A Newsletter for the Friends of Not so Grave News Cathays Cemetery o March 2016 Issue N 26 Another Mild Winter Regular readers will recall reports of the growing of a Foxglove Tree from seed. After The Met Office tells us that we have had the four years of growth, it was getting to big for warmest (and wettest) winter for many years. its garden home and had to go. The Cemetery's In many respects, nature has responded much Foxglove Tree has been looking increasingly as it did last year – the first primroses fragile over the last few years and its demise is appeared well before Christmas and celandines anticipated. There was a logical answer to these and crocuses were in bloom in January. Despite two problems and, just before Christmas, the early start, the best is still to come: for Bereavement Services moved the young tree to example, the primroses have yet to reach their the Cemetery, in Section W, about 15 metres peak and we can look to an extended flowering from its mother. Our fingers are crossed for a period of around five months. happy outcome. Early in February, one of the prunus genus hybrids burst into blossom, although it suffered in subsequent high winds and one of the few frosts we have had. But it is still uplifting to see nature’s colour and brightness through the winter. Many Cemetery visitors are passing through and in a hurry but, for those taking time to enjoy the detail, there are always little surprises. For example, goldcrest and redwing have been spotted in the last few months. Friends TOPICAL Winter Miscellany Once work is finished on the first chapel, attention will turn to the Episcopalian one, Much of our news is covered in the report on where the aim is for this to become a manned the AGM on page 7 , but we can bring some of office and information centre before the this up to date. The Friends have been busy September Open Doors event. giving a facelift to the pews. Minor damage to the wood has been repaired, for which the Friends are very grateful to two friends of Ivor Lippett, Eddie Newman and Michael Fairclough. At the time of writing, the pews have been cleaned down and painting is in progress. The masonry restoration in the Nonconformist Chapel has been completed and fitting of the new floor is imminent. Of course this activity is Restored stonework leading to this becoming a fully functional A few months ago, we reported the re- chapel and we look forward to reporting on the appearance of gloves on Jim Driscoll's grave. first wedding and funeral service in our next Sadly, they have gone again. newsletter. When one considers the derelict state of the chapels seven years ago, this is There were no candidates for the post of heartening progress. Treasurer at the AGM, but we would very much like to fill this post. By the end of this year, we will also need to find an auditor for the accounts. If you are interested in either of these roles, or know of someone who might be willing to take them on, please let us know. They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships It is widely known that in the heyday of the docks with the shipping of coal from Cardiff, The Friends' cheque towards the chapel people from many other countries went through restoration is handed over to Councillor Bob the port and some made their homes and raised Derbyshire by Paul Nicholson. families here. Not so Grave News March 2016 Page 2 Issue Nº 26 Friends FEATURES It was during the course of my own research Newsletter No. 20 (September 2014) in the into my mother's Jersey family that I became article about Archibald Hood, brought back one aware of how many Channel Islanders actually of my earliest memories, as a tiny girl visiting settled in South Wales, and ended their days with my mother, shortly before my uncle's here, their final resting places being in death in 1950. I recall going past the garden, cemeteries in Cardiff. So far, I have identified where there was an aviary at the rear of the over fifty graves of Channel Islanders and their property, to reach the cottage. descendants in Cardiff, most of them being in Of the many Channel Islanders who came here, Cathays Cemetery but others also in most were seafarers or worked in associated Adamsdown, Pantmawr, Western and Thornhill trades and businesses, such as ships' chandlers, Cemeteries. marine insurance, marine engineering, and in Of my mother's family, her father Capt. clerical positions in shipping offices. However, Frederick George Billot, although lost at sea in a few had other occupations such as World War I (Merchant Navy), is remembered blacksmiths, painters, carpenters, and one I on the memorial of Grave No. E-H 2923, as also discovered was a fish and chip shop proprietor - is her brother, Edward, lost at sea in World but, who knows, his family could have been War II. Capt. Billot had been a partner in a fishermen before they came to Cardiff. small shipping company - The Channel Shipping Of the fifty-plus graves I have found so far, Co. (Cardiff) Ltd. - together with fellow most are of Jersey families but there are also Jerseyman John George Le Gros and Edward several from Guernsey. However I wish to Care, John Emlyn-Jones and Emlyn Williams. stress that this is an ongoing project - the After a few years the company was taken over search continues. The family surnames I have by one of the larger concerns, and became part found so far are listed here: of the Emlyn Line. GUERNSEY Maillard (Wesleyan (Cathays) Minister) Marquand (Cathays 6 graves) JERSEY Billot / Le Gresley (Cathays 4 graves) Bisson (Cathays) Bliault (Cathays) Briard (Cathays) Carrel (Adamsdown, Another of my mother's brothers, Arthur Billot Cathays & Thornhill) (buried in Grave No. 0 2141), after giving up the Ennis / Benest / Noel (Cathays) sea, and on marriage, becoming a convert to the Roman Catholic Church and working as a school Esnouf ((Cathays) caretaker, resided with his wife in the cottage Haffron / Hafron / Esnouf (Cathays) at the rear of Sherwood House in Newport Road, where she did cooking and housekeeping Hacquoil (Cathays) duties for the De La Salle Brothers, a Roman Hacquoil / Poingdestre (Cathays) Catholic teaching order. The photograph of Hamon / Le Feuvre (Cathays) Sherwood House, which appeared on Page 5 of Not so Grave News March 2016 Page 3 Issue Nº 26 Friends FEATURES Herault (Cathays) elsewhere, although family links can be seen in the trend of using forebears' surnames as Herault / Malzard (Cathays) middle 'given' names. This of course happens in Le Feuvre (Cathays) many families generally. Le Feuvre / Hacquoil (Cathays) Numerous 'cousin marriages' took place among Le Boulanger (Cathays) Channel Islands families, and descendants continued to inter-marry, thereby resulting in Le Grand (Cathays) people being related to each other over and Le Gros / Gunney (Cathays) over again, via different permutations, and Le Sauteur (Cathays 3 graves, there are instances of this among the families Western 2 graves) listed. It does happen to some extent in rural communities elsewhere. All this inbreeding was Ma1zard (Cathays & probably not very healthy, and it does make one Thornhlll) wonder whether many people nowadays would Mallet / Carrel (Pantmawr) wish to marry their relatives! Morel (Cathays 3 graves) It is worth noting that although many families settled here permanently, some also returned, Noel (Cathays 7 graves, as can be seen from studying census returns Western 1 grave) between 1841 and 1911. Renouf (Cathays) Yalot (Cathays) Wood ('of Gorey, Jersey': (Cathays) possibly not Jersey stock) Additionally, a few names are of families which had been in the U.K. for several generations and had moved to Cardiff from other locations - these include Lempriere, Le Vesconte and Fiott, although, in this latter, Fiott was the middle name (but for some reason altered, in later records and on the memorial on Grave No. L 1184 in Cathays Cemetery, to Lafayette) - regrettably, therefore, obscuring the earlier family connection. One school of thought on this is that a female ancestor of Charles Fiott (Lafayette) Hunter was part of the Marquis de Lafayette family. There will undoubtedly be others of Channel Islands origin who are not easily identifiable, due mainly to the fact that if daughters marry into non Channel Island families their Philip Morel Memorial background will not be obvious. Unfortunately, Descendants of John Morel (the eldest of the the Channel Islands tradition of married women three Morel brothers who came to Cardiff, continuing to be identified by their own family through their involvement in the potato trade surnames (with the addition of 'wife or widow and subsequently shipping) returned to Jersey, of....') largely lapsed once families settled Not so Grave News March 2016 Page 4 Issue Nº 26 Friends FEATURES and there is a Methodist Home for the Aged on He delivered quality work, so his business the site of one residence - a trend which was thrived and his reputation grew. He was a long- established here also. The three Morel standing member of the Cardiff Master brothers - John, Philip and Thomas - are buried Builders' Association, and much respected by in Cathays in Grave Nos, M 1017, M 937/937A both his professional peers and his employees. and M 942, respectively. We can still see the results of his work today. Another interesting example is the Le Moignan He carried out a number of the largest family - relatives of the Morel brothers - who contracts let by the Cardiff Corporation.