mariner

A Long Way from Home

Dunn RICHARDSON was born in the summer of 1836 and at the age of fourteen, the census enumerator found him apprenticed to William CAMBRIDGE, boatbuilder, in Murray Street. He probably completed his apprenticeship but a future in Filey building fishing cobles was not the life for him. Ocean waves beckoned and he signed on as a merchant seaman, making his first voyage from London to Scarborough on 27 October 1853 (source: Britain, Merchant Seamen, 1835-1857, The National Archives). How much of the world he saw isn’t known but he died in Rio de Janeiro on 26 February 1860. He is buried in the Cemiterio dos Ingleses Gamboa and remembered on a family headstone in St Oswald’s churchyard.

37 Richardson B11

In memory of DUNN RICHARDSON, son of WILLIAM AND PRISCILLA RICHARDSON, who died at Rio de Janeiro South America, February 26th 1860, aged 23 years.

‘I was not in safety, neither had I rest,

 Neither was I quiet. Yet trouble came’

Job 3. 26 v.

Also, MARY ANN their daughter, who died December 9th 1834, aged 11 years.

Also of five other of their children, MARY, JOHN, JEREMIAH, DUNN AND ELIZABETH, who died in infancy.

Crimlisk Survey 1977

On the FamilySearch Shared Tree, Mary Ann is just Ann. The infant Mary, mentioned on the stone, is missing from the Shared Tree. Also missing are the years in which seven of the children died.

I have added to the information found on Filey Genealogy & Connections.

Not shown in the RootsMagic screenshot above is the woman John the Second married after Ann NICHOLSON died. Mary BARKER, born in Scagglethorpe, was 42 years old when she married, 18 years younger than John. Four years after his death she was living on parish relief but doing a little sewing. She died in 1928 aged 83.

William and Priscilla’s headstone has been moved to the churchyard’s North Wall.

1322 Richardson H34

‘Their voyage of life is o’er’

Lovely Flowers, So Young and Fair

Francis RICHARDSON and Mary, his wife have just one child on the Shared Tree. The GRO Births Index indicates the existence of five more and they may have had a seventh child – before they married.

The parents buried their two youngest children in 1862.

59 Richardson B17   

In affectionate remembrance of the beloved children of FRANCIS and MARY RICHARDSON, JANE ANN who died March 16th 1862, aged 1 year and 8 months.

Also, FRANCIS, who died November 28th 1862, aged 1 year and 3 months.

‘Those lovely flowers so young and fair

Called to an early tomb

Just came to see how sweet such flowers

In Paradise would bloom.’

Also of the above FRANCIS RICHARDSON, Master Mariner, who died Feb 13th 1883, aged 62 years.

Also of MARY his wife, who died April 27th 1895, aged 71 years.

Both interred at Cardiff.

‘Their warfare is accomplished’

Crimlisk Survey 1977

I failed to find a birth registration for Mary Ann in or about 1843. She appears in George CHEW’s household in 1851.

Here are some sources that may help to grow the family on the Shared Tree.

Francis RICHARDSON senior

Death

RICHARDSON, Francis, Age at Death (in years): 62. GRO Reference: 1883 M Quarter in CARDIFF Volume 11A Page 208.

Burial

Buried 17 February 1883, Llandaff

Mary WILLIS

Death

RICHARDSON, Mary, Age at Death (in years): 71. GRO Reference: 1895 J Quarter in CARDIFF Volume 11A Page 178.

Burial

Llandaff?

CENSUS

1851, Church Street, Filey

1861, 35 Cooks Row, Scarborough

1871, Norwood Street, Scarborough

1881, Scarbro House, Ely Road, Llandaff, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales.

Jane Ann

Birth

RICHARDSON, Jane Ann, Mother’s Maiden Surname: WILLIS. GRO Reference: 1860 S Quarter in SCARBOROUGH Volume 09D Page 277.

Death

16 Mar 1862, Filey? (The family was enumerated in Scarborough on 7 April 1861.)

RICHARDSON, Jane Ann, Age at Death (in years): 1. GRO Reference: 1862 M Quarter in SCARBOROUGH Volume 09D Page 211.

Burial

21 Mar 1862, St Oswald’s, Filey.

Francis Junior

Birth

RICHARDSON, Francis, Mother’s Maiden Surname: WILLIS. GRO Reference: 1861 S Quarter in SCARBOROUGH Volume 09D Page 295.

Death

28 Nov 1862, Scarborough

RICHARDSON, Francis, Age at Death (in years): 1. GRO Reference: 1862 D Quarter in SCARBOROUGH Volume 09D Page 223.

Burial

1 Dec 1862, St Oswald’s, Filey.

The other children:-

Priscilla Dunn married George PALLISER in 1899; Mary b. 1853, married William HOLLINS in 1874; William Willis b. 1856, married Minnie Liza JOHN in 1888; Elizabeth b. 1858, married William Bilton SMITH in 1896.         

On Warfare

The use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.

A Mariner’s Daughter

I sailed an extra league this morning to make sure I could place Doris, in Goole, in the household of William AARON – and call out Doris Lynette, born 1918 in Athens, Georgia, as an impostor on the FamilySearch Shared Tree.

If you go to Doris Lynette’s details page you will find that one of her seven sources is the birth registration for Doris in 1895.

Just Doris married Thomas Palmer in 1921 and the census of 1939 (the Register) found the couple in Goole with three daughters. (The girls’ married names were added to the census document later. Winifred, for example, married Ronald BEEVERS in Goole in 1949.) Below is a screenshot of the Palmer household as presented by Findmypast.

Doris was 34 years-old when she received news of her father’s death in the Kattegat, en route to Copenhagen.

An Admiralty record gives William’s rank as “First Mate”, his date of death the 18th March, and the cause of death as “shock following immersion”. It also gives the location of the SS Irwell when the accident happened.

I will leave The Mystery of Doris Lynette for someone else to solve.

Mark of Man 60 · Lifeguard Training

Filey Sands

A French Connection

Towards the end of 1810, the British vessel Neva was captured by the French. Richard CORTIS, second in command, found himself a prisoner of war.

Fifty-nine years later, a mariner called Richard Cortis was laid to rest in Hull’s General Cemetery. There is a photograph of his headstone at Billion Graves. He was eighty-three years old and so, if he is one and the same, would have been only 24 when living at Napoleon’s pleasure.

On census night 1861, Hull mariner Richard was with his son William, Filey’s doctor, at No.1 John Street. The household of twelve also contained three of Richard’s grandchildren, Jane Maria, 15, William Richard, 14, and Herbert Liddell, 5. The lives of all three, and their father’s, would end in Australia. Sadly, Richard did not live to see Herbert become a World Cycling Champion.

Last month, out of the blue, I received a set of photographs from Australia that included a picture of Richard.

courtesy H F Morrice Collection,

This appears to be a hand coloured studio photograph – so Richard would have had to be approaching sixty when it was taken. On the evidence of the kepi on the table, the uniform is French. Does this connect him to the other Richard? Were the French so impressed by Richard’s bravery that they honoured him with this dress uniform and sword upon release from prison? And many years later, after the invention of photography, he could still fit into it.

I am not going to speculate further on this image. Richard’s exploits and qualities as mariner, ship owner, hotel keeper, local “prime mover”  – and father – are impressive enough not to need a tale of derring-do and showmanship. But doesn’t he look handsome?

My thanks to Peter for sending the photographs. I will share the others over the next few weeks.

A Reduction in UK COVID-19 Deaths

There were 5,299 fewer UK deaths recorded at Worldometers today. The muppets at Public Health England have been forced to acknowledge the nonsense that Britons catching the supposed disease could never be cured, ever. Weeks and months after appearing to recover, Covid would nonetheless appear on certificates, whatever actually caused their deaths. A dumb, dishonest way to boost scamdemic fatalities. This at-a-stroke 11% drop in Covid deaths has not changed the rankings posted yesterday. Deaths per million have fallen from 686 to 608 but the UK keeps the top spot in my Table.

There are more apparently lethal countries: Belgium (854), Peru (657), Spain (611). There are a few “safer” countries than New Zealand, including Uganda and Vietnam (0.2 per million), Sr Lanka (0.5), Rwanda and Mozambique (0.6).

(If you are offended by my use of the term “muppets” for UK Regime Health Advisors please see Skepticat’s take on The Second Wave.)

Abstract 55 · West Avenue

‘Baltic’ and ‘Noran’

In a Filey Genealogy & Connections note, Kath says that George Whiteley BOYNTON acquired his by-name following his experience of fighting in the Crimean War. Little more than a boy, he was seemingly a combatant in a distant theatre of that conflict – the Baltic Sea. When the Anglo-French fleet attacked Kronstadt in 1854 he would have been just twelve years old, and a few weeks short of his 14th birthday at the war’s end. He gave his occupation as “Mariner” when he married Ann SAYERS in 1864.

Richard Duke ROBINSON, known locally as ‘Noran’ or ‘Dickie Noran’ (for a reason unknown to me), was 47 years younger than George. He made a useful prop for the older man when they were photographed on a quayside with five other fishermen.

BOYNTONbaltic&ROBINSONdickn_sp

This undated photo was kindly donated to the Looking at Filey blog by Suzanne Pollard and several names were usefully provided. If you reckon ‘Noran’ to be about 14, that would make ‘Baltic’ sixty-one years old, and the year 1903 or thereabouts.

At the 1911 census, George is still working at age 69, but as a general labourer, and living at 4 Spring Road, Filey, with Ann. The couple had six children, two of them failing to reach the first birthday. Three married and two of the boys would acquire distinctive by-names of their own – ‘Boysher’ and ‘Rammy’. More about them some other time.

I have a vague memory of hearing an amusing story about Dickie Noran. I’ll chase it up and, if recovered, share it here.

It appears that George acquired a lasting taste for violence in the eponymous northern sea. Married four years and with third child Annie’s appearance imminent…

1868_BOYNTONgeo_Assault_NEWS

In November 1877, the Scarborough Mercury reported: –

Fighting at Brid Station

At the Bridlington Petty Sessions on Saturday, before Lieut-Col Prickett and Mr C. Mortlock, George Boynton, of Filey, fisherman, was summoned for wilfully interfering with the comfort of the passengers at the Bridlington Railway Station on 13th ult. Inspector Craig of the North Eastern Railway appeared for the company. George Knaggs, porter, stated that defendant and a number of other fishermen were on the platform arguing about a boat, when defendant struck one of the others and a fight ensued. Defendant was turned out of the station but returned and renewed the disturbance. Fined £1 including costs.

George and Ann’s last child was born about three years later and if you think young Frank’s by-name, ‘Rammy’, has violent connotations, you’d be right. But it seems to have been confined to the football field.

George was eighty when he died in 1922 and Ann 86 when reunited with him four years later.

G347_BOYNTONgeorgew_20181019_fst

Find them on the Shared Tree. George’s mother, Elizabeth SUTTON, is not on FST yet. I’m struggling to determine which of several Boynton men called Francis she married.

Captain Cook

At the Coroner’s Inquest upon the body of Michael COOK, on Friday 19 July in Coggeshall, Essex, two witnesses referred to the deceased as “captain”. At her wedding to Robert CHEW in Filey on 22 December 1845, Lucy Cook informed the vicar that her father’s name was Michael, his Rank or Profession “Mariner”.

1845_chewrobtcooklucy_marriage

(One transcription of this entry gives”Huchel” for “Michel”, and it is interesting that he isn’t noted as being deceased.)

Before the witnesses were called at the inquest, the jury went to the home of Michael COOK to view his corpse.

On entering the room where lay the unfortunate deceased, the effluvia arising from the body, (which although not 2 days had elapsed since death ensued was in a highly decomposed state) was insufferable, and had diffused through the whole house…The deceased…presented a frightful wound on the frontal bone of the skull, 3 or 4 inches in extent, which in one part was laid open, leaving the interior of the head visible. The pillow of the bed was deluged with blood from the wound, and the various surgical operations to which deceased had been subjected: taken as a whole it was one of the most appalling spectacles that can be imagined…and many that entered the house to gratify their curiosity, upon hearing the description given refrained from the sight.

Chelmsford Chronicle 26 July 1839

The final surgical operation had been an attempt by Dr Samuel Baddely STROWGER to relieve pressure on Michael’s brain by trepanning his skull. Michael died during the procedure at about five o’clock on Wednesday afternoon.

I have been unable to discover any of the places this Captain Cook visited during his time at sea. In his final months, he was the landlord of the Black Boy public house at Coggeshall. It seems strange that he should spend the evening of 15 July getting drunk in The King’s Arms in that town, but in his inebriated state he took exception to a fellow imbiber, Richard BROWNING, also known as SMITH. Several witnesses at the inquest described their sightings of Michael and his large black water dog chasing Richard through the streets. It seems the quarry didn’t want to fight (or be bitten by the dog) and reached his home just before the men engaged in combat. One witness declared that Michael struck the first blows, another that things went quiet after two loud noises were heard. Michael was found, slumped and incoherent, having little idea what had happened. He thought someone in an alley may have thrown a pewter pot at his head. Samaritans helped him home and a doctor was called.

The inquest found that the final blow had been delivered by a “broom handle”, wielded by Smith. This item was also described as a “hair broom”. Neither implement would seem capable of fracturing a man’s skull so severely that death ensued.

The Coroner explained the distinction in law between manslaughter and justifiable homicide and after two hours of deliberation the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter. A warrant was immediately made for the arrest of Richard Browning Smith. I have been unable to find a report that names Michael’s wife or explains his family circumstances but the Chelmsford Chronicle ends one piece thus:-

The unfortunate deceased was about 45 years of age, and has left a widow and six children to deplore his loss.

The GRO Index records Michael’s death in Witham District, which contains Coggeshall, in September Quarter 1839, age at death 45 years, (Volume 12 Page 176).

It is terrible to think of the children, ranging in age from one to 13, sleeping in a house where their father’s body lay.

A case can be made that Susanna and her offspring were “pushed” away from a place of dark and stinking memories. But were there “pull factors” in play, too? If yes, why Filey?

A Tale of Two Hannahs

Researching further into the GASH/STONEHOUSE family I found that Hannah, born in 1854 to David GASH and Anne GLENTON, had married. At the time of the 1891 Census, she was staying with her parents in Sands Road, Hunmanby, described as “Single” but given the surname “SHANTON”. With her was a grandson of David, six-year-old William Shanton. I looked at the page image and saw this unusual family name as THORNTON. Further delving revealed that both Hannah and William had been enumerated twice. They were listed at their home in Cooks Row, Scarborough with John Thornton, 72, and his other son John, 12. John senior’s advanced age, 35 years greater than Hannah’s, sent me to the page image.  He was indeed in his seventies and would die at the end of  1891.

He married Hannah on 7th March 1878 at All Saints Church, Scarborough. They were both of “full age” and both residing at 21 Cook’s Row. Their actual ages were 59 and 23 and they would bring two children into the world, John in 1879 and William in 1884.

The next discovery was a census record for old John in 1871 showing his wife Hannah was born in 1819, not 1854.

It isn’t unusual for someone to marry twice, with both spouses having the same given name. It was quite a surprise, however, to find that John had married Hannah GLENTON in October 1845. Hannah “the First” turns out to be the aunt of Hannah “the Second”.

The marriage register in 1845 reveals Hannah’s father is George, a fishmonger. The 1841 Census shows him living in The Bolts, Scarborough, with his wife (another Hannah) and 15-year-old son, Ambrose. Both of his daughters had flown the nest. Anne, 17, was working nearby in Sandgate as a domestic servant to Benjamin SHAW, a baker.

John’s first marriage produced three children. Elizabeth died aged 6 years and the third child, John, didn’t survive his first year. I haven’t found a record for William’s death. He was twelve in 1861 and it is reasonable to suppose he died before the William of John’s second marriage was born. It is curious that Hannah the Second agreed to her sons being given the same names as her Aunt Hannah’s dead boys.

A George Glenton who married Hannah DARLEY features prominently on FamilySearch Tree but I will follow the lead suggested by a fishmonger of the same name marrying Hannah ARMSTRONG in Scarborough in 1814.

Find Hannah the Second on FST. A few years after John’s death she appears to have married again and died aged 66 in 1921. When I’ve confirmed details I will add the information to the World Tree.

Today on Filey Bay.

20180623Regatta1_2m

Further to yesterday’s link post. It appears that four Englishmen shamed themselves and their country after the England v Tunisia match last Monday. Three inebriated “football supporters” and a “reporter” who sometimes writes for The Guardian. Graham Phillips takes them all to task, using industrial language.

England Nazi-Salute Fans

Response to Shaun Walker’s ‘Nazi Song’ allegations