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Messages - Meryll

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1
WW1 In Memoriam / Re: 20th April Thomas James Wills aged 29, RFC/RAF 49 Squadron
« on: Sunday 23 July 17 19:42 BST (UK)  »
Update July 2017: I found another online mention of Thomas James Willis on a timeline with information from Tyne and Wear Archives.  There was also a photograph of a marker in a German burial plot with the caption "Ein tapferer engl. Flieger, gest. 20.4.18" (A brave English flyer, died 20th April 1918).  The photograph was taken in 1919.

Apparently the ground where the Tyne Cot war cemetery is located was in German hands from early April 1918 and when Tom Wills was shot down on 20th April, he was over what was then enemy territory.  This and the fact that the pilot was taken prisoner would explain why the RAF records show him as presumed dead on that date.  He was buried and honoured by the German airmen, but probably his widow never knew.  Had it not been for the various projects connected with the 100th anniversary of the Great War, this link might never have come to light.

2
WW1 In Memoriam / 20th April Thomas James Wills aged 29, RFC/RAF 49 Squadron
« on: Thursday 19 January 17 22:37 GMT (UK)  »
My maternal grandmother Florence Wills was born in Homerton, East London and was the youngest of four children of Samuel Wills and Emma Menella Wills née Harris.  Flo's brother Tom Wills was an Observer in the newly-formed RAF, and before the youngest service was three weeks old he had been killed in action near Diksmuide, shot down by Leutnant zur See Heinrich Wessels, who apparently had the distinction of being the oldest pilot in the German Air Force. 

The story that I heard from my aunt was that Tom's head was blown off, although evidently he was eventually identified, since he has a grave at Tyne Cot Cemetery, whereas so many are commemorated only as a name on one of the many panels.  Tom left a wife and three small daughters, and although his elder brother Fred did return from the War after serving in the Army, he was severely shell-shocked, never worked again and was always rendered acutely nervous by fireworks or loud noises. 

Thanks to the efforts of others I now have many details about a great-uncle whom I never knew, including a photograph of his gravestone and the number of his aircraft.  His nephew (also Tom) born in 1921 served in the RAF in World War II, but survived.  Like so many of us, when those who remembered the actual events were still there to pass on their memories, I never thought to ask the questions that now seem to me so obvious and essential.

So many years on from the harrowing events of the so-called "War to end all wars" and with the facility to access information at the click of a mouse, I'm also grateful for being able to find about some of those who at that time were the enemy.

"No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe....any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde" — John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

 

3
Anglesey / Re: Wm Pritchard & Royal Charter 1859
« on: Tuesday 12 February 13 09:15 GMT (UK)  »
Hello Tulassi,

I'm afraid we don't have the same Richard Pritchard here, although they were only a couple of streets apart.  In 1901 my Nain was living with her mother and siblings at 5 Hugh Street, Hirael and one of her brothers was Richard Pritchard.  However on the 1911 Census they were in Ambrose Street: all the children had been born in Hirael and their paternal grandfather was the William Pritchard who I now know was one of the Moelfre Twenty-Eight.  My great-uncle Richard was later married, but not to Jane Ann.

The 1911 Census shows your Richard and Jane as married for 6 years: Free BMD gives a marriage in the last quarter of 1901 in the Carnarvon district where two of the spouses were Richard Pritchard and Jane Ann Thomas, which looks likely.  The Carnarvon district included Llanrug which 1911 Census shows as Jane Ann's birthplace, and there are two birth entries for Caernarvonshire in the name Jane Ann(e) Thomas, one in 1882 and another in 1884.

I hope you'll find a lead to take you back a stage further, although Bangor was well-endowed with Pritchards.  However someone else may have a connection that coiuld help you — best of luck with your search.

Meryll

4
Anglesey / Re: Wm Pritchard & Royal Charter 1859
« on: Sunday 05 June 11 17:50 BST (UK)  »
Hello MenaiStrait -- good to hear from you!

Yes, the photo of the lady alone is Hannah/Lala's mother, Catherine Ellen Pritchard, and the previous one shows Lala's eldest sister with husband and son.  I'll send you some more information in a PM.

Best wishes

Meryll

5
Armed Forces / Re: Naval Record showing sentence in Lewes gaol, not Naval custody
« on: Tuesday 25 January 11 20:38 GMT (UK)  »
Many thanks for your help and suggestions -- I'm planning to visit the National Archives to see what may be found in the Naval records there.  However I've also discovered that Lewes had a prison which was built in 1793 and later sold to the Navy: apparently it was not a pleasant place to be, and in 1892 there was some kind of enquiry into the size of the cells.  It was sold on to the Home Office in 1922.  It looks as if I need to visit the Sussex Records Office too.

I'll try to isolate the portion of the image that shows the note about RGH's  sentence: I've enlarged the page  to almost A3 size and the writing is still pretty small, but the original may have been a hefty ledger.  If not then the writer(s)  must have had a very fine pen and good eyesight!

Delving deeper into Great-Great-Uncle Ralph's history ashore, it seems he was probably a bit of a rogue where the opposite sex was concerned, although that may not be connected with whatever landed him behind bars. 

Thanks again for your contributions.

Meryll

6
Armed Forces / Naval Record showing sentence in Lewes gaol, not Naval custody
« on: Monday 24 January 11 23:05 GMT (UK)  »
The naval record for my g-g-uncle Ralph George Harris shows the following in "Remarks" which has puzzled and intrigued me.

sentenced to 1 yrs impt per (illegible)....D from "Dio....." 18/622  2 May 76 Lewes gaol 1 year impt

His service aboard "Argus" ended 15 Oct 1875 and the next record is for "Duke of Wellington" beginning  Nov 1876 so it looks as if he was out of action for about a year, as all the other entries show more or less continuous service.

I'm guessing that D from "Dio....." may mean "Discharged from" or "Deserted from" then the name of the ship (it's definitely in quotes) but I can't find a ship's name that fits what the letters appear to say -- could be "Diofroces", "Diofrocet" or something similar.

If it was an offence against Naval regulations, why Lewes gaol and not the hulks or whatever was the Navy's equivalent of the glasshouse?  And if Ralph George was dealt with by the civilian authorities, why note it in his service record?

Any light that anyone can shed on this would be very welcome.  I think I may need to go to TNA to look for ships' logs.  Ralph George was also on the "Victory" some years later, and requested leave to go home to England and arrange a separation from his wife, but that's going to be another little mystery to investigate....

Meryll


7
Caernarvonshire / Williams the Teeth and Williams the Wood
« on: Tuesday 01 December 09 17:42 GMT (UK)  »
I've encountered something of a brick wall and wondered whether anyone out there might be able to remove a little of the mortar so that I can perhaps dislodge the odd header or stretcher.

My grandmother kept house for a Mr Williams of 1 Marian Terrace, Garth, Bangor from (I think) around 1916 until he died some time in the 1930s.  He worked for the Penrhyn estate and was also a cabinet maker (possibly amateur but pretty good -- we have two splendid pieces carved in Welsh oak which he crafted).  I believe it's "our" William George Williams who is shown on the 1911 Census as Clerk of Works, Penrhyn living at Marian Terrace with his wife Ellen Mary, but haven't any other evidence to back this up.

Mr Williams' younger brother George was a dental surgeon and employed my grandfather after WW1: I understand they met in the Medical Corps and he offered Taid a job after he was demobbed.  My grandparents met through the brothers and later lived in the Marian Terrace house.

I believe the Williams brothers may have come from Llanllechid but at present I'm dependent on internet sources for my research as I'm 170 miles from the ancestral home in Bangor!   Any hints on places to hunt or scraps of local knowledge would be greatly appreciated as I won't be able to come to the Records Office for some months.

Many thanks

Meryll

8
Anglesey / Re: Where is Llanallgo?
« on: Tuesday 10 November 09 08:54 GMT (UK)  »
Hello Ninian

I'm currently grappling with the mysteries of addresses and places of origin as given on the Censuses.  I spent some time wandering round Moelfre looking at house names in the hope that some had stayed the same and taking photographs so I didn't have to rely on memory.  Nothing as simple as 22 High Street in 1851, unfortunately.  Moelfre is definitely regarded as a separate village now, but on the Victorian Censuses it seems to be used as an address for several households within the parish of Llanallgo. 

I also suspect (although I'm happy to be corrected if someone has more information about this) that the problem of parish boundaries and places of birth is compounded because the summaries which are all that we see for Censuses 1841-1901 have been "tidied up" to read as per the enumerators' instructions.  For example, people's job titles sometimes get annotated or adjusted (eg "shepherd" to "Ag Lab") and this editing may be why my great-grandfather in London is shown some years as born in Lambeth and other years as born in Newington, yet I know it's the same man.  So maybe the information given by the residents was "interpreted" on the summaries, or where a household had nobody who could do their own form-filling the scribe may have adapted what he/she was told. 

As for the difficulty of knowing which Jones is which (I have Joneses in London!) it's a shame the Census doesn't also show the names that were used at the time: there's a gentleman in my tree who was known as "Joe Pork" from his trade as a butcher, and his neighbours would have recognised him by that appellation.

Best of luck with the hunt through the parishes.

Meryll

9
Anglesey / Re: Where is Llanallgo?
« on: Saturday 07 November 09 15:43 GMT (UK)  »
Hello!  I looked up your posts about Llanallgo as that's also where my ancestors came from.

I was recently at the Records Office in Llangefni and was using a book which had an outline map of the parishes of Anglesey.  Each one has a standard number and these are also the ones used on GENUKI http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/AGY/parishes.html .  I asked whether it was possible to have a copy of the map, but the book was supplied by the Gwynedd Family History Society on the condition that it was not to be photocopied: however, there was no objection to my making a sketch-map.  This is a bit rough and wobbly but it shows that Llanallgo (13) is enclosed by Penrhosllugwy (70) and Llaneugrad (29) with Llandyfrydog over to the west of Penrhosllugwy.  Since returning home to internet access I've found that GFHS has made a map available on its website at http://www.gwyneddfhs.org/

There are some useful Calvinistic baptism records available through GENUKI at the link above, and you might also find FreeREG helpful http://www.freereg.org.uk/search/index.htm as you search by county and parish.

I didn't get as long at the Records Office as I would have liked (2 afternoons -- could have stayed all week!) but I can't praise the staff enough for their helpfulness and interest, answering personal and telephone enquiries in two languages and providing information of all kinds from maps to microfiche. 

While I was in Anglesey I also bought a map, not just to get about the island but to see the location of place-names that come up in research.  It's OS Landranger 114, scale 1:50,000 so it should be available from OS direct or good bookshops.

It's a great place to spend a holiday -- oh, and I'm told you can also visit museums, theatres, beaches, go walking, climbing, shopping, riding, sailing, dine out etc if you're interested in all that kind of thing....

Hope you find what you're looking for!

Meryll



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