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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Durham => England => Durham Lookup Requests => Topic started by: PorterzPennellz on Thursday 08 April 10 19:38 BST (UK)

Title: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: PorterzPennellz on Thursday 08 April 10 19:38 BST (UK)
Captain John Humble, who died with his wife and over forty others in the Forfarshire steamship tragedy of 1838--(the Grace Darling shipwreck)-- "belonged to Shields," [South Shields] according to contemporaneous accounts.  I'm trying to find out the names of his parents, wife, and children.  Any ideas about how to do this?  I'm both a newbie and hampered by distance (live in the US.)  Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated.

Problem of looking for a death record: Don't know whether bodies were recovered, and if not, whether they reported them as dead immediately or waited a set number of statutorily required years (ie: 10 years), whether their deaths would have been registered in South Shields, (where they purportedly lived), or whether the deaths would have been registered in the jurisdiction where the bodies were recovered?

Hoping that this might be easier to research because of his infamy.  According to an 1846 book "Tales of Shipwrecks and Adventures: 1.) he began his career on one of the collier sloops trading between Shields and Newcastle,2.) the first steamship he was in was a small tugboat, owned by Shields, called the Tarset, 3.) after the Tarset, he commanded another steamer called the "Neptune," which sailed between Hull and Newcastle, 4.) was sometime mate of the "Eclipse," a Newcastle and Leith boat, 5.) the ship Forfarshire sailed between Hull & Dundees.  Anyone have any ideas about where to look?  Many thanks!

Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: diddymiller on Friday 09 April 10 15:00 BST (UK)
Hi, i wonder whether the Grace Darling museum in Bamburgh can help. theu have an online enquirt service:

http://www.rnli.org.uk/who_we_are/the_heritage_trust/grace-darling-museum/enquiry-form

worth a try,

Diddy  ;D
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: diddymiller on Friday 09 April 10 15:27 BST (UK)
local newspapers seem to have covered the story. i have found newcastle central library local studies very useful in the past. they have an online help service (i emailed one day and recieved info / photocopies in a couple of days)

Email:    information@newcastle.gov.uk

Address: City Library, Charles Avison Building, 33 New Bridge St. West, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AX

Diddy

Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: diddymiller on Friday 09 April 10 15:46 BST (UK)
there is a private tree on A* (can only contact privately) for an

Ann Humble  d/o/ Cpt John Humble
she was born 1804 Blyth so think on right lines. this may help find johns family.

seeking...
Diddy  8)
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: diddymiller on Friday 09 April 10 16:12 BST (UK)
this posting was on A* in March as a reply to a query about john:

My husband is a descendant of Captain John Humble, through his (daughter?) Ann. Ann married William Young of Winlaton, Durham. Their son, John Humble Rose Young, was born in 1836, two years before the ship Forfarshire went down. I too have been trying to find out information about Captain John Humble and his wife, (who both died aboard the Forfarshire), but I'm not sure where to look. Ann Humble Young and family settled in Northumberland, living first in Tynemouth (1841) and later in North Shields (1851).  

if you have seen this / are connected to this query /answer i apologise in advance!

Diddy
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: PorterzPennellz on Saturday 10 April 10 01:01 BST (UK)
Diddy,

Thank you so much for all these great leads-- I really appreciate all your help!

Kindest Regards,
Jenny
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: JohnAWigham on Monday 06 December 10 00:02 GMT (UK)
To Diddy and Jenny - I'm trying to trace the Humble family of North Shields and am wondering if there might be a connection to Capt. John Humble.  My great great grandfather was a John Humble, ship broker, of North Shields, born c.1828. His mother was Mary Pearson born c. 1803, but I don't know the name of his father. I'm speculating that Capt. John Humble might be John Humble's grandfather - there can't have been that many Humbles in North Shields. I wonder if either of you can fill in the gaps?

The name has persisted down the generations - my uncle and grandfather were both called John Humble Wigham, and both were sea captains, and it's where my own first name comes from too.

best wishes, John
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: diddymiller on Monday 06 December 10 09:15 GMT (UK)
Jenny - just as a link to this post - since replying to you i have found a link in my family to that of Grace Darling!! her brother Robert married the sister of decendant!!

Diddy (well connected!!)  ::)
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: diddymiller on Monday 06 December 10 09:41 GMT (UK)
John, john Humble's birth /chr is on the family pilot site:

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=home

John Humble birth 5/10/1827 Christ church,Tynemouth, chr 30/12/1829 Christ church Tynemouth s/o William Brown Humble & Mary

Diddy
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: diddymiller on Monday 06 December 10 09:45 GMT (UK)
marriage:

William Brown Humble = Mary Pearson 28/12/1820 Tynemouth

other children:

William pearson Humble s/o William BH & Mary 20/12/1822

Pearson Humble s/o WBH & Mary 28/3/1826 (born 17/3/1825)

Diddy
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: diddymiller on Monday 06 December 10 09:48 GMT (UK)
christening record of William is on A* in Eng births & baps:


William Brown Humble chr 6/12/1795 Tynemouth
s/o John Humble & Ann

Diddy
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: JohnAWigham on Monday 06 December 10 11:45 GMT (UK)
Thanks so much Diddy. I'm new to this, so it's very useful to know where to look for parish records.

I wonder if this is the same John Humble. I'm looking for more information about Capt. John Humble and whether his wife was Ann. There is a harrowing account of the wreck that says "The captain stuck to the fore-part of the vessel, which remained fast on the rock, till washed overboard, with his wife in his arms, and both were drowned." They could make a film.

Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: diddymiller on Monday 06 December 10 15:29 GMT (UK)
Hi, the other places to look are are Durham records online (tynemouth incl):

www.durhamrecordsonline.com

pay to view but quite reasonable. and the Durham Bishops transcripts which incl Northumberland are online at:

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=waypoint&s=waypointsOnly&c=fs%3A1309819&w=0

not indexed so have to know which date you are looking for - but all original.
also some Northumberland transcripts at:

http://www.genuki.bpears.org.uk/Transcripts.html#nbl

that should get you started!!
 
Diddy  ;)
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: Matilda1 on Friday 10 December 10 06:06 GMT (UK)
See http://sites.google.com/site/soldierssailersandstrangers/burials/burials-1800

This suggests it may be worthwhile looking at the coastal burial records around Holy Island, Warkworth, Embleton

Good luck

Matilda
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: JohnAWigham on Friday 10 December 10 10:24 GMT (UK)
I've worked out that the John Humble who I'm descended from would have to have been at least 70 at the time of the Forfarshire wreck, so I don't think it's him.

If Capt. John Humble was described as being from 'Shields', this could refer to North Shields as well as South Shields - certainly nowadays both towns are abbreviated in that way locally.

There was another Humble family in North Shields, including a John Humble who was born there on 16 April 1781. He'd be 57 in 1838, which is about right.
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: PorterzPennellz on Friday 30 November 12 14:59 GMT (UK)
Diddy,  you're brilliant!  And John Wigham-- your John Humble WAS Captain John Humble's grandson. 

Diddy's breakthrough hints were spot on: I'd been on the wrong track, looking in South Shields because I'd read that Captain Humble was "of Shields."  As it turns out, Captain Humble lived in North Shields.

I'm still researching, but here's what I've found so far:  As Diddy suggested, the Bishops Transcripts for Durham, which include Northumberland, yielded clues as to Captain Humble's family connections.  From these records, I learned that Captain John Humble and his wife Ann Alexander-- who lived in Toll Square, North Shields but were natives of nearby Newburn--had at least two sons and five daughters.

Here's the record with the most info I've found so far: Baptized 8 December 1797: "Margaret Humble, 5th Daughter of John Humble of Toll Sq., Master Mariner, Native of Newburn by his wife Ann Alexander, Native of Newburn." [From Bishops Transcripts of Durham: Northumberland, Tynemouth, 1762-1813. Image # 256 of 835."

Image # 192 of 835 in this same set of records shows that William Brown Humble--the father of John Wigham's ancestor John Humble--was indeed the son of this John Humble who was a master mariner.

Did a quick search for Newburn marriage records-- lots of Humbles in Newburn, but seemingly not Captain John Humble and Ann Alexander.  You'd think if they were both from there that they would have married there.  Lots more to research.

Thanks so much Diddy-- for all of your great suggestions!
Jenny
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: PorterzPennellz on Friday 30 November 12 15:27 GMT (UK)
Woops!  Posted too soon.  There were 2 Captain John Humbles of North Shields, probably father and son.  As it looks like you'd both already ascertained, the "John Humble, Master Mariner of North Shields" I spoke of who was fathering lots of children in the 1780s and 1790s was probably too old to have been the Captain John Humble of Forfarshire infamy.   He was already a Master Mariner by the 1790s and would have been elderly by the time of the Forfarshire shipwreck in 1838.  It's more likely that he was the father of Captain John Humble of the Forfarshire.  His son John, baptised 16 April 1781, was likely the Captain John Humble of the ship Forfarshire. Research ongoing.
Title: Re: Capt. John Humble, Forfarshire shipwreck
Post by: mrchrisjlee on Monday 10 August 15 13:32 BST (UK)
I am a direct relation to Cpt John Humble. My grand father was Edgar Humble, my mother is Lauris Lee(nee Humble). I am tracing back the family tree to John's father Andrew and Mother Agnes in Liverpool and Andew's father another Andrew born in Canada. If you are still interested in further information about John Humble, I would be happy to share what I know. Contact me.
Chris Lee
Melbourne Australia