John William PACKHAM b.1861

[np-sheffield]

Hello!  I'm looking for the death of my g.Grandfather John William Packham.  We have reason to believe that he was in West Yorkshire possibly around Halifax in the early-mid 1930's.

John William was born in 1861 in Ash, Aldershot, and had a military life attaining the rank of Colour Sergeant in the South Wales Borderers. He was stationed at Hillsborough Barracks in Sheffield from 1889 until 1897 when he took over the Queens Ground Hotel and later the Beehive at Harthill. He and his wife Annie had 12 surviving children. He left the family in the early 1920's as soon as they were grown up, it is believed to live with a mistress.  We have a note of his occupation in 1930 as a 'wire mill warehouseman' on Annies death certificate, but no clue as to where he was exactly or when he died.

Would anyone be able to shed some light on this for me?

[Ecneps]

Hello np

I'm afraid you're going to have to search right through the GRO death index for him from 1937 edit 1930 onwards on a pay-site such as either ancestry or findmypast -   free probably at your local library.  Freebmd isn't indexed yet for the later years

Yorkshire bmd doesn't have such late coverage for deaths in Sheffield, but he could have been anywhere.

Barbara

[np-sheffield]

Hi Barbara!

Thats me trying to do it the easy way. Get someone else to look it up!  Actually, I think I've found it. John William Packham Q3-1933 in Stockport. If this really is him, we'll have to try and work out what he was doing there!

Neil

[Ecneps]

Hi Neil,

No-one minds looking a couple of years either side of a given year, but 1930 onwards was a bit too big a look-up!

If you think that may be him in 1933, you can always check for any known details (eg wife's name or occupation etc) with the local registrar, or with the GRO, before ordering the certificate.  The local office doesn't usually charge for this, but the GRO will charge £3, included in the £7 cert charge if it's the right one.

Kind regards
Barbara
 

[np-sheffield]

Hi Barbara,

I was just joking!  I was really hoping that my message might be picked up by someone who knows about the final part of his life. As it would appear it might have been in Stockport and not Halifax as we thought i'll have to try again on the appropriate board.

Yes, I've already ordered the certificate.  We know he was alive at the time of his wifes death in Dec 1930, and was unlikely to be alive 10 years later, (he would have been 80) so I'm hopeful this is the one.

thanks again

Neil

[Dalum]

Walkley Cemetery is the burial ground for St Mary's CofE Parish, Walkley in Sheffield. The church is up the hill from Hillsborough and the Barracks though the cemetery is 'round the corner' in the Rivelin Valley and some distance from the church.

Burials in Walkley Cemetery (Sheffield)
Grave: B512 [plan B9, gravestone? unrecorded]

PACKHAM Winifred 5 Jul 1898 387 Langsett Rd 21m Thomas Smith
PACKHAM George Edward 12 Aug 1901 401 Langsett Rd. 8 m. Sydney T.G. Smith
MOTHERSOLE Nellie Sarah 16 Oct 1907 401 Langsett Rd. 3 m. C.M.B. Skene
WIDDOWSON Irene 27 Jul 1916 441 Langsett Rd. 10 d. Sydney T.G. Smith
PACKHAM Annie 20 Dec 1930 441 Langsett Rd Hillborough 65 WH Barkwell
PACKHAM John William 13 Sep 1933 130 Wellington Rd. North, Stockport 72 Guy T.S. Cook
[name/date of burial/address or place where death occurred/age/minister (all Anglicans)]   

My plans show a gravestone on this grave but I have not noted a name which suggests that it is covered in ivy or has fallen over. It is also under trees.

401 Langsett Road is the address of the Queen's Ground Pub.

In White's 1919/20 Directory John Wm PACKHAM is listed at 441 Langsett Rd as 'househldr'

Hugh Waterhouse
(Chairman, Friends of Walkley Cemetery)

[np-sheffield]

Hello Hugh!

You've played an absolute blinder.  We had no idea where the family was buried, but it looks like they were mostly there.  Nice that Annie and John W ended up buried together. 

Am I right in thinking that this is the one opposite what I'd know as the paddling pools in Rivelin Valley Park?

Kind regards

Neil

[Dalum]

The cemetery opposite the paddling pools, with an entrance on Rivelin Valley Road, is St Michael's Roman Catholic Cemetery. The Anglican cemetery is above the Catholic one, with an entrance on Nichols Rd, which is a short unadopted road off Waller Road. In the angle between them there is also a small Jewish cemetery, with an entrance on Waller Road.

Hugh

[np-sheffield]

Hello Hugh,

Would you be able to direct me to the grave site?

Neil