RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Manchester Rambler on Monday 09 May 05 14:40 BST (UK)
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While looking up some births on Free BMD, an unusual name caught my eye, and sent me off on a completely different track...
During the Boer War (1899-1902), hundreds of children were named after the commanders, battles and heroes of the time. Among the more popular leaders were:
Henry Redvers Buller
Frederick Sleigh Roberts ("Bobs")
Horatio Herbert Kitchener
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
And the battles:
Pretoria, Ladysmith, Tugela, Colenso and Mafeking all scored highly in the name stakes.
However, some parents were even more imaginative...
Among my favourites:
Pretoria Surrender H Evans
Mafeking Roberts Turner
Tugela Royal Kallsen
Mafeking Baden P[owell] H MacDonald
Pretoria Ladysmith Ellis
Tugela Colenso P A Rooke
Kitchener Bobs Thornton
Baden Welcome Jordan
Colenso Victory Custance
Ladysmith Shamrock and Thistle Dujon
Redvers Buller K[itchener] R[oberts] B[aden] P[owell] Perrin
Winston Pretoria B Wright
Veldt Rose Brewer
Natal Bishop
Transvaal Roberts Jury
Vereeninging Annie Dorey
Kimberley Mafeking Edwards
Magersfontein Paardeberg Somers
Bloemfontein Salmon
The end of the war coincided more or less with the coronation of Edward VII, so in addition to all the little Edward Alberts and Alexandras, there are gems like:
Coronation Edward Akehurst
Peace Albert Akehurst (Corrie's twin)
Peace Coronation Hammond
I'd love to have a few of these names in my tree! Did other world events affect our naming patterns? When I get time, I'm certainly going to check it out....
MR
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Don't know if the two I found in my tree today are anything to do with current affairs or not ???
But for a miners family to have twins a boy and girl by the way ;D and call them Pyrah and Merab seems a bit unlikely. Anyone come across these as christian names?
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Merab is a name from Caucasus area see
http://www.geocities.com/khabazim/ for one example
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That is interesting, but it was the girl twin who was called Merab ;D I have a faint memory from Sunday School that when David beat Goliath, he was then betrothed to a Merab. Maybe from that part of the world it is a uni-sex name. Still neither of the names seem to go with Scargill as a surname.
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They can't be worse than some of the "modern" concoctions that parents saddle their children with.
"But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife." (1 Samuel 18:17-19 KJV)
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A further search shows that Merab was an egyptian male name .
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From 1881, I particularly like
William Waterloo Napoleon Saunders, b1868 :)
Paul
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And I've just noticed that he had a brother...
Pius Romulus Saunders, b1877 :) :) :)
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My gt gt grandfather had two sons named Ebert (b1880) and Metford(my gt grandfather).
Don't know where my family got Ebert from - it may be from a German surname. The first president of the Weimar Republic (in Germany 1919) was a Friedrich Ebert who lived from 1871-1925.
Unfortunately my granddad was named Ebert Walter Metford :o. Even worse he was born (in Somerset) in 1920. No wonder he was always known as plain old 'Bert'. ;D
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DebbieDee - when they called him Ebert it was just Zummerzet for Herbert 8)
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I'm interested in Nessie's Pyrah and Merab twins as the Pyrah family is a line that I am following. Could you tell me if the Pyrah Christen name is followed by Whitaker, Scargill, Heyes or Charlton and what year? I am thinking that the Christen name comes from an earlier Pyrah marriage.
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It is from the Scargills of Thornhill, Dewsbury. Children of my ggg grandfathers brother.
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Here's a bit of interesting info about names during the Boer War,it was posted back in August;
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,9986.msg31308.html#msg31308
Regards,Mick ;)
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Looking for a Pyrah/Scargill marriage I came across one for an Oliver Cromwell Pyrah in Dewsbury in 1893.
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MR,
I've just found one of my own 'Boer War Babes'.
Baden Pretoria Pratlett born in 1900. Must have been a very significant battle as all his siblings have quite 'ordinary names.
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DebbieDee - when they called him Ebert it was just Zummerzet for Herbert 8)
;D ;D ;D Maybe Mum or Dad had been on the scrumpy before popping down to the registrar hic :o
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Thanks Nessie. I have Pyrahs on the 1881 census at Dewsbury Road, THORNHILL. I think there must be a Scargill/Pyrah marriage somewhere?
David PYRAH Head M Male 59 Batley, York, England Woollen Manufacturer
Sarah A. PYRAH Wife M Female 57 Batley, York, England
Josiah PYRAH Son U Male 29 Heckmondwike Woollen Overlooker
William PYRAH Son U Male 20 Batley, York, England Woollen Spinner
Lucy PYRAH Daur U Female 17 Batley, York, England Woollen Weaver
David PYRAH Son Male 13 Batley, York, England Scholar
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Source Information:
Dwelling Dewsbury Rd
Census Place Thornhill, York, England
Family History Library Film 1342101
Public Records Office Reference RG11
Piece / Folio 4569 / 4
Page Number 2
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Oliver Cromwell Pyrah is the son of Simeon King Pyrah. My guess is that Oliver was named after a locomotive as his father was a railway porter.