D1 January 2001 · very rewarding. An example occurred just before Christmas. I found myself...

Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society - Journal Page 1

NNWFHS COMMITTEE

CHAIRMAN PETER LEE, 34 Falmouth Close, Nuneaton,Warwicks CV11 6OB Tel: (024) 7638 1090 email [email protected] SECRETARY LEIGH RIDDELL, 14 Amos Avenue, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CV10 7BD Tel: (024) 7634 7754 email [email protected]

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY JOHN PARTON, 6 Windmill Rd, Atherstone, Warwickshire CV9 1HP Tel: (01827) 713938 email [email protected] TREASURER & CELIA PARTON, 6 Windmill Rd, Atherstone, Warwickshire CV9 1HP NORTH WARWICKSHIRE CO-ORDINATOR Tel: (01827) 713938 email [email protected] LIBRARY & PROJECTS CO-ORDINATOR CAROLYN BOSS, Nuneaton Library, Church Street, Nuneaton, & VICE CHAIR Warwickshire CV11 4DR Tel: (024) 7638 4027 JOURNAL EDITOR & PAT BOUCHER, 33 Buttermere Ave, Nuneaton,Warwicks CV11 6ET MICROFICHE LENDING LIBRARIAN Tel: (024) 7638 3488 email [email protected] MINUTES SECRETARY STEVE CASEY, 16 Cliveden Walk, Maple Park, Nuneaton, Warwicks CV11 4XJ Tel: (024) 7638 2890 email [email protected] SOCIAL SECRETARY PAT GODFREY, Fernlea, Clock Hill, Hartshill, Nuneaton CV10 OTB Tel: (024) 7639 4563 EVENTS SECRETARY MICHAEL ROBERTS, 52 Balliol Road, Burbage, Leics. LE10 2RE Tel:(01455) 636519 email [email protected] PUBLICATIONS MANAGER CHRISTOPHER COX, 9 Binswood Close, Coventry, W Midlands. CV2 1HL Tel: 024 7661 6880 Email: [email protected] WEBSITE & EXHIBITIONS MANAGER KAREN NAYLOR, 16 Mayfair Drive, Galley Common, Nuneaton, CV10 8RP Tel: (024) 7639 8728 email [email protected] NORTH AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVE HARLOW G FARMER, 7427 Venice Street, Falls Church, VA, USA. Telephone 22043 703 560 6776 E-mail [email protected]

CONTENTS PAGE

NNWFHS Committee 1

NNWFHS Diary - A Report from The Chairman, Peter Lee 2

Bridge Street, Chilvers Coton By Peter Lee 3

The Graziers Arms By Peter Lee 4

Odd Findings in the PR’s By Jacqui Simkins 4

Nuneaton In The Thirties And Forties, Part Two By Alan Crowshaw 5

The Nasons By Peter Lee 9

How Are You Doing With Your Family Tree By Pat Boucher 10

Whence Cheverel II By David Fordham 11

Death Of A Postman By Peter Lee 15

New Publications 16

Notice board 17

Publications 18


A happy and prosperous New Year. I hope your adventures in family history this next year meet all your expectations, and new exhilarating discoveries are made. Over the holiday I have been thinking very hard about what I hope to achieve in the year ahead. As I see it genealogy fills two criteria. Perhaps the obvious one is a sense of personal heritage, something which we privately enjoy. The other is a little more difficult to interpret. It is the engagement with others in our quest for our ancestors. To convey the pleasure and experience to family and friends, in a way they can appreciate. A very difficult thing to do since very often you feel alone in your pursuit, others seem to put up with your hobby, but do not share the same enthusiasm. Of course, part of that engagement is through the experience of family history societies, knowing that there are others out there that have the same enthusiasm for a particular place or family. But reading the newsletter is never quite enough. It seems to me that lurking beneath the black and white or sepia world of history is a desire to turn those grainy facts into real life pleasures. The question is, of course, how do weturn heritage into living history? By far and away the biggest local living history event in 2000 was the first re-union of the worldwide Croshaw family held at the Chilvers Coton Heritage Centre. That was a singularly unique experience, but not impossible to replicate for other families. Imagine the potential, bringing people together who share a unique heritage, share a name and common roots, in a place where, all those years ago their families started out before they split apart in all their diverse ways. Even though very few members of those families still live there ,it is, after all possible. If you are interested in organising such an event contact me. Something else set me thinking. I was in the pub a couple of months ago "chewing the fat" with an old Nuneatonian in his late 70's when he said something to me which shocked and surprised me. He had lived in Nuneaton nearly all his life but had never been to Higham on the Hill or Stoke Golding! How could this be, for someone to live nearly 80 years, to have holidayed around the Mediterranean and not to have visited outlying villages just five or six miles away. But he was right, there are many people who live in a locality who have no cause to visit places where they have no personal business! Since then I have made it my aim to visit, or re-visit the surrounding towns and villages which I rarely go to. It can be very rewarding. An example occurred just before Christmas. I found myself driving down the Fosse Way, and thought, I need some lunch, I'll drop in to Stretton on Dunsmore on the way back. Stretton is a lovely old village full of timber framed houses and cottages, with a babbling stream running down the centre of the main street. I called in the ancient "Shoulder of Mutton" pub and was delighted to find in the snug with its warm open fire, photographs of old villagers, hung around the walls. There was also a collection of pictures of Stretton people in their military uniforms. I cannot think of a better way to celebrate the lives of our ancestors than to hang them on the wall of the local pub! Those military men gazing out from black and white photographs will be seen, celebrated and commemorated every day by village folk. Better to be remembered in the warm cheerful interior of a villag social meeting place than engraved on a cold stone tablet out in the street. I find it interesting wandering around our North Warwickshire villages. There are many old buildings, quaint courtyards and alleyways, inviting pubs very often serving remarkably good value food, churches and burial grounds. Who knows you might see a name that registers as one who has up until now escaped your net, but here he or she is slumbering in a quiet churchyard you never thought to visit before. An interesting contact made during 2000 is with the Wood family in America, who descend from one man Edward Wood of Nuneaton who immigrated to Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1639. It is reported there are now probably 300,000 Wood offspring scattered over North America and two descendents on their distaff side were presidents of the USA. In the last three months we have made enormous strides with the Ensor families of North Warwickshire. This is due to the material sent to me by Fran Van Meer in Canada, Simon Ensor in France, Ron Cofiell in California and Jeremy Ensor (now temporarily in Germany). The progenitor of the de Edensor line appears to be Saswalo de Phalempin (c.1000- ), a Flemish/Norman nobleman, possibly his sons, Saswalo and Ralf were soldiers with Henrie Seigneur de Ferrers et Chambray near Bernay (1036-1088) of Normandy who fought at the side of William the Conqueror. After the victory at Hastings, Henrie de Ferrers was given 210 manors in the East Midlands. The manor of Ednesour in North Derbyshire was held in Knights fee by Saswalo, together with the manor of Sirelei. The male descendents became the noble de Sirelei or Shirley family, another offspring took the name de Edensor, and was, as far as I can tell, the ancestor of all the Ensors today. The Shirleys are unique in that they still retain their Domesday property at Shirley to this present day, 900 years later.

NnwFHs Diary A Report From The Chairman, Peter Lee


Probably some time in the early 1930's Mr. Warwick Stubbs wrote: "When the Warwickshire novelist George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) sprung into fame with her early studies of Warwickshire country and parochial life in the early nineteenth century, as embraced in her "Scenes of Clerical Life" she drew largely upon the scenes and happenings and reminiscences of her youth, notably upon the life at Chilvers Coton, at the parish church of which she was baptised and at which church she worshipped for many years the life of the villagers of Chilvers Coton - f a r m h a n d s , c o a l miners, or ribbon weavers - the dwarf stone or brick houses wherein they dwelt and the quaint taverns where the colliers d r a n k c o p i o u s draughts of potent home brewed ale, were very familiar, and an open book to the young eyes of the novelist. Today, significant changes are taking place in this "literary" parish. Many of the inhabitants are real old Warwickshire types, both in regard to a peculiar idiom of speech, and old fashioned sayings and custom." Chilvers Coton was in those days a curious strung out sort of village which spread along Coton Road into the centre of its neighboring parish of Nuneaton, in one direction, out into the coalmining district towards Stockingford at Heath End, along the Coven t ry road and t owards Attleborough where it joined that hamlet at the Cuttle Mill on the Wem Brook. Dotted around were numerous ale houses which did indeed sustain miners and farm hands, weavers and ironworkers, paupers, servants and brick yard labourers. The names of the Virgins Inn, the King William IV, the Fleur de Lys, the Hare and Hounds,

the Horseshoes, the Newdigate, the Boot Inn, the Wharf inn, the Sheepsfoot Inn, the Asses Head, the Rose and the Jolly Colliers, were known to old Cotonians over a period of the last two hundred years. Most have now gone and are hardly remembered, others rebuilt out of all recognition to their former quaint wattle and daub half timbered selves. Perhaps the heart of Chilvers Coton was the Bull Ring and its main street which we know today as Bridge Street. Two hundred years ago Bridge Street appears to have been known as Market Street.

It is hard to imagine just how old fashioned Bridge Street was and that there were two families probably extant today in the district which had very long associations with Bridge Street. The Boffins and the Kinders. The Boffins are well known because one branch opened a much loved and remembered food shop and cafe in the passage which connected the Market Place and Newdigate Street. The first generation was headed by William Boffin (1789-1855) who was buried at Chilvers Coton. Born in Mollington, Oxfordshire he married Hannah Butler (1791-1873) a t Fa r th inghoe , Northamptonshire in 1822. Almost immediately after their marriage they moved to Chilvers Coton and Hannah was still living in Bridge Street with her extended family in 1871.

The Kinders were remarkable because they lived in Bridge Street for over two hundred years. The Kinder family are believed to have originally come from Derbyshire in antiquity and there were Kynder/Kinders arround the town of Glossop in the 1400s. It is supposed they got their name from a piece of windswept moorland that we now know as Kinder Scout with its impressive 100 foot waterfall "Kinder Downforce". Perhaps they took their name from a lonely farmstead on that wild moorland. It is true that they farmed first locally at Corley in the 1500s and by 1600 were living in

Chilvers Coton. By 1684 they were well established villagers in what is now Bridge Street. In the census of that year Thomas Kinder senior (aged 69) and Thomas Kinder junior (aged 45) are described as husbandmen. They had the use of land which was rented from the Newdigate estate. In Chilvers Coton terms they were leading townspeople. However , i t i s surprising to find that Thoma s K inde r ,

(1854 - ? ) the parish clerk and tax collector, wa still resident in the very same street (maybe even the same house) in 1901. Of course, all that has changed. Bridge Street is not what it was. Many of the old properties were designated slums and pulled down. Nearly every old house, with a few notable exceptions, has gone. With it the spirit of the Boffins and the Kinders, blown to the four winds. It is good to know that there are many Kinder descendents in America, as there are many old Nuneaton families throughout the world who are actively seeking their roots here in Chilvers Coton.

Bridge Street, Chilvers Coton By Peter Lee

Bridge Street Chilvers Coton Circa 1930


It is curious in some respects that one of Nuneaton's more modern pubs has a very old name, one that evokes memories of a life which was based on agriculture, and on a spot which was very much associated with the rural life of old Nuneaton - The Graziers Arms. At the beginning of the 19th century Weddington Terrace, the town end of Weddington Road, the top of Bond Street and Regent Street corner were at one of the three extremities of the old town, Bond End. The other two were where the parish church is, Church End and the other at the top of Abbey Street on the Manor Court Road corner, Abbey End. Old Hinckley Road joined Bond Street and when the railway was built and opened in 1847 the two were connected by a level crossing. Just before the railway was started there were three pubs in the immediate vicinity all with agricultural names - the Dun Cow, swept away by the railway; the Gardeners Arms and the Graziers Arms, both the latter were in what is now Weddington Terrace. Most people would wonder why there should be two pubs in this short row of houses. Where would all their trade come from? What is not remembered these days, however, is that the people of Nuneaton had rights of common and could pasture their cows on the open piece of ground which went up to the Higham Lane. This was known as "Cottagers Piece". Hence the Graziers Arms. In addition there must have been strips of arable land where they could grow crops for their own consumption hence the Gardeners Arms. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that after a hard day tending their crops or chasing their animals across the open fields tat they would stop for a pint of ale (or three) on their way back to their cottages in town. Perhaps stopping for several more on their way up Abbey Street or down Bond Street. These hostelries were not pubs in the way we know them. They were probably no more than a single front room of someone's house with a couple of barrells of ale stacked on a table. Rudimentary furniture, a few pewter or pot flagons, a clay pipe full

of rough "baccy" and a large open hearthed fire which gave cheer and homely comforts to a few wandering souls on a cold winters day.

At any rate the Graziers Arms takes us back to those far off days of old even though the premises we see today is probably the third by that name on that site. We cannot trace when the name, the Graziers Arms, was applied to the delapidated cottage that became the pub we knew up until its demolition in 1963. It seems it must have been entirely rebuilt as a purpose made public house in the 1860's and we have a water colour painting of it how it looked when it was first built. It was originally in red brick but was later covered in whitwash to brighten up its dowdy appearance. in one hundred years only five landlords ran the Graziers. The earliest landlord I have traced was John Biggs (1793-1881) who married Maria Jelley (from an old Leicestershire family traceable to the 16th century) He might have been succeeded by David Ensor who later became the proprietor of the Midland Quarry on Tuttle Hill. By 1896 it was tenanted by William Henry Trinder and later by his wife Maria Trinder. In Kellys Directory for 1912 Arthur Walpole was the landlord and he was still there twenty four years later. In the period1938-1962 Robert.S.Hardy was licensee.

Most of my research has been carried out in rural (some VERY rural) parishes where the registers have thrown up little more than the occasional "pauper" or "miller". However, I lately found myself checking the Lichfield St Michael registers for any cross-parish strays for a branch of my husband’s ancestry and found entries which deserve more research – if I had the time. I trust that repeating the comments of an early cleric will not land anyone in trouble with the race relations authorities, but two entries were simply as follows: 29/6/1788 Rosanna Williams, burial, “A black” and 9/8/1808 John Hardwick, burial, “A black” No mention of “servant”, so were these "free". The entries set me wondering. The parish of St Michael would obviously include some owners of the larger houses/estates from rural areas on that side of the city and undoubtedly Lichfield itself was home to many merchants. These ranks would have travelled, possibly to Africa or the Caribbean, and of course there is nothing to say either Rosanna or John had not been estate slaves before coming to Britain with the family. Would they have come to the Midlands on their own in the 1700s? One marvels at the circumstances which brought about the burial entry for 31st March 1809: Joseph son of William and Ann Harper “who was killed by a cow in the church yard”. Finally, although the names may not be quite correctly transcribed, it was in June 1810 that John Reve aged 25, William Weighton aged 26 and James Jackson aged 48 appear in the registers. “These men were executed by the sentence of the Law for uttering forged Bills of Exchange and were all buried in one grave.” Presumably “ u t t e r i n g f o r g e d b i l l s ” i s counterfeiting – nowadays they would likely be only fined!! But of course, those readers who regularly study town parish registers may find these entries “run of the mill”...!!

THE GRAZIERS ARMS By Peter Lee

Odd Findings In The P. R.’s By Jacqui Simkins

MICROFICHE READERS

PLEASE CAN ANYONE WHO HAS A NNWFHS MICROFICHE READER RETURN IT ASAP TO PAT BOUCHER AS THEY ALL N E E D T H E I R A N N U A L SERVICE CHECK.

THANK YOU


The Grammar School and the war. I was eleven. I had but two ambitions in life, to learn to ride a bike and to learn to swim. As a reward for passing the scholarship my father took me to Mr Collins bicycle shop on the corner of Riversley Rd and Dugdale St. He sold us a second hand Hercules for fifty shillings. I learned to ride within the hour and despite admonitions not to go beyond Norman Avenue Alan Watts and I were two miles away at Gypsy Lane that afternoon and for the next eight years that bicycle and I were inseparable and I came to know its every nut, bolt and ball bearing. It was September 1939. For me the war and the Grammar School started together. I was in Form 3a which seemed to be for boys who had passed the scholarship. Form 3b was for fee paying boys. At the end of each year there was promotion and relegation if warranted. I discovered that they were not ‘Snobs’ as I had been led to believe but that donning that black barathea blazer and cap meant that you were immediately set aside by the rest of the community: with pride by your relatives and their friends, but to every other kid you were a ‘Grammarbug’ and someone who thought he was better than anyone else. Your cap, which you were obliged to wear at all times was a target to be snatched from your head as a trophy to taunt you with. It was perhaps why Boxing - ‘The Noble Art of Self Defence’ was on our curriculum, but faced with this universal challenge we soon learned to stick together. One lunchtime, when my pal Robin Tollast and I were walking through Riversley Park, his cap was snatched by a local lout. Cliff Aldridge, the school vice-captain happened to come by and ordered him to give it back and was told to put his fists up. We knew that Cliff was the School Boxing Captain and held his coat in anticipation. We were not disappointed. After taking five or six punches and landing nothing in return, the bully threw down the cap and made off. The outbreak of war meant that several masters went straight into the

forces with the result that there was no one to teach us Latin or German and there were no materials for either woodwork or metalwork. The Physics master too had volunteered and ‘Crum’ Brown, whose subject was Chemistry had to take this on. When he came to teach us, he told us that he kept one week ahead of us in the set books, but in the end the pupils he taught secured record numbers of Credits and Distinctions in both subjects, demonstrating dramatically that the results reflected the teachers and not the pupils, given that we were of fairly even ability. We did not know at the time that our Mathematics master, ‘Ticker’ Whittaker, was a Conscientious Objector, which must have taken a lot of courage at that time, but I for one am grateful as he was a gifted teacher. However, his beliefs did not stop him caning us - even for getting our Algebra wrong! Later we were to have women teachers! I did not stay long in the sixth form but it was not totally wasted as the English master, J B Bennett (having returned from the war), kindled my interest in writing. He had set us an essay on trees and I had written “A tree is a woody perennial plant” He proceeded to read this out to the class, pointing out that, whilst it was indeed true, it was decidedly not very interesting. My fellow pupils hooted with laughter and I was very embarrassed and came to a mental decision that in future I would strive to be interesting from the first word that I wrote. Initially we had ‘Nap’ Gale to teach us Science. He was a disciplinarian and wrote on the blackboard at a furious rate for us to copy. When lunchtime came he would walk out saying that we could go when we had finished, leaving us dipping our nibs in the inkwells and scratching away furiously - the ballpoint pen had not yet arrived, although most of us also had fountain pens of varying reliability. Sport featured strongly in our activities. The strong athletic

types had status and the Head Boy was nearly always an athlete rather than an academic. Boxing was part of the curriculum and there was an annual school tournament. We wore huge gloves, sixteen ounce I think, but after three two minute rounds they seemed like lead weights and a major effort was required even to raise your arms. There were some bloody battles but no one finished up in hospital. The first effect of the war was that food was rationed. Bananas and chocolate disappeared and the allowance of butter, tea and sugar was tiny, something like two ounces each, but we always had our daily third of a pint bottles of milk at school sipped through a straw and my parents gave me the butter and had the margarine themselves. We were all issued with gas masks in strong cardboard boxes, which we were supposed to take everywhere, and houses with gardens had Anderson Shelters. These were curved galvanised sheets of steel, which were put together like meccano and half buried in the garden and then covered with soil. It was not too long before we were to be thankful that we had them. The bombing started in 1940 and Coventry was a prime target, but on the 17th May 1941 it was Nuneaton’s turn. My father was at work and my Uncle Joe at Crewe later read a report of my father risking his life to shunt ammunition wagons to safety away from burning coaches. Amazingly whilst High Explosive bombs, land mines and incendiaries were raining down on the town, my mother and I were in bed fast asleep! Bill Hambley our neighbour was beating on our front door with both fists for fifteen minutes before he could wake us! He then told us to shelter under the stairs until there was a lull, at which stage we scurried into the Hambley's Anderson Shelter at the bottom of their garden whilst Bill went back to patrol the street for incendiaries. A house up the street was in fact gutted

(Continued on page 6)

Nuneaton in the Thirties and Forties Part two, The grammar school and the early war years

by Alan Croshaw


(Continued from page 5) by fire and Bill who climbed a drainpipe to check that no one was inside got a nasty electric shock and came to lie down for a short time. The bombs whistled down, seemingly exploding all around us. Dolly Hambley cursed the Germas fairly politely and it was frightening, but we were in the safest place. At last, as dawn broke, the siren sounded the all clear and we came out for the universal remedy - a cup of tea, brewed with the aid of a Primus Stove as gas and electricity were cut off. Many of the roofs had holes in them. I thought ours had escaped but on going into my mother’s bedroom I found a large hole where a heavy rock had smashed through roof and ceiling on to my mother's bed and bounced onto the floor. Had Bill Hambley not awakened us my mother would almost certainly have been killed. Later on Tony Collett, one of my classmates, came round and suggested we went down to school to see if we could retrieve our books as Church St and the school had been badly damaged. I got my bike and satchel and we set off. We couldn't do much riding because the streets were littered with debris, glass and broken bricks and a pervading smell of plaster dust. The town centre was inaccessible so we went via Newtown Rd and Wheat St. The school was in a mess and we got into our classroom to find wooden beams at grotesque angles and our desks overturned with books spilling out. We sorted through and picked out our books from the debris, cramming them into our satchels. I reluctantly gave up trying to find my large atlas and we returned to our bikes when we noticed some men down in the school field. They saw us and gesticulated fiercely. We beat a quick retreat down King Edward Rd only to meet an irate Air Raid Warden who demanded to know where we had been. We explained that we had been to retrieve our text boos. “Can't you bloody well read?” he asked, pointing to a piece of wood measuring at most six inches by four, propped against two bricks in the middle of the road. The chalked inscription read “Danger - Unexploded Bomb”! The men who had waved at us were the Bomb Disposal Squad. Had it gone off whilst we were in our classroom we would have been buried.

We went on our way giggling. The bombing technique the Germans used was to fly along a wireless beam, emitted from Northern German occupied territories until they encountered a second beam emitted from a southern site and then, obeying their orders without question. They released their bombs. Eventually the British tumbled to this and cunningly devised a way of ‘bending’ these beams with some odd results, the most notable being the bombing of neutral Dublin, ablaze with lights, instead of blacked out Belfast! I suspect that the bombs that fell on Nuneaton were intended for Coventry, although our large railway marshalling yard could have been the target. However, our school was declared unsafe and whilst it was being repaired we were instructed to report to The Nuneaton High School for GIRLS! Not that we were all there at the same time. The girls did a morning shift and we did an afternoon shift. This meant sharing desks and most of us soon found notes in our desks from the girls telling us who they were and asking about us. My partner was Sheila Soden who lived at Bulkington and we arranged to meet. I cycled the three or four miles with one of my pals who discreetly waited well out of sight. Sheila lived in a very large corner house in the middle of the village and sneaked out from large double doors. She was a pretty girl and we chatted about things of mutual interest. Hoever, this little romance soon foundered in that we were, in a sense, 'living together'. The problem was that the desk was not big enough and we were supposed to take ALL our books home each night which verged on the impossible. Somehow the girls took more home than the boys - maybe their teachers were stricter? I, amongst others, got notes which were, at first, polite but daily grew more strident as I arranged and rearranged my books trying to make them look less bulky - to no avail. In time, enough repairs were done for most of the boys to return to King Edward Rd, but the fifth and sixth forms remained at the High School returning to normal hours and that included me. Discipline at the Grammar School was arbitrary. I was one of the most caned boys in my class and yet I was by no

stretch of the imagination a ‘naughty boy’ - I probably had a cheeky grin. Teachers seemed to think that occasional flogging helped maintain discipline and rarely went into detail on who was really responsible for any incident. Not that anyone ever protested their innocence. It certainly didn't seem a good idea at the time and there was an element of esteem involved, although I still feel resentment at being caned unjustly. Amazingly School Prefects were also allowed to cane, although only if a committee of prefects considered it a just punishment and I never suffered this indignity. Caning was usually on the backside and left weals but looking back I realize that the best disciplinarians rarely caned. Whilst there was little opportunity for social life, one exception was Ballroom Dancing which was the only ‘approved’ meeting place for young boys and girls. Encouraged by my mother whilst I was still in the fifth form, I went to Dancing Classes with three or four of my classmates. George and Nelly Rymell charged half a crown (25p) a session. This was in Newdigate Buildings, a Dickensian type of building, and the ‘Ballroom’ was up three flights of rickety, creaking, wooden, spiral stairs. Boys were assembled at one end and girls at the other, and George and Nellie assisted by Mrs Carter would demonstrate some s teps . An appropriate Victor Sylvester record was put on and we were compelled to attempt the steps together! Nellie or Mrs Carter would cut in occasionally and encourage us, but despite feet being trodden on, numerous apologies from both partners, it worked surprisingly well. In ballroom dancing you hold your partner close, which we did. It was far removed from the modern remote style and much more fun. Dancing to records however was the last resort. It was an era of live music. Billy Riley and Les Pearce were the two bands of repute. Their style echoed Glen Miller but despite being limited to trumpet, saxophone or clarinet, trombone, piano, base and drums the sextet sounded as if there were at least a dozen and by the end of the evening an intensely vibrant atmosphere was created, with such tunes as ‘The Woodchoppers Ball’.



(Continued from page 6) The climax to these dances was ‘The Last Waltz’ and you strained every muscle to ask the girl that you wanted to walk home. Harvest Camps Because of the U-Boat blockade, home food production was vital and posters exhorted all and sundry to ‘Dig for Victory’. This included digging up lawns and sowing potatoes etc. Shelagh's father, I later learned, despite working long hours, also dug three large allotments! We older schoolboys were encouraged to attend Harvest Camps to help gather in the corn as the task was then very labour intensive and the men were away at war. The first camp I went to was at Claverdon, near Henley in Arden where we slept in army bell tents by the side of a large, well equipped Scout hut. We were to be paid four old pence an hour but when it was calculated that our wages would bare ly cover our keep, our Headmaster, Mr Pratt, cycled around the farms and successfully negotiated sixpence an hour with all of the farmers but one, who thought that we would work for nothing! He got no help. I reported with two or three others to the farm nearest our camp, opposite the church. To start with we were all ‘stooking’, that is following the binder machine and propping the sheaves of corn together in sixes to let the wind blow through them to dry them out. It was hard work but we were young and quickly learned to pace ourselves. When it came to gathering in, the farmer looked dubiously at me and said that he didn't know what job to give me as I was too small (I am now a six footer!). He thought for a moment and then made me Waggoner. This meant that I had to couple up the huge chain horse in front of the other one and then guide the two horses pulling the full load of corn to the rick where it was to be stored until it could be threshed and then ride the chain horse back to the field and other cart. I had never been close to horses before and they towered frighteningly above me, but I did what I was told, trying to appear in charge and, much to my surprise, the horses responded. The difficult bit was that you had to manoeuvre the cart without any of the

sheaves falling off and since they were loaded to a great height and the ground undulated, there was a knack to it and so I was relieved to complete my spell at this without mishap and was then considered worth a try as loader. This meant being on top of the cart, amidst flying pitchfork prongs (Barry Peat got one through his hand) and stacking the sheaves in an interlocking pattern so tha t a h igh load cou ld be accommodated on the cart without any sheaves falling off and although others had loads slip, mine never did and my standing with the farmer increased. Wet weather or even heavy dew meant that we were found other tasks until the corn was dry. I recall two of these clearly. The first was catching the sheep after they had been rounded up into a barn and holding them whilst any dung was clipped from their wool as this attracted flies who laid their eggs in it and the resultant maggots would tunnel into the sheep’s back and had to be got out and Jeyes Fluid rubbed in. Our task was to hold the sheep whilst this was done, The farmer said that he would give me sixpence if I could hold the tup - the father of the lambs - and to his surprise I did it although the truth was that the creature a c t u a l l y w r i g g l e d f r e e b u t momentarily stood still, enabling me to hurl myself on him and take a fresh grip, but I got my sixpence. The other job was plum picking. The plums were very sweet and to my joy I was told that I could eat as many as I wanted. This was a new situation for me in a period when anything nice was rationed and despite having been warned I ate greedily. That night we went to the pictures. I didn't see all of it as I was dashing to and fro to the lavatory. Back at camp I was violently sick and taken into the scout hut and put to bed feeling close to death. Early next morning however my eyes flicked open and I was immediately aware of the birds singing and felt a never to be repeated sense of alertness and well-being. Ater a hearty breakfast, my demeanour was soon noted on the farm where I was pitching sheaves from one end of the rick to the other with a precision that drew comment from the farm workers and this feeling lasted until after lunchtime but it was an experience that I have never forgotten. We sometimes ate our lunchtime

sandwiches in a haybarn watching rats up to a foot long scurrying to and fro between the ricks and totally ignoring us. The farm dogs had a field day when the corn was harvested. As the end of the six week camp drew near and the weather was good, we worked longer and longer hours to get the corn harvested, which we did and approached the reckoning with some satisfaction, “Don't worry about adding up your hours my lad, you've done very well - here you are” said the old farmer. He gave me thirty shillings. I hadn't the heart or nerve to tell him that I'd actually earned more! The following year the camp was at Wormleighton near Fenny Compton and again we were under canvas but this year we were upmarket as the dining facilities were inside a sixteenth century Manor House. Norman Painting, of The Archer's fame, was also there. He was about to leave our school and go to University and was helping with the Admin. Farming here was quite different as they had Combine Harvesters which we had not seen before, thus eliminating manual labour and so I found myself cycling two or three miles to pull flax. This intrigued our teachers and I carried back a handful to show them. The black seeds were used to make cooking oil, the stalk became the flax and the roots were boiled up for the pigs we were told. We were working with a couple of Italian prisoners of war who seemed very content with their lot and got on well with everyone. Then a mechanical flax puller was introduced for that and we were relegated to pulling the patches infested with thistles and our industrial gloves became a necessit. Wormleighton's village shop was the front room of a cottage where we would go and ask for cigarettes. Whatever brand we asked for, we were always offered ‘Robins’, a brand I have never heard of before or since. I think I bought the only packet ever in my life for myself and gave up smoking before I had finished it, which was a wiser decision than I realised at the time. I also now realise how lucky we were to have gone to Claverdon to participate in old style harvesting. The Christmas Post.



(Continued from page 7) In the winter, as part of our ‘War Effort’, the fifth and sixth forms were recruited to help with what the Post Office chooses to describe as ‘Christmas Pressure’, again because of the shortage of manpower. The first step was swearing to obey ‘The Official Secret's Act’, which was a promise of confidentiality; not to disclose to any ‘unauthorised person’ anything that we might learn whilst we were doing the job. It was all very solemn despite being done ‘en bloc’ in our classroom. The largest church in most towns is what was then universally known as the Congregational Church and it was this church and hall in Chapel Street, the street where I was born, which The Post Office hired and where we gathered early on a frosty December morning to await the allocation of jobs. Don Silver and I were led to an old flat backed lorry hired for the occasion, driven by its owner who was a farmer. Our task was the formidable one of delivering all the non-registered parcels to the whole of Stockingford, the geography of which was then only generally known to us with no A to Z available. By the time that Christmas Day dawned however we knew it intimately! Most of the time we were on the back of the lorry and it was COLD. Our uniform was a Post Office arm band indicating that we were Temporary Staff and this meant that we were regarded as second class by the general public. Neither were there bars of chocolate at the corner shop, so our aim in life was to deliver all the parcels and get back to the warmth of the Congregational Hall as quickly as possible. Some of the parcels however were poorly packed and the blame for this was invariably laid at our door but my classic remembrance was of a parcel taken by Don, who apologised for its very poor condition, to a lady who came to the door, only to be told that we were delivering it to the sender and not the recipient and she had personally packed it with great care only two days ago and how on earth had we reduced it to that state in that short time? Don hurriedly retreated to the lorry wishing that I had made that particular delivery! In fact when we got back to base, if there were still letters to be delivered, we were sent out again on town centre deliveries.

The tradition was for a Christmas morning delivery and to that end we all reported for our final day of duty but the exhortations to ‘Post Early’ had been heard and the few letters sorted ready for delivery were seized on by the regular postmen anxious to get their merited Christmas Box and we were quickly on our bikes heading home. The A.T.C. Military cadet forces were encouraged during the war and we at the Grammar School had its own Squadron of the Air Training Corps, Number 121. We had R.A.F. uniforms and regularly cycled up to Bramcote Aerodrome on Sundays where we had lectures and drills and were sometimes taken up for flights. It was a training squadron and the aircraft in use were Avro Ansons and Wellington bombers. We had to wear parachutes and were instructed in their use but I do recall looking down and thinking to myself that it was a very long way down. My most memorable trip was in a Wellington when our Adjutant, Flt Lt Josephs, an ex RAF man took the place of the navigator but omitted to take any maps. We thought we were having rather a long trip when the sun started to sink below the horizon and then we learned that we were lost, with neither radio nor maps and to our delight we landed at an American Air Force Base to ask the way! We had visions of sampling their renowned hospitality but, on being told that we were at Cambridge, that Bramcote was due West, and did we know anything about Navigation?, to our disgust the pilot took off, found a landmark and hared home, landing at dusk. I got home to a worried mother and a ticking off. Once a year we went to camp for a whole week. I only went once and can't remember where it was, but I clearly recall that they had Mosquito's. These were constructed of wood and revolutionary adhesives had been developed to stick them together in order to reduce weight and they were so fast that they couldn't be caught in the air. Whilst the pilots were keen to take us up, the Commanding Officer would not allow it but we did get instruction on firing 303 rifles however and learned how hard they can kick back.

Fire watching. By 1942 German bombing raids were few but there was no let up on the Home Front as it was called and fifth and sixth formers and a few old boys volunteered for firewatching duty back at our partially repaired school which meant sleeping bags on the floor and if the siren wailed its eerie wail then we would put on our helmets and patrol, ready to climb on the roof and throw a sack of sand over any incendiary bomb or throw ourselves out of the way if we heard the whistle of a high explosive bomb, but it was usually quiet. The 1552 school was in a corner of the graveyard of the Parish Church and our present school adjoined it. David Butterfield who had read too many ghost stories persuaded me to go with him one Sunday night into the graveyard at midnight to see if any spirits materialised and this we did. It was a bright moonlight night and as we looked at the nearby church it was if all the lights were on inside. We were sure that it was the reflection of the moonlight but went to investigate. All churches were then kept open as havens to go to but when we arrived at the west door and pushed it open we found the whole church ablaze with light. The old Curate, the Rev John Newton had omitted to switch off after Evensong! As a server I knew exactly where all the switches were and quickly put the place in darkness and used our torches to get out. The curate was greatly relieved when I told him and of course it never got reported to the authorities. Part 3 continues in next quarter’s journal


What is the tenuous link between the former Manor Hospital in Nuneaton and the Venetian glass centre of Murano, an island which is close to the ancient city of Venice in Italy? Intrigued - read on. About eight years ago I gave a talk to the Clifton on Dunsmore Local History Society near Rugby on "old Nuneaton". Shortly afterwards I had a very nice letter from Ian Hickman, who then lived at Clifton Manor, a large mansion house in the village. He invited me over and I went to meet him and his wife who were very pleased to discuss all matters "old Nuneaton". Ian's grandfather was Sir Alfred Hickman the owner of Haunchwood Collieries. I had a wonderful visit and examined some of his family archives and came away with photographs of the old colliery, further visits followed and we exchanged letters and details of the workings of the mining estate his family owned and his own memories of Nuneaton in the thirties and forties. One thing I found very interesting was that his grandmother was a Nason and he had a family tree prepared by a cousin in California. The Nasons had been es tab l i shed over th ree generations as doctors and surgeons in Nuneaton. Their greatest claim to fame was of course that they were the leading people in the establishment of Nuneaton cottage hospital which later became known as the Manor Hospital. They had raised funds and brought the top people in the town, principally

Reginald Stanley - the Brickmaker, to back this project. A hospital was a much needed requirement, especially in a town where there was so many dangerous jobs, railway work, collieries, quarrying and heavy engineering caused numerous serious injuries. Not only this the population were malnourished, prone to infectious diseases and children died early. There was no doubt about it the Nasons were a family which should surely be celebrated and after the Manor closed and operations transferred to the new George Eliot it was good to see their great works lived on by naming a new ward after them. Nason ward. A couple of years ago I received via the Nuneaton and North Warwickshire Family History Society and the Internet an enquiry from Australia: Stephen Nason. He came in search of his roots in Nuneaton. He knew nothing of the family's good works here. All he knew was that his ancestors had travelled to Australia in the 19th century and put down their roots there, and some had medical training which had been dispensed with in taking up different trades. A book could no doubt be written about the Nasons in their own right such is the wealth of detail on this family. Of course, as soon as Stephen Nason contacted me I was able to fill in many details for him and the great information passed on by Ian Hickman served us both well.

However, of greatest interest was possibly the origins of the name Nason that Stephen gave to me. It just so happened that his brother Robert was in Venice in 1997 on business and when he checked into his hotel was asked by the clerk whether he was any relative of the Murano Nasons who were very much associated with the Venetian glass industry which is centred on that island. Of course Robert did not know, but was interested enough to be introduced to the hotel pianist who was also a Nason. A Venetian who was playing in the foyer of the hotel. The Nasons are still glass blowers in Murano and Robert was handed a booklet they had prepared on the history of their family which went back to Bartolomeo Nason, a painter, who was alive in 1325. The origins of the name appear to be Naxon, which in Venetian is pronounced Nason. Is there any connection with our own Nasons who we can trace back to Robert Nason of 1570? Who knows? However, it is a good story and Robert was much taken by that Venetian pianist who was described by him as a "dead ringer" for their elder brother. Perhaps the Nasons were originally of Venetian descent and sometime prior to 1570 travelled to Warwickshire where the traceable family could be found. This is the tenuous link which brings the Manor Hospital into contact with Venice!

The Nasons - By Peter Lee

NEW TO BUY ON MICROFICHE. NUNEATON & BEDWORTH MUNICIPAL CEMETERIES, REGISTERS OF BURIALS.

The following microfiche are now available to buy. You may purchase individual cemeteries or the full set. Because there was slightly less information on the register of burials for Coventry Rd Bedworth, we also had filmed the register of purchased graves which is available with the register of burials but not individually. Please order through Pat Boucher. Orders may take up to 28 days to process, payment in £ sterling with order please. Contact Pat Boucher for more information. Overseas orders will be sent by surface mail. Oaston Road, Nuneaton. Jul 1875-Feb 1940. 17 books, 68 microfiche. £14 + P&P UK £1 or Overseas £1.50 Stockingford, Nuneaton. Dec 1912-Dec 1947. 2 books, 20 microfiche. £4.20+ P&P UK 70p or Overseas £1.20 Attleborough, Nuneaton Aug 1893-Apr 1946. 3 books, 12 microfiche. £2.50 + P&P UK 60p or Overseas £1 Coventry Rd, Bedworth. Register of burials. 1874-1947. 2 books, 21 microfiche. £4.40 + P&P UK 70p or Overseas £1.20 Coventry Rd, Bedworth. Register of purchased graves. 1875-1954. 1 book, 5 microfiche. Only available as a set with the register of burials, both sets £5.40 + P&P UK 70p or Overseas £1.20 Full set, 4 cemeteries, 126 microfiche. £25 + P&P UK £1.50 or Overseas £2


I recently started an evening course and was given this picture as a bit of fun to see how we felt about the course, how we were getting on etc. I have also seen it given to children at our local senior school as an exercise for part of their ‘personal and social eduction’. I thought it would fit in very well with geneology and, looking at the picture, there are times when I have felt like

most of the little people in the picture. I recognised one or two others in there as well. When I first started and knew nothing at all about the records available or where to look, Peter Lee was the man bending down to let me stand on his back to give me a start. When I discovered the IGI I felt like the man on the ladder - suddenly it was terribly easy to get a good way up. When I

discovered (after I had done several months of research on the Marstons of Nuneaton) that my great grandmother, Rose Marston, was actually Rose Harris and had only been adopted by a Marston, I felt like the man near the top on the wrong side of the branch which is being being sawn off. When I think about the next lot of records I need to get into ie wills and manoral records, I feel like the man leaning on the trunk about two thirds of the way

up looking for a way to get a bit further. There have been many times when I’ve felt like the man lying at the foot of the tree crying, or the one clinging on to the b r anch wi th h i s fingernails. I often feel like the man at the bottom by the ladder looking up at all the people doing really well and wondering if he’ll ever get up there with them. I try to be like the man half way up looking down and trying to help the man who is stuck on the first branch. As a society we are a bit like the man building the platform so that more people can get up a bit more easily. I wonder if I will ever feel like the man at the top of the tree? And how about you, where are you? Don’t forget, if you feel out on a limb, you can always ask for help and we will at least try to hold the ladder while you climb up for yourself!

How Are You Doing with Your Family Tree? By Pat Boucher


H a v i n g p r o f e s s e d neither time nor inclination to pursue the Evans genealogy

further I find that I must now eat my words. I was briefly in the Nuneaton area shortly after writing the previous piece and, having a rare hour or two to spare, decided to satisfy my curiosity a little further by delving into the George Eliot archive in the Public Library. What I found there not only suggests that my earlier conclusions are substantially correct, that George Eliot and Sacheverel were directly linked, but that a supposed ancestral line back to 17th century Flintshire, hinted at by Marganhita Laski in the opening pages of her biography of George Eliot and mentioned by Peter in connection with the research of Dorothy Dodds in his follow up comments, is substantially flawed. I first found a copy of a tree from an original in the possession of one of Isaac Evans' great grandaughters, Miss A.S.Winser. I believe that it is this document that probably gave rise to the flawed Flintshire connection since it carries a note that the earlier generations had been made out by the College of Arms in 1835. Since there is no detail about these earlier generations it is difficult to follow the supposed reasoning of the College of Arms, if of course this is a true transcript of their work, of which we cannot be sure. I believe that the first correct event on this tree is the marriage of George Evans, George Eliot's grandfather, to Mary Leach which is not dated there but we now know took place on 16th January 1763 at Norbury & Roston in Derbyshire. One of the manuscript amendments on this tree also suggests, incorrectly, that John Woolley Evans was a nephew of this George Evans when he was in fact a great nephew as we shall see. However I have no reason to believe that there ae any further errors in the events recorded on the tree which are mostly confirmed by other sources in any case. I then found a one page photocopy of

a typescript, annotated as an extract from a book by Douglas J Adams, a g x 5 grandson of Sacheverel, published by the BMSGH. However whether this was a projected book or one that was actually published is unclear for the reference librarian of the BMSGH, in response to my enquiry, has been unable to find any trace of it. A 'skeleton' tree of which Fig 2 is a hand copy since the original photocopies poorly, is clearly associated with Douglas Evans' typescript and shows not only the descent of Douglas Evans from Sacheverel, but that Sacheverel was, as I suggested in the October Journal, the brother of George Eliot's great grandfather and thus that the Thomas Evans shown at the top of both trees in the October Journal was one and the same person. Knowing that Sacheverel was born at Rocester in Staffordshire and follwing Douglas Evans' notation that the earlier generations had been there too I then turned to the IGI. This confirmed and added to his convincing line of Evans descent at Rocester from the Robert Evans who married a Joan Howard or Howerd on the 27th of November 1575 - a good half century before the supposed earliest Flintshire connection shown in the copy of Miss A. S. Winser’s tree. Of course, as with all information derived from the IGI this carries the caveat that the original sources should be checked to bowl out transcription errors etc. and I really do not have the time or inclination to do this. Nevertheless I am convinced that the argument will hold and all of the information that I have compiled about these early generations is contained in the tree (Fig 3). which is complementary to the two trees in the October Journal. Dougals Evans' typescript also refers to an uncle 'Chev' mentioned by one of his aunts. This could not of course have been our Sacheverel but must have been Sacheverel, mispelled in the IGI 'Sachevael', son of Richard Evans and Lucy Taylor and Douglas Evans' g x 2 uncle. This of course leaves in the air all the

undoubtedly painstaking research carried out by Dorothy Dodds, which Peter referred to in his follow up notes in the October Journal, but as I said she was probably misled by the tree possessed by Miss Winser and no one had then thought to question the College of Arms connection. I note that Gordon Haight in his definitive biography of George Eliot published in 1968 does not comment on her Evans ancestry before her father. This is quite unusual, for most biographies start with at least a synopsis of their subject's ancestry, and an inexplicable omission to my mind in an otherwise erudite and admirable work. Whether he had seen the ‘Miss A. S. Winser’s’ tree during the course of his extensive research is not known, but if he had then perhaps he too sensed that there might be flaws in it and avoided the question. Marghanita Laski, in her also admirable biography, published five years after Haight's, ventures certainly one generation further back to George Eliot's grandfather but hedges her bets on earlier generations by her comment:- 'It is believed in the Evans family that they descended from a sixteenth century Welsh knight, Sir Thomas Evans de Northop, in the County of Flint, and from Northop they undoubtedly came.' Perhaps she also had seen the ‘Miss A. S. Winser’s’ tree and was suspicious of the earlier generations and/or the College of Arms connection? After all it is not uncommon today, and was even less so in the nineteenth century, for people to pursue genealogy in the hope of finding a connection back to some aristocratic, famous or wealthy ancestor and wishful thinking must have led many to establish quite untenable links. Most of us, who can trace our ancestry back along unadulterated lines of ag.labs, are not so sanguine and expect nothing so grand! The fact that Thomas Evans has, in Laski's biograophy, become a knight is perhaps another clue that the


Whence Cheverel II By David Fordham


Fig 2.


Fig 3. Skeleton of tree by Douglas J Evans bur.29.9.1620 Robert Evans = Joan Howard marr. 27.11.1575 | : ALL bapt 15.3.1576 Henry = Ann Horsey marr.28.8.1603 | : AT bapt. 21.4.1606 William = Mary | bur.18.9.1692 : ROCESTER,STAFFS bapt. 4.9.1636 Henry = Susan d. 1.12.1708 | : | bapt.1.2.1675 Thomas = Mary | .........................................:........................................................... b.Rocester : b.Rocester : Thomas = Elizabeth Oakes Sacheverel = Elizabeth Woolley c. 1697-1783 Marr.1723 1698-1765 b.1710 marr. 1737 1709-1797 Norbury d. Norbury : : George 1740-1830 Samuel 1743-1807 = Ann b.1760 : marr. 1768 Kirk Hallam Robert : 1773 - 1849 John Woolley = Anna Blunstone : 1787-1868 marr.1812 1792-1861 Mary Ann 1819-1880 Norbury,Kirk Hallam of Kirk Hallam (George Eliot) and Chilvers Coton lived at Temple House and Home Farm, Arbury.

: Richard's baptism in May 1816 took place Richard = Lucy Taylor 1 week after the baptism of Isaac Evans : of Attleborough 1816-1863 marr.1841 1816-? Chilvers Coton,Ellastone : and Kirk Hallam : John 1842 - had a brother Sacheverel and he died John = Bessy Hunt 1842-1908 marr.1861 1842-1906 Sacheverel was Churchwarden in Norbury in 1741 Ellastone/Tutbury : Tutbury : John Woolley was Farm Bailiff at Arbury at one Richard = Charlotte one time. Will was witnessed by Robert, Mary Tutbury/Birmingham : of Birmingham Ann's father 1864-1929 marr.1887 1861-1936 : Richard = Mildred Moss 1890-1929 : 1896-? : Douglas John 1920


Copy of the typescript by Douglas J Adams from the archive at Nuneaton Library.


(Continued from page 11) document owned by Miss Winser has been subject to further embellishment but by whom is obscure. One other document of interest that I came across in the archive is an eight page photocopy of a letter written to an unspecified journal published in November 1972. The letter, signed j o i n t l y b y C . F . H . E v a n s o f Montgomery and A.C.Wood of Avon Dassett notes that Gordon Haight had not made any comment on George Eliot's maternal ancestry apart from the fact that her grandfather was Isaac Pearson of Astley. Marganhita Laski had not then published her biography or the authors would have detected therein a similar dearth of information on this matter. Evans and Wood then set about providing detailed notes that make a firm foundation for a Pearson genealogy. I have compiled a database in Brother's Keeper format of all the information about both the Evans and Pearson ancestry that I have discovered and copies of this both as Brother's Keeper and GEDCOM files together with 'Treedraw' printouts will be made available to the Society and the George Eliot Archive in the Nuneaton Public Library. I would be happy to provide similar printouts to interested parties, at cost plus postage, of these trees which are more detailed than appear here or in the October Journal (6 x A4 pages). Alternatively the information can be had for free by those of you with 'e' mail addresses as a GEDCOM attachment to an 'e' mail. As I said in October, and repeat here with my tongue in my cheek, I neither have the time not the inclination to follow the matter further. However comments, criticism and suggestions would again be welcome though I doubt they will cause me to eat my words again to take the investigation further. Finally, the note at the end of 'Whence Cheverel' in the October Journal, about birth dates derived from age at census in databases, will not have made immediate sense because space prohibited the trees appearing with dates as in my printouts. However I hope that it did make sense to those who use computer databases. The 'xx

Cen yyyy' format is very useful and unambiguous and is passed quite happily by both Brother's Keeper and GEDCOM files derived therefrom and also from GEDCOM into 'Treedraw'. It would be interesting to know whether it works with other genealogical databases and programs. Note from the Editor Sorry I spelled Cheverel incorrectly as ‘Cheveral’ in the last Journal, it’s a good job some of you have your wits about you - including David himself of course! Pat Boucher

DEATH OF A POSTMAN By Peter Lee

News of tragedy was all too prevalent during World War One. The Nuneaton papers were full of stories of local men who had died in the trenches. A few years I had given to me an old cigar box containg poignant reminders of a local postman who had succumbed to his wounds. Private Frederick.Hubbard Buckler No. 10662 18th Royal Warwickshire Regiment lived at 29 Stewart Street. Private Hubbard had presented himself at 12 noon on January 16th 1915 at the Police Court, Nuneaton where his enlistment took place. The surviving records do not give any indication of his movements after that, suffice to say that he was later in France and received a gun shot wound to his foot sometime on or before 31st July 1916. Such an injury would give rise to the thought of a quick return to Blighty and the satisfaction that his war was over, a painful wound perhaps but not life threatening. However, it was not to be. On 31st July, a postcard was sent to his wife, written by a third party: "My dear wife, I have received your letter & papers. I am in hospital having been slightly wounded in the foot, and hoped to be moved soon to England. Your loving husband, Fred" The wound turn infectious and then gangrene set in. He was admitted to No. 10 General Hospital at Rouen on August 2nd. and the matron wrote to Private Buckler's wife that he had had to have two operations, one to remove the infected foot and the gangrene then spread up the leg. A larger part of the leg then had to be removed. The matron, Miss K. Roscoe wrote: "He told me that he had written a few lines to you today, and I am sure that he does not want you to worry about him." But how could his wife do otherwise? A letter sent by 2nd Lieutant Jarrett from Rouen stated that Private Buckler was dangerously ill, but no visit could be granted. On 9th August 1916 a telegram was sent to Mrs. Buckler, that Fred was dead. He had died the previous day. An ordinary death of an ordinary soldier in an extraordinary war.

NNWFHS HELPLINE

Peter Lee (024) 7638 1090

6.30 - 8.00pm Mon to Sat


NUNEATON (compiled by Peter Lee) 100 pages, 151 photographs £9.99 available at Nuneaton’s local bookshops, Nuneaton Library and through NNWFHS publications manager, Chris Cox. The Archive Photographs Series - Images of England. 2000 ISBN 0 7524 21563 8 ppbk Tempus Publishing Limited The Mill, Brimscombe Port, Stoud, Gloucs. GL5 2QG This is the 4th or 5th local history book on Nuneaton in old photographs in the last 15 years. However, it is the best all round work on the town, written by one of its foremost local historians, Peter Lee. The extensive captions for each photograph have set a new benchmark in this type of history book. [Please take note, authors and publishers - the day of the one line photo-caption is over!] The information supplied is both accurate and poignant (with humour or pathos). Peter, like myself, is a product of post-war Britain, many of the things portrayed we did not see. However, Peter is a diligent and careful listener and has spent many hours of his life talking and listening to people’s stories of the Nuneaton industrial workplace. His interest in the “economic dynamos” that made old Nuneaton great is so very relevant in this story. The photographs and the text often capture that raw, gutsy spirit that inhabited its workforce and townsfolk. The local people began to abandon the

farmland of the Anker valley to dig an even deeper soil for its coal, ironstone, limestone, sandstone, manganese and hard igneous rocks. The town’s later destiny would reflect that extractive economy; like all good mineral veins they eventually run out and so do the jobs and livelihoods. Adapt or perish is the new order, (e.g. the new warehouse industries are establishing on the former colliery and claypit sites.) I can thoroughly recommend this book for Christmas (and beyond); it will take you on a merry dance through market place pubs; frantic town celebrations; shabby tired shop fronts of the depression years; the new concrete jungle with its cars; grafters, fresh from the coal face; castles and kings; derelict blitz damage; and the occasional smiling face! Eur Ing Alan F Cook BSc CEng CGeol FGS MIMM Consultant Geologist and Mining Engineer NNWFHS SURNAME INDEX OF BURIALS FOR ST NICOLAS PARISH CHURCH, NUNEATON, 1838 -1851. ISBN 1 903787 11 4 A v a i l a b l e f r o m N N W F H S publications manager, price £2.50 + P&P; also available through Genfair. N U N E A T O N P A S T A N D PRESENT, By John Burton Available at Nuneaton bookshops, and Nuneaton Library, £9.99

ADVERTISEMENT

WYVERN MIDLAND RAILWAY INDEX

Do you have ancestry associated with the Midland Railway? Although the Midland was not the largest Railway Company in Great Britain together with its associated companies it served a larger part of the British Isles than any other. We are in the process of compiling a surnames index taken from the Midland Railway Directors Minutes for the period 1844 to 1923 and from the Midland Railway Staff records for the same period. Currently the index stands at over 11,000 names and is increasing steadily. It is our intention to index all the Directors Minutes and staff records until 1923 over the next few years as funds and time permits, and then to progress to other Midland Railway Minutes, and staff sources. We are also including in the index all references to accidents occurring on the Midland Railway, which involved either staff, workmen or passengers, using both transport records at Kew and appropriate local newspapers at Collindale. Again the timescale is 1844 —1923. All these sources of records give much valuable family history information, dates of birth and death, salaries, career histories, addresses, occupations, debentures, contractors etc. We are willing to search this index on receipt of a SAE or three IRCs plus £1 Sterling for each surname searched. In addition a charge will be made, depending on the amount of information supplied. Unsuccessful matches will be held on file for future contact. It is hoped that there will be a two-way flow of information, and we would welcome entries for the index from anyone with Midland Railway interests. Remittances should be made payable to Wyvern M.R. Index. Chris and Judy Rouse, Wyvern Midland Railway Index, 18 Sarsen Close, Swindon, Wilts, SN1 4LA Email: chris@ rouse31.freeserve.co.uk

New Publications

If you have a photograph or an article which you would like to be published in the next journal please contact Pat Boucher either at the monthly meetings, telephone (024) 7638 3488, email [email protected], or by post at 33 Buttermere Ave, Nuneaton, Warwicks, CV11 6ET. I am happy to accept word processed articles or scanned photographs etc on computer disk or to download your files over the internet. Deadline for all copy to be included in the April issue of the Journal is March 7th


Help Offerred Mr D C Tilford of 7 Raddington Drive, Solihul , W Midlands B92 7DU email [email protected] has contacted Peter Lee with the following information which will hopefully be of great use and interest to someone out there. “Are you Connected - a Pedigree found? Brian Kenyon - Tauranga NZ, recently sent the following to the MLFHS computer forum: Some months ago a friend lent me a pedigree of a family **BRIERLY** of Newnham Regis (Newton Regis?) Warwickshire, which he had retrieved after it had been dumped by the museum to whom it had originally been gifted. Needless to say we were quite horrified at this, but thought that if possible we could computerise the data and let members of

the group know in case they could trace into this line or perhaps its collaterals. The original compilation was undertaken in about 1888 by a Simpson of Fife and Edinburgh who had married a Brierly. The earliest reference is about 1640, the latest 1938 though the latest dates are deaths. The main period runs from about 1750 to 1900. The main line is of BRIERLY in Warwickshire, Leicestershire in the Rugby, Leamington, Church Lawford, Brinklow, Hinckley areas, with some Brierlys moving to Florence, Gelph, London, Ontario. Collaterals (to name a few) BENN, BUCKNILL, BURNS,CORDEUX, MARVIN, SIMPSON, TOWNSEND, WORTH. They all have links to the Rugby area. As Warwickshire is not local to the Manchester area I offered to give publicity of this find in our own Midland Ancestor. I have now received the complete Pedigree electronically in GEDCOM format together with some supporting documents/press cuttings etc. There are 287 individuals included in the pedigree. If you think you may have connections with any of these families and would like a copy of the pedigree or further details, please contact me at the above address (please enclose SAE with snail mail”

Daryl Jones, member No 103 (29 Mancetter Rd, Mancetter, Atherstone, Warwickshire, CV9 1NX, tel 01827 717443, email [email protected] ) has a copy of the index to burials at Atherstone cemetery compiled by the previous Atherstone FHS. Daryl is willing to look up any names for members.

An Australian gentleman has emailed Celia Parton with an offer of help for anyone interested in the village of Austrey. He has done a lot of research into the families in the village in the 16th and 17th centuries. Please contact Celia for more details.

Help Wanted Mr William Knight, member No 56 of 12 Rydal Grove, Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire, HU16 5NH is looking for the burial of JOHN ALEXANDER, adult age unknown, between 1790 and 1801 anywhere in Warwickshire or Leicestershire. He was the husband of Martha Alexander nee WATTS, they were married 7/11/1784 at St Nicolas parish church , Nuneaton.

Publications Coming Soon - Chilvers Coton censuses of 1684 and 1781. Burial indexes for Astley, Arley, Ansley, Bedworth,Caldecote, Stockingford and Weddington. A full list of our publications is printed at the back of this journal.

Forthcoming Events

Family History Fairs. More details at www.familyhistoryfairs.com or www.familyhistoryfairs.co.uk or phone 01256 840181 or 01344 451479 Sunday 18th February 2001. Kidlington FHF. Exeter Hall, Oxford Rd, Kidlington. Sunday 4th March 2001. Royal Leamington Spa FHF. Royal Spa Centre, Leamington. Sunday 27th May 2001. Nottingham FHF. Harvey Hadden sports Centre, Nottingham.

Saturday 24th March 2001, COMPUTERS IN FAMILY HISTORY CONFERENCE at Higham Lane School, Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The Society of Genealogists and the Nuneaton and North Warwickshire Family History Society are jointly hosting a day conference. There will be an interesting full day program of lectures, and choice of demonstrations of the leading genealogy software and workshops on aspects of genealogical computing including the Internet. Books, equipment and software sales will also be on offer. The School is 3 miles from the centre of Nuneaton, which is within 5 miles of the M6 and M69 motorways, so is easily accessible by public transport and car with ample parking available. To receive a provisional program and application form send an s.a.e to Karen Naylor, 16 Mayfair Drive, Galley Common, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV10 8RP or e-mail [email protected]

11th August 2001, The Heartland Family History Fair at Atherstone Memorial Hall NNWFHS will be hosting this event. For more details contact Karen Naylor, 16 Mayfair Drive, Galley Common, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV10 8RP or e-mail [email protected]

If you have anything for the notice board please contact Pat Boucher

Notice Board

Date post:	10-Jul-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	1 times
Download:	0 times

D1 January 2001 · very rewarding. An example occurred just before Christmas. I found myself...

Documents