tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11697096699678995442024-02-19T04:33:41.228+00:00Family History at Steyning MuseumSteyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-55658390099222861902021-03-03T16:41:00.007+00:002021-03-03T17:05:30.323+00:00A Haven for Huguenots<p>Although Steyning Museum itself has been closed during the Coronavirus lockdown, our family research team have been working at home, answering the increased volume of email and phone enquiries. One such query was from a family who knew the names and dates of some of their forebears, but wanted us to help them fill in the gaps. Most of all, they were puzzled by the surname of these ancestors – <b>MICHAUX</b>. Where did it come from? Does it have a meaning?</p>
<p>After some preliminary research in our archives, we discovered that Walter Michaux arrived in Steyning around 1760, but at first we could not find any clues to where he was born or where he had lived before Steyning. Indeed, we could find no record of him anywhere in England. Perhaps he had arrived from across the sea.</p>
<p>The name Michaux suggests French origins, so we asked ourselves what was going on in France at this time? Could our Walter Michaux have something to do with the persecuted French Protestants - the Huguenots? In 1685, a change in the law had generated deep religious intolerance and hatred for the protestant Huguenots, many of whom were forced to live in pallisaded villages (the precursor of ghettos), deprived of their work, frequently starved and tortured to try to force them to become Roman Catholics. Over the next century, many of those who tried to escape were hunted down and killed, but a few brave souls did manage to find secret ways to flee, often splitting up families in the process. </p>
<p>Two of these escapees were Abraham Michaux and his fiancée Suzanne, who lived in Sedan, close to the Belgian border. When she was younger, Suzanne and two other members of her family had attempted to flee by hiding in a goods wagon. But soldiers stopped them and her sister’s baby cried, giving them away. They were sent back to the cruelties being heaped on their village. Now Suzanne and her fiancée concocted a new plan. </p>
<p>In 1692, Abraham Michaux hired a ‘guide’ to help them plan their escape. The guide insisted they had to leave separately, so he arranged for Suzanne to travel in a barrel in the cold and rat-infested hold of a ship, bound for protestant Holland, whilst the guide would lead Abraham on foot at night, hiking through the rough terrain of the forests and hills across northern France and Belgium to the Dutch border. Both journeys were perilous. Suzanne’s account of her escape is hair-raising, describing her two days and nights in a dark, musty barrel, with only the spigot open to let in a little air, no food or comforts and the increasing stench. At one point the barrel was turned over and butted repeatedly by the rifles of soldiers searching for escaping Huguenots. She stifled her screams and remained undiscovered. Meanwhile, Abraham hid in various hollows and crevices on his hazardous route, finally reaching safety in Holland where they were reunited. </p>
<p>In 1692 Abraham and Suzanne were married in a protestant church and settled in Amsterdam. They had several children and grandchildren, some of whom stayed on in Holland, whilst others moved on to England or America.</p>
<p>Walter Michaux was one of Abraham and Suzanne’s grandchildren. As a young man, he took ship with a contingent of Dutch-born Huguenots from Holland to the south coast of England, from there Walter and some of his friends found their way to Steyning. Despite many English people’s historic fear of foreigners, Walter Michaux and the others in his group seem to have been warmly welcomed into our community and given work. In 1761, Walter met and married a young Steyning girl, Diana Hull, and they had a family of at least eight children. Walter must have worked hard and done well for himself, as the land tax records show he rented a good house in Steyning for his family and also ‘The Mill’ where he set up his own business.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Abraham and Suzanne emigrated to Virginia in America, where Abraham was killed by a native Indian’s arrow and the small town of Michaux remains to commemorate him.</p>
<p>Jacquie Buttriss, Family Historian</p><div><br /></div>Steyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-28952011402912451812018-04-25T17:53:00.000+01:002018-04-25T17:55:22.454+01:00Dr Taylor of Steyning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
An enquiry from Australia concerned an elderly man’s mother. It seems he knew little about her background, but he did remember her telling him that she went to boarding school from a very young age. Instead of sleeping in the school, she stayed in the house of a mysterious Dr Taylor, who may have been the Head of the school. The enquirer wondered whether Dr Taylor might possibly have been his mother’s birth father. My immediate thought was that it could be difficult to discover any evidence regarding this conjecture. So I began with the school side of things. Just before she died, this man’s mother asked him to promise that he would take her ashes back to England and place them on the grave of Dr Taylor in Steyning churchyard. This promise he fulfilled many years ago.<br />
<br />
After some considerable research in the Museum’s archives, combined with some local hearsay, later substantiated, I was able to piece together quite a story. The little girl's name was Dorothy. Only two schools in around 1915-25 fitted the description. They were the Tryon School, of which quite a bit is known, and I found just one mention of a school in Jarvis Lane called ‘Mrs. Taylor’s School’. This latter school seems the more likely, in view of the Taylor name, but sadly no records of it remain.<br />
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Next, I delved into various of our archives and began to assemble a picture of the life of this Dr Taylor. Dr Henry Herbert Taylor had been medically trained and was a pathologist in Brighton for most of his working life, giving evidence at the trial of the infamous Dr Crippen, who was hanged in 1910. I found various documents that showed Dr Taylor living at Jarvis House (now simply ‘Jarvis’) in Jarvis Lane, Steyning from the 1890s to 1934. The current owner of Jarvis was very helpful in assisting me to fill in some of the details of Dr Taylor’s life. He was a wealthy man whose first wife had been disabled. He had one of the world’s first domestic mechanical lifts installed for her in Jarvis. After her death he remarried to a much younger wife. He gave generously to various charities and to our own parochial funds on a regular basis. He owned several properties in the area and endowed several local causes.<br />
<br />
It seems Dr Taylor also had a particular charitable cause of his own. He endowed a number of local houses and a couple of railway carriages at Steyning Station. One of these houses was Jarvis Lodge, opposite Jarvis, which he specifically established for the housing of ‘impoverished widows’ - in other words, unmarried young girls who had ‘got into trouble’. Local hearsay appears to confirm this, as do a variety of Australian records. It seems very likely that Dorothy’s mother was one of these girls, many of whom were given free passage to Australia with their illegitimate offspring, presumably organised by Dr Taylor.<br />
<br />
As to Dorothy’s paternity, it is possible that Dr Taylor could have been her father but, in view of his advanced years by this time, it is more likely that her father was the un-named reason why Dorothy’s unmarried mother had come to Dr Taylor’s in the first place. We shall never know with any certainty.<br />
<br />
When I related all this information to Dorothy’s Australian son, he was delighted to find that his initial enquiry had inspired such an interesting story of social history. Thank goodness we have moved on since those difficult days just 100 years ago! His partner produced the wonderful painting above showing the churchyard where his mother's ashes were placed. We are fortunate to be able to reproduce it.<br />
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<br />Steyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-90021177409030973502012-04-30T17:14:00.000+01:002012-05-01T16:07:17.801+01:00The mystery of “The Lady Brooke”<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
An intriguing enquiry this week came
from someone whose forebear, Alfred Priest, committed suicide in
1905. His descendant tracked him through the censuses, to find him
married to Annie and living with their children up to the 1891
census. In 1901, however, Annie Priest is alone with their children
and still listed as ‘married’, while Alfred is living with
another woman whom he lists as his ‘wife’!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The 1905 death certificate issued by
Steyning Registry Office records that Alfred Priest committed suicide
at “The Lady Brooke at Beeding”. I realised straight away that
this must be Upper Beeding, as Lower Beeding lies well outside the
Steyning Registration district.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our enquirer asked whether “The Lady
Brooke” might be an institution. In trying to find any clues
online, I discovered that that there were a number of individuals
known as ‘The Lady Brooke’, who had lived in other parts of the
country at different times, but the wording on the death certificate
doesn’t seem to suggest a person. So I looked further, Googling
several varieties of wording, with no luck.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Next, I asked our knowledgeable curator
at Steyning Museum, whether he knew of an Upper Beeding institution
or house in around 1905, called ‘The Lady Brooke’. He didn’t,
which strongly suggests that no such institution existed. However,
he looked pensive.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“Do you have any other ideas?” I
asked.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“I think the locals used to call the
streams around Upper Beeding ‘the brooks’. Maybe it’s
something to do with that.’
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This was a revelation to me, being a
Steyning resident of only nine years. So I called Pat Nightingale,
Upper Beeding historian, and asked her. She immediately knew the
answer.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“Yes, there’s an area of streams or
brooks, north of Upper Beeding, that are sometimes still referred to
as the Brooks. Some have names. One of them used to be a bend in
the river, cut off now. It encloses a small field and together they
were known as the ‘Lady Brook’.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Well that was it, of course. Not an
institution, nor even a person, but a place, away from any
habitation, rural and alone, where a man from outside this immediate
area went to choose a place to end his life. At first I assumed he
drowned himself, but on further enquiry I discovered that “Alfred
slit his throat with a razor during a period of temporary insanity.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Was he a bigamist perhaps? At the very
least he seems to have deliberately deceived the census enumerator
who recorded the details Alfred told him. Presumably he also
deceived his wife, who clearly believed herself still to be married
to him. If Alfred could live one lie, what else might he have
hidden? What really caused him to commit suicide in that violent way
and in that lonely place?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Alfred’s descendant is now going to
try and find a record of his inquest. Perhaps that will shed more
light on why he did it ... or maybe we’ll never really know.</div>Steyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-88195633114527596192012-04-28T02:43:00.000+01:002012-04-28T02:45:40.890+01:00Aunt Lizzie’s Story, Nov 14th 1889<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
The following character studies of the Penfold and Marshall families, connected by marriage, are told by “Aunt Lizzie” Marshall, nee Penfold and written by her second cousin Louise Gorringe. (NB Annington is about a mile from Steyning.)<br />
<br />
We have a copy of these notes at Steyning Museum, with the right-hand edge of some pages missing, so I have had to leave xxx gaps where the words cannot be surmised. Perhaps you can work out what they are?<br />
<br />
The extracts below are as originally written.<br />
<br />
<i><b>“The first thing I recollect is Rooke my (Penfold) Grandfather’s man, coming to Annington for my Mother Sister Ann and Myself in a two-wheeled carriage. My Grandfather would be about 67 at that time, a tall fine active man, ruddy face and grey hair, very thick not bald in the least. He always wore Corduroy Breeches High top Boots Blue coat & brass buttons with a very large white handkerchief round and round his throat fastened with a pin & frilled shirt. He was not at all blind then, that came on later. He was always riding. I don’t recollect that I ever saw him walking. He always wore a long drab Great Coat nearly down to the ground and a large Cape for Colder weather. On Sundays he wore Velvet or Velveteen black. My Grandmother at that time was a tall very pale woman, grey with very fine features and wore all day a large black bonnet, on Sundays black satin, always a black Dress. The Black Satin xxx too large to go into a box lined with white satin xxx be placed on a stand in the spare room. She was xxx austere woman with a very solemn manner th(at) always inspired us with awe, at the same time she was xxx She had very bad health and suffered very much w(ith) Indigestion when she went out, She was very fond of (the garden. She wore a long black silk Cloak with a xxx great feather .... </b></i><br />
<br />
<i><b>My Grandfather Penfold who lived at the Old H(ouse) at Annington used also to ride up to London a(nd if) he had any money to invest, he had a coat m(ade) with concealed pockets in which he placed xxx Banknotes as it was considered a hazardous xxx to ride about with so much money but I nev(er) xxx that he was molested. ... </b></i><br />
<br />
<i><b>My Great Grandmother Penfold was a Hartley. My Grandmother’s maiden name was Williams she married my Grandfather John Penfold brother of my Grandmother Gorringe. This John Penfold was the younger Son of Hugh Penfold of Wickam near Steyning, the older Brother Hugh being the ancestor of the Wyatt’s formerly Penfolds of Cissbury and Penfolds of Rustington. My Grandmother Gorringe nee Penfold was a daughter of Hugh Penfold of Wickam, she had two sisters one Ann married Hugh Ingram of Steyning the other Elizabeth married Hugh Fuller of Storrington or Sullington. ...</b></i><br />
<br />
<i><b>The pres(ent) Penfold-Wyatt of Cissbury nee Penfold grandson xxx Penfold of Wickam took the name of Wyatt on xxx into any estate bequeathed him by his Uncle Rxxx Wyatt at Applesham buried in Coomber Churc(h) Applesham was sold by him to Lord Egremon(t) Edward Greenfield Penfold another son of Hugh of Wickam bought Rustington about 1820 He w(as a) Captain in the Militia ...he was a very good dancer and so was his wife Sarah Marshall daughter & co heiress of Charles Marshall of Steyning solicitor & agent to the Duke of Norfolk. He was a connection of the Marshalls of Bolney but a distant one he came from Kent and began life with only sixpence in his pocket but a more courteous old Gentleman never lived.</b></i><br />
<br />
<i><b>His very appearance was remarkable as I recollect him always in black with black silk stockings buckled shoes large cravet and frilled shirt. Mrs Marshall always wore a Turban & false hair little curls round her face white in the daytime and coloured for dress. Mrs Marshall was known for her gay dressing she was a very handsome woman noted for her kindness hospitality & many charities. Mrs Marshall was a Miss Williams daughter of the Vicar of Shermanbury and sister of Mrs John Penfold of Annington.”</b></i><br />
<br />
These extracts are from a collection of memoirs and reminiscences held at the West Sussex Record Office in Chichester (ref: MP 2025) and are reproduced here by their kind permission.Steyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-89144644468352429172012-03-12T23:02:00.002+00:002012-03-12T23:18:46.682+00:00Isted Family Mystery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia7Lhoq-p1nvhvXtcTGMaeBpgByMm9mrHo70Q_MoynjUpZxF_Fx2Py9wBK-7i9n3XK27X0_QyCTcEJHznxS96dLPa42aEfEyO8Vg1O4524zg5_M7crivngh90aGxc0RzoyaGRO0fJRrWV1/s1600/pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia7Lhoq-p1nvhvXtcTGMaeBpgByMm9mrHo70Q_MoynjUpZxF_Fx2Py9wBK-7i9n3XK27X0_QyCTcEJHznxS96dLPa42aEfEyO8Vg1O4524zg5_M7crivngh90aGxc0RzoyaGRO0fJRrWV1/s640/pic.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font: 12.0px Calibri; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 28.4px;"><br />
</div>A recent query concerned the Isted family. The parents of Alfred Isted, born 1863, were Mary Ann Isted and John Henry Rengaw on his birth certificate. Then our correspondent discovered that there was another birth certificate for the same Alfred Isted, with the same birth date and the same mother and father, but this time his name was Alfred Rengaw. Both certificates have the same reference number. Not surprisingly, this intrigued his great-granddaughter who is doing the research. <br />
<br />
She did some more digging and found Mary Ann in the 1861 census, working as a nurse, aged 15, in a house in Battle. The head of the household was a magistrate, born 1821, named John Henry Wagner. That name 'rung a bell', so she fished out Alfred's indentures dated 1877 when he was aged 14, and there was that name again - Wagner. One of the three signatures on the indentures is "Mrs Anne Wagner, widow, resident at St Leonards on Sea and is the responsible person to be named in Isted's indentures." This suggests that it was Mrs Anne Wagner who paid for the four years of Alfred's apprenticeship. <br />
<br />
Further research showed that Mrs Anne Wagner (nee Penfold) was the mother of John Henry Wagner. As she was pursuing further interesting information, our correspondent continued mulling all this over. Finally, she looked again at Alfred's birth certificate and the penny dropped as she realised that young Mary Ann was the informant and must have wanted to leave a clue - Rengaw is Wagner backwards!<br />
<br />
There is more to tell on the Penfold research, but that can be the subject of our next blog!<br />
<br />
Jacquie ButtrissSteyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-30818187729881120462011-01-17T22:29:00.009+00:002011-01-21T18:40:15.006+00:00The English Vandyke Families<i>Were any of the English Vandyke families related to Sir Anthony Vandyke, the Dutch artist at the court of Charles I? (Vandyke's Self Portrait with a Sunflower is shown below.)</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdEqqJWv14SZzI23rNgzsRaLExi6cbxKawNbm5AtdI9N7afw3dW0OpDFpahBbSjleDFf61TjqjD0nmAVT3Rk69ReAFU2ED1U5uWkrJKSNGQiI-UdPkuYuYK6lJ5e7eI2Gy0hDcotGyUZoX/s1600/Hollar_k_1283_0001-1-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdEqqJWv14SZzI23rNgzsRaLExi6cbxKawNbm5AtdI9N7afw3dW0OpDFpahBbSjleDFf61TjqjD0nmAVT3Rk69ReAFU2ED1U5uWkrJKSNGQiI-UdPkuYuYK6lJ5e7eI2Gy0hDcotGyUZoX/s320/Hollar_k_1283_0001-1-0.jpg" width="272" /></a>We have recently been contacted to do some research on the Vandyke family of Steyning by an Australian visitor to our website. He provided the information he already had and posed some questions about the members of this family. The most intriguing of these was whether there could be any truth in the old family story that they are descended from Sir Anthony Vandyke (or van Dyck), the artist.<br />
<br />
We found from our archives that they came from Lewes to live in Steyning, where they and their children and grandchildren stayed from 1730 to 1810. We plotted their family tree. We even found out the exact spot where they lived, sadly now covered over with a late eighteenth century building. We passed on all the information that we had found. Unfortunately, we could not go far enough back, in the Steyning records, to provide any clues to whether these Vandykes were descendants of the artist. Indeed, it seems to have been quite a common name in London and the south-east, even when Sir Anthony was alive, since many Dutch immigrants had settled here by then.<br />
<br />
It seems that Sir Anthony, who spent much of his adult life in England, had left a mistress in the Netherlands and took a wife in England. Each of them had just one daughter, as far as we know. It would seem unlikely, therefore, that Sir Anthony had any direct descendants with the Vandyke name. <br />
<br />
<i>BUT</i>, there is a memorial plaque on the north wall of the tower at St Mary’s church, Horsham which records the death of a Mary Slade, formerly Vandyke: “a descendant of Sir Anthony Vandyke”. That certainly seems to suggest that there might be truth in the family folklore, if this Mary was related to the Steyning Vandykes. That got us thinking. We realised then that the use of the word “descendant” might have changed over the years, as so many words have done. We wonder whether perhaps, in those days, the word “descendant” simply meant that they were related. If that was the case, then there could be some truth in it.<br />
<br />
What do you think? Can you help us? Do you have any Vandyke forebears or friends who might hold the key? <br />
<i><br />
Jacquie Buttriss</i>Steyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-47388426236751388692010-09-27T18:42:00.007+01:002011-01-18T00:49:23.300+00:00"A very creepy Gothic-style mansion"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiShChWQa5V06r5t1LdRTaw8W4gjk32sVnyp6xv1-chVfKE9F1xZpNRsZ8_AOubId7WseX-3K8fkIkGW2Eon4qmPkAtQuCHrGEQDKsLAyU1eQc2slVGsXR2ohrOXKjB_jwU3wwt6paNKrbN/s1600/cartrouble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiShChWQa5V06r5t1LdRTaw8W4gjk32sVnyp6xv1-chVfKE9F1xZpNRsZ8_AOubId7WseX-3K8fkIkGW2Eon4qmPkAtQuCHrGEQDKsLAyU1eQc2slVGsXR2ohrOXKjB_jwU3wwt6paNKrbN/s320/cartrouble.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>This is the intriguing description of a house in Steyning during the 1960s, taken from a recently published book ‘Car Trouble’ by Wensley Clarkson. A correspondent who has read this ‘highly entertaining’ account of Wensley’s childhood memories, has written to us wondering where this house might be. The book describes the owner of the house as ‘Captain Conrad’, also known as Conrad Phillips, who apparently fought in the Spanish Civil War and later settled in Steyning, in this spooky house, where “he had a horrible fold-out wooden bed in the hall ... he was completely potty”.<br />
<br />
We have done a search to find out who this man might be. So far, we have come up with an ‘obscure’ crime fiction writer who published a number of novels in the 1940s and 50s and was also an eccentric freelance journalist.<br />
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It seems unlikely, but possible, that he was the actor Conrad Phillips who played William Tell; he would have been too young to fight in the Spanish Civil War himself, but his older brother did fight in the Spanish Civil War, so this may have been the link.<br />
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I did find a death registered for Conrad Arnaud Phillips in Worthing (our current registration district) in 1975. This Conrad Phillips was born in October 1898. If this is our man, he lived a long life and remained in this area until his death.<br />
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Do you know who the eccentric Steyning resident, Conrad Phillips, was?<br />
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As to the house itself, we have no idea which house it could be, or whether it is still standing but would love to know. Can you help us with either of these mysteries?<br />
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Jacquie ButtrissSteyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-39827111693831061722010-09-18T17:09:00.003+01:002011-01-18T00:55:19.302+00:00Transported for life!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPZ8SMImpThrmw8VkQ1P_ZV5M9hG4KuveXNm6UvkwP9PqtbKde0hzF61QjNTIQ79di0sD69uwb0HFk8JkSfNuOEKbKc3ILSn8A90HMQuj2m4MXuZ4OLTNfi7X4spcVNQLge3kcqfpAEmUX/s1600/forge.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPZ8SMImpThrmw8VkQ1P_ZV5M9hG4KuveXNm6UvkwP9PqtbKde0hzF61QjNTIQ79di0sD69uwb0HFk8JkSfNuOEKbKc3ILSn8A90HMQuj2m4MXuZ4OLTNfi7X4spcVNQLge3kcqfpAEmUX/s320/forge.jpeg" width="222" /></a></div>This story has come to my attention this week as part of a query about the Hoad family of Steyning.<br />
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William Hoad, a Steyning blacksmith, in Church Street, was caught poaching on the Downs. There are at least three different stories about what he was poaching for, but all versions of the story agree that William was captured ‘red-handed’ on the Wiston Estate in the early 1800s, holding either a hare, a pheasant or a chicken.<br />
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He was apparently taken immediately to be tried and sentenced in the dining room of Wiston House by the then furious owner of the estate, said to have been the Rev John Goring JP, but more likely perhaps to have been his father, Charles, also a local magistrate.<br />
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It does seem more credible that William would have been reprimanded in the dining room, but subsequently tried and convicted officially at the local assizes – either Lewes or Brighton (Brighthelmston as it often was on the criminal records of that time). <br />
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Either way, William was sentenced to be transported to Australia for life and never seen again by his wife and young children. There is some evidence that he may have married again in Australia, making him a bigamist, with a new family. This was something that often happened in those days, when prisoners released on ‘ticket of leave’ had no way of funding their return to England.<br />
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Back in Steyning, with little idea of what had happened to her husband, where he was and whether she would ever see him again, his wife carried on the smithy, doing the whole job of a blacksmith herself, with the help of ‘a boy’, while singlehandedly bringing up her children. Unsurprisingly, this earned her much admiration locally. As one ‘old-timer’ put it 100 years ago, “the old lady was highly respected.”<br />
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<i><span class="hit">The picture shows the Old Forge</span> in Church Street (a photograph of an oil painting by James E. Webb, dated <span class="hit">1888</span>). The Old Forge has survived and is now a private house.</i><br />
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Jacquie ButtrissSteyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-48427660573278416822010-09-18T11:01:00.004+01:002011-01-18T01:00:46.271+00:00Queen Anne’s “Royale Compassion”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXU4ynVbPVfPRKS9eAXZNDPU_i4uOxcm6U_szL2W-DwCyvMezDTgi8pH1ca4-fw3cQGDVRVNWwQ7jHpjeCv8VclAKkqjItxocYMEj6-DxIYOSQxKpI_rKsTgJ3sUF65bFQD8Q9BkAZoOP/s1600/johnson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXU4ynVbPVfPRKS9eAXZNDPU_i4uOxcm6U_szL2W-DwCyvMezDTgi8pH1ca4-fw3cQGDVRVNWwQ7jHpjeCv8VclAKkqjItxocYMEj6-DxIYOSQxKpI_rKsTgJ3sUF65bFQD8Q9BkAZoOP/s320/johnson.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>A Canadian member of the Johnson family of Steyning has sent us copies of a fascinating pair of documents. The first lists one John Johnson, Master Tanner, on a March 1702 record of Treasury Warrants as petitioning:<br />
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<i>“for relief from the fine of £415 imposed on him last Easter term (by the sole evidence of Christopher Turner) for transporting wool to France”. </i><br />
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The second is a copy of the original letter, handwritten “by her Majesty’s Command” and signed Godolphin. There is what appears at the top of this letter to be the signature of “Anne R”. It is a lengthy letter which records that John Johnson had been convicted of:<br />
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“<i>loading and laying on board several packs of wool for transportation”</i><br />
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It goes on to state:<br />
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<i>“Whereas the said J’no Johnson hath by his humble peticon set forth that he was convicted upon the single evidence of one C’pher Turner, a man of mean creditt and repute</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (as </span><i>appears by a certificate of sev’ll inhabitantes of the said county to us also produced) that he hath a wife and five small children and is in very low circumstances and that the paym’t of the said penalty will be the utter ruine of himself and family and hath therefore prayed that we would be graciously pleased to extend our Our Royale Compassion to him in such manner as we should think fit. We having taken the premisses</i><i> into Our Royale Consideration. Our Will and Pleasure is and Wee do hereby Direct Authorize and Comand that upon the said John Johnson giving reasonable satsfaicon to the Officer who prosecuted him for the said offence thro’ly acknowledge satisfaicon upon the record of the said judgm’t and all such other acts matters and things as you shall think necessary for the effectually discharging the said J’no Johnson his executors ... from the said judgm’t and execucon and of and from all damage or any part thereof and for so doing this shall be your Warr’t Given at Our Court at St James’s 8th July 1702 in the first year of Our Reigne.”</i><br />
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The enormous fine imposed and the manner of Queen Anne’s apparently personal response to his petition for leniency makes this a highly unusual situation and one that we are very glad to record within our archives.<br />
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Jacquie ButtrissSteyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-2520472474881127922010-09-12T00:08:00.002+01:002010-09-12T00:14:35.073+01:00Another Coincidence!Another coincidence this week! This time relating to the family history display about the Worsfold family. On the same morning, just an hour apart, two visitors, one from Worthing and one from Leicestershire, came into the museum and began to talk about their links with the Worsfold family. Both left contact details and, being the museum’s family historian, I later made contact with them. <br />
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The first link was Mrs Nell Worsfold, the wife of Alice and Eliza May’s nephew. Indeed, a long conversation ensued about her memories of them as she and her late husband had lived in Alice’s house with her and her sister for many years and knew most of the family. She thinks she has some photos of Alice, Eliza May and other relations and is going to look them out for me. I will then go over to Worthing and get copies of them for our archives. Better still, she will tell me what they were like and her memories of them, including Alice’s own recount of her husband’s tragic death in WW1. The greatest coincidence of all, regarding this lady, is that she was the seller of the needleworks bought by the museum a few months ago and was thrilled that they had been bought by us and put on display!<br />
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The second visitor, from Leicestershire, is also a Worsfold relation, from her grandmother’s second marriage to Thomas Worsfold, brother of Alice and Eliza May. She was able to add a name to the one of the photos. She has also helped us fill in quite a bit of Thomas’s story.<br />
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There is more to come from both of these sources, so it was a very productive morning at Steyning Museum on that day!<br />
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By the way, my first post about the Worsfolds is <a href="http://steyningfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/09/from-samplers-to-family-history.html">here</a>.<br />
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Jacquie ButtrissSteyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-22983839367190421292010-09-03T22:23:00.002+01:002010-09-04T17:14:26.814+01:00New Index: Church Charities BookA new index is now available at Steyning Museum. It is the Church Charities Book for 1828-1856. This book names all those individuals and heads of families in receipt of charitable ‘annuities’ distributed by the Church throughout this period in the White Horse and Church Mead areas of Steyning.<br />
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It is a fascinating document in terms of the way ‘paupers’ were classified. Indeed, in 1828 they were divided into 6 classes and allotted sums (in shillings and pence) as follows:<br />
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Class 1st – Persons having from 1 to 2 children (36 names) 2/6<br />
Class 2nd – Those having from 2 to 4 children (22 names) 3/-<br />
Class 3rd – From 4 children and upwards (32 names) 4/-<br />
Class 4th – Widows (21 names) 3/6<br />
Class 5th – Old and infirm (11 names) 3/-<br />
Class 6th – The Poor in the Workhouse (10 names) 1/-<br />
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Interestingly, most widows were merely named as “Widow Smith” or “Widow Jones Senior”, their first names rarely being given. To our 21st century sensibilities, this suggests that widows were seen almost to have no identity of their own; only the identity of their husbands. <br />
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Most people were listed simply by the names of heads of families, with no commentary. There are only two exceptions. In one case, a widow’s surname is followed by the single word “dissatisfied”. It is not clear with what she is dissatisfied, but the assumption is that she would have preferred more money than she was given. In the only other case, the name of “Widow Greenfield” is followed by a note in brackets which shines a more kindly light than usual. The note simply explains that she was “considered as a widow, having received no assistance from her husband for many months past.” It seems that some things never change!<br />
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Many people were only considered to be paupers in need of charity in one or two years – perhaps they had fallen temporarily on hard times. Others were clearly dependent on the distribution of ‘annuities’ in most or all of the years recorded. From 132 pauper individuals or families in 1828, numbers fluctuated, but rose steadily over the period so that by the mid 1850s there were 194 poor parishioners/families benefitting from this support.<br />
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Distributions were managed and accounted for by successive Churchwardens, starting with John Kidd and Hugh Penfold in 1828. They were sometimes in cash and on other occasions in the form of basic items. For example, in 1831, there was no money given out, but every pauper family was given “one blanket and a rug to the value of 5/7” (five shillings and seven pence). In 1835, there was a distribution of “useful clothing”. In July 1847 all those in need received designated quantities of flour, from 2 to 4 gallons, with the exception that, “Those marked with an X, being paupers, were allowed by the Committee to receive cash instead of flour.” This amounted to 11 individuals, mostly widows. There were other years when the distribution was of bed-sheets, flour or bread. <br />
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In July 1850, all but the poorest recipients of charity were expected to pay a contribution of between 1/- and 2/6 for the blanket allotted to them that year. This clearly caused some consternation. “Those marked with X objected to receive the blanket by paying the amount allotted them by the Committee.” Even those in receipt of benefits were obviously becoming more vociferous – there were 27 crosses!Steyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-57055365623274476322010-09-02T13:15:00.010+01:002011-12-04T17:03:16.573+00:00Wiston School in the 1890sCan you name any of the children on these Wiston School photos? We know some pupils’ names, but there are several gaps, so perhaps you can help us? If so, please let us know on <a href="mailto:familyhistory@steyningmuseum.org.uk">familyhistory@steyningmuseum.org.uk</a><br />
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See my previous post about the <a href="http://steyningfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/09/from-samplers-to-family-history.html">Worsfold family</a>, some of whom are shown in these pictures.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpKcT6GYjDBWFk0MamYi6yiqGK1vzXtVGwstMthdvJIhHRaO3KsaXaFiVX4fQLMuklBlZRJpItY9Jsp5SDVzpk6ivXZnHoG4l5DtY2D7h6ycdWM1AouqxDTjppFwPmDUddihx9ReLgt12D/s1600/Worsfold+-+Wiston+-+school+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpKcT6GYjDBWFk0MamYi6yiqGK1vzXtVGwstMthdvJIhHRaO3KsaXaFiVX4fQLMuklBlZRJpItY9Jsp5SDVzpk6ivXZnHoG4l5DtY2D7h6ycdWM1AouqxDTjppFwPmDUddihx9ReLgt12D/s640/Worsfold+-+Wiston+-+school+002.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Boys c1899</b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;">Left to right, <i><b>back row</b></i>: Mr John Henry Isted, born 1836/7, Schoolmaster. </div><div style="text-align: center;">Pupils: E Allen, unknown, ? Allen, Alfred Merritt, Thomas Worsfold, unknown, Frank Merritt.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Middle row</b></i>: Ernest King, ? Allen, unknown, (probably Thomas) Meetens, (probably Alfred) Meetens, Alfred Blunden, unknown, T Hedger, unknown, ? Allen, unknown.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Front row</b></i>: (probably James) Meetens, (probably Alfred) Meetens, Herbert (Bert) Carter, ? Maple, unknown, William (Bill) Clements, unknown, Peter Clements, Frank Heath, Albert (Bert) Clements, unknown.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZvduzryfipQ07gTxBG2nDq5L_PEKba1OUWZJxNjvsJYnhHN2rW80CaKkd0tpaXTZX84k7Elu6ekX98So6qirRn-sckP1NNgfIp8pGWoMkquPCbWHwqZF71gd4Q4JW85XbnYO0DaAzrr5/s1600/Worsfold+-+Wiston+-+school.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZvduzryfipQ07gTxBG2nDq5L_PEKba1OUWZJxNjvsJYnhHN2rW80CaKkd0tpaXTZX84k7Elu6ekX98So6qirRn-sckP1NNgfIp8pGWoMkquPCbWHwqZF71gd4Q4JW85XbnYO0DaAzrr5/s640/Worsfold+-+Wiston+-+school.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Girls c1899 (with three little boys)</b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Back row</b></i>: Left, Miss Emily Isted, born c1871, Assistant Schoolmistress. Right: Mrs Sarah Ann Isted, born early 1847, Schoolmistress.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Pupils, left to right: Unknown, (probably Dorcas) Allen, unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown, E Holland, Ruth Holland, Effie Short, Alice Knight, unknown, (possibly Mary) Madgewick, unknown.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Middle row</i></b>: Unknown, unknown, (probably Edith) Allen, May Holland, unknown, unknown, Rosa Hoad, Nora King, unknown, Eliza Worsfold, unknown, A Hoad, unknown, Minnie Stiles.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Front row</b></i>: Unknown, Mabel Carter, Fred Carter, David King, Elizabeth (Lizzie) King, Emily (Emmy) Clements, B Field, Bertha King, Aggie Madgewick, unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpb__bj4ytng9LYeGhT1FdGWoE67vwZE_LnT9mLpW-yGTTFxB3wjoMY5xxhJ5lXlNpVzkDL_y1dGvkzyFvVOO6zULdVcuZjhQAuAv_WtIcLgshwpQ66EMGpigFF97mNS3iOmajMBnt8PyG/s1600/wistonmixed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpb__bj4ytng9LYeGhT1FdGWoE67vwZE_LnT9mLpW-yGTTFxB3wjoMY5xxhJ5lXlNpVzkDL_y1dGvkzyFvVOO6zULdVcuZjhQAuAv_WtIcLgshwpQ66EMGpigFF97mNS3iOmajMBnt8PyG/s640/wistonmixed.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Mixed c1902</i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Back row</b></i>: left, Mr John Henry Isted, born c1837, Schoolmaster. Right: Miss Emily Isted, born c1871, Assistant Schoolmistress.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Pupils, left to right: Peter Clements, William (Bill) Clements, unknown, Sydney Pelling, unknown.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Next to back row</b></i>: Edgar Dumas, Edward (Ted) Terry, ? Meetens, Frank Heath, Herbert (Bert) Carter, Alfred Merritt.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Next to front row</b></i>: Unknown, unknown, (possibly Ellen) Meetens, unknown, Emily Clements, unknown, Hilda Heath, unknown.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Front row</b></i>: Arthur Francis, Ernest Merritt, unknown, unknown, Raymond Carter, Edward Meetens, Frederick Carter.</div><br />
Jacquie ButtrissSteyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-17806711465932138332010-09-02T09:22:00.007+01:002010-09-02T20:32:23.221+01:00From Samplers to Family History!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPQP1hBH4Kcsax4-iWdBsrrAzPWBC-U21ZZ4DFlxT5PBzVnP9HMUM62I_rcLdX0vsGMHtl2XaxZAW4u1vTFhUnRM-AlFhpsUCO6CsIv6STrHIoR6R7KSa6VEHt6okjNhtn3sUQCpHWxo1/s1600/sampler1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPQP1hBH4Kcsax4-iWdBsrrAzPWBC-U21ZZ4DFlxT5PBzVnP9HMUM62I_rcLdX0vsGMHtl2XaxZAW4u1vTFhUnRM-AlFhpsUCO6CsIv6STrHIoR6R7KSa6VEHt6okjNhtn3sUQCpHWxo1/s320/sampler1.jpg" /></a></div>We have recently acquired some Victorian samplers embroidered by pupils at the old Wiston school (long since closed.) The samplers had their names on them, Alice and Eliza Worsfold, together with dates from 1889 to 1903 and the name of the school. As a keen family historian, I immediately set about researching the girls and their wider family. <br />
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I began by exploring down a rural track and found the old school, now converted into two private houses. Both owners were very helpful and lent me photos of the school and its pupils during the 1890s and 1900s. Some of the children in these photos were named on the back, including Eliza Worsfold and one of her brothers.<br />
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Back at the museum I delved into our archives. I used censuses to establish approximate birth dates. I then looked up Worsfold baptisms, marriages and burials in our copies of the parish registers at around this time. I found the seven brothers and sisters and their parents. As you can see in the <a href="http://steyningmuseum.org.uk/WORSFOLD%20FAMILY%20TREE.pdf">Worsfold family tree</a>, I was then able to trace backwards through other parish registers and civil registrations online. At this stage, I also discovered more about some of the other children on the photos.<br />
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Next, I made a visit to the West Sussex County Record Office in Chichester to read the school log book that spanned this period and I also checked through the school admissions register, which had some of the children’s birth dates as well as when they started at the school. This valuable information enabled me to date each of the photos and add more names, which was a great help.<br />
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When Alice Worsfold and her two elder siblings were born, and for the preceding two generations, this Worsfold family lived in Partridge Green (within the West Grinstead registration area).<br />
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Between 1880 and 1882 they moved to Wiston, where they were settled by the time their fourth child Phyllis was born in 1882. In Wiston they lived at ‘Near Smith’s Shop’ and ‘Stocks Cottages’ and also at ‘New Cottages’ (or are these all the same place?). Whilst here, all the children attended Wiston and Buncton Parochial School. Their father, Edward, was one of the two sawyers listed as working at Wiston and a ‘Sawyer’s Wood’ on the Wiston Estate.<br />
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After 18 years in Wiston, they moved to Steyning around 1910, probably at about the time when Edward (born 1849) was admitted to the Sussex County Hospital (as it was then known) in Brighton, where he was a patient during the 1911 census. (It’s possible, as often happened, they might have been evicted from their Wiston home when Edward was no longer able to work on the estate.) His death was registered in Brighton rather than Steyning, so perhaps he remained a patient in that hospital, or in a nearby workhouse, until his death. <br />
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In the 1911 census, Ellen, his wife, plus daughter Eliza May, now listed simply as May, were residing at the home of elder daughter Ellen Eliza and son-in-law John Groves in Steyning.<br />
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I was particularly interested in what might have happened to Alice and Eliza after they left Wiston school. I found that Alice married a sailor, George Divall, in 1913 – the marriage register gives the name of his ship. Other research online showed that he went off to sea again shortly afterwards on a long voyage. On a hunch, I looked at our list of names on the WW1 War Memorial and, sure enough, George Divall’s name was on it. I then looked for him in our list of gravestone inscriptions and found him there, having died in 1916 at the Battle of Jutland. The gravestone also includes a poignant verse, obviously chosen by his devoted young widow, Alice. I looked up the Battle of Jutland on the internet and found out all about the sinking of George’s ship, with the loss of more than 1,000 lives, including rear-admiral Hood, whose flagship it was.<br />
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Alice sadly did not marry again. Eliza, the youngest of the family, never married and died a spinster in Worthing, followed many years later by the death of Alice, also in Worthing. Checking Wiston and Steyning parish registers again, I was able to trace their siblings’ marriages and children, some of whose families still remain in the Steyning area today.<br />
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If you have any of the names Worsfold, Holden, Groves, Robins, Boynette or Munnery in your family, then you may be related to Alice and Eliza.<br />
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As part of this research, a number of other resources from our archives were used, such as Victorian maps to locate where they lived and reference books to find out more about the school and its area in those days. This, like most family trees, is a work in progress and I am keen to widen my research to find out about the other scholars at Wiston School in the 1890s.<br />
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In my next post I will publish <a href="http://steyningfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/09/wiston-school-in-1890s.html">three school photographs</a> from the period, which include members of the Worsfold family. If you know of anyone who attended the school or have heard any stories about those days, please contact me on <a href="mailto:familyhistory@steyningmuseum.org.uk">familyhistory@steyningmuseum.org.uk</a><br />
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Jacquie ButtrissSteyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-19596518336817412522010-09-02T08:45:00.001+01:002010-09-02T11:08:13.558+01:00A Steyning/Stenning Coincidence?We are currently helping with queries on a number of different families. However, within two weeks of each other, we have received two separate emails asking for information about the same family name – a great coincidence, since neither knew of the other’s existence. This has led to a further flurry of emails between family members, sharing information and new leads. The family name is Stenning or Stening and we do have a family tree that turns out to be the tree of at least one of these enquirers. We are still trying to establish a definite link for the other family.<br />
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An intriguing question was posed by both of these contacts. This was whether Stenning could be a corruption or variation of the Steyning place name and whether it orginated here. <br />
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Our family historian did some research to see if we could answer this question. Her findings are quite unexpected. The earliest references she could find to the surname Steyning in England, were nowhere near Steyning in Sussex and had no connection with our town. <br />
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The names Stenning, and indeed Stanning, do seem to have their origins in the original surname of Steyning, which is first found in Devon, in the early 1400s. There were no Steynings listed in Steyning, or anywhere in Sussex for another 200 years. By the time the name reached West Sussex, it had become Stanning or Stenning.<br />
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Although this seems to have answered the question, do let us know if you can add anything!Steyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169709669967899544.post-25579364277999582862010-08-27T23:32:00.004+01:002010-09-29T17:50:09.465+01:00Welcome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></div>Do you have family roots in the Steyning area? If so, we can help you to research your family history. Steyning is a beautiful medieval town nestled in the South Downs of West Sussex. It is a marvellous place to visit, especially for family historians. Steyning Museum has extensive archives and we are keen to help you make the most of them.<br />
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Maybe you can't visit us, but we can offer our help in other ways. Our Family Historian can be contacted by email on <a href="mailto:familyhistory@steyningmuseum.org.uk">familyhistory@steyningmuseum.org.uk</a> You might be suprised by the kind of detail she has at her fingertips. We will also add family stories to this blog and news about our family history resources. Look out for familiar names and places, and keep in touch. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbvR8gLkkVgvsUqzTIzluqMkyuiHX3C3ogYmP9xOrTPOUc2EKJkTswY0OLdsVu1YUr4U6SpHyN5rztNN1LcniaLH0FSxkPDEPgcYYqJy21f3TO8rl2pCXs2uJYCYkyLm6Glq6Z8W7LWu8W/s1600/montage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbvR8gLkkVgvsUqzTIzluqMkyuiHX3C3ogYmP9xOrTPOUc2EKJkTswY0OLdsVu1YUr4U6SpHyN5rztNN1LcniaLH0FSxkPDEPgcYYqJy21f3TO8rl2pCXs2uJYCYkyLm6Glq6Z8W7LWu8W/s640/montage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
There are people all over the world who have personal memories of Steyning and the surrounding area - Wiston, Bramber, Upper Beeding and Ashurst. Please add your comments and share your thoughts. Several important discoveries about Steyning's past have come from a chance comment. Your recognition of people and places in pictures, or memories of events, could improve our archives for generations to come.<br />
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Our website will tell you all about Steyning Museum and our other activities. The website can be found at <a href="http://steyningmuseum.org.uk/">http://steyningmuseum.org.uk</a>Steyning Museumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993715597624438013noreply@blogger.com0