10
Feb
2011
Thomas Henry Royse
Thomas Royse was a Church of Ireland cleric who married Edith Ogden in Cork in 1912. Continue reading →
09
Feb
2011
Edith Payne
Edith Payne was the governess of Henry Marten‘s children after the death of their mother Frances in 1862. Continue reading →
02
Feb
2011
Rev Robert Humphrey Marten
Robert Giles Marten named his eldest son Robert Humphrey Marten after his father. Continue reading →
01
Feb
2011
Frank Marten
Francis Alfred Marten was the youngest son of Henry Marten and his wife Frances, born on 14 Mar 1862 at Penn Hall, Staffordshire. His mother died twelve days after his birth. He never married and died aged 29 on 1 May 1891 in Pakkoka in Northern Burma. This date of death is recorded in Sir Alfred George Marten’s family tree. Continue reading →
31
Jan
2011
Tib Marten
Henry John Marten and his wife Frances had a son called Robert Humphrey Marten, named after Henry’s grandfather. He was born in Penn Hall on 3 Aug 1860 and was always known in the family as Tib. Continue reading →
18
Jan
2011
George Downing
George Downing, born on 23 Nov 1844, was the oldest son of William Downing. The ‘G’ of the Smethwick Malting firm ‘G and WE Downing‘ refers to him and his partnership with his brother William Edmund Downing. He never married and had no children, dying at the age of 49. Continue reading →
25
Oct
2010
Samuel Chiswick
Samuel Chiswick was baptized on 27 May 1740 at St Dunstan’s Stepney, the eldest son of Samuel Chiswick, a miller from Poplar. The parish records give a fair amount of details of his life. He was the first of a long line of the Chiswick family who became coopers in the East End of London. Continue reading →
01
Sep
2010
Alice Harford
Alice Harford was the youngest daughter of Thomas Harford, a Quaker, and was born in about 1708. Thomas Harford had married Martha Butler, Alice’s mother, on !8 Mar 1688 in the Society of Friends meeting house in Bristol. The Harford family owned estates in Marshfield in Gloucestershire and either for economic reasons or religious reasons a number of the branches of the family moved to Bristol and took a prominent role in the city’s affairs and in particular with the trade to Virginia and Pennsylvania. Alice had at least five elder siblings. Continue reading →
29
Jun
2010
Evans Daguerreotypes
We have a collection of nine daguerreotypes of the Evans family – mostly of youngish men. It has long been presumed that they are the sons of Richard Evans (b 1797) and Mary Evans (nee Shaw-Hellier). They were in the possession of Mary at her death in 1878 and passed to her children Sarah and Henry. However, there are major problems with identification and the precise identity of each is difficult to determine. The issues are as follows. Continue reading →
15
Jun
2010
Mulgrave Letters
Six Letters from Noel Downing to his mother from Mulgrave Castle School in Whitby have survived. This one dating from 14 July 1901 is well remembered for the humorous portrayal of Mr Suggit’s liaison with Miss Tieman behind a tree at the school ‘strawberry tea’. Continue reading →
15
Jun
2010
Mulgrave Castle School
Noel Downing attended the small private prep school called Mulgrave Castle School from 1899 to 1902. It was based in Mulgrave Castle near Whitby, the seat of the Phipps family. We have about thirty photographs of his time there – some official school photographs as well as his own snaps. Continue reading →
09
Jun
2010
Llanbrynmair
The Downing family, notably William Edmund Downing, had an association with the village of Llanbrynmair in Montgomery from about 1890 to 1910. Continue reading →
17
May
2010
Alicia Marten
Alicia or Alice Marten was born in about 1740, the youngest daughter of Robert Amberson Marten and his wife Alice Harford. She was probably born in London although no record of the baptism has yet been found. Continue reading →
15
Apr
2010
Molly Evans
Constance Mary Shaw-Hellier Evans, known as Molly, was born on 15 March 1890 in the Green House Tettenhall and baptized on 9 May 1890 in Tettenhall Parish Church. Her godparents were Edith Ogden, Mrs Walter Loveridge and Col Thomas B Shaw-Hellier. Continue reading →
06
Apr
2010
Sport and Foxhunting in South Staffordshire 1800-1850
Fox hunting in South Staffordshire in the area to the West of Wolverhampton has a long history. Continue reading →
16
Mar
2010
The Lloyd House
The Lloyd House in Lower Penn briefly came into the ownership of the Evans family as a result of Charles Evans marrying Sophie Marsh of the Lloyd in 1804. The Lloyd or Lyde was a mediaeval manor but seems to have changed hands many times. Continue reading →
16
Mar
2010
Charles Evans of Compton
Charles Evans was born in 1773 the second eldest son of John Evans, the innkeeper of the Old Bell Inn. He was baptized in St Peter’s Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton on 27 November 1773. Continue reading →
10
Mar
2010
Thomas Shaw-Hellier
Thomas Shaw Hellier was born on 25 Oct 1802 the eldest son of James Shaw-Hellier of the Wodehouse. He was baptized in Dudley on 28 Dec 1802. He was the principal beneficiary of his grandfather, Rev Thomas Shaw-Hellier‘s will of 1812. This permitted him to lead the life of an important country squire and landed farmer and pursue his passion for hunting across several counties. Continue reading →
12
Feb
2010
Elizabeth Evans
Elizabeth Evans was born on 16 Mar 1800, the second daughter of Richard Evans of the Red Lion Inn in Wolverhampton. Continue reading →
29
Jan
2010
Mary Evans
Mary Evans was born on 1 Feb 1799 in the Red Lion Inn in Wolverhampton, the eldest daughter of Richard Evans and Sarah Styles. Continue reading →