Category: Devonshire

Bombay Love Story

After receiving an email asking whether Drusilla WREFORD (the 14 year old innkeeper originally mentioned in my post Pub Crawl) met her husband, Thomas WILLS on the voyage to NZ, I delved further into this family.  It was a good question and one I hadn’t really thought of since she was not my direct ancestor and I have so much to research on my genealogical plate.  However, my curiosity was piqued and I donned my detective cap to find out more.

After some apparent hard times, George & Harriet WREFORD, who had apparently run the Hare & Hounds Inn run the Commercial Inn in Witheridge, Devonshire (c1861), emigrated with their 8 surviving children to New Zealand aboard the Bombay on the 26 Nov 1864.  Sadly, their youngest daughter, Mary Ann died on the voyage, aged 2.

My first step was to consult the 1864-5 passenger list for the Bombay voyage these WREFORDS took and funnily enough there was a Thomas WILLS on board aged 23.  Drusilla was 17 at the time so quite possible they could meet and take a fancy to one another.  Or perhaps they were already betrothed before leaving England?  I diverted course to search for Thomas on the UK censuses but without having any more information about him abandoned that search and turned instead to the fabulous NZ Papers Past website.

Sisters Augusta, Drusilla and Sarah Grace nee WREFORD
Although I was initially searching for marriage notices, most of my day has since been spent reading the articles and snippets which mention my ancestors and their neighbours, revisiting old avenues of research and getting to know the other members of this family.  My search also led me to the NZ Births, Deaths & Marriages online where I was able to locate the WREFORD sisters’ marriages (or at least their registration numbers).
WREFORD sister marriages including Drusilla’s to Thomas WILLS
So proof that 14 year old innkeep, Drusilla married somebody called Thomas WILLS.  The 1865 marriage made it seem likely but there was still no real evidence to suggest it was the same Tom on the Bombay with the family.
Drusilla’s Death Notice (also mentions sister Sarah Grace)
Until… serendipity stepped in.  Tweaking the newspaper search words to ‘bombay’ and ‘wreford’ led me to the obituary notice for Drusilla in the Auckland Star (Volume LXV, Issue 140, 15 June 1934, p3).
Obituary Notice for Drusilla WILLS (nee WREFORD)

The death occurred on June 13 at Onehunga of Mrs. Drucilla Wills, aged 89 years.  She was a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. George Wreford, and came to New Zealand with them when a child in the ship Bombay.  Her late husband, Mr. Thos. Wills, was a passenger on the same vessel. They were married at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Onehunga, by the late Rev. Dr. Purchas, and settled at Awhitu, where Mr. Wills engaged in the gum trade for many years.  When he retired from business Mr. and Mrs. Wills went to reside at Onehunga.  Mrs. Wills is survived by two children. Mr James Wills and Mrs. D. Evans, and 15 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren.

Ta – dah!

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Calendar of the Dead

Ancestry have now released the National Probate Calendar (1861-1941) which is almost like an index to wills.  A distant relative who has worked with me on my STILING line gave me the heads up and I checked it out:
STILING John 9 October.
The Will of John Stiling late of Tiverton in the County of Devon Yeoman deceased who died 3 February 1862 at Tiverton aforesaid was proved at Exeter by the oath of Edward Stiling of the Parish of Tiverton aforesaid Yeoman the Son one of the Executors.
Effects under £600.
[handwritten underneath] Resworn at the Stamp Office Feb 1865 under £450.

I believe this to be my John STILING for the following reasons:

  • he dropped off the census after 1861
  • wife declared a widow on the 1871 census
  • recorded living at Tiverton since 1811 (son Edward’s birth)
  • has son Edward STILING
  • farmer (yeoman) since 1841 census

This is the first time I had even come close to a death date for John STILING so I was very pleased indeed to see this entry.

I used ancestry to look further into the son mentioned, Edward STILING and found what appears to be his will too. The entry contained: formerly of Barton but late of Tiverton Farmer died 16 Feb 1873 at Tiverton – Elizabeth Daw, widow, his sister executrix.

Not only do I have a death date but also a daughter of John that I was unaware of until now.

Next Steps:

  • Obtain a copy of John & Edward STILING’s wills

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Bombay Love Story

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Kissing Cousins?

Celebrity Ancestor

For a change of ‘scene’, I decided to look a bit deeper at some of my English ancestors.

illustration of men wrestling
Devonshire Wrestlers

An old family pedigree mentioned that my ancestor, William WREFORD “settled in Tiverton and was well known in the last century as a noted wrestler“.  I had searched for more information a few years back and was discovered a book which mentions him in this role – Devonshire Characters and Strange Events by S. Baring Gould.

I am very pleased that I am now able to read the entire book online (or download as various files) at the Internet Archive.  The section on William reads:

William Wreford, at the age of eighteen, achieved reputation by throwing Jordan over his head with such force that Jordan came down with a “crash similar to that produced by felling an oak tree.” But Wreford met his match in a wrestle with “the little Elephant,” James Stone. Simultaneously the men grappled each other; and although Wreford had the advantage at the outset, he was hurled into the air, and fell with such violence on his back that for a time he was incapacitated from taking part in a similar contest. Eventually the return match came off at Southmolton, and Stone was again victorious. Nevertheless Wreford remained a prominent figure in the ring, and threw Francis Olver, a Cornishman, although he came out of the contest with several of his ribs crushed by the deadly “hug.” But a greater than Wreford and Jordan arose in the person of Abraham Cann… (p519)

Hoping to find more mention of William, I searched for James Stone – the ‘little elephant’.  This lead me to a page bursting with information about wrestling – in particular, the Abraham Cann mentioned above.  The Heard Family History site records:

In his history of Crediton, Venn (Venn, T.W., History of Crediton. Typescript. 1972) tells us that the activities of the Devonshire wrestlers in London were reported enthusiastically in the Society gossip columns. Dressed in the latest fashions they would promenade in the famous Vauxhall pleasure gardens, where much curiousity was shown to catch a sight of “these extraordinary Devonshire wrestlers”. Along with the bare-knuckle fighters, the wrestlers must have had the popular appeal of football stars of old, if not quite the overblown celebrity status accorded them in today’s tabloids. Certainly local papers reported their comings and goings, and we read of a triumphant return to Devon on the express coach Celerity in 1827, when the wrestlers were greeted by cheering crowds in Exeter (Heard Family History).

It’s funny to think of William, who is listed simply as ‘farmer’ and ‘labourer’ in the 1841 and 1851 censuses, as a celebrity.  Also found on the Heard Family History site was this image of the wrestlers’ vital statistics at a fair in Tavistock,1827:

Wrestler Vital Statistics – Tavistock Fair 1827
William is listed as 34 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 190 pounds.  It is not often we get to know this much physical detail about our ancestors and I’m excited to have found this information. 
Next Steps:
  • Continue to research Devonshire Wrestling in and around the 1820s
  • Search newspapers for wrestling matches

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The Wrong Stilings

I’ve certainly been very busy with genealogy the last week or so.
The most significant discovery is that I am now quite sure that the Broadhembury STILINGs are not directly linked to me. (Click the link to see my previous Stiling posts, or click Stiling in the right sidebar). The John STILING farming at Lane End Farm is not Harriet STILING’s father. I discovered this by making contact with other people researching the Broadhembury John STILING on Ancestry.co.uk.
Devon has not allowed the LDS to film their parish records and so most baptisms from Devon are not available on the IGI.  This has meant that I have not yet seen Harriet’s baptismal entry but instead have accepted information given to me by a relative over 10 years ago (until I can check the records for myself) which states her mother was Grace FREED.  When I first searched the 1841 census (via microfilm) all those years ago, the Broadhembury John STILING was the closest match I found.  I then decided it was possible Grace had died and this wife, Mary could have been a second wife.  However, the other (very helpful) people researching this family had no knowledge of a first wife (Grace) or of a daughter called Harriet.
John STILING on Harriet’s marriage record

I decided to recheck all my sources.  Harriet’s marriage certificate lists her father as John STILING, a farmer, so I searched the census again with Ancestry.co.uk, including spelling variants.  Still no joy.  The Broadhembury STILINGS were still the only likely option.  I then went through my digital folders and came across a file called ‘Stilings on the 1841 census’.  I had another look and this time saw a John and Grace STILING in the Tiverton area (how I’d not noticed that before is beyond me).  I searched for them in this area and sure enough John and Grace topped the list!  They had been transcribed as Steling.  Someone seems to have originally recorded the name as Styling and someone’s attempt to correct it allowed it to be misread as Steling.

Another John STILING farmer – this time at West Barton Farm near Tiverton

I am more confident that these are my STILINGS – not only because of the wife, Grace but also because they reside in the Tiverton area which is where I found Harriet working as a servant on the 1841 census and her location at the time of her marriage.  However, until I see the birth records, I have no hard evidence that Grace is, in fact, Harriet’s mother and that this is MY family, as she never appears with her parents on a census.

Next Steps: 

  • Visit Devon library to locate Harriet’s baptism entry in the parish records.

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Curious George

I have returned from my holiday/family history mission in Devon. While there, I located the homes and farms of my ancestors, visited their churches and in some cases burial grounds and generally got a feel for the layout of the places they lived.
I also got to spend some time in the West Country Studies Library in Exeter – 4 and a half hours worth of time to be precise! I looked through parish records to firm up some sources and dates and browsed through some microfiche of the Exeter Flying Post to get a bit more detail.
I’ll be posting my findings over the next few days to help me collect all my information and thoughts. To start, I think I’ll flesh out the story of my bankrupt ancestor George WREFORD.
Exeter Prison (August 2009) – George may have been an inmate here in 1861

Last month, I discovered my 3rd great grandfather, George, was not found in the 1861 census partly because he was in jail for bankruptcy. You can read the story so far in my post Ancestor Found (almost).

Unfortunately, I have still not been able to locate him on the 1861 census. After eventually finding Exeter Gaol in the census records, I also found the prisoners were listed by initials only. ‘A-ha!’ I thought, ‘That explains why I couldn’t find him through a name search’ – but I couldn’t find any prisoner with the initials G.W. Not to be deterred, I then combed the entire list of prisoners by their age and birthplace looking for suitable or even approximate matches but I have still not found George WREFORD.

I am aware there was a debtor’s prison in Cowick Street but I learned on the Exeter Memories site that “the last prisoners were moved to the County Gaol in January 1855 and the facility was closed” – 5 years before George was held.
But I did find some nuggets of information in the Exeter Flying Post.
Exeter Flying Post – 10 April 1861

Another reference to his upcoming hearing at the county court at first seemed identical to the notice in the London Gazette EXCEPT, it claims he was a journeyman baker in Chulmleigh – this may be another lead or a Victorian typo. (The London Gazette referred to him as ‘Journey-man Butcher’, which is more likely).

More importantly, upon rereading, I noticed that it mentioned George was “to be holden at the Castle of Exeter”. This could explain why he was not in the County Gaol on the 1861 census! Census night was 7 April 1861 – this excerpt was from the 10 April 1861 edition of the newspaper.

The next ‘clipping’ concluded what must have been a very difficult time in my ancestor’s life.

The insolvent was supported by Mr. Laidman, and, being unopposed, he was declared entitled to the benefit of the act, and ordered to be discharged.

I am aware that the laws surrounding bankruptcy changed in 1861 but if anyone can explain simply to me what the change was, I would love to know. I would also like to know what being supported by someone meant. I have a feeling, old George was quite lucky to have his case heard in this particular year.

Exeter Flying Post – 24 April 1861

Next steps:

  • Search the 1861 census for ‘the Castle’ and its inmates
  • Find a simple explanation for the Bankruptcy Act

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