Tag: Social History

But for a rock, I would not be here. In February 1895, my 2 x great grandfather William Howe, then aged forty, nearly lost his life. Thankfully, he survived, became the foreman at the quarry, led the teaching at the Sunday School, and became a deacon at the local Methodist chapel.

On 27 April 1828 in Tetford, Lincoln, my 5 x great grandfather Hutton Foreman fathered his eleventh child, his ninth daughter, Eliza. He was sixty-four at the time. Mary Blades, Hutton’s second wife and Eliza’s mother, was forty.

In later life, on 2 April 1888, Eliza, now Mrs Coupland and the mother of ten children, found herself standing before the Boston magistrates, charged with larceny. She was acquitted and discharged.

In 1449, my ancestors Sir Henry Stradling, his wife Elizabeth Herbert, and their daughter Elizabeth were kidnapped by Colyn Dolphyn and his pirates near Lundy Island. Dolphyn demanded a ransom of 1,000 marks from the Stradling family.

The ransom was not forthcoming, so over a period of two years the price went up to 2,200 marks. At that point the Stradlings were forced to sell their manors of Bassaleg and Rogerstone in south Wales, two manors in Oxfordshire and the Lordship of Sutton in Monmouthshire. With the ransom paid, Dolphyn released Henry and his family.

A few years later, Sir Henry Stradling gained his revenge. A storm blew Colyn Dolphyn’s ship, the Sea Swallow, on to the rocks near Nash Point. The locals alerted Sir Henry, who raised his men. They captured Colyn Dolphyn and his men, and dispensing swift justice hung them the following day.

This is a sad document, a grave layout for soldiers killed during the Great War of 1914 – 1918. It includes my ancestor Sergeant George Noulton, killed on 27 September 1918 at Pont de Nieppe, France. Look at all the references to “Unknown Soldiers”.

On 14 December 1868 my 3 x great grandparents Fanny Brereton and William Bick married in St Mary’s Church, Lambeth (pictured). I think it’s fair to say that my ancestors did not rush into this marriage – Fanny had already given birth to five of William’s children before she walked down the aisle. After her wedding day, she gave birth to five more.

Fanny and William arrived in London via Bristol, their home town, and Portsmouth. Fanny had relatives in London, and that no doubt influenced her decision to live there. 

Fanny’s father, James Richard Brereton, was a skilled silversmith, goldbeater and cutler. Sadly, Fanny never knew him because he died shortly before she was born.

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