G2 Grandparents

Daniel Chiswick was born in about 1827 in Poplar. He was the youngest son of Samuel Jervis Chiswick (1777-1839). He came from a long line of coopers and was to take up the same trade. His grandfather was Samuel Chiswick (1740-1790). Although he lived to a good age of 76 Daniel continued to live in the East End of London and circumstances seem to have got increasingly tough. Continue reading →

Sarah Cheshire Showell (nee Hartill) was baptized on 27 Nov 1835 in Dudley and married the Oldbury brewer Walter Showell on 2 May 1854 in Oldbury. She was the daughter of Joseph Hartill and Sarah Cheshire. Her grandfather was Joseph Hartill. Continue reading →

Emma Clifton was baptized in Oldbury on 24 Nov 1824. Her father was Edmund Clifton, a farmer, and her mother was Susannah Horton. She appears to have been the seventh of eight sisters. Continue reading →

There are 16 Great Great Grandparents Continue reading →

Mary Shaw Hellier was born on 27 February 1801, the third daughter of James Shaw-Hellier of Wombourne.  She was baptized at St Thomas’s Dudley on 21 April 1801.  Continue reading →

Frances Anne Dimmack was the only surviving child of Edward Bagnall Dimmack, a wealthy iron founder. She was born in Bilston in 1834 and baptised at the Independent church in Oxford Street, Bilston. In 1854, she married Henry John Marten an acquaintance of her father, who was eventually to become his full business partner. In her short life she had seven children before dying at the age of 28, twelve days after giving birth to her youngest child, Frank. Continue reading →

William Downing was born on 19 Apr 1821, the eldest surviving son of George and Elizabeth Downing. He took up the family trade of maltster in the West Midlands and was to oversee the expansion of the business from his birth place in Smethwick to take in concerns down the Severn in Gloucester under his sons. Continue reading →

Walter Showell, the Oldbury brewer, was born on 26 September 1832. He was baptized in St Martin’s Birmingham on 25 Oct 1832. He undoubtedly had a difficult childhood. His father, also Walter Showell, died when he was only three in 1835. His mother, Eliza Ann Breakspear, remarried in 1840. In the 1841 census the eight year old Walter can be found in the household of his Aunt, Mary Ann Hands. It seems he was brought up in the Hands household rather than with his mother, who inherited a family from her new widower husband. Walter trained as a Chemist and Druggist before entering the Brewing trade. His uncle, Thomas Showell, is listed as a licensed Victualler in the 1851 census so there were strong family connections with the trade. His grandfather Joseph Showell had, for many years, run the Bull’s Head in Price Street, Birmingham Continue reading →

Charles Palmer was baptized in Stoke Damerel on 16 Aug 1818. He was the eldest child of Nathaniel Palmer, a blacksmith, and served in the Royal Navy all his life, receiving a pension right up until his death at the age of 88. He married Mary Ann Ash Tingcombe on 2 Aug 1837 and they had five surviving children. Continue reading →

Richard Evans was born on 26 Aug 1797 probably in The Red Lion Inn in Wolverhampton. He was baptized at St Peter’s Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton on 27 September 1800. We have a glass rummer monogrammed ‘RE’ that dates from his childhood or even christening. Continue reading →

Henry Marten was born in Plaistow on 3 Feb 1827, the second eldest son of Robert Giles Marten. His father and grandfather both died in 1839 when he was only twelve. He was educated at a private school in Margate, Kent. He seems to have gained a rapid career start, being appointed chief Water Engineer for Wolverhampton at the tender age of 19. Continue reading →