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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Gloucestershire => Topic started by: Mary Crane on Friday 20 March 15 05:28 GMT (UK)
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Hi
My Grandfather Byron Tanswell had an accident which I think probably occurred sometime between 1898 and 1902. (not sure of the exact date) There are several different accounts but apparently it happened whilst he was working on the docks, and loading/unloading a ship. One story is that he fell down the hold of a ship. He was taken to hospital with head injuries and, again the story is that, after a week it was discovered he had seriously injured his shoulder. He subsequently virtually lost the use of that arm.
I had thought there might be an account of the accident in a local Bristol Newspaper but I cannot get access to any of the archives. I wondered if anyone could do this for me.
Many thanks - as always for help I receive on this forum.
Mary
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You could try the British Newspaper Archive to see if they have Bristol newspapers for that period.
You'll need to play around with the search criteria though and plenty of patience - lots of hits regarding Lord Byron the poet!
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Many thanks for the advice. I think I will have to do that.
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Hi
If you are in the UK and are a member of your local library, many libraries subscribe to and thus give free access to some of the papers which you might otherwise have to pay for.
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I'm in Australia - but plan on getting a subscription to the British Newspaper Archives.
Many thanks
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I searched BNA for "byron tanswell". No hits.
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Oh - that's a disappointment, but many thanks for taking the time to search.
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I have had a look also. There are several trees on Ancestry relating to the family.
Here is a link to Google newspapers, which include the Bristol Herald. But there is no mention of Byron.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?hl=en#A
Regards
Malky
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Hi
I don't know what you have found census wise, so apologies if you already have this.
Looking at the 1901 census, there is some confusion transcribing the handwritten entry, so transcription offers both Byron W Tanswill and Byron H Tanswell. On the written entry he appears, to me, to be a Slaters Laourer.
I wonder if those with Newspaper access might find more trying Tanswill and/or even slater in the search parameters.
In 1911 he is shown as a Coal Haulier (own account) and Byron H Tanswell
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Many thanks - I do have all the information relating to Byron (including misspellings!) but I have been trying to decipher his occupation on the 1901 census when he was living with his sister. I couldn't make out what the word before Labourer was - so thank you for Slater's Labourer. Not sure what that was but will check it out. He seemed to have been a general haulier prior to this time and I was wondering if he had changed his job due to the accident, and then after his marriage in 1902 went back to being a haulier - but just coal.
I will take out that subscription and have a good hunt around.
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http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-record-office/
It would be well worth contacting the above as they will be able to tell you which newspapers were in circulation at that time and may (for a fee) do a microfilm search of local papers (unless a local person would volunteer?) They would hopefully also be able to search or recommend other sources of information regarding dock workers and local people who have collections/interest in the area. Good luck!
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Slater's labourer?
Two possibilities I suspect:
1. Working at a stone works helping in the manufacture of stone slates using the beautiful stone in the area that was used for both walls and roofs, generally moving uncut stone blocks around, sorting and stacking the stone slates by size ready for sale to roofers. Heavy labouring work.
2. The more likely job was working with a roofer installing the stone slate roofs. He'd probably either help unload stone slates from a supplier or help the roofer/slater split stone blocks to make their own slates, 'drill' the oak peg or wrought iron nail holes in the stone slates and carry them up to roof level together with the timber battens, making the lime mortar for the pointing and carrying that up to roof level and possibly the lead sheeting for the flashings. A hard labour job that's for sure involving lots of ladder work.
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Many thanks Polly-1 and artifis for the Link and the information re Slater.
I really appreciate everyone's contribution.
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Do you know which docks this accident happened at? If Avonmouth I can check the records still held there.
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Hi - No I don't know which docks but I assume it was Bristol Docks. I do not think it would have been Avonmouth but many thanks indeed for the offer.