Are You in the Florence Nightingale Family Tree?

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Ros

Next in my series of famous genealogies is Florence Nightingale’s family tree.

Florence Nightingale family treeThe heroine of the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale never married, and had no children.  However, the Nightingale family has links with several illustrious families which are fairly well documented, so if you have any of the following surnames, it should be fairly easy to find out whether you are connected with The Lady with the Lamp.

(By the way – if you’d like to learn how to trace you ancestry, have a look at my step-by-step beginner’s course)

Surnames connected with Florence Nightingale are:  SHORE, NIGHTINGALE, CHEETHAM, EVANS, SMITH, DIGGLES, WALKER, COAPE, MOORE, PRYOR, and LUDLOW.

NIGHTINGALE

The surname Nightingale actually comes from Florence’s paternal great-grandmother’s family; her father’s name was SHORE, and he took the name NIGHTINGALE when he succeeded to his great uncle Peter Nightingale’s estates.  I have come across other cases where a childless landowner passes the estate to a family member, providing they take on the family name of the testator.

Florence Nightingale family treeAnyone with the surname Nightingale therefore, is only likely to have a connection to Florence through the family of her great-grandmother Anne, and her brother Peter.  Peter was born in 1736 in Lea, Derbyshire, the son of Peter Nightingale Esq. (1705-1763) and Anne CHEETHAM.  While Peter junior did not have any children, this line can be traced back at least another century, and there could be links to this earlier line as well as the names CHEETHAM and BOWLER.  Any Nightingale ancestors of the 17th century and earlier around the Derbyshire area could therefore be traced down to Florence.

Florence’s only sister, Frances Parthenope, became the second wife of Harry VERNEY, 2nd Baronet in 1858, and became Lady Verney.  She was a writer and essayist.  However, the couple did not have any children (Harry did have children from his first marriage), and so there are no descendants.

SHORE

Florence’s father was born William Edward SHORE in 1794 in Romsey, Hampshire.  He was the only son of William Shore and Mary EVANS (the niece of Peter Nightingale).  William and Mary also had two daughters, one of whom died in childhood, and the other, Mary, marrying Samuel SMITH (see below).  William married Samuel’s sister, Frances SMITH, and as well as Florence, they had one other daughter Frances Parthenope, but no sons.  Therefore, in order to find any SHORE links to Florence, we would need to go further up the line.

William Edward’s father, William SHORE, was born in 1755 in Tapton, Derbyshire, the son of Samuel Shore and Margaret DIGGLES.  Samuel and Margaret had 13 children:  Robert Diggles (1736), Samuel (1738) (married Lydia FLOWER and Urith OFFLEY), Margaret, Jane (1740), Thomas, John (married Gertrude BINKS), William (1755-1822) (details above), Joshua (1748-1766), Sarah, Hannah (1754) (Married Thomas WALKER), Ann, James and Elizabeth.  I am sure there must be descendants to be traced from some of these children.

EVANS

Mary EVANS was the paternal grandmother of Florence.  She was born in 1760 in Cromford, Derbyshire,  the daughter of George EVANS and Anne NIGHTINGALE (the sister of Peter, the mining entrepreneur who left his estate to William Edward).  George and Anne were married in Ashover, Derbyshire in 1756.  Because the surname is common, it is difficult to accurately trace this family, but we do know that Mary had at least one sister, Elizabeth, but I do not know if she married.

If you have any EVANS family that can be traced back to this area of Derbyshire, it may be worth checking the connections.

SMITH

Obviously, anyone with this name can have a problem tracing their name back as it is the most common name in the UK.  However, this particular family have some well known and interesting people in their tree, so could be easier to trace than most.

France’s father was William SMITH MP, a well known abolitionist and social reformer, and an associate of William Wilberforce.  He and his wife Frances COAPE, had at least nine children: Benjamin Leigh (1783-1860),  Frances (1789-1880), William Adams (1789),  Joanna Maria (1791-1884), Samuel (1794) (who married his sister-in-law, Mary SHORE), Octavius Henry (1796), Frederick Coape (1798), Julia, Anne and Patty.

His eldest son Benjamin Leigh Smith was also an MP, and had four illegitimate children by his mistress, Anne LONGDEN.  One of these was Barbara Leigh Smith, who married Dr. Eugene BODICHON, and became famous as Barbara Bodichon, a leading activist in women’s rights and founder of Girton College.  She was Florence’s 1st cousin.  I do not believe they had any children.

Benjamin’s other children by Anne Longden were Benjamin Leigh SMITH (1828-1913), an explorer, Bella Leigh (c.1831), Anne (c.1832) and William Leigh (1833).

Benjamin Leigh Smith married Charlotte SELLER, and they had one son, Philip Leigh SMITH (1892), who married the nuclear physicist, Alice Prebil.  I believe that there were children and therefore living descendants of the Leigh Smiths.

Anne Smith did not marry.

William Leigh SMITH married Georgina Mary HALLIDAY, and they had at least five children, Amy Leigh (1859), Georgina F Leigh (1862), William Leigh (1867), Bella Leigh (1879) and Sophia (1882).

I could not find a marriage for his son William Leigh, or any information for Georgina.

Bella married either a FERMOR or a WYNNE but I cannot find her in the 1911 census, so more research needs to be done here, nor can I find any further information for Sophia.

MOORE

Amy Leigh SMITH (daughter of William Leigh SMITH junior) married Sir Norman MOORE and they had 3 children: Sir Alan Hilary MOORE, 2nd Bt (1882), Ethne Philippa (1886) and Gillachrist (1894-1914).

Gillachrist was killed in action in the First World War.

Alan Hilary MOORE married Hilda Mary BURROWS, and they had 3 children.  These children are still living so I will not give their names here.

PRYOR

Ethne Philippa MOORE married Lieut. Col. Walter Marlborough PRYOR.  They had three sons: John Marlborough (1911-1984), Mark Gillachrist Marlborough (1915-1970) and Robert Matthew Marlborough (1917-2005).   Any children of these children would be the 1st cousins 4 times removed to Florence Nightingale.

LUDLOW

Bella Leigh SMITH (daughter of Benjamin Leigh SMITH MP) married John LUDLOW in 1859.  John Ludlow was a major general in the Indian Army.

They had at least three children (there may have been more): Annabel (c.1861), Henry J. (c.1862) and Milicent B. (c.1868).  Bella died some time before 1881.

I have not been able to find out whether Henry J. Ludlow married or had children, but if you have LUDLOW ancestors in the Sussex area it may be worth checking to see if there is a connection.

Neither could I find any further information for Annabel.

Milicent married Sir Norman MOORE, 1st Baronet, in 1903, who had previously been married to her 1st cousin, Amy Leigh SMITH.  I do not believe they had any children.

Not surprisingly, Florence Nightingale had family connections with some very interesting people, and particularly those who campaigned for people’s rights – including William Smith MP, and Barbara Leigh Bodichon (nee Smith).  There are certainly living descendants of the Smith family, and there may be some from further up the line.

If you would like me to carry out any research involving a possible connection with this family, please review my services page.

Further Reading

Florence Nightingale: The Woman and Her Legend

Florence Nightingale : a biography

Florence Nightingale at First Hand: Vision, Power, Legacy

 

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Posted on February 19, 2012 by Ros

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Ten Common Genealogical Problems – and How To Solve Them

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Ros

genealogical problemsIf you have been tracing your ancestors for even a short while, it is more than likely that you will have come against at least one genealogy brick wall, and if you’ve been doing it as long as I have, then you will probably be an expert in the kind of genealogy problems all genealogists face, whether amateur or professional!

However, there are ways and means of breaking through these brick walls, and I thought it would be useful to list the most common problems and describe the strategies I personally use to break through them.  Of course, I cannot guarantee they will always work, and there are ancestors who remain stubbornly elusive, but sometimes just a little bit of determination, imagination and knowledge can help you to that wonderful “I’VE FOUND HIM!!!”  moment that makes all the hours of head-banging frustration seem worth it!

One thing I will always say for any of the following problems, and that is:  Remember that your ancestors were human!  Human beings are not robots – they are not always accurate, they have dodgy memories, they might lie, make mistakes, be elusive, be cunning or sometimes they just don’t know much about their origins themselves.  We should never expect tracing them to be straightforward if we understand that human beings have never in the history of the world been straightforward!

1.  Variations in Name Spellings: It is probably the most common discrepancy you will find when searching documents, and there are several reasons:  a) the name has been badly transcribed and indexed by modern search engine indexers, b) the name was written down at the time of the document as the writer heard it,  c) the name has naturally changed over a period of years or d) the name was changed on purpose.  You have to remember that until surprisingly recently surnames did not have a standard spelling, and as many people were illiterate and also did not have the hundreds of reasons to write their name as we do today, very rarely wrote their own names.  Therefore names were often written as they were heard by another person. 

Solution: Don’t always rely on the Soundex box in search engines – these do not catch every possible variation of a name.  Use your imagination – try saying the name out loud in a different accent, or mumbled, or with a cold!  If you still can’t find the person in the main ancestry search engines, try searching using other criteria (e.g. The Ancestry.com/co.uk search engines are very useful in that you can search with all other definite criteria, such as first name, date & place of birth, spouse name etc – but without using the surname box.  This can be very useful if you have enough information about the person already, and as long as the name is not a common one.

2.  Too Many Results with the same name. If I had a pound for every time I came across this one…..  It’s probably worse than not getting any results at all because you know that it’s very likely that your ancestor is there – but which one is he?

Solution: This is a situation where you need extra information, such as names of siblings, parents, children etc.  Find out as much as you can about the person’s family and then search for brothers and sisters, parents etc.  If you are searching the census, you might find that they are living near to family, or even with family.  Sometimes a sister might live with a brother as a housekeeper, or a widowed parent may live with married children.  Children are sometimes found staying with aunts, uncles or grandparents on the night of the census.  If it’s BMD certificates you are looking for, trying backing up your search by using FamilySearch.com and finding a baptism or marriage that fits.  These records will give the names of parents and/or spouses and can help you to establish which is the correct entry in the BMD indexes.  If there are just a few names, then sometimes you can eliminate some by finding the marriages or deaths of the other contenders.

3.  Conflicting Information in documents. This happens much more often than you might think, and is particularly annoying!  If it’s the age that differs, don’t get too hung up on that – people have been known throughout history to lie (sometimes radically) about their age for all kinds of reasons.  What is really frustrating is when two documents that seem to be about the same person, give two different places of birth (my grandfather always gave his place of birth as Staffordshire in the census, but he was actually born in Manchester).

Solution: First, make absolutely sure that you have the right person in both documents.  Back up your information by finding other appropriate documents (such as birth certificates etc).  Look at the documents you have and try to work out which is likely to be more accurate.  Why might one of them have the wrong information?  Did your ancestor have a good reason for giving that answer – or might someone have answered for them (such as a landlord in the census) and made a mistake?

4.  My ancestor is not in the census! Sometimes you’d think they might have left the country or even the planet!  But before international travel became easier and cheaper, it was very unusual for people to leave the country unless they definitely emigrated.  It is unlikely (unless they were a mariner or had some job that involved a lot of travel) that they would be away on census night due to a holiday (which is more likely in the 20th and 21st centuries).

Solution: First, make sure you have tried every name spelling you can think of, middle names, and every possible search criteria.  Then, as you might if you were a real detective – try knocking on their families’ doors.  Visit the census entries for parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles etc and see if you can find any clues (are they living with family with a name variation?).  Search in newspaper archives (try the British Newspaper Archive), and carry out general searches on Ancestry and the National Archives’ A2A website.  Are there any clues that could lead to criminal activity or trouble at home – if so, it is always possible they have changed their name?  This might make finding them difficult, but they can still be found, if you are confident enough about all other information about them (place & date of birth etc).

5.  The Records have been destroyed, lost or damaged. This is a common occurrence once you have got back beyond the census and BMD records and are having to rely heavily on parish registers (PRs) and older documents.  PRs can go back as far as 1538, but very often these earlier ones have been lost or destroyed (by fire for example).

Solution: There are many other records that your ancestors may turn up in.  However, the wealthier they were, the more likely they are to have left a paper trail, but you can still find the poorer people if you know where to look.  First of all, if it’s the parish register that’s missing, check to see if the Bishops’ Transcripts still exist.  These were copies that were sent to the diocesan registry (the bishop), and are available in diocesan record offices – and some county record offices may keep copies.  Often the transcripts may be available if the PR is missing.  Other documents, such as apprenticeship records and settlement orders can give details of family relationships – and of course wills are a very good source of information – and not always just for the wealthier classes.  For the middle and landed classes, then land records can give useful information.

6.  Unable to find one or both parents. This can happen sometimes when a child was not staying with parents on census night, or the father’s name is missing from a marriage or birth certificate (usually when the child is illegitimate).  This can be frustrating because it’s always great when you take a step into the next generation.  If it’s a fairly common name, it can be very difficult to back up the information through BMD, for example, if you can’t be sure you’re looking at the right document.  When you go further back into early parish registers, often just the father’s name is given in baptism records.

Solution: If a child is staying with another family member, you may be able to find the parents by searching for the baptism records of those family and looking at siblings – FamilySearch.com is useful for this.  Try also searching for the wills of other family members as the parent may be mentioned as a sibling or child of the testator.  It might also be that one or both parents had died, so always search death/burial records in this case.  In the case of a missing father when the child is illegitimate, sadly this can be a dead end.  However, it is always worth checking to see if there may be bastardy orders held at the appropriate diocesan record office.  If the child is given the mother’s surname, it may be unlikely that the father will ever be known – but if there are middle names, then these could be a clue to a father’s identity.  My great-great grandfather was John Walker Bott.  He was the illegitimate son of John Walker and Elizabeth Bott.

7.  Confusing Information. Sometimes, you can be driven mad by various clues leading you all over the place and round in circles.  A person might turn up on the census with a wife and children, then turn up later with a different wife, and give his place of birth as a different village, but when you find the most probable birth record it’s in a completely different place with the same siblings but a different mother, then later you find he died in the workhouse, described as a milkman, when all along he said he was a farm labourer.  Have you got the right person – or should you throw everything up in the air and start again?

Solution: This kind of thing can really give a genealogist a headache.  Some cases get so complicated it’s like trying to unravel a huge knot.  Sometimes, the best solution is to go  back to basics.  Write down the absolute facts – the ones you can absolutely verify to be true, and try to eliminate any information that is misleading or contradicts the facts you know.  Then take each piece of information you have found one by one, and try to see how it could fit.  Remember what I said about ancestors being human – why might they have given a wrong answer or made a mistake?  Could they have been trying to hide something?  As with most problems – always look at the family for any extra clues.

8.  Place of Birth is too vague (e.g. “Scotland”) This is especially annoying if the name is a common one.  Looking for a James McDonald somewhere in Scotland could have you giving up before you’ve started.

Solution: Make sure you have traced all possible census entries for this ancestor – as sometimes, especially on the later census records, you might find that they have actually given a more specific town or village.  And again – ask the family:  look for the ancestor’s siblings or other family on the census and see if they have given any more specific places of birth.  While it might not be exactly the same as the subject you’re looking for, it may give you a clue at least to a county or area.

9.  You can’t read the document. Obviously this is more of a problem with very early 16th or 17th century documents – but sometimes handwriting can be extremely bad even in the 19th or 20th century!

Solution: If it’s just one word you’re having difficulty with, try looking at the rest of the document for letters that look similar in words you can read.  However, in the cases of earlier long documents such as wills, then it can sometimes look like a foreign language and impossible to read at all.  Actually, by learning a few basics, you can start to read old handwriting quite quickly.  The National Archives runs an excellent – and free – paleography tutorial on their website which you can access at the following address:  http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/ If you don’t have the time to learn, you might need to hire someone to transcribe the document for you.  Most professional genealogists can do this – and there are some who specialise in transcribing old hand – or Latin.

10.  You’ve tried everything but you just can’t find them! Really – it happens to the best of us.  Losing an ancestor is not carelessness – it’s just part of the journey.  It can happen any time – but as you move back further in time finding ancestors becomes more difficult, particularly if the family moved a lot.  Before the census started, there are not many documents that will tell you where a person was born, so if they disappear from the parish registers you can be left wondering where they came from without any clues.

Solution: Make sure that you have tried all document searches: wills, apprenticeships, newspapers, settlements etc – and check the National Archives’ A2A search engine.  Sometimes a google search can come up with something you haven’t seen before.  If you are searching before the census, check to see if your ancestor married by licence, and then look for the marriage bond – this may give a clue to place of origin.

It’s a very good idea to take a break from an elusive ancestor and go and search another line for a while.  Sometimes, when you come back a few months later, your brain is refreshed and you might see clues and possibilities that you didn’t think of before.

If all else fails, then why not try hiring a professional genealogist?  It may be that they will look at what you have done and say, well, there’s probably not much else I can do – but on the other hand, they may have other ideas you have not thought of, and sometimes have access to records that you may not know about.  They are also usually knowledgeable in local and/or national history which can help in working out possible movements of ancestors.  Most professionals have a lot of experience in breaking through brick walls and it could be worth paying for this service if they can find that elusive ancestor.  Of course, you will have to pay for their time even if they are not successful, but at least you will know that you have tried every possible alternative.

My own professional service for the UK is detailed on my Home Page.

These are certainly the most common genealogical problems I have come across.  If you think I’ve left anything out (whether a problem or a solution) – please let me know!

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Isambard Kingdom Brunel: Family History

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Ros

Isambard Kingdom BrunelNext in my series of “Genealogies of the Famous” is Isambard Kingdom Brunel.  In 2002 a British poll put him as the 2nd greatest Briton (the first was Winston Churchill).  It is not that surprising, as his achievements as a civil engineer are pretty amazing, and his legacy stays with us in many of our railways, bridges and tunnels, including the Clifton Suspension Bridge, The Great Western Railway and Box Tunnel.

I am not going to give an overview of his life and work here, as that has been done elsewhere, but if  are interested to know whether you might be related to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, then here are some of the surnames that are connected to him, either in direct relationship or through marriage:  BRUNEL, KINGDOM, LEVEBVRE, SPRY, HORSLEY, JAMES, NOBLE, MADAN, CAMPBELL, JEBB, HAWES, HURST, MACCARTHY, HARRISON.

I have not found a published tree of Brunel, but I have done a little bit of research myself to find his ancestors, his direct descendants, and descendants of his siblings.

(By the way, if you’d like to learn how to trace your ancestors, have a look at my Step-by-step beginner’s course at Udemy)

DIRECT DESCENDANTS

If you are interested in living descendants of Brunel, then here is a summary of Isambard’s direct descendants:

BRUNEL

There do not seem to be any direct descendants of Isambard with the surname BRUNEL.  Isambard and his wife Elizabeth had three children: Isambard Brunel, Henry Marc Brunel (also a civil engineer) and Florence Mary Brunel.  Isambard junior married a Scottish woman, Georgina Geils D NOBLE, but they do not seem to have had any children.  Henry Marc does not seem to have married at all.

JAMES

The line of descent can therefore only be traced through Isambard’s daughter, Florence Mary.  In 1870 she married Arthur Coleridge JAMES, a housemaster at Eton College.   They had two daughters, Celia Brunel and Lilian S.  As there were no sons, there are no living JAMES direct descendants.

NOBLE

In 1891 Celia Brunel JAMES (granddaughter of Isambard) married Saxton William A NOBLE (another successful engineer) and they had four children, all born in Newcastle upon Tyne: Humphrey Brunel NOBLE (b. 1892), Marjorie Florence NOBLE (b. 1896), Marc Andrew Patrick NOBLE (b. 1897) and Cynthia NOBLE (b. 1898).

Humphrey Brunel NOBLE married Celia WEIGALL in 1926 in London, and as far as I can see, they had three children.  I am not naming these here as they may still be living, and if they had children these are the NOBLE direct descendants of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Marc Andrew Patrick unfortunately died in World War I in 1917, and was not married.

MADAN

Marjorie Florence NOBLE (great granddaughter of Isambard) married Geoffrey Spencer MADAN.  They had at least one child, Nicola MADAN.

CAMPBELL

Nicola Madan married Gordon CAMPBELL, Baron Campbell of Croy, and they had three children.  These CAMPBELLs are the direct descendants of Isambard.

JEBB

Cynthia NOBLE (great granddaughter of Isambard) married Hubert M G JEBB (politician) and had at least two children, who may be still living and have issue.  These JEBBs are the direct descendants of Isambard.

DESCENDANTS OF SIBLINGS

Isambard had two surviving siblings, Sophia Macnamara BRUNEL and Emma Joan BRUNEL.  A third sister died in infancy.  There were no brothers.

HAWES

In 1820 Sophia Brunel married Benjamin HAWES (Whig politician) in Chelsea, London.  They had six children, Sophia Brunel (b. 1822), Benjamin (b. 1828), Sarah Fox (b.1830), Isambard Brunel (b. 1831), Arthur Briscoe (b. 1833) and Maria Gurney (b. 1834).  Isambard died in infancy, and I have only been able to find two marriages for the other children – though it is possible there were more.

Arthur Briscoe HAWES carried the line of descent through by marrying Susan CATTELL (born in India) and having 11 children: Arthur Reginald Murray (b. 1855 in India), Susan E. B (b. 1857 at sea), Florence M. (b. 1859 in London), Sarah M H (b. 1862), Frederick Benjamin Oliphant (b. 1863), Godfrey Charles Browne (b. 1866), Edmund G C (b. 1867), Ivan H. S. (b. 1869), David Marc A. G. (b. 1870), Percy Frederick B (b. 1872) and Winifred Mary B (b. 1874).

Amazingly, most of these children do not seem to have married and several of them were listed in the 1911 census as single people.  One or two of them may have emigrated and so these descendants need further research.

Of all of these I was only able to find one marriage and continued line of descent.  This was through Godfrey Charles Browne HAWES who married Ellen Wyndham LEWIS in 1895, and had at least three children : Benjamin Wyndham Brunel (b. 1897), Marguerite Vernon Brunel (b. 1900) and Ernest Isambard Brunel (b. 1905).  As you can see, the Brunel connection is still proudly borne in the names of these children.

I am not sure whether Godfrey and Ernest married, but if they did their children would be the great-great grand nephews and nieces of Isambard.

HURST

Marguerite Vernon Brunel HAWES married Harold E HURST in 1931.  I could not find any children for them, however, I have recently been informed that they did have at least two sons, one of whom was a solicitor (added 23/03/2018).

MACCARTHY

Sophia Brunel HAWES (Isambard’s niece, and daughter of Sophia) Charles Justin MACCARTHY (Governor of Ceylon) in 1848.  Obviously, they traveled quite a bit, and I have only found one son, though there may be more: Richard H. MacCarthy (b. 1849 in Ceylon).  Unfortunately, I was unable to find anything else about Richard and whether he married, so this is a line that needs further research, possibly outside of the UK.

HARRISON

Isambard’s other sister, Emma Joan, married George HARRISON (curate)  in 1836.  I have found one son for them: John HARRISON (b. 1844 in Brentford, Middlesex).  I think that John married and had children, but unfortunately, because he moved around on the census (not always with his family), and also because this name is so numerous, I have not been able to definitively place his wife or children.  He may have married a Harriet.

It is quite likely, therefore, that there are further HARRISONs who are direct descendants of Isambard’s sister, but this would need some extensive research, including the ordering of birth and marriage certificates.

ISAMBARD’S ANCESTORS

If you have the surname BRUNEL, KINGDOM or LEVEBVRE, there could be a connection with Isambard’s ancestors, but further research is needed:

BRUNEL

Isambard’s father was Marc Isambard BRUNEL (also a prominent engineer who designed the Thames Tunnel), and he was born in Hacqueville, Normandy in France in 1769.  He was the son of Jean Charles BRUNEL and Marie Victoire LEVEBVRE.

I can find not other children on the IGI, and as I do not have access to any other French records, then further research would be necessary in French archives to find BRUNEL or LEVEBVRE connections.

KINGDOM

Isambard’s mother was Sophia KINGDOM, and she was born in 1775 in Plymouth, the daughter of William KINGDOM, an army and navy contracting agent.  I believe that William was married to Joan SPRY, and they had numerous children.  However, I have not been able to absolutely verify the marriage or children, and this would need further research to make any connections with any living descendants.

CONNECTION BY MARRIAGE

HORSLEY

Isambard was married to Mary Elizabeth HORSLEY.  Her father was William HORSLEY.  William was a musician who wrote many symphonies and songs, including the hymn, “There is a Green Hill Far Away.”  Apart from Mary Elizabeth, he also had two sons, Charles Edward HORSLEY (also a musician) and John Calcott HORSLEY, a painter, who I believe designed the first Christmas card.

John Calcott married Rosamund HADEN, and they had at least several children (Walter Charles, Hugh John, Victor Alexander Haden, Emma Mary and Fanny Marian.  Of these, Victor  became a famous scientist and professor and was knighted in 1902.  He married Eldred BRAMWELL and they had three children, Siward, Oswald and Pamela.  Further HORSLEY descendants may be traced via these children.

I have not researched the other children of John and Rosamund, so it is quite possible that there are further lines of descent to be found through these lines.

Charles Edward Horsley was also married, but needs further research to trace a line of descent.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

Isambard Kingdom BrunelTracing Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s family has been a fascinating project.  His children and extended family were successful in their own right, and the female members of the family seem to have married into very prominent and successful families.  If you think there may be a connection with your family, I would be happy to carry out the necessary research (my fees are listed on my Research Services page).  If you would like a copy of the tree I have compiled, please email me at info@tracingancestors-uk.com.

Please also let me know if you have any preferences for my next famous person in my “Genealogies of the Famous” series.

Books About Isambard Kingdom Brunel:

Isambard Kingdom Brunel by L. T. C. Rolt

Brunel: The Man Who Built the World (Phoenix Press)

Brunel: The Life and Times of Isambard Kingdom Brunel

More books about Brunel…

 

Posted in Genealogies of the famous | 51 Comments

Dickensian London and More Charles Dickens Facts

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Ros

Charles Dickens factsForgive me for adding to the general melee of Dickensian stuff that’s going on at the moment, but being a huge Dickens fan I have to celebrate the man’s 200th birthday which takes place on 7th February.  I have already written a blog about his family tree and ancestral connections (Charles Dickens’ Genealogy: Are You Connected?) so I am not going to go into his family in this post.  However, if you have 19th century UK ancestors – and particularly if they lived in London – then you really should read some Dickens to get feel for life in the Victorian era.  And many of your ancestors would have read Dickens’ novels as they came out in weekly installments in his paper, Household Words. Some Charles Dickens facts to come – but first, a description of London by the man himself.

This is from the 1st chapter of Bleak House, and wonderful setting in which to visualize your London ancestors:

LONDON.  Michaelmas Term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall.  Implacable November weather.  As much mud in the streets, as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.  Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft, black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes – gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun.  Dogs, undistinguishable in mire.  Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers.  Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas, in a general infection of ill-temper, and losing their foothold at street corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if the day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest.

Dickensian LondonFog everywhere.  Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city.  Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights.  Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards, and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats.  Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little ‘prentice boy on deck.  Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all around them, as if they were up in a balloon, and hanging in the misty clouds.

I love the way the word ‘fog’ is repeated over and over again, to make the reader feel it creeping in on him in a claustrophobic way – and it is a marvellously symbolic opening to this particular story, about the ‘foggy’, over-complicated and incomprehensible dealings of the law in the Court of Chancery.

But enough of the literature lesson!  Here are a few facts about Charles Dickens that you may or may not know:

  • He was christened Charles John Huffam Dickens, the son of John and Elizabeth, at 1 Mile End Terrace, Landport, Portsmouth.
  • His first published story was entitled A Dinner at Poplar Walk (later re-named Mr. Minns and His Cousin), and you can read a copy of it HERE.
  • When Charles Dickens was 12 his father was sent to debtors’ prison, and Charles was sent to work in a blacking factory – an episode of his life that had a profound effect on him.  His experience of visiting debtors’ prison was famously re-created in Little Dorrit.
  • David Copperfield was Dickens’ most autobiographical work, and also the author’s favourite.
  • Dicken’s novels were published in monthly instalments, and many, such as The Old Curiosity Shop, were as eagerly awaited as today’s audience have waited for the next Harry Potter.  ‘Is Little Nell dead?’ was probably as much on everyone’s lips then as ‘Who Shot JR? in the 80s!
  • Dickens loved the theatre and was involved in the production of many plays, both professional and amateur.  There is a wonderful few chapters in Nicholas Nickleby when Nicholas and Smike join a travelling theatre company, which totally expresses Dickens’ love and knowledge of the theatre world.
  • Despite having 10 children, Dickens’ marriage was Catherine Hogarth was not ultimately a happy one, and they were separated in 1858.  Charles had been having an affair with a young actress, Ellen Ternan, and this relationship continued privately until his death.
  • Dickens and Ellen Ternan were passengers on the train that crashed in the famous Staplehurst rail crash in 1865.  Ten passengers were killed in the crash, and Dickens became somewhat of a hero after his efforts to help the injured and dying.  He was nervous about rail travel for the rest of his life.  He died five years later on the exact same date as the crash.
  • He died on 9th June 1870 of a stroke.  He was in the middle of writing the thriller, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the last word he ever wrote was “appetite”.  A rather fitting final word for a man who lived with such energy and love of life.

I could go on with many more interesting facts – his nightly walks around London, his visit to America etc, but this would end up being a very long post.

Whatever you may think about his personal life (and let’s face it, none of us are perfect), any writer should be inspired by Dickens because he brought many social issues to the public consciousness and had a direct influence on the improvement of schools and was certainly one of the many ‘voices’ who helped to change the lot of the poorer classes.  Furthermore, he has informed our understanding of the Victorian world, and the word, ‘Dickensian’ is part of our vocabulary.

I will just end by saying that despite the rather dismal way he treated his wife (the psychology of his relationships with women has been much debated), he is still top of my fantasy dinner party list.  I think that he probably made any party fun and interesting – and hopefully would get on with my other guests – Jane Austen, Katharine Hepburn, Mahatma Ghandi, Stevie Wonder and William Shakespeare (though I’m not sure Katy Hepburn would be his kind of woman!).

Happy Birthday Charles!  I will be raising a glass to you on the 7th.Charles Dickens facts

More Charles Dickens facts and information can be seen at these websites:

Charles Dickens Museum

David Perdue’s Charles Dickens Page

Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum

Charles Dickens Fellowship

Dickensian London:

Dickens and London

A Journey Through Dickens London

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Scottish Family History and Burns Night Supper

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Ros

Burns night supperIt being Burns Night tonight (in celebration of the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns, pictured right), and with many people sitting down to a traditional Burns Night Supper, haggis, neeps & tatties and all, I thought I would take the opportunity to introduce my very good friend and excellent Scottish genealogist, Jo Graham.

Whilst my genealogy services cover the whole of the UK, I do not actually have much access to Scottish records, which are often very different to English or Welsh records.  I therefore use the services of Jo whenever I have a client with Scottish ancestors, and I know I will get a good, friendly service and fully researched results.

Just for fun, I am copying here Jo’s most recent post about the haggis, including the great haggis hunt, a bit of haggis history – and even where you can find a vegetarian haggis!  (Between you and me, and think she may have had a wee dram already – the observant among you may spot a bit of traditional Scots humour…):

Source: www.scottishgenealogist.com

Seriously – if you have Scottish family history and you want a professional and friendly service, then go to Jo’s main research website.

Enjoy your Burns Night Supper!  Scots Wha Hae!

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Last Minute Gift Ideas: Why Not Send a Genealogy Gift?

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Ros

Perhaps you’ve run out of time to go to the shops, or to send your gift by post.  Perhaps it would be more convenient to send online gifts.  Or perhaps you’re just looking for that extra something special that’s a little bit out of the ordinary.  If you have a loved one who is interested in family history, then a genealogy gift voucher could be just the thing.

These vouchers will be available all year round whether it’s for Christmas or a last minute birthday gift.

One of these vouchers would make a wonderful introductory gift for anyone who has expressed an interest in looking into their UK family history.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Choose one of the vouchers below and click on the Paypal button to be taken to a safe payment page.
  2. I will send you the appropriate voucher by email, which contains a unique number.
  3. You can either print the voucher and give it or send it, or you could forward it by email to the recipient.
  4. When the recipient is ready, he or she just sends me an email with the unique voucher code.
  5. I will then make contact with them and get all the details I need to carry out the research.

If you order before December 31st 2011, you will be eligible for my Christmas 20% discount and therefore each voucher will provide more hours of research than usual.

Here is what each voucher will provide (details are approximate, and may vary depending on requirements and availability of sources):

_______________





Voucher 1 – £100

  • At least 4 hours of research (5 hours if ordered before 31st December 2011)
  • Copies and transcripts of census records for one family line
  • Copies of 2 birth or marriage certificates
  • My detailed report

__________________________

Voucher 2 – £150





  • At least 6 hours of research (8 hours if ordered before 31st December 2011)
  • Copies and transcripts of census records for up to 2 family lines
  • Copies of 3-4 birth or marriage certificates (or other documents where available)
  • My detailed report

___________________________
Voucher 3 – £300





  • At least 10 hours of research (12 hours if ordered before 31st December 2011)
  • Copies and transcripts of census records for 2-4 family lines
  • Copies of up to 5 birth or marriage certificates, and other documents where available.
  • My detailed report

___________________

If you would like to discuss the vouchers with me, or have any questions to ask before buying – or you would like another kind of genealogy gift, please email me at info@tracingancestors-uk.com and I will be happy to help.

For more last minute gift ideas for the genealogist, visit My History.

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Did Your Ancestors Support Female Suffrage?

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Ros

suffragettes movementAhead of tonight’s episode of Find My Past, which is looking at the suffragette movement, I thought it would be interesting to have a look at the history of female suffrage, and to contemplate on ancestors who may have been suffragettes or suffragists themselves.

Firstly, let’s travel back to the middle of the 19th century.  Here are some facts about the situation of women at this time:

  • Women could not vote.
  • They were excluded from most jobs apart from low paid domestic service or menial work.
  • A woman was legally ‘owned’ by her husband.
  • She could not divorce.
  • Everything she owned belonged to her husband.
  • She received less education than men.
  • The only other way for a woman to be independent was to be a rich widow.
  • Her sole purpose in life was to marry and reproduce.

While she did not support the female vote, Florence Nightingale did have some strong views on women’s rights, and said:

‘Why have women passion, intellect, moral activity – these three – and a place in society where not one of the three can be exercised?

Middle class women were expected to pursue gentile activities, such as embroidery.  The only job a middle class girl could aspire to would be as a governness – a very low-paid, demeening job, only taken if the woman remained unmarried and the family fell on hard times.  However, working class women had to do tough menial work, as well as bring up often large numbers of children.

When you look at married women in the census records, you may often notice that the occupation column is often left blank.  This does not always mean that they did not do some kind of paid work.  It really means that a married woman’s work was unrecognised as long as the man had a job.

The status of women was sanctioned by church, law, custom and history.  It was therefore very difficult to rebel against such a situation, and if any woman did, she was swiftly and easily crushed by fathers, husbands or brothers.

All this sounds dreadful – but actually most women accepted this state of affairs as normal.  If they did feel inhibited, it was with a sense of resignation.

The early feminist movements.

female suffrageAt around this time there were women who were beginning to rebel against this state of affairs.  Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon wrote a pamphlet in 1854 and formed a committee with other feminists to try and change the law giving married women rights to their own property.  They formed a petition which they presented to the House of Lords with 26,000 signatures in our year, 1856.  This was the first organised feminist action in the UK.  It was, of course, rejected.

Yet, a year later, with further pressure, the Married Women’s Property Bill was passed in the Commons.  This meant women could now keep their own property after marriage.  After this, the women’s suffrage movement was born, and continued to develop, with the support of MP and philospher, John Stuart Mill, and dominated by the work of Lydia Becker and Millicent Fawcett.

Over the following years, further Acts were passed that improved the lives of married women.  They could divorce on grounds of cruelty – and have custody of their own children.

More work opportunities also became available, particularly after the invention of the typewriter in the 1860s.  If you find that your female ancestor had an office job from 1861 onwards, it may be that they were very forward thinking, and possibly active in the campaign for women’s suffrage.

The suffrage movement gathered pace in the 1860s, with one of the main aims being for women to have the vote.  Of course, there was a great deal of resistance, and not just from men.  Many women did not actually want the vote, and believed that men and women should function in two separate spheres.

suffragettes movement In the early years of the 20th century, the movement became split, and the militant phase of the suffragettes started, led by the Pankhurst family.  Beginning with negotiations, demonstrations, hackling MPs during public meetings and attempting to enter the House of Commons, it soon moved on to throwing stones, setting fire to pillar boxes and attacks on golf greens.  Sometimes the houses of cabinet ministers were attacked.

When the 1911 census was taken, many women who supported the movement refused to take part, staying away from their homes and sleeping rough on the night of the census so they would not be included.  If you cannot find a female ancestor on this census, it could be a clue that your relative was a supporter.

In 1913 it looked as though a bill supporting the female vote was about to be read in parliament, but when it was dropped because of this inclusion, the Women’s Social & Political Union stepped up their aggressive campaign.   Active suffragettes were arrested and sent to gaol, where they went on hunger strikes and underwent forced feeding.

female suffrage In political terms it can be argued that this militant phase did very little to improve the cause.  Furthermore, there were disagreements and splits within the organisation.  Many women did not agree with the autocratic way the Pankhursts ran the organisation.

The tactics of the militant movement alienated many working men and women, and furthermore, their cause was eclipsed by various political crises, such as strikes, prospect of an Irish civil war and a naval race with Germany.

Feeling let down by the Liberal Government, many suffragists moved the allegience to the Labour party, which at that time had a small impact in parliament.

The First World War

When the First World War began in 1914, it looked at first that women’s suffrage would be overshadowed by events.  The militant campaign was brought to an end, and the Pankhursts involved themselves in a war recruiting campaign.

However, it helped the cause more than anyone could have foreseen.  Firstly, it brought Lloyd George to leadership, a man far more sympathetic to female suffrage than Asquith had been.

Secondly, the contribution that women made to the war effort made people more aware of their capabilities.

The General Election of 1918 called for a review of the franchise.  Many householding men had been called to war, and had lost their ability to vote, so reducing the electorate.  The enormous loss of life further compounded the problem.  This led to changes in the system, and it also meant that they looked again at the reform Bill of 1913 – including the enfranchisement of women.  A concession was given – and women over the age of thirty, who were on the local government register, or who were wives of men who occupied property, or graduates of university, were given the vote.

This meant that over 8 million women were enfranchised: 40% of the new electorate.

However, many of the women who had campaigned for the vote, or who had contributed to the war effort were under 30 – so still could not vote, which caused some dissatisfaction.  It was not until 1928 that women had the same voting rights as men.

If you think you might have a suffragette in your ancestry, it would be useful to look at newspaper archives, which are increasingly online now.  The new British Newspaper Archive holds a range of newspapers from across the UK.

The National Archives also have a large collection of suffragette records, including a list of suffragette prisoners 1905-1914.

If you do find that you have an ancestor who supported female suffrage, then you have a great reason to be proud.  Also, if you had a female ancestor who did a job that was usually only thought of as man’s work, or who had some academic achievement – then you should feel equally as proud.  These brave and free-thinking women paved the way for women of today to have the choice of a career and a political voice.

So Here’s to my Great Aunt Maud, who I believe was Head of a Department at Lewis’s of Manchester in the 1900s.  I do hope she was a supporter of the Suffragettes movement!

For research across the UK, take advantage of my December discount, details HERE

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My American Ancestor – Moses Stickney

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Ros

American ancestorI have a great fondness for America, and when I stayed there as a young teenager (my father was on tour with the Royal Shakespeare Company) I felt very much at home, and so did my mother.  So I was thrilled when I discovered, many years later, that my mother and I share an American ancestor, Moses Stickney, whose line seems to go back to the early settlers in New England.

Moses was my maternal grandfather’s maternal grandfather.  I first came across him when I was searching for Francis Manley’s mother, Margaret Jane Stickney, and her origins.  Margaret’s baptism in 1831 in Liverpool showed her to be the daughter of Moses Stickney and Margaret O’Rourke (yet another Irish connection!).

Unfortunately, I have never found Moses on the census, and Margaret appears to be on her own with her daughter in 1841, which led me to think that Moses had died.  Further investigations led me to Moses and Margaret’s marriage in 1825 in Liverpool, and told me that Moses was a mariner.  They married by licence and Margaret had the consent of her father as she was a minor. For the moment, it was interesting enough that Moses was a mariner, as I have always loved the sea and those old sailing ships, so it was very exciting to know that one of my ancestors had been a sailor!  Not only that, I myself have very fond memories of the Liverpool Docks from our many journeys to see family on the Isle of Man when I was a child.  Interesting how these places associated with our ancestors seem to hold a certain significance, long before we know the connection.

I then ordered the certificate of Margaret’s marriage to my great-grandfather, John McEwen, and sure enough, her father’s name was Moses Stickney, and this time the occupation was shipwright.  Again, very interesting.

I could find no other Stickneys in this area and very few in Britain at all, but a search on Ancestry led me to a published family tree which showed a wealth of Stickneys in Massachussets, and on this tree a Moses Stickney who the owner believed had emigrated to Liverpool!  This was very exciting indeed – but being always cautious of all trees published on the internet, I did some further searches to try and confirm this fact.

American Ancestor StickneyI was lucky enough to find, on the American Ancestry site, a list of passengers on the ship, the Marathon, bound from Liverpool to Boston, Moses’s name as a member of the crew, aged 35 – which was about right.  And written in the margin were the words: “Stickney was sent home by U.S. Consul, Liverpool.”

Well, this has to be my Moses, and explained why I had never found him on the census – but why on earth had he been sent back to America?  I have searched newspapers and other online records, but nothing has turned up.  Furthermore, I have no idea what he did after landing back in Boston or whether his wife ever saw him again.  The only Moses Stickney I have found on the American census of the right age appears to have married again and become a painter.  As I have found no further records for his wife, either in the death records or immigrations records, Moses’s story is now a complete mystery.  Was he a bigamist?  Did his wife join him years later?  Did they travel elsewhere?  If anyone with access to American records can help solve this mystery I would be more than grateful!

As far as I can see, Moses was probably born in Newburyport, and may have been the son of John and Jane Stickney baptized in 1802 – but as the Stickney name is quite common in this area, and there are at least 3 Moses’s, I have never been quite sure.  Whatever the case, the family seems to have been in Massachussets since the 17th century and were originally quite a wealthy family from Lincolnshire.  Looking into the local history of Newburyport, I found that there was a big fire in the docks in the early 19th century which affected the jobs of many shipwrights, so it made complete sense that Moses should come to England to work.

So my American ancestor remains a bit of an enigma.  I have mixed feelings about him; I am not sure whether he was a villain or a victim.  He disappeared from my view just when I felt I was getting to know him.  But whatever his story, I am very glad that he is in my tree: a tree that is very much dominated by English, Irish and Manx ancestors, and Moses adds just a little touch of glamour and intrigue!

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Genealogy Gifts Make Unusual Christmas Presents

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Ros

If you’re still looking for unusual Christmas presents, and you have a family history enthusiast in your family or friends list, it’s not too late to consider genealogy gifts in the form of research.  While it may be a little late to order a genealogy research package that could be presented as a gift in its completed form – you could still order a package of research that the recipient could take advantage of at any time.  And – for the month of December only, I am offering a hefty 20% discount on my hourly research fee.  That means that my usual fee of £20 per hour will only be £16, as long as you order research before 31st December.

I now have some special vouchers that you can send by email, or print and deliver yourself.  For more details of this go to THIS PAGE.

This gift would be great for someone who would love to look into their family history, but have not been able to afford it or spend the time, or for someone who has already done some research but has come to a full stop because they can’t get to the UK archives.

For the seasoned family historian who prefers to do their own research, you might find some more unusual Christmas presents at the great store My History or order one of the great books on the right from Amazon.

If you have any questions regarding genealogy gifts, then please email me at info@tracingancestors-uk.com and I will be happy to help.

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