News on developments in the research underpinning this website. See also the update history on the home page and the library index for a full list of articles. Go the About page for updates on the study and of structural changes to this website.
News Updates 2018
Dec 2018 - Christmas Baptisms and Marriages
Nov 2018 - Lest We Forget: Monday 11th November 1918
Oct 2018 - The Worcestershire Skyrmes; The Sloop William Skyrme
Sep 2018 - Sinking of USCGC Tampa; Skyrmes in WW1
Aug 2018 - The Disappearing Tanner; Deserter and Bigamist
Jul 2018 - Dead or Alive? A Predessor of a Trade Unionist?
Jun 2018 - The Vigneron from Victoria; Tasmania Beckons - Or Not?
May 2018 - Skyrme as a Middle Name
Mar 2018 - The Redoubtable Mrw Grimes of Lydstep House
Jan 2018 - School Records; Farming and WW1
Subject
December 2018
Christmas Baptisms and Marriages
Having noted some significant events happening around Christmas in my Skyrme database, I thought it would be interesting to check the number of baptisms, marriages etc. in my database. Here are the results:
| Date | Births | Baptisms | Marriages | Deaths | Burials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Dec | 2 | 1 | - | 3 | 1 |
| 25 Dec | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 26 Dec | - | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 31 Dec | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | - |
| 1 Jan | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - |
Now you cannot help when you are born or die, but you or your parents do have some choice as to when you are baptised, married or buried. As the table shows, there were a reasonable number of births and deaths but only three burials. Grave diggers obviously wanted their Christmas holidays as much as anyone else! The Christmas Day burial was that of Sarah Hill (née Skyrme), buried in Hereford cemetery after a service at St Peters. She had died on 23rd.
It's a different story when it comes to baptisms and marriages. There are two reasons why they were popular at Christmas time. First was that most working people worked 6 days a week, and that Christmas Day and Boxing Day were the only two days in the year that they and their families could guarantee would be a holiday. Second, many churches did not charge on Christmas Day and other religious holidays. In fact, many churches, especially those in cities held 'festival nuptuals' where several couples would marry at the same event. I'll just highlight a few of the Skyrme baptisms and weddings that took place over this period. The photo is of St John in Pembroke Dock, which features in the first event below.
Baptisms
- 24th Dec: Frances Jane Skyrme. Born 21 Nov 1889 and baptised at Pembroke St John. Her ancestors were from Llangwm and her father a shipwright. She became a dressmaker and remained a spinster until her death in 1985 aged 96.
- 25th Dec: David John Skyrme (1865-1936). He was born on 29th November at Pembroke Dock, the son of cabinet maker James Skyrme and Mary (née Richards). He worked for Great Western Railway in North Wales, variously as a clerk and station master, and died in Chester.
- 26th Dec: George Skyrme, my own great-great-grandfather born 12 Dec 1819 at Manorbier, the son of Charles Skyrme (1794-1837) and Jane (née Hoplow). He was the first of my ancestors to become a shipwright (rather than an 'ag lab') and he wanted all his children to "have a trade". 7 of his 8 sons became shipwrights (the 8th was a tailor).
- 1st Jan: Susannah Skyrme, baptised at Weobley, Herefordshire on New Year's Day 1805. She was a descendant of the Skyrme farmers of Norton Canon, her parents being Richard Skyrme (1765-1838) and Mary (née Pullen). Unfortunately she died an infant and was buried at Weobley later the same year (25th Nov).
Marriages
- 25th Dec: Florence Skyrme married Arthur Detheridge by license in Paddington, London on Christmas Day 1894. She may or may not have been a blood Skyrme since she was the daughter of Arthur Williams, a tailor from Hereford, and Annie (née Jauncey). See the story of 'The Tailor Who Changed His Name' (PDF).
- 26th Dec: Daniel from Llangwm married widow Martha Phillips (née Williams) on Boxing Day 1857 in Pembroke. He was initially a shipwright, then a farmer and became a freeman of the borough.
- 1st Jan: John Skyrme of Hereford married Joyce Gwatkin in Hereford Cathedral on New Year's Day 1734. They had 10 children, the eldest of whom, John, was baptised on the same day! They became relatively wealthy and lived in Dewsall. Their grandson Amos was the 'disappearing tanner' (see Aug 2018 news).
December 2018
Background work still continues on the Manorbier and Penally Skyrmes. This week I have been updating the family of Edwin Rowlands Skyrme and Laura Vaughan. Edwin sounds as if he was quite a character. He was a tenant farmer of Lamphrey Farm and had several disputes with his landlord Charles Mathias Esquire from whom he rented the 43 acre Lamphey Farm at an annual rent of £146. I have copies of about 20 pages of court records relating to his disputes. I am now working through facts for his 9 children. The eldest Beatrice (born 1906) died aged 12 while her sister Edith (probably a twin) married a master cooper from Tunstall in Staffordshire when in her 50s. Quite how she came to be there is a mystery.
I am continuing the theme of looking for references to Skyrmes in newspapers 50,100 etc. years ago. Here are this month's selections.
200 years ago: Dancing through the Night
The Cambrian of 19th December 1818 reports the inaugural meeting of the Laugharne Assembly at The Globe Inn. "It was attended by a numerous assemblage of fashionables, of that place and its vicinity. Among other distinguished persons were Admiral Sir Henry Trollope, Knight Banneret .....Mr. and Mrs. Skyrme...." This would have been William and Mary (née Lewis) Skyrme - who featured in our October News about the sloop 'William Skyrme'. The article cites a ball starting a 9 o'clock and continues: "Dancing was kept up with the greatest spirit till past four o'clock the next morning, when the company separated, highly gratified with the amusement of which they had partaken, and the unceasing attention and politeness of the galiant Steward."
150 years ago: A Marriage and a Commissioner
The Worcester Journal has notice of the marriage between Jane Skyrme and John Morris at Ledbury Wesleyan Chapel on 2nd December 1858. Jane was the daughter of John Skyrme, a mason from Vowchurch and Elizabeth Seal. The couple went on to have at least five children.
The Ross Gazette of 3rd December reports a meeting of the Town Commissioners. Topics discussed included an improved design for a pillar fire hydrant and whether a lamplighter should be employed to better maintain the town's lamps. One of the commissioners was J.H.Skyrme Esq. This was 22-year old John Henry Skyrme a local solicitor who after his death aged only 36 he was found to have committed a series of frauds. You can read a bit about him on page 22 of The Skyrmes of Herefordshire.
100 years ago: The Bexhill Chemist
Harold Edgar Skyrme (born 1877) features in several articles in the month. One about the Bexhill Ambulance Brigade starts "A pleasing presentation took place Monday night at the Town Hall after a lecture by Dr Skyrme who presided." It was also the month of a general election which was announced after the signing of the WW1 armistice. Harold is listed as one of the people who nominated existing MP for Hastings Laurence Lyon to stand again. The wartime government was a coalition of Conservatives and Liberals. Laurence was a coalition Conservative and was re-elected.
November 2018
This Month - 100, 150, 200 Years Ago
The digitization of the British Newspaper Archive continues apace, and it is proving difficult to keep up with the various Skyrme stories. When I last did a search there were over 11,000 articles that featured a Skyrme, though quite a few are duplicates since many were syndicated to regional titles in the 19th and early 20th centuries. So I thought I would try each month to pick the main articles on the anniversary of each month. Here we go...
100 Years Ago - Is Hastings Ready?
This was a letter in The Hasting and St Leonards Observer of 9th November 1918 by Harold Edgar Skyrme, the chemist who features on page 20 of The Skyrmes of Herefordshire. Another correspondent had asked whether Hastings employers were ready to help find work for soliders returning home from the Great War. Responding to "Are men who have fought wanted in Hastings" Harold wrote that he had received only one reply from an advert for help in his shop that explicitly aked for a "discharged solder, sailor or ineligible with first class dispensing and retailing experience." He noted that other employers were equally anxious to employ returing servicement.
150 Years Ago - A Fowl Deed
This was a report in The Worcester Journal of 28th November 1868 on the proceedings of the Petty Sessions held at Bromyard. Mr Richard Skyrme, a farmer of Winslow, summoned Thomas Summers of Winslow for "maliciously killing a fowl on 12th inst. The case was settled by consent of the magistrate, defendent to pay 4s 6d costs." This referred to Richard Skyrme (1833-1895) who had a 135 acre farm at the time. He was the eldest of 10 children of Thomas Skyrme and Ann Grosvenor. His ancestors lived in Weobley, Norton Canon and Canon Pyon. See the news of Jan 2017 for a bit more about this farming dynasty.
200 Years Ago - A Desirable Property
There were no Skyrme articles for November but an advert was placed by Thomas Skyrme in The Hereford Journal of 2nd September. It offered to be let, furnished or unfurnished, "a commodious dwelling house fit for the reception of a genteel Family; together with a Small Garden, Three Stalled Stable, with a Coach House (if required), a good Brew House, Laundry, Cellaring and every other necessary convenience." The property was in Widemarsh Street. At various times, different Skyrmes had properties, a tannery and other premises in Widemarsh Street, Hereford. The Thomas here is most probably the son of Isaac and Jane Skyrme. Isaac was one time alderman and mayor of Hereford and Thomas died in Widemarsh Street in 1831.
November 2018
Lest We Forget - Monday 11th November 1918
Today (Sunday) we commemmorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. It was on "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" that a ceasefire came into force, although the formal peace treaty (Treaty of Versailles) was not signed until 28 June 1919. Over 15 million service people across the world lost their lives and over 20 million were wounded. As I systematically work through the pedigrees of the Manorbier Skyrmes, just yesterday I recorded details of a distant cousin killed in France (James Hubert Skyrme). So this post is devoted to those whose deaths are recorded on memorials by the Commonwealth War Graves Commmission. We must also not forget the many more Skyrmes who served in the forces of Britain, Australia, Canada and the USA, several of whom were wounded - see also 'Skyrmes in WW1' in September news. There may be missing deaths from this list (e.g. the USA) so if you can add to this list - or provide any related WW1 stories (I am considering a document just on Skyrmes in WW1), then please let me know.
James Henry Skyrmes (died 6th August 1914)
A stoker on HMS Amphion, the first British warship to be sunk in the war. See September news for more details of the event. James (born 1880 in Llangwm, Pembrokeshire) was one of six children of William Skyrme, a dockyard labourer, and Jane Jones, who lived at Williamston Terrace, Guildford, Llangwm at the time of his death. He is commemmorated at Plymouth Naval Memorial.
Mark Skyrme (12th April 1916)
Mark (born 1886 in Vowchurch, Herefordshire) was serving in the Herefordshire regiment. He was wounded and died of his wound in Chester Hospital. He is buried at the cemetery in Cwmbran, South Wales where his parents Stephen and Emily lived at the time. His Army record has not been found (probably destroyed as many were in a WW2 fire) so we do not know about where and how he was wounded.
Robert James Skyrme (31st May 1916)
Another stoker in the Royal Navy which he had joined in 1906. A distant relative of James Henry above, he was born in Prtsmouth in 1884, one of 10 children of James Skyrme (a Manorbier descendant) and Ann Every. He was one of over 700 killed in the Battle of Jutland when his ship HMS Black Prince was sunk by enemy action. His body was not recovered. He is commemmorated at Portsmouth Naval Memorial.
George Henry Skyrme (15th September 1916)
A private in the Canadian infantry, 102nd battalion. He was killed in Flanders, aged 22. George (born in 1889 in Kyre, Worcestershire) was one of nine children of Thomas Skyrme and Elizabeth Yapp of Little Hereford. Their ancestors were the Norton Canon Skyrmes (see news Jan 2017). Like two of his elder brothers he had emigrated to Grindrod, British Columbia, arriving in Vancouver in 1913. As well as a Commonwealth War Grave at Reninghelst New Military Cemetery, he is commemmorated on a plaque to the local war dead with one other person in Thornbury Church, Herefordshire. He is listed as George Harry Skyrme.
Richard Edward Elcho Skyrme (6th February 1917)
A Second Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, Richard was killed in action, aged 21, at Ploegsteert in the Battle of the Somme, while seconded to A company, 1st Battlaion. He was described as a "brave and valiant officer". Son of the clergyman of Winterbourne Earls, Wiltshire, Frank Elcho Skyrme and Catherine Price, he was a clerk at Lloyds Bank in Gillingham Wiltshire, before obtaining his Army commission in June 1915. His brother Frank went on to become a Royal Navy Commander serving in both WW1 and WW2. His ancestors were from Dewsall in Hereford (including William Gwatkin Skyrme featured in May 2018 news).
Leonard Matthew Skyrme (5th Aptil 1917)
A private in the 1/1st Battalion, Herefordshire Regiment. The only information about his war service comes from a record of soldier's effects which shows a war gratuity paid to his father William, a bricklayer. It simply says "wounds, Egypt". This was the time when the Egypt Expeditionary Force attempted to invade Palestine in the First Battle of Gaza. Although some WW! war diaries for the regiment are now online, they do not include this period. The family lived in Millbrook Street, Hereford and had ancestors from Vowchurch. Leonard is buried in Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, near the Suez Canal, 50km south of Port Said.
James Hubert Skyrme (6th October 1917)
Listed as Herbert James Skyrme on the CWGC. Hubert (born in Combe St Nicholas, Somerset in 1898 and a descendant of the Manorbier Skyrmes) was serving with the 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment and was killed in action, aged only 19 in Flanders (Belgium). He is buried in Cement House Cemetery at Langemark, north of Ypres in Belgium. His mother's and grandmother's maiden names were Hilton and Royle, names that carried on in the middle name of his nephew Professor Tony HIlton Royle Skyrme, an eminent nuclear physicist whose name is reflected in the Skyrmion nuclear particle.
John Skyrme (25th November 1917)
John was a 19 year old rifleman in the 1st Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment who was killed in action in France. His army record shows that he enlisted in May 1916 and left for France on 8th August 1917. He was born in Vowchurch but later moved to Cwmbran, the baker son of Stephen and Emily Skyrme. He is commemmorated at the Loos Memorial in the Pas de Calais region.
Charles Skyrme (29th March 1918)
Another 19-year old from Vowchurch. He served in the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. His effects record says that he was wounded in Belgium, but he is buried at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery in France. Boulogne was the site of one the main military hospitals. However his unit in March 1918 were at the Battles of Bapaume and St Quentin, both in France, so more research is needed to resolve this conundrum. Charles is also remembered on the roll of honour at Vowchurch church.He was the son of Charles and his second wife Matilda Jenkins. They lived at Slade Cottage, Vowchurch at the time of his death.
Edwin Skyrme (26th September 1918)
The last of the Skyrmes to be killed in action and at sea, just as the first Skyrme casualty of the war. He was a shipwright serving on USS Tampa when it was sunk in the Bristol Channel. He was the son of Peter and Frances Skyrme of Pembroke Dock whose ancestors were from Llangwm in Pembrokeshire. See September 2018 news for more detailed information.
William Henry Skyrme (17th January 1920)
Although this was over a year since the cease of hostilities, William died of wounds he received during the war at Duke of Connaught's Military hospital in Aldershot. He was a private in the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers which saw many battles on the Western Front in 1918, including the third battle of Ypres. William's war record is not available, so we do not know where he was wounded. He is buried at Birkenhead Flaybrick Hill Cemetery where his grandfather is also buried. The family of bakers and grocers moved to Birkenhead from Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire in the 1860s. You can read more on William's ancestors in The Skyrmes of Llangwm and the Cleddau pages 13-16.
October 2018
The Worcestershire Skyrmes
In the 19th century there were pockets of Skyrmes around England. One group I have not featured before is that of the Skyrmes who lived in and around the city of Worcester. Partly this is because I still have to determine how they relate to the Herefordshire Skyrmes, which they undoubtedly do as it is the neighbouring county.
Hatters, Hosiers and Glovers
These are related trades based on textiles and clothing. One of the earliest Worcester Skyrmes was Samuel born around 1756 in the city. He died in Hereford. His pedigree is still to be worked out but the name Samuel features heavily in the Skyrmes of Vowchurch.
A more certain link to Herefordshire is a Thomas Skyrme who was born in 1758 in Bromyard, just 15 miles from Worcester. He was a glover in Worcester in 1792 when he married Sarah Barwell from Leicester. While most market towns had a few glove makers, Worcester was a major centre. Thomas died in 1814 but an 1820 trade directory lists his widow Sarah as a hatter and hosier at 66 Broad Street in Worcester. Leicester, where Sarah came from, was a major centre for hosiery. They had three children - Edward, Thomas and William.
Thomas (born 1788) is listed as hatter and hosier at the time of his marriage to Lydia Westrup in Worcester n 1820. The couple appear in the 1841 census in London. Thomas died in Shoreditch in 1849 and later censuses show Lydia moving back to where her family came from in Suffolk. Brother William (born 1793) married a Jane Bolton in May 1826 and placed an advert in the Worcester Journal that November. In it he declared himself as a hatter, glover &c. of 66 Broad Street: and gives "gratitude thanks to those friends whose kind support he has met with since entering upon the business carried out by his mother...". He goes on to offer "an extensive assortment of fashionable hats" and "funerals furnished". However, his business was not successful since he was declared bankrupt a year later in 1827. With the help of some Correspondents from both England and the USA, I have been able to trace the descendants of the only son of William and Jane - Edward Skyrme (1832-1892).
Racing and Inn-Keeping
It was Edward and his marriage to Emily Williams that led to the significant growth of the number of Worcester Skyrmes. Altogether they had seven children, four of them boys. Edward was initially a chemist but then took on the trade of Emily's father, that of an innkeeper. His inn was the Bird in Hand at The Cross in Worcester. Eldest son Edward "Ted", initially an ironmonger also entered the trade as a licensed victualler and ran the nearby Grand Stand Hotel at Worcester racecourse at Pitchcroft. At each census different members of the family were at either one or the other of the two inns. There are many newspaper articles about Ted's activities at the racecourse and his proprietorship of the inn. For instance in 1899 the council let 67 acres of Pitchcroft, the inn and racing rights etc. for £600 per annum. An announcement of his death noted that he "was well known in racing circles for he acted as Clerk of the Course under Jockey Club and National Hunt Rules at Worcester, and in addition he frequently officiated as starter". In 1947 and 1948 there was a 'Skyrme Amateur Rider's Handicap' at the races. Interestingly Ted's younger brother William followed the trade of his grandfather, being a hatter in 1914.
There is still much to do to "connect the dots" on the Worcestershire Skyrmes and to confirm their Herefordshire ancestors, but this gives a flavour of some of the facts discovered so far. Incidentally, while on the subject of horse racing, in more modern times there have been Skyrme jockeys - a Barrie Skyrme and his son my namesake David Skyrme, b1966 - but nowhere near Worcester!
The Sloop 'William Skyrme'
I was aware of a ship called 'William Skyrme', since when searching newspaper archives for William Skyrme, a person, many entries came back from sections labelled 'Shipping Intelligence'. However, my interest in the ship of that name was piqued when I recently received an email from researcher Anne Rees whose research (see her Wikitree) has mentioned William Skyrme, a Portreeve of Laugharne. She also reminded me of a ship of the same name and indicating that it was one of a number of ships that were based in Laugharne at the start of the 19th century.
For the last couple of weeks I have been finding as much as I can about the ship 'William Skyrme'. I have found some 105 entries in newspaper shipping reports from 1811-1844. This is probably a quarter or third of the total she did in her lifetime. She first appears in Lloyds Shipping Register in an addendum to the 1818 edition where she is listed as 7 years old and built in Carmarthen. She is described as 65-ton sloop, i.e. a vessel with one mast. Notice of an auction in 1821, gives the more precise location of her build as Laugharne.
In the 1810s the 'William Skyrme' often plied the Carmarthen-London taking tin plates outwards and bringing back sundries. In later times she did many crossings to Ireland, most often from Liverpool or Cardiff. Just before her demise she ventured at least three times to France, to Rouen and Le Havre. Overall the ports she most visited (from these reports) were Carmerthen (27 instances), London (26), Cardiff (17), Milford (15) and Llanelly and Liverpool (9 each).
The Lloyds Register gives details of repairs, e.g. 1826 large repair, 1834 new deck and top sides. Some newspaper reports add flesh to these:
- Oct 1812: "Loss and damage at Milford due to a violent storm from the SW ... The William Skyrme, from Carmarthen to Glasgow, lost her bowsprit".
- Nov 1822: "Put into Plymouth on Tuesday, leaky."
Unfortunately the 'William Skyrme' came to a sad end. She sunk off Tralee on 4th April 1844 but was refloated and after repairs sailed on to Dublin. Although she made a few more voyages there are no further reports of her after September 1844, and the entry in the 1884 Lloyds Register says "MISSING" alongside her details. So how she actually ended her life is unclear.
At the time of her build, a William Skyrme (a descendant of the Llawhaden Skyrmes) married Mary Lewis. At the time he lived in Island House not far from where it was built. It is tempting to think that it might have been a dowry, but perhaps we shall never know how the sloop came to be called the 'William Skyrme'.
I have written a more detailed article, which also includes a spreadsheet of her reported sailings. You can download it here.
September 2018
This Day in History - 26th September 1918
US Coast Guard Cutter TAMPA
Image source: US Naval History and Heritage Command; Public domain
It was an email asking about how to pronounce Skyrme (rhymes with term, firm) that has promoted this article. The correspondent was going to read out the names of the casualties of USCGC Tampa on the 100th anniversary of its sinking, at a US Coast Guard ceremony. One of the 131 who died in its sinking was Edwin Skyrme born in Pembroke Dock in 1874. He was the son of Peter Skyrme of Llangwm, and like four of his brothers, became a shipwright (see pages 35-38 of The Skyrmes of Llangwm). By 1900 he had moved from working at Pembroke Dockyard to Portsmouth Dockyard.
September 1918 saw Edwin serving on the USS Tampa. This coast guard cutter, originally christened the Miami, was involved in escorting convoys between its base in Gilbraltar and the South of England. In its 11 months of war service it accompanied 350 ships in 18 convoys. On the evening of 26th September 1918 she had left a convoy in the Irish Sea and proceeded independently towards Milford Haven. It was spotted in the Bristol Channel by U-boat UB-91 which launched the fateful torpedo. It exploded mid-ship and the cutter sunk so quickly that there were no survivors among the 111 Coast Guardsmen, 4 U.S. Navy personnel, and 16 passengers consisting of 11 British Navy personnel and 5 civilians.
You can read a bit about its history and the commemmoration ceremony on the US Coast Guard website and also that of the Tampa Post 5 of the American Legion. The loss of the USS Tampa was the largest single loss of life in the US Coast Guard Service.
Edwin's name is inscribed on the Portsmouth Naval memorial (photo left).
Skyrmes in WW1
As we are approaching the anniversary of the end of World War I, it is worthy of recording what has been found over the last few years about the Skyrmes who served. Edwin (above) was the last Skyrme casualty of the war, some six weeks before the end. At the beginning of the war the first Skyrme casualty occurred only a week into the war when another Llangwm Skyrme - James Henry Skyrme (born 1880 and a distant cousin of Edwin) - was killed in the first British warship to be sunk in the war. This was HMS Amphion, an 'Active Class' Light Cruiser built in Pembroke Dockyard (no doubt with the help of other Skyrme shipwrights) and launched on 4th December 1911. At 9am on 5th August she was doing a search in the Thames estuary when she found a German mine-laying ship. The latter was chased towards Harwich and sunk but on its return HMS Amphion struck a mine and sunk. Some 150 sailors lost their lives. You can read about this episode on p29 of The Skyrmes of Llangwm.
Altogether the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 11 Skyrmes who were killed in military service in WW1. Most were from Herefordshire. During the last few years, many WW1 records have come online at the main genealogy websites. These provide interesting reading and often fill in family details not readily available from other sources. Altogether I have found records for about 50 individuals - mostly army, a few navy and one air force - comprising over 200 pages that I have yet to process. One, already mentioned below (news May 2015) was Frank Skyrme, a Herefordshire Skyrme, who served in the same ambulance unit in Salonica in 1916 as did the famous British artist Stanley Spencer. Another was Second Lieutenant Richard Edward Elcho Skyrme, son of the Revd. Frank Elcho Skyrme, who served in the Wiltshire Regiment. He was killed, when only aged 22, at Ploegsteert in the battle of the Somme and is buried in the Rifle House Military cemetry there. He is described as a "brave and valiant officer".
These records, and also associated newspaper reports and war diaries, bring home some thought-provoking insights into how our ancestors served and coped during the conflict. There is a story waiting to be told behind each of the 50 or so Skyrme combatants, which could perhaps make a publication of its own.
August 2018
Work is nearing completion on family tree construction of the Skyrmes of Manorbier and Penally. I will then have no excuse for not writing it up and updating this document that was first published in 2011. Also the latest edition of Dyfed Damily History Journal contains an article I wrote "Tales Out of School", a more detailed look at school records that I discussed in the January 2018 news. You can download this article from our library.
This month's news focusses on 'lost and found', the story of two interesting Skyrme characters who went missing (deliberately), but were later found. Both happen to be of Herefordshire descent. And another common feature - they both married again (bigamously) after going AWOL!
The Disappearing Tanner
I've mentioned him before (news September 2015) and he features in The Skyrmes of Herefordshire but since then with the help of fellow researcher David Hurford, we've found him again. The person I am referring to is Amos Jones Skyrme (b. 1788). He was one of at least ten children of William Gwatkin Skyrme and Mary (née Jones) of Dewsall Court. William was one of the Skyrmes noted for their herds of Herefordshire cattle.
Amos initially trained as a surgeon in Alcester Warwickshire, and was listed as such in the 1818 Hereford poll book. But by 1830 he appears in Pigot's Directory as a tanner and glue manufacturer at the family tannery in Widemarsh Street, Hereford. He was declared bankrupt in March 1830 and the auction of his stock in trade in July 1830 included many items including "upwards of 200 English Crop and Buffalo Hides, dry and well finished, 165 Horse-Hide Butts and Pieces, Calf Skins &c. &c" and not unexpectedly "two hogsheads of cider".
Whereas several of Amos's siblings appear in the 1841 census, mostly away from Herefordshire in Monmouthshire, Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, Amos is nowhere to be found. In England the next we hear of him comes from a notice in the Hereford Journal of 30th August 1854:
"Whereas Amos Jones Skyrme, in or about the year 1830, being then about 47 years of age, left the City of Hereford for America; and was last heard of there in 1839; and whereas his wife Frances Anne Skyrme, late of Wear-End in the parish of Bridstow, died July 29th 1851, having made her Will in which she has named her said Husband a Legatee...And any person who will give any satisfactory information to the said solicitors as to where the said Amos Jones Skyrme is now, or, if dead, when and where he died, shall be rewarded."
He had married Frances (née Jones) at Ross-on-Wye in April 1827. However, when in the USA it seems he married again (bigamously), this time to a Lucinda Johnson in July 1834 in Warren County, Ohio. They had a son George, born in 1835 and were living at Turtle Creek in Warren County at the time of the 1840 census. Their son George went on to become a shoemaker, living initially in Norwalk, Ohio and later in Pasadena, California.
No other records for Amos and Lucinda have yet been found after the 1840 US Census - so it looks as if he has disappeared again!
Deserter and Bigamist
Our second 'lost and found' individual is Mark Skyrme of Madley. He was the only child of Joseph Skyrme, a labourer from Vowchurch, and his wife Harriet Preedy of Little Birch. Born in 1850 in Madley. in 1871 he married Emma Sheward of that town, daughter of a hurdle maker. All seemed to start well, with them having three children born betweem 1869 and 1874. The middle child William died in 1874. However, the 1881 census finds one of the two suriving children (Alice) living with her paternal grandmother Harriet and her second husband John Jones (Joseph had died in 1854) and the other (Harriet) with her maternal grandparents William and Ann Sheward. Emma is not found while Mark languishes in Hereford jail. What has happened?
Newspaper stories reveal all. A long article in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 25th February 1881 tells how he was a private in the 11th Devonshire Regiment and deserted from his post at Exeter Barracks. Investigation into his background revealed that he had been an agricultural labourer who had deserted Emma and his two children around 1877 and came to Exeter to enlist. In December 1879 he married (bigamously) Eliza Mitchell at St Sidwells, then a small village just east of Exeter. He deserted the Army on 9th August 1880, from which time the Exeter police had been trying to track him down. After his desertion the couple had moved to Warwickshire "where he behaved so brutally to her that she had to seek the protection of the police". So he was then in trouble with the Warwickshire police and spent a spell in prison.
After coming out of prison he seemed to lead a life of crime, with charges of three housebreaking cases against him. These occured in Vowchurch, Abbey Dore and Little Kyre, the latter where he was alleged to have stolen a silver watch. He eluded capture for some months. On trying to track him down the police were told he had gone to America. The newspaper report continues:
"Within the past week the chief constable was urged to increase his vigilance, and to push his inquiries more zealously, as it was believed that the prisoner was in Devonshire, if not Exeter."
After missing him by 4 days in Monmouthshire, the police finally caught up with elusive Mark on the 18th February. Subsequent newspaper articles report him being acquitted on housebreaking charges at Hereford in April 1881, while being sentenced to 3 months imprisonment at Worcester midsummer sessions in June for the theft at Little Kyre.
After these tumultuous timed, it looks as if he settled down, since the next two censuses (1891 and 1901) showing him living back in Madley as a labourer with his mother Harriet (now widowed a second time). Finally the 1911 census lists him as a pauper in the Abbey Dore Workshouse where he died later that year.
July 2018
Alongside doing my geneaology research, I've also been doing an interesting online course Researching Your Welsh Ancestors run by Pharos Tutors and led by genealogist Eilir Daniels. I mentioned other courses I did with Pharos in the news updates of June and October 2104 below. Already this course has uncovered new ground for me as shown in the two examples below.
Dead or Alive?
Many Welsh agricultural ancestors were lured to the South Wales coalfields during the latter part of the 19th century. The Skyrmes were no exception with some of my distant cousins from Penally moving to the Rhondda (photo shows the colliery wheels at The Big Pit Museum, Blaenavon). Several then emigrated to Pennsylvania. But mining, as we know, is a hazardous occupation and the second worst mining disaster ever in the UK occurred at the Albion Colliery, Cilfynydd on 23rd June 1894 killing 290 miners. One of the resources we were asked to look at in our course was the Welsh Coal Mines website which has good historical notes of colliers across Wales (including those at Hook in Pembrokeshire mentioned in my Llangym publication). This website list the dead in the Albion disaster, and down the page is this entry:
- Skyrme, Benjamin [age] 23 [residence] 4 Jones Street, Cilfynydd
So I searched my data base and found Benjamin Skyrme, born 1870 in Manorbier. He happened to be a 3rd cousin twice removed. But he was a policeman and alive in 1901, living in Pontypridd (he died in 1950 in Gloucestershire). So I checked Welsh Newspapers Online and found this article http://newspapers.library.wales/view/4596763/4596770/77/ headed "Sympathetic Policemen at Penarth". It mentions "policemen who have been on special duty on the colliery premises since the occurrence of the disaster". The article lists the policemen involved (including Benjamin) and says that they contributed to the Western Mail disaster fund. So had I missed something or was the entry in the list of dead wrong?
I then found newspaper reports published just a day or so after the disaster that also list the names of the dead. No Benjamin Skyrme aged 23, but it does list a Benjamin Skym (no 'r' or 'e') age 29 whose occupation is a fitter. Checking censuses and birth registrations, there are no 29 year old Benjamin Skyms, but there is one born in Q3 1870, who would be 23. He was the 3rd son of collier Archibald Skym from Llanon, Carmarthenshire.
So one transcript had the name wrong and the other his age wrong! All of which goes to show that if you cannot find an official record of the time, you need to check as many transcribed sources as possible. The name Skym has intrigued me for some years. It is very localised in Carmarthenshire and I wonder if it is a variant of Skyrme, or has a completely separate origin. Perhaps something for the future. Before that there's still a lot of research still to do on Skyrm(e)(s)!
A Predecessor of a Trade Unionist?
Another set of records we were encouraged to look at on the course were the various collections at The National Library of Wales, including this Crime and Punishment database. There is only one Skyrme entry but it is nevertheless intriguing:
- Accused: John Skyrme; Parish: Haverfordwest; County: Pembroke; Status: Mason
- Location and Date: Parish: Haverfordwest; County: Pembroke; Date: 4 August 1792
- Offence: Conspiring to augment the wages of himself and others by refusing to work for less than 1/6d per day.
Unfortunately the Welsh Newspapers Online website only has newspapers after 1804, so only a visit to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth will tell me more about this case. It makes me interested to learn how the guilds and craftsmen of the 18th century regulated their trade, and what law this was an offence against. Was John an early example of behaving like trade union members almost a hundred years later? Perhaps there is a reader of this website who is knowledgeable on such social history can enlighten me.
June 2018
I subscribe to Who Do You Think You Are Magazine and always keep a look out for new sources or ones that I may have overlooked. A recent issue triggered me to search Skyrmes in various Australian state records. I found two interesting entries.
The Vigneron from Victoria
In my document of the Herefordshire Skyrmes I featured George Skyrme, who went to Great Western, Victoria during the gold rush of the 1850s. As the gold petered out he bought land at Concongella Creek and set up a vineyard. He was a successful grower and vigneron and won prizes in various competitions including a silver medal from the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria for his 1893 vintage red wine. The record that I found was at Public Record Office Victoria. It is the grant of probate to his wife Charlotte on 4th September 1912 (he died on 3rd June). Attached to it was his will of July 1907. This simply bequeathed "all my real and personal property" to Charlotte and after her death to their daughter Edith. Edith died a spinster at Hawthorn in 1944. Her grant of probate and will are also at Public Record Office Victoria, but have not been digitized, and I live too far away to access them!
The inventory attached to George's probate showed that he had seven parcels of land in the township of Great Western parish of Concongella and an "8-roomed weather-board dwelling house" valued in total at £160. Against many other listed assets (rents, farm implements, carriages etc.) the value was written as nil. But he had £400 as deposits in Stawell Bank with accrued interest of £7 making his total estate worth £567. Today his financial assets would be worth around A$50,000 but his vineyard worth closer to A$1,000,000.
Tasmania Beckons - or Not?
Tasmania is well known as a place to which felons from England were transported. But sometimes individuals wanted to emigrate there of their own accord. One such was Frederick Skyrme (1894-1984). Descended from the Skyrmes of Llangwm, Pembrokeshire, his father was a Metropolitan police constable and he started life as a sorting clerk and telegraphist with the Post Office. He served in the first World War and continued in the Army until 1925. He then became a civil servant in Sudan (then under Anglo-Egyptian administration) living at Malakal, now in Southern Sudan. You can read more about him and his family in The Skyrmes of Llangwm page 27.
The record I have discovered since that piece was written was a 2-page typewritten letter found at Tasmania Archives Online (TAO) (click on the image to read the letter at TAO). The letter was from his Yorkshire address to the Tasmanian office in London (he had moved back to England in 1941 to serve with the Brisith Army in World War II). Dated December 1951 he was enquiring about settling in Tasmania. He describes himself as "57 years of age, and my wife is 45 (no children), both extremely fit and able. He summarises his career saying that he was District Engineer Posts & Telegraphs in Sudan and was receiving a pension from the Anglo-Egyptian Government of £400. He mentions his extensive travels, including Europe and two holidays in Australia, but "Under present conditions in England I find life rather difficult". He asks for suggestions as where he should settle (preferring a small township), and prices of property and second-hand furniture. He summarises: "I have in mind, a picture whereby I could settle and run a self supporting garden with seasonal employment to augment my pension."
The reply from Hobart in February 1952 answered these questions, e.g. a suitable property might be had for between £50 and £300 (the Australian Dollar was not introduced until 1966). It added: "The district in which you would settle must be decided upon after arrival as there is such a diversity of types offering" and "Prices at the present times are particularly unstable".
Well, that's it - at least for now, unless you know different. Frederick apparently stayed in England, since the only later records relating to him that I have found are an electoral register entry for Leventhorpe near Bradford, Yorkshire in 1952 and his death at Harrogate, Yorkshire in April 1984, aged 90. He left an estate worth £49,825.
May 2018
The Skyrme database grows ever larger. The rate at which new datasets appear on Ancestry and FindMyPast means that quite a lot of my time is spent adding new information and probably less than I should on writing up. When I search "Skyrme" on these dataset I often get a few hits where Skyrme is not the surname. Hence this month's feature is on middle names.
Skyrme as a Middle Name
Multiple given names were fairly rare until the mid-19th century. The earliest in my database is that of William Gwatkin Skyrme (1740-1804) - more of him later. After William there was a smattering of Skyrmes with middle names in the early 19th century (e.g. Mary Abra Hughes Skyrme of Llawhaden) but only after about 1870 was it more common than not.
These days we are so used to having middle names that can also be used a first names. Quite often someone will generally be known by their middle name rather than the first name they were baptised with. For example, Daniel James Skyrme of Cardiff (1877-1941) mostly was known as James, while his son registered as James Stanley Skyrme (1904-1966) was listed as Stanley in other records. A tip to break brick walls is to also search using a peron's middle name.
Surnames as Middle Names
Less frequent, but not uncommon is the use of surnames as middle names. My own father's middle name was Harrison, which starts to make sense once you know that his mother's maiden name was Harrison. Some other Skyrme examples are David Beddoe Skyrme, James Vaughan Skyrme and John Brown Skyrme. Sometimes you need to go a further generation back. Thus although the mother of Margaret Morris Skyrme (1841-1923) was Frances Margaret Beddoe, it was Frances's mother that had the surname Morris. Others where the maternal grandmother's name features are five Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire brothers - Nathaniel, James, Francis, Thomas and Daniel who all had the middle name Rowland. The name Rowland was highly regarded since a couple of generations further back was Nathaniel Rowland (1749-1831) described in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography as "secretary of the Calvanistic Methodist Association" and "for years the mainstay of Methodism in Pembrokeshire".
Taking it a stage further, sometimes two middle names reflect ancestor's surnames. Thus the father of eminent nuclear physicist Tony Hilton Royle Skyrme (1922-1987), (whose name is reflected in the Skyrmion) was John Hilton Royle Skyrme whose mother was Minnie Hilton and maternal grandmother (Minnie's mother) Mary Royle.
Less frequent is the following of surnames in the the paternal line. Thus the Reynish in Thomas Reynish Skyrme (1873-5) and Benjamin Reynish Skyrme (1880-1953) is the surname of their paternal grandmother. It was also not unusual to use the surname of a friend. Thus my mother's middle name was Bales, the surname of a family friend. So although a middle name may be clues to ancestor's surnames, it is not a given. Was there a Beresford in the family line of John Beresford Skyrme, born in 1881 in Tooting? So far, I haven't found one, nor have I found a Morgan which is the middle name of his brother Edward.
Hyphenated Names
Another variation is to retain an ancestor's surname as part of a hyphenated surname. My own daughter, who married a Blyth has done this by changing her name by deed poll to Blyth-Skyrme. I've come acorss a few examples, the most common being Skyrme-Jones, some of them doctors specialising in cardiology. Interestingly only the youngest son, Thomas, of five sons of Thomas Jones and Emily Skyrme (born in 1889, Llangan, Carmarthenshire) called himself Skyrme-Jones. Other Skyrme-Jones include several born in South Africa. Another hypenated Skyrme name is that of Skyrme-Mason, a Devonshire family. The name started as a middle name in Peter Skyrme Mason (1872-1959) son of Thomas Mason and Mary Skyrme of Pembroke Dock, but in Peter's children the Skyrme is moved from the middle to become part of the hyphenated surname.
William Gwatkin Skyrme (1740-1804)
For some time I had in my database details of William Gwatkin Skyrme (1740-1804). He had married Mary Jones of Sellack and they were quite a wealthy family at Dewsall Court. His estate when he died approached £3,500, quite a sum in those days, and they have a monument in the churchyard. Williams father was John Skyrme, and all I had as his wife was Joyce Unknown.
Joyce was recorded as surname Unknown until two other researchers got in contact with me at around the same time. One was researching his family in the Cardiff area, who had Skyrme ancestors. Between us we put a lot of flesh on William and Mary's descendants, included the elusive Amos Jones Skyrme (b1783), who absconded to America, and the infamous solicitor John Henry Skyrme (1836-1873). You can read about them on pages 22 and 25 in The Skyrmes of Herefordshire.
The other researcher was investigating the Gwatkin family of Dewsall and Much Dewchurch, Herefordshire for the Gwatkin One-Name Study. She asked: "I would like to know the name of the Skyrme family member that Joyce Gwatkin married, but have not been able to find the marriage on Ancestry." My brain cells were stimulated. Joyce was not a common name and I also had a Joyce Unknown with links to Dewsall. A more thorough search of Herefordshire marriage transcripts listed a marriage at Hereford Cathedral (see photo) on 1st September 1734 between John Skyme and Joyce Gwatkin. So the Gwatkin in William Skyrme's name was that of his mother. If only I had considered this before. Incidentally, the first son of William Gwatkin Skyrme and his wife Elizabeth Jones, was also called William Gwatkin Skyrme. He died in childhood in 1891 being only 10 years old. Interestingly the pattern was repeated two generations later in that the eldest son of Edward Skyrme and Ann Watkins (the English equivalent of Gwatkin) was William Watkins Skyrme (1825-1888).
March 2018
Work is nearly completed on developing family trees for the descendants of the Skyrmes of Penally and Manorbier. Most recently this has uncovered another emigration to the USA, this time of a William Skyrme to Michigan. More on that in a future news update. In the meantime here is an interesting story I stumbled across while researching a Mary Skyrme from Manorbier.
The Redoubtable Mrs Grimes of Lydstep House
Photo: Lydstep House c1910. Drawing by Geoff Scott, reproduced with kind permission by PLANED from www.experiencepembrokeshire.com
In the 19th century many of our female ancestors were domestic servants, and I always find it fascinating to find out more about where they lived and who they worked for. One Mary Ann Skyrme, born 1840 in Penally, was recorded in the 1861 census at Lydstep House as cook to Mrs Grimes, wife of Major Grimes. On trying to find out more about the Grimes family I came across a report of an attempted burglary in 1860, at a time when Mary was undoubtedly there. The Pembrokeshire Herald and Advertiser of 25th April 1860 reported that on the previous Saturday night Mrs Grimes "was alarmed by a crashing noise" and "perceived the point of a crow bar under the front door". Since there were no males in the house "her gallant husband being on service in India", she loaded a pistol with powder and shot into the passage. The report continues: "the villains decamped for a time, but later returned .. she was quite prepared for them and discharged another load, which again put them to flight". They even returned the following evening. The report concludes:
"But that for the heroic conduct of Mrs Grimes, they would have effected an entrance, and it is impossible to conjecture what violence would have been done to the inmates, some of whom were hysterical while their mistress defied the scoundrels. Mrs Grimes, nothing daunted, has, we understand, provided herself with a supply of ammunition, which will give them cause to remember how they tamper with a woman, should they pay another visit to Lydstep House."
So there we have an interesting description of my distant cousin as a "hysterical inmate". Thank goodness for having such a formidable lady as her boss.
January 2018
I keep saying it - I am trawling through records of the Skyrmes of Manorbier and Penally, but it's a long trawl and will take several more months yet, so please bear with me. In the meantime, here are a couple of things I have found along the way.
School Records
The growing number of school admission records and log books at FindMyPast have proved very helpful. First, they give the pupil's date of birth and name and address of father. Since there are many Skyrme trascription errors (e.g. Shyrne, Skyrome) in the 1939 Register, it can be difficult to locate particular individuals. But doing a wildcard search, e.g. S*e and date of birth has found many a mis-transcribed record, and thus enabled location of individuals in 1939.
Admission Registers
The admissions pages also give interesting information on the pupils' previous school and where they went to after leaving. For example, from some Pembroke Dock school registers:
- Philip Sydney Skyrme (1892-1960): Admission to Upper Meyrick School 1 Sep 1902. Left 12 May 1903 "gone to Ireland". A similar entry for brother Arthur Wilkins Skyrme (1890-1977).
- Hugh Evan Skyrme (1894-1960): Readmission to Coronation Council School Meyrick Street 1 Feb 1909. Previous School Queenstown School, County Cork.
- David Courtney Skyrme (1897-1977): Admitted to Upper Meyrick School Jun 1901. Feb 1909: Admitted to East End (later Eastgate) School; previous school - National School Queenstown. Joined Coronation School 30 Aug 1909; left 23 Apr 1913 after Dockyard exam.
All of the above were children of shipwright William Skyrme (1867-1944) who married Elizabeth Wilkins (1868-1924). Analysis of the dates show the family's movements between the 1901 and 1911 censuses. We conclude that from about 1903-1906 that William worked in the Royal Naval Dockyard at Haulbowline in Cork Bay, Ireland.
School Log Books
What I find, fascinating, though, are entries in school log books. Almost every day there is some entry and your ancestor may appear for several reasons: 1) They were a teacher so are mentioned quite frequently; 2) They were ill or had particular problems; or 3) They were naughty. Here are a few entries that give a glimpse of school life in Pembrokeshire:
- Elizabeth ("Lizzie") Skyrme, Neyland Infants School, Llanstadwell: "16 Dec 1904 - 3rd year pupil-teacher away today attending K.S. examination in Haverfordwest. 11 Jan 1905 - Received notice that Elizabeth Skyrme was appointed Assistant Mistress at an annual salary of £25 pending the result of the K.S. Examination. 14 Dec 1906 - Work has been much disorganised because of 3 of the staff E Skyrme, M A Brown, T G Brock being absent attending the Preliminary Examination."
- Angle School, 8 Dec 1908. "Five children stayed away today because Mr Skyrme, County Council manager, told them to do so, as there was illness in the village."
- Prendergast Girls School, 11 Jul 1884: "M A [Mary Ann] Skyrme absent this week, she being at Swansea attending the Scholarship Examinations. Attendance poor on account of the haymaking."
For those of you interested in Herefordshire Skyrmes, you will find many Skyrme entries in the school admission records of Vowhcurch at FindMyPast.
I have written an expanded article on school records which was published in the Dyfed FHS Journal (Aug 2018). You can donwload it from our library here (PDF: 2.2Mb).
Farming and WW1
In going through some papers of the Corston Estate near Monkton, I came across a plea from owner Mrs M Leach to exempt one of my ancestors Gilbert Skyrmes from WW1 military service. Gilbert's father suffered the unfortunate fate of being killed by a threshing machine on the estate in 1910 - see snippets.
It highlights the plight of estates trying to keep farms going while able-bodied men were called up for war. I have written a short article about this - download here (PDF)