are not known to have had any children. 3(f). Thomas , also "of Grantez", married Denise MAHIER of the parish of St.Peter in 1652. They too had no children.

3(g). The sixth child, Esther , married Andre LE BROCQ, the brother of Jeanne, who married Esther's brother, George. This marriage also took place in 1656 - possibly a "double wedding" - but, once again, no record of any children have been noted.

3(h). Marie was married in 1646 to Jean LE MAISTRE, of the parish of St.Martin. It is not known whether they were cousins.

3(i). Magdelaine married Philippe DAUVERGNE, but again it is not known whether he was related to her uncle George's wife.

3(j and k). Abraham and Rachel are both recorded as dying in 1666 and may have been twins.

4th Generation 4(a). Marie , the first of the children of Jean and Marguerite, was born in 1647 . She died when she was 22-years of age and as she was then "of Grantez", this suggests that she had not yet left the house in which she was born.

4(b). The eldest son, Jean , born in 1648 , took over the family home, as was the custom in those days. He did not marry and died at the age of 35-years.

4(c). icolas , the second son, married Marie TOCQUE, daughter of Pierre, in the parish church of St.Ouen in 1680. They lived at "La Robeline" and had two children : Nicolas, born in 1681 from whom we are descended, and Marie born in 1684.

4(d). George (born 1654) was "of Maresq" and married Jeanne STROUDE when he was 26 and they had three children : Jeanne (born 1684), George (1692) and Esther.

4(e). Marguerite was born in 1655 and married Jean HAMON but are not known to have had any children.

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4(f). Thomas who was born in 1667 and is recorded as living at "Maresq". He must have married as Dr.Frank LE MAISTRE has made a note to the effect that one of his descendants emigrated to Australia and he was the forebear of Gordon NICHOLLS.

4(g). I have no details about Abraham apart from his birth in 1660 .

4(h). Philippe, born in 1662 and "of Grantez" first married Douce LE MAISTRE in 1677 and later, in 1690, Magdelaine PAYN. From his second marriage Philippe and Magdelaine had seven children : Philippe (born in 1698), Gedeon, Pierre (1701), Nicolas (1703), Magdelaine (1705), Anne (1709) and Elizabeth (1713).

4(i). There was a later son, who died in 1667 and who was then described as "un afflige d'esprit". In response to my enquiry Dr.Frank Le MAISTRE confirmed that this did mean "of unsound mind or insane".

5th Generation 5(a). icolas , the first child of Nicolas and Marie TOCQUE, was baptised at St.Ouen in 1681 and when he was 22 he married Marguerite DE CAEN. They lived at "Trodez" and had three children : Marie (born 1704), Nicolas (1706) and Simeon (1710). Nicolas died only three weeks after the birth of his small son, Simeon.

5(b). Marie born in October 1684 did not marry.

5(c). Jeanne , the first of the children of George and Jeanne STROUDE, was born in 1684. She married Jean HIBERT in 1711 and died at the age of 50 in 1734.

5(d). George (1692) married Magdalaine HAMON in 1727.

5(e). Esther , the third child, married F. Le ROSSIGNOL.

5(f). Philippe, born in 1698 , was the first child from Philippe's second marriage to Magdelaine PAYN. Nothing is known about him nor, with the exception of his next brother, Gedeon, is anything known about Pierre (1701), Nicolas (1703), Magdelaine (1705), Anne (1709) nor Elizabeth (1713).

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5(g). Gedeon , the second child, was to marry Marguerite PERIER. They had three children : Magdelaine (1717), Edouard (1724) and Philippe (1727). When Marguerite died in 1740, only 13-years after the birth of her youngest child, she was already a widow.

6th Generation 6(a). Marie born in 1704 was the first child of Nicolas and Marguerite DE CAEN, but nothing is known about her.

6(b). icolas (17061769) was to marry Jeanne LE RUEZ and they were to have eleven children : Jean (1729), Nicolas (1731), Simeon (1733), Marie (1735), Jeanne (1737), Jean (1740), Philippe (1742-c.1748), Pierre (1743), Susanne (1747), Philippe (1750) and Judith (1755).

6(c). Simeon , the third child of Nicolas and Jeanne LE RUEZ was born in 1710 but no other details are known.

6(d). Magdelaine the first child of Gedeon and Marguerite PERIER was born in 1717 and died in 1804.

6(e). Edouard (1724) married Jeanne HAMON and they had two sons Edouard (1762) and Francois (1763) who was later to marry Marie DE LA HAYE, who died in 1815.

6(f). Philippe , the third child born in 1727 married Elizabeth PERIER. They also had two children, but this time both were daughters : Magdelaine (1760) and Elizabeth (1763).

7th Generation 7(a). Jean , the first child of Nicolas and Jeanne LE RUEZ, was born in March 1729 but I have no further details about him.

7(b - k). Little is known about the children of Nicolas and Jeanne, besides their names and dates of baptism. Their second child, icolas was born in 1731 and died at the age of 38 in 1769. He was followed by Simeon (Jan.1733) ; Marie (March 1735) who died at the age of 20 in 1755; Jeanne (March 1737) ; Jean (Feb.1740) ; Philippe (Aug.1742) who must have died before 1749; Pierre (Feb.1743) who died in 1769; Susanne (Jan.1747) ; Philippe (Sep.1750) the second child of this name and from whom I am descended and whom I will mention again after referring to the last child Judith (c.1755) who was to marry Jean des CORVAIS.

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7(j). Philippe, born in 1750 , married Elizabeth LE RUEZ, who may well have been a cousin, in Feb.1785 when he was 35-years old. They had six children : Philippe (Feb.1786); twins (in Dec.1788) Jean (who must have died when young) and Elizabeth; Jeanne (1791); Jean (1794) and Nancy in 1796.

8th Generation 8(a). Philippe was born in Feb.1786 but must have been quite old when he married Betsy Sukey SYVRET as they had a daughter, Elizabeth in 1844, who herself married at the age of 16 to Francois LE FEUVRE.

8(b). Jean , the first of the twins who were born in 1788, must have died when young as his parents also christened their fifth child with the same name.

8(c). Elizabeth , the other of the twins, was to marry Philippe LE GROS in Jan.1811. Their first child, Elizabeth, was baptised in Aug.1811 and they were to have a large family. Elizabeth was followed by Anne (1812), Philippe (1814, who died in 1822), Jean (1815), Mary Ann (1817), Francois (1818), George (1819, who died in 1823), Jeanne Elize (1820), Susanne (1822), Esther (1823), Harriot (1825), George Charles (1828), Eliza (1829), Lidie (1831) and Sophie Marie (1832). Subsequent information about Elizabeth and Philippe's family is given in the story of the LE GROS FAMILY .

8(d). Jeanne (1791) married Mr.GRUCHY but I have no other details about her.

8(e and f). Jean and ancy were born in 1794 and 1796 respectively but, again, I have no information about these two children.

9th Generation 9(a). Elizabeth, born 1844 , was the daughter of Philippe and Betsy Sukey SYVRET and in 1860 she married Francois LE FEUVRE and they had a son, Francois, who was drowned, and Elizabeth, who was to inherit "Trodez". Elizabeth would eventually marry Philip VIBERT of "Les Pallieres" and they had a son, Edmund.

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Eight BOYD FAMILY

My father's maternal grandmother was Eliza BOYD. My father, Ernest, was the second of twins and was to be followed by a younger brother, Gerald. The eldest boy, Harold, and the two other sons were each given as second names the maiden name of one of their maternal forebears. Harold was given his mother's maiden name, Mourant. Ernest was given the name of Boyd whilst Gerald was given the name of Morel. In my turn my parents also gave me the name Boyd and when our elder son, Christopher, was born we again gave him the name Boyd as his second name.

At the time of our son, Christopher's, birth in 1956 I was only vaguely aware of the fact that the name Boyd was linked with our Channel Island cousins and it was not to be for some years that I discovered that the first of the BOYDs in the Channel Islands lived in Guernsey. John BOYD probably came to Guernsey about 1810/15 when he was about 25/30-years old. In 1817 John married Mary LAFFOLEY(T) in St.Helier in Jersey. Like John, she was 33-years old. At the time of their wedding John BOYD said that he was from "Co.Down, Ireland", but gave no further details of his origins. In response to my enquiry the Presbiterian Historical Society suggested that John probably came from the Glastry area in the Ards peninsula, but this has not yet been proved.

At the time of his marriage John was described as a cobbler but in 1841 he described himself as a "shoemaker", which probably indicated a man of rather more substance having his own business. On that occasion Mary was described as "Proprietor of Houses", and unless she inherited money from her family her husband must have worked hard to have established his business.

Particularly as it is my own name, I have endeavoured to trace John's origins in Northern Ireland, but I was to discover that BOYD is amongst the 30 most common surnames in Northern Ireland and amongst the 15 most common in County Down and County Antrim. In 1989 the telephone directory for Northern Ireland listed over 1,500 BOYDs in separate addresses, including over 100 John BOYDs. The name is said to derive either from the Isle of Bute or from the Gaelic "buidhe", meaning "yellow".

The Gaelic name for Bute is Bod. However, BOYD is also a "clan name" or "sept" name of the royal line of the clan Stewart, or Stuart, and this family claims that the name derives from "buidhe".

The Book of Ulster Surnames, by Robert Bell, published in 1988 by Blackstaff, records :-

"The first BOYDs on record were vassals of the De Morvilles in the regality of Largs in Ayrshire. It is suggested that previous to that the progenitor of the family was Robert, son of Simon, who was one of two Norman brothers who founded the Stewart dynasty in Scotland. He was known as Robert Buidhe because of the colour of his hair. The family was well established 188 in Ayrshire before the reign of Robert the Bruce in the 14th. century. A branch of this family was related to the MONTGOMERYs and came to the Ards peninsular in County Down in the early 17th. century. The name BOYD is still numerous there".

Other research into the name of BOYD leads to the "Montgomery Manuscript", page 66, and also to "The Scotch Irish", which is to the effect that the earliest recorded deaths after the Ards settlement were those of James ORR of Ballyblack, who died in 1627, and Janet McCLEMENT, his wife, who died in 1636. The statement was made that "the descendants, male and female, of this worthy couple were very numerous and, as their intermarriages have been carefully recorded, we have thus a sort of index to the names of many other families of Scottish settlers in the Ards and Castlereagh". A manuscript genealogy of the family of James Orr had been in the possession of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Belfast and had been sent by them to the Linen Hall Library in Belfast. It has been suggested that these "Orr Papers" might throw some light upon the BOYD family during the 1700s.

There is a headstone in "the BOYD plot" in the graveyard at Greyabbey in Ards Barony, County Down, which is inscribed "Here Lieth the Body of Ellinor McKEE, wife of William BOYD in Ballyblack, who departed this life April the 3, 1784, aged 38 years. Also the Body of William BOYD who departed this Life, Dec. 24 1798, age 61 years". An adjacent headstone is engraved "Here Lieth the Body of John BOYD who departed this Life April 20th. 1785, aged 40 years. Go Home dear friends and mourn not here, I must lie here till Christ appear. Mary BOYD, otherwise MOOR, who departed this Life Feb.17th.181. Aged 72 years."

From these headstones we deduce that William was born in 1737 and that John was born in 1745.

The oldest headstone in the BOYD plot at Greyabbey, is lying on the ground and bears the inscription :- "Here Lieth ye Body of John BOYD who departed this Life August ye 20th. 1725 aged 68 years Also his Wife Janet GALL who died June ye 20th. 1726, aged 73 years."

As this headstone and that of William BOYD (1737-1798) are in the same plot, it seems reasonable to assume that John BOYD (1657-1725) was the great-grandfather of William.

William BOYD left a will which was proved in 1799, according to the index of County Down diocesan wills. However, as the wills were destroyed during the great fire in 1910 at the Four Courts fire in Dublin, a copy is unlikely ever to be found. The children of William BOYD and Ellinor McKEE appear to have included : David, Alexander (the great grandfather of the BOYDs of Millisle), a sister (possibly Ellinor) and William.

There is also a tradition that two BOYD brothers went North from Glastry and settled in the Drumfad and Ballyblack neighbourhood. There was a James BOYD, brother of John, who was mentioned in 1688 as being a creditor of William Montgomery of Rosemount. In this notation in the Montgomery Manuscripts he is referred to as the brother of David BOYD of Glastry (died

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1694). This James BOYD is also mentioned in the will of John BOYD of Killaughy which was signed in 1701. Other references by Dr.David Stewart, a former President of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Belfast, who researched the BOYD family before the disastrous Four Courts fire in Dublin, suggest that John BOYD (1657-1725) was the son of James, the brother of David BOYD of Glastry, and that James was the son of Thomas BOYD, an apothecary of Belfast.

The Montgomery Manuscripts mention Colonel David BOYD as being the first of that name to acquire land in the Ards District. He is stated to have been appointed to take and give livery of seizin to Sir Hugh Montgomery, when he accompanied the latter to Ireland in 1606. In 1607 Colonel David BOYD purchased from Sir Hugh Montgomery 1,000-acres in Greyabbey parish. In 1609 he purchased the townland of Ballymacaret from Con O'Neill. Colonel David BOYD had a son, Robert BOYD, and the Montgomery manuscripts refer to Robert BOYD and his widow Marion. This Robert BOYD also appears in the Scottish records. The Revd. George Hill, in his Montgomery Manuscripts notes, makes reference to the numerous descendants of Colonel David BOYD scattered throughout the Ards.

Dr.David Stewart also expresses as his opinion in his book "The Scots in Ulster, their Denization and Naturalisation, 1605 to 1634" that the principle BOYD families in the Ards were descended from Colonel David BOYD. In his book, Dr.Stewart wrote :

"Strange as it may appear, some Scots of substance, though long settled in Ireland, declined to abandon their nationality and, on specified terms assume another. Such was Colonel David BOYD who came over with Sir Hugh Montgomery in 1606, and received from him a large estate in Ards "for valuable consideration". Col.BOYD died about the year 1623, "being neither a denizen of Ireland or England". According to law this estate should have been escheated to the Crown, but His Majesty generously declined from taking advantage of the Colonel's neglect "on account of his good and faithful services". Instead he directed that a commission should be appointed to find by inquisition what lands were purchased by the Colonel, and ordered that these should be passed to his son, Robert, without the imposition of a fine."

The records show that David BOYD of Glastry and Thomas BOYD of Cranstown were made denizens of Ireland about 1617. However, tracing genealogical lines is rendered particularly difficult by the fact that the name BOYD was quite common in the Ards even in the 1600s.

Colonel David BOYD is stated to have been a natural son of Robert, fifth Lord BOYD. (Paul's Scots Peerage, vol.5). In 1582 King James of Scotland issued at Perth letters of legitimation giving to David BOYD legal rights which he would have had if he had been born a legitimate son of Lord BOYD. David would have been born about 1561.

Robert, fifth Lord BOYD, was born about 1517. He is buried in the Laigh Church in Kilmarnock. A pillar in the church bears the inscription : (translated from Gaelic into English)

1589 Here lies that godly noble wise Lord BOYD Who kirk and King and commons well adorned Which were (while they this jewel all enjoyed) Defended, counselled, governed by that lord.

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His ancient house (oft perilled) be restored. Twice six sixty years he lived and since by death (the third of January) devoured In year thrice five hundred eight-nine.

About 1583 Col.David BOYD was with the Scots Brigade in the Netherlands. They were mercenary soldiers in the pay of the Dutch in their struggle with the Spaniards and were stationed in Bruges. It is said that Col.BOYD and some of the Scottish Captains accepted employment in the Spanish army under the Duke of Parma after the citizens of Bruges, who were mostly Catholics, became reconciled to the Spanish King.

Probably sometime after 1590 Col.David BOYD married Margaret WALLACE, widow of Ross of Hayning. She was the daughter of John Wallace of Carnell. The estate of this family was located about four miles South East of Kilmarnock. One of her ancestors was Sir William Wallace, the Scottish patriot, the Hero of Scotland who defeated the forces of King Edward I of England in 1297 at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, but who was later captured and taken to London to be tried for treason. He was condemned and hanged, drawn and quartered, the "quarters" being sent as a warning to others at Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling and Perth. Another of Margaret Wallace's ancestors, also William Wallace, had been slain in 1513 at the Battle of Flodden.

Col.David BOYD became a supporter of Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, at the times of the disturbances and rebellion in Scotland about 1594. A grandmother of Robert, fifth Lord BOYD, had an illegitimate son, John Stewart, by King James V of Scotland. In 1598 the King confirmed his title to lands at Tourgill, which may have been given to him by his father, Robert BOYD. A nephew, Adam BOYD, set upon and wounded Col.BOYD in Glasgow and made an attempt to murder him at Kilmarnock.

It was six years later, in 1605, that Col.David BOYD was to accompany Sir Hugh Montgomery to County Down, where he purchased from him the 1,000 acres of land in the Ards, which included Ballycastle. However, it does not appear that Col.David BOYD himself ever settled permanently in Ireland, and he evidently continued to treat his estate in Scotland as his home.

When Col.David BOYD's stepdaughter, Maria Ross, married in 1610, Col.BOYD of Torgill, and his father-in-law, John Wallace of Carnell, were referred to in the document as "Wardatouris of the Lordship of BOYD". They were responsible for managing and controlling the Boyd Estate after the death of Col.BOYD's half brother, Thomas, the sixth Lord BOYD, and during the minority of Thomas' grandson, Robert, the seventh Lord BOYD.

In 1613 Col.David BOYD signed a paper in Edinburgh as Provost. He appears to have died not very long afterwards.

The Lords BOYD subsequently became Earls of Kilmarnock. However, in 1746, William BOYD, Earl of Kilmarnock, was beheaded for treason at Tower Hill, London, after his capture at the Battle of Culloden, when he had supported Charles Edward Stewart in the 1745 Jacobite uprising.

But, as has already been said, tracing genealogical lines in Northern Ireland in the 17th.century is rendered very difficult by the fact that the name BOYD was then quite common in the Ards.

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I have mentioned that I was given BOYD as my second name, as had my father before me and when our first son, Christopher, was born he too was given the same family name.

It was not only family names which were "passed down". When Jane and I were married in 1956 her mother "passed down" to us a good quality old linen double sheet on which the name "Eliza Boyd" was embroidered. Eliza had died in 1902 but we continued to use that sheet for several years!

Research which I have carried out in Guernsey, where Eliza was born in 1841, has revealed that her grandfather, John BOYD had probably arrived in that island about 1810 and when he married Mary LAFFOLEY in 1817 he said he came from County Down in Northern Ireland.

Details of the known descendants of that John BOYD are brief but, as one might expect from Irish forebears, the stories of this line of our ancestors is fascinating. There seems to be little doubt that John BOYD and his forebears originally came from Scotland and it seems to be well documented that they are descendants of the clan Stewart. If this is correct, then the BOYDs are entitled to claim descent from that clan and to wear the Royal Clan Stewart tartan. In my younger days, from the age of about 15 until I was 30, I was a very keen Scottish Highland Country dancer and, indeed, taught Scottish country dancing to friends who also lived in the area of Yelverton and Plymouth in Devon at that time. I often wondered what could have been the source of my interest in this dancing. Perhaps I now know!

Despite making many contacts with others living in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, including Canada, it has not been possible to trace the parents of John BOYD who went to Guernsey nearly 200-years ago. We shall, therefore, have to assume an original descent from Colonel David BOYD and treat that as a link with the Royal Scottish Clan Stewart and with all of the historic associations of that clan with King James V of Scotland.

Until further details can be "proved" we start with :-

1st Generation That I have researched 1. John BOYD was born about 1783/4 in County Down in Northern Ireland, according to the information which he later gave at the time of his marriage. Whilst it is only a guess, yet it is possible that he was born in Glastry in March 1783. He must have travelled to the Channel Islands about 1810/1815, but there is no specific evidence that he went first to Guernsey rather than to Jersey. Nor has any evidence yet been found of his occupation at the time of his arrival in the Channel Islands. We know that he married in 1817 and that was well before the heavy emigration in the middle of the 19th.century. It has been suggested that he may possibly have come from a coastal area of County Down where his family shared their time between fishing and a service trade such as shoemaking. The 1841 census return gives his occupation as "shoemaker" suggesting, perhaps, that this denoted a greater skill than "cobbler", which was his occupation at the time of his marriage.

By 1817 John was sufficiently established, or lucky, to be able to marry a local girl. His wife, Mary LAFFOLEY - or should it have been LAFFOLET ? - had been baptised on 1st.January 1784 at St.Lawrence Church in Jersey, when her baptism was registered as "Mary - "fille

193 naturelle" of Marie LAFFOLEY". Whilst the father of this child, Mary, is not recorded yet her mother, Marie, was the daughter of Francois LAFFOLEY and his wife, Marie LE CRAS.

Following the marriage of John BOYD and Mary LAFFOLEY in 1817 in St.Lawrence church in Jersey they moved to Guernsey. John and Mary had four sons and two daughters and by the time of the 1841 census the parents were living at 12, St.George Esplanade, Guernsey. I was interested to note that none of their children were living with them in June 1841, indicating that they had either left home or had died before that date. John died in 1850 of a heart attack.

At some stage John's widow, Mary, moved to number 14, previously her son, Henry's, home, as this was their address at the time of the 1851 census, when Mary was described in the census return as a widow and the "Proprietor of Houses". I have not yet checked whether she had inherited a substantial sum from her parents or whether this description suggested that her husband had established a profitable business, which seems the more likely. Perhaps it indicated that by then Mary owned both 12 and 14, St.George Esplanade. Mary was to survive her husband by ten years and in 1851 her daughter-in-law Mary nee MOREL, also widowed, was living with her, together with her two grandchildren Eliza and Henry.

2nd Generation 2(a). George , the first child, was born in June 1818 but nothing else is known about him. He was not living with his parents in 1841. 2(b). Henry, born 1819 , married Mary MOREL in her parish church of St.Lawrence, Jersey in 1839. At the time of the 1841 census Henry was a Law Agent and was living next door to his parents at 14, St. George Esplanade, St.Peter Port. By that date Henry and Mary's first child, Mary, had been born and had died at the age of only 9-months. Henry and his wife were to have two more children, Eliza (1841) from whom our family are descended and Henry (known as Harry)(1844). The following year (1845) Henry died of consumption.

2(c). Jean , the third son, was born in 1821 . No further record of him has been found but as another son was to be born in 1828, who was named John, it seems likely that Jean died young.

2(d). Marie Charlotte was born in 1823 but seems to have died very young as Henry's next child, another daughter, was also called Mary.

2(e). Mary was born in 1824 , but she too was not a healthy child as she died of consumption in May 1841 at the age of 16-years, a month before the date of that census.

2(f). John, born in 1828 , was the last of the six children of John and Mary. No further record of him has yet been found and he, too, probably also died young, as a boy of only 12-years old would surely have been living with his parents.

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3rd Generation 3(a). Mary , the first child of Henry and Mary MOREL, was born in 1840 and the Star newspaper reported that she died at the age of only 9-months.

3(b). Eliza was born in October 1841 and was living with her widowed mother, Mary, and her grandmother at the time of the 1851 census when she was still at school. At the age of about 23 she was to marry John MOURANT, a farmer of St.Lawrence, Jersey, and her "story" continues as a part of the MOURAT FAMILY story . Whilst several of these members of the BOYD family died when they were quite young, Eliza was to have five children and lived to the age of 61 - a "full span" of life in those days.

3(c). Henry , or "Harry" as he was called, was born in 1844 and was only a year old when his father died. He too was at school and living with his mother and grandmother at the time of the 1851 census. Once again there has been no further trace of him.

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Nine MOREL FAMILY

Our branch of the MOREL family come from Jersey - during the last ten generations - but there are differing opinions about their even earlier origins. There is no doubt, however, as with other old Jersey families, that the location of this, the largest of the Channel Islands, has been an important factor in settlers coming to the islands since Norman times.

John Morel Gibbs published a book in Cardiff in 1982, which he entitled "The Morels of Cardiff", who originally came from Jersey. The author points out that this island, of forty-five square miles, lies only fifteen miles from the French coast and has provided an accessible refuge for those wishing to escape from France at various periods in its history. He suggests that the first MOREL came to Jersey from Lisieux as a Huguenot refugee whose brother had been burned at the stake for his Protestant faith.

However, there are others who suggest that the MORELs of Jersey were already living in the island before the arrival of the Huguenots, as they were originally of Danish Viking origin, having the name "AMORELEC". (See also the MOURAT FAMILY Story ). Whatever the early origins of this family, the family records are traced back to Nicolas MOREL, who escaped from France after the Massacre of St.Bartholomew in 1572. He came to Jersey and married Marguerite LANGLOIS. In their book of properties in Jersey which are held by The National Trust for Jersey they mention that Marguerite LANGLOIS was the daughter of Raulin LANGLOIS and Marguerite GIBAUT. It is also recorded that Nicolas' grandfather, Pierre MOREL, held four Cabots of land in Grouville (Kings Propre). Pierre had died in 1528 and his father was Roger MOREL who had died about 1475, it is said at St.Lawrence. Roger's eldest son was Robert MOREL of St.Martin's.

John Morel Gibbs refers to "Collas" (Nicolas) MOREL marrying Marguerite LANGLOIS who brought a farm as her dowry and it was this farm which became known as Morel Farm. The farm house was strongly built and the house, farm buildings and the encircling outer walls were a part of the defensive line established in the 15th.century which stretched across the island. But whilst the history of the house is linked with the LANGLOIS family, its subsequent gift to The National Trust for Jersey is truly the story of the MORELs.

During the 400-years between these two events Morel Farm had been run as a typical mixed farm which had at one time been considered to be large. But with many "partages", when portions had been inherited by different sons, it had finally become quite small. Typically they were mixed farms - two or three Jersey cows and fields which grew wheat, swedes, turnips and, inevitably, potatoes. Potatoes had been introduced into Jersey as a field crop in 1815. Seaweed, which was readily available for farmers to collect from the beaches around the coast, was then spread on their fields as with manure. This ensured that the soil did not become exhausted and potatoes could be harvested and shipped to mainland Britain before the British crop was ready for lifting. It is interesting to note in passing that this collection of seaweed and spreading on farmland was also practiced in West Cornwall and in Brittany. At that time potatoes were the 197

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199 only Jersey field crop so exported, up to 4000-tons a year of the autumn crop being sent to the mainland markets, together with quantities of butter, apples, cider, grapes and oysters. The ISLEY FAMILY Story also tells of early potatoes and cauliflower, in their season, being sent from St.Malo, in Brittany, to the markets on the mainland.

As with most of the farms on Jersey, Morel Farm was not large enough to support more than one family and in each generation the younger MOREL sons had to find their livelihood elsewhere.

The sea had always provided the background to life in Jersey and the other nearby Channel Islands, sometimes bringing unwelcome visitors - whether Vikings or French raiding parties - and sometimes by providing a route to a safe-haven for Huguenot refugees. The sea, too, provided the means of livelihood for many younger sons. Not only did the fishermen harvest the surrounding sea but they ventured further afield - as did others from nearby Brittany. From early days, fishing boats had ventured beyond the English Channel - or "La Manche" - to the Newfoundland codfishing areas on the Grand Banks, in and around the mouth of the St.Lawrence River. Besides the fishing boats, other larger sailing ships traded from St.Helier taking produce to the South Wales ports as well as to those along the southern English coast and it was in the 1850s that Phillipe Le Moignan and his brother-in-law, Edouard MOREL, set out to sell the potato crop in Wales. The story of that branch of the MOREL family is vividly told in "The Morels of Cardiff", by John Morel Gibbs, to which I have already referred. If a "family story" should acknowledge public recognition of an individual, then mention must be made of Thomas MOREL, (a younger brother of Jean, who was to marry his cousin Mary) who served as the Mayor of Cardiff in 1899 and who was recognised on 30th.June that year when Her Majesty Queen Victoria conferred on him a Knighthood at Windsor Castle.

With the loss of all of the INSLEY family business records during the German occupation of Brittany from 1940 to 1944, it is no longer possible to confirm that Edward INSLEY, and his sons, who had established an export business in St.Malo in 1860, had links with the early MORELs of Cardiff. Certainly there were trading links between the firm of "INSLEY BROTHERS" of St.Malo and South Wales, during the latter part of the 19th. century and the early years of the 20th. century, both in sending farm produce from St.Malo to South Wales and in the import of Welsh coal to Brittany. The story is also told in the INSLEY FAMILY story of an incident associated with the import of Welsh pit ponies to Brittany after the First World War. Whilst there is no supporting evidence of a direct contact between the INSLEYs of St.Malo and their (distant) MOREL cousins in Cardiff, yet in the light of the close family links, which were commonly maintained in those days, it is not unrealistic to believe that such a link did exist between these two family businesses.

However, the story of our branch of the MOREL family does not directly include the story of those members of the family who developed one of the leading shipping, and ship-building, companies in Cardiff, which started in the mid-1850s and continued until about 100-years later. Nevertheless, both our own branch and those who lived in Cardiff were descended from Nicolas MOREL and Marguerite LANGLOIS, although little is known about the next few generations.

The connections between another Channel Islands' family and South Wales is told in Hilary MARQUAND's autobiography "Memoirs of a Victorian Master Mariner". He mentions that he decided in 1867 to move with his family from Guernsey to Cardiff to become a ship's broker, where better prospects were offered for someone who wished to make the transition from Ship's

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Master to ship's broker or owner. Hilary Marquand refers in his book, to the MORELs and the HACQUOIL families who had both left Jersey for Cardiff at about the same time and became successful ship-owners there.

In the 19th.century Jersey was still primarily a land of farmers. Many of the farms were small yet they provided a reasonable livelihood for the farmer and his family.

The old Almanacs in the Lord Coutanche Library at St.Helier, provide many interesting details about the 19th.century.

(a) In 1841 the total population of Jersey was 47,556 persons.

(b) During the next 10-years the population had risen by over 20%, to 57,125 of whom over one-half were living in the town of St.Helier.

(c) In 1851, 2306 persons were living in the parish of St.Lawrence (where most of my own ancestors were then living) in a total of 358 houses.

(d) The exports from the Island of Jersey in 1853 were recorded as including :-

1. 36,619 bushels of apples. (One bushel was the equivalent capacity to 8-gallons). 2. 10,528 pounds of butter. 3. 139,903 imperial gallons of cider. 4. 215,700 vats of oysters. 5. 3,776 tons of potatoes.

It is possible to trace much of the development of Jersey in these old Almanacs, which also record those who held all manner of public office in the various parishes.

The National Trust (for England) inspired the formation of other "national trusts" - in Scotland and the USA, in Jersey and Guernsey and in Australia and New Zealand. In 1936 The National Trust for Jersey was initiated under the auspices of the Dean of Jersey, The Very Reverend Samuel Falle, and Mr. and Mrs. Carlyle le Gallais.

This newly formed National Trust had very limited funds in those days but were keen to acquire Morel Farm, with its traditional archway and rare cobbled yard. Mr.Arthur James MOREL was approached and was asked whether he would sell the property to The Trust, to help to launch the activities of The Trust in Jersey. Mr.MOREL refused - and explained that he was so impressed with the aims and objects of The Trust in Jersey, which he fully supported, that he would make a gift of the property to The National Trust for Jersey! The National Trust for Jersey Handbook enthuses about this house and clearly indicates the high regard in which it is held, following that first gift in Jersey. When later writing about Morel Farm, the National Trust also refer to Nicolas MOREL who escaped from France after the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572, when he came to Jersey and married Marguerite LANGLOIS, the daughter of Raulin LANGLOIS and Marguerite GIBAUT.

When visiting Jersey it is well worth passing by Morel Farm house and having a look at the house within the courtyard. The National Trust for Jersey have produced an enthusiastic

201 description of the property saying that the double roadside arch is one of the most perfectly proportioned in the Island. To the right of the pedestrian arch is a mounting block, and the courtyard within is cobbled, which is rare. The main arch bears the date 1666 and the initials RLG and the smaller arch has on its keystone a fleur de lys emblem with MLG in monogram. These probably represent Raulin Langlois, who died in 1675, and his son Matthew. The initials PLG on the main chimney stack are perhaps those of Philip, the son of Matthew, born 1686.

Between the arrival of Nicolas MOREL in Jersey and his marriage to Marguerite LANGLOIS at the end of the 16th.century and the gift of the property to The National Trust for Jersey in 1936 much was to take place.

1st Generation That I have researched! icolas MOREL must have married Marguerite LANGLOIS about 1560 and he was probably born about 1530 .

2nd to 7th Generations Michel , the son of Nicolas and Marguerite, was to be the father of Loye (Louis) MOREL, born about 1595 , who married Katherine RONDEL. Their son, Thomas , who married Thomasse Le FEBRRE, died in June 1671 and was buried in St.Lawrence churchyard. They had a son, Jean , who married the widow of Abraham GIBAUT about 1670/1675. Their son, Thomas , later married Marie Le BROCQ in November 1701 in St.Lawrence Church and the following year they too also named their first son, Thomas . He was to marry a cousin, Elizabeth Le BROCQ about 1732 and he died in July 1779.

8th Generation 8(a). Jeanne MOREL was baptised in 1734 but died before her fifth birthday.

8(b). Jean, was born 1736 , in St.Lawrence as were his brother and sister. Jean married Rachel GODFRAY, (born 1728) probably in 1761/62, and during the next ten years they had four children with a fifth child being born 9-years later.

8(c),(d) and (e). Marie was born in 1738 and as her younger sister ( born 1741 ) was christened Jeanne , this suggests that the first Jeanne, who was born in 1734, had probably died between 1738 and the end of 1740. The second son, Thomas , was born in 1744 and, at the moment, nothing more is known about these children.

9th Generation 9(a). Following the family tradition, the first son was called Jean , but he was buried on 16th.August 1763 , the day after his baptism. 9(b). A little over two years later Rachel had another child, also a boy, in December 1765 and he, too, was called Jean . In February 1789 he was to marry Marie Le BRUN, who was then not quite 20-years old and who came from St.Peter. They had six children. Jean died at the age of 61, just six months before his wife, Marie.

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9(c) and (d). Rachel was born in 1769 and Thomas in 1773 , but Thomas died when he was only seven years old.

9(e). oe was a "latecomer", born in 1782 when his mother was 51. He was to marry Marie ARTHUR in May 1813. They are recorded as having only one child, Marie, in 1815, who only lived for about two weeks. Noe died just after his 51st.birthday and his wife a couple of years later in 1835.

10th Generation 10(a). Jean and Marie (Le BRUN) had six children. The first child, a boy, born 1791 , was again christened, Jean . When Jean married Jeanne VAUTIER, nearly five years his senior, on 19 November 1812, he made a declaration, in a form which was not unknown in those days, to the effect that "The child (born to Jeanne VAUTIER) who was baptised on 2nd.May 1812 and called Jean was his child" and thus gave legitimacy to this his first son. The baptism entry in question reads "Jean 10 May 1812 - Natural son of Jeanne VAUTIER". Jean and Jeanne were to have three children. Jean (born in May 1812), Marie (1814) and Thomas in 1815 . Jean (the father, born 1791) was to die at the age of only 36 in 1827. 10(b). Charles (born April 1793) , Jean and Marie Le BRUN's second child, may have been delicate from birth. He died only 20-months later in December 1794.

10(c). Marie Elisabeth, (born 1796) , married Jean MAUGER and they had three children : Jean, Marie and Patsy, who married a Le ROSSIGNOL.

10(d). Thomas (born 1799) was also to die when he was only just over 18-months old in October 1800.

10(e). Another son was born 2-years later and, again, as was the custom in those days, he was christened Thomas . He married Elizabeth Le COUTEUR about 1822 and they had a daughter, Anne , in 1823 and a son, Tom, in 1825 .

10(f). The sixth child, Anne , was born in 1806 and married George ESNOUF.

11th Generation 11(a). The first son of Jean and Jeanne (VAUTIER) was also christened Jean when he was born in 1812 . In view of his later rise to a position of local importance it is worth noting again the information given by his father at the time of his father's marriage. Jean was to become a Major in the St.Lawrence 4th. Regiment of the Jersey Militia - this was in the days of Louis Napoleon's attempts to incite insurrection - and was later to become a Connetable, or Constable, of

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St.Lawrence. The Connetable was the civic head of the parish who represented it in the States - the Jersey Parliament - who presided over the Parish Assembly and was the head of the parish police - (not a local policeman)! In 1839 Jean married Marie MAUGER. They had three daughters. Marie (born 1841), Ann (born 1849) and Eliza Jane who was born in 1853. Jean died in 1875 at the age of 63-years, his wife surviving him by another 13-years.

11(b). Marie was born in 1814 and in 1839 at the age of 25, she married Henry BOYD, not quite 20- years old, who was at that time a Law Agent. They had three children, Mary (1840 , who died when only 9-months old), Eliza (born 1841, who was to marry John MOURANT) and Henry "Harry" who was born in 1844 but who died as a young child. Marie's husband, Henry, died the following year in July 1845. Marie, herself, then married George Martin BIENVENUE a few months later, but he too died in quick succession leaving a son, George BIEVEUE, who later married Harriet MOURANT.

11(c). Thomas , the third child of Jean MOREL and Jeanne VAUTIER was born in 1815 . He married Anne MOURANT, the daughter of Jean MOURANT (see the MOURAT FAMILY Story ) and Susanne Le GROS, about 1838 and they had four daughters followed by a son. Anne (1839), Mary (Christmas Day 1842), Eliza Clara (1844), Alice Jane (1848) and finally a son, Thomas (1849) . I have not yet discovered what Thomas, the father, did but there is a record that he died of Yellow Fever off the coast of South America in 1849, before reaching the age of 35- years. His wife, Anne, was to survive him by another 33-years.

12th Generation 12(a). Mary, born in 1841 , was the first of the three daughters of Jean MOREL and Marie MAUGER. Mary was to marry her cousin Jean, of Morel Farm. Jean, or John, as he later became known, was invited in 1856 by his uncle, Philip Le MOIGNAN, a Jerseyman who had already established himself as a potato dealer in Cardiff, to help him in the marketing of Jersey potatoes. John did not remain for long with his uncle as the docks presented many opportunities for a young man and, with his ability to speak French, John started chartering ships, which is the story that is told by his great nephew, John Morel GIBBS, in "The Morels of Cardiff".

Two of Jean's brothers, Philip (18411908) and Thomas (18471903) were to marry two of the GIBBS sisters, Martha and Susanna, whose family made a considerable contribution to the shipping company, although the company continued to bear the MOREL name. It was Thomas who was to be elected Mayor of Cardiff and who, as I have mentioned, was Knighted by the Queen in 1899. Jean, the husband of Mary, died in 1875 at the very early age of 36, but not before he and his wife had produced five daughters and two sons. His wife, Mary, was to survive him by another 41-years.

12(b). Ann (born 1849) was the second of the daughters of Jean MOREL and Marie MAUGER. She married George Daniel HELLEUR, but died before she was 40.

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12(c). Eliza Jane (born 1853) married Peter CONWAY when she was 22-years old but she died only 10-years later.

12(d-f). The stories of Mary BOYD, Eliza BOYD and Henry BOYD , the three children of Marie MOREL and Henry BOYD are briefly told in the BOYD FAMILY Story and are not, therefore, included here.

12(g). Anne MOREL , the first of the children of Thomas MOREL and Anne MOURANT, was born in 1839 and died in 1878 but, at present, nothing else is known about her.

12(h). Mary was born on Christmas Day 1842 and married Philippe de Caen LAURENS. They had two children, Philip Morel , who later married Annie Mary GIBAUT, and Mary Alice who married Jules Emile Leon Le PRESLE, but Mary must have died soon after the birth of her second daughter as her husband, Philip, then married Mary's younger sister, Alice Jane, who was six years younger.

12(i). The third daughter, Eliza Clara , was born in 1844 and died without being married when she was 34-years old.

12(j). As I have already mentioned, Alice Jane was born in 1848 and was to marry Philip, the husband of her late sister Mary.

12(k). After four daughters, Thomas and Anne had a son, also called Thomas , who was born in 1849 , at about which time his father died of Yellow Fever. Thomas, the son, married Miss L.BLANFORD and they emigrated to Canada where Thomas died at the age of about 72-years. I have no knowledge of their having any children.

13th Generation 13(a-f). Mary Mauger MOREL was the first of the MORELs of Cardiff to be born in Wales, in 1863. Her birth in Cardiff was to be followed by two brothers and four sisters and their story is largely told in the book, to which I have already referred so many times, the "MORELs of Cardiff", which book tells much more than I know about the story of this branch of the family.

The third daughter, Ann Elizabeth (born 1864) was to marry Arthur Louis Tregaskis GOLDSWORTY in 1892. They had two daughters, Marie and Alla, to whom reference is made in the next generation.

13(g). Arthur James, born in 1874 , was the younger of the two sons of Mary and John MOREL, and, like his brother and sisters, was born in Cardiff. Arthur was to be the first son of the Cardiff

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MORELs who decided not to follow into the family shipping company. Instead he went into the banking profession and joined the Midland Bank, eventually becoming the Manager of the main Cardiff, City Road, branch. In 1920 Arthur married Mabel Gertrude Le MARQUAND. The following year they had a daughter, Mary Le Marquand MOREL, to whom I refer in the next generation.

In 1934, on reaching his 60th. birthday, Arthur retired from banking. Whilst Arthur had been born in Wales, his wife was a Jersey woman and it was to Jersey that they moved after Arthur's retirement. The move to Jersey caused various changes in their lives, one of which was, of course, to be the church which they would attend. They had both been brought up to be regular church-goers. As the Cardiff MORELs had always been staunch Methodists they had mutually agreed to attend the Chapel, although Mabel's family were members of the St.Brelade's parish church, where Mabel's father had been elected as a Churchwarden for the Poor.

Upon their retirement to Jersey they then agreed in future to attend St.Matthew's Church in Millbrook, close to their new home. To Jersey people, St.Matthew's church was often referred to, and is now well known to locals and visitors alike, as "The Glass Church", so called on account of the large amount of Lalique glass was has been incorporated into the building. Through the generous gifts of a local benefactrice, who was a close friend of Rene Lalique of Paris, who had started the production of this famous glasswork, an architectural masterpiece in glass has been achieved. The glass font is unique.

Not long after his retirement and move to Jersey, Arthur heard about the newly formed National Trust for Jersey, which had impressed him very deeply. In my introduction to my story of this family I have already mentioned Arthur's response when he was approached and asked whether he would consider selling the old family property, Morel Farm House, to The National Trust for Jersey. He replied that he was not willing to sell them the house, which he had inherited from his mother, - but offered to give it to this newly formed charity!

In early June 1940 Europe was in turmoil and those who were too young to experience the situation at first-hand - or were not even born at the time - are unlikely really to appreciate this. Whilst, unknown to Arthur and his wife, the INSLEY family in St.Malo were trying to obtain a passage on the last passenger ship leaving St.Malo before the German army arrived, so in Jersey Arthur decided that all the indications were that France was about to "fall" and that he and his family should leave without delay. Whilst Arthur's wife, Mary, had been born in Jersey yet he was born in Cardiff as was his daughter, Mary, then aged 18-years old. If France fell it would not be long before the Germans arrived in the Channel Islands and being an English citizen, rather than a Channel Islander, Arthur expected to be sent to a prisoner of war camp in Germany. They also were lucky to obtain a passage on one of the last ships which left Jersey a few days before the German occupation of the Channel Islands and, as with the INSLEYs, they were each restricted to one suitcase and had to leave everything else in their home.

They spent the first few weeks in Cardiff in South Wales, with Arthur's cousins, Annie (nee MOREL) and her husband Arthur GOLDSWORTHY. They then went to live in Llandrindod Wells where they stayed until the end of the War. Arthur, Mabel and their daughter, Mary, returned to Jersey in 1945. There they found that the Germans had not damaged nor looted their house but that some Jersey people, who were known to them and who had lived in their house during their absence, had taken various pictures, china and even some furniture. Although

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Arthur instructed a solicitor they were never able to recover these items. The house, however, was still there and they were able to "return home".

It has interested me that Arthur and his wife should have found that some of their family effects were taken by local people who were known to them, as this is what had happened in the case of my own family. I have commented upon this in the ISLEY FAMILY Story in relation to my own father. I can only say, as he did, that those of us who escaped to England can have had no conception of what it must have meant to live under German occupation during those five years.

Arthur and Mabel enjoyed the remainder of their days back in Jersey. Arthur died in 1964 and Mabel died 3-years later.

13(h-m). The children of Eliza BOYD and John MOURANT, who would be mentioned in this generation of the descendants of the MORELs, are included in the MOURAT FAMILY Story.

14th Generation 14(a-b). Marie and Alla GOLDSWORTHY were the two daughters of Ann Elizabeth MOREL and her husband Arthur GOLDSWORTHY. "THE MOREL book" refers to them as being stalwart Methodists. They both trained as physiotherapists before Alla joined the Methodist Missionary Society and went to Hyderabad in India as a missionary. After some years there she hurt her back and had to return to the U.K.

Marie was appointed as the Head of Department at the Cardiff Royal Infirmary and remained there until her retirement. Their old family farm in Jersey, Stuart Farm, passed into their ownership through their mother, Ann Elizabeth MOREL, and they, in turn, left a life tenancy to their cousin Mary Le M.MOREL.

14(c). Mary Le Marquand MOREL, born in Cardiff in 1921 and now returned to Jersey for her retirement, is the last of this branch of the MOREL family.

Mary went to "Northumberland House Girls Boarding School" in Bristol, a school which had a strong tradition for encouraging the arts. Mary studied music but also did well in Mathematics. After finishing her schooling at the beginning of the Second World War, Mary returned briefly to live with her parents in Jersey.

When they all left in 1940, to escape the expected arrival of the German occupying forces, and were "taken in" by her cousins in Cardiff, Mary applied for a job with the Midland Bank. As her father had been the Manager of the main Cardiff branch some years earlier, she was able to join as a cashier/junior accounting clerk. During the following years she rose to be a senior accountant and cashier and for many years she was based in Llandrindod Wells, a charming small town in central Wales. For a number of years, whilst based there, Mary acted as a relief cashier for many of the bank's branches in North Wales and Shropshire.

Mary has a fund of stories about her family and, quite rightly, is proud of her father's decision to donate the old family property, Morel Farm, to The National Trust for Jersey.

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Ten ROBISO FAMILY

1st Generation That I have researched! Our branch of this family has been traced back to Richard ROBISO who married Jane GROCOCKE on 20th.June 1633 in Barkstone (or Barkestone) in the North Eastern corner of Leicestershire (close to the boundaries with Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire and about 3-miles from Belvoir Castle). The old parish records include the burial of Richard ROBINSON, the "son of Richard" in March 1640 and this may be the father of "our" Richard, the husband of Jane GROCOCKE. At the moment I am still looking for the baptism of this Richard. However, a marriage in 1633 suggests that Richard was probably born about the year 1600 .

Richard and Jane had four children, Isaac (bap.1634); Roger (bap.1635); Agnes (bap.1637) and Richard (bap.1639) all of whom were baptised in Barkstone. I do not know what happened to Roger and Agnes but Richard (the son) was to marry Maria PADGET in 1667 and they too had four children John (1668); Richard (1670); Jane (1676) and William (1675 - buried the same year).

2nd Generation Isaac, the eldest son of Richard and Jane GROCOCKE, was baptised in 1634. There is no record of the work which he and his father did - probably agricultural labourers - but Isaac did not marry until he was 45-years old. In 1679 he married Ellen MASON and they also had four children. Their first son, named Isaac after his father, was born in 1680 and he was followed in 1681 by their first daughter, who was christened Jane after Isaac's mother. The third child, Richard, was baptised at Barkestone in 1683. Richard's baptism was only the second entry in the "new" church register of that parish. After the baptism of Richard, Isaac and Ellen had to wait for seven years for their next child, Martha, who was baptised in May 1690. Isaac himself was buried a few months later in December 1690 leaving his widow, Ellen, with four young children but baby Martha died when she was less than 11-months old, in April 1691. Ellen, herself, survived less than four years and was buried on 6.January 1694/5, when Richard would have been only 12-years old.

3rd Generation There is no record of the life of Richard (bap.1683) during the next seven years, but we know that he was married in Barkestone when he was 19-years old, to Mary WILSON, on 2.November 1702 and he was eventually to be buried there in 1710, at the age of only 27. Mary only survived him for another 7-years. They are recorded as having three children. Jane was baptised in 1704 and later married William LEE, when she was 30-years old, on 17.November 1734. A son, named Richard after his father, was baptised on 29.ovember 1706 (from whom our family are directly descended) whilst a second daughter, Mary , was baptised in 1708 , but she was buried only five months later in December 1708.

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4th Generation Little is known of Richard (born 1706). Both he and his father (also Richard) were born and lived in Barkestone, which is on the boundary of the County and only about 12-miles from the large town (now city) of Nottingham and only three miles from Belvoir Castle. It was not until Richard was 44-years old that he married Elizabeth CLARK in 1750, when she was only aged 24. In the record of Richard's burial it was noted that he was a "Bailiff", a position which implied some responsibility in the community, and I wonder whether his work was connected with the Belvoir Estate.

Richard and Elizabeth had six children, William (bap.1755), Mary (who died when she was only a few weeks old in 1759), a second daughter who was born in 1762 and was again christened Mary , a second son, Isaac, (bap.1765 but who died when he was only 5-years old), followed by Ann (bap.1766) and John . It is, perhaps, not really surprising that no record of John's baptism has been traced as he was born early in 1767 and his father was buried that March. Perhaps, with the death of her husband Elizabeth forgot to have her infant christened.

5th Generation John, the youngest son (born about 1767) travelled the 12-miles to Nottingham in 1792, when he was 25, to marry Ann MANCHESTER in St.Peter's church. It seems that Ann had not been baptised, and may have been "under age" when married, as she was to be baptised many years later in Barkestone in 1806, after all four of her children had themselves been christened. John's occupation is not known but his first son, Isaac, (bap.1793) was, perhaps, the start of a family tradition and he was a carpenter until he died at the age of about 90-years. He was followed by John (bap.1795), Elizabeth (1797) who lived only a few months and Sarah who was also baptised in Barkestone in 1800.

6th Generation It is with Isaac (bap.11.August 1793) that we start with some of the recorded "family history" stories. On 7.November 1814, when he was 21, he married Ann WALKER, baptised in Gaddesby in 1792 but who came from Scalford, about 7-miles South of Barkestone. Isaac and Ann's marriage took place at Syston, a village to the North of Leicester, where Isaac signed the register, but Ann merely "made her mark" with an X in the register. It was on this occasion that Isaac's occupation was first recorded as a carpenter. This occupation was to be recorded again in both the 1851 and 1861 census returns. Village life, 200-years ago, was very different from today as will be appreciated from the facts that Ann was the fifth child (three boys and three girls) of her mother, Elizabeth WALKER, all six of whom were noted in the parish baptism records as being "bastards", the children of three different fathers. A brief "history" of this family is included in the WALKER FAMILY Story.

Isaac and Ann had six sons and two daughters between 1815 and 1832. Of the six sons - three died before they were one year old. As we shall see the eldest son, William, died at the age of 42 without marrying. The second son, George, had two sons and seven daughters and only one of these sons, Thomas, was to marry. This Thomas (son of George) had two sons and five daughters, but both of the sons died before they reached to age of 2-years.

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7th Generation 7(a). William , the first child of Isaac and Ann, was baptised on 12.April 1815 at Barkby, a village adjoining Syston, five months after their marriage. He may possibly have been a premature baby as the old parish records show that he was buried the following month.

7(b). The second child, also a boy, was born twelve months later and was also named William . He was baptised in Gaddesby (where Ann had been baptised). At the time of the 1851 census he was described as a carpenter - no doubt in his father's business - but died only seven years later and was buried in the village in 1858 before he was 42-years old.

7(c). The third child, George , was baptised in 1824 at Barkby and was also to follow in his father's footsteps and became a carpenter and joiner. George spent his life in the village of Barkby. He died there at the age of 73 in 1897 and his gravestone in the churchyard refers to his wife, Jane, who survived him until 1904, when she died at the age of 81-years.

We know very little more about George and Jane. They probably married about 1846/47. We know that they had two sons and a daughter. The elder son, Thomas (born about 1848), was the only child who reached adulthood. Thomas married Jemima when he was about 27 and they had a daughter, Elizabeth Ellen, who died in Barkby in 1900 when she was 23-years old. Thomas, himself, died in 1917 at the age of 69-years. George and Jane's second child, Mary Ann, died in 1855 when she was only five years old, whilst their third child, John George, died in 1852 when he was only two years old.

Thus George, (1824-1897) the eldest surviving son of Isaac ROBINSON and Ann WALKER, lived to see the death, not only of his two sons, but also the death of his only grandson, John George.

7(d and h). Ann , Isaac's fourth child, was baptised in Barkby in 1825 , the first of two daughters and she later married a Mr.HOLMES and their daughter, Cordelia, was baptised about 1849 in the village of Mountsorrel, about six miles away. Her young sister, Maria , was born in 1832 and is recorded in the 1861 census return as being an unmarried dressmaker.

7(e and f). Isaac's fourth son, John , was baptised in Barkby in 1827 . There is no known reason for his death the following year but only a record that he was buried in September 1829 about 6-weeks before Ann gave birth to another son, also to be called John . This son may well have lived for only a few hours as he was baptised on 15.October but was buried the following day, less than six weeks after his brother, the other John.

7(g). When Thomas , the seventh child was born in 1831 only two brothers and his sister, Ann, had survived. I have also recorded in 7(c) above that the male line of descendants through his brother, George, was to die out, but, as we shall see, this male family line was to continue through Thomas' three sons.

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Like his siblings, Thomas was also baptised in Barkby, in 1831, where his father was now established as the village carpenter.

Thomas was to display a gift for drawing and painting and, at one time, had thought of making this his career. He must have been a bright boy as he was sent to "the best boarding school of the day in Leicester". I have been unable to establish which school this may have been but I was interested to read that in those days the fees in a private day school were about ,10 A YEAR whilst the fees in the most expensive boarding school in the town of Leicester were ,50 A YEAR!!

My cousin, Ruth, was told as a child the following "family story" about Thomas : "Thomas went to London when he was 18-years old to work on the building of the Crystal Palace and whilst there met his first wife. This must have been about 1852. But his wife died in childbirth and the baby girl, Ida, died soon after. The engineer in charge of the building works was also involved in railway construction and may well have suggested that Thomas should try to find a new job in that field".

I have now been able to trace the following facts, which, more or less, accord with this "family story" : Thomas' first marriage took place in Scalford, Leics. in 1852, when he was 21-years old. He married Maria Teresa GEORGE, then aged 23, the second daughter of a local farmer. Maria had been born in Asfordby, a small village just outside Melton Mowbray and about 8-miles from Barkby, where Tom's father, Isaac was the village carpenter. Thomas' mother, Ann nee WALKER, had come from Scalford and it is likely that the two families would have known each other. When Thomas and Maria were married in Scalford, Thomas gave his address at that time, which was in Paddington, London, whilst Maria gave her home address.

Eleven months later, in September 1853, Thomas registered the birth of a daughter, Ida, who had been born five weeks earlier on 25th.August. The family were then living at 37, Brindley Street, Paddington, and Tom gave his occupation as a Joiner - not a mere carpenter!

Maria was not strong and her baby, Ida, was sickly too and they must have left Tom in London, where he was working, and returned to Maria's home in Scalford. When she was only 9-months old, Ida died of Bronchitis, which she had had for "some months", followed by Pneumonia. Within 3-months Maria too was dead. According to the death certificate she had died of "Phthisis", a progressively wasting disease, which may well have been linked with Ida's pneumonia. Within two years of Tom's marriage his wife and baby daughter had both died.

Information, which has been passed down through the family, records that shortly after the death of his wife and small daughter Tom was sitting in a coffee shop in London, the old type with high backed seats, when he overheard some men talking at the next table about a newspaper article advertising for a young go-ahead man with engineering knowledge who wanted to work on the South American railways. There is no record as to whether Thomas had any engineering experience - even though he was a "bright young man" - but when the men left the coffee shop Tom went out and bought a copy of the newspaper, found the advertisement and applied for, and was given, the job. Having lost a wife and small daughter, within a couple of years of his marriage, when he was still only 23-years old, Tom would have been glad of the chance to make a completely new life for himself. 221

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Some five years later Tom was working in Brazil, and the "family history" tells us that whilst visiting some friends, the PERRYs, he saw a photograph of one of their friends, back in England, a 22-year old girl called Martha Anne "Annie" WOOD. He begged the photograph from Mrs.Perry and when he returned to England he wrote to Annie to ask if he might call to see her. Annie took her mother with her and they arranged to meet Tom at the Knochin Inn in the village of Knochin, two or three miles from Oswestry and adjacent to Kinnerley on the Welsh border, where he was staying. They all later went back for dinner to Annie's home at Pentre Heylin, but Annie's father had no mind to part with his daughter to an unknown man from South America who wanted to take her back there! However, Annie was an adventurous girl and on 1st.February 1860 Thomas ROBINSON married Martha Anne WOOD in the parish church at Kinnerley, Shropshire. This "bright young man", the son of a village carpenter, would have been pleased to marry the third daughter of a well-respected farmer having 286 acres and with two male and four female house servants to help his wife and family.

Thomas and Annie returned to South America where their first child "Corta" was christened in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in November 1860. Thomas endorsed a photograph of himself which was taken in November 1862 whilst he was in Caracas, Venezuela. Annie would then have been about four and a half months pregnant and this may have been the reason that Annie returned home to have her second child. "Corta" was then followed by three brothers, Mansergh Dias (1863), Thomas Wood (1864) and Harold (1867) whose stories are told, and by three sisters, Alice Dorothea (1869), Margaret Ravenshaw (c.1872) and Louisa Marion (1876). The last three of Thomas and Annie's seven children were all born in Montevideo in Uruguay.

Not a great deal is known about Thomas' life in South America at that time. However he kept copies of some of the letters which he wrote in 1866 and these copies have been passed down to his great-granddaughter, Ruth (Collett). In one of these letters, which he sent to his father, he wrote "How is George getting on with his houses?" - his brother, George, who had continued with the family "carpenter and joiner's business". He then continued "If God spares me and all continues well, I think I shall make sure of my money next time (if I have any) in building. If it is well done it ought to give 8per cent and then it won't go in speculating in railway works."

In the letter to his father, Thomas also wrote "I hope Tom (his brother, George's son?) makes good use of the tools I sent to him and that he'll do without them by the time he is 30. (ie. that he will have made his fortune) I am sure some of them ought to put him on the way. I believe there are some I bought at ottingham when I first "hooked it" from you, my dear Father, when I disobeyed you, but I know you have forgiven me long ago.

Your grandson, Mansergh, is one of the sturdiest lads, for a three and a half year old, you ever saw and both he and his brother are running about without any boots or socks on. Corta is now 6years old and stands 3ft.3" high. Mansergh is 3yrs. 9mths. and 3ft.3" and Baby (Tom) 2 yrs.1mth. and 2ft.10". You remember how we used to be measured on the old name board about Christmas."

In another letter, sent in November 1866, to his cousin, Brittain WOOD, he enclosed a cheque for ,30 which he asked him to use to pay off some debts, with interest, which had been outstanding for a couple of years. This seems to suggest that Tom had left England whilst owing money to an ironmonger, a saddler and a brewer. In another letter to Mr.Philips, when he sent him a cheque for ,10, Thomas had added interest when repaying his debt and had written "I am

223 very much obliged to you for your forbearance, but when a man gets in debt it takes a long time generally to recover himself, but I am working hard to clear myself".

Tom's wife, Annie, had received a legacy of about ,30, being a forty-eighth share under the will of her great-grandfather, Samuel RAVENSHAW, following the death of her grandmother, Margaret WOOD nee RAVENSHAW, earlier that year. In his letter to his brother-in-law, Brit, Tom wrote that as the share which had been left to Annie, and her brothers and sisters, had been so small he was "little interested myself in the matter" and that it had so far "cost me more time than I could well spare and has done more to enable the lawyer to make good the title deeds than pecuniary motives" . Some might say " plus ca change "!

However Thomas' debts may have arisen, there is no doubt that his departure to South America with his wife was not regarded as a way to avoid paying those debts and the surviving correspondence makes it clear that, whilst still caring for his wife and young family, he was meticulous in settling those debts, including small sums which had been lent to him by his sisters-in-law Mary and Emily ( ,13), with additional interest. When writing to Brit in early December 1866 he wrote "I shall be so precious glad to finish off these old accounts which have been sitting like a nightmare on one for the past two years (enough!)."

Only a month later, in January 1867, Thomas again wrote to Brit "You want to know how I am getting on and if I am saving money, etc. That's rather a close question, but as it comes from you I may as well say a little on the matter.

When I came out first I took a job and waited about five months doing nothing but waiting to commence. Whilst I did so I lost about ,100 a month. ow on this contract I am doing very well and by next September if all had gone as well I should have the amount you speak of to take the hotel in Herefordshire. Whether I should have taken it or not is another question.

But I am sorry to tell you the Company want to take the contract from me and have given me notice to that effect, but as my registered contact in this country, signed before a otary Public, is for three fixed years, with no conditions, the Company are doubtful, and I am pretty well certain, they can't do it but to avoid law suits I have made an offer to them to give up our certain conditions and they pay me ,500 next June, or if they want it now to give me ,1,000 and they can have it as a present. I don't know the result as it will have to go before the English Board of Directors.

It's a d....d shame after getting everything in working order. I calculated that if I had continued I should have easily cleared ,4,000 out of it."

These comments are interesting in the light of knowledge that in 1870 a new 3-bedroom house at his home in Leicestershire would have cost about ,400. Thus ,4,000 would have been sufficient at that time to buy ten 3-bedroom houses. At the beginning of the year 2000, a 3- bedroom house (in the same area) may be worth between ,60 - 80,000 so that the present day equivalent of the ,4,000 in 1867 is about ,600,000 to ,800,000.

Whilst recently reading an old record of work which was carried out in Southwell Minster in September 1872 I have learned that a skilled stonemason, who was employed on a full time basis in work on the Minster, had his wages increased in accordance with a national agreement 224 to 6/- per day (30-pence) whilst the labourer's wages were increased to 3/4d. per day (about 17- pence). As the son of a carpenter/joiner, Tom would have been well aware of the current value of property and rates of pay.

This information of the values of houses and rates of pay provide an interesting basis when we consider the sums which Thomas mentioned in his letters.

In the event Thomas never did buy the hotel in Herefordshire!

It is not known for certain whether the climate did not suit Annie and affected her health but in April 1881 both Annie and Thomas, and their younger children, had all returned to England as they were recorded on 3rd./4th. April living at 7, Eastcott Lane, Swindon, Wiltshire, for the national census which was taken that day. The elder daughter, Annie, (aged 20-years, but with no occupation being given) and Mansergh (aged 17-years and described as an Engineering Student) were both with the family that day, as were the younger children Harold and Alice ("Dolly"), both of whom were at school, and Louisa ("Poppy") who was 4-years old. There was no mention of Margaret Ravenshaw (probably born about 1872) who is said to have died when young. Perhaps the visit had something to do with Annie's ill health or it may merely have been to visit the two young children at school. But only three months later in June 1881, when she was only 44-years old, Annie died and was buried in the churchyard at Christ Church, Swindon, Wiltshire. The death certificate includes "chronic rheumatism (17 years)" as the first cause of death and notes that Thomas was present at the time of his wife's death.

It seems, however, that Thomas must have returned to work in Venezuela as his daughter, Poppy, had a letter from her father dated October 1889, which her father had sent to her on business letter paper with the heading "Ferro-Carril Sud Oeste de Venezuela" when he appears to have been working on the La Guira & Caracas Railway for the firm of Carruthers & Company.

Not a great deal more is known about Thomas and Annie's lives. Whilst Thomas' eldest son, Mansergh Dias, was to follow in his father's footsteps as a railway engineer and was to become a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, yet Thomas' name is not recorded as one of the early members of this professional body. In 1942, when he was 75-years old, Thomas and Annie's son, Harold, prepared information for his children which refers to Annie having, for years, been badly crippled with rheumatism, although he wrote that he also remembered running races with her when they were out picnicing. He said that she was very mild mannered and gentle and he could not remember her voice ever being raised. Eventually Thomas returned to retire in England. He survived his wife by 14-years and died in November 1895 at "The Guild", Stevenage, Hertfordshire at the age of 64 and was buried there. His daughter Alice "Dolly", not yet married, was with him when he died.

So Thomas died before his elder brother, George, but Thomas had seen his three sons married, as well as three of his daughters, and all three sons were in turn to have sons of their own, through whom the family name would continue.

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8(a). Thomas (born about 1848) was the first child of George and Jane and known as "Tom". Not much is known about him beyond the fact that he married Jemima and that they had a daughter Elizabeth Ellen about 1877. She was buried in Barkby in 1900 when she was 23-years old. Almost certainly Tom was a carpenter in his father's business, as a letter from his uncle Thomas, written in Rio de Janeiro in 1866 to his grandfather, refers to his hope that Tom was making good use of the tools, which his uncle had sent to him, and the wish that he may have made his fortune by the time that he is 30! Tom died at the age of 69-years in 1917, seventeen years after he had buried his daughter.

8(b). Annie Theresa (but called "Corta") was christened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1860 . She was later to marry Richard Garibaldi "Garry" MORRELL who had a successful sign-writer's business in Highgate in London. Garry decided to give up his business when he and Corta became uniformed members of the Salvation Army. Corta died at Bellan House, Oswestry in 1937 and her brother, Thomas, took her funeral service. She was buried in Oswestry cemetery. Her husband, Garry, continued to live with his daughters in Bellan House until his death in 1945 and the cemetery registers record that his burial ceremony was performed by A.Johnstone of the Salvation Army. The story of their five children is a sad one linked, in part, with the First World War. Brittain (born c.1887), Ada Beatrice (1888), Marion Wood (1890), Helen Dorothea (1892) and Earle Ravenshaw (1894). (See 9(a) to 9(e) below).

8(c). Thomas and Annie's second child and their first son, Mansergh Dias , was my mother's father. It seems probable that Annie decided to return to England for his birth, whilst Thomas remained in Venezuela, but it is not known why she was at Eglwysrhos on the North Wales coast when her son was born on 5.April 1863.

After education in Shropshire, Mansergh was to follow in his father's footsteps, although in his case he was elected as a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1906 (No.169).His training had included work on the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway and the Swindon & Cheltenham Extension Railway. In 1885, at the age of 22 he was employed in the construction and survey of the Puerto Cabello and Valencia Railway in Venezuela in South America where he worked for 6-years. In 1891 he took a post working for the Imperial Bank of Persia (now Iran) in charge of the construction of a major road from Tehran to Ahwaz on the Persian Gulf which was to have a major impact upon his life for it was there that he met Norah NEAME (See the EAME FAMILY Story ) and they were married in Tehran on 28.April 1893. During a brief spell working in the UK. their first child, Valentine Mansergh, was born on St.Valentine's Day 1897, prior to Mansergh taking Norah and their baby son to the Cape Colony in South Africa, when Mansergh was appointed as the District Engineer in connection with the Transkeran Railways.

He started by surveying and then preparing the plans, sections and estimates for three Sections extending in all to about 110-miles in length. Two years later, in 1899, he moved West to survey and peg out the Malmesbury Greys Pass Railway - about 80-miles - just to the North of Cape Town, where he prepared the working drawings and supervised the extension of the work by the contractors, after conducting the acquisition of all of the land which was required. It was whilst

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228 at Malmesbury that his second child, my mother Barbara, was born. In 1903 he was appointed the Resident Engineer at Maclear, some 750-miles to the East, where he resurveyed and supervised the construction of another 108-mile stretch before moving to the Barkly Bridge and George stretches. The work which was undertaken at Maclear earned the thanks of the Premier, Dr.Starr Jamieson, for the manner in which the work was conducted and in recognition of the economies which were effected a special bonus was sanctioned. Mansergh and Norah's third child, Malcolm Denis, was born in 1904.

When appointed as the Resident Engineer on the Barkly Bridge to Alexandria section, a scheme was introduced to relieve the distress caused by unemployment, where the bulk of the work was carried out by Europeans, who were engaged in small parties at piecework rates. This, the first introduction of the "Butty Gang" system on the Cape Government railways proved to be successful. Although the estimates upon which Parliament had approved the construction of the line had been based upon a 2-feet wide gauge line yet authority was obtained to adopt the standard 3ft.6ins. wide gauge. Although this involved increasing the radii of the curves and the width of the sub-grade yet a saving of some ,20,000 was made in the total cost of the contract. (A very large sum, over 90-years ago).

During 1909-1910 Mansergh was the Resident Engineer in charge of the construction of the 47- mile section from George to Oudtshoorn through the Outeniqua mountains which involved the construction of seven short tunnels. Mansergh has left a handwritten note that during this period 700 convicts were employed on the section of the work near George and in particular on the section near the summit of the mountain pass. 86-years later, when Jane and I made a visit to "South West", or Namibia as it is now known, to celebrate our 40th. wedding anniversary, we bought a couple of delightful books in Windhoek by a South African authoress, Darlene Matthee, and in "Fiela's Child" she makes reference in that story to the work of these convicts!

In 1910 Mansergh was appointed the New Construction Engineer to the South African Railway administration, when he was based at Johannesburg. During the next 10-years he was engaged in this senior capacity when over 2,500 miles of new branch lines were added to the South African railway system - although he records that "the completion of the work was somewhat retarded by the outbreak of the War", and when these difficulties were accentuated by the diversion of permanent way material to help with the construction of a 314-mile section to the North from Cape Town, in order to help the military operations which led to taking over "German South West" by British and South African armed forces. In this senior capacity he was required to peruse, inspect and offer observations on all drawings, reports and estimates for any projected new line and to make periodical visits to all work in progress prior to then preparing the final report to the Transportation Department. The purchase of all land, the checking of tenders and contracts were all a part of his responsibility.

At the end of 1920, after the League of Nations had asked the South African Government to take over the administration of (German) South West Africa (now Namibia) on their behalf, Mansergh was appointed as the Acting Director of Railways in that lovely country. In recognition of the contribution which he had made to the Engineering Department of the South African Railways during his years of service from 1897 to 1920 his colleagues presented him with a chiming "carriage clock" in December 1920 appropriately engraved, "on his transfer to Windhuk". That carriage clock, made in France!, is still in good working order in our dining

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230 room some 80-years later. When Jane and I visited Namibia in 1996 we called at the newly established archives section of the State Museum, where we found records of the two years during which my grandfather held this acting post of Director of Railways before his retirement at the age of 59.

His time in "South West" was followed by a consultancy for the Tharsis Sulphur and Copper Company for the betterment of their railways in Spain, during 1923-24 prior to his retirement. For a while he and Norah stayed with his brother, Thomas Wood, at his vicarage at Hellingly, Sussex, before renting a house in Shottermill in Surrey.

At the end of the year 2000, some 16-years after the death of Mansergh's daughter, Barbara (my mother), I was contacted by David Frean, the son of an old friend of my mother and of her parents, who gave me a collection of letters which my mother and her mother, Mansergh's wife, had written as long ago as 1924 to David Frean's father. Some of these letters had been kept for over 75-years by David's parents and have now filled a gap in my knowledge of those years just after Mansergh's retirement.

Despite working for the South African Railways from 1897 to 1920, excluding the next two years in "South West", it seems that Mansergh and his family felt that he had been given only a very small pension, which seems to have caused much "hardship" and dismay. After spending a few months at Shottermill, Mansergh took his wife and Barbara in March 1925 to Dinard in Brittany (across the River Rance from St.Malo) where, Barbara wrote, "living is much cheaper". They were there at the end of that year but were back at Shottermill with their son, Denis, for Christmas 1925.

Sadly, there is a gap in the sequence of these old letters and at that time there was no reference to their having yet met the INSLEY family, nor to the marriage of my parents in February 1927. By that time Mansergh and his wife, Norah, had settled near to other cousins in Llangollen, Denbighshire (see Lucretia MICKLEBURGH in the WOOD FAMILY Story ) where Mansergh died in 1934 at the age of 71 and where he is buried.

Soon after his death, Norah, his wife, came to live with us in Yelverton, in Devon and survived her husband until 1947. She was then buried alongside him in Llangollen.

If there are any who read as far as this, in this story of our branch of the ROBINSON FAMILY, an incident which occurred in Yelverton about 1946 may prompt others not to make the same "mistake".

One afternoon my mother went upstairs to her mother, Norah's room, where she had her bureau and wrote her letters, to take her a cup of tea. My mother enquired what she had been doing and was told that she had been sorting out some old papers "so that you don't have to do this when I am gone". She thought no more about that comment until, later in the afternoon my grandmother came into the sitting room and said that she had finished what she had been doing and had "burnt up some of the old letters and papers in the garden". When discussing this, my mother was told that some of the "old papers" had included old letters which my grandmother and her husband had received from the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen.

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My grandmother mentioned that she and her husband had, for a number of years, been friends of Roald and his wife (as my mother knew) and had often corresponded at the time that Amundsen had navigated the North West passage in 1906 and later when he had trekked to the South Pole, which he had reached just before Christmas 1911 - thus beating Robert Falcon Scott to that Pole. The correspondence between my grandparents and the Amundsens had continued in later years and had apparently included fascinating comments upon those exciting days of exploration. In 1926 Roald Amundsen flew in an airship over the North Pole, but a couple of years later he, himself, died when trying to rescue the Italian airman, Umberto Nobile, whose airship had crashed when he was returning from the North Pole.

When my mother cried out in consternation about the loss of these historic letters, my grandmother replied, "Don't worry. Those letters were very difficult to read - and I have kept safely the newspaper cuttings which told of some of Roald's exploits, including his historic trek to the South Pole"!

Will we, in our time, be careful to keep "old papers" which our families may wish to read in later years - even if they do not tell about quite such historic events as the first trek to the South Pole?

8(d). The second son of Thomas and Martha Anne WOOD, was Thomas Wood , born in England in 1864 . He was educated at Llandovery College and Balliol College, Oxford. In the Summer of 1888 he married Ada "Winifred" POWNE from Chard in Somerset and became Assistant Master at Crediton Grammar School in Devon. Thomas and Winifred had three sons and a daughter : Leslie Wood (born 1889), Mansergh Wood (1890), Winifred Joyce (1893) and Harold Wood (born 1895). Thomas was ordained in the Church of England and after the birth of his fourth child, he decided to join the Royal Navy as a Chaplain and Naval Instructor as the pay would be better. In order to be distinguished from the many other ROBINSONs in the Service he decided to link his second "family" name to his surname and to become known as WOOD ROBINSON, written, at first, without a hyphen. Whilst in the Royal Navy he served on a variety of ships as well as being shore-based at Portsmouth, Greenwich, Harwich and Yarmouth. Upon his retirement from the Service in 1920 he took the living as Vicar of Hellingly, Sussex and it has been mentioned that, whilst he was there, he and Winifred provided a temporary home for his brother, Mansergh Dias and Norah upon their retirement from South Africa.

In those days parish clergy did not "retire". They served their community until they were unable to continue. It was not, therefore, surprising that, at the age of 64 or 65, Thomas should move to the small country parish of Doddiscombsleigh in Devon, having a civil population in 1990 of 251 persons! His wife, Winifred, died there in 1934 and, in the custom of those days Joyce, the only daughter, then accepted responsibility for caring for her father and for running the Rectory.

This was no sinecure; a substantial house with twelve bedrooms standing in large grounds, including a field and a pond, with household staff of cook and housemaid and with two gardeners whose work included not only the grounds but also the walled kitchen garden and greenhouse. The electricity was generated in a brick building "up the hill at the rear" and then stored in a large room filled with lead/acid batteries next door. A sketch of the ground floor which has been made by his grandson, Mark, shows "larder with preserved eggs, etc." and another small room marked "store for croquet set, etc.". The study was the room normally used by the family whilst Mark notes "Drawing Room (special occasions & bridge parties)". There

232 was a harmonium in the large kitchen, but I am not sure whether this was for the use of the household staff only or as an aid for the grandchildren's "Sunday School". Sadly the Rectory was completely destroyed by fire in 1944, during the following incumbency, three years after Thomas' death.

During the early years of the Second World War the large Rectory was to provide a home, during the school holidays, for two of Thomas' grandchildren, David and Mark the sons of his fourth child, Harold, who was working in India. It was during the school holidays of Christmas 1939 and Easter 1940 that Thomas and Joyce also took in me and my two sisters (Val, Bet and Pat INSLEY) as we were unable to return home to our parents at St.Malo. A few months later, in June 1940, Thomas, and Joyce, also came to the rescue of his niece, Barbara Nancy INSLEY (nee ROBINSON) and her husband (my parents) when they had to leave France just before the capitulation to the German forces. My parents were provided with a temporary home until they were able to rent a cottage nearby. Thomas was active until the end. He took three services at his church on the day before he died - 10th.March 1941.

8(e). The fourth child born to Thomas and Martha Anne WOOD was Harold , born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1867 . Harold spent his early childhood in South America, although he did return to England for his grammar school education. He emigrated to the USA when he was 19-years old and, at first settled in Omaha where he became a naturalised citizen of the USA. He moved to Topeka in Kansas where he met and married Nettie Maude BRAGUNIER in Grace Cathedral in 1891. Harold worked for the A.T.& S.F.Railroad Company in Topeka until 1899. Then in 1900 Harold obtained the post of Chief Clerk of the passenger department of the G.C.& S.F.Railroad Company in Galveston, Texas where they stayed until his retirement in 1937.

During his lifetime Harold and his wife, Nettie, made five trips back to England to see his family. For many years he was a leading member and the Treasurer of the Grace Episcopal Church and the Treasurer of the Galveston Chapter of the Red Cross. He listed his interests as : reading, history, geography, chess, golf, fishing and a fan of various sports.

Nettie had been the President of the Alamo School Mother's Club, the oldest Mother's Club in Texas. She was a Charter member and Chairman of the Galveston YWCA and had been active in the Red Cross and other charitable organisations.

Harold and Nettie had four children, Thomas Edmund (1892-1911), Nina Dorothy (1895-1985), Helen Virginia (1897-1974) and Brittain Bragunier (1899-1969). Harold died in 1942 whilst his wife survived him until 1945. Both were buried at the Galveston Memorial Park, Texas.

8(f) and (g). Thomas and Martha's fifth child, Alice Dorothea, (Dolly) was born in 1869 in Montevideo, Uruguay as was their next child, Margaret Ravenshaw , and thus providing a clue about the South American countries in which their father was working. Dolly was to marry Henry BIRCH, about 1905, and they had only one child George Martin Ravenshaw, born in 1905 and who died at the age of 14 in Oswestry, Salop. Dolly's sister, Margaret died in Montevideo whilst she was still young.

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8(h). Thomas and Martha's last child, Louisa Marion "Poppy" , was born in 1876 . I have not traced where. Both Montevideo and Wales have been suggested. She was to marry William P. RUTHERFORD, who was to become the General Manager of Rio Tinto Zinc in their office in Glasgow, Scotland. They lived in a lovely house at Rhu near Helensburgh, overlooking one of the inlets of the Clyde, where their family were able to develop their interests and skills in sailing. There were three RUTHERFORD children, Neil Patterson (born 1910), Ian William (born 1912) and Annabel, who was born in 1914.

9th Generation 9(a) and (e). Thomas and Annie Theresa, "Corta", had two boys and three girls. Their first son, Brittain, (born c.1887) died at the age of four. Their second son, Earle Ravenshaw, (born 1894) was the fifth child and died at the age of ten. One of our "family stories", which has been passed down the generations, refers to one of these boys falling down a lift shaft to his death, but I have not yet tried to verify these details.

9(b). Ada Beatrice, "Tris" (18881977) was very "simple". She was always kindly cared for by her sisters after her mother's death whilst, at the same time, being expected to help with the housework, which she was capable of doing, at Bellan House School. She died in 1977.

9(c). Both of the other two girls, Marian Wood (May) and Helen Dorothea (Dolly) "lost" their fiancées during the First World War, at a time when 50% or more of the young men of their age were killed during that War. They did not marry - at least May never married and Dolly did not marry until she was about 50 and much too old to have any children of her own.

May MORRELL (18901966) was to become the owner and Principal of Bellan House School in Oswestry, which had been established by her cousin Lucretia "Cre" MICKLEBURGH. The stories of Cre and her sister, Rose, and their cousin Bea WILLIAMS, who together were the three principals of Bellan House School in its early days, are told in the WOOD FAMILY Story , where it is recorded that after Cre was invited to be the first Head Mistress of the new Oswestry Girls High School her cousin Bea continued for some years as the Principal of the Preparatory school. It was upon Bea's eventual retirement that May MORRELL took over as Principal of the school which she then ran with her sister, Dolly, for over 44-years, thus repeating the earlier partnership that had existed between Cre and her sister, Rose, MICKLEBURGH. The school is also mentioned in the stories of Val, Bet and Pat INSLEY. (See the ISLEY FAMILY Story ). When Dolly married Gowrie CAMPBELL in 1945, May took in, as her joint principal, her long-time colleague and head teacher, Miss F.E.Hamilton- Smith. "Flo", or "Smithie" as she was usually known, had joined the school teaching staff over 10-years earlier and, being younger than May took over many of the responsibilities in later years. May died in 1966 at the age of 75-years. Smithie died in 1986.

9(d). Helen Dorothea "Dolly" (18921976) drove cars for the Army in France during the First World War. When her sister, May, took over as the Principal of Bellan House School Dolly joined her as a partner and took charge of all of the domestic and house-keeping arrangements. Dolly

234 eventually married Samuel "Gowrie" Dalrymple CAMPBELL in 1945 at the age of 53-years. For many years Dolly and Gowrie felt that they should postpone their marriage as Gowrie felt obliged to look after his old widowed mother. Gowrie, a leading businessman in the town - he followed his father, Frederick Charles, in the family leather tannery - was elected the Mayor of Oswestry in 1950 and for many years was one of the principle magistrates. In the story of the Oswestry Girls High School which was published in 1958 it is recorded that Gowrie was one of the recipients of the Christmas puddings, mince pies and letters which were sent in 1915 by the girls of the Oswestry Girls High School to the Naval Transport men, who were then in the Dardanelles. Dolly and Gowrie had over 30-years married life together and both died within 6- weeks of each other in 1976.

The three sisters are buried at the Oswestry parish church which they supported all of their lives, and their grave also records the earlier deaths of their young brothers, whom, I think, died in London.

9(f). Valentine Mansergh , the first child of Mansergh and Norah was born on Valentine's day 1897 before his parents moved to Cape Colony in South Africa. In writing about my grandfather, Mansergh, I have referred to my very recently being given old letters which had been written to David Frean's father, Cecil, by my mother, her brother, Denis, and their mother. Valentine and Cecil Frean had been close friends whilst they were at school in South Africa and the old letters, which were written after Valentine's death in 1916, refer to their friendship.

Although not living in Europe, Valentine joined the 1st. Regiment of the South African Infantry as a Corporal and was killed in the battle of Delville Wood at Passchendale in Northern France on 18th.October 1916 when he was only just 19-years old. It seems almost impossible to understand that there were 300,000 casualties during the battles at Passchendale, which, on its own, seemed to achieve no direct "benefit" to the progress of the war. The old letters refer to plans which were being made to visit the War Cemetery and as I have an old photograph of hundreds of military grave stones and a grave number it seems that Mansergh, at least, must have done so. The pain of such a visit, soon after Valentine's death, is difficult to imagine.

9(g) He was to be followed by Barbara ancy , my mother, born in Malmesbury, in the Cape Colony in South Africa in July 1902 . She was baptised at the English Church at Malmesbury in October 1902. Her baptism certificate records that her Godparents included her mother's eldest sister and one of her younger brothers and also one of her father's sisters, but it is not stated whether these Godparents were present in person or were represented by proxies. Barbara travelled to England for her secondary schooling, as did her two brothers, and I discovered in 1997 that she was a pupil at the Oswestry Girls High School in 1916 at the time that her brother, Val, was killed during the War. At that time her parents were living in South Africa, where her father was a Civil Engineer working for the South African Railways. They had arranged for her to go to Bellan House School as a boarder, (at that time being owned and run by their cousin Lucretia "Cre" MICKLEBURGH - see the WOOD FAMILY Story ) where my sisters and I were also to go 20/30-years later.

Whilst providing a short story about myself, in the history of the INSLEY FAMILY, I have mentioned that great friends of my parents were William "Will" and Betty Sheppard. Will was

235 the War Department Land Agent in the South West of England in 1944 and he was to encourage me to enter the same profession. My mother, Barbara, had first met his wife, Betty, at Bellan House School when Betty also joined as a boarder about 1914. Betty has told me that at that time she was "in awe" of Barbara - who was one of the more senior girls, some seven years older than Betty!

On 11th.November 1998 the whole of the country joined (for the first time for many years) in remembering the ending of the First World War on 11th.November 1918. The following week a photograph and article appeared in "The (Oswestry) Advertiser" showing Betty Sheppard (then aged 89-years) with two of the young school children. An extract from this article reads :-

"Memories of an Oswestry night 80years ago came flooding back for a former pupil of Bellan House School last week.

ews that Armistice had been declared arrived late in Oswestry but Betty Sheppard remembers how the eight or nine girl boarders were roused from their beds and taken out onto the balcony to witness the scenes of jubilation in Church Street below.

It was late in the evening of 11th.ovember 1918 and we were wrapped in blankets and dressing gowns to see the crowds. It was a great adventure, of course, she said.

All the boarders signed a document which still hangs in the school's entrance hall today.

Eighty years later and just a few yards from the same balcony, she was present in the warm Autumn sunshine to commemorate the 80th. anniversary of the Armistice."

Speaking to Betty Sheppard, who had sent the newspaper cutting to me, she remembered my own mother, Barbara, who had been at Bellan House when Betty was there. Betty told me that she was herself the "last one" of those who had signed the "document", which their headmistress, "Miss Micky", ("Cre Mickleburgh") had prepared the following day for the boarders to sign.

Betty Sheppard had started at Bellan House School in the Summer term of 1918 and she remembered that Barbara had broken her leg during that term and was allowed to lie on a "chaise longue" in the garden. However, Barbara had not signed the document which commemorated the end of the War and must, therefore, have left the Girls' High School in July 1918 at the end of that school year. Had my mother still been in Oswestry at the time she would have remembered receiving the news, just over two years earlier, of the death of her elder brother, Val, at Passchendale and I am sure too that her cousins May and Dolly MORRELL (see the WOOD FAMILY Story ) would also have been thinking of the deaths of their own fiancés.

I believe that Barbara then went to Surrey House School in London to complete her education and then within the next year or so, her schooling behind her, Barbara returned to live with her parents in South Africa. In 1920 she was with them when they all went to "South West Africa", previously the German colony "German South West Africa" and later to become Namibia, when her father took up his appointment as the Director of Railways for a couple of years prior to his retirement and return to live in England. Barbara always spoke of "South West" as being the most lovely country in the World - but, sadly, one which she was never able to revisit.

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In the Summer of 1926, after her father had retired, she and her parents took a holiday in the fashionable resort of St.Malo, on the North Brittany coast, where - at some stage - she met the INSLEY family. She was to marry Ernest Boyd INSLEY (see ISLEY FAMILY Story ), but not before she had formed a life-long affection for South Africa and, in particular, for "South West". She and Ernest had three children, Val Boyd (1928 - the author of this "book"), Elizabeth Nancy (1930) and Helen Patricia (1930), but her later life is recorded with her husband's story. In view of my mother's life-long affection for South Africa it was always a great pleasure that in her old age she and my father were able to make an extended visit to South Africa in 1967 where mother met many of her very old friends and introduced them to my father. I know that their travels around South Africa that year provided an abiding memory for my mother which she was able to re-live during the rest of her life.

After her husband's death in 1974, Barbara continued to live for some years at Newton Ferrers in Devon and it was whilst she was still there that she was told of her 21-year old grandson, Christopher INSLEY's death after a car accident, whilst the rest of our family were on a touring holiday in Italy and France. It was a shattering experience for all of the family, but she must have thought back to the death of her own brother when he was only 19-years old. I can remember my mother saying to me "Why couldn't I have been taken instead of Chris!" But that was not to be. She lived for another six years and died in 1984 in Plymouth, Devon.

9(h). Mansergh and Norah's third child, Malcolm Denis , was also born in South Africa in 1904 .

His hope and intention had, for years, been to take a degree in Cambridge. Indeed he started a degree course about 1923/4 but soon after his parents returned to England in 1924 his father's small pension brought this to a sudden halt. By the beginning of 1925 Denis had managed to obtain a tutoring job for a year at Whitehaven in Cumberland. One of my mother's old letters, to which I have referred earlier, mention that Denis had to teach a 13-year old boy for 3-hours each day and also "be an elder brother to him"! The boy, Tony, was "quite a brainy kid" but had been very ill and was not yet strong enough to go to a boarding school. By June 1925 Denis' mother was to write that "Denis is not likely to go back to Cambridge" - due to their financial situation.

However, from somewhere, funds must have been found as in December Denis was to write "I'm having an excellent time up at Cambridge but have two faults to find with the place - money goes like smoke and there are far too many counter-attractions"! Even so, it seems that he did continue and obtained his degree.

By 1929 he had joined a Prep school in Cheshire to teach Latin and French and started his career in teaching. By then my parents were married and Denis visited them in Brittany during his school holidays to improve his knowledge and use of French.

Denis did not marry. His teaching became his life - French, Latin and coaching cricket. For a number of years in the 1930s he taught at a boarding school in Hampshire. Later, for a few years during the Second World War he taught at Eton. After the War he taught for three years in Nassau in the Bahamas, where he became the Acting Head of the School, but he did not seem to be completely happy in his life there and later returned to England.

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He moved on again, this time to Victoria in Canada, where he continued for a while in his chosen profession. My mother was shattered though, perhaps, not entirely surprised, when she heard that he died there in 1964, when he took his own life as a result of severe depression.

9(i). Leslie Wood was born in 1889 . He joined the Royal Navy as an Engineering Cadet when he was 16, not because he loved the idea of life at sea, but to save his father still more expense for his education. When his young brother, Harold, was married in 1927 Leslie was his "best man" and the press story of that wedding refers to him as Engineer Commander. His real love, however, was the open countryside. His younger brother, Mansergh Wood, wanted to be a doctor and, with his Naval pay, Leslie was able to contribute to the cost of his early training. Leslie married Lillie CRAIG and they had three children, Thomas Mansergh (Tom) (born 1920); Ruth Winifred (1923); and Ann Valerie (1930). Leslie died in 1965 and his wife, Lil, only survived him by six months.

9(j). Thomas and Winifred's second child, Mansergh Wood , was born in 1890 . His early hope was to be a Doctor and he qualified at the Middlesex hospital in London. But at the onset of the First World War he followed his brother Leslie and joined the Royal Navy, as a Doctor. Mansergh was serving on H.M.S. "Black Prince" which was lost without trace during the Battle of Jutland on 31st.May 1916, when Lord Kitchener was also drowned.

9(k). The only daughter, Winifred Joyce , known as Joyce to her own generation, but "Auntie Joydy" to her nephews and nieces, was born in 1893 . For a while during the First World War Joyce trained at the Middlesex Hospital as a nurse but had a hard time. The sister-in-charge had been "keen" on Joyce's brother, Mansergh who had trained there as a doctor, but he became engaged to someone else and went off to the Royal Navy - and (as I have mentioned) later died at the Battle of Jutland. This seemed to prejudice the sister-in-charge against Joyce.

After the death of her mother in Hellingly, Joyce looked after her father and kept house for him until his death in 1941. Joyce was a great lover of the countryside and is remembered by her nephew, Colin, with affection for having introduced him to natural history whilst he was living with her in Oswestry. Colin attributes to her that initial influence which led to him deciding to become a biologist. For a few years after her father's death, Joyce lived in a house in Oswestry which belonged to her MICKLEBURGH cousins where she was able to take in some girl boarders from Bellan House School. In 1950, after her brother had retired to North Cadbury in Somerset, she bought a small cottage in Sparkford nearby where she lived until 1972 when she moved to spend the last years of her life with her niece Ruth in Portsmouth. Joyce died there in 1983.

9(l). The fourth child, Harold Wood , but known as "Robbie", was born in 1895 in Crediton, Devon. He followed his father to Llandovery and Balliol College, Oxford, but broke his time at Balliol to serve in Mesopotamia during the First World War. After completing his degree Harold qualified as a Civil and Railway Engineer and spent much of his life in India. He was to marry Ida Isabel Moira MARTIN (known as Moira and born in Perth, Scotland in 1907) in 1927 at Auchterarder, Perthshire. The press report of their wedding refers not only to Harold's brother,

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Leslie, being his "best man" but also to his cousin, Helen ROBINSON (from the USA) being one of the guests. Harold too was always a great country lover and a very keen and capable gardener.

When he retired he bought "Holly Tree Farm" at North Cadbury for ,3,000, which his son, Mark, remembers included an old car which was left at the property. (The car was removed to Aunty Joydy's cottage at Sparkford and was refurbished by Mark during his periods of leave whilst doing his National Service in the RAF in 1950/51). After Harold's retirement he was to turn the garden of "Holly Tree Farm" into a very productive unit containing a wide range of unusual fruits and vegetables as well as a wonderful flower garden. Harold and Moira had three sons, David Michael (1928), Mark (1930) and Colin (1936). Following Harold's death in 1951 Moira was later to marry John WATSON.

9(m). Harold and Maude's first child, Thomas Edmund was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1892 and died in Denver, Colorado in 1911 .

9(n). ina Dorothy, (born 1895 in Topeka) was to marry Walter BUCHTLER, born in Germany in 1889. They had two children, Marjorie (1917) and Harold Richard (1920). For many years Nina was Clerk and Secretary to the GC & SF Railroad Company and was active in the Trinity Episcopal Church. After Walter's death in 1930 she moved to live with her sister, Helen, in Galveston, Texas. Nina died in 1988 at the age of 93-years.

9(o). Harold and Maud's third child, Helen Virginia (18971974) was a school teacher and Head of the English Department in Galveston, but did not marry. My parents had given me the boat fare for a holiday in the USA for my 21st.birthday, where I spent a very happy three months visiting cousins and friends in many parts of the Eastern half of that vast country.

One of the memorable parts of that visit was my stay in Galveston, Texas, with my "aunts" Helen and Nina and my meetings with Nina's family who lived in Houston. At a time when there were only a relatively small number of privately owned cars in England - after the "war years" when few besides doctors and others in essential services had their own cars - I was astonished to learn how much the Americans relied upon their cars. In those days, the distance of 42-miles between Plymouth and Exeter was conceived as being so great that a visit to Exeter was only undertaken for very special reasons. Here I was in Galveston, when the son of a friend of Aunt Helen's suggested to me that we should go out one afternoon to see a film - which was showing at a cinema over 50-miles away! It seemed quite extraordinary to me, but was obviously quite "ordinary" to him. Having travelled from Washington D.C. to Galveston by Greyhound coach, with two-hourly "rest stops" only, I had also learned, after the second successive night on the bus, that the USA is a VERY large "continent", rather than a "country" as perceived by so many Europeans. Since that visit I have not been surprised when "Yanks" come on holiday to Europe and expect to visit seven capital cities in seven days. Tunis and Finland are closer to Plymouth than Washington is to Galveston in Texas!

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9(p). The fourth child, Brittain Bragunier (18991969) took a Ph.D. in Agricultural Science and was for many years employed in the USA Agricultural Department. He married, firstly, Lois Marie CHAMBERLAIN and they had two children Nancy June (1925) and Thomas Wood (1927). Brit married again to Clara Mildred GREEN and they had two children Lucy (1937) who died soon after birth, and Alice Roxanna (Ann) (1940) who was to marry Ray E.Thompson.

9(q). eil Paterson RUTHERFORD, (born 1910) qualified as a Mineral Engineer, as had his father, William, and was also employed by the Tharsis Company. He married Joyce WATSON, and they have two children, Alison (1936) and Dorien.

9(r). Iain William who was born about 1912 , served in the Second World War. He was a very keen yachtsman and sailed off New York on the British challenger for the America Cup, on Sir Thomas Lipton's yacht, about 1935. Iain married Annabel SEEMAN and they had two children, Fiona, who was drowned in 1965 whilst sailing in a severe gale off Rhodes in the Mediterranean, and Roderick.

9(s). William and Poppy's third child was a daughter, Annabel (born about 1914 ). She had a sad life, which was not mentioned to the younger members of the wider family. She fell in love with a "fortune hunter" who jilted her upon being told that she would be "cut off without a penny" if she was to marry without her parents' approval and consent. This all brought about a mental collapse and illness which resulted in her having long periods of depression and her spending time in private mental care. In today's world her illness would, perhaps, have been successfully treated with psychotherapy. She is remembered by her cousin, Ruth, as a pleasant young woman, on two occasions when they were both staying at the Rectory at Doddiscombsleigh, in Devon, with Ruth's grandfather, The Revd. Thomas WOOD ROBINSON.

10th Generation 10(a),(b) and (c). The story of the children of Barbara ROBINSON and Ernest INSLEY, Val, Bet and Pat is told in the ISLEY FAMILY Story.

10(d). Thomas Mansergh WOODROBISO , the son of Leslie and Lil WOOD-ROBINSON, was born at Hellingly, Sussex in 1920 . Tom qualified as a Doctor of Medicine and in 1946 married Juanita "June" FAWDRY nee TERRY-WOOD, in the Isle of Wight. Tom and June had two children, Anthony (born 1949) who married Rebecca RICKABY and Penelope (born 1952) who married Trevor BETTLES. Tom died in 1993 at Southend-on-Sea.

10(e). Ruth Winifred, born in 1923 , was the first daughter of her generation to be born in England and has been regarded with affection as an elder sister, or almost as a "mother figure", by some of her younger cousins. In 1943 Ruth married Roger Gordon Pascoe COLLETT, at that time in the Royal Navy, but who later qualified as a Chartered Surveyor and joined his father's Estate Agency firm in Portsmouth.

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I have already mentioned that from 1972 whilst Ruth and Roger were bringing up their family they provided a home for Auntie Joydy in her old age, for over 10-years, until her death at the age of 90 in 1983.

Ruth and Roger had four children. Philip John (born 1944) married Geraldine SMITH in 1974 and they have two daughters Clare Elizabeth (born 1976) and Sarah Jane (born 1978).

Lesley Jane (born 1948) married Iain BROWN in 1967. They had a daughter, Amanda Jane (born 1966) and a son, Ashley Corbyn (born 1969). Lesley's marriage came to an end in 1985. In 1998 she married again - to Stewart CARR.

In 1995 Amanda married Clifford BURROUGHS and their daughter Kathryn Penelope was born in 1999.

In 1998 Ashley and Sharon CARTER had a daughter, Keeva Bonnie who was Ruth and Roger's first great-grandchild.

Alan Pascoe (born 1951) married Jessica PARTRIDGE in 1972 and their daughter Victoria Clemency Emma was born in 1980. Alan later married Ceanna ADAMS and they had two daughters Susannah Elizabeth (born 1984) and Elizabeth Jane (born 1989).

Andrew Thomas (born 1959) married Lesley Margaret LEVY, nee EVANS, in 1984. Lesley's daughter, Kelly LEVY, has subsequently changed her surname to COLLETT. Andrew and Lesley also have a daughter Samantha Nicola, who was born in 1986.

10(f). Ann Valerie was born in 1930 in Portsmouth and there, in 1955, she married Ken TULLEY. They had no children of their own and adopted three boys. Ann died in 1992.

10(g). David Michael WOODROBISO , born in 1928 , the first child of Harold and Moira, was born in Lahore (now in Pakistan, but then in India). Having already started schooling in England, David and his brother, Mark, spent the Summer holidays from 1935 to 1939 in England, whilst their parents were in India. During this time they made their home with their grandfather, Thomas, in his Doddiscombsleigh Rectory near Exeter in Devon and for a while after the outbreak of the War in 1939, all their holidays were spent there. It was at this Rectory that my sisters and I also found a "home from home", during the Christmas 1939 and Easter 1940 school holidays, when friendships were formed which have lasted over 60-years. The pond in the field in front of the Rectory with the small metal boat provided many hours of enjoyment for the younger members of the family.

Later in 1940 David and Mark left England to join their parents in India. After taking a degree in Naval Architecture and having come into a personal faith in Jesus Christ, David then took a degree in Theology. Whilst doing his National Service in the R.E.M.E. he married Jane Robinett SCRUBY. He was later ordained into the Church of England and after serving a curacy in Erith, Kent they went as Missionaries to Japan where their three children were all born. Sally Robinett (1957), Martin (1959) and Judith Jane (1962). Sally has two children Helen Robinett

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(1986) and Robbie James OXLEY (1992). Martin and Jane have two children, David (1982) and Esther (1984). By this time David and his two brothers had "put it about" that their surname would in future be WOOD-ROBINSON and that they would, therefore, not give their male children the Christian name "Wood". Upon their return to the UK in 1971 David took a living in the Diocese of Oxford, in which diocese he completed his full-time ministry.

10(h). Harold and Moira's second son, Mark, was born in 1930 in Madras in India. He qualified as a Chartered Engineer but was to specialise as a Lighting Engineer and Consultant in this field. At one time he was the Chairman of the Lighting Division of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers and was also a Fellow of the Institution of Lighting Engineers. It was with the benefit of these professional qualifications that Mark was for many years a lighting consultant for the South Western Electricity Board and later was to act as an independent consultant. In the course of his career, he was to design the lighting for over 100 cathedrals and churches in the South West of England, the most recent of which have been at Bristol and Wells. Mark and Shirley have for very many years been deeply involved with their church and this too has involved Mark's skill both in replacing as well as designing the lighting system.

Mark married Shirley Fay MATTHEWS in 1959 and they have two children, Keren (1960) and Paul (1963), and for many years have lived in Bristol. In 1990 Keren married Robert John Stafford LILLEY. In 1995 Paul married Romany Aniela Stachowska STRATTON and a son, Maximillian Peter, was born to them in January 1997.

10(i). The third son, Colin, was born in 1936 in Devon. Whilst David and Mark had started school in England before the outbreak of the War in 1939 their young brother, Colin, (born in 1936 and only 2-years old at the outbreak of the war) was with his parents in India at this time.

For about 18-months or so, when the family returned to England, Colin lived with Auntie Joydy, his father's sister, whilst she ran a boarding house for Bellan House School in Oswestry, Salop, where "May" MORRELL was the Principal (see 9(c) and 9(k)), during the time that my sisters Bet and Pat were also boarding at Bellan House. After going on to Blundell's School in Devon, where he followed his two brothers, Colin obtained his BA and MA at Cambridge. He then trained as a Chartered Biologist and became a Fellow of the Institue of Biology. He has lectured on Biological Education at Leeds University for over 25-years. Currently he is a Director of an internationally known Centre for Studies in Science and Mathematics. Colin is an author of over 70 technical publications and still undertakes work in many developing countries.

Colin first married Valerie GINMAN and they had three children Rachel Joyce (born 1965) now a dentist in Canberra, Australia; Graham Bruce (1967) teaches English in Northern Spain; and Clare Damaris (1971) who married Damon PATTERSON in 1994 and both Damaris and Damon teach in Leeds primary schools. They have a daughter, Jessamy Edin (born 1996). Colin and Valerie were divorced and Colin later married to Dianne "Di" HOLLAND. Colin and Di live in Leeds and Di is the Head of the Sixth Form Centre at Doncaster College.

Colin has prompted me to include a reference to Florence ADAMS, "Florrie", who was known with affection by three generations of the family including my sisters and me. Born about 1865, Florrie was engaged by Thomas and Winifred WOOD ROBINSON, Colin's grandparents, as a

242 nurse for their young child Harold, possibly about 1899. Florrie stayed as a nurse, cook, help and friend not only to "young" Harold but also to the next generation as well. When David, Mark and Colin moved to join their parents in India, Florrie moved to live with Auntie Joydy first at Doddiscombsleigh in Devon, then later in Oswestry in Shropshire and finally in Sparkford in Somerset. Her lifetime of service and devotion to the family was recognised when, after her death, they arranged that she was buried next to Harold in North Cadbury Churchyard.

Colin recounts a story about Florrie, which arose when Harold, who was at the time on leave from India, asked his father, Thomas, for a small loan as he was short of cash. "Granddad", a vicar, did not have the cash to hand and suggested that Harold should ask Florrie whether she could help - suggesting that she "might have some cash under her mattress"! Florrie was, in fact, able to oblige and lent Harold ,100. When Harold returned to India he sent Florrie a cheque, which she decided to place in a Post Office Savings account, which for some reason, which is not known, she then always thought of as "Harold's money", although it was not his at all! She never touched that account again. Harold died in 1951 and when Florrie herself died in 1955 it had, with accumulated interest, grown to about ,500, which she had left in her will "with love and affection" to be shared by David, Mark and Colin!

10(j). Marjorie BUCHTLER, born in 1917 , was the elder of the children of Nina and Walter BUCHTLER and was the first of her generation of the American branch of the ROBINSON family. Marjorie married Gerald Winston AUSTIN in 1940. At that time Gerald was an Architectural Engineer but in 1942 he volunteered for service in the US Navy. As a specialist engineer he specialised in dealing with catapults and all aeroplane handling equipment and facilities aboard battleships and cruisers. After the termination of active duty he remained as a reserve in the submarine division, eventually retiring with the rank of Captain.

Gerald and Marjorie had three children Robin Ann (1944), Nancy Lynne (1948) and Claire Winston (1955). In addition to bringing up her family Marjorie also worked as a school teacher.

Robin Ann married Charles Victor "Chuck" MANES in 1966. Chuck has his own management consultants business whilst Robin has done considerable school teaching. They have three children: Charles Victor III (born 1968) who married Angie Gayle PREWITT in 1994; Melissa Ann (born 1971) who has married Dr.Christopher Wayne GLANTON also in 1994; and Meredith Suzanne (born 1973) who married Justin Christopher STRUBLE in 1997.

Nancy Lynne married James "Jim" FATHEREE in 1970. After starting in residential construction and moving into banking Jim is now President of a large real estate investment firm. He and Nancy also have three children : Austin Andrew (born 1977); James Lucas "Luke" (born 1980) and Lindsey Elizabeth (born 1981).

Claire Winston married John HOUGEN in 1978. John now heads a business which searches for specialist personnel whilst Claire seeks and writes advertisement scripts for a radio station. They have two children : Elyse Nicole (born 1986) and Blayne Christian (born 1989).

10(k). Harold Richard was born in 1920 . He was employed firstly by McCarthy Chemical Company and later was Treasurer for the Petro-Tex Chemical Corporation. In 1940 he married Ula 243

Palestine OWEN "Pallie" and they had two children Virginia Beth (1950) and Harold Richard Jnr.(1952). Pallie was widowed when her husband Harold died in 1977, at the age of only 57- years. Virginia Beth married Laurence Randolph "Randy" SHERFY and they have a son, Justin Randolph (1977). Harold Richard Jnr. married Gaylyn Denise MANKA in 1976 and they have two sons, Sean Richard (1978) and Brandon Lee, who was born in 1983 when they were in Saudi Arabia. 10(l). ancy June, born in 1925 in Michigan, was the elder child of Brit and Lois. She never married and now lives in Arizona. Besides being the Manager of a Loan and Insurance business she is a poet. Some time ago she changed her surname to CLARKE.

10(m). Thomas Wood, born in 1927 , was Brit's second child. He took B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees at Michigan State University. He served as an Army Paratrooper between 1946 and 1948 and in 1951 he was in Korea where he was wounded and was awarded the Purple Heart. For a number of years he was employed by Aetna Life & Casualty Co. in Hartford, Conn. He was later with Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company where he became Vice-President prior to his retirement. Most of his work was spent on corporate taxes of all kinds - local, state, federal and foreign - and since his retirement he has continued to volunteer his skills for about 3-months each year.

In 1950 Tom married Mary Ann LOWER and they had two daughters and a son. Kathy Ann (born 1955) married Michael Kent STILL in 1985 and they have two children Christopher Michael (born 1988) and Cheryl Ann (born 1990). Kevin Wood (born 1956) was married to Elizabeth Mary CLAUSING in 1980 and they, too, have two children; Mark Gilbert (born 1982) and Eric Thomas (born 1984). Tom and Mary's third child, Sarah Marie (born 1959) married Robert Cecil La GORE in 1984 and they have two children Stephen Jacob (born 1986) and Amber Marie (born 1988).

10(n). After Brit's second marriage to Clara GREEN, they had two children. Lucy R. was born in May 1937 but died a few days later.

10(o). Alice Roxanna "Ann", was born in 1940 . She was employed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Washington DC. and married Ray E. THOMPSON in 1975.

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Eleven WALKER FAMILY

I am sure that most people who carry out research into their forebears come across something interesting and unexpected and that is certainly the case so far as this family are concerned. At the moment very little is known besides a sketchy outline of three generations, but there is a short story to tell from the limited information which has, so far, been found.

It all started when I decided that, having made a start upon my research into my INSLEY family, I would also try to trace back my mother's branch of the ROBINSON family. I started knowing that my mother's grandfather, Thomas ROBINSON had married Martha Anne WOOD but I knew nothing about Thomas ROBINSON's forebears except information that his father had been Isaac and had been a carpenter in Leicestershire. With the help of the Mormon's International Genealogical Index, (the IGI) Thomas' baptism was traced and his parents were given as Isaac ROBINSON and his wife "Ann". At the same time details were extracted from the registers of Barkby parish of Thomas' brothers and sisters.

The problem of tracing the parents of both Isaac and Ann was going to be that other couples of these names were in Leicestershire at that time and there seemed to be no easy way of deciding which ones were "our" Isaac and "our" Ann - until I was able to refer to a copy of the old marriage register for the parish of Syston which not only named the couple but also recorded the "Witnesses" as Mary WALKER and William ETTENBOROUGH. I also noticed that whilst Isaac, a carpenter, had signed his name, his wife had merely made her "mark" on the register with a cross, thus indicating that she had probably had very little, if any, education as she did not even know how to write her name. At that time, nearly 200-years ago, this was very common and, in country districts in particular, it was probably the norm, so far as women were concerned. Whilst a son might have some education this was often denied to the daughters.

Having found the entry of Isaac and Ann's marriage it was not too difficult, with his somewhat unusual name, to trace his baptism to the parish of Barkestone, but tracing Ann's background was not to prove so easy. Again I would need to start by tracing her baptism.

This presented a problem as there were three Ann WALKERs who were born in Leicestershire between about 1780 and 1795, which was the likely time of her birth to "fit in" with the date of her marriage. I was not very happy with either of the first two baptisms to which I referred and the third seemed unlikely to be very helpful as the baptism entry in the Mormon IGI gave the name of the mother but not the father. In order to try to resolve this I referred to copies of the original church baptism registers and, in the third of these, for the parish of Gaddesby which is only about 3-miles from Syston where the couple were married, I found records which are worth repeating in full :-

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1768. Apr.19th. Sarah wife of John SIMPSON buried.

1768. Apr.29th. John SIMPSON buried, a pauper.

1768. June 19th. Agnes HOLWELL baptised, bastard daughter of Anne SIMPSON, widow, the reputed father, Anthony HOLWELL of Melton Mowbray.

1777. John PICK, bastard son of Elizabeth WALKER , the reputed father John PICK, baptised 9th.November.

1784. Mary, bastard daughter of Elizabeth WALKER , the reputed father William SIMPSON, baptised 1st.August.

1785. Ann, wife of William ETENBOROW, buried 27th.May.

1787. William SIMPSON, bastard son of Elizabeth WALKER , pauper, baptised 22nd.July. The reputed father William SIMPSON.

1791. Thomas ETENBOROW, bastard son of Elizabeth WALKER , pauper, baptised 6th.July. The reputed father William ETENBOROW.

1792. Ann , bastard daughter of Elizabeth WALKER , pauper, baptised 25th.November. The reputed father was William ETENBOROW.

1794. Sarah, daughter of Elizabeth WALKER , a bastard, baptised 13th.July, the reputed father William ETENBOROW.

1798. William ETTENBOROUGH died 16th.March and was buried on 17th.March - aged 90- years - old age.

1808. Sarah , daughter of Elizabeth WALKER , reputed father William ETTENBORO, buried 25th.January, aged 14-years.

1808. Elizabeth WALKER , pauper was buried 12th.March.

Going back to the entry of Isaac and Ann's marriage in the parish register, I remembered that the witnesses had been Mary WALKER and Thomas ETTENBOROUGH. Here was the clue for which I had been looking. Mary WALKER was Ann's half sister, born in 1784, whilst Thomas ETTENBOROUGH was her younger half brother, born in 1791.

I was interested to realise that again Ann's sister, Mary, had not been taught to write her name but Thomas, who was then 23-years old, not only signed his name with a firm hand but clearly knew how to spell that surname - in a manner which conflicted with the entries in the register! An illiterate mother might not have thought to query the vicar's entries for the births of her illegitimate children but her brother, Thomas, had later been taught by his father. When Thomas was asked in 1814 to be one of the witnesses at the marriage of his half-sister, Ann, to Isaac ROBINSON in the parish church at Syston (when Ann was 22-years old) Thomas had decided to make sure that the spelling of his surname was correct.

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I was still keen to try to find out some more about Mary and Ann WALKER and about William ETTENBOROUGH - although I was NOT trying to find a "connection" with Prince Philip Duke of EDINBURGH!!

Eventually I found a record of a marriage of William ETTENBOROUGH (a bachelor of the small parish of Gaddesby, which is about 10-miles to the North-East of Leicester), who had married Mary CHAWNER, (a spinster of the parish of St.Leonards, Leicester), in the parish church at St.Margaret's, Leicester, on 6th.March 1776. Once again, whilst William had signed his name yet Mary had merely "made her mark" with an "X". About 10-months later there was a christening at St.Leonards of a daughter of William and Mary who was named Ann. When she was about 21-years old, in December 1797, Ann married William WILES at Gaddesby, where her father was then living. I have not yet traced the burial of Mary ETTENBOROUGH, nee CHAWNER, but assume that she may well have died about 1785/90.

I then found a record of the baptism on 13th.March 1763 in the parish church at St.Margaret, Leicester, of Elizabeth, the daughter of Robert WALKER and his wife Ann. This was the same parish church in which William ETTENBOROUGH was to marry Mary CHAWNER 14-years later and it seems reasonable to suppose that at the time that William married Mary CHAWNER in 1776 he may have known the young 13-year old girl, Elizabeth WALKER.

The old parish records at Gaddesby record that Elizabeth's first child was baptised in 1777, (the reputed son of John PICK) when Elizabeth would have been about fourteen and a half years old.

In 1784 and 1787 Elizabeth had two more illegitimate children by William SIMPSON.

If William ETTENBOROUGH's wife, Mary CHAWNER, had died about 1890 it would not be surprising if he had then turned for comfort to Elizabeth, who would then have been 27-years old. Their first child was christened Thomas in July 1791. When the second child, a daughter, was born in November 1792 she was baptised "Ann" -probably after Elizabeth's mother, the wife of her father, Robert WALKER. Then about 18-months later, William and Elizabeth's third child was born and christened, Sarah. She was to die when she was only 14-years old and Elizabeth, herself, was to be buried only seven weeks after her daughter, Sarah, at the age of 45- years.

In those days there was no formal registration of the cause of death and this was only recorded in old parish church records if it was something very unusual. Life for the poor was hard and the cause of both of their deaths may have been due to their very poor circumstances.

Of the old Gaddesby parish records which I have listed the only unexplained entry seems to be that of the burial of William ETTENBOROUGH in March 1998 when he was reputed to be 90- years old.

Whilst I suppose it is not impossible, it seems unlikely that this old man was the father of Ann and Sarah WALKER who were baptised in 1792 and 1794. It seems more likely that he may have been their grandfather and thus the father of that William who married Mary CHAWNER in 1776 and of that same William who had three children by Elizabeth WALKER between 1791 and 1794. If this assumption was correct Ann's father might well have been born about 1745/50

253 and it would, therefore, have been her grandfather who was born about 1708, dying in 1798 at the age of 90-years. For the moment that is a puzzle - perhaps to be resolved in the future.

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Twelve WOOD FAMILY (including reference to the MICKLEBURGH FAMILY)

There are many WOOD families in Shropshire, as in many other counties in England. These include the family of Francois du Bois who settled in Shrewsbury in the 16th. century and called himself Francis WOOD. Research which was carried out many years ago suggested that the earliest known member of our branch of this family was John WOOD who, at the beginning of the 1800s, was a solicitor and the Lord of the Manor of Grishill and lived at Higher House, Grinshill, a small village about 7-miles to the North of Shrewsbury in the Diocese of Lichfield. However, older parish records, which provide the start for this present "family story", refer to the grandfather of that John WOOD, also called John WOOD, who came from Hodnet, another village a few miles from Grinshill and about 13-miles North East of Shrewsbury.

In his study of the Landed Estates of North-East Shropshire, Anthony Ruscoe has noted that John WOOD of Hopton had bought land in Harcourt East in 1725 and that his son, then of Espley, bought more land there in 1758. When his son, another John, married Mary EMBREY in 1767 both John and his wife, Mary, owned land in Grinshill. In 1775 John bought the Cleaton property and there are records that he owned other land in Stanton and Booley. This branch of the WOOD family were acquiring property and we also know that the same John WOOD purchased Harcourt in 1795 and was living at Harcourt Park at the time of his death in 1810.

Hodnet, or Odenet , was once a place of considerable importance in Shropshire. In Saxon times it was a Royal Manor and belonged to King Edward the Confessor. The oldest parish records which still exist start in 1656. The first known register which is known to have existed went back to 1539, but that was noted in 1830 as having been lost. The parish was stated to have an area of 11,595 acres (4692-hectares) with a population in 1901 of about 1,700 persons. Old wills, which go back to 1421 refer to several WOODs who directed that their bodies should be buried in the Hodnet churchyard. These include a William WOOD of Peplow, which was a small township in the parish of Hodnet.

When a new parish register of births, marriages and burials was started in 1812 there was an introduction which gave some background details about the old registers and the parish. This mentions that the registers which started in 1658 made reference to some of the principal older families in the parish of Hodnet and noted that these had been designated in the registers as "Esq.", or "Gent", or "Mr." and among the names which were listed was the surname WOOD, where some of the entries had been, for example, Mr.John WOOD of Harcourt Park, who was buried in 1810.

1st Generation That I have researched! Our earliest John WOOD was born about 1655 and married Elizabeth. Their names were recorded when their two children, John and Elizabeth, were baptised. Both of the parents were buried at Hodnet, Elizabeth in 1715 and John in 1724, when he was referred to as "of this Town". However, I know nothing else about this first couple from whom our line is descended. 255

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2nd Generation 2(a). John, (16911765) baptised at Hodnet, was the first of the two children of John and Elizabeth WOOD. He married Jane HIGGINS, the daughter of Robert and Anne HIGGINS of Heath House, Stanton upon Hine Heath, a village between Hodnet and Grinshill. It was this John, whom I have noted in the introduction to this family, who had made the first purchase of land in Harcourt East in 1725. As far as we know John and Jane had only one child, also called John, who was born in 1715.

When Jane, who was 20-years older than her husband, died in 1755 the entry of her burial in the church register refers to her as being "of Hodnet". When her husband, John, died 10-years later he was described as being "of Hopton".

2(b). Elizabeth , the second child of John and Elizabeth was baptised in 1693 . I have no other information about her beyond the fact that she married William HIGGENS, of Foxton, in 1717.

3rd Generation John , the son of John and Jane HIGGINS, was christened in 1715 . In about 1745 he married Elizabeth DICKEN, the daughter of Thomas DICKEN and his wife Elizabeth of Wollerton Hall, Hodnet, who were possibly there as tenants.

The DICKENs were one of the old Shropshire families. The Manor of Wollerton, which was referred to as "Ulverton" in the Domesday Book, was at that time, held by Earl Roger de Gerard de Tournay. By 1750 the Manor and Wollerton Hall had passed to Thomas DICKEN who died in 1775. But he was probably not the father of "our" Elizabeth, as old records say that upon the death of Thomas DICKEN he left his property to his only daughter, Jane. However, as "our" Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas DICKEN and his wife Elizabeth WHITTINGHAM, was entered in the church records as being "of Wollerton Hall", it is very likely that the two families were closely related.

John WOOD and his wife, Elizabeth DICKEN, had six children: John (1746-1810); Robert (1749-c.1788); Jane (1751-c.1813); Thomas (1755-1776); William (1757) and George (1757- 1758). During this period John and Elizabeth were referred to as being of Hopton & Espley. It was this John who made the second purchase of land which I have mentioned.

It is possible that Elizabeth had difficulty with the birth of her son, George, as she was buried on 11th.May 1758 only two days after George's baptism. Her husband, John, died and was buried in Hodnet churchyard in 1763.

4th Generation 4(a). John, (17461810) The family tradition of christening the first son after his father was followed once more. John was baptised at Hodnet in 1746 and, once more, the entry in the register refers to his being "of Hopton". His brothers and sisters were all later baptised in the same parish church.

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John, the eldest son, married Mary EMBREY in 1767. She was the daughter of John EMBREY, Gentleman of Grinshill and of Elizabeth RUSSELL of Clive, the neighbouring parish. Mary EMBREY's grandmother was Mary WATKINS of Myddle (bap. 1685) the parish which has been made famous by the very readable and sometimes scandalous "Gough's History of Myddle, 1710", re-published with great success in recent years. Mary's first cousin Robert EMBREY inherited the undivided moiety of the Manor of Clive from his mother and became the Lord of the Manor. He lived in Higher House, Grinshill, and owned much of the property in that parish. John and Mary had a daughter, who only lived for a week, followed by six sons: John (born 1768) - again following the family tradition of naming the first son after his father - Thomas (1770), George (1772), William (1774), Robert (1776) and Henry (1784).

Anthony Ruscoe, who has had a long time interest in the Landed Estates and their "Gentry" of North-East Shropshire, has published the results of his study in relation to Grinshill and this discloses that following the death of Watkin Wynne in 1778, his executors sold the Grinshill property to John WOOD of "Espley". This property was held by this branch of the WOOD family for three generations until 1824, when it was sold to Sir John HILL, who in turn sold it in 1868 to James J.BIBBY.

In 1781 three areas of land were "enclosed" for the first time by Act of Parliament. At Hardwicke Heath, 64-acres at the Southern tip of the area, about half of the land was allocated to Sir Richard Hill, and the remainder to John WOOD and Robert Kilvert. At Grinshill Hill and Sherwood, 79-acres were enclosed and were allocated mainly to Andrew Corbet, Mr.Kilvert, John WOOD and the Lord of the Manor. The tithe apportionment which was made in 1838 shows John WOOD as the owner of about 20% of the land of the parish.

In his book, Anthony Ruscoe remarks that the weak manorial control of the past and the fragmented ownership has allowed moneyed people to enjoy the scenery with its hilly backdrop and woods, which is still reflected in the modern Grinshill.

In the various baptismal entries in the Hodnet church records John and Mary are referred to as "of Espley", which was one of the "townships" in the parish of Hodnet. However, when John was eventually buried in 1810, that entry refers to him as being "of Harcourt Park, in Stanton", another of the Hodnet townships, which he had bought in 1795. When Mary died and was buried in 1815 she, too, was "of Harcourt Park".

Our "family stories" record that John was so hampered by the cost of educating his six sons that he mortgaged his property. Perhaps, however, he over-stretched himself in the acquisition of his property. He left the majority of his estate to his eldest son, John, who then paid off the mortgage and practically bought it from his father.

4(b). Robert (17491788) , was described as being "of Espley" when he was baptised in 1749. He married Penelope VICKEREY (c.1745-1784) and they had one child, Elizabeth, who was to marry Thomas BURNETT. Elizabeth she died in childbirth in 1796.

4(c). Jane , and later her younger brothers, was also described as "of Espley" when she was baptised. She married Henry Abel BINGHAM, who came from London.

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4(d,e,f). Thomas (bap.1755) only survived until he was 21 and is also buried at Hodnet. John and Elizabeth's last two boys, William and George (probably twins) both died when they were young.

5th Generation 5(a). Elizabeth , John WOOD and Mary EMBREY's first child was born in 1767 but she only lived for a week.

5(b). John , the first son, born in 1768, was christened after his father, in the tradition of the family. John became a solicitor with a practice at Shrewsbury and Wellington and was the Lord of the Manor of Grinshill. He married Margaret RAVENSHAW, of Sansaw Hall, Atcham, in 1794 and they had seven children.

Sadly, like his parents, John and Margaret's first child, a daughter Mary Anne born in 1799, died when she was only 6-months old but they subsequently had six sons, all but one of whom married. When their first son was born in 1801 they again followed the family tradition - naming him John. He was to be followed by Thomas William (1804), William Embrey (1807), Samuel Ravenshaw (1810), George (1812) and Robert Henry (1817). John, the father of this family died in 1838 when he was 69 but his wife, Margaret, was to live until she was 92-years old. A great age in those days. It is from John WOOD and Margaret RAVENSHAW that we are descended.

5(c). Thomas (17701834) married Ann FAULKNER and had four children. John Faulkner (1817- 1885) married Charlotte Elizabeth JOYCE and they had two children. Thomas (1819-1890) married Matilda MINOR and they had three children. Robert Faulkner (1821-1883) was ordained and was the Rector of Moreton Corbet, a nearby parish in Shropshire. He married and had two children. The fourth child, Robert Hadderton, was born in 1829 but died as an infant. He is remembered on the family memorial inside the church. The few other known details about this branch of the family are shown on the chart but I have not established any contact with descendants of Thomas and Ann. It is, however, believed that it was Thomas who began the building of the house which was called "Woodlands" and that he sold the house and other property in Grinshill in 1824 to the HILL family.

One of the brief details on the chart is that the son of Thomas and Matilda MINOR, Arthur Thomas Minor (born c.1864) was married about 1890 to Ursula Norah MEIRES whose family had farmed in Berrington, Shropshire since 1604 and had originally come from the Low Countries.

However, Anthony Ruscoe has found other information about Thomas and Ann's son, John Faulkner WOOD (1817-1885) who was stated in 1867 to be "of Ashe House". It was his grandson, Archibald John WOOD, who inherited the Harcourt and Stanton property, but when he sold the property to his aunt in 1895 he was living in Cambridgeshire.

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5(d,e,f,g). Of the other children of John WOOD and Mary EMBREY neither George (17721789) nor Robert (b.1776) are known to have married. William (17741853) described as "of Espley" married Elizabeth BICKERTON in 1798 and they had four children, whilst Henry (1784 1815) married Kate ASTLEY and had only one child, Mary Embrey (born c.1815).

6th Generation 6(b). Following the early death of their first child, Elizabeth , the first son of John WOOD and Mary EMBREY, named John - of course! - born in 1801 was to take his M.A. and then entered the Church of England and for 15 years from 1849 until his death in 1864 he was Vicar of Grinshill as well as Patron of the Benefice.

In 1801 John married Elizabeth PITT and they had six children, two girls and four boys, five of whom married. The two girls both married BRISCOEs. Ann Elizabeth (born 1827) married John Edward BRISCOE but I have no record of this family, beyond the fact that Ann died in 1914 in Brighton. Margaret (born 1831) married Walter BRISCOE of Neach Hill, Donnington and appears to have had five children. The first was a son, John Ravenshaw, (born 1829) who also entered the Church. He married Esther GREEN and they had four boys followed by two daughters, of whom only one son, Edward Alan (born 1867) and the youngest daughter, Esther (born 1876) were to marry. Neither of those two had children and so this line of the WOOD family were to "die out". After the death of John Ravenshaw and his wife Elizabeth, these children arranged for the stained glass East window of Grinshill Church to be given in memory of their parents.

Before moving on to John and Margaret's other sons, I feel that I should make reference to the BRISCOE family, although I have not tried to trace that branch of this family who are descended from the two WOOD daughters. There is a presumption that the first of this line of BRISCOEs is descended from William the son of John BRISCOE, who was buried at Wellington in 1725. When William BRISCOE, Yeoman, was married he inherited various goods and chattels from his father's estate including :- 3 horses, 4 cows, 50 sheep, 6 beds, etc. There is evidence that the BRISCOE family in Staffordshire came from Germany and, with other families, they established the glass manufactory at Wordsley. Certainly William BRISCOE had considerable landed property in Shropshire and William was described in deeds as Gentleman, or as Yeoman, of Apley Castle, Wellington.

6(c). The second son, Thomas William was born at Grinshill in 1804 and was to marry Martha BRITTAIN and had ten children but first let us look ahead to the five younger children of John and Margaret RAVENSHAW.

6(d). The third son, William Embrey, (18071903) married Annie ELSMERE. They are not known to have had any children. William Embrey died at the age of 96-years.

6(e). Samuel Ravenshaw, the fourth son, was born at Grinshill in 1810 and married Mary Gibbon HIGGINS in 1836. He was, in his turn the Patron and incumbent of Grinshill. He and his wife,

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Mary, had two children. John Cooper, a future Vicar of Clive, who was to marry Ellen BIBBY, but had no family. His sister, Margaret Anne, did not marry. Samuel Ravenshaw died whilst he was still only 30-years old.

6(f). George (18121857) married Eliza BURNETT and practiced as a Doctor at Towcester, but died at the age of 45-years without any offspring.

6(g). The sixth son, Robert Henry (18171860) married Mary PICKSTOCK at Grinshill in 1841. Mary was the daughter of Richard PICKSTOCK, a Wine and Spirits merchant, who was admitted as a Burgess of Shrewsbury in 1806. Mary's father died when he was only 42 and when Mary was not yet four years old.

Robert Henry WOOD trained and qualified as a surgeon, becoming a Member of the Royal College in 1839. At the time of his marriage in 1841 he was in practice in Dawley, some 15- miles from Grinshill. Robert and Mary were married by Robert's brother, The Reverend Samuel WOOD, who was at that time the Curate at Wellington, and who died only 17-days later. In 1845 Robert was in practice at Prees but by 1851 he had moved to 2, Edgbaston Street, Birmingham. He was the District Medical Officer for Birmingham in 1858 and was living at 22, Masshouse Lane. He died there of pneumonia at the age of only 44.

After her husband's death Mary remained in Birmingham for a number of years - living at 23, Francis Road, Edgbaston, but at about 1872/75 she moved to Harley Street in London to live with her eldest daughter, Clara Finetta, (1841-1911) who was at that time Lady Resident of Queen's College, Harley Street, London. Mary died there in 1884. She left her small "estate" (,168) to her fourth daughter, Mary Elizabeth, who had married a school master, Robert Spencer CARPENTER.

After Clara, Robert and Mary had three more daughters and a son: Margaret Hannah (b.1842), Laura (b.1845), Mary Elizabeth (1848-1926) and William Cecil (1849-1889).

6(c). We left our own branch of the WOOD family with Thomas William (born 1804) and Martha BRITTAIN (born 1806) who married only a couple of miles from Grinshill at High Ercall in March 1833.

At the end of the 18th.century, about the time when both Thomas and Martha were born, the whole of Europe was in turmoil. Napoleon Bonaparte had conquered Switzerland in 1798, had invaded Egypt and had then suffered the defeat of his fleet by Nelson at the Battle of the Nile.

During the last 50-years of the 18th.century there had been continuing wars in India. Indeed, I was told that Martha's uncle, Thomas Atherton DAWES, had won fame when he was the first man "over the walls" at the Battle of Seringapatam in India on 4th.April 1799 when the 22nd.Light Dragoons were faced by Indians fighting under the command of "Tipu Sultan" (or Tippoo Sahib). Later appointed a Colonel, Thomas DAWES lived until the age of 71 and died in 1846.

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At the beginning of the year 2000, Susan, the wife of Harry OLDHAM, sent me an old photograph of Colonel James DAWES. Endorsed on the back is a note that he was of Almington Hall, Market Drayton, Salop, and had been a member of the Dragoons at Seringapatam in 1799 when they took Tipoo Sahib prisoner. It is added that he (Col.DAWES) "brought his turban and emerald home, also his dog and much loot". Whether Thomas Atherton DAWES was one and the same as Colonel James DAWES I have not yet discovered.

In 1851, when Thomas WOOD was 47-years old, he was a well-to-do farmer occupying Beslow Farm on the Attingham Park Estate, now belonging to The National Trust, and about 10-miles from Grinshill. His daughter, Martha Anne, who later married Thomas ROBINSON, told her children that she had been brought up very strictly by a "very stern unbending sort of man" who had inherited very little from his father "beyond what it took to stock his farm".

But by 1851 Thomas was farming Beslow farm of 286-acres (a large farm in those days) and employed 12 agricultural labourers and had 2 male servants and 4 female servants in his house. At the Western end of the farm there stood, high above the ground, a great piece of old Roman stone walling.

Information which has been passed down through the succeeding generations, and which has been passed on to me by his great grand-daughter, Margaret Anne, records that Thomas used to say to his children "Mark my words, one day that field will be dug up and a Roman city will be found under it."

Limited excavations were carried out after about 1860 which disclosed the evidence which Thomas had anticipated but, prior to that time, with the exception of this one piece of walling, the old city of Vironconium Cornoviorum had vanished under the fields.

It was not until later excavations were carried out during the period 1912-14, and subsequent excavations in the 1930s, that Thomas' predictions proved to be correct. One can now see the results of these excavations which have revealed the fourth largest city of Roman Britain and the largest to have escaped damage from subsequent development. The whole area is now in the care of English Heritage and is a popular visit for those who are willing to travel one mile off the present A5 road.

Although Thomas was farming Beslow Farm at the time of the 1851 census - all of his children were baptised whilst he was still there - yet he had moved by the time of the next census in April 1861. I have not yet traced where he moved to, but Thomas died over the border in the town of Montgomery, Wales in July 1866.

Thomas and Martha had seven daughters and three boys and, apart from Fanny (born 1845), they were all to marry.

7th Generation 7(a). The Revd. John Ravenshaw WOOD MA. was the second child of The Revd.John WOOD and his wife, Elizabeth PITT.(See 6(b)) and I have already mentioned that I know little about this part of the family. John Ravenshaw was educated at Carlisle Grammar School and then decided to "go into the Church". Like his father, he was the Patron of Grinshill. He was to be the vicar at

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Compton Chamberlayne, Wiltshire, from 1854-62. He was at Christ Church, Penrith from 1862 to 1880 and then at Stanwix, Carlisle from 1880 to 1905. In 1865 John Ravenshaw married Esther GREEN and they had six children, but I have few other details about this branch of the family. John Ravenshaw died in 1908.

The eldest child, also John Ravenshaw, was born in 1866 and was also ordained and he died, unmarried, in 1927. Edward Alan (1867-1937) was also educated at Carlisle Grammar School and then went on to become a Land Agent. He married Florence BUTCHER when he was 55- years old. They had no children. The third son, Henry Eldred (born 1870), also educated at Carlisle Grammar School took a Theological degree at Durham. He was also ordained and was Vicar of Matterdale (1906-1925) and Rector of Hutton in the Forest from 1925 until his death in 1945, where he was buried. He did not marry. Richard, the fourth son, born in 1873 died when he was two months old and was buried in Penrith, where his father was the vicar. There followed a daughter in 1874 and the parents must have been delighted as she was christened Elizabeth Ducat. Finally, Esther was born in 1876, who was to marry Thomas Henry MARTIN in 1910.

7(b). Margaret Mary (born 1834) was the first child of Thomas William WOOD and Martha BRITTAIN. She married Richard SHAKESHAFT, of Waters Upton, a small village to the South of Hodnet. Although the date is not known they emigrated to Topeka in Kansa, USA and had two children, Edmund John and Richard, who were born about 1870.

7(c). The second daughter, Emily Burnett, (born 1835) married John WILLIAMS and they had three children: John Samuel (Jack) of Denver who married Gertrude MACDONALD (from Ireland), Emily Beatrice (1863-1944) and Thomas who died very young in 1866.

7(d). The third daughter, Martha Anne, (born 1837) married Thomas ROBINSON in 1860. They had seven children and their story and that of their children is recorded in the ROBISO FAMILY Story. 7(e). Jane Louisa was born in 1838 . Nothing is known of her beyond her marriage to William TAYLOR.

7(f). Alice Ellen was the fifth girl to be born in succession in 1840 . She was to marry Charles Van de Poel MICKLEBURGH, who was 12-years younger than Alice and was indeed the nephew of her younger sister, Rose Dameris' husband William MICKLEBURGH. Charles Van de Poel MICKLEBURGH and William were descendants of John MICKLEBURGH, born in 1752 at Raveningham, Norfolk.

Although this book was not intended to include the story of the MICKLEBURGH FAMILY as a separate section yet, perhaps it may be interesting if I provide a little background to this family.

We know that for about 300-years the MICKLEBURGH family had lived in Norfolk, although the spelling of their name had changed over this period. John (born 1752) appears to have been

268 the first of the family to leave Norfolk as he was married at Alderbury in Wiltshire in 1791 to Lucretia COZENS. John was the great, great grandson of another John, who was described as a Yeoman of the parish of Stockton, a neighbouring parish only about 5-miles from the coast to the South of Yarmouth who married Rebekah and they had eight children. This John (the husband of Rebekah) died in 1705 and was in turn the great, great, grandson of another John who was born about 1445 and had married Beatrice.

The first of these Johns came from Thurlton, another nearby Norfolk parish, and he left a will, which was proved at Norton on 14th.May 1495. I was interested to discover that, in those days, the spelling of the family surname in his will was MEKELBURGH. Prior to that it had also been spelt MEKYLBURGH.

In those early generations the family must have been yeoman farmers of some considerable wealth. Parents bought land and houses to "set up" their sons when they became of age. This is shown by the bequests in their wills and by the purchase of lands. The parents made provision for their unmarried daughters and left money and instructions for the upbringing and education of their younger children. In the will of the first of our Johns, made in 1495, he asked that he should be buried near his grandfather, another John, who was buried in the North Alley of Thurlton Churchyard in Norfolk. In another generation, Robert, who was born about 1515, inherited lands and "tenements" in Lodden and lived in the parish of Hales.

For over two hundred years the family lived in South-East Norfolk. The old parish records in Hales and Lodden, Haddiscoe, Thurlton and Norton Subcourse all provide records of the MICKLEBURGH families who were farmers in those parishes.

Francis, Yeoman of Thurlton, was at least the third generation in that parish. Old papers record that Francis "declined Arms at the Visitation in, about, 1640". The suggestion that he should apply for his own Coat of Arms must, at least, indicate a man of local standing.

The first member of this branch of the MICKLEBURGH family to leave Norfolk seems to have been John MICKLEBURGH (1752-1827) whom I have mentioned was married at Alderbury in Wiltshire in 1791. John's son, Charles, was born in Winchester in 1793 and both father and son later moved to Montgomery in Wales, where they both lived until they died.

Having been a Chartered Land Agent myself, I was interested to discover from the census returns that both Charles and his father, John, had been Land Agents in that area. Charles' son, John (1826-1899) had also followed in the family professional practice but I have not yet found anything to suggest that Charles van de Poel, who married Alice Ellen WOOD, also followed in that family tradition.

Although this is the story of the WOOD Family, yet as there was always a very close family bond and affection between the WOODs and the MICKLEBURGHs I have decided to include a simple chart in this story showing the outlines of the descent from William MICKLEBURGH (born about 1543) to Charles van de Poel MICKLEBURGH (c.1852-1883)for those who may also be interested in this family. However, leaving the MICKLEBURGHs of Norfolk and returning to the WOODs of Shropshire in the 1850s, there seems to be no record of Alice Ellen WOOD and Charles Van de Poel MICKLEBURGH having had a family.

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7(g). The first son of Thomas WOOD and Martha BRITTAIN, Brittain Dawes , was born in October 1841 .

According to his grandson, Thomas Brittain WOOD, but always known as "Dick", (see later under 9(j)), his grandfather, Brittain Dawes, was given that second name as a compliment to a very close friend of his father who was Colonel DAWES. However, when Dick told me this detail in 1996, Dick was not then aware that his grandfather's mother, Martha BRITTAIN, was the daughter of Mary DAWES. The choice of the name "Dawes" may, therefore, have been directly related to an ancestral family member - (see remarks under 6(c) above) - as well as being the name of a friend of his father.

By the time that he was 20-years old his father was no longer farming the 246-acre Beslow farm. Brit's father died in 1866 and in 1868 Brit married Isabella BARLOW at Caverswall, Staffs. Isabella was the daughter of Thomas BARLOW, who had been farming 106-acres in 1861 but also described himself as a "china manufacturer".

I have mentioned that Brit's parents, Thomas and Martha, had given up the tenancy of Beslow Farm at some stage during the late 1850s and that despite being the eldest son, Brittain Dawes did not take over his father's farm.

What Brit did for a living during the years immediately after his marriage in 1868 is not known, but at the time of the April 1881 census they were living in Eccleshall, Staffs. with their three children and when Brit gave his occupation as "cattle dealer". Perhaps, at the time that his parents gave up their farm it was decided that Brit was not capable of running the farm himself. This seems to support the remark, which was made to me by one of his grand-daughters, that she did not think "he was very good at managing his own money"!

Brittain Dawes was clearly a colourful character - widely known to his family and others as "The Boss". Despite his inability to manage his own affairs he was engaged to manage agricultural estates belonging to others! He managed Lord Lytton's estate at Knebworth in Hertfordshire and then Lord Sydney's estate at Chislehurst in Kent.

It was whilst "The Boss" was at Chislehurst that The Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, escaped from France and came to live as an exile with her son, the Prince Imperial, in a large house, now on the edge of the golf course. As the Agent for the estate "The Boss" was asked to teach the 13-year old Prince Imperial how to use a gun (a sporting shot gun). Margaret Anne, one of The Boss's grand-daughters, remembers the beautiful hand-made gun with lovely engravings of hares and pheasants on it, which was used when teaching the Prince to shoot. Years later that gun was sold by his widow. By 1870 the Prince had rejoined his father, the Emperor, as he was also at the Battle of Sedan, but he escaped to England. He then entered the Woolwich Academy and subsequently obtained a commission in the British Army. The Prince was killed in 1880 during the fighting in the Zulu War.

Before all that should happen "The Boss" had moved to Norfolk to manage Timothy White's estate. He died at The Manor Farm, Field Dalling which he rented from the estate and was

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274 buried there. After his death his widow made her home with her daughter "Belle" at Saxlingham until she died. (See 8(d) below).

"The Boss's" wife was also memorable. A "martinette" to her children, particularly after her husband's death, she was known as "Mater" to her family and she inspired awe in her young grandchildren. Rather deaf she spent much of the day sitting in the dining room. Her grand- daughter, Susan, remembers that as a young child every time that she entered the room "Mater" would tell her "Speak when you are spoken to Come when you are called and SHUT THE DOOR BEHID YOU!" Susan also remembers that "Mater" wore a tight-waisted black taffeta dress with a full skirt and with a bodice which had about 20 small buttons down the back. One day young Susan was following her grandmother slowly along the narrow upstairs passageway, who was steadying herself by pressing her hands on the walls on either side, when Susan, becoming bored with their slow progress, proceeded to count the buttons touching each one as she did so. Suddenly "Mater" must have felt the little finger "poking" her back and she turned around in a fury. What was said is not recorded but Susan was in utter disgrace!

Brittain Dawes WOOD and Isabella MARLOW had four children, Thomas Barlow (1869- 1929), William Albert (1871-1944), Charles Herbert (1874-1947) and Isabel Sarah (1875- c.1958).

7(h). The seventh child of Thomas WOOD and Martha BRITTAIN, Samuel Ravenshaw (1843) he died at sea in the West Indies at the age of 17 and was buried at Demerera.

7(i). Fanny (born 1844) was to die when young.

7(j). Rose Dameris (born 1846) was to marry William MICKLEBURGH in 1870 at Montgomery and I have briefly referred to the MICKLEBURGH family when mentioning Alice Ellen (See 7(f) above).They had two daughters and two sons: Lucretia "Cre" Alice (born 1871), Rose Isabel (1872), William Montgomery (1874) and Charles George (1876). Peg Gwatkin-Williams has a recollection of hearing about William MICKLEBURGH, who was the cousin of her father. William's elder son, William Montgomery, is thought to have squandered, gambled or spent his father's money, leaving his father virtually penniless. As a result of this the son emigrated to South Africa and his father committed suicide, which left his elder daughter, "Cre", to help her mother to guide the family. After the death of her husband, Rose Dameris, spent the last part of her life living with her daughter, Cre, at "Bryn Meirion" in Llangollen and I have a recollection of an old lady, small of stature, whom we knew as "Little Aunt Rose", to distinguish her from her daughter Rose, who, like her sister Cre, was a fine imposing woman.

7(k). The tenth and last of Thomas and Martha's children was Thomas Oakley, (1850) who married Elizabeth Gertrude OGDEN and they moved to Kansas City, USA. They had three children, Leila, Lionel and Grace.

Leila married Edward CLAYTON and they lived in Cleburne, Texas where they had two daughters. Elizabeth married Joseph GORMAN and died in 1984. Isabel (1910-1956) married

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279 the Revd. George TOCHER of Portsmouth, Ohio, USA and they had a daughter Elizabeth (born 1938) who married Robert PECK and had two sons, Alex and Howard. Lionel of Houston, Texas, married Nellie and had five children, Thomas, Richard, Margery, Raymond and Helen.

The third child, Grace, of Cleburne, Texas, did not marry.

7(l). The last child of John WOOD and Margaret RAVENSHAW was Dr.Robert Henry WOOD who married Mary PICKSTOCK and I have mentioned that they had five daughters and one son. Clara Finetta (1841-1911); Margaret Hannah (b.1842); Laura (b.1845); Mary Elizabeth (1848-1926) who married Robert Spencer CARPENTER, and William Cecil (1849-1889) who married Ellen Sophia BODKIN.

Little is known about these children but I have mentioned that Clara Finetta, the eldest (1843- 1911) was to be the Lady Resident of Queen's College in Harley Street and was living at 41, Harley Street when her widowed mother came to live with her. She moved to number 43 at some time after 1901 (the date of the codicil to her will). In 1881 her sister, Mary Elizabeth, with her husband, Robert Spencer CARPENTER, came to live nearby at number 38.

7(m and n). Apart from the baptism of Margaret Hannah in 1842 and the fact that she was alive at the time of the 1851 census we know nothing more about her. In the same way we know of Laura 's baptism and she too was recorded in the 1851 census and she may also have died young as we have no other records of her.

7(o). The fourth daughter Mary Elizabeth (18481926) was born at Prees in Shropshire before her parents moved to Edgbaston and was married there in 1884 to Robert Spencer CARPENTER. He was the son of an accountant at Bath. He had been to Caius College, Cambridge where he obtained his BA in 1859 and MA in 1863. An Assistant Master at Huntingdon School in 1861- 62 he then moved to King William's College on the Isle of Man (1862-70), King Edward VI's School, Birmingham (1870-76), and then University College, London (1877-1904) where he met his wife-to-be.

At the time of the 1881 census they were living at 38, Harley Street in 1881, where they had a governess, domestic cook, domestic nurse and two housemaids. In 1885 they were at 125, Maida Vale and later moved to 27, Belsize Square, Hampstead, at which address Robert died in 1906. They had four children, Robert Abbott (b.1876) who died when he was about 25-years old, apparently unmarried. Spencer Cecil CARPENTER, (1877-1959) who was to be Master of the Temple (1930-1935) and later Dean of Exeter. Winifred Mary who seems not to have married and Christian Olive (1883-1953).

After the death of her husband, Robert, in 1906 Mary moved to Bath in Somerset, and died there in Bladud Buildings, in 1926.

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7(p). The last of the children of Robert Henry and Mary PICKSTOCK, and the only son, was William Cecil WOOD (18501899) . He was educated in Birmingham and then went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, (BA in 1872 and MA in 1875). He was ordained Deacon in 1873 and was priested in 1876, when he married Ellen Sophia BODKIN at Highgate. Whilst the Curate at Highgate he was also an Assistant Master at Sir Roger Cholmeley's School (1873-74) and then at Christ's Hospital (1875).

After William and Ellen were married William went to Wellington College where he was an Assistant Master and Chaplain (1876-83). He was Head Master at Birkenhead Grammar School in 1885 and in September 1885 he became Head Master at the Royal Medical College in Epsom (now known as Epsom College).

William died at the age of only 39-years in February 1889 after being taken ill six months earlier with blood poisoning which subsequently affected his kidneys and brain. The funeral service was held at the college chapel, and the coffin was then taken to the public cemetery for burial, followed by the masters, the boys and others connected with the college.

In his obituary in The Surrey Advertiser it was mentioned that since becoming the headmaster of the Royal Medical College only four years earlier he had almost revolutionised the systems and management and the fruits of his efforts were manifest in the advancement of the institution.

William and Ellen had four children, Dorothy Ellen Cecil (1877-1894); Marjorie Mary Cecil "Madge" (1879-1962); Ravenshaw William Bodkin Cecil (1882-1945) and Denys Embrey Cecil (1884-1966). Only Dorothy Cecil who married William Gwyther CHARLES, had a family - three boys and two girls - all of whose names included the family name "Gwyther".

Whilst Ellen survived her husband nothing else is known about her.

8th Generation 8(a). Edmund John (c.1869) , the elder child of Margaret Mary WOOD and Richard SHAKESHAFT, married Alberta GLOGALL in 1893 and settled in Topeka, Kansas, USA. They had two daughters. The first, Margaret, married Ray MALCOLM of Minneapolis, whose own daughter, also Margaret (born 1920) married John SHEPPARD in 1944.The second daughter, Beatrice did not marry.

8(b). Richard (born c.1870) married Louisa HORNE. They had a son, Richard, also born in Topeka who married Louisa HORNE. Their three children Gwendolen, Jack and Arthur (born 1895 to 1900) moved to California. Only Arthur married and had two children, Richard (1921) and Jerry (1925).

8(c). John Samuel "Jack" WILLIAMS was born about 1860 . He married Gertrude MACDONALD (from Ireland). When Jack retired as a railway engineer he and "Gertie" settled in Dinard, Brittany, in France which, at that time, had a large British community. Upon their arrival at Dinard - just across the "mouth" of the River Rance from St.Malo - they naturally

281 made contact with their "niece", my mother Barbara (nee ROBINSON) and met members of the INSLEY family.

They were both well over 70-years old when World War II broke out. In June 1940 when the INSLEYs and other British families living in St.Malo fled to England they remained in Dinard. They believed that as they were citizens of the U.S.A. and were, therefore, "neutrals" they would be safe. (Jack was an American citizen, although his wife had been born in Ireland). For a while they continued their quiet life but in 1942, possibly after "Pearl Harbour", they decided to try to leave France, travelling first to Paris and then perhaps intending to travel via Switzerland. They reached Paris, but Jack was then taken ill and Jack died in Paris. Gertie was given shelter by some French nuns and lived in their convent until hostilities ceased in May 1945. Her cousin, by marriage, Margaret Isabel WOOD (BEAVEN) went to Paris to fetch her and to help her to return to her daughter, Beatrice Louise, who lived in Boston, USA. "Beattie", whom I met when I visited the U.S.A. in 1949, had been a pupil at Cre MICKLEBURGH's school in Oswestry and had been in Belgium at the outbreak of the First World War. For many years she ran a large hostel for international students in Boston. She did not marry. 8(d). Emily Beatrice "Bea" (18631944) did not marry. She had had experience in the Boarding House of Queen's College, London, when in 1893 her cousin Lucretia "Cre" MICKLEBURGH decided to open her school at Rilston in Oswestry, Salop and asked her to join her in this work in partnership with Cre's sister, Rose. The three took their full share in all of the anxieties, successes, griefs and happiness that followed. Bea, known to the early scholars as "Miss Willy" taught music in the early days. The school moved to Bellan House in 1900 and when in 1909 Cre was invited to be the new Head Mistress of the Oswestry Girls High School, the Preparatory School was retained as a private school under the name of "Bellan House School" with Bea as the new Principal. At that time there was a field immediately adjacent to Bellan House School and it became known that this was to be offered as a building site for housing development. Whilst visiting a Shrewsbury nursing home, Bea happened to meet a lady resident with whom she became very friendly. She turned out to be the sister of Mr.Jones, of Barmouth, who was the owner of the field. The outcome of their friendship was that Mr.Jones agreed to offer the field to the town council, who agreed to buy it, and it was laid out as public gardens and park, which were officially opened in June 1910.

In later years she was to be succeeded by her cousin Marion "May" MORRELL. Upon her retirement, Bea was to make her home with her cousin Cre at Bryn Meirion, Llangollen, where she lived until her death in 1944. She is buried in the same grave as her cousins Rose and Cre MICKLEBURGH and the inscription which is engraved on the headstone is given in the story of Cre (see 8(i) below).

8(e). Thomas Barlow (18691929) , but widely known to family and friends as "T.B.", was the first of the children of Brittain Dawes and Isabella. He originally had hopes of a medical career but, as the eldest son, it fell to him to try to deal with the virtual bankruptcy in which his father had left his family. Relying upon his Natural Sciences degree "T.B." took a lectureship in Agricultural Chemistry and two years later was to become the first "Reader". His election to the Agriculture professorship in the Drapers Chair at Cambridge University in 1907 led to widespread recognition for his research and scientific work as well as for his writing and lecturing. T.B.'s sister, Bea, and his cousins Cre and Rose MICKLEBURGH, were at that time

282 running their very successful school at Oswestry in Shropshire and the story of that school records that in 1909 these three ladies went to Cambridge to attend the official opening of the new School of Agriculture by the Duke of Devonshire.

The financial problems and the obligations which T.B. accepted in his early days were to have a profound effect upon his life. He helped his brother, Bill, financially through veterinary college and they both later helped their younger brother, Charles, through medical college. These financial problems were the main reason for his postponing marriage until he was 45-years old, when he married Margaret Isabel BEAVEN, who was 15-years his junior. Margaret was the second daughter of Dr.Edwin S.BEAVEN, and the grand-daughter of a farmer near Warminster, and had obtained an Honours in Natural Science Tripos at Cambridge about 1906, but as the university did not, at that time, grant degrees to women she had to pay ,10 to Dublin University to be allowed to write "B.A." after her name!

In view of T.B.'s later work it is interesting to hear that when Edwin's father died his mother gave up the farm and Edwin went to work for one of the many maltsters in the town. It was through this work that he became interested in improving the breeds of barley which were used in malting and also the barley grown for bread-making, which was at that time used by over 75% of farmers in England. He acquired a world-wide reputation and it was through this work that he and his daughter, Margaret Isabel, first met T.B.WOOD.

Edwin BEAVEN was a man of unconventional ideas. He thought that as Pitman's shorthand was so widely used that there was no point in his three daughters learning normal writing and so he kept them at home to learn shorthand. Eventually a schools Inspector found that they were missing and, after they had been tested, he was horrified at their lack of "normal" knowledge. They had a year at a local school and were then sent to stay with a German family in Bonn - in the hope that they would learn both English and German and would then be able to help him with the translation of scientific papers! Later Margaret went to Bath High School before going on to Cheltenham Ladies' College and Cambridge University.

Even during his professorship at Cambridge University, T.B. linked this work with his practical knowledge by farming the 300-acre Sidney farm at Saxlingham, as his father had before him. His younger brother, Charles, often said that one of the greatest contributions which "T.B" made to agriculture was the invention, or "development" of silage - the storage and use of fresh green grass rather than dried hay.

Among the letters which were sent to the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University following the death of "T.B." was one from the Minister of Agriculture & Fisheries who referred to the contribution which T.B. had made to the nation during the First World War. The start of the German U-boat campaign in February 1917 emphasised the need for the immediate introduction of an effective system of food rationing for all civilians and service personnel and for control of all aspects of agricultural production. "T.B." was considered to have made an outstanding contribution in these fields in formulating the food requirements of the nation, the constituent parts of a ration which would be physiologically satisfactory and with these facts to concert the means for their supply. His contributions also included his work on the Inter-Allied Scientific Food Commission in Paris and in Rome where his knowledge and influence were much respected.

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The letters and obituaries which were published at the time in "The Times", the "Observer", the "Agricultural Gazette", the "Cambridge University Reporter", the "Weekly Journal of Science" and other publications all make fascinating reading and reflect the outstanding contributions which he had made in various fields, for which he was awarded the C.B.E. and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society.

"T.B." and Margaret had four children. Margaret Anne (born 1915), Thomas Beaven (1917), Susan Elizabeth (1919) and Joanna Jane (1920). When Thomas Barlow died at the age of 60 his University students arranged for a stained glass window to be erected in his memory in Saxlingham Church, Norfolk. His ashes, together with those of his wife who died in 1974, were buried below the chancel step in St.Margaret's Church, Saxlingham, where a brass plate has been placed in their memory. T.B.'s daughter, Susan, recalls that after her father's death her "Uncle Bodkin" gave much support to her mother in his capacity as one of her father's executors.

8(f). William Albert (Bill)(18711944) had a career as a Veterinary Surgeon as a regular officer in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. I have already mentioned the financial help which he was given after his father's death by his elder brother, "T.B", in assisting with the cost of his time at college. "T.B." and Bill were later also to help their younger brother, Charles, with the cost of his medical training. Bill spent most of his career in India but in 1903, when the "Mad Mullah" rose up against the British rule in Somaliland, Bill was one of the Indian Army which was sent by the government to quell the troubles in that country. His nephew, Roger, remembers as a child, being told that whilst in Africa, his uncle Bill was severely gored by a lion and, fearing sepsis in his wounds, he was immersed for several days in a solution of potassium permanganate. Roger remembers imagining his uncle sitting in a cauldron (like the ones in which missionaries were pictured being boiled alive by wild African tribesmen)! However, Bill's daughter, Peg, has no recollection of her father ever having signs of such wounds. She told me that her father was always full of fun! Upon such "recollections" are "family stories" built!

During the First World War, Bill served in Mesopotamia, with the sad task of requisitioning horses which were then sent into battle to haul the large guns into position, frequently being killed or injured in doing so. Whilst on leave in England after the War he met, and later married, Henrietta "Hettie" MARKS. He also served in Ireland and ended his career with the rank of Brigadier General, thus retiring with the substantive rank of Colonel.

Whilst serving in India, Bill had his own horse and was a great sportsman and played polo for the Indian Army. One of the spectacular trophies which he won was an enormous silver cup which was presented to him when he won the Punjab Army Steeplechase. Sadly this cup was later to be stolen from his son's house after his death.

Bill was awarded the C.B.E. and was made an honorary M.A. of Caius College Cambridge after his retirement, where he lectured in Animal Husbandry and also worked at the Veterinary Research Laboratory, which had been started by his brother, T.B.WOOD.

When Bill had to retire from Cambridge University at the age of 65, he moved his family to Ely and started a small animal practice. Within a couple of years he bought a practice in Hythe, Kent, but this collapsed in 1940 after the fall of France. For a while he and his family lived in

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Hampstead, whilst he ran a research laboratory in Finchley Road, London. They lived through the bombing of London, where the labs. were bombed and before they were moved to Pakenham in Suffolk. Bill died on 8th.May 1944, a month before D-Day.

He and Henrietta had three children. Felicia Frankie (1920), William Harry Brittain (1923-1996) and Margaret Martha "Peg" who was born in 1925.

8(g). Charles Herbert (18741947) was helped to qualify as a medical doctor by his two brothers who paid his medical college fees. He started practice in an asylum and whilst there met Margaret WOOD (Not previously related). She was the daughter of an accountant working for Vickers Armstrong and was herself working in the administration department of the asylum. Years earlier Margaret's father had caught smallpox and had been sent to one of the old hulks, which were then moored in the river Thames for use as isolation wards. His wife insisted on going to the hulk as well to nurse him, in spite of the fact that she was at that time breast-feeding her fourth daughter. Her daughter, Ruth, also caught smallpox, but only very mildly, and years later only had a small scar on the side of her nose to show for it.

After Charles and Margaret were married in 1909 they moved to Langley, Bucks where Charles had a medical practice. They had two daughters and three sons. Isabel Jane (1910), Mary Margaret (1913), Thomas Brittain, known as "Dick", (1914), William Herbert, known as "Bill", (1918) whilst the youngest of the five children was Charles Roger (1919). Charles died in 1947.

8(h). "The Boss's" only daughter, Isabel Sarah (1875c.1956) known as "Belle" did not marry. She provided a home for her mother during the last years of her life when they lived together at Saxlingham and, in her turn, Belle spent the final years of her life at Llangollen living with her cousin "Cre" MICKLEBURGH.(see 8(i) below).

8(i). Lucretia Alice "Cre" (18711965) was born at Montgomery. She was christened after her great grandmother, Lucretia COZENS, (who has been mentioned in 7(f) when referring to Alice Ellen WOOD) and proved to be an outstanding woman despite the fact that she did not marry and at a time when few unmarried women received widespread recognition in their own right. After being one of the early women students at London University she decided in 1893 to start her own girl's school in Oswestry in partnership with her sister Rose and her cousin Emily Beatrice "Bea" WILLIAMS. The school was started at "Rilston" in Victoria Road as a school for day girls and boarders. At first Cre taught Scripture and History, whilst her mother taught Needlework. Rose taught French and German and Bea taught Music. On 1st.January 1900 the school, with its 65 pupils, moved to Bellan House in Church Street. Within a couple of years space became short and the stables and horse boxes were rebuilt and became the "Resi", short for "The Residency". Any girl who was heard calling The Residency "the stables" was fined a halfpenny!

One of the most exciting days was when Miss Mickleburgh announced that the School was to play hockey. Although played by a small number of men, few of the girls at school had heard of the game and none had ever played this game, which was the first team game to be introduced into the school. The girls played with ash sticks which cost fourpence each. They became so

285 enthusiastic that Miss Mickleburgh arranged for them to use the ground of the Oswestry Mens' Club each Wednesday afternoon. When Cre's brother, William, was home from the South African War he helped by coaching the girls in playing hockey. The first hockey match was played against Rosneath School, Wrexham and great excitement was caused when those girls came wearing "gymnasium costumes", which were regarded as very daring modern garments. After the match, when the Wrexham girls were seen in the Broad Walk they were "mobbed" by the Grammar School boys and Miss Mickleburgh held the gate closed whilst the girls got away!

In 1908 the Minister for Education was very keen that good private schools should form the foundations and nucleus for new County Council Grammar or High Schools. By this time Miss Mickleburgh's school was such a success that the local Council sought her advice in setting up the Oswestry Girls High School and then invited her to be the first Head Mistress when it opened in 1912. At that time the published curriculum included, not only the "usual" subjects such as French, German, Latin and Greek but also "Atomic Theory". At the same time Cre's cousin, Bea WILLIAMS, took over the junior school as a private school under the name of Bellan House Preparatory School, which also provided boarding accommodation for those girls at the High School who needed it and in due course she was to be followed by Marion "May" MORRELL, Cre's niece. (See the ROBISO FAMILY Story ).

In the early days Cre was a strong supporter of the Suffragette movement. She was one of the early women Justices of the Peace, the Founder President of the Oswestry Arts Club and was much respected in the area. When she retired in 1931, 38-years after opening her school at "Rilston", Cre moved to live in Llangollen in Denbighshire, where she was one of the original founders of the International Eisteddfod.

I have fond clear memories of Auntie Cre in the 1940s. A tall woman who wore spectacles and had a hearing aid. At that time her hair had turned white but when her ex-pupils decided in 1958 to produce the Story of Bellan House School and the Oswestry Girl's High School - which was the story of Cre's lifetime in education - the commemoration booklet includes other photographs of her in her earlier years, a tall imposing woman with dark hair, which was parted in the middle. To some of her pupils she must have appeared "strict" but to me, as a child and teenager, she was always very kindly and interested in what I was doing at school. At that time I was not told anything about her own family background and, in retrospect I am sad that after leaving school and training to become a Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Land Agent that I do not recollect writing to her to tell her when I had qualified. She would have been interested as I have discovered many years later that her father and her grandfather were both Land Agents and had their own practice in Welshpool, just over the border in Wales.

After the deaths of her sister, Rose, and her cousin, Bea WILLIAMS, Cre moved back to live in Oswestry, close to her cousins, May and Dolly MORRELL. She died there in her 95th. year in 1965. It is an indication of the enormous respect in which she was still held - 34-years after her retirement - that her friends and ex-pupils collected a substantial sum of money in her memory which was given for the restoration of the parish church tower. The memorial in the church reads "Lucretia Alice Mickleburgh, Founder & 1st.Head Mistress of Bellan House School and Oswestry High School for Girls. From the top of this Tower, restored by the gift of her friends, these buildings may be seen. Her work lives in those whose footsteps she guided".

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It was appropriate that Cre should be buried in Oswestry Cemetery in the same grave as her sister, Rose Isabel, and her cousin, Emily Beatrice WILLIAMS, where the inscription on the gravestone has been described as "a family historian's dream" in view of the detail which is recorded of their teaching careers. The inscription concludes with - "In thought - Faith", "In deed - Courage" and "In life - Service".

8(j). Rose Isabel (18721939) spent much of her life in the shadow of her elder sister but, as we have seen above, she made an important contribution to her sister's school where she taught French and German. The support which Rose gave did not pass unnoticed by the community and the two sisters made a memorable "team". She was one of the first women to run a "Girl Guides" company in the county. Her company grew to over 100 guides and Rose was to become the County Commissioner of the Shropshire Girl Guides. She was also the founder of the Oswestry Arts Club.

8(k). William Montgomery (18741940) was the first son. Recollections of stories in the family are that William squandered, gambled or spent his father's money, leaving his father virtually penniless and as a result he left the country and emigrated to South Africa. He had been attracted to South Africa during his military service there during the South African War (1899-1902) and after he married Frances DAVIES they moved to Durban in Natal and had a son Montgomery who married Nora HURD of Durban and had four children David (1938) who married Sue HENNESEY, Miles (1943) and Rory and Peter.

8(l). The fourth child, Charles George (18751920) later moved to Seattle, USA.

8(m). Robert Abbott (18751901) was the first of the four children of Mary Elizabeth WOOD and Robert Spencer CARPENTER. I know nothing about Robert except that he was buried in Bombay, India, when he was only 25-years old.

8(n). The story of Spencer Cecil, (18771959) has partly been told to me by Susan OLDHAM nee WOOD, who knew him as "Uncle Spencer" and to her recollections have been added the information which has been passed on to me by Alan Lloyd Jones.

Born in London when his father was a master at University College School, Spencer attended that school and then, following his father's example, went on to Caius College, Cambridge. (BA 1899 and MA 1907). He was ordained Priest in 1903 whilst a Curate at St.Paul's, Newington (1902-04). After 2-years as sub-Warden at Queen's College, Birmingham he was appointed Vice-Principal at the Clergy Training School, Cambridge (1906-9) and Chaplain of Jesus College (1907-8).

In 1908 Spencer married Silvia Gertrude DUNCAN-JONES, the sister of The Very Revd.Arthur DUNCAN-JONES, who was later the Dean of Chichester.

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After Spencer's marriage he was appointed Curate at St.Luke's, Chesterton, (1917-22) while, at the same time being the Dean of Selwyn College (1919-22). Whilst there he gained his Bachelor of Divinity in 1919 and later his Doctorate in 1934.

It was in 1919 that Silvia had a daughter who died at, or very soon after, birth. They immediately adopted Veronica and Sylvia returned home with this baby. For many years it was not known that Veronica was an adopted child and friends frequently remarked that she so resembled her father!

In 1922 he went on to St.Peter's, Bolton, where he was the Rural Dean, before being appointed an Honorary Canon of Manchester Cathedral (1929-31). He also became Professor of Theology at Queen's College.

From 1930-1935 Spencer was Master of the Temple in London and Susan remembers one occasion visiting her uncle and aunt there. She was lying in bed listening to the organ and singing from the Temple Church, mixed with the hooting of the river traffic on the River Thames in a "pea-soup" fog. On another occasion Susan accompanied Veronica to a wonderful party at Lambeth Palace given by Bishop Winnington Ingram, then Bishop of London, for all the clergy children in his Diocese. "A slap up turkey meal with two bands to dance to!" It was during this period that Spencer was first appointed as the Chaplain to King George V (1929-35).

For many years Spencer promoted the cause of the League of Nations and later the United Nations and in 1922 caused some controversy by joining the Labour Party when he tried to stand for election to a Borough Council, before it was realised that the rules of the Church of England barred clergymen from being candidates. Thereafter he took no part in local politics. He wrote many books, pamphlets and articles, notably a book "The Church in England". His daughter, Veronica recalled that "as both my parents lectured, wrote and reviewed books and had many interests they were usually in their respective studies and I saw little of them. At the age of twelve and a half I left for boarding school and then spent some months in Germany before going to London as a student".

After Spencer's appointment as Master of The Temple in 1930-35 there followed other prestigious appointments prior to his being made Dean of Exeter Cathedral in 1934 - a post which he held until 1950.

In 1938 Veronica was married in Exeter Cathedral. She was not quite 20-years old. Her cousin, Susan, has told me about that wonderful occasion with the service in Exeter Cathedral "with all the pomp and ceremony of a Royal Wedding". The occasion warranted a full page photograph on the front page of the Daily Mirror! Susan and her mother, the Mickleburgh cousins from Llangollen and other WOOD and ROBINSON cousins were present. Her husband was in the Army and, almost immediately, they left for the Middle East. Sadly, as with other war-time marriages, the marriage did not last and Veronica lived abroad for most of her life. She did not see her mother again. Sylvia died in 1941.

Spencer Cecil CARPENTER married Constance Emily Phyllis GABRIEL about two years later. He was the Dean throughout the War years, from 1939 to 1945, and in this capacity had responsibility for the maintenance of the building.

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In May 1942 Exeter Cathedral was damaged in a bombing raid over the city and was completely unusable albeit that the damage might have been much worse than was the case. By himself, Spencer continued to say daily Matins and Evensong in the damaged building in order to preserve the continuity of those "offices" which had been said daily in the Cathedral for hundreds of years past. As the Dean he later had major responsibilities for dealing with the restoration work following this damage.

He was also the chairman of the Friends of the Cathedral and was a leading spirit in raising and administering the restoration fund, which he had inaugurated.

After his retirement Spencer made his home at Ford House, Broadclyst. He died in 1959 and was buried at the Cathedral. His second wife Phyllis survived him by at least another 12-years.

8(o and p). Little is known about the two younger sisters Mary Winifred CARPETER (18791960) and Christian Olive (1883) apart from the fact that the younger daughter obtained her L.R.A.M. degree.

8(q). Dorothy Ellen Cecil (18771944) was the eldest of the last family of this generation of WOODs - the children of William Cecil and Ellen Sophia BODKIN. With the different branches of the family keeping in touch with each other this branch were known as the "Cecil WOODs". Much of the personal recollections which I have been able to discover about the four "Cecil" children - two daughters and two sons - has come from Susan OLDHAM nee WOOD, but again this has been considerably amplified by Alan Lloyd Jones. Dorothy Ellen Cecil (1877-1944) was to marry William Gwyther CHARLES (born 1880). He served as an officer in the Essex Regiment. He first appears as a Second Lieutenant in the Army List for 1900. He served in the South African War (1901-02) being involved in the Orange River Colony where he gained the Queen's Medal with five clasps. During the First World War he served in the British Expeditionary Force for the first two years and then in France as a general staff officer. He gained the Companion of the Order of St.Michael and St.George Medal, Distinguished Service Order and the Legion of Honour medal. He was mentioned in despatches six times between 1916 and 1919. He died in the Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital in London in 1925.

In the same way that Dorothy's parents had included the name "Cecil" for each of their children, so Dorothy and William included the name "Gwyther" in the names of each of their five children, Brian Cecil Gwyther (1908-1939) who married Elizabeth Mary SHARPE in 1937; Thomas Leslie Gwyther (1909), a Colonel who married Elizabeth STOWE in 1935 and who had two sons Michael and David (born in 1938 and 1939); William Gwyther (born in 1913 and who died in India in 1938); and twin daughters Ruth Dorothy Gwyther and Nancy Elizabeth Gwyther who were born in 1918.

After her husband's death Dorothy moved to Bournemouth and eventually moved to "Seaborne Nursing Home" in Southbourne where she died in 1944.

8(r). Marjorie Mary Cecil "Madge" was born in 1879 . She did not marry and little is now known about her life apart from the fact that we know she kept house for her brother Bodkin both whilst

290 he was in Jamaica and after he had retired back to England in 1938. After her brother's death she moved to Bexhill-on-Sea, where she was living in 1962, at the time that she made her will.

8(s). The eldest son was Ravenshaw William Bodkin Cecil (18821945) , and Peg (Margaret Martha) GWATKIN-WILLIAMS, nee WOOD, has recollections as a child of her distant cousin, "Bodkin", whom she and her sister and brother knew as "Uncle OOjah".

Bodkin was educated at Felsted School and then went to Caius College, Cambridge (BA 1903, MA 1914). After obtaining his BA Bodkin joined the Indian Civil Service in 1905 as Deputy Director of Agriculture at Pusa and then in Madras in 1906. He was appointed the Principal of the Agricultural College, and Superintendent of the Central Farm, at Coimbatore in November 1908. In 1919 he was the Acting Director of Agriculture at Madras. Whilst in the Indian Civil Service he was sent on "foreign service" as a cotton expert with the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation in Tanganyika from 1922 to 1926, when he retired from the Indian Civil Service.

His cousin, Susan OLDHAM, however, remembers him as "Uncle Bodkin" and recounts that her father, T.B.WOOD, who was then Professor of Agriculture at Cambridge University, went with his wife, Margaret, in the Spring of 1929 to visit "Uncle Bodkin" at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad where, from 1927 to 1938, Bodkin was Professor and Head of the Department of Agriculture. Later that Summer "Uncle Bodkin" made a return visit to Cambridge where a large outdoor reception was arranged for him in the garden. Susan remembers well that reception, as a sudden Summer storm with thunder and a deluge of rain occurred, which sent everybody running for the house and when her younger sister, Jane, would not be comforted with the usual "It's only God moving the furniture in Heaven!". During the time that Bodkin lived in Trinidad his nieces remember that he used to return to England every five years or so and, as a 50-year old bachelor uncle, was a glamorous figure. He brought cine films which he had taken, (a great novelty in those days) to show to his family, and also brought tropical fruit with him back to England (which were then not known here). He used to hire a car to take the children for outings - once again a special "treat" in those days. His unmarried sister, Marjorie "Madge" (b.1879), kept house for him in Trinidad and also, after his retirement, back here in England.

Bodkin retired to Woodbridge in Suffolk just before the Second World War, and was one of "Dad's Army" who served in the Home Guard after the "fall" of France. He was also asked to organise the distribution of milk in North East London and East Anglia on a local basis so as to reduce the use of transport, which would have occurred in any "centralised" system of distribution. After his cousin, T.B.WOOD, died he gave much support to his widow in his capacity as one of the executors.

Bodkin and his sister, Madge, later moved to Sidmouth in Devon, where Bodkin died in 1945.

8(t). Denis Embrey Cecil (born 1884) was a schoolmaster and married Marion POWELL in 1915. Marion died in 1915 and was buried in Basingstoke, Hants. Denis appears not to have remarried. In 1962 he was living at Claremont Road, Seaford in Sussex. He moved to St.Peter's Road and died there in 1966.

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9th Generation 9(a). Margaret Anne (Anne) (born 1914) was the eldest of the four children of Professor T.B.WOOD and his wife Margaret. After reading English at Reading university Anne trained as a teacher. For a while she was in lodgings at Caversham with Mr.& Mrs. Young, whilst she was teaching at the evacuated section of Putney High School. Whilst there she met their son, James Ernest Scott "Scott", who was at that time in the Army, during his occasional leaves when he came home to see his parents.

Scott had been Head Boy at Dulwich College and a leading sportsman. He gained an exhibition to St.Catherine's College, Cambridge, where he was awarded his "Rugby Blue". He went back to teach maths and coach rugby at Dulwich College, until he was called up to serve in the Warwickshire Regiment, and later took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Scott was very seriously wounded when a mortar shell burst in front of him as he was returning to a trench and he was picked up as for dead. After days of blood transfusions, when he seemed not to be improving, he asked the doctors for a "pint". Thinking that this might be his last request, it was granted - and his recovery began! He was returned to hospital at Stockton-on-Tees and was later awarded the Military Cross.

After the end of the War, Scott returned to teach at Dulwich College and he and Anne were married in 1946 and they had two children Jennifer Mary (born 1948) and John Richard (born 1949). In 1954 the family moved to Canterbury where Scott taught for two years and where Anne taught at the Archbishop's School. They later moved on to Sandwich, where he again coached rugby and ran the "Corps". Scott's war injuries began to cause major problems in early 1961 and he died later that year. Anne moved to Sheffield to be nearer to her daughter, Jenny, and her son-in-law, Max, and she died there in 1997.

9(b). Thomas Beaven "Bertie" (19171944) , followed his father's interests by taking a Natural Science Tripos and then an Agricultural Diploma at Cambridge. When war broke out in 1939 he was at first encouraged to continue his training in agricultural research but was then called up. After a spell in the Accounts Corps he was transferred to the Reconnaissance Corps. which he loved. Involved in the early landings in France in June 1944 he was often operating beyond the "front line" and behind the German lines. He was killed during that early phase of the Allied invasion of Normandy. One foggy morning he was on a "recce", to search out the German troops, when the fog suddenly lifted and he was shot dead by a single rifle bullet.

9(c). Susan Elizabeth (born 1919) took a Degree in Maths at Cambridge. Whilst teaching in Manchester she met Harry OLDHAM who was then at Lampeter College training for the Anglican Ministry. Harry had originally trained as an organ builder, but had been called up into the Royal Army Medical Corps and spent the early part of the War in military hospitals in this country and later in India and then also in Hong Kong. On his way home Harry met David Rosenthall, who was then acting Archdeacon in charge of the cathedral, and when he later took a living at Atherton, near Manchester, he offered Harry a curacy in 1948. In 1952 Susan and Harry were married and the following year Harry and Susan moved to Rochdale when Harry was appointed to be the Vicar of St.Albans, an inner city parish, much of which was demolished for redevelopment in 1959. In 1959 they moved to Goffs Oak, in Hertfordshire on the outskirts of

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London but just in the Diocese of St.Albans, where Harry remained until his retirement in 1979. The Church and vicarage which, in 1959, stood in a green belt is now surrounded by a still- expanding residential area.

After their retirement Harry and Susan moved to Warminster, where for a number of years they had had a cottage. For ten years after his "retirement" Harry was given charge of their small village church just outside Warminster.

The Reverend Harry OLDHAM and Susan have two children, Jane Mary (born 1954) and Charles Thomas (born 1957). Charles and his partner, Julie ADAM, had a daughter, Annie Katrine ALDAM,(born 1992). Charles and Julie separated and in 1966 Charles married Ruth KNAGG and they have a daughter Jess (born 1997). There is still a close bond between Annie and her parents, and little Jess. Charles and Ruth had a second daughter, Stella, in 2000.

9(d). Joanna Jane (born 1920) spent a year or so during the early part of the war working in a Red Cross convalescent home for Army Casualties and then trained at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, later working in the Royal Free Hospital in London. After the war she decided to see a bit of the World and went to New Zealand and there met Douglas EDMISTON at the local church in Wellington, where she had joined the choir, and where he was the curate. Douglas EDMISTON, had been an officer in the New Zealand Navy during the 1939-1945 War. Like her

296 sister, Susan, Jane was to marry an Anglican priest. She and Douglas married whilst he was still in Wellington and their last parish was at All Saints, Palmerston North where Douglas was made a Canon. After his retirement Douglas learnt the Maori language and now helps at their church and in prison and has recently established a house for discharged prisoners, which is almost next-door to their own home.

Jane and Douglas have two children, Robert Douglas and Susan, both of whom are now married. Joanna and Douglas and their two children and five grandchildren all now live in New Zealand.

9(e). Felicia Frankie (born 1920) the eldest child of Bill (William Albert) and Henrietta, married Leslie BRISTOW-JONES in 1945. After serving in the Army, Leslie became involved in film- making. He and Frankie were later divorced but they had three children Susan (born 1946), Jennifer (born 1949) and William (born 1952).

9(f). William "Bill" Harry Brittain (19231996) joined the RAF at the beginning of the 1939-45 War and qualified as a pilot. In 1947 he married Ellen RUTHERFORD, whom he had met whilst she was in the WAAF in the "Met Office". After serving in the RAF, Bill was determined to keep flying and he qualified as a civilian pilot and joined BEA (British European Airways) before going on to fly for Malayan Airways. He then started his own company, "Air Ferry" but gave that up when he found that he was becoming "desk-bound", whereas his abiding wish was to fly, and he then joined Dan Air. Bill and Ellen had three children Jennifer Jane (1951), William Rutherford (1953) and Ellen Margaret "Lulu" (1955). Bill died in April 1996.

9(g). Margaret Martha "Peg" (born 1925) was 14 at the outbreak of the Second World War. For some years Peg worked as her father's secretary both in London and afterwards in Pakenham. She joined the Army, the A.T.S., at the age of 18 and then served for 8-years, and was in Egypt for her 21st. birthday. She married John Fenwick Lovell GWATKIN-WILLIAMS in Singapore in 1953. John started work with Bentley Motors but joined the Army in 1939 and was later to rise to Brigadier. After the War he joined the Civil Service and served in both Singapore and Burma. He then transferred to the Overseas Corporation for whom he returned to serve for some years in Singapore. Peg and John had two children, John Brittain (born 1956) and Joanna Margaret (born 1961).

9(h). Isabel Jane ("Blossom" to her family!) (19101986 ) was the first of the five children of Charles Herbert and Margaret. Isabel married Sidney ALLEN an engineer officer in the Merchant Navy. Sidney was sunk twice during the Second World War. He then transferred to the Royal Navy and was sunk again! Isabel died in 1986. They had no children.

9(i). Mary Margaret (born 1913) married Frank TYSON about 1937. Frank, a Cambridge graduate, and incidentally a very good pianist, was a mathematician and was employed as one of those who worked out the stress factors on the wings of the new De Haviland "Comet" jet aeroplane

297 and was with that company until his retirement. Mary and Frank had two sons Charles Nicholas (1937) and Daniel Thomas (1944). Frank died about 1985.

9(j). Thomas Brittain, (born 1914) , and always known as "Dick", started work for a company processing bitumen. In 1938 he joined the Territorial Army but at the outbreak of the War he was transferred to the Royal Infantry and after "going through" Sandhurst was posted to the Wiltshire Regiment. Dick married Margaret Bertha JOHNSON in 1940. Dick was involved in the invasion of Normandy and was one of those whose transport was caught in the violent storms just after D-Day, and was only landed a week later. He told me "I was wounded at Maltot and was returned to the UK for the removal of bits and pieces"! Those, like me, who were spared any involvement in the "invasion" will never fully appreciate the horrors of those days. Dick and Margaret had four children : John (born 1943), Richard George and his twin brother Charles Jeremy who were born in 1944, and Judith Mary (born 1946). When Dick was eventually "demobbed" in 1946, with the rank of Captain, he returned to his company, where he rose to be the Managing Director, and where he remained until the company was taken over at the time of his retirement.

9(k). William Herbert "Bill" (born 1918) joined the RAF during the 1939-45 War when he served as an Aircraftman. He met a nurse, Pauline CORMICK, and they were married in 1946 and had three children. Charles Thomas (1948-1981); Jane Margaret (born 1951) and William Paul (1956). Bill was a charming man, who was able to "work wonders" with his hands and, although having no technical qualifications, was a skilled maintenance engineer. After having lived for many years in Slough, Bill and Pauline retired to Kilmington, Wilts, where Bill died in 1991.

9(l). Charles Roger , the youngest of the five children was born in 1920 and also went into medicine. He remembers his uncle Bill's advice to him when he was a medical student - "Spend as much time as you can in the post-mortem room. That's where you will learn your medicine!" In those days doctors relied upon their own observations to make a diagnosis rather than on laboratory tests and X-rays. Roger qualified at the London Hospital in 1942. He then served in the Royal Navy for three years. In 1943 Roger married Pamela Mary ABBEY-WILLIAMS and after completing his naval service and a short further spell of hospital training they moved to Hawkhurst in Kent where Roger had his own general practice for the next 38-years. They have two sons William Thornton (born 1943) and Stephen Roger (born 1946).

9(m). J.A.Veronica (b.1919) was the adopted daughter, and only child, of Spencer Cecil CARPENTER, who was to be the Dean of Exeter Cathedral, and his first wife Silvia DUNCAN- JONES. I have provided some details about Veronica in recalling the "story" of her father (see 8(n) above). She was married in 1938 in the Cathedral, to an Army officer, who had the unfortunate surname of CHICKEN, but her marriage did not last and she has since spent most of her life abroad. When writing in 1991 Veronica recalled that as there were no other "CARPENTER cousins" of her generation she really did not know her father's family. When her father, Spencer, died Veronica told me that her mother "searched out obscure members of my father's family to whom to leave all their possessions when she died some years after my father". It seems that Veronica was left nothing by her parents.

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9(n). Brian Cecil Gwyther (19081939) was the eldest of the five children of Dorothy Ellen Cecil WOOD and William Gwyther CHARLES. Again my knowledge about this family has come from Susan OLDHAM nee WOOD and also from Alan Lloyd Jones. Brian, who was a few years older than Susan and her own brother and two sisters, was staying with her family for a few weeks in the Summer and annoyed his cousins "because he gave himself airs", by joining his uncle and aunt rather than having meals with his cousins in the "nursery". One Sunday, when the Rector's son from Norfolk, Peter GREENING, came to stay with them Brian took himself off to the drawing room for tea with the adults who included some visiting university students. Peter said "Now we'll show him". There was a small box of chocolates and he took one of these and scooped out the soft centre and filled it with mustard. Having first removed all of the others he put it back in the box, which he then took into the drawing room, and approached Brian saying "There is one chocolate left, which we have kept for you". Peter then slowly took his leave, watching Brian cope with his mouthful of "chocolate"!

After growing up in Bournemouth, Brian worked as an Agricultural Officer in Nyasaland. He married Elizabeth SHARPE in 1937 but they did not have any children. Like his younger brother, "Billy", he died as the result of a motor car accident in 1939 during the last War.

9(o). Thomas Leslie Gwyther (19091974) joined the Army and, like his father, joined the Essex Regiment. He first appeared in the Army List as a Second Lieutenant in 1930. He married Elizabeth STOWE in 1935 and they had two sons; Michael (b.1938) and David (b.1939). By 1954 Thomas was a Lieutenant Colonel and retired as a Colonel, temporary Brigadier, in 1961. He held the CBE and DSO. Thomas and Elizabeth had two sons: David Morier Gwyther (b.1939) who retired as a Colonel in the Parachute Regiment in 1994; and Thomas Andrew Gwyther (b.1940).

Thomas died in 1974 at his home in Yateley, Hampshire.

9(p). William Gwyther "Billy" (b.1913) , the youngest son, died in India as a result of a motor car accident when only aged 25.

9(q and r). The twin daughters Ruth Dorothy Gwyther and ancy Elizabeth Gwyther were born in 1919 and, although she was a year younger, Susan OLDHAM (nee WOOD) remembers that she shared the same birthday as these two cousins. They both had long, thick, black hair which was the joy of their mother. During the last War one of them was nursing at Hammersmith Hospital and was severely wounded in an air-raid when a V2 rocket struck the hospital. The window, near which she was sitting, crashed onto her, cutting off one of her hands and severely injuring the other.

10th Generation 10(a). Jennifer Mary "Jenny" (1948) read English at Reading University where she met George Warner Max (Max) WESTBY who was reading Psychology and then went on to do his Ph.D. in

299 the study of electric fish. They were married in 1970 and moved to France when Max obtained a NATO grant to work at the French Research Centre. They have two children, both of whom were born in France, whilst Jenny and Max were both working in that country. Sarah Kate was born in 1975 and Claire Emilie was born in 1976. Jenny now runs a large Modern Languages Department at a school in Bradford whilst Max is lecturing in the Psychology Department of Sheffield University and is collaborating in the research into Parkinson's Disease. He is also a keen bee-keeper.

10(b). John Richard (1949) was only 12-years old when his father died. Old friends of his father, Scott, helped Anne with a loan in order that her son should be able to finish his schooling at Dulwich College. After obtaining his degree at Cambridge, John was involved for a time in medical research but then moved, at first on a temporary basis, to work for 12-years in Kenya carrying out research into diseases of cattle and whilst there obtained a Cambridge Ph.D. He is now at the Ministry of Agriculture Institute of Animal Health near Newbury, specialising in poultry.

10(c). Jane Mary (1954) married Peter SCHEUBER in 1977 and they have a child Verity Anne who was born in 1990.

10(d). Charles Thomas (1957) and Julie ADAM had a daughter, Annie Katrine (ALDAM) who was born in 1992. In 1995 Charles and Julie separated and the following year Charles married Ruth KNAGG. A daughter, Jess, was born in 1997 and she was followed by a second daughter, Stella in 2000. Annie maintains a close bond with her parents and with little Jess and Stella.

10(e). Robert "Bob" Douglas EDMISTO (1954) was born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. He married Beverley KIRKWOOD and they have two children, Kirsty and Helen.

10(f). Susan EDMISTO (1956) has married Mark Rex BELL-BOOTH. They have three children Rebecca Jane, Amy and James Rex. Their eldest child, Rebecca Jane, married William CASS at the end of 2000.

10(g). Susan , the first of the children of Frankie and Leslie BRISTOW-JONES, was born in 1946 . She married Michael HAWKESLEY in 1968 and they have a daughter, Nicola (1969) and a son, Philip (1972).

10(h). Jennifer (1949) was born in Klagenfurt in Austria and has a son, Kirston MAKNESS (born 1968), who married Maxine McKENZIE in 1993.

10(i). William (1952) , now a restorer of antique furniture, married Teresa HAKON in 1974. They have two daughters, Jessie (1985) and Harriet (1987).

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10(j). Jennifer Jane , born in Singapore in 1951 , was the eldest of the children of "Bill" and Ellen.

10(k). William Rutherford was also born in Singapore, in 1952.

10(l). Ellen Margaret "Lulu" was born in 1955 , again in Singapore.

10(m). John Brittain, (born 1956) the first child of Peg and John GWATKIN-WILLIAMS, was also born whilst her parents were in Singapore. John, now "in computers" married Deborah APSE in 1982.

10(n). Joanne Margaret (born 1961 in Winchester) married Ross James HIGSON in 1992, who is also in the computer business. They live in Sydney, Australia and have a daughter, Patricia Margaret born in 1996.

10(o). Charles icholas (born 1937) was the first of the two sons of Mary and Frank TYSON.

10(p). Daniel Thomas , the second son, was born in 1944 .

10(q). John (1943) , the eldest child of "Dick" and Margaret, is a solicitor in London and married Marianna LOW, of Cologne, and they have a son, Simon John Herbert (born 1981).

10(r). Richard George and his twin Charles Jeremy were born in 1944 . Richard, a farmer in Dorset, married Lesley McCALLUM and they had James Mark (1973) and Rachel Anne (1976). After their divorce in 1976 Richard married Sally DANIELS and they have a daughter, Jane (1983). Richard died in 1991.

10(s). Charles Jeremy (born 1944) is a solicitor with offices in Dorset. He married Penny GRACE and they have two children Benjamin Thomas (1972) and Katherine Elizabeth (1974). Richard and Penny were divorced in 1980. Richard and his partner, Sandra COX, have a son, Oliver George (1996).

10(t). Dick and Margaret's fourth child, Judith Mary (born 1946) married in 1975 to Andrew Peter WATSON, a "fanatical" gardener who works for Lloyds Bank, and they have two daughters Jessica Mary (1978) and Sarah Margaret (1983). Peter, made redundant by Lloyds Bank now works in his brother-in-law, Charles', firm of solicitors.

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10(u). Bill and Pauline's first child, Charles Thomas (1948) married Elizabeth Margaret MORSE in 1977 and they had a daughter, Hannah in 1980. Charles died the following year when only 33- years old.

10(v). Jane Margaret (born 1951) married Alan Mathieson BAIKIE in 1971 and they have three children, Elizabeth Jane (born 1979), Thomas Charles (born 1982) and Charlotte Helen (born 1986).

10(w). Bill and Pauline's third child was William Paul (born 1956) . In 1989 Paul married Shirley Elizabeth HIRST and they have two children, Alice Harriet (born 1988) and Jessie Rose (born 1990).

10(x). William Thornton, (1943) , the first son of Roger and Pam, spent three years in Australia teaching French, after graduating at Nottingham University, before joining the British Council and working in India, Norway, Brussels, Southern Sudan and Ghana. He married Angela KING and they have a son, Alister Roger Matthew (1970), who followed the family tradition by qualifying in medicine in 1994, and a daughter, Tessa Helen (1972) who qualified as a physiotherapist in 1995. After William's divorce in 1974 he married a Norwegian girl, Anna MOLKE-HANSEN in 1977. They had a daughter, Emily, (1979) and have adopted Rachel, who was born in 1981.

10(y). Stephen Roger (1946) did laboratory work in London before taking up teaching. After obtaining an Open University History of Art degree he now teaches children with learning difficulties. He married Hilary WAGHAM and they have two sons, Luke (1976) and Toby (1978).

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Thirteen RAVESHAW FAMILY

As is the case with so many other families where research is carried back before the 18th.century, recorded spellings of the surname are found to differ from those which were used in later generations.

In more recent times, we are descended from Margaret RAVESHAW (1773-1866) who married John WOOD, the squire of Grinshill, a small village about two-thirds of the way from Shrewsbury to Whitchurch.

Whilst Margaret and her six brothers and sisters spelt their surname in this manner the baptism of her father, Samuel, and those of his generation, was shown in the old parish registers as RANSHAW, while in the case of Samuel's grandfather, Robert, and earlier generations it was spelt RANSHALL.

During the 17th.century the family were living in the general area between Grinshill (the home of the WOOD family) and Tilstock, which is about 3-miles from Whitchurch. Margaret's parents, Samuel and Anne (NICKSON), moved from Clive to Uckington, some 5-miles or so to the East of Shrewsbury, about 1777, as her youngest brother, Robert, was baptised in Atcham church and her two small brothers were buried there.

1st Generation That I have researched! Randle RASHALL - The first member of this family, for whom I have traced a reference, would have been born about 1610 and was buried in Whitchurch in 1699. We know that Randle was still living at Tilstock Park when his eldest son, also Randle RANSHALL, died about 1697 (2-years before his father). The son's will refers to several legacies, including his elder son, Robert, and also other sons, Thomas, and John, "now dead", as well as to his daughters Ellen, the wife of Joseph COOKE, and Mary. The will required his two sons "to look after my father, Randle RANSHALL, to see that he wants for nothing". The first Randle died after his son at the old age of about 90-years, which would have been remarkable in those days. The elder Randle's wife was Elizabeth and they had three children Randle, Margaret and John.

2nd Generation 2(a). Randle RASHALL , the younger, was probably born about 1641 . His will, to which I have already referred, describes him as a "Yeoman, of Tilstock". His father was still living at Tilstock Hall but it is not known whether they were living at "Tilstock Hall" together. Randle's mother, Elizabeth, may have come from Wrenbury, about 5-miles to the North East of Whitchurch, or it may have been his father who came from there, as Randle and his sister, Margaret, and brother, John, seem to have been baptised there and Margaret was buried there when she was still a child. Perhaps the marriage and baptisms will be traced in due course.

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The younger Randle married Anne, who was not mentioned in her husband's will and probably, therefore, died before 1697, and they had five children : Robert (1668-1743); Ellen who married Joseph COOKE; John, who died before his father but who must have married as his father's will also mentions a legacy "for his grand-daughter, Elizabeth, the daughter of his late son John"; Thomas (born 1671) who married Sarah MORT in 1698 in Whitchurch; and Mary.

3rd Generation 3(a) Robert (16681743) was described as "of Sansaw" in the parish of Grinshill, when he married Martha NEWTON in Whitchurch in 1693. Martha, then 24-years old, had been born in Battlefield - a village about 4-miles to the South of the villages of Grinshill and Clive. Sansaw became the family home for three generations as Robert, his son Thomas, and his grandchildren were all recorded in the registers of that parish as being "of Sansaw". Robert and Martha only had one child, Thomas (1695-1768). Martha was buried in the cemetery at Clive in 1708, and her husband, Robert, survived her by another 35-years when he too was buried there.

4th Generation 4(a). Thomas (16951768) was the only child of Robert and Martha. As with his father, he was referred to as "of Sansaw". When he was 25-years old Thomas married Margaret FARRINGTON in Shrewsbury. Margaret, who was the same age as her husband, came from the village of Fitz. They had three sons, although William died before his third birthday, and five daughters :- Martha (1722-1777); Thomas (1724-1781); Mary (1725-1768); William (1727- 1730); Anne (1729-1797); Bridgett (1731-1767); Samuel (1733-1791) from whom we are descended, and Elizabeth (born 1736). Margaret was buried at Clive six years after her husband.

5th Generation 5(a). Martha RASHAW (17221777) was baptised at Clive and was the first of those whose surname was entered as RANSHAW. It was not until the baptisms of the children of her two surviving brothers that the use of RAVENSHAW seems to have become established. In 1748 she married Edward NICHOLLS, who was 16-years her senior, and they had two children :- Robert (1759-1834) who was to marry Mary JONES of Atcham, and Thomas (1765-1809) who married Margaret MINOR who was from Grinshill.

5(b). Thomas (17241781) was later described as "of Ash" and his first son, John, was to be identified as "of Lea Hall, Ash", about 2-miles from Grinshill. It seems likely that this too was Thomas' home. Thomas married Jane MADDOCKS, of Llanbodworth, Flintshire. They had two sons, John (1759-1830), who married Ann ROE, and Samuel (born 1762). Thomas' wife, Jane, died in 1767 when she was only 39-years old. Perhaps she had been ill and that was why they had no other children.

5(c). Mary (17251768) did not marry until she was nearly 40-years old. In 1765, in Shrewsbury, she married Samuel GRINDLEY of Hanmer, near Ellesmere, but they had no children.

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5(d). William , Thomas and Margaret's second son, died in 1730 before his third birthday.

5(e). Anne (17291797) married William MINOR when she was 30. Anne's elder sister, had married Edward NICHOLLS and their young son, Thomas NICHOLLS, (born 1765), was to marry his cousin, Margaret MINOR who was born in 1766.

5(f). Bridgett was baptised in Clive in 1731 but little more of her is known after 1767.

5(g). Samuel (17331791) appears to have occupied Sansaw after his father's death in 1768, but before that he married Anne NICKSON in 1767, who came from Halghton near Ellesmere, and it is from Samuel and Anne that we are also descended. Their first five children were baptised at Clive, but the family must then have moved to Atcham where two of their young children were to be buried.

Atcham is a place whose name frequently causes confusion to visitors, because here is Attingham Park, which some local people refer to as Atcham Park. The Park, with its fine Hall, has retained the longer name whilst the village has adopted the shorter form, which is a corruption of Attingham. The village is distinguished by having two bridges, side by side, across the wide fast-flowing River Severn. The original bridge, with its seven graceful arches, was built over 200-years ago by John Gwynne of Shrewsbury, whilst the newer concrete one was only built about 70-years ago.

Samuel and Anne must have moved from Clive to Uckington Hall, a substantial house in the parish of Atcham about 1777. The house is about 2-miles to the East of the village and just on the Northern side of the old turnpike from Shrewsbury to Coventry, which passes along the old Roman road known as "Watling Street". The family would have attended the parish church at Atcham as their youngest son, Robert, was baptised there in 1778 and both he and his 8-year old brother, Samuel, were buried there during the next few years.

Atcham (and Attingham) and Uckington are also close to the old Roman city of Wroxeter, with which the WOOD family had close connections. The story of the marriage of Samuel and Anne's daughter, Margaret, to John WOOD in 1794 and the connection between Thomas, their eldest son, with the old Roman city of Wroxeter is told in the story of the WOOD FAMILY.

Samuel and Anne had six children, of whom the two youngest died when they were both young :- John (1769-1837); Ann (born 1771); Margaret (1773-1866); Thomas (born 1775); Samuel (1776-1785) and Robert (1778-1779).

5(h). Elizabeth , the youngest of the eight children of Thomas and Margaret FARRINGTON, was born in 1736 and, at the age of 26, she married John MEREDITH at Westbury, about 8-miles from Atcham.

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6th Generation 6(a) and (b). Little is known about the two children of Martha and Edward NICHOLLS. Robert (1759 1834) who was to marry Mary JONES, and his brother, Thomas , who married Margaret MINOR.

6(c). John (17591830) was the first of the two sons of Thomas and Jane MADDOCKS, who were born before Jane's early death. John married Ann ROE and they had six children :- Thomas (born 1785); Elizabeth (born 1787); Robert (born 1788); Margaret (born 1790); Sarah (born 1792) and John (1796-1876).

6(d). Samuel (born 1762) , of whom, at the moment I know nothing more.

6(e). Margaret MIOR (17661846) , the daughter of Anne and William MINOR was to marry Thomas NICHOLLS, the younger son of her mother's elder sister, Martha.

6(f). John RAVESHAW (17691837) was the first of the children of Samuel and Anne NICKSON and as they are our direct forebears it is, perhaps, not surprising that a few more personal details are known about John and his younger brothers and sisters, although such information is still very limited.

John, the eldest son, took over Uckington Hall from his parents and it was here, some five miles or so to the East of Shrewsbury, that he was to establish his reputation as a famous breeder of cattle and, as I have mentioned, an account of him is to be found in the "Gentleman's Magazine" of the time. In 1805 he married Ann MIERE. I still have to research whether John and Ann had a family.

Family history research can be an unending pastime (or should it be "pass-time"?) - especially if the research is extended widely as I am trying to do. Whilst I no longer have any idea how it came to be given to me, I do have one memento, or souvenir, of this family, which seems to confirm John's reputation as a breeder of cattle. In July 1820 the Shropshire General Agricultural Society presented a silver trophy "Cup" to "Mr.Ravenshaw" for the "Best Hereford Bull", which is also engraved "A Premium Value Five Guineas".

One of the "family stories" associated with John RAVENSHAW concerned an unusual meeting which he had with Princess Victoria, later to be Queen Victoria. This "family story", which was "passed down" to me was :-

"John was travelling in his carriage along the turnpike and when he came upon another carriage, which had broken down, he stopped to offer help. He discovered that the carriage was taking the Princess Victoria on her only visit to Shrewsbury and he immediately offered to take her there in his own carriage. His offer was accepted by the Princess and this episode was reported in the local press and has been told to later generations of the family."

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I have been able to trace a report of this in the weekly "Salopian Journal" which was published on 31st.October 1832 and a brief extract is as follows :-

"As the carriage, in which were their Royal Highnesses, was approaching the "Horse Shoes Inn" on Saturday (27th.October 1832) one of the leading horses stumbled and fell, the others drawing over him. Happily no accident occurred, and their Royal Highnesses were handed out of their own carriage by John RAVESHAW Esq. of Uckington, who happened to be present, and who had the honour of handing their Royal Highnesses into the carriage of Sir John Conroy, in which they immediately proceeded to Pitchfork Hall."

The Salopian Journal also reported upon the Royal visit where they were staying at Pitchfork Hall, the seat of the Earl of Liverpool, when they were escorted by a Troop of the South Salopian Yeomanry. The full story of this incident was reported in the Salopian Journal and reports were also given of their various other visits in the area. The Princess was accompanying her mother on this occasion. Victoria ascended the throne on the death of her uncle, King William IV, in June 1837.

The "family story" was fundamentally true - although it has been a little "embellished" over the years.

Having decided to include this item in this "story of the RAVENSHAW FAMILY" it may also be of interest to those who may trouble to read this in later years, to read also the article which immediately followed that report in the Salopian Journal. The following article tells the story of a marriage which had taken place on Saturday 15th.October, as follows :-

"The marriage of John Henshaw Walford Esq. and Miss Mary ickson, both of Wem, was celebrated at Ruyton of the Eleven Towns. The morning of the 15 inst. was ushered in by the ringing of bells, firing of cannon and other demonstrations of joy. A very fine ox, ornamented with laurels and ribbons, was placed upon a carriage and drawn through the town, accompanied by the tenantry, and principal inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood, with a band of music, flags and streamers. The ox was afterwards cut up and distributed to the neighbourhood poor with a quantity of bread and ale, and also two pounds worth of bread, the gift of a lady in Ruyton. There were races and other amusements in the course of the evening. From thirty to forty tenants and wellwishers of the family sat down to an excellent dinner provided by Mrs.Timmins, of the Powys Arms Inn, where the glass was sent merrily round to the health of the new married pair, their family and friends. And on Wednesday evening, a party of young ladies and gentlemen of the neighbourhood, assembled at Mrs.Lister's, of the Hill Farm, to tea, from whence they adjourned to Mr.Vaughan's of Ruyton Lodge, where the merry dance was kept up till a late hour the following morning."

What a different world it was in those days! Was the Mary NICKSON of this story related to Anne NICKSON, John RAVENSHAW's mother? However, back to our own forebears. Samuel and his son, John, lived with their families at Uckington for about 60-years and it must have been as a result of their occupation of this property that an area of rough gorse-covered land, about half a mile North of the house, was given the name "Ravenshaw's Gorse", which name is still used today and which is shown on the Ordnance Survey maps. Perhaps it was John, with his well-known herd, who tried without success to eradicate this area of gorse at the Northern edge of the farm.

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6(g). Ann (born 1771) was Samuel's elder daughter. She married a surgeon, Robert Pulford TAYLOR, of Wrexham, a few months before she was 21-years old. They had at least one child, Mary, as she married James WILKINS in 1828.

6(h). Margaret (17731866) was born in Clive and it seems that it was in 1777, when Margaret was only 4-years old, that her parents moved with their family from Clive to Atcham. When she was 21-years old Margaret was married at Atcham to John WOOD, of Hodnet and Grinshill. Her husband was a solicitor with a practice in Wellington and Shrewsbury and was the Lord of the Manor of Grinshill. Their story, and that of their seven children, is told as a part of the WOOD FAMILY Story.

6(i). Thomas (17751819) was farming at Chilton Farm in 1804 as there is a record he had a 14-year old apprentice who had died - probably as a result of an accident. In his will Thomas was referred to as being "of Adney (or Adeney)", and the will mentions his brother John of Uckington, his sister, Margaret WOOD, and Mary TAYLOR, who was his niece (the daughter of his sister Mary) and his mother, Anne. The omission of any reference to a wife and any children suggests that he did not marry.

6(j). Samuel , born in Clive in 1776 , died at Atcham when he was only 8-years old.

6(k). Robert, born in 1778 at Atcham, died before his second birthday.

6(l). Mary (born about 1780) was the last child, but little is at present known about her. There is a note that she married a Mr.Taylor but that may be an error as her elder sister, Ann, mentioned at 6(g), above married Robert P. TAYLOR.

7th Generation 7(a). Thomas, born 1785 in Whitchurch, was the first of the five children of John and Ann ROE. Apart from the fact that Thomas married a Miss HOLT nothing more is known about that couple, at present.

7(b)(d) and (e). Elizabeth (1786), Margaret (1790) and Sarah (1792), the three daughters of John RAVENSHAW and Ann ROE are also merely names on a family tree.

7(c). Robert (17881863) , the second son, married Mary BIRCH in Malpas in 1818 and they were to have five children : Ann (born 1820); John (born 1822); Robert (born 1825); Richard (born 1828) and Jane (born about 1838).

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7(f). John , the youngest child, was born in 1796 and married Ann HAMNETT. John was described as "of Ash Hall" and he and Ann had a large family including Thomas (1828-1916) of Lostford Manor who married Eliza Jane DEEM, daughter of William DEEM of Yarkhill, Hereford, whilst their fifth son was Henry of Ash and Eyton who married Marinda HAMNETT.

8th Generation 8(a) and (b). Ann (18201891) and John (18221885) are little more than names to me, apart from the fact that the old records of the parish church of Ash, in Shropshire, record that John was one of the churchwardens in 1853.

8(c). Robert (18251898) married Rachel and was also deeply involved in the parish church as the old records show that he was one of the churchwardens on five occasions during the period 1878 and 1889. He died nine years later at the age of 73.

8(d) and (e). Richard (18281891) and Jane (18381906) were the last two children of Robert RAVENSHAW and Mary BIRCH. I have traced nothing about these two apart from the fact that Jane did not marry. Perhaps, in the custom of those times, she assumed the responsibility for looking after her parents in their old age and as she was 30-years old when her mother died that may have been a contributing factor.

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Nearly 20-years ago I was in touch with the grandson of Thomas RAVENSHAW and Eliza Jane DEEM, Stuart Ravenshaw FOWLER of Harrogate (born 1901). He told me that the last male descendant of our branch of the RAVENSHAW family had died in 1980 when William Arthur RAVENSHAW (born 1884) had died in Alberta, Canada. S.Ravenshaw FOWLER also told me that a "Short Account of the RAVENSHAW and Associated Families of Salop", which had been privately printed, had been deposited in Liverpool City Library, in view of the connection with the RENSHAW Family who were so well known in that City.

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Fourteen BRITTAI FAMILY

Whilst I have found out that my great, great-grandfather, Thomas WOOD married Martha BRITTAIN yet no "family stories" about my BRITTAIN forebears have been passed down to me nor have any of my WOOD cousins been able to tell me anything about this family, from whom we are jointly descended.

My knowledge of this family is - at the moment - limited to those details which I have extracted from old parish records.

1st Generation That I have researched! The first member whom I have traced spelt his surname BRETTON and Daniel BRETTON was born about 1670 and lived in Shropshire. He appears to have had twin sons.

2nd Generation 2(a). Daniel , the first son, was baptised in the parish of Prees, in the North of the County and adjoining the parish of Hodnet, in 1698 . Daniel married Ann and they had two children : John (1722) and Margaret (1730).

2(b). Thomas , the second son was baptised on the same day as his brother and I have assumed from this that they were probably twins.

3rd Generation 3(a). John (born 1722) was baptised in the parish of Wroxeter, about 17-miles to the South of Prees. (Perhaps his mother Ann had come from this parish?) When John married Mary HAMPTON in 1758 in the parish of Preston-on-the-Weald Moors (about 8-miles East of Wroxeter) he described himself as a farmer in the parish of Market Drayton, only 3 or 4-miles East of Prees, on the Staffordshire border. Mary was 15-years younger than her husband.

John and Mary had nine children : John (1759); William (1760); Thomas (1762); George (1763); Mary (1764); Sarah (1765); Elizabeth (1766); William (1767) and Robert (c.1768) all of whom were baptised in Market Drayton Church.

3(b). Margaret (born 1730) was also baptised at Wroxeter.

4th Generation 4(a). John was born 1759 in Market Drayton.

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4(b). William was born in 1760 in Market Drayton.

4(c). Thomas was born in 1762 in Market Drayton. In 1797, when he was 35-years old he married Mary DAWES in Childs Ercall, a parish two miles to the East of Hodnet. They had three children : John (1802); Jane (1805) and Martha (1806), all of whom were baptised in Stoke upon Tern - the parish which is between Childs Ercall and Hodnet.

In my Story of the WOOD FAMILY I have referred in two places to information, which has been "handed down" through two members of the WOOD family, about one of the brothers of Mary DAWES. "Dick" (Thomas Brittain) WOOD told me that he had been told that his grandfather, Brittain Dawes WOOD had been given his second name as a compliment to a very close friend of his father, Colonel DAWES. At the time that Dick gave me this information he was not aware that his grandmother, Martha BRITTAIN, was the daughter of Mary DAWES. The story was that Colonel DAWES was the first man "over the walls" during the battle of Seringapatam.

I have also mentioned that Susan Elizabeth OLDHAM, nee WOOD, had sent me a very old photograph, which was endorsed on the back "Col. James DAWES, of the Dragoons, who was at Seringapatam in 1799 and who took Tipoo Sahib as a prisoner". It seems that I may have confused Thomas Atherton DAWES and James DAWES, both of whom cannot have been the Colonel DAWES who was at the Battle of Seringapatam in 1799. Perhaps someone else will be sufficiently interested to try to unravel this confusion!

4(e) and (f). George, Mary and Sarah were born in 1764, 1765 and 1766 and were all baptised in Market Drayton.

4(g),(h) and (i). Elizabeth, William and Robert were born in the following three years 1767, 1768 and 1769 and, once more were baptised in Market Drayton. Elizabeth died when she was only a year old and baby Robert was buried soon after birth.

5th Generation 5(a)and (b). John and Jane were born in 1802 and 1805.

5(c). Martha was baptised after Christmas 1806 at Stoke upon Tern. In 1833, when she was 27-years old she married Thomas William WOOD at High Ercall, another nearby parish, where Thomas was a farmer. Their "story", and that of their ten children, is told in my story of the WOOD Family.

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Fifteen EAME FAMILY

The NEAME family in Kent have been traced back in unbroken line to about 1450 when John NEAME owned a tannery in Canterbury which still survives. He had two sons, John and Roger, whom he set up in freehold property in the Sandwich area. NEAME is an Old English word - a "neame" was a Kentish king's factor, agent, and on occasion of a royal minority, guardian. With this known background it is sad that there is now so little personal information about my more recent branch of this family - providing an example of the importance of our making written records for future generations. Our branch goes back to a Thomas NEAME, who was born in 1631.

Alan NEAME, MA., who died in October 2000, was THE genealogist of this family - a founder member of the Kent Family History Society and, by 1996, the President of that Society. Alan was an author and translator, editor (in 1978) of a revision of the Old Testament ("as you know it is very long - so a nice solid job!" - he had said to me) and, in 1995, translating a book which had been written by the Pope; yet Alan said that he was really more interested in researching the "statistical" details of the family than in writing, or collecting, personal information about those whose names appear on the "family tree". Nevertheless he gave me much helpful information and advice.

Alan wrote some years ago "The EAMEs of Kent were yeoman farmers from those early days, over 500years ago, and churchwardens, which meant that they were "headmen" of their various villages in East Kent. They conformed to each change of religion as it was ordered by the State and governed their parishes with the same equanimity, Catholic one year, Protestant the next, and so on. They were freeholders leaving wills. Only one, c.1600, went to university until the turn of this century. From farming they diversified into brewing, timber and with some younger sons joining the armed forces from 1800 onwards. Some went up in the world and some went down." He also told me that the novel "Neame of Kent" by Frank Dilnot was a romance and not a "history"!

Yet that is not the whole story. There are recorded stories about a few members and some personal information can be obtained from the detailed "trees" which Alan had constructed.

1st Generation That I have researched! For the purposes of my story of this family I am only going back eight generations to Austen EAME , (1663 -1730) the son of Thomas NEAME (baptised in 1631) and Bennet AUSTEN (baptised in 1622 at Adisham, Kent) who were married in September 1648 at Goodnestone by Sandwich parish church in Kent. Alan NEAME recorded that Bennet was the daughter of a prestigious family and she and Thomas reinforced a family tradition of using the name "Austen" as a first, or Christian, name for one of their sons. Austen, in any case, being a variant of Augustine, the apostle of Kent and All England. This, the first "Austen" NEAME, was the sixth son - who was born before the time of the Great Fire of London.

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In 1694 Austen married a cousin, Elizabeth NEAME, (the daughter of Laurence NEAME and Jane DENN of Womenswold, Kent), at St.Alphage Church, Canterbury.

Thomas and Elizabeth had ten children during the next 18-years and I know virtually nothing about these children. Mary was born in 1695 in Fordwich, now a little village on the River Stour only just over two miles to the East of Canterbury, but at that time the port for the city, when the river was wider and deeper, the ships smaller, and Fordwich itself a sizeable borough. Mary was followed by Elizabeth (1696) , Thomas (1698) , Austen (1700) who was to marry Mary HILLS in 1738, from whom we are descended, Jane (1702 , who only lived about a year), Margaret who was baptised in 1703 at Littlebourne, another village about 3-miles to the East. Subsequently Anne (1704) , John (1708) , Lawrence (1710) and Richard (1713) were also all baptised at Littlebourne which makes it likely that Thomas and Elizabeth had, by that time, moved with their family to another farm in this nearby parish.

2nd Generation Austen (born 1700) was 38-years old when he married Mary HILLS in 1738, whilst she was 16-years his junior. It seems possible that Austen had, by then, taken over his father's farm as his father had died in 1730. Austen and Mary had four children, all of whom were baptised in Littlebourne. John was born in 1739, Mary in 1741, Thomas in 1746 and Austen in 1749.

3rd Generation Young Thomas (1746) was only eight years old when his father died and it seems likely that his mother, Mary, had to give up the farm. Thomas did not marry until 1778, when he was nearly 32-years of age. This time his bride, Catherine COBB was only 2-years younger than him. Catherine had been baptised in Sheldwich, a village about 12-miles away, and it was there that they were married before settling in the neighbouring parish of Selling - perhaps Catherine's family had contacts there. Thomas and Catherine had eight children : Thomas (born 1779) was followed by John (1784), Mary (1785), Catherine (1787), Charles (1789), Austen (1791), George (1793) and Robert (1794).

4th Generation 4(a). By the time that Thomas (born 1779) was 25-years old he had moved the 14-miles from Sheldwich to Chislet, a parish reaching to the exposed North East coast of Kent. In those days, when few people travelled very far from home, one can only wonder how he met Sophia ARMSTRONG who came from Southfleet, close to Gravesend on the South bank of the River Thames opposite Tilbury. Perhaps her father sailed and they had met in the ports of Herne or Margate. By March 1804 Thomas described himself as "Gentleman" and perhaps by that time, as he had become established, he and Sophia chose to be married in the fashionable church of St.Martin's in the Fields, in London. Back in Chislet in Kent, Thomas and Sophia had four children during the next five years, all of whom were given as a second name their mother's surname. So we find baptisms of Catherine Armstrong in 1805, Thomas Armstrong (1806), Augustine Armstrong "Austin" (1807) and William Armstrong (1809). The birth of William may have caused complications as Sophia died only 3-months later at the age of only 31.

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Nearly five years later Thomas was to marry again. Anne HARRISON, a spinster from the neighbouring parish of Westbere was 33-years old when they were married in 1814. Thomas and Anne had no children.

Thomas played a prominent part in draining the Wantsum Channel and its associated marshes, recovering many acres for agriculture from a branch of the sea up which Roman galleys had sailed from Richborough to Reculver, some five hundred years earlier when Thanet really was an island.

By the time that Thomas died in 1840 at the age of 60, he was a prominent farmer and the head, too, of a leading Kentish family. Anne was to survive him by another four years.

4(b). John (17841849) was to marry Mary Ann CHAPMAN in Selling.

4(c). Mary (17851848) married William WIGHTWICK in January 1817 at Selling by Faversham, Kent.

4(d). Catherine (1787) did not marry.

4(e). Charles (17891870) married Ann WIGHTWICK in Selling. At the present I have been unable to trace any family connection between this Ann and William WIGHTWICK who married Mary NEAME in 1817. Charles and Ann had three children : Fanny (born 1818), Charles (1822) and Emma (1831).

4(f). Austen (17911837) married Ann BEALE at Biddenden in South Kent and in 1829 had a daughter, Elizabeth Beale NEAME, who later married in May 1850.

4(g). George (17931840) married Sarah FRIDAY in Canterbury when he was 21 and they had a daughter, Eleanor, who was not born until 20-years later in 1834, when they were living at Harbledown a few miles to the East of Canterbury.

4(h). Robert, born in 1794 , died when he was 27-years old.

5th Generation 5(a). Catherine Armstrong (18051839) married John OLIVER in Chislet in 1826 when she was 21, but she seems to have died in 1839 without having any children.

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5(b). Thomas Armstrong , from whom we are descended, was born in 1806 at Chislet. Chislet Court, is a very substantial house and farm next to the church. He was the privileged eldest son and heir of the senior member of a prominent Kentish farming family. He rode to hounds and at Point-to-Point meetings and had a series of sporting prints made of his exploits. Alan Neame had described him as "a young blade who frittered away his patrimony".

Following his father's death in 1840, and in accordance with Kentish custom, Thomas Armstrong then became "The Mr.Neame".

During his father's lifetime, while he still had to toe the line at Chislet, he acted as Guardian of the Poor, etc., etc., but with his father's death in 1840, he threw discretion to the winds and abandoned all sense of civic duty.

Alan told me that in his own youth (a century after Thomas Armstrong was born) Thomas Armstrong was still spoken about in hushed tones by Alan's great-uncles and great-aunts, who were always careful that those of the "younger generation" should not hear what was being discussed! Occasional remarks which were overheard suggested that Thomas was a "rake", in the terms of those days, who had "run off with another man's wife after the death of his respectable old father in 1840".

The disgrace which was felt by the members of the family was the cause of Thomas Armstrong and his family leaving the county and moving to live in Norfolk. In his younger days Alan remembered that the family were regarded almost as refugees!

Old records confirm that Thomas Armstrong and Mary DARBY, nee WRIGHT, left Kent and "took exile" in East Dereham in the heart of Norfolk.

The precise details of Thomas' and Mary's secret life together in Kent are forever unclear but there seems no doubt that they were unable to be married and that, in the custom of those days, their children were "bastards". For a farming family of standing, in the early part of the 19th.century, this would not have been accepted in the same way as it is at the beginning of this century! The difficulty in tracing their marriage and the births and baptisms of their children all suggest that Thomas tried to conceal the full facts.

According to the 1851 census returns Thomas and Mary's first child, Mary Anne, was born in Hoath, the neighbouring parish to Chislet, in 1835. The child's baptism has still not been traced and as the birth took place before the compulsory registration of births, marriages and deaths the facts are still unclear.

Two years later, in 1837, the new legislation, which required the registration of births, marriages and deaths, was introduced. One can imagine that there would have been widespread publicity to make sure that everybody knew about this new law.

When in September 1837 Thomas' second child, his first son, George, was born his mother registered her son's birth in accordance with these new legal requirements. The certificate, which was dated 13th.October 1837 records the father as Thomas Armstrong NEAME and the child's mother as Mary DARBY, a widow, (formerly Mary WRAIGHT), a "singlewoman". This

332 certificate records that it was, Mary DARBY, the mother, who registered the birth, thus confirming that at that time the child's parents were not married. Mary informed the Registrar that her son's father was a "farmer".

The address which was given by Mary to the Registrar as the house in which Thomas and Mary were then living, at 38, Military Road, St.Gregory, Canterbury was in a very poor part of the City close to the Military barracks. Alan Neame wondered whether this address was, perhaps, a "lying-in establishment" in an area which, in those days, was of low repute. In the early part of the 20th.century the barracks were still there and, as one might expect, they were fringed with beer houses and "maisons de passe".

Whatever may have been the case, the registration of his son's birth makes a point of recording that the mother was Mary DARBY (a single woman) and that Thomas and Mary were not married. This may have given rise to the family "story" that Thomas Armstrong had "run away with another man's wife".

We also now know that, two days after registering George's birth, the child was baptised at St.Mary's, Northgate in Canterbury. The entry of the child's baptism in the old church register records :- "George, son of Thomas and Mary DARBY of Military Road." The father's occupation was shown as "Farmer".

As was customary, the old church register makes no mention of those who were present at the baptism and it is possible that Thomas was not actually present at that baptism. He had left Mary to register the birth and may also have decided not to attend the church baptism. If this was the case Mary would again have told the priest that her name was Mary DARBY and that her "husband" was Thomas - leaving the priest to assume that he was Thomas DARBY! We will never know exactly what happened.

Two years after the birth of their son, George, Thomas and Mary had another child, a son, Charles. This time the record of the child's baptism in the church register recorded "Charles - son of Mary DARBY - of Military Road". There was no mention of the father's name!

After Charles four more children, were born in Kent. It was not until the record of Charles' baptism had been found that it occurred to me to try to trace the births of the children under the surname of DARBY! This search produced the "missing" births of Ann in the second quarter of 1841, Sarah Ann in (Q2)1843, Norman in (Q2)1845 and Frances Ann in (Q1)1847.

There is a record that Norman was baptised at St.Pancras in London some 20-years later, in March 1865, when he would have been twenty years old.

I later found a record that on 23rd.April 1847 Thomas Armstrong NEAME (a bachelor of full age and the son of Thomas NEAME a farmer) married Mary DARBY (a widow and the daughter of Richard WRAIGHT a farmer) at St.Martin in the Fields, London. When Thomas Armstrong NEAME and Mary DARBY were married in 1847 they were both shown as living in Castle Street. Mary, the daughter of Richard WRAIGHT and Martha ALLEN, had been born in Chislet, the same village where Thomas was born, in 1804.

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This, surely, is the link which was missing. Thomas had probably known Mary since they were children. I assume that Mary married a Mr.DARBY but either was widowed at an early age or (if the "family story" is correct) left her husband and went to live with Thomas Armstrong NEAME. They lived together in Canterbury for about 10 or 12 years until they were married in London and then the whole family moved to East Dereham in Norfolk.

I have referred to Frances Ann being born early in 1847 (a few weeks before her parents were married) but she died 18-months later.

In March 1851, at the time of the 1851 census, the family were living at Toftwood Common, at East Dereham. The census return records that the family were Thomas and Mary NEAME and their six eldest children Mary Ann (age 15); George (age 13); Charles (age 12); Ann (age 11); Sarah Ann (age 7) and Norman (age 5). Thomas gave his occupation as "Proprietor of Houses".

Perhaps in a new district, a long way from Canterbury, where neither Thomas nor Mary were known, they were able to establish a new life for their family. He gave the same "Rank, Profession or Occupation" ten years later, at the time of the 1861 census, but his immediate neighbours at that time in Neatherd Road included a clockmaker and a smith & gas fitter.

Thomas and Mary's eighth, and last, child Sophia Armstrong was born about 1855. It seems surprising that Sophia was not recorded as living with her parents at the time of the 1861 census and her name was not included as being with her father in 1871.

When, in 1864, their daughter Ann married George Robert CLARK, at East Dereham, Ann's father was entered in the register of her marriage as being a "Brewer's Clerk" - and one of the two witnesses of that marriage was Thomas Armstrong NEAME himself, so there can be no doubt about an inaccurate entry in the register.

Thomas' wife, Mary, died in East Dereham in 1867 and four years later, at the time of the 1871 census, Thomas again gave his occupation as "Brewer's Clerk". The census return shows that he was then living with his daughter Sarah Ann (aged 27) and his "grand-daughter" Edith M.WRIGHT (aged 8-years). Could she have been the daughter of a son of Thomas' wife, Mary, born before Mary married her first husband, Mr.DARBY?

When in 1873 Thomas' daughter, Mary Ann NEAME (then aged about 38) married Thomas Bobbitt EDWARDS, the bride's father was described that time as a "Gentleman". The bridegroom was described as a Wine Merchant and his father was also recorded as a "Gentleman".

Thomas remained in East Dereham after the death of his wife and died there at the age of 84- years in 1890. His "estate" was valued at ,111.

Those who may read my story of this family and who are interested in family history research may also come across an entry in the IGI which suggests that Thomas Armstrong NEAME may have married a Mary WARDWICK about 1835. Having discussed this entry with a professional researcher I have been told that some members of the Morman church are allowed to make "provisional" entries, which may fit in with their own desire to re-create their own ancestry. I believe that this has occurred in this case and that the actual recorded entries, to which I have

334 referred, do correctly show what happened so many years ago when Thomas and Mary had their family.

Although the full story of Thomas Armstrong's early life with Mary may never be known and although it is now difficult to appreciate in full the hurt which was caused to Thomas' family yet I was saddened to hear that even 100-years later some of the members of the NEAME family were unwilling to renew a contact with George's son, John Armstrong, when he returned to England in straightened circumstances during the 1939-1945 War, from his home in Italy.

5(c). Augustine Armstrong, born in 1807 , lived only three months.

5(d). William Armstrong , who was born in 1809 also lived for just over three months, so that by September 1839 old Thomas had lost his first wife Sophia, his daughter Catherine, his two baby sons Augustine and William and his only remaining child, Thomas, had brought shame upon his family.

6th Generation 6(a). Mary Ann (born 1835) was with her parents in East Derehan in Norfolk at the time of the 1851 census. All that we know about Mary is that she married Thomas Bobbitt EDWARDS in that village in 1873. At that time her husband, Thomas, was a wine merchant. The register notes that he was the son of Thomas EDWARDS, described as a "Gentleman". Mary Ann and her husband are not known to have had a family.

6(b). George (18371911) was born in Canterbury, moved to East Dereham, in Norfolk, and became a schoolmaster. In 1862 at the age of 25 he married Fanny GRIX, but who was known as "Nanama", in Worthing, Sussex. She had been born at Littlehampton in 1841. Here again "family information", which has been passed down to later generations, has some interesting details to tell.

One version was that Fanny was an illegitimate grand-daughter of King George IV. Before rejecting this as wishful thinking - even after accepting the idea of being descended from King George IV on the "wrong side of the blanket" - let us look at the historical facts. King George III's eldest son, George Augustus Frederick, was born at St.James' Palace on 12 August 1762. He married his first cousin, Princess Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, at St.James' Palace on 8th.April 1795. They had only one child, Charlotte Augusta, who was born on 7th.January 1796. She married Prince Leopold George Frederick of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coborg on 2nd.May 1816. They also had only one child, a son, who was still-born, on 6th.November 1817. Princess Charlotte died in August 1821, a month after her husband's coronation. Prince Leopold later became the King of the Belgians in 1831. His father-in-law, King George IV died in 1830.

If Fanny GRIX was the grand-daughter of King George IV, then either her father or her mother must have been the illegitimate child of King George. I have provided a little more information about this "family story" in the GRIX FAMILY Story.

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Fanny's birth was registered as taking place in Littlehampton on 13th.March 1841 (she died in 1910) when her father was named as John GRIX, who had a school in Littlehampton, and her mother as Jane TURNER. The GRIX FAMILY Story will record that John GRIX was the fifth child of William GRIX and Elizabeth, whilst Jane TURNER was also a fifth child - of John TURNER and Mary. However, one can hardly expect the King to have been registered as the father! When rejecting this story of Jane GRIX being the grandchild of King George, Alan NEAME suggested that GRIX was not a cipher for G(eorgius) REX and that Fanny may have been the grand-daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, and that the family rumour of a child of high descent may have been correct, but that the connection was ducal and not royal!

Whatever may have been the origins of one of the parents of Fanny GRIX, we know that she married George NEAME in January 1862 and that 20-months later they had a daughter Janet Mary. George was a schoolmaster at Surrey House School in Littlehampton. Whilst the school seems to have been limited to about 50 pupils, yet after the death of John GRIX, the previous principal, in 1861 his pupils erected a memorial to George's father-in-law. Perhaps the income from this school was sufficient to meet the needs of George and Fanny, for they had a further twelve children after Janet : Norah (1865), John Armstrong (1866), Austin Hardwick (1867), Mary Ethel (1868), Edward Geoffrey (1869), Mildred (1871), Winifred Fanny (1872), Lawrence George (1874), Frederick Stewart (1876), Donald Charles (1877), Margaret Olga (1878) and Barry (1881).

After George retired he and "Nanama" moved to Chelsea where Fanny died in December 1910 and George died a month later. His children later arranged for the erection of a stained glass window in memory of their parents in the parish church at Rustington which depicts the couple and their thirteen children. Whilst there may have been a slight change in the value of money between 1890 when Thomas Armstrong died and 1911 when his son, George, died yet it is interesting to note that the value of Thomas's estate in 1890 was ,111, whilst George's estate was returned at ,1,180.

6(c). Charles, born in 1839 did not marry and died in East Dereham in Norfolk in 1905 at the age of 64.

6(d). Ann , who had been born in Canterbury in 1840 was married in 1864 in East Dereham to George Robert CLARK, a farmer of Swaffham, and the son of Edward CLARK, who was also a farmer. They are not known to have had a family.

6(e). Sarah Ann, born in 1843 was included in the 1851 census when the family were at East Dereham but it seems that she died soon after.

6(f). orman (18441927) was a grocer and wine merchant in Hampstead, London. He married Sarah TOZER and they had three children : Guy Norman (1873), Helen Mary (1875) and Charles Kingsley (1877). When Norman retired he and Sarah settled in Bere Regis where Sarah died in 1925 and where Norman died three years later. 337

6(g). Frances Ann (18471849) died at the age of only two.

6(h). Sophia Armstrong was born in 1855 , probably at East Dereham. She did not marry and died at Worthing in Sussex in 1942 at the age of 87.

7th Generation 7(a). Janet Mary , born in Worthing, Sussex in 1863 , did not marry. She lived in Chelsea where she died in 1923 at the age of 60.

7(b). orah , my mother's mother, was born in Worthing in 1865 . About 1892 Norah's brother, Edward, was in the Diplomatic Corps and based in Tehran in Persia, now Iran. Edward wanted a house of his own, but being unmarried, he wrote home and asked whether one of his sisters would go out to Tehran to keep house for him. Norah accepted the invitation. Perhaps at the age of 27 she was becoming concerned that she herself was not yet married. She told her daughter many years later that she had travelled by ship to a Black Sea port, possibly Batumi, and had then travelled the 700-miles on horseback through the mountains of Southern Russia to Tehran, where she did, indeed, keep house for her brother.

Whilst in Tehran there was an outbreak of smallpox which was then rife in that part of the world. Later her brother married but both his wife and small son were to die of smallpox. However, before all that should happen, Norah was to nurse the wife of a member of the Diplomatic Corps who had contracted that disease. Norah's nursing was believed to have saved her life and this came to the attention of the Royal Family, as a result of which she was awarded the "Gold Medal of the Lion and the Sun". The gold medal which was presented to her, which is held as a family heirloom, was accompanied by an illuminated award which has been translated as follows :-

"Seal of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Exalted Government of Persia. In the month of Ramazan the Blessed, corresponding to the Year of the Snake, marked with prosperity, 1310, it is written : That in consideration of the good services and meritorious character, Miss orah eame has been exalted and honoured by the gift of a gold medal of the Lion and the Sun from the office of the Glorious Ministry for Foreign Affairs to be an adornment and a hanging ornament on her bosom, to the increase of her honour and renown, and that her head may be raised and she exalted among her fellows and her contemporaries". - Sealed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The translation is endorsed - "I hereby certify that the above is a true and faithful translation of the Persian document hereto annexed, made at this Legation : signed Francis E.Crow, H.M.Vice Consul. Tehran April 8. 1893." Registered at H.M.Legation on Page 199 of the General Register."

Whilst in Tehran, Norah met a young English Civil Engineer, Mansergh Dias ROBINSON, who came from Leicestershire, who was working in Persia in connection with a scheme to construct a new 500-mile long road and establish a transport service between Tehran and Ahwaz, a city close to the Northern end of the Persian Gulf. Norah and Mansergh were married in the British 338

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Legation in Tehran in April 1893. They returned home to England, where their first son, Valentine Mansergh, was born on Valentine's Day 1897 before they all moved to Cape Colony in South Africa. There their daughter, Barbara Nancy (my mother) was born in 1902, followed by a second son, Malcolm Denis, in 1904.

If there are any who read as far as this, in this story of our branch of the NEAME FAMILY, an incident which occurred in Yelverton about 1946 may prompt others not to make the same "mistake".

Sometime after Norah was widowed she came to live with her daughter, my mother, at our home in Yelverton in Devon. One afternoon my mother went upstairs to take a cup of tea to her mother's room, where Norah had her bureau and wrote her letters. My mother enquired what she had been doing and my grandmother told her that she had been sorting out some old papers "so that you don't have to do this when I am gone". My mother thought no more about that comment until, later in the afternoon my grandmother came into the sitting room and said that she had finished what she had been doing and had "burnt up some of the old letters and papers in the garden". When discussing this a little later my mother was told that some of the "old papers" had included old letters which my grandmother and her husband had received from the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen. My grandmother mentioned that she and her husband had, for a number of years, been friends of Roald and his wife and they had often corresponded at the time that Amundsen had navigated the North West passage in 1906 and then later when he had trekked to the South Pole, which he had reached just before Christmas 1911 - thus beating Robert Falcon Scott to that Pole. This exchange of letters between my grandparents and the Amundsens had continued in later years and had apparently included fascinating comments upon those exciting days of exploration. In 1926 Roald Amundsen flew in an airship over the North Pole, but a couple of years later he, himself, died when trying to rescue the Italian airman, Umberto Nobile, whose airship had crashed when he was returning from the North Pole.

When my mother cried out in consternation about the loss of these historic letters, my grandmother replied, "Don't worry. Those letters were very difficult to read - and I have kept the newspaper cuttings safely which tell of some of Roald's exploits, including his historic trek to the South Pole"!

Will we, in our time, be careful to keep "old papers" which our families may wish to read in later years?

The ensuing history of my grandmother's children is told in the ROBISO FAMILY Story.

7(c). John Armstrong , the first son, born in 1866 , followed his father and became a schoolmaster but he gave up teaching in order to concentrate on his interest and gifts as an artist. He later married Ellen Agnes STEWART, the widow of Henry SARGEANT, who had been an art benefactor of the town of Whanganui in New Zealand. John Armstrong and his wife settled in Alassio in Italy. They returned to England in a destitute state during the 1939-1945 War and Alan NEAME remembers that Alan's grandmother gave them some help, although she did not care for John's wife, despite the fact that Alan remembers her as being a very gifted and interesting woman. They had no family and John died, back in Alassio, in 1952.

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7(d). Austin Hardwick , born in Worthing in 1867 became a bank manager and never married. He died in Kensington, London in 1936.

7(e). Mary Ethel was born the following year. She was to marry Ernest John "Jim" RAMSEY in Worthing in 1896. They had a daughter and a son : Stella (1997) and Richard "Dick" (1899).

7(f). Edward Geoffrey, born 1869 , was the diplomat who was posted to Tehran in Persia, to whom I have referred in the story of his sister Norah in 7(b) above. Edward married Emily Mary TYRROL in Persia in 1896. They had a son Austin Francis the following year but at the age of two Francis died of "plague" (probably also smallpox) and his mother died two months later. Edward himself died in Persia in 1905.

7(g). Mildred (1871) married Arthur John WHITE in Brighton in 1892 and they had two children : Hetherington "Heth" Stewart John (1893) and Elizabeth "Betty" (1901).

7(h). Winifred Fanny (1872) went to South Africa with her brother, Lawrence George. She later visited England but never married and died at Knysna in South Africa in 1948.

7(i). Lawrence George was born in Brighton in 1874 . He married Evelyn Ada PHILLIPS nee STORLEY in 1901 and they too emigrated to South Africa. They had a son, Stewart Geoffrey Rex in 1902. Lawrence died in 1952.

7(j). Frederick Stewart born in 1876 married Alice Minnie BARNS in Balham in 1905 and became an importer of pepper and spices in Eltham, London. They had three sons : Philip Wynstone (1906), Stuart Carol Barns (1907) and Christopher Hardwick (1909). Alice died at Eltham in 1944 and Frederick died 15-months later.

7(k). Donald Charles (1877) became a stockbroker's clerk in Rugby. He did not marry and died at Hatton in Warwickshire in 1943.

7(l). Margaret Olga "Madge" was born in 1878 . I have been able to discover very little about her early life prior to 1914 when a friend of hers, Miss Rata, was able to help her to obtain an appointment as the governess to George, the young 4-year old son of Grand Duke Michael Aleksandrovich, a younger brother of Emperor Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Madge, who was then 36-years old, was the same age as her employer and there can be little doubt that she must have come to admire him enormously.

In their book "Michael & Natasha - The Life and Love of the Last Tsar of Russia" the authors, Rosemary & Donald Crawford, record that the Grand Duke had been described some five years

341 earlier as being "well over six feet tall, blueeyed, slim waisted and still boyishly handsome. He exuded immense personal charm, was exceptionally kind and goodnatured, liked children and dogs, preferred country to court, disliked pomp, and could be very amusing with a weakness for practical jokes. He spoke English and French fluently, and was a competent musician on piano, flute, balalaika and guitar, composing several of his own pieces. He enjoyed the theatre, ballet and opera and, as a keen military historian, had written several academic papers on the apoleonic War, published in the journal of the prestigious Imperial Russian Historical Society. Serving as a squadron commander in the elite Guards cavalry regiment, the Blue Cuirassiers, he was also a first class sportsman, a crack shot, a skilled swordsman, an excellent horseman who won prizes steeplechasing, and was so good with his fists that one American coach regretted that he could not turn prizefighter. He was also one of the richest young men in the world."

In those days the crowned heads of Europe seemed all to be related in one way or another. The Grand Duke's cousin was Prince Nicholas of Greece. As a young man the Grand Duke had been introduced by his mother to "dear Granny", Queen Victoria, when both families had been on holiday in the South of France. Whereas Queen Victoria had referred to his father, Tsar Alexander III as a boor, yet when she met the Grand Duke some years later at Balmoral she wrote in her diary that he "is remarkably nice & pleasing & pleasing looking." When Michael was again in England in 1901 to represent Russia at Queen Victoria's funeral he was awarded the Order of the Bath. The following year he returned to London to attend the coronation of King Edward VII and was made a Knight of the Garter, Britain's most illustrious Order, with his own standard to hang in the chapel at Windsor Castle.

At one stage, when Grand Duke Michael had been 24-years old it had been thought that he might marry Princess Beatrice of Great Britain (who was known in the family as "Baby-Bee") as they had met on holiday and had appeared to fall in love with each other. She was the daughter of the Queen's second son, Alfred, and her mother was the sister of the Grand Duke's father, Tsar Alexander III. However, their marriage was not to be. They were first cousins and the Orthodox Russian Church forbade first cousins to wed. The Grand Duke's brother, Tsar Nicholas, was sympathetic but firm. There could be no exceptions.

"Michael & Natasha" tells the story of Michael falling in love with Natasha Wulfert, the extraordinarily beautiful daughter of a Moscow lawyer, the wife of a Guards officer - the man for whom she had divorced her first husband, a musician. For the Grand Duke Michael it was love at first sight - a passion that would never fade, and which would lead to disgrace, a cruel humiliation and banishment. But, as one of Natasha's admirers would say, "for the sake of a woman like her, a man could forget and give up everything." Natasha's divorce was still not yet final when the child was due in about two-months' time and their story tells of the strain under which they were living at that time. In the event the divorce was just finalised in time.

It was into this family that Madge had been appointed as the governess of the four-year old George. The outbreak of the First World War did not immediately involve Madge. When the Grand Duke had married Natasha he had been exiled by his brother The Emperor Tsar Nicholas II and only returned to Russia after Germany declared war on Russia on 1st.August 1914. But still the Grand Duke and Natasha were not recognised by the Emperor, Tsar Nicholas, and his immediate family.

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The Tsar's German-born wife, Alexandra, was under the spell of Rasputin and was one of the principle causes of the increasing opposition to the Tsar and his autocratic rule. As the Tsar and, particularly, the Empress would have nothing to do with The Grand Duke and his family, this all seems to have had little impact upon the Grand Duke and his family and household. Even the murder of Rasputin in December 1916 and the plotting by some of the lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma, for the overthrow of the Emperor did not involve the Grand Duke Michael. It was only in February 1917, with the outbreak of the Russian revolution that the position changed when the Grand Duke heard from his brother, the Emperor, that he was considering abdicating.

At the beginning of 1918 (when she was 40) before the end of the First World War, one of the outstanding series of events of Madge's life is recorded in a letter which she sent to her elder sister, Janet, from "Sorgenfrei Slot", Lyngley, Denmark on 16th.May 1918 and this needs to be recorded in full.

"Dearest Janet,

I am once more going to write to you and try and tell you all my news, then will you get someone to type this letter for me and send copies to all the family and my friends, keeping six copies for me.

It is going to be very difficult for me to write this letter and not get it disjointed and again I don't know when and where to begin. I think I had better start from the beginning of February, when we were living a very anxious life not knowing what was going to happen murders, robberies, stripping people in the day time and stealing their clothes, practical starvation everywhere and tyranny. It had come to such a pitch of terror, that we were all praying and waiting anxiously for the arrival of the Germans, as we then knew we would be safe. But they stopped short only a few miles away from Gatchina then every one in our house and in other houses also in Petrograd, were in despair.

Suddenly orders came from the Bolsheviks the most cruel devils that all men of a certain age, were to go every morning early, to dig trenches. The first morning, which was the 7th.February nearly all our menservants, chauffeurs, stablemen etc. had only gone an hour and the Grand Duke who was ill with gastric ulcers was lying, wrapped up warm, on a small balcony near my bedroom, as the sun was so hot in spite of deep snow. Just before 11 a.m. I was sitting and chatting with him, when we saw coming down the road, a number of armed soldiers. We knew at once what for.

In a very few minutes they were racing up the stairs after the chief valet and out on the balcony without any decency or politeness at all. The head man (no officers) handed a paper to the G.D. and said he and Mr.Johnson were arrested and ordered to leave for Petrograd at once. Mr.Johnson's flat was some distance away, so we telephoned to him and sent the sleigh to bring him to us. He is a very clever, levelheaded man and always is the chief person to stand by the G.D. in trouble.

Madame Brassow was still in bed. I went and told her what had happened and asked her to dress as quickly as possible as it would be better for her to go with her husband. The G.D. did

343 not attempt to move until Mr.Johnson arrived in half an hour. These insolent brutes were stamping around and saying everyone must hurry, so we didn't. When Mr.J. arrived he asked who had given this order and for what reason. He was told the Gatchina Soviet had given orders but no reason. Then they were told the G.D. was ill and they replied that they did not care if he was. So, poor man, he had to go and dress, get a light lunch and get his things packed.

eedless to say we were heartbroken and frightened as it was the first time I and the children were not to go with him. When he was arrested before, we were all allowed to keep together. At twelve o'clock the G.D., his wife, Mr.J. and Vasilli, one of the valets, left with these dirty soldiers. So well was everything arranged for them to be taken to Petrograd, that there was no train that day, until 5pm. That is what is called order. So as Mr.J's flat was near there, they were allowed to go there and wait. From there they rang me up and asked me to drive round and see them, as everything had been in so much confusion in the morning. I went and we all tried to be cheerful a dead failure and just before 5 pm. they left the house. The second good byes were awful, I can never forget the dear G.D. He said to me when shaking hands "Goodbye Miss eame, we must hope for the best and promise me you won't fret too much, and come to us as soon as you can." But the look in his sad eyes, so tired and ill, he was so hurt at all the injustice.

When they arrived at Petrograd no motor awaited them from Smolrey and when the soldiers telephoned there, they were told no one at Smolrey had given orders for this arrest and they could not send a motor. So everyone was placed in a room at the Station, whilst one or two soldiers went off in a sleigh to Smolrey to tell them how clever they were. In two hours a motor came and took them away, Mme. Brassow and Vasilli were not allowed to go so went to a friend's flat and stayed there. But three other gentlemen who had been arrested went. That was five in all. Those five were put together at Smolrey, in a filthy cell no bed, no nothing. o water to wash in, all the time they were there three days. With much trouble and bribery Mme.B., Vasilli and two friends were allowed to visit them and take proper food. Some sort of hammock bed was rigged up for the invalid.

Sunday, orders were given that no visitors were to be admitted. But everyone would be free Monday morning to return to Gatchina. Prince Paul Poutistine went and asked in the evening if the G.D., on account of his health, be free that night and sleep in his flat for that simple question he was arrested and locked up in a cell with two armed soldiers to guard him. At 5 am. he was freed, and told the others had been removed and taken away in a train at 12 am. but where to, no one could find out.

When we were "rung up" and told, we were frantic. Trotsky would not say a word was only, with the rest of his followers, so insolent to everyone. After four days a telegram came from Vologda, sent by Mr.J. saying they were alive in a "goods" train crawling to Perm, everything filthy, hardly any food and very little money. After seven days instead of three they arrived at Perm and were once more five in a dirty cell.

In the meantime we got permission for one valet, Vasilli and one chauffeur, Bouronoff, to go to Perm by the fast train with luggage and food as all this time they had not been allowed anything at all. Off the two men went let me show you how mean the Russians are one to another. The night these two men were leaving Gatchina to be in Petrograd early next morning

344 to catch the Perm train I asked to see what food they had got for their three days journey nothing but a piece of black bread each as the Chef did not chose to give them more. I made such a row and had the Chef hauled out of bed and insisted on taking all I considered right for these men that I wonder a few drops of poison were not put in my food the next day. After their arrival in Perm and much trouble about being allowed to visit the prisoners things for them got comparatively easier, but they had to sleep and eat in one cell, clean it, make their own beds and wash up everything. Their's was the only clean cell in the prison, because they worked so hard. For two months they put up with that. ow during the last month, they are allowed to be free in Perm and live in a small flat, of course always guarded.

ow I must go back to the 16th.March, when it was decided that the G.D.'s little boy and I must go to Petrograd to be hidden. So we were, on account of the Dane's Red Cross work, amongst the Austrian prisoners given a room in the Austrian Palace to live and sleep in. A Danish officer, Capt. Cremer, had a flat above our room so we lunched and dined with him of course paying for everything. For five weeks we were not allowed out at all. After that, for five weeks, we were allowed out on condition no one we knew saw us, so we walked mostly in slums.

Day after day we waited orders to slip out of the country disguised. But so many things kept cropping up to make it dangerous to move. My nationality made it so dangerous and as everyone says I look so very English. At last the time came, on Austin's birthday, 25th.April. A Danish gentleman, Mr.Sorenseu, undertook to bring us to Copenhagen via Berlin. Of course you know what that meant. If I was caught I would be shot as a spy. I was warned beforehand, but my duty was to try to save the boy. I could but fail.

To start with I had made good friends with the Austrian Consul and an officer enemies, yet friends. They were very worried about this journey on my behalf whatever happened Georgie could go on safely with Mr.Sorenseu. So these two men went with me to the Station I looking like Mrs.May at Victoria Palace Music Hall, and Georgie my son. We had false passports. I can't tell you all I suffered in mind from that moment on. We were to be smuggled into the Austrian Red Cross train, in which the Austrian soldiers were returning home as the exchange of prisoners was going on. Mr.Silldorff, the Austrian officer, never left my side until we started at 12 am. although we had to arrive at the station at 7 pm., Georgie was marvellous he was not allowed to speak a word he could understand what we were doing I had only said we were going to the seaside.

The moment the passports were called out I had quite forgotten our new name. Mr.Silldorff dragged me with a run to reply where he had to reply for me in Russian and we nearly didn't get away, as our places had been forgotten. Still another gentleman, a Mr.Feodor, worked that. When we got into the train I felt my spirits go down in my boots, further and further. First of all Mr.Sorenseu was going all the way with us. Mr.Feodor was going with us as far as Pscov neither could speak much English or French I could only talk a little Russian and no German. The second class carriages where we were put was partly only divided into three compartments.

I can only compare each compartment with a big larder. othing but wooden shelves but instead of something good to eat on them, filthy ticking with about three pieces of straw in each as a mattress. I never realised I had so many bones to suffer as I did after the first hour. I made Georgie comfortable in my big rug and he soon slept. ot so for me. I was too anxious,

345 especially as the two men were so far away from me. I imagine each compartment had 18 shelves or beds everyone occupied so that was really 48 people sleeping together, I had to pretend to sleep, as I found from the very first, I was suspected. It was the Russians I was most afraid of. Three times in the night two officers came and held a candle to my face. I felt my heart would burst. We had to take our food with us for a week. Although I was so anxious I really could not help seeing the funny side of things. It was like a concert and beehive with all the different toned snores. Then some people had nightmares and bellowed. The night was not dull.

All the next day I was watched whenever I was left without either of the men someone would address me and tell me I was English and how was I going to cross the frontier and go to Berlin. I replied that I was English born, but that my husband was an Austrian, who was ill in Vienna that I had special permission to go to him. The officers (Russian) who spent all the time dodging around looking at passports were not at all sure of me and mine, and once they cornered me alone, when I was coming back from the lavatory, and spoke to me. I can only say it was a miracle I got through their catechism all right as somehow I understood all they asked me in Russian and found the right words to reply and even managed to ask them in a high and mighty manner, what they meant by pestering me in that manner.

After that I refused to be left no matter where I went. Mr. Sorenseu is a very nice man. He got an exchange of shelves beside him. I always put G. on the bottom shelf as I was afraid he would fall out from up above. To get up on top there were three tiers, one went up like a windmill arms and legs whizzing round anywhere hoping, with luck, to arrive on somehow what the neighbours below and around saw goodness knows but I think they had the time of their lives. I nearly asked a fat old man to let me sleep on the top of him, as he would have been soft as an air cushion but I did not do so as he had a nasty cough, so I should have been bounced up and down like Don Quixote's friend in the blanket. So I lay and bruised every bone on me.

Well we were crawling on the slowest train on earth a long train and little fuel. The second evening we arrived at Pscov where we were bundled out to have our passports stamped and we were at the Frontier. I managed, always to be behind others at awkward moments, except once when a crowd of officials came round in a bunch, looking at every passport, when Mr.Feodor, who is well known on the line seized my paper and rolled me like a bundle of rags on the lowest shelf so that I was not seen, stood in front of me, waived my paper and said in a very sneering voice "Oh, Austrians again". It was too funny when you realise how big I am and yet how I was so easily lost to sight. Luckily I always watched the two men, so I never missed a sign they gave me and I always understood what they meant at once as we could never talk for fear of being overheard.

At Pscov a band (military) was there to welcome and play to the returned prisoners it was most touching. There Mr.Feodor left us, to return to Petrograd. Late that night we went on to Dvinsk where, alas, we had to spend the night, as everyone goes through very severe questioning and searching.

But I will tell you a wonderful thing, Mr.Sorenseu, G. and I were the only people, with an Austrian and his wife, who were not interned there. In the end we found it advisable to own up who we were and at once we received every kindness. We were told there was one Hotel, where we could spend the night. o cabs, so we had to walk my dear, it was at least two and a half miles away and in the dark, on roads not yet repaired from the big battle there windows

346 blown in all the houses etc. I could have wept. Poor Georgie declaring he was enjoying it and not tired, spent his time in falling down holes and having to be hauled up again. Mr.S. very worried at having to take us so far. At last we arrived at the hotel at 11 pm. The most ghostly place I ever saw. We engaged two adjoining rooms, I dared Mr.S. to be far away, where there were just beds and washhand stands only. We were lighted with pieces of candles stuck in bottles the windows blown out. We asked for tea anything. We were allowed one slice of black bread and butter each and socalled lemonade, which tasted like soap and water. With all that we poor souls had to rise at 3.30 am., steal out of smart our hotel we paid overnight, and crawled back to the Station. There we had some sort of a breakfast, and got into a first class carriage and rejoiced over the comfort.

The Austrian and his wife, whom we had been introduced to at Pscov, were coming on to Berlin only travelling second. We invited them to lunch and dinner as our guests in the Dining Car. There we did ourselves well wine and everything. It was the only thing for me to do, as I was really ill, not only on account of my nerves beginning to give out, but I had an awful throat as we had been all this time on a train with no water to wash, and none for the lavatories.

Monday morning we arrived early in Berlin and dared not go to an hotel as I should have been arrested at once, so we went and washed in the Station, had a sort of a kind of a breakfast as there is very little to eat there and at 1 pm. we drove to the Danish Minister to ask what we must do. He went and talked to his wife who is an American and they decided to hide us in the Embassy. So we had very nice rooms and a bath room handed over to us. There for a week we lived in luxury and kindness. As Mr. Sorenseu is well known and very highly thought of in Berlin, he was free.

The Minister, Count Moltke, had to go and inform the German officials about everything but they knew from their agents all about us before we arrived. The Emperor William had to be approached as without his permission I could not go on and would have to be interned. However he not only very kindly allowed us to go on, but we had a reserved first class carriage and orders were sent ahead that again, on the Frontier, we were to be passed and neither we nor our luggage was to searched.

So, ten days ago we left Berlin I being the first English subject allowed through Germany during the War and we arrived in Copenhagen, intending to go and live quietly in an hotel, but that was not to be. As the train stopped a gentleman from the King said that he come to meet us and welcome us that a motor was waiting for him to bring us to the Palace as their Majesties wished us to come and stay with them. Can you imagine the extraordinary sort of Fairy Tale ending it gave me.

We had a lovely motor run for half an hour and when we arrived the Queen and her younger son came and shook hands and welcomed us so warmly and took us to our rooms themselves. As the King was away on business late, we did not see him until the next morning. When he came along to us at 9 o'clock he also shook hands and said "Welcome, Miss eame, most heartily, I am very glad to receive you here and you and the boy must settle down and be happy with us and I admire you for your bravery in undertaking such a dangerous journey." He sat and talked, giving me a chair also and as he had to go off to Copenhagen at 9.30 am. he came back and saw me in the evening. He asked me how I would like our rooms arranged and he gave the orders himself. Then I took to my bed for three days reaction and throat was too much for me.

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The Queen looked after Georgie for me and she would come and sit with me three times a day. Today the King sent for me after lunch, and introduced me to Prince Valdimar, his daughter and daughterinlaw. They have invited Georgie and me to tea.

To me it is wonderful how simple everything to do with Royalty is. I can't help noticing the difference of Royalty and some of our English titled people the latter give themselves such "airs and graces" and think it a great honour for the Governess, if once a year they shake hands with them, whereas with the really highly born they don't understand "snobbishness". A gentlewoman no matter whether she be rich or poor always remains a gentlewoman.

Imagine, in Russia I know Princes, Princesses and lots of the old aristocracy, who now have to earn money by cleaning the streets in Petrograd, selling homemade sweets, papers, etc., in the streets, doing typewriting and so on. They have almost nothing to eat. They do it and say nothing.

The park round this house is lovely. The Royal Family left last night for a small house they have, in the extreme orth of Denmark, where they will stay for one week. We could not go as the house is too small, but the end of June we shall go to the seaside where they have a big Palace, and we shall all be there during the Summer unless, of course, the Grand Duke is made free and allowed to leave Russia. Then I expect we should go to England. But we know nothing. The Band was playing outside the house yesterday during lunch it was delightful. The Crown Prince conducted twice from the balcony. I cannot get used yet, to the quiet and safety.

I am ruined over clothes, as everything is so expensive and nearly all our clothes had to remain behind. It seems nearer home now that we have English Whitsun. In Russia yes, the Almanack is changed, but everything to do with the Church is not, and yet with all, I long to be back in Russia for many reasons. It is so very Eastern.

ow I must close. With love to everyone. I am longing for letters, as it is months and months since I received one from anyone.

Yours lovingly,

MARGARET. "

Note : Gatchina lies about 29-miles to the South of St.Petersburg, previously Petrograd and Leningrad, and on the main road and railway to the South through Pskov and Dvinsk to Poland and Germany. Perm is a large city about 1,000-miles due West of Petrograd and the Ural mountains, which has been referred to as "the gateway to Siberia".

I decided that I would like to try to find out a little more about this "Grand Duke", but at first that proved not to be very easy. I was told by the Society for Co-Operation in Russian and Soviet Studies that there had been so many Grand Dukes that they were unable to help but they put me in touch with the Leeds Russian Archive at the University of Leeds and the following are extracts from a letter which I received in 1997 from Donald Crawford who told me that he and his wife were about to publish a book about the Grand Duke and his wife, and wrote :-

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"It was absolutely marvellous to receive a copy of the letter from Miss eame. Its arrival could not be more fortuitous the final draft of the book is going this week to the publishers in London and ew York. It is called "Michael and atasha".

Miss eame joined the staff of Grand Duke Michael in the early Summer of 1915. She was a friend of the previous governess, Miss Rata who had married in England in August 1914 and who was leaving to have a baby.

Grand Duke Michael was the only brother of Tsar icholas II and lived in a villa at Gatchina. In 1908 he had met and fallen in love with the very beautiful Madame athalie Wulfert, the wife of a fellow officer in his regiment; there was an immense scandal. In 1910 athalie atasha, as she was known gave birth to Michael's son, George. atasha had a daughter by her first marriage called Tata, born in 1903. In 1912 Michael and atasha were secretly married in Vienna, and banished from Russia for it. They moved to England and lived until the War at Knebworth House, Herts.

In 1914 Michael returned with atasha to Russia, became a War hero, and in March 1917, when his brother abdicated, (at the outbreak of the Russian revolution) he was proclaimed Emperor Michael II. He deferred the question of his crown to a Constituent Assembly which was due to be called six months later, but in the interval the provisional government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks.

Michael made an attempt to escape with his family at the end of October 1917, sending Miss eame with the children in his Packard to a "safe house" some miles from Gatchina, but it was the very day when the Bolsheviks arrived at his villa and seized his other cars. The escape was foiled, though Miss eame and the children were able to return to Gatchina without the plot being discovered.

Michael was arrested on March 7, 1917 (not February 7 as the letter says, though that may be a mistyping or a simple error) and exiled to Perm in the Urals on March 10th. atasha therefore decided that it was imperative to remove little George to safety. The Danish embassy (Michael's mother was Danish and George was thus a relative of the Danish king) agreed to help. The Danes were in charge of the repatriation of Austrian and German PoWs. The rest is the story in your letter.

Michael was murdered on 13 June 1918, the first Romanov to be killed by the Bolsheviks. atasha was arrested, but escaped from prison, and was smuggled out of Bolshevik Russia by the Germans to the Ukraine (which they controlled). Shortly afterwards the British evacuated her from Odessa and she arrived in England in early 1919, living firstly at Wadhurst, Sussex. George was brought back from Denmark by Miss eame just after Easter 1919. He first went to prep school and then to Harrow.

In 1927 his mother moved to Paris, and George went to the Sorbonne. In July 1931 he took his new sports car on a holiday to Cannes and en route it crashed and he died of his injuries the next day, just short of his 21st. birthday.

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Tata Miss eame's other charge married three times: (1) to Val Gielgud, brother of Sir John Gielgud and later head of BBC drama; (2) the music critic Cecil Gray, and (3) to Michael Majolier. She had two children and died in 1969.

atasha, running out of money, ended up in an attic at 11, rue Monsieur, on the Left Bank in Paris. In 1951 she got cancer, and was thrown out of her attic and taken to a charity hospital where she died in January 1952."

Donald Crawford's book provides much fascinating information about those times, as well as telling the story of the love of the Grand Duke Michael and Natasha. I have decided to add the following additional details for the interest of those who will read this "Story" of my NEAME forebears :-

The story of George's escape from Russia, which is told by Madge's letter to her sister, certainly provides a fascinating insight into Madge herself, who is described in THE book as "the redoubtable, Brighton-born, Miss Neame."

When she brought George to England in the Spring of 1919 he was 9-years old. His grandmother, the Dowager Empress of Russia who had left Russia with her daughter, Xenia, was staying at Marlborough House with her sister, the Dowager Queen Alexandra (widow of King Edward VII). When George moved from the boarding school in St.Leonards-on-Sea to Harrow he was registered as Count Brassow.

George and his mother had very limited finance at that time and this was one of the reasons why they moved to Paris where life was less expensive.

It was after his grandmother the Dowager Empress' death in 1928, that George and his father's two sisters shared a legacy which had been left by his grandmother. The legacy in those days of ,11,704 would today be worth about half-a-million pounds. George immediately used a part of his share to buy a new Chrysler sports car.

In July 1931, having finished his final exams at the Sorbonne, George and a Dutch friend, Edgar Moneanaar, drove off to spend a fortnight in Cannes in the South of France. The 19-year old boy, Edgar, was driving near Sens when the car skidded and hit a tree. Edgar was killed and George was severely injured and died the next day. George was buried in the fashionable cemetery at Passy near to the Trocadero in Paris.

Natasha remained in Paris during the years of occupation by the Germans from 1940 to 1945, when Tata's daughter, Pauline, found her grandmother living in poverty in a boxroom in the roof of an apartment block. She was later moved to a charity hospital where she died in January 1952 and was buried in the grave which she had purchased in 1931 beside her beloved George.

Those who may read this "book" and who remember the 1990s, may be interested and may smile upon reading a footnote on one of the pages of the book "Michael and Natasha", when remarking upon the extreme disapproval of the Empress Alexandra to her brother-in-law's marriage to Natasha. At that time society accepted the mistresses of King Edward VII of Great Britain and indeed Lillie Langtry and Mrs.Alice Keppel even enjoyed considerable status

350 because they were "royal mistresses". The footnote adds that Mrs.Keppel was the grand-mother of Camilla Parker Bowles, a close friend of Charles, Prince of Wales.

7(m). Barry , the thirteenth child was born in Brighton in 1881 . It is thought that he married (once if not twice) but present members of the family have no details of a marriage and those now living who knew him were only young at the time of his death. He is remembered as a "bon viveur" - "Mine Host" at the "Hind's Head Hotel" at Bray-on-Thames - where, at the time, he had one of the outstanding restaurants in the country. The quality of his welcome and the standard of the food and wine which were served made him a friend to "the wise and wealthy" from all over the South of England.

On one occasion he made a brief visit to St.Malo during the Summer holiday in 1939, when I was only eleven years old, and when "the Insley family" were gathered for a month's camping on the coast near to Rotheneuf, near St.Malo. One of the "campers" was Auntie Stella RAMSEY, daughter of Barry's sister, Molly, and Jim RAMSEY. Stella lived at Kingsclere, no distance from Bray, to which Barry invited her quite often as both got on well together and both enjoyed the food and wine which Barry was able to offer to his guests. Barry's visit to St.Malo in 1939 is remembered by some of the other children who were there at the time. On one occasion, as he took us on the tram from Parame to St.Malo, he embarrassed me when, I am now sure without any intention of being a "superior Englishman", he refused to accept the centimes coins, which were offered to him by the conductor as change for the notes which he had tendered, as he did not want his pockets full of these French coins! He was later to take us all out to lunch in St.Malo - adults and children - which was the first time that I had ever been taken out to a restaurant for a "posh" meal. I remember little else about the occasion apart from the fact that Uncle Barry insisted that I should be allowed to "try" a little wine - with some added water! Many years later, about 1945, I did visit him at "The Hind's Head" hotel with Auntie Stella, when I was doing my "articles" in Bournemouth, but I really remember nothing about that visit. He died early in 1946 - one of the last of the "real characters" of the family.

7(n). Guy orman (1873) was the first of the three children of Norman NEAME and Sarah TOZER. He was an engineer and electrician in Southampton, Hampshire, and married Annie Eleanor PARRY, nee THOMAS. They had a daughter Guy Irene Cherry born in 1901.

7(o). Helen "ell" Mary was born in Hampstead in 1875 . She did not marry and died in 1927.

7(p). Charles Kingsley was also born in Hampstead, in 1877 . He died at sea in 1898 when he was only 21, before having been married.

8th Generation 8(a). Stella (18971972) , the first child of Mary Ethel NEAME and Jim RAMSEY, must have learnt from her unmarried NEAME aunts how to live a full and satisfying life without being married and, in the custom of those days, without living with an unmarried "partner". Stella was a

351 primary school teacher and for many years taught at the Kingsclere school in Hampshire where she was to become a valued and much loved member of the staff at that school.

I have referred, in the brief story of her uncle, Barry NEAME, to the pleasure which she obtained from dining with him. She was a regular visitor to her INSLEY/ROBINSON cousins in St.Malo and her own cottage in her village was a popular "stop" for her many friends, cousins, nephews and nieces who came to visit her there where, even with her limited income, she always made her visitors most welcome. She was always "full of fun" and took a great interest in all that her nephews and nieces were doing. She was regarded as a "favourite aunt" and a wonderful example of the way in which a spinster could have a happy and fulfilling life.

8(b). Richard "Dick" was born in 1899 and married Jean ANDERSON. They had two children; Ann was born in 1926 and later married Dick GORDON, and John.

8(c). Austin Francis Tyrell , the son of Edward NEAME and Emily TYRROL was born in Persia in 1897 . I have already mentioned that he died of "plague" - possibly smallpox - when only two years old a couple of years before his mother, and later his father, were to die from the same cause.

8(d). Hetherington "Heth" Stewart Arthur WHITE born in 1893 and was the first of the two children of Mildred and Arthur WHITE.

8(e). Elizabeth "Betty" (19011933) was Mildred's second child.

8(f). Stewart Geoffrey Rex "Rex" (born in South Africa in 1902 ) was the son of Lawrence and Evelyn. Rex married Sybil Constance BOWDEN in 1930 in Ardingley, Sussex and they had three children: Susie Jill was born in Johannesburgh in 1936, Joyce Sally in 1942 and Thomas Armstrong who was born in 1944.

8(g). Philip Winstone born in 1906 was the first of the three sons of Frederick Stewart NEAME and Alice BARNS. He died at the age of only sixteen in Greenwich, London.

8(h). Stewart Carol Barns (19071972) was at one time the Bursar of Eltham College. He did not marry.

8(i). Christopher Hardwick was born in 1909 . Of the thirteen children of George NEAME (1837- 1911) Christopher was only the ninth, and last, of the descendants of this generation. He became a company manager in London. In 1938 he married Sylvia THORNLEY and they had a child, Deborah Christine, in 1942.

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8(j). Guy Irene Cherry, born in Southampton in 1901 was the daughter of Guy Norman and Annie NEAME.

9th Generation 9(a). Ann RAMSEY was born in 1926 . She married Dick GORDON about 1950. They lived in Scotland and had four children: Alison (1952), Fergus(1956), Joanna(1959) and Robin (1961). Dick died when his children were quite young.

9(b). John RAMSEY (born about 1928) .

9(c). Susie Jill (born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1936 ) was the eldest of the three children of Stewart Geoffrey Rex "Rex" NEAME and his wife Sybil. She has not married.

9(d). Joyce Sally (1942) married Colin Francis WORE in 1965. They do not have any children.

9(e). Thomas Armstrong (1944) married Wendy Marguerite HONG of Port Alfred in 1969. They have two children : Stewart James (1970) and Geoffrey Graham (1973).

9(f). Deborah Christine (born 1942) is the child of Christopher and Sylvia NEAME. In 1963 Deborah married Alan George NOEL.

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Sixteen WRIGHT (or WRAIGHT) FAMILY

The Story of my EAME FAMILY ancestors is one of the longer and more interesting stories which are included in this book. This story of our branch of the NEAME family starts with Austen NEAME who was baptised in 1663 in Kent.

Austen's great, great-grandson, Thomas Armstrong NEAME seems to have been one of my more "unconventional" forebears and in my history of this branch of the EAME FAMILY I have mentioned the difficulties which I have encountered in trying to trace, nearly 200-years later, the records which relate to him and to his children.

As I would like to make some mention of at least one family out of each "couple" who are shown in the concentric family tree who all together make up my thirty-two great, great, great- grand- parents I have selected the WRIGHT or WRAIGHT FAMILY.

At the moment, however, it is proving hard to trace this family back very much more than 200- years, just one generation before Mary. I know that Mary, the daughter of Richard, was baptised in Chislet in Kent in 1804 and that her future husband, Thomas Armstrong NEAME, was also baptised in the same parish church in 1806.

1st Generation That I have researched ! Mary's father, Richard WRAIGHT , or should it have been WRIGHT ?, is at present the first known member of this family and it is he who is one of my great, great, great-grandfathers.

Richard was probably born about 1765 . As he was later a farmer, it is likely that his own father was a farmer as well. One day I may be able to trace this family a little further back, but at the moment this is proving to be difficult.

I know that in 1790 Richard married Martha ALLEN in Chislet parish church. Martha had been baptised in the same church in October 1768, the daughter of Thomas ALLEN and his wife Ann. There are records of two children having been born to this couple - a son, George, was baptised in Chislet church in 1792 and their daughter, Mary, was baptised in 1804.

2nd Generation 2(a) . At the moment I know nothing about George apart from his baptism in August 1792 in Chislet, Kent. If he did not survive, marry and have children it would seem that this branch of the family may have no present day descendants with this surname.

2(b) . Mary was baptised in 1804 in the same parish church. Whilst I am still trying to trace some of the facts about Mary's early life, yet I have mentioned in my story of the NEAME family that Thomas Armstrong NEAME, baptised in Chislet church in 1806, was reputed to have "run off 357

358 with another man's wife". I have found evidence, which I am checking, that Mary may have had a boy child even before her marriage to a Mr.DARBY, perhaps about 1825 to 1835.

If Mary was indeed married to a Mr.DARBY, her marriage to Mr.DARBY could not have lasted for very long - at a time when divorces were very rare - and it seems that Mary must have decided to leave her husband (Mr.DARBY) and go and live with Thomas Armstrong NEAME or that her husband left her. Perhaps he was a sailor and did not return home?

I have still not found any record of Mary marrying a Mr.DARBY between 1820 and 1837, which might then throw some further light on this family "puzzle". At about the same time, however, there was a couple, John and Sarah DARBY, who were then living in the parish of Chislet, as the register of baptisms in that parish includes an entry :- "28 Dec.1823 Sarah Ann daughter of John & Sarah DARBY, Labourer." Perhaps this family may have had some link with Mary.

Information which was passed down through the family to Alan NEAME, see my story of the NEAME FAMILY, and which he passed on to my mother, indicates that about 1835 Thomas and Mary had their first child, Mary Anne, who was reputed to have been born in Hoath, Kent, the neighbouring parish to Chislet. However evidence of a baptism of Mary Anne has also not yet been found. As no baptism has yet been traced and as the birth took place before the introduction of compulsory registration of births, marriages and deaths, the early records of this daughter are unknown. Two years later a new Act of Parliament was introduced, which required the compulsory registration of births and one can imagine that there was widespread publicity to make sure that everybody was aware of this new law.

When Thomas and Mary had a second child, George, in September 1837 the child's birth was registered and the certificate records that the father was Thomas Armstrong NEAME and the child's mother was Mary DARBY, "a widow" , (formerly Mary WRIGHT), who was described as "a single woman". The certificate also records that it was Mary DARBY, the mother, who registered the birth, thus confirming that at that time the child's parents were not married. The Registrar recorded that Mary had told him that her son's father was a farmer.

It seems surprising that if Mary was, in reality a widow when George NEAME was born in 1837 that Mary had not yet married Thomas Armstrong NEAME and did not do so until 1847. For the purpose of registering her son, George's birth, perhaps Mary and Thomas had decided that it was better to state that Mary was a "widow" rather than to disclose, to the Registrar, that she was a married woman but that the child was not her husband's. This would be of relatively limited importance these days but certainly the situation was very different 165-years ago.

Thomas and Mary had five more children whilst they were still living in Kent. Their story is told in the EAME FAMILY story, where I have also mentioned that it was not until April 1847 that Thomas and Mary were married - in London.

The record of Mary's marriage to Thomas Armstrong NEAME appears in the old parish records of St.Martin's in the Fields, London, which records Thomas as being a Bachelor of full age, the son of Thomas NEAME, whilst his bride is recorded as Mary DARBY (a widow and daughter of Richard WRAIGHT, a farmer).

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At that time of Thomas Armstrong's marriage to Mary in 1847 they were both shown as living in Castle Street, in that parish. This must have been an "accommodation address" for the purposes of the wedding, as they had been living together in Canterbury and, after their marriage, they were soon to move, with their six children, to East Dereham in the heart of Norfolk, where their last two children were to be born.

Thomas Armstrong and Mary continued to live in East Dereham and they saw their 23-year old daughter, Ann, married there to George Robert CLARK, a local farmer, in 1864. Mary died in 1867 and did not, therefore, also see her elder daughter, Mary Ann, married in 1873 to Thomas Bobbitt EDWARDS, a wine merchant from Sheffield.

Thomas Armstrong remained there after Mary's death and at the time of the 1871 census his 27- year old daughter, Sarah Ann NEAME, was living with him. The census return also records that living with him in the same house was his "grand-daughter" Edith Mary WRIGHT, who was then aged 8-years.

The certificate of Edith Mary WRIGHT's birth in 1862 shows that her father was John Garrett WRIGHT who may have been born about 1825-1830. If Edith was Thomas' granddaughter then her father, John Garrett must have been the son of Thomas' wife, Mary, - also suggesting that Mary WRIGHT might have been born about 20-years earlier. As John Garrett's surname was WRIGHT this suggests that his own birth must have occurred before his mother Mary WRIGHT was married to "Mr.DARBY". This is still a confusing detail of my own ancestry which I hope to clarify one day.

The full story of the lives of Mary and Thomas Armstrong NEAME, with their children, is included in the EAME FAMILY Story.

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Seventeen GRIX FAMILY

Whilst writing the NEAME FAMILY story I have referred to an old family "tradition" that Fanny GRIX, who was born in 1841, was an illegitimate grandchild of King George IV. Before rejecting this as wishful thinking - even after accepting the idea of being descended from King George IV on the "wrong side of the blanket" - let us look at the historical facts.

King George III's eldest son, George Augustus Frederick, was born at St.James' Palace on 12th.August 1762. He married his first cousin, Princess Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, at St.James' Palace on 8th.April 1795. They had only one child, Charlotte Augusta, who was born on 7th.January 1796. When she was 20-years old Charlotte married Prince Leopold George Frederick of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coborg on 2nd.May 1816. They also had only one child, a son, who was still-born on 6th.November 1817. Princess Charlotte died in August 1821, a month after her husband's coronation. Prince Leopold later became the King of the Belgians in 1831. His father-in-law, King George IV died in 1830.

That all seems to be very complicated - but boils down to the fact that King George III had a son George, who married his cousin Princess Caroline. They had only one child, Charlotte. Princess Charlotte later married Prince Leopold of the Belgians by whom she had only one child, who was still-born. Charlotte died before having any further children.

If Prince George and Princess Caroline discovered, after the birth of their daughter in 1796, that Caroline could have no more children did George seek solace elsewhere?

If Fanny GRIX was indeed a grandchild of the Prince George, later King George IV, it must have been her father, John, who was the illegitimate child of Prince George. Fanny's father, John, was recorded as the fifth child of William GRIX and Elizabeth TAYLOR and all five children were baptised in the Church of St.Dunstan, Stepney.

Nothing is yet known about William apart from the fact that one can deduce that he was probably born about 1770/80. Fanny's mother was Jane, also a fifth child, of John and Mary TURNER, who lived in Portslade in Sussex and whose five children were baptised there between 1797 and 1806.

Alan NEAME, a President of the Kent Family History Society, wrote to me in 1979 to say that he now thought that "it turns out that Fanny was an illegitimate grand-daughter of a Duke of Norfolk ("on the wrong side of the blanket") and not a grandchild of King George IV." He suggested that there was something in the family rumour of high descent, but that it was ducal and not royal! Is this correct?

Another story is told by John Neame, who now holds many of the NEAME family records, who told me that Fanny was thought to have been a god child, rather than a grand child, of King

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George IV. Once again there seems to be no way of confirming which, if either, of these stories is correct.

Whatever may be the truth of the situation it is something that may never be known for sure. Certainly the baptism of an illegitimate child of the Prince would not have been arranged and recorded with the name of the true father nor, at that time, was there was any compulsory national registration of births. The wayward father is unlikely to have left any written evidence and, in the manner of those times, either the mother would have been given a good dowry, which would have enabled her to find a husband without difficulty, or a willing couple would have been found who would accept the child and would have brought up the child as one of their own - with discreet periodic financial help.

One can speculate, and ask what was the original source of the funds which must have been needed before Fanny's father, John GRIX, was able to establish the imposing and well-renowned "Surrey House School" in Littlehampton.

It is all speculation, but who would have thought that in 1918 Fanny's youngest daughter, "Madge", would one day help to rescue from the Bolshevik Russians the son of the last Emperor Michael II of Russia! The story of that rescue is told in the NEAME FAMILY story and is also included in a book, which was published at the end of 1997 in London and New York, by Donald Crawford entitled "Michael and Natasha".

The limited research which I have carried out into the GRIX family has disclosed the following basic information :-

1st Generation That I have researched! The introduction to the story of this branch of our ancestors has shown that my knowledge of this family starts with William GRIX who was probably born about 1770/80.

Although there is no entry of the marriage of William GRIX at Stepney at about 1798/99 yet "William GRIX and Elizabeth" are shown as the parents of five children all of whom were baptised at St.Dunstan's Church, Stepney, London. These church registers record the following baptisms :- William (Feb.1799), John (Apr.1800), Stephen (Oct.1801), Esther (Jan.1804) and another John, from whom I am descended, in Jan.1809. In those days couples from humble backgrounds could not always afford to get married.

I was interested then to find that some years later, in November 1813, William married Elizabeth TAYLOR, the daughter of James TAYLOR and Alice, at St.Leonard's, Shoreditch, London. Elizabeth had been baptised in the same church in April 1778.

In 1840 William and Elizabeth's last child, John, was himself married to Jane TURNER in Littlehampton, in Sussex, and their marriage certificate refers to John's father as William GRIX, deceased, a "Gentleman". As Jane's father, Robert TURNER, a farmer, had died and been buried in 1809, the priest who married John and Jane would have had no means of knowing whether John GRIX's father was a "Gentleman" or not.

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2nd Generation 2(a)and (b). I know nothing about William and John apart from the dates of their baptisms in February 1799 and in April 1800 .

2(c). Stephen , who was baptised in October 1801 . A search has also revealed that he was buried in May 1805 at St.Dunstan's church. The church register records that he was 3-years and 6-months old and that the cause of his death was "decline". The register also mentions that the "cost of the ground" and the ringing of "a second bell was 9-shillings" and that the family were then living at Mile End in Old Town.

2(d). Esther was baptised in Jan.1804 .

2(e). Five years later another son, John , was baptised in Jan.1809 . This John was born five years after the other four children of William GRIX and Elizabeth. That is not extraordinary. The "first" John may have died but although, as I have mentioned, there was a reference to the death and burial of the third child, Stephen, yet no trace has been found of the death and burial of the second child, John.

Perhaps, this couple, living in Stepney and already with small children of their own, might have seemed to be a "suitable" couple to be asked to take responsibility for another child, upon the understanding that they would be given financial help whilst John was a child and whilst he was later being trained to be a school teacher. If these suppositions are correct it is likely that at some stage John would have learnt the story of his own origins and, if this was the case, it is bound to have influenced his own approach to the world.

I have mentioned that John GRIX married Jane TURNER, the daughter of Robert TURNER and Charlotte WOODCOCK, at Littlehampton in Sussex in December 1840. The entry of their marriage in the church register refers for the first time to John GRIX being a schoolmaster. When John registered the birth of their daughter, Fanny, 3-months later on 13 March 1841 he again said that he was a "school master".

Again when the census was taken in June 1841, John, his wife, Jane and their baby daughter, Fanny, were included at the "Academy" in that part of Littlehampton called "Beech Houses" when he was described as "schoolmaster".

One can imagine the 31-year old school teacher meeting and falling in love with Jane TURNER, at that time aged 34, and then, when they discovered that Jane was pregnant, John turning to his "benefactor" and asking for help in starting his own school.

John and Jane later had a second daughter, Jane, who was born in 1845.

The exact date when John GRIX started, or took over, "Surrey House School" in Littlehampton is not known but when John died in 1861 it is recorded that he had been the principal of this

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367 school for 20-years, which suggests that he must have acquired this post in 1841 - presumably soon after the birth of his first daughter and the date when the census had been taken.

When the 1851 census was taken ten years later the return listed 43 pupils, followed by 10 "assistants" and "servants", together with a Doctor, who gave his place of birth as Odessa. The pupils included sons of a surgeon, a solicitor, a clergyman, a Captain, a "gentleman", an artist and a builder and there is no doubt that John GRIX ran a popular and successful school.

I was interested to discover that at the date of this census on 30th.March 1851 neither John's wife nor his two daughters were listed as being at the school and presumably the family had a separate home in the town.

An old photograph shows the school clearly as being an imposing brick built house with large rooms on the upper ground and first floors. In the style of the time there were rooms on the lower ground floor which would probably have contained the boys' dining room, kitchen and, perhaps, other rooms which the boys would have used. There were also "staff" rooms on the second floor. There was additional accommodation in several single storied buildings at the rear of the main house and the grounds alongside, perhaps used as a playing field, included a flag pole which was at least 40-feet high, from which the Union Jack would surely have been displayed and lowered each evening.

The details which are revealed by the next census in 1861, and relating to Surrey House School, show that Fanny GRIX, aged 20, and Jane GRIX, aged 16, both of whom were described as unmarried daughters of the "Head" of the family, were living at Surrey House on the day of that census, 7th-8th. April 1861.

Again I was puzzled that neither John GRIX, their father and the Principal of the school, nor their mother, Jane, were resident there that day, but further research "found" them as being resident at their home at Funtington.

This 1861 census return provides some interesting details regarding the residents of Surrey House. In addition to the "absence" of John and Jane GRIX, it is also interesting to note that none of the teaching staff were living at the school. There were 41 scholars, between the ages of 9-years and 15-years. With the exception of a 15-year old kitchen maid, all of the household staff were aged between 18 and 29. Both the Footman and the Matron were married (though not to each other) and both of them were 28-years old. In addition to the footman there was a young male gardener and a male indoor servant. The other household servants included a cook and a scullery maid, two housemaids and two laundry maids, besides the young kitchen maid, whom I have mentioned. Those ten indoor staff "looked after" the 41 young pupils. There were, of course, also John and Jane GRIX and the teaching staff, but as they did not "live in" they were not included in the census return at Surrey House.

How did a young school teacher, who had been born in Stepney, manage to finance the establishment of a private school in Littlehampton, which certainly became very popular and attracted the children of parents who would later subscribe to the memorial which was erected in the parish church? We may never know.

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John died, in August 1861, just four months after the 1861 census had been taken, when he was only 52-years old.

Not only had John been the principal of a successful school but he must have been liked and appreciated by both scholars and their parents as, following his death, a memorial was placed in the parish church at South Bersted, Sussex, about 10-miles from Littlehampton, which reads:-

"In memory of John Grix Esq. who was for 20-years Principal of Surrey House School, Littlehampton. He died August 4th. 1861 aged 52-years. His remains are interred at South Bersted, Sussex. This tablet was erected by his late pupils as a tribute of their respect and affection."

The death certificate which was issued after John's death gives the cause of death as "Apoplexy - 8-hours." The person reporting the death to the Registrar was Jane Sparks, who was stated to have been present at the death, but her connection with the family is not known. Perhaps she was a nurse.

John's wife, Jane, survived her husband by nearly 15-years, dying in 1876.

3rd Generation 3(a). Fanny was born in 1841 , three months after the marriage of her parents. Nothing is yet known about her early years.

Four months after the death of her father, John, when she was 21-years old, Fanny married George NEAME, in Worthing, who was then aged 24. George, too, was a schoolmaster and was to take over his father-in-law's Surrey House School and he and Fanny lived in Rustington, only two miles from the School.

George and Fanny had thirteen children and in later years Fanny was always known as "Nanama". Their story is told as a part of the EAME FAMILY story, where is recorded that another memorial, to the two of them, is to be found in the Rustington Parish Church - not in the form of a plaque which was erected by pupils, but a stained glass window which was provided by their children and shows George and "Nanama" surrounded by their 13-small children. Fanny died in December 1910 and George died only a month later at the home of one of his children in Chelsea, London.

3(b). Jane , the second child of John and Jane GRIX was born in 1845 . I have mentioned that at the time of the April 1861 census Jane was with her sister, Fanny, at Surrey House School but, at the moment, nothing more is known about her.

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370

Eighteen TURER FAMILY

The wife of John GRIX was Jane TURNER and, as the last of the families whom I have researched on my mother's "side", I am, at the moment, only able to record very limited information about this family.

Jane was the seventh of nine children of Robert TURNER and it is with him that this very brief "story" must start.

1st Generation That I have researched! Robert TURER was a farmer at the time of his marriage to Charlotte WOODCOCK in 1789 in the parish church of Merton, Surrey. Although I have not yet traced Robert's baptism, yet it is likely that he was born about 1765 , as he was noted to be 44-years old when he died and was buried in November 1809.

The limited research that I have carried out has not provided an explanation as to why Robert and Charlotte, who married in Merton, only about 8-miles to the South of Westminster in the present City of London, should then have settled in South Bersted, a few miles to the South East of Chichester in the County of Sussex.

Robert's will, made five months before his death, makes reference to his freehold and leasehold properties and also records "And whereas I have lately covenanted with my nephew William Hardwick (who married his elder daughter, Sarah) to enter into the brewing business and began to build a Brewhouse, Cellar, etc." Perhaps, one day, I will be able to find out a little more about Robert.

Robert and Charlotte had nine children, all of whom were baptised at South Bersted, Sussex : Sarah (b.1790); Ann (b.1791); Martha (b.1792); Charlotte (b.1794); Elizabeth (b.1796); Richard William (b.1797); Jane (b.1802); Nathaniel (b.1805) and Mary Ann (b.1808).

I have mentioned that Robert died in November 1809 at South Bersted, where the parish register recorded his age as 44-years. About two-and-a-half years later Charlotte married again to John STOCKER, who was shown as a widower in the marraige register.

2nd Generation 2(a). Sarah (b.1790) was married at South Bersted in April 1812 to William HARDWICK and I have mentioned that he seems to have been involved in the brewing business.

2(b). Ann (b.1791) was married to Benjamin HORNE in June 1817, also at South Bersted.

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2(c). Martha (b.1792) married John WHITE at South Bersted in April 1815, when she was only 13- years old! They had a daughter, Charlotte, who was baptised at Slaugham in 1823. I wonder whether the date of their marriage was correctly recorded.

2(d). Charlotte (b.1794).

2(e). Elizabeth (b.1796) married George PESKETT at South Bersted in 1841 and had twin sons George and William nine months later. Like their cousin Charlotte WHITE they too were baptised in Slaugham. 2(f). Richard William (b.1797) married Mary TALMY when he was 33-years old. They had two children Fanny, born in 1833, and Richard Talmy, born in 1838.

Richard's wife, Mary TALMY must have died about that time as he married a second time in about 1860 to Caroline Jane (possibly BREEN). They had a child Robert Breen TURNER in July 1861.

2(g). Jane (b.1802) married a schoolmaster, John Grix, in Littlehampton in 1840. Jane's story is told with that of her husband in the GRIX FAMILY Story.

2(h). athaniel (b.1805) married Judith about 1826. Their three children were baptised at South Bersted, Robert William (b.1827); Walter Nathaniel (b.1828) and Mary Ann (b.1833).

2(i). Mary Ann (b.1808) was the last of the children of Robert TURNER and Charlotte WOODCOCK, but I have traced nothing about her besides her baptism.

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Epilogue

After I had started to write the "stories" of the different families who, together, make up my ancestors I felt that I needed to provide an introduction which would explain my reasons for attempting to write this collection of personal stories. Now, having prepared my draft I have realised that something was missing and, whilst wondering what this might be, I remembered the Maori story of "Kingfisher Come Home", which Witi Ihimaera has kindly agreed that I may include as an introduction.

Some who read this book may, from time to time, wonder what relevance I place upon these old personal "histories". I can imagine that some of the members of the families, whose stories I have included, may even feel aggrieved that I have mentioned a personal quality, or characteristic, of a member of one family whilst I had written very little about a member of their own family. Any such omissions have not been intentional and may only have occurred because, in my old age, I have forgotten something which I may have known many years ago. They may even be due to my never having known the event or quality of personality of which someone else has such clear recollections. A member of one family may have been a "high flier", whilst another may not have had such an eventful life. How, you may ask, have I viewed those whose names appear in this book.

Once again I have decided to turn for help to somebody whom I have met, although only briefly, who has put into words my own thoughts on this matter - but in a manner which I would never have achieved.

In September 1999, The Reverend Canon David W.S.James, Honorary Canon of Southwell Minster and Rector of St.Leonard's, Wollaton, Nottingham, gave a sermon at Southwell Minster, which I will not forget. He later gave me a written copy and I close this book by including his sermon, with his agreement, which reminds us how our Heavenly Father looks at each one of us.

"It was before the days of workers' rights and Trades Unions, let alone the minimum wage. The owner of the vineyard could employ whom he liked and pay them what he liked. There was no redress. But there was a good deal of grumbling. "It isn't fair!, said those who had been labouring all day. "This is all right!" said those who had been loafing around for most of the day and who had only worked an hour. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like that. Strange, you would have thought that God would have rewarded the effort that people put into life.

It makes me ask, what are we worth?

Let's bring it up to date. Imagine a large national employer who pays all the branch managers the same it doesn't matter how long they have worked, how big the branch is, how intensive their training, how successful they are in attracting customers, they all get the same. Even if they do some extra work and get paid for it, the employer takes the extra pay from them so that equality is preserved. On the face of it that doesn't seem fair. And yet, as those of you who know something about the peculiarities of the Church of England will have recognised, that is how the clergy of our Church are paid. It's a different system from the reward of effort and initiative 376 practiced by most employers. But, in case you think that I am grumbling, I actually think it is extremely fair. It's just different.

Or take a family. Allow me to quote my own. I have three sons, two of whom work for large multinational employers doing responsible jobs and earning indecent quantities of money. The other son teaches children who have been excluded from every school on the East coast of Scotland. They are violent and abusive, but he gets through to them. He earns about a quarter of the other two. It doesn't seem fair.

What's all this doing in a sermon, you may ask. Jesus told a parable about what people are worth in the kingdom of heaven. He told the parable because his enemies, good upright religious people, thought that they were worth more than the motley band Jesus had been attracting by his preaching. They, the upright lot, worshipped and fasted and prayed and gave alms and kept laws. The others, Jesus' friends, had come in at the last minute and Jesus was accepting them without any tests on an equal par with the righteous. Jesus did not even teach equality in God's sight because he said that the tax collectors and prostitutes had more chance of entering the kingdom of heaven than those who had lived good religious lives. He also said that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just people who need no repentance. Speaking as a lifelong Christian to members of the Minster community, good Godfearing citizens that you are, I'm sure that you will agree with me that it doesn't seem fair.

How does God measure worth and how do we measure worth? It's easier to answer the second question first. We, in our society, tend to measure worth by how much we earn, what letters we have after our names or what titles we have in front of them, how well we did at school, whether we went to university or not, and if we did which one. We measure worth by how well we play games or how witty our conversation is or how large our house or how colourful our garden. People are worth more in society's eyes if they are married rather than single, employed rather than unemployed, housed rather than homeless, and let's face up to it, white rather than black.

But how does God measure worth? It would be tempting to say that all are equal in the sight of God and in a sense they would be right. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free. But sayings of Jesus scattered around the Gospels seem to suggest that God measures worth in different ways for different people. The worth of a penitent sinner is measured in a different way from that of someone who has always lived uprightly. The worth of one who feeds the hungry and gives shelter to the homeless is measured differently from that of someone who passes them by, or of the homeless themselves. The outcast, the poor, those suffering from leprosy in the days of the Gospels are all given worth according to a different measure from the comfortable and the rich and the healthy.

If I may I will quote my family again. Even in my imperfect humanity, I do not measure my children's worth by the world's standards. I do not think that my highearning sons are worth more than my lowearning one. But neither do I think that the one who works with difficult children more worthy than the ones who work in industry. I love them as my children. I can see their good points and their bad, I suffer for them and I rejoice with them.

And if I, a mere human, am like this, how much more so is God. He loves us equally but measures our worth in different ways. He does not look at the quantity of our faith, but how we use what little we may have. He does not enter our good works in a ledger and count them up

377 against our failings, but makes much of every change of heart. Only the selfrighteous can complain against the generosity of God, because the selfrighteous think that they have earned a greater share of his love.

If God measures our worth in different ways but out of a common love for all of his children, should it not enable us to see our fellow humans through different eyes? ot for us the snares of wealth or cleverness or beauty or any of the other common measures of modern society. Our only measure of our fellows is to look at them through God's eyes and see them as the children he loves. It is not easy for us. It isn't easy for God. The cross is the symbol of His costly love.

That is how God measures our worth. "

Val. B. Insley

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Index

Chapter

ABBEY-WILLIAMS Pamela Mary - c.1920 12 ACKERMAN Russell - c.1900 5 ADAM Julie - c.1960 12 ADAMS John - c.1770 1 ALDAM Annie Katrine - 1992 12 ALLEN Brian - 1939- 1 ALLEN Julia Evelyn - 1970- 1 ALLEN Laura Jennifer - 1977- 1 ALLEN Martha - 1768- 16 ALLEN Philip Anthony - 1973- 1 ALLEN Sidney - c.1910 12 ANDERSON Graeme - c.1960 10 ANLEY Sara - c.1600 6 ANLEY Philip - c.1815 6 ANSELL Lucy Ruth - 1967- 1 ALERS-HANKEY Felicity - 1936- 1 ANDERSON Jean - c.1900 15 ARMSTRONG Sophia - c.1778-1809 15 ARTHUR Catherine - 1720 6 ARTHUR Marie - 1815-1815 9 ASTLEY Kate - c.1785 12 AUSTIN Claire Winston - 1955 10 AUSTIN Gerald Winston - 1914 10 AUSTIN Nancy Lynne - 1948 10 AUSTIN Robin Ann - 1944 10

BADIER Jeanne - 1751-1798 6 BAIKIE Alan Mathieson - c.1950 12 BAIKIE Charlotte Helen - 1986 12 BAIKIE Elizabeth Jane - 1979 12 BAIKIE Thomas Charles - 1982 12 BAKER James - c.1825 1 BALEINE Catherine - c.1630 6 BANNISTER Joshua - c.1800 1 BARLOW Isabella - 1835-c.1935 12 BARNS Alice Minnie - c.1880-1944 15 BARTILL (HARTILL) Ann - 1762-1833 1 BAYLIS Elizabeth - c.1800 1 BEALE Anne - c.1800 15 BEAVEN Margaret Isabel - 1884-1974 12 BELL-BOOTH Amy - c.1978 12 379

BELL-BOOTH James Rex - c.1980 12 BELL-BOOTH Mark Rex - c.1955 12 BELL-BOOTH Rebecca Jane - c.1976 12 BELLEROSE Charles - c.1905-1990 5 BENNETT Ceanna - c.1950 10 BERTAUT Esther - c.1785 6 BERTAUT Philippe - c.1780 5 BERTAUT Philippe - c.1800 5 BETTLES Trevor - c.1950 10 BIBBY Ellen - c.1840 12 BICHARD Marguerite - c.1625 7 BICKERTON Elizabeth - c.1775-1867 12 BIDWELL Julia - c.1850 12 BIENVENUE George Martin - c.1820-c.1845 9 BILLINGHAM Mary - c.1770 1 BINGHAM Henry Abel - 1749 12 BIRCH George Martin Ravenshaw - c.1905-1919 10 BIRCH Henry - c.1865 10 BIRCH Mary - c.1796-1868 13 BISHOP ?? - c.1835 1 BISSELL Joyes/Joyce - c.1643-1675 1 BISSON Elizabeth - c.1580 6 BLANDFORD L. - c.1850 5 BLONDEL Elizabeth - c.1778 4 BODKIN Ellen Sophia - c.1850-c.1930 12 BOND George Gordon - c.1905-1959 5 BONFELLOW Lydia - c.1735 12 BONHOMME Jeanne - c.1612 6 BONIFACE Susanna - c.1840 18 BONNEY Ann Josephine - 1934- 1 BORNEMISSZA George Francis - 1924- 1 BORNEMISSZA Zoltan Francis - 1973- 1 BOWDEN Sybil Constance - c.1905 15 BOWEN Sarah - c.1791 12 BOYD Eliza - 1841-1902 8 BOYD George - 1818 8 BOYD Henry - 1819-1845 8 BOYD Henry - 1844 8 BOYD Jean - 1821 8 BOYD John - c.1784-1850 8 BOYD John - 1828 8 BOYD Marie Charlotte - 1823-1823 8 BOYD Mary - 1824-1841 8 BOYD Mary - 1840-1841 8 BRAGUNIER Nettie Maude - 1872-1945 10 BRISCOE Ethel - c.1870 12

380

BRISCOE George - c.1870 12 BRISCOE Helen - c.1870 12 BRISCOE John - c.1870 12 BRISCOE John Edward - c.1825 12 BRISCOE Margaret - c.1870 12 BRISCOE Walter - c.1830 12 BRISTOW-JONES Harriet - 1987 12 BRISTOW-JONES Jennifer - 1949 12 BRISTOW-JONES Jessie - 1985 12 BRISTOW-JONES Leslie - c.1920 12 BRISTOW-JONES Susan - 1946 12 BRISTOW-JONES William - 1952 12 BRITTAIN (BRETTON) Daniel - c.1670 14 BRITTAIN Daniel - 1698 14 BRITTAIN Elizabeth - 1766-1767 14 BRITTAIN George - 1763 14 BRITTAIN Jane - 1805 14 BRITTAIN John - 1722 14 BRITTAIN John - 1759 14 BRITTAIN John - 1802 14 BRITTAIN Margaret - 1730 14 BRITTAIN Martha - 1806 14 BRITTAIN Mary - 1764 14 BRITTAIN Robert - 1768-1768 14 BRITTAIN Sarah - 1765 14 BRITTAIN (BRETTON) Thomas - 1698 14 BRITTAIN Thomas - 1762 14 BRITTAIN William - 1760 14 BRITTAIN William - 1767 14 BROOKER Reginald - 1930-1996 1 BROOKS Mary - 1777 2 BROOKS Robert - c.1800 1 BROWN Iain - c.1945 10 BROWN William - c.1830 6 BUCHTLER Harold Richard - 1920-c.1977 10 BUCHTLER Harold Richard - 1952 10 BUCHTLER Marjorie - 1917 10 BUCHTLER Virginia Beth - 1950 10 BUCHTLER Walter - 1889-1930 10 BURGHILL Ann - c.1750 12 BURNETT Eliza - c.1815 12 BURNETT Elizabeth Wood - c.1813 12 BURNETT Thomas - c.1766-c.1806 12 BUTCHER Florence - c.1870 12

CAMPBELL Samuel Gowrie Darymple - 1897-1976 10

381

CARPENTER Christian Olive - 1883 12 CARPENTER Robert Abbott - 1875-1901 12 CARPENTER Robert Spencer - 1837-1906 12 CARPENTER Spencer Carpenter - 1877-1959 12 CARPENTER Winifred Mary - 1879-c.1960 12 CARR Stewart - c.1950 10 CASS William - c.1975 12 CHAMBERLAIN Lois Marie - 1901 10 CHAPMAN Mary Ann - c.1785 15 CHARLES William Gwyther - c.1875-c.1925 12 CHEVALIER Sara - c.1600 7 CHICHELEY Margaret - c.1550 12 CLARK Elizabeth - c.1726 10 CLARK George Robert - c.1840 15 CLAUSING Elizabeth Mary - c.1955 10 CLAYTON Edward - c.1880 12 COBB Catherine - 1748 15 COBDEN Rebecca Mayala - 1939- 1 COLE Donald - c.1955 12 COLE Duncan - 1983 12 COLEY Benjamin - c.1800 1 COLLENETTE Marie - c.1745 4 COLLETT Alan Pascoe - 1951 10 COLLETT Andrew Thomas - 1959 10 COLLETT Lesley Jane - 1948 10 COLLETT Philip John - 1944 10 COLLETT Roger - c.1920 10 COOK Mervyan Charles - c.1925-1986 1 COOKE John - c.1665 13 CORMICK Pauline - 1922 12 CORTS Nellie Grieta - 1943- 1 COUTANCHE Jeanneton - c.1803 5 COX Sandra - c.1945 12 COZENS Lucretia - c.1760-1833 12 CRAIG Lillie - 1900-1965 10 CRASWEEL Ann - 1762-1841 1 CROCKFORD Anthony Maxwell - 1942- 1 CROCKFORD Jennifer Ann - 1945- 1 CROCKFORD Walter - 1914-1983 1 CUSHING David - c.1955 12 CUSHING Emma Louise - 1991 12 CUSCADEN Sally Jane - 1956- 1

D'ALLAIN Jeanne - 1762-1808 5 DALLAIN John Simonet - c.1867-1958 1 DANIELS Sally - c.1945 12

382

DARBY (see "NEAME") 15 DAUVERGNE Douce - c.1600 7 DAUVERGNE Philippe - c.1630 7 DAVIES Frances - c.1875 12 DAWES Mary - 1770 14 De CAEN Marguerite - 1684-1752 7 De RUE Jacques - c.1600 7 DICKEN Elizabeth - 1722-1758 12 DICKSON Annie - c.1835 12 DIXON Caroline Elizabeth - 1879-1965 5 DOWDING Sarah - c.1818-1857 6 DOWNING Mary - c.1710 1 DREW Ernest Robert - 1924-1947 1 DREW Richard Collins - 1886-1979 1 DREW Richard Edward Insley - 1914-1940 1 DUCHCENE ? - c.1835 4 DUNCAN-JONES Sylvia - 1879-c.1941 12

EAVES Mary - c.1790 1 ECCLESTON (ECCLESOR) Ann - 1794-1876 2 ECCLESTON (ECCLESTONE) Edward - 1781 2 ECCLESTON (ELLISMORE) Fanney - 1746 2 ECCLESTON James - 1782-1782 2 ECCLESTON James - 1783 2 ECCLESTON (ECKLESOR) John - 1769 2 ECCLESTON (ECCLESOR) John - 1800 2 ECCLESTON (ECCLESTONE) Joseph - 1779 2 ECCLESTON (ECCLESALL) Nancy - 1776 2 ECCLESTON (ECCLESALL) Sarah - 1793 2 ECCLESTON (ECKSLER) Thomas - 1774 2 ECCLESTON (ELLISMORE) William - c.1720 2 ECCLESTON (ECCHALL) William - 1748 2 ECCLESTON (ECCLESHALL) William - 1771-1771 2 EDMISTON Douglas - c.1920 12 EDMISTON Helen - c.1992 12 EDMISTON Kirsty - c.1990 12 EDMISTON Robert Douglas - c.1950 12 EDMISTON Susan - c.1955 12 EDWARDS Thomas Bobbitt - c.1835 15 ELSMERE Annie - c.1805-1885 13 EMBREY Mary - 1745-1815 12 ESNOUF George - c.1800 9 ESTHUR Susanne - c.1640 6 ETHERINGTON James David - 1991- 1 ETHERINGTON Nicholas David - 1963- 1 ETHERINGTON Rebecca Jyoti - 1992- 1

383

ETHERINGTON Toby Christopher - 1995- 1 ETTENBOROUGH Thomas - 1791 11 ETTENBOROUGH William - c.1708-1798 11 ETTENBOROUGH William - c.1750 11 EVANS Lesley Margaret - c.1960 10

FALLE Marie - 1697-1769 5 FARRINGTON Margaret - 1695-1774 13 FATHEREE James - c.1945 10 FAULKNER Ann - c.1789-1869 12 FELLOW Thomas - c.1780 1 FLEURY Frank - c.1830 6 FOWNES Ann - 1712-1821 1 FOX William - 1880-1953 1 FREEMAN Elizabeth - c.1550 12 FREMANTLE Charles Alan - 1935 5 FREMANTLE James Justin - 1971 5 FREMANTLE Naomi Juliet - 1961 5 FREMANTLE Timothy Charles - 1967 5 FRIDAY Sarah - c.1795 15 FROST Alexander Edward - 1975 5 FROST Andrew Stuart - 1969 5 FROST Peter William - 1971 5 FROST William Stuart - c.1945 5

GABRIEL Phyllis - c.1890 12 GARRATT Robert - 1815 1 GASNIER Priscilla - c.1625 7 GEORGE Maria Teresa - 1829-1854 10 GIBAUT Annie Mary - c.1870 5 GINMAN Valerie - c.1940 10 GLOGALL Alberta - c.1870 12 GODEL Marie - c.1670 6 GODFRAY Monica E. - c.1920 5 GODFRAY Rachel - 1728-1831 9 GODFREY Peggie Beatrice - 1911 5 GOLDSMITH Benedict Martin - 1967- 1 GOLDSMITH David Francis - 1966- 1 GOLDSMITH Harry Firatee - 1998- 1 GOLDSMITH Horace Philip - 1899-1983 1 GOLDSMITH Jane Alison - 1929- 1 GOLDSMITH Michael Roger - 1966- 1 GOLDSMITH Peter Selwyn - 1969- 1 GOLDSMITH Philip Selwyn - 1932- 1 GOLDSMITH Roger Wharton - 1932- 1 GORDON Dick - c.1925-c.1960 15

384

GREEN Clara Mildred - 1906 10 GREEN Esther - 1833-1905 12 GREEN Michael - 1931- 1 GREEN James Michael George - 1986- 1 GRIMSTONE Maria - 1791-1830 1 GRINDLEY Samuel - c.1725 13 GRIX Esther - 1804 17 GRIX Fanny - 1841-1910 17 GRIX Jane - 1845 17 GRIX John - 1800-? 17 GRIX John - 1809-1861 17 GRIX Stephen - 1801-1805 17 GRIX William - c.1780 17 GRIX William - 1799 17 GROCOCKE Jane - c.1610-1679 10 GROSSIER Jeanne - c.1650 6 GWATKIN-WILLIAMS Joanne Margaret - 1961 12 GWATKIN-WILLIAMS John Brittain - 1956 12 GWATKIN-WILLIAMS John Fenwick L. - c.1925-c.1983 12

HADLEY Elizabeth - c.1810 1 HAKON Teresa - c.1952 12 HAMNETT Ann - c.1800 13 HAMON Jean - c.1650 7 HAMON Mary Ann - c.1775 6 HAMPTON Mary - 1737-1768 14 HARALL Hannah - 1683 1 HARDWICK William - c.1787 18 HARGREAVE Sarah - c.1805 1 HARRISON Anne - 1780-1849 15 HARRISON Christopher John - 1984- 1 HARRISON Clare Elizabeth - 1987- 1 HARRISON David John - 1950- 1 HARRISON Emma Jane - 1983- 1 HARRISON Hilda May - 1904-1974 5 HAWKESFORD Elizabeth - c.1800 1 HAWKESLEY Michael - c.1945 12 HAWKESLEY Nicola - 1969 12 HAWKESLEY Philip - 1972 12 HENY Wendy Marguerite - c.1945 15 HERVIEU Joseph - c.1820 6 HIGGENS William - c.1690 12 HIGGINS Jane - 1671-1755 12 HIGGINS Mary Gibbon - c.1810 12 HIGSON Pamela Margaret - 1996 12 HIGSON Ross James - c.1960 12

385

HILL Paul - c.1968 1 HILL Stuart John - c.1960 5 HILLS Mary - c.1716 15 HIRST Shirley Elizabeth - c.1956 12 HODGETTS William - c.1795 1 HOLLAND Dianne Carol - c.1946 10 HOLMER Nehemiah - c.1700 1 HOLMES ? - c.1825 10 HOMER Ann - c.1795 1 HOMER Sergeant - c.1795 1 HORNE Benjamin - c.1790 18 HORNE Louisa - c.1870 12 HOUGEN John - c.1955 10 HUELIN Florence Melanie - c.1963 5

INSLEY Alfred Albert - 1868-1869 1 INSLEY (HINSLEY) Alice - 1656 1 INSLEY Amy - 1872-1951 1 INSLEY Ann - 1794-1876 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Ann - 1798 1 INSLEY Ann - 1817 1 INSLEY (INGELLEY) Anne - 1711 1 INSLEY Anne - 1749-1749 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Anne - 1800 1 INSLEY Anne-Marie Ola - 1989- 1 INSLEY Annie Frida - 1996- 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Barzillai - 1810-1876 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Benjamin - 1792 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Cassia - 1791 1 INSLEY Catherine Ann - 1964- 1 INSLEY Catherine Marguerite - 1942- 1 INSLEY Charles - 1839-1845 1 INSLEY Charles Frederick - 1876-1960 1 INSLEY Charlotte - 1829-1868 1 INSLEY Charlotte Mary - 1883-1962 1 INSLEY Christine Diane - 1944- 1 INSLEY Christopher Boyd - 1956-1978 1 INSLEY Christopher David - 1978- 1 INSLEY Edward - 1834-1917 1 INSLEY Edward Augustus - 1867-1939 1 INSLEY Edward George - 1927-1982 1 INSLEY Edward Guy Cuscaden - 1966- 1 INSLEY Edward John - 1890-1979 1 INSLEY (ENGLIS) Elisabeth - 1722 1 INSLEY Elizabeth - 1748 1 INSLEY Elizabeth - 1783-1785 1

386

INSLEY Elizabeth - 1827 1 INSLEY Elizabeth Nancy - 1930- 1 INSLEY Emma Alice - 1865-1925 1 INSLEY Ernest Boyd - 1899-1974 1 INSLEY Ernest Eccleston - 1879-1965 1 INSLEY Esther - 1733 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Emmanuel - 1812 1 INSLEY Evelyn Marguerite - 1912-1947 1 INSLEY (HINSLEY) George - 1648 1 INSLEY George - 1802 1 INSLEY George - 1816 1 INSLEY George - 1838 1 INSLEY George Ernest - 1917- 1 INSLEY George Henry Pitron - 1881-1917 1 INSLEY Gerald Julian - 1928- 1 INSLEY Gerald Morel - 1903-1975 1 INSLEY (INGELLY) Hannah - 1720 1 INSLEY Hannah - 1750 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Hannah - 1780 1 INSLEY Hannah - 1805 1 INSLEY Harold Charles - 1873-1945 1 INSLEY Harold Mourant - 1899-1983 1 INSLEY Harold Tokley Mourant- 1946- 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Harriet - 1807 1 INSLEY Helen Patricia - 1931-1988 1 INSLEY (INGSLEY) Henry - c.1615 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Henry - 1809 1 INSLEY (-FOX) Hugh Maxwell - 1910-1989 1 INSLEY Jack - 1928- 1 INSLEY (INGELEY) James - 1713-1775 1 INSLEY James - 1741-1826 1 INSLEY James - 1753 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) James - 1766-1846 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) James - 1788-1788 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) James - 1792-1874 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) James - 1799 1 INSLEY James - 1835 1 INSLEY Jane - 1836 1 INSLEY Jennifer Jane - 1958- 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Jeremiah - 1807 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) John - 1643 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) John - 1669 1 INSLEY John - 1788 1 INSLEY John Henry - 1871-1951 1 INSLEY John Keith - 1952- 1 INSLEY (HINGSLEY) Joseph - 1673-1728 1

387

INSLEY (INGHLEY) Joseph - 1707-1707 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Joseph - 1708-1754 1 INSLEY Joseph - 1735 1 INSLEY Joseph - 1761-1827 1 INSLEY Joseph - 1786 1 INSLEY Joseph - c.1833 1 INSLEY Josiah - 1746-1747 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Josiah - 1808 1 INSLEY Katherine Elizabeth - 1963- 1 INSLEY Kenneth George - 1908-1908 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Keziah - 1810 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Leah - 1800-1800 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Leonora - 1816 1 INSLEY Lily Marguerite - 1892-1964 1 INSLEY Margaret - 1753-1753 1 INSLEY (INGSLEY) Margery - 1641 1 INSLEY Marguerite Blanche - 1870-1960 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Maria - 1790 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Maria - 1814 1 INSLEY Marie Clare Jane - 1964- 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Martha - 1783 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Martha - 1803 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Martha - 1805 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Mary - 1671-1672 1 INSLEY Mary - 1744 1 INSLEY Mary - 1748-1749 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Mary - 1801 1 INSLEY Mary - 1823 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Mary Ann - 1802 1 INSLEY Mary Ann - 1867 1 INSLEY Mary Anne - 1844 1 INSLEY May - 1894-1980 1 INSLEY Michael George Pitron - 1947- 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Nancy - 1774 1 INSLEY Nellie - 1895-1988 1 INSLEY Nicholas Paul - 1934- 1 INSLEY Phebe - 1743-1747 1 INSLEY (INGSLEY) Phebe - 1725 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Phebe - 1772 1 INSLEY Philip Roger - 1961- 1 INSLEY Sam Luke - 1997- 1 INSLEY Samuel - 1739 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Samuel - 1763 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Samuel - 1793-1869 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Samuel - 1796 1 INSLEY (INGELEY) Sarah - 1710 1

388

INSLEY Sarah - 1751-1752 1 INSLEY Sarah - 1797 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Sarah - 1797 1 INSLEY Sarah - 1822 1 INSLEY Sarah - 1846 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Selina - 1812 1 INSLEY (HINSLEY) Thomas - 1649-1650 1 INSLEY (HINSLEY) Thomas - 1650 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Thomas - 1777 1 INSLEY Thomas - 1799-1840 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Thomas - 1801 1 INSLEY Thomas - 1819 1 INSLEY Thomas - 1861 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Timothy - 1807-1827 1 INSLEY Timothy Daniel - 1975- 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Titus - 1805 1 INSLEY (INGLEY) Titus - 1808 1 INSLEY (HINGLEY) Tobias - 1795-1873 1 INSLEY Val Boyd - 1928- 1 INSLEY (HINSSLEY) William - 1645 1 INSLEY William - 1738-1758 1 INSLEY William - 1791-1869 1 INSLEY William - 1831 1 INSLEY William - 1841 1 INSLEY William - 1868 1 INSLEY Zoe Gemma - 1999- 1

JAMES Ann - 1741 2 JANDON (JANDRON) Anne - 1751-1816 6 JOHNSON Bertha - c.1915 12 JOHNSON Phyllis Edith Isabel - 1907-1999 1 JONES Felicity Alison Leslie - 1965 5 JONES Mary - 1746-c.1819 13 JONES Sarah - c.1810 1

KEEBLE Elizabeth - c.1575 12 KEMP-WELCH Rosemary - c.1945- 1 KING Angela - c.1945 12 KING William - c.1570 12 KIRKWOOD Beverley - c.1980 12 KNAGG Ruth - c.1960 12 KNIGHT Jennifer de Boyne - 1935-1997 5

LAFFOLEY Mary - 1784-1860 8 LA GORE Robert Cecil - c.1960 10 LAMOUREUX Ester - c.1700 4

389

LANGLOIS Susanne - 1707-1782 6 LAURENS Edouard - c.1815 6 LAURENS Elizabeth - 1788-1867 6 LAURENS Mary Alice - c.1870 5 LAURENS Philip Morel - c.1868 5 LAURENS Philippe de Caen - 1839 5 LEAP Hannah - c.1873 1 LEE William - c.1700 10 Le BOUTILLIER Marguerite - c.1550 6 Le BROCQ Andre - c.1622 7 Le BROCQ Elizabeth - 1706-1788 9 Le BROCQ Jean - c.1665 6 Le BROCQ Jeanne - c.1620-c.1664 7 Le BRUN Marie - 1769-1828 9 Le BRUN Sarah - c.1675-1740 6 Le CONTE Paule Marie - 1898-1983 1 Le COUTEUR Elizabeth - c.1805 9 Le FEUVRE Elizabeth - c.1732-1825 5 Le FEUVRE Elizabeth - c.1870 7 Le FEUVRE Francois - c.1840 7 Le FEUVRE Francois - c.1870 7 Le FEUVRE Jeanne - c.1785 6 Le GROS Abraham - c.1615 6 Le GROS Anne - 1797 6 Le GROS Anne - 1812 6 Le GROS Anne Douce - 1754-1755 6 Le GROS Anne Douce - 1756 6 Le GROS Catherine - 1744 6 Le GROS Catherine - 1746-1755 6 Le GROS Catherine - 1756 6 Le GROS Charles - 1786 6 Le GROS Daniel - 1664-1675 6 Le GROS David - 1683 6 Le GROS Edouard - 1834 6 Le GROS Edward - 1781 6 Le GROS Eleanor - 1827 6 Le GROS Elie - c.1610-1667 6 Le GROS Elie - c.1640-1692 6 Le GROS Elie - 1670-1716 6 Le GROS Elie - 1704-1706 6 Le GROS Elie - 1708-1776 6 Le GROS Elie - 1720 6 Le GROS Elie - 1737 6 Le GROS Elie - 1739-1798 6 Le GROS Elie - 1770 6 Le GROS Eliza - 1829 6

390

Le GROS Elizabeth - 1673 6 Le GROS Elizabeth - c.1709 6 Le GROS Elizabeth - 1710 6 Le GROS Elizabeth - 1743-1755 6 Le GROS Elizabeth - 1747 6 Le GROS Elizabeth - 1788-1788 6 Le GROS Elizabeth - 1805 6 Le GROS Elizabeth - 1811-1886 6 Le GROS Elizabeth - 1818-c.1880 6 Le GROS Esther - 1823-1880 6 Le GROS Francois - 1685 6 Le GROS Francios - 1818 6 Le GROS George - 1667 6 Le GROS George - 1758-1790 6 Le GROS George - c.1782 6 Le GROS George - 1807 6 Le GROS George - 1816 6 Le GROS George - 1819-1823 6 Le GROS George Charles - 1828 6 Le GROS Guille - c.1580 6 Le GROS Guillot - c.1550 6 Le GROS Harriot - 1825 6 Le GROS Jean - 1678 6 Le GROS Jean - 1707 6 Le GROS Jean - 1742 6 Le GROS Jean - 1761 6 Le GROS Jean - 1775 6 Le GROS Jean - 1785-1861 6 Le GROS Jean - 1813-c.1819 6 Le GROS Jean - 1815 6 Le GROS Jean - 1821 6 Le GROS Jeanne - 1680 6 Le GROS Jeanne - 1742-1743 6 Le GROS Jeanne - 1744 6 Le GROS Jeanne - 1750 6 Le GROS Jeanne - 1751 6 Le GROS Jeanne - 1772-1777 6 Le GROS Jeanne Elize - 1820 6 Le GROS Josue - 1687-1699 6 Le GROS Leila - 1873-1962 5 Le GROS Lidie - 1831 6 Le GROS Marie - 1672 6 Le GROS Marie - 1715 6 Le GROS Marie - 1726 6 Le GROS Marthe - 1688-1691 6 Le GROS Mary - 1817 6

391

Le GROS Nicolas - 1662 6 Le GROS Nicollas - 1706 6 Le GROS Philippe - 1660 6 Le GROS Philippe - 1790-c.1860 6 Le GROS Philippe - 1814-1870 6 Le GROS Philippe - 1822-c.1887 6 Le GROS Sara - 1669 6 Le GROS Sara - 1718 6 Le GROS Sara - 1734 6 Le GROS Sophie - 1832 6 Le GROS Susanne - 1666 6 Le GROS Susanne - c.1740 6 Le GROS Susanne - 1748-1768 6 Le GROS Susanne - 1778-1838 6 Le GROS Susanne - 1822-c.1882 6 Le GROS Thomas - c.1575 6 Le GROS Thomas - c.1600 6 Le GROS Thomas - c.1630-1679 6 Le GROS Thomas - 1659-1661 6 Le GROS Tomas - 1681-1681 6 Le GROUPIL Marguerite - c.1670 6 Le MAISTRE Abraham - c.1630 7 Le MAISTRE Abraham - c.1660 7 Le MAISTRE Catherine - c.1620 7 Le MAISTRE (Child) - c.1665-c.1667 7 Le MAISTRE Douce - c.1665-1714 7 Le MAISTRE Elie - c.1550 7 Le MAISTRE Elizabeth - 1788-1849 7 Le MAISTRE Elizabeth - c.1844 7 Le MAISTRE Esther - c.1625 7 Le MAISTRE George - c.1620 7 Le MAISTRE George - c.1600 7 Le MAISTRE George - c.1654 7 Le MAISTRE Jean - c.1590-c.1666 7 Le MAISTRE Jean - c.1620-c.1685 7 Le MAISTRE Jean - c.1648-c.1683 7 Le MAISTRE Jean - 1729 7 Le MAISTRE Jean - 1740 7 Le MAISTRE Jean - 1788 7 Le MAISTRE Jean - 1794 7 Le MAISTRE Jeanne - c.1635 7 Le MAISTRE Jeanne - 1737 7 Le MAISTRE Jeanne - 1791 7 Le MAISTRE Judith - c.1755 7 Le MAISTRE Magdelaine - c.1630 7 Le MAISTRE Marguerite - c.1655 7

392

Le MAISTRE Marie - c.1627 7 Le MAISTRE Marie - c.1647-c.1669 7 Le MAISTRE Marie - 1684 7 Le MAISTRE Marie - 1704-1755 7 Le MAISTRE Marie - 1735-1755 7 Le MAISTRE Mary - c.1660 7 Le MAISTRE Nancy - 1796 7 Le MAISTRE Nicolas - c.1620 7 Le MAISTRE Nicolas - c.1650-1690 7 Le MAISTRE Nicolas - 1681-1710. 7 Le MAISTRE Nicolas - 1706-c.1769 7 Le MAISTRE Nicolas - 1731-1769 7 Le MAISTRE Philippe - c.1662 7 Le MAISTRE Philippe - 1742-c.1748 7 Le MAISTRE Philippe - 1750 7 Le MAISTRE Philippe - 1786 7 Le MAISTRE Pierre - 1743-1769 7 Le MAISTRE Rachel - c.1630 7 Le MAISTRE Simeon - 1710-1729 7 Le MAISTRE Simeon - 1733 7 Le MAISTRE Susanne - 1747 7 Le MAISTRE Sylvestre - c.1520 7 Le MAISTRE Thomas - c.1623 7 Le MAISTRE Thomas - c.1657 7 Le MARQUAND Marguerite - c.1620 7 Le PAGE Ann/Nancy - 1801-c.1846 4 Le PAGE Charles - c.1700 4 Le PAGE Charles - 1740 4 Le PAGE Charles - 1766-1767 4 Le PAGE Charles - 1768 4 Le PAGE Charlotte - 1728 4 Le PAGE Charlotte - 1772 4 Le PAGE Daniel - 1774 4 Le PAGE James - 1778 4 Le PAGE Jean - 1726 4 Le PAGE Jean - 1770 4 Le PAGE Magdeleine - 1735 4 Le PAGE Marie - 1765 4 Le PAGE Nicolas - 1781 4 Le PAGE Rachel - 1732 4 Le PAGE Suzanne - 1730 4 LEPIERRE Luca - c.1995 12 LEPIERRE Thai - 1993 12 Le PRESLE Jules Emile Leon - c.1870 5 Le ROSSIGNOL ? - c.1815 9 Le RUEZ Elizabeth - 1742 7

393

Le RUEZ Jeanne - c.1710-1775 7 LEWIS William Richard - c.1948- 1 LILLEY Robert John Stafford - c.1960 10 LOVELOWE John - c.1575 12 LOW Marianna - c.1945 12 LOWER Mary Ann - c.1928 10 LUBINSKY Ranan - c.1955 10 LUCE John - c.1850-c.1909 5 LUTZ Edmund Albert - 1888-1963 5 LYONS James - c.1825 1

MACDONALD Gertrude - c.1860-c.1948 12 MADDOCKS Jane - c.1728-1767 13 MAHIER Denise - c.1630 7 MAKNESS Kirston - c.1975 12 MANCHESTER Ann - c.1768-1806 10 MANES Charles Victor - 1943 10 MANKA Gaylyn Denise - c.1955 10 MARKS Henrietta - 1885-1956 12 MARTIN Christopher J. - c.1950 12 MARTIN Ida Isabel Moira - 1907-1991 10 MARTIN Louise Jane - 1979 12 MARTIN Thomas Henry - c.1870-1911 12 MARTIN Thomas James - 1982 12 MASON Ellen - c.1660-1695 10 MASON Samuel - c.1770 1 MATHEWS Elizabeth - c.1800 10 MATTHEWS Shirley Fay - 1934 10 MAUGER Charles - c.1878 5 MAUGER Charles Daniel - c.1825 6 MAUGER Emma C. - c.1871 5 MAUGER George - c.1875 5 MAUGER George William - c.1830 6 MAUGER Jane M. - c.1879 5 MAUGER Jean - c.1790 9 MAUGER Jean - c.1816 9 MAUGER Jean - c.1830-c.1894 5 MAUGER John - c.1873-1894 5 MAUGER Marie - c.1812-1889 9 MAUGER Marie Morel - 1818-1866 9 MAUGER Patsy - c.1820 9 McCALLUM Lesley - c.1945 12 McCLURG Sarah Catherine - 1964 5 McKENZIE Maxine - c.1975 12 MENZIES Theresa Violet - 1912- 1 MEREDITH John - c.1730 13

394

MICHEL Anne - c.1740 3 MICKLEBURGH Alice - 1569 12 MICKLEBURGH Ann - c.1705 12 MICKLEBURGH Anne - 1653 12 MICKLEBURGH Burghill Willoughby - c.1734-c.1735 12 MICKLEBURGH Charles - 1793-1862 12 MICKLEBURGH Charles - 1827-c.1844 12 MICKLEBURGH Charles George - 1876-1920 12 MICKLEBURGH Charles van de Poel - c.1852-1883 12 MICKLEBURGH Edward - 1584 12 MICKLEBURGH Edward - 1651 12 MICKLEBURGH Edward - c.1700 12 MICKLEBURGH Edward - c.1734-c.1735 12 MICKLEBURGH Eleanor - 1578 12 MICKLEBURGH Elizabeth - 1575 12 MICKLEBURGH Elizabeth - c.1610 12 MICKLEBURGH Elizabeth - 1649 12 MICKLEBURGH Elizabeth - c.1713 12 MICKLEBURGH Elizabeth - c.1805-1948 12 MICKLEBURGH Francis - c.1614 12 MICKLEBURGH Francis - 1657 12 MICKLEBURGH Henry - c.1615 12 MICKLEBURGH Henry - 1663 12 MICKLEBURGH Henry - c.1702 12 MICKLEBURGH Jesse Willoughby - c.1755-c.1840 12 MICKLEBURGH John - c.1613-c.1704 12 MICKLEBURGH John - 1660-c.1723 12 MICKLEBURGH John - c.1696-c.1748 12 MICKLEBURGH John - c.1731 12 MICKLEBURGH John - c.1752-1827 12 MICKLEBURGH John - 1826-1899 12 MICKLEBURGH Lucretia Alice - 1871-1965 12 MICKLEBURGH Lucretia Elizabeth - 1830 12 MICKLEBURGH Lucy - c.1797 12 MICKLEBURGH Margaret - 1570-1608 12 MICKLEBURGH Maria - 1834 12 MICKLEBURGH Mary - 1580 12 MICKLEBURGH Mary - c.1612 12 MICKLEBURGH Mary - c.1677 12 MICKLEBURGH Rebekah - 1655 12 MICKLEBURGH Robert - c.1754 12 MICKLEBURGH Robert - c.1801-1848 12 MICKLEBURGH Rose Isabel - 1872-1939 12 MICKLEBURGH Sarah - 1824 12 MICKLEBURGH Sarah - c.1807 12 MICKLEBURGH Thomas - 1572 12

395

MICKLEBURGH William - c.1543 12 MICKLEBURGH William - 1577 12 MICKLEBURGH William - c.1607 12 MICKLEBURGH William - 1832-1897 12 MICKLEBURGH William Montgomery - 1874-1940 12 MIERE Ann - 1772-1848 13 MINOR Margaret - 1766-c.1846 13 MINOR William - c.1732-c.1787 13 MITCHELL Freda Edwina - 1923- 1 MOLTKE-HANSEN Anna - c.1945 12 MOREL Alice Jane - 1848 5 MOREL Anne - 1806 9 MOREL Anne - 1823 9 MOREL Anne - 1838 5 MOREL Charles - 1793-1794 9 MOREL Eliza Clara - 1844-1879 5 MOREL Jean - 1736-1798 9 MOREL Jean - 1763-1763 9 MOREL Jean - 1765-1827 9 MOREL Jean - 1791-1827 9 MOREL Jean - 1812-1875 9 MOREL Jeanne - 1734-c.1739 9 MOREL Jeanne - 1741 9 MOREL Marie - 1738 9 MOREL Marie - 1814 9 MOREL Marie - 1815-1815 9 MOREL Marie Elizabeth - 1796-c.1829 9 MOREL Mary - 1842-1870 5 MOREL Noe - 1782-1833 9 MOREL Rachel - 1769 9 MOREL Thomas - 1702-1779 9 MOREL Thomas - 1744 9 MOREL Thomas - 1773-1831 9 MOREL Thomas - 1799-1800 9 MOREL Thomas - 1803-1804 9 MOREL Thomas - 1815-c.1849 9 MOREL Thomas - 1849-c.1921 5 MOREL Tom - 1825 9 MORRELL Ada Beatrice - 1888-1977 10 MORRELL Brittain - c.1887-c.1892 10 MORRELL Earle Ravenshaw - 1894-c.1904 10 MORRELL Helen Dorothea - 1892-1976 10 MORRELL Marian Wood - 1890-1966 10 MORRELL Richard Garibaldi - 1861-1945 10 MORSE Margaret - c.1950 12 MORT Martha - c.1675 13

396

MOURANT Anne - 1789-1851 5 MOURANT Anne - c.1815-1883 5 MOURANT Benjamin Nicholas Jack - 1999 5 MOURANT Caroline Mary - 1939 5 MOURANT Charles Edward - c.1826 5 MOURANT Charles John Harry - 1999 5 MOURANT Clara Frances - 1886-1955 5 MOURANT Dorothy Boyd - 1901-c.1992 5 MOURANT Edouard Samuel - 1791 5 MOURANT Edward - 1823-1875 5 MOURANT Edward - 1846-1920 5 MOURANT Edward John Gedeon - c.1885-c.1963 5 MOURANT Eliza - 1868-1949 5 MOURANT Elizabeth - 1808-1878 5 MOURANT Elizabeth - 1841-1907 5 MOURANT Emma Dallain - c.1848 5 MOURANT Gedeon - 1795-1806 5 MOURANT George - 1800 5 MOURANT George Charles - 1854-1859 5 MOURANT Hannah Lily - 1888-1961 5 MOURANT Harriet Ann - 1852-1909 5 MOURANT Helen Margaret - 1945 5 MOURANT Henry Boyd - 1873-1916 5 MOURANT Jane - c.1830 5 MOURANT Jean - 1697-1769 5 MOURANT Jean - 1721-1785 5 MOURANT Jean - 1758-1844 5 MOURANT Jean - 1783-1851 5 MOURANT Jean - 1839-1909 5 MOURANT Jean Gedeon - 1806-1881 5 MOURANT Jean Gedeon - 1864-1864 5 MOURANT Jeanne - 1781 5 MOURANT Jeanne Rachel - 1812-1880 5 MOURANT Jennifer Mary - 1974 5 MOURANT John - 1839-1908 5 MOURANT John Nicholas Boyd - 1936 5 MOURANT John Philip Boyd - 1907-1982 5 MOURANT John Thomas - 1875-1955 5 MOURANT Judy Elizabeth - 1970 5 MOURANT Leila Le Gros - 1908-1985 5 MOURANT Marie - 1804-1860 5 MOURANT Marie - 1819-1891 5 MOURANT Marie Anne Morel Mauger - 1857-1865 5 MOURANT Mary - 1842 5 MOURANT Mary Ann - c.1835 5 MOURANT Mary Lillian - 1905-1988 5

397

MOURANT Mary Morel - 1870-1948 5 MOURANT Michael Rupert John - 1964 5 MOURANT Paul Nicholas Alexander - 1968 5 MOURANT Philippa Noel - 1933 5 MOURANT Philippe - 1761 5 MOURANT Philippe - 1786 5 MOURANT Philip - 1844-c.1855 5 MOURANT Philip John - 1866-1945 5 MOURANT Philip Lawrence - 1968 5 MOURANT Pierre - 1797 5 MOURANT Susanne Elizabeth - 1809-1892 5 MOURANT Sydney Andrew Boyd - 1911-1987 5 MOURANT Thomas Richard - 1847-1875 5 MOURANT Thomas Rupert Nicholas - 1995 5 MOURANT (MORANT) William Andrew - 1941 5

NEAME Ann - c.1840 15 NEAME Anne - 1704 15 NEAME Augustine Armstrong - 1807-1808 15 NEAME Austen - 1663-1730 15 NEAME Austen - 1700-1754 15 NEAME Austen - 1749 15 NEAME Austen - 1791-1837 15 NEAME Austin Hardwick - 1867-1936 15 NEAME Barry - 1881-1946 15 NEAME Catherine - 1787 15 NEAME Catherine Armstrong - 1805-1839 15 NEAME Charles - 1789-1870 15 NEAME Charles - 1822 15 NEAME Charles - c.1839-1905 15 NEAME Charles Kingsley - c.1877-1898 15 NEAME Christopher Hardwick - 1909 15 NEAME Deborah Christine - 1942 15 NEAME Donald Charles - 1877-1943 15 NEAME Edward Geoffrey - 1869-1905 15 NEAME Eleanor - 1834 15 NEAME Elizabeth - 1673 15 NEAME Elizabeth - 1696 15 NEAME Elizabeth Beale - 1829 15 NEAME Emma - 1831 15 NEAME Fanny - 1818 15 NEAME Frances Anne - c.1847-1849 15 NEAME Frederick - 1808-1891 15 NEAME Frederick Stewart - 1876-1945 15 NEAME George - 1793-1840 15 NEAME George - 1837-1911 15

398

NEAME Guy Irene Cherry - 1901 15 NEAME Guy Norman - 1873 15 NEAME Helen Mary - c.1875-c.1968 15 NEAME Jane - c.1702-1703 15 NEAME Janet Mary - 1863-1923 15 NEAME John - 1708 15 NEAME John - 1739 15 NEAME John - 1784-1849 15 NEAME John Armstrong - 1866-1952 15 NEAME Joyce Sally - 1942 15 NEAME Lawrence - 1710 15 NEAME Lawrence George - 1874-1952 15 NEAME Margaret - 1703 15 NEAME Margaret Olga - c.1878-1941 15 NEAME Mary - 1695 15 NEAME Mary - 1741 15 NEAME Mary - 1785-1848 15 NEAME Mary Ann - c.1835 15 NEAME Mary Ann - c.1852 15 NEAME Mary Ethel - 1868 15 NEAME Mildred - 1871-c.1941 15 NEAME Norah - 1864-1947 15 NEAME Norman - c.1845-1927 15 NEAME Philip Winstone - 1906-c.1917 15 NEAME Richard - 1713 15 NEAME Robert - 1794-1821 15 NEAME Sarah Ann - c.1843-1849 15 NEAME Sophia Armstrong - c.1855-c.1942 15 NEAME Stewart Carol Barns - 1907-1972 15 NEAME Stewart Geoffrey Rex - 1902 15 NEAME Susie Jill - 1936 15 NEAME Thomas - 1698 15 NEAME Thomas - 1746-1817 15 NEAME Thomas - 1779-1840 15 NEAME Thomas Armstrong - 1806-1890 15 NEAME Thomas Armstrong - 1944 15 NEAME William Armstrong - 1809-1809 15 NEAME Winifred Fanny - 1872-c.1948 15 NEEL Magdeleine - c.1769 3 NEWTON Martha - 1669-1708 13 NICHOLS Ann - 1756 13 NICHOLS Edward - c.1706-c.1782 13 NICHOLS Edward - 1751 13 NICHOLS Mary - 1761 13 NICHOLS Richard - 1755 13 NICHOLS Robert - 1759-c.1834 13

399

NICHOLS Thomas - 1765-c.1809 13 NICKSON Anne - c.1748-1825 13 NOEL Alan George - c.1940 15

OGDEN Elizabeth Gertrude - c.1850 12 OLA Betty - 1951- 1 OLDHAM Charles Thomas - 1957 12 OLDHAM Harry - 1914 12 OLDHAM Jane Mary - 1954 12 OLDHAM Jess - 1997 12 OLDHAM Stella - 2000 12 OLIVER John - c.1800 15 OWEN George - 1827 12 OWEN Ula Palestine - 1921 10 OXLEY Huntly - c.1955 10

PADGET Maria - c.1640 10 PANK Edmund - c.1675 12 PARKER Ann - c.1560 12 PARSONS Mary Ann - c.1815 1 PARRY Annie Eleanor - c.1875 15 PARTRIDGE Jessica - c.1951 10 PATTERSON Damon - c.1970 10 PAYN Magdelaine - c.1670 7 PAYN Philip - c.1810 6 PERRY Hannah - c.1780 1 PESKETT George - c.1800 18 PESKETT George - 1842 18 PESKETT William - 1842 18 PHILLIPS Ada Evelyn - c.1875-c.1953 15 PICK John - 1777 11 PICKSTOCK Mary - c.1820-c.1884 12 PIROUET George Trachy - c.1934 5 PIROUET Hannah Frances - c.1861-1945 5 PIROUET Jean - 1817 6 PITRON (PUTRON) Adolphus Peter - 1833-1833 3 PITRON (PUTRON) Aimable/Anne - 1828 3 PITRON (PUTRON) Anne Emma - 1838 3 PITRON Auguste - 1798-c.1855 3 PITRON Betsy - 1844 3 PITRON Emilia Mary-Ann - 1841 3 PITRON Honore/Henry Auguste - 1871-1924 3 PITRON Jacqueline - 1801 3 PITRON Jean - 1735 3 PITRON (PUTRON) Joseph Victor - 1835 3 PITRON Louis - 1760 3

400

PITRON (PUTRON) Louisa - 1826 3 PITRON Marguerite Elisabeth - 1840-1906 3 PITT Elizabeth - 1801-1879 12 POOL Dorothy Evelyn - 1877-1966 1 POWELL Marion - c.1890-c.1915 12 POWELL Simon - c.1955 1 POWNE Ada Winifred - 1863-1934 10 PRESSLY Michael Hubert - c.1940- 1 PRESSLY James Winchester - 1967- 1 PRESSLY Louise Catherine - 1969- 1 PRESSLY Rebecca Christine - 1970- 1

RAMSEY Ann - 1926-c.1975 15 RAMSEY Ernest John - c.1865 15 RAMSEY John - c.1928 15 RAMSEY Richard - 1899 15 RAMSEY Stella - 1897-1972 15 RAVENSHAW Ann - 1771 13 RAVENSHAW Ann - 1820-1891 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Anne - 1729-c.1797 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Bridgett - 1731-c.1740 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Elizabeth - c.1700 13 RAVENSHAW Elizabeth - 1735 13 RAVENSHAW Elizabeth - 1787 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Ellen - c.1670 13 RAVENSHAW Jane - c.1838-1906 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHALL) John - c.1654 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) John - c.1670 13 RAVENSHAW John - c.1759-c.1830 13 RAVENSHAW John - 1769-1837 13 RAVENSHAW John - 1796-c.1876 13 RAVENSHAW John - 1822-1885 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHALL) Margaret - c.1644-c.1654 13 RAVENSHAW Margaret - 1773-1866 13 RAVENSHAW Margaret - 1790 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Martha - 1722-c.1777 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Mary - c.1672 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Mary - 1725-1768 13 RAVENSHAW Mary - c.1780 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHALL) Randle - c.1610-1699 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Randle - 1641-1696 13 RAVENSHAW Richard - 1828-1891 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHALL) Robert - c.1668-c.1743 13 RAVENSHAW Robert - 1778-1779 13 RAVENSHAW Robert - 1788-1863 13 RAVENSHAW Robert - 1825-1898 13

401

RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Samuel - 1733-1791 13 RAVENSHAW Samuel - c.1762 13 RAVENSHAW Samuel - 1776-1785 13 RAVENSHAW Sarah - 1792 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Thomas - c.1671 13 RAVENSHAW Thomas - c.1695-1768 13 RAVENSHAW (RANSHAW) Thomas - 1724-1781 13 RAVENSHAW Thomas - 1775-c.1819 13 RAVENSHAW Thomas - 1785 13 RAVENSHAW William - 1727-1730 13 REDE Joanna - c,1580 12 REMON Marie - c.1680 6 RENOUF Jean - c.1780 5 RENOUF Jean Philippe - c.1805 5 RICKABY Rebecca - c.1950 10 RIDOUT Alice Lucy Mabel - 1882-1969 1 ROBERTS Peter - c.1965 10 ROBINSON Agnes - 1637 10 ROBINSON Alice Dorothea - 1869-c.1925 10 ROBINSON Alice Roxanna - 1940 10 ROBINSON Ann - 1766 10 ROBINSON Ann - 1825 10 ROBINSON Annie Theresa - 1860-1937 10 ROBINSON Barbara Nancy - 1902-1984 10 ROBINSON Brittain Bragunier - 1899-1969 10 ROBINSON Elizabeth - 1798 10 ROBINSON George - 1824-1897 10 ROBINSON Harold - 1867-1942 10 ROBINSON Helen Virginia - 1897-c.1974 10 ROBINSON Ida - 1853-1854 10 ROBINSON Isaac - 1634-1690 10 ROBINSON Isaac - 1680 10 ROBINSON Isaac - 1765-1770 10 ROBINSON Isaac - 1793-1874 10 ROBINSON Jane - 1676 10 ROBINSON Jane - 1681 10 ROBINSON Jane - 1704 10 ROBINSON John - 1668-1672 10 ROBINSON John - 1768 10 ROBINSON John - 1795 10 ROBINSON John - 1827 10 ROBINSON John - 1828 10 ROBINSON Kathy Ann - 1955 10 ROBINSON Kevin Wood - 1956 10 ROBINSON Leslie Wood - 1889-1965. 10 ROBINSON Louisa Marion - 1877-c.1962 10

402

ROBINSON Lucy - 1937 10 ROBINSON Malcolm Denis - 1904-1964 10 ROBINSON Mansergh Dias - 1863-1934 10 ROBINSON Margaret Ravenshaw - c.1874-c.1878 10 ROBINSON Maria - 1832 10 ROBINSON Martha - 1690-1691 10 ROBINSON Mary - 1708 10 ROBINSON Mary - c.1758-1759 10 ROBINSON Mary - 1762 10 ROBINSON Mary - c.1790 1 ROBINSON Nancy June - 1925 10 ROBINSON Nina Dorothy - 1895-c.1978 10 ROBINSON Rebecca - 1811 10 ROBINSON Richard - c.1600-c.1640 10 ROBINSON Richard - 1639 10 ROBINSON Richard - 1670 10 ROBINSON Richard - 1683-1711 10 ROBINSON Richard - 1706-1767 10 ROBINSON Richard - 1808 10 ROBINSON Roger - 1635 10 ROBINSON Sarah - 1800 10 ROBINSON Sarah Marie - 1959 10 ROBINSON Thomas - 1831-1895 10 ROBINSON Thomas Edmund - 1892-1911 10 ROBINSON Thomas Wood - 1864-1941 10 ROBINSON Thomas Wood - 1927 10 ROBINSON Valentine Mansergh - 1897-1916 10 ROBINSON William - 1675 10 ROBINSON William - 1755 10 ROBINSON William - 1815 10 ROBINSON William - 1816-1858 10 ROBINSON Winifred Joyce - 1893-1983 10 (See Also WOOD ROBISO) ROE Ann - c.1760 13 ROMERIL Edward F. - c.1885 5 ROUSSEL Judith - c.1817 3 ROXBURGH Euan - c.1964 10 ROXBURGH William - c.1940 10 RUTHERFORD Alison - c.1936 10 RUTHERFORD Annabel - c.1912 10 RUTHERFORD Dorian - c.1943 10 RUTHERFORD Ellen - 1923 12 RUTHERFORD Fiona - c.1942-1965 10 RUTHERFORD Iain William - c.1911 10 RUTHERFORD Neil Patterson - c.1910-c.1998 10 RUTHERFORD Roderick - c.1945 10

403

RUTHERFORD William P. - c.1875 10

SALMON Lydia Henriette - c.1830-c.1916 6 SAMMON Thomas - c.1580 12 SCHEUBER Peter - c.1952 12 SCHEUBER Verity Anne - 1990 12 SCRUBY Jane - c.1930 10 SEEMAN Annabel - c.1912 10 SHAKESHAFT Edmund John - c.1868-c.1957 12 SHAKESHAFT Richard - 1832 12 SHAKESHAFT Richard - c.1870 12 SHERFY Lawence Randolph - c.1950 10 SIMPSON William - 1787 11 SMITH Geraldine - c.1945 10 SMITH Samuel - c.1730 1 SPAULL William - c.1830 12 SPINK Jane - c.1960 10 SPOONER Ann - c.1665 12 STEWART Ellen Agnes - c.1870-1939 15 STILL Michael Kent - c.1955 10 STONE William - c.1555 12 STRATTON Romany Aniela Stachowska - c.1965 10 STROWBRIDGE Jane - c.1850 3 STROUDE Jeanne - c.1660 7 SYVRET Betsy Sukey - c.1790 7

TALMY Mary - c.1805 18 TASSELL Mary - c.1810 15 TAVINNER Marjorie - 1926- 1 TAYLOR Elizabeth - 1778 17 TAYLOR Mary - c.1795 13 TAYLOR Robert Pulford - c.1770 13 TAYLOR William - c.1835 12 TERRY-WOOD Juanita - c.1920 10 THOMPSON James - c.1800 1 THOMPSON Raymond E. - c.1940 10 THORNLEY Sylvia - c.1910 15 TOBAR Catalina Garcia - c.1968 10 TOCQUE Marie - c.1652-1739 7 TOKLEY Constance Eva - 1911-1963 1 TOZER Sarah - c.1850-1925 15 TROWMAN Sarah - c.1735 1 TULLEY Kenneth Roland - c.1930 10 TURNER Ann - 1791 18 TURNER Charlotte - 1794 18 TURNER Elizabeth - 1796 18

404

TURNER Fanny - 1833 18 TURNER Jane - 1802-1876 18 TURNER Martha - 1792 18 TURNER Mary Ann - 1808 18 TURNER Mary Ann - 1833 18 TURNER Nathaniel - 1805 18 TURNER Richard Talmy - 1838 18 TURNER Richard William - 1797 18 TURNER Robert - c.1765-1809 18 TURNER Robert Breen - 1861 18 TURNER Robert William - 1827 18 TURNER Sarah - 1790 18 TURNER Walter Nathaniel - 1828 18 TURPIN Mary Eleanor - 1907-1993 1 TYRROL Emily Mary - c.1870-1899 15 TYSON Charles Nicholas - 1937 12 TYSON Daniel Thomas - 1944 12 TYSON Frank - c.1910 12

VAN de POEL Helen - c.1824-c.1880 12 VAUTIER Jeanne - 1786 9 VIBERT Edmund - c.1900 7 VIBERT Philip - c.1870 7 VICKERY Penelope - c.1745-1784 12 VINCENT Ferdinand Gustave - 1807-1879 5 VINCENT Janet - c.1855 5 VINCENT Jean Auguste Frederic - 1801-1880 5 VINCENT Maria - c.1850 5 VIVIAN Rachel - c.1665 5

WAGHAM Hilary - c.1946 12 WALKER Ann - 1792-1874 11 WALKER Elizabeth - 1763-1808 11 WALKER Mary - 1784 11 WALKER Robert - c.1740 11 WALKER Sarah - 1794-1808 11 WARD Mary Ann - c.1800 1 WARD Samuel - c.1755 12 WATSON Andrew Peter - c.1945 12 WATSON Jessica Mary - 1978 12 WATSON Joyce - c.1910-c.1994 10 WATSON Sarah Margaret - 1983 12 WERE Colin Francis - c.1940 15 WESTBY Claire Emilie - 1976 12 WESTBY George Warner Max - c.1945 12 WESTBY Sarah Kate - 1975 12

405

WESTON William Henry - c.1920 1 WESTWOOD Mary - 1712-1753 1 WESTWOOD William - c.1715 1 WHITCOMB Solena - c.1835 6 WHITE Arthur John - c.1867 15 WHITE Charlotte - 1823 18 WHITE Elizabeth - 1901-1933 15 WHITE Hetherington Stuart Arthur - 1893 15 WHITE John - c.1790 18 WIGHTWICK Ann - 1795 15 WIGHTWICK William - c.1785 15 WILLIAMS Emily Beatrice - 1863-1944 12 WILLITTS Sarah - c.1765 1 WILLIAMS John - c.1835 12 WILLIAMS John Samuel - c.1860-c.1942 12 WILLIAMS Mary - c.1795 1 WILLIAMS Thomas - c.1865-1866 12 WILSON Alisa Daphne Isobel - 1954- 1 WILSON Annette Insley - 1925- 1 WILSON Arthur Ross - 1897-1960 1 WILSON Ian Ross - 1926- 1 WILSON Joyce May - 1925- 1 WILSON Marguerite Insley - 1929- 1 WILSON Mary - c.1685-1728 10 WOOD Alice Ellen - 1840 12 WOOD Alice Harriet - 1988 12 WOOD Alister Roger Matthew - 1970 12 WOOD Anne Elizabeth - 1827-c.1914 12 WOOD Benjamin Thomas - 1972 12 WOOD Brittain Dawes - 1841-1909 12 WOOD Charles Herbert - 1874-1947 12 WOOD Charles Jeremy - 1944 12 WOOD Charles Roger - 1920 12 WOOD Charles Thomas - 1948-c.1981 12 WOOD Clara Finetta - 1843-c.1911 12 WOOD Denis Embrey Cecil - c.1884 12 WOOD Dorothy Cecil - c.1877-c.1944 12 WOOD Edward Allen - 1867-1937 12 WOOD Elizabeth - 1693 12 WOOD Elizabeth - 1767-1767 12 WOOD Elizabeth - c.1776-c.1796 12 WOOD Elizabeth - c.1795 1 WOOD Elizabeth Ducat - 1874 12 WOOD Ellen Margaret - 1955 12 WOOD Emily - 1979 12 WOOD Emily Burnett - 1835 12

406

WOOD Esther - 1876 12 WOOD Felicity Frankie - c.1920 12 WOOD Francis - 1844-c.1848 12 WOOD Francis Pitt - 1833-c.1908 12 WOOD George - 1757 12 WOOD George - 1772-1789 12 WOOD George - 1812-1857 12 WOOD Grace - c.1880 12 WOOD Hannah - 1980 12 WOOD Henry - 1784-1815 12 WOOD Henry Eldred - 1870-1945 12 WOOD Isabel Jane - 1910-1986 12 WOOD Isabel Sarah - c.1875-c.1956 12 WOOD James Mark - 1973 12 WOOD Jane - 1751-c.1813 12 WOOD Jane - 1980 12 WOOD Jane Margaret - 1951 12 WOOD Jennifer Jane - 1951 12 WOOD Jennifer Mary - 1948 12 WOOD Jessie Rose - 1990 12 WOOD Joanna Jane - 1920 12 WOOD John - c.1655-1715 12 WOOD John - 1691-1765 12 WOOD John - 1715-1763 12 WOOD John - 1746-1810 12 WOOD John - 1768-1838 12 WOOD John - 1801-1864 12 WOOD John - 1943 12 WOOD John Cooper - c.1838 12 WOOD John Ravenshaw - 1829-c.1908 12 WOOD John Ravenshaw - 1866-1927 12 WOOD Judith Mary - 1946 12 WOOD Katherine Elizabeth - 1974 12 WOOD Laura - c.1847 12 WOOD Leila - c.1875-1961 12 WOOD Lionel B. - c.1877-c.1948 12 WOOD Louisa Jane - 1838 12 WOOD Luke - 1976 12 WOOD Margaret - 1831-c.1905 12 WOOD Margaret - c.1885 12 WOOD Margaret Anne - c.1840-1926 12 WOOD Margaret Anne - 1914 12 WOOD Margaret Hannah - c.1845-c.1846 12 WOOD Margaret Martha - 1925 12 WOOD Margaret Mary - 1834 12 WOOD Marjorie Cecil - c.1879 12

407

WOOD Martha Anne - 1837-1881 12 WOOD Mary Anne - 1799-1800 12 WOOD Mary Elizabeth - 1849-c.1928 12 WOOD Mary Margaret - 1913-1991 12 WOOD Oliver George - 1996 12 WOOD Rachel - 1982 12 WOOD Rachel Anne - 1976 12 WOOD Ravenshaw William Cecil - c.1882-c.1945 12 WOOD Richard - 1873-1873 12 WOOD Richard George - 1944-1991 12 WOOD Robert - 1749-c.1788 12 WOOD Robert - 1776 12 WOOD Robert Henry - 1816-1860 12 WOOD Rosa Dameris - 1846-1934 12 WOOD Samuel Ravenshaw - 1810-1841 12 WOOD Samuel Ravenshaw - 1843-1861 12 WOOD Samuel Theodore - 1845-c.1922 12 WOOD Stephen Roger - 1946 12 WOOD Susan Elizabeth - 1919 12 WOOD Tessa Helen - 1972 12 WOOD Thomas - 1755-1776 12 WOOD Thomas - 1770-1834 12 WOOD Thomas Barlow - 1869-1929 12 WOOD Thomas Beaven - 1917-1944 12 WOOD Thomas Brittain - 1914 12 WOOD Thomas Oakley - 1850 12 WOOD Thomas William - 1804-1866 12 WOOD Toby - 1978 12 WOOD William - 1757 12 WOOD William - 1774-1853 12 WOOD William Albert - 1871-1944 12 WOOD William Cecil - c.1850-c.1889 12 WOOD William Embrey - 1807-1903 12 WOOD William Harry Brittain - 1922-1996 12 WOOD William Henry - 1836-1837 12 WOOD William Herbert - 1918-1991 12 WOOD William Paul - 1956 12 WOOD William Rutherford - 1952 12 WOOD William Thornton - 1943 12 WOOD ROBINSON Ann Valerie - 1930-1992 10 WOOD ROBINSON Anthony - 1949 10 WOOD ROBINSON Clare Dameris - 1971 10 WOOD ROBINSON Colin - 1936 10 WOOD ROBINSON David Michael - 1928 10 WOOD ROBINSON Graham Bruce - 1967 10 WOOD ROBINSON Harold - 1895-1951 10

408

WOOD ROBINSON Judith Jane - 1962 10 WOOD ROBINSON Keren - 1960 10 WOOD ROBINSON Mark - 1930 10 WOOD ROBINSON Martin - 1959 10 WOOD ROBINSON Paul - 1963 10 WOOD ROBINSON Penelope - 1952 10 WOOD ROBINSON Rachel Joyce - 1965 10 WOOD ROBINSON Ruth Winifred - 1923 10 WOOD ROBINSON Sally Robinett - 1957 10 WOOD ROBINSON Thomas Mansergh - 1920-1993 10 WOODCOCK Charlotte - c.1764-1835 18 WOOLGAR Jane Elizabeth - 1948- 1 WORRALL Ann - 1812-1888 1 WORTH Howard Ernest Knoyle - 1910- 1 WRIGHT George - 1792 16 WRIGHT Mary - 1804-1867 16 WRIGHT (WRAIGHT) Richard - c.1765 16 WRIGHT Sarah - c.1740 1

YOUNG James Ernest Scott - c.1912-c.1964 12 YOUNG Jennifer Mary - 1948 12 YOUNG John Richard - 1949 12

409