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Hi Anne,

Thanks very much for looking, I feel a trip to the records office in Ipswich may be on the cards to trace where Samuel came from!  I know from a previous lookup that his children were all baptised at Pettaugh, so perhaps a search through records for Gosbeck and Earl Stonham will turn something up.

Many thanks again, I'm very grateful for your time.

-Catherine

My Sharmans seem to mostly be from Pettaugh, with just the one generation being buried at Earl Stonham so I'm not sure that I'll be any help!  But very interesting that John Sharman travelled so much with no army records to be found.  How far have you looked into military records?  Would the navy be another option? Perhaps he was a trader of some sort...

Despite no direct link, there's probably a good chance that my Sharmans are probably related to John in some way given the proximity. 

Hi all.  I'm researching the SHARMAN (sometimes appearing as SHERMAN) and LOCKWOOD names in the central Suffolk villages of Gosbeck, Pettaugh, Helmingham and Crowfield.  It would be good to hear from anyone with a connection! 

On a recent trip to Suffolk, I read about 8 men being jailed for 1 month in 1815 for smashing two threshing machines at Gosbeck, thus beginning a series of similar incidents over the following years, as the argicultural workers feared for their jobs with the onset of mechanisation.  I'd love to be able to track down the names of the men arrested (if for no other reason to tease my partner for being descended from anarchists!), does anyone know where I would begin on this? 

Also, another random question, whilst in Helmingham recently we observed a war memorial for a distant relation who had died during WW1.  His name had been highlighted, along with several others, and the highlighting was explained at the bottom of the inscription as men who had made the "supreme sacrifice".  Can anyone shed any light on what this sacrifice may have been?  My own guess is that it meant he died to save others, but if there is a more concrete definition I'd love to know.

Many thanks.

Rick, thank you so much for this information, it means we can go another generation back now and my partner (who I'm researching this for) will be delighted!  I may well post again soon