Mystery Percivals

Some years ago our son stumbled upon a publication entitled The Percival Book in a junk shop. Wondering if it was connected with our side of the family, he bought it and presented it to us as a Christmas present.

Disappointingly, though, a summary glance at the book's contents suggested that we weren't part of this particular branch – ours being descended from "Ag Labs" and this one containing the occasional baronet and people with letters after their names – and so it was shelved and forgotten about.

Then, the other day I came across the book while searching for something else (why does it always happen that way?) and with a good deal more family history experience under my belt than first time around, I decided to take a closer look.

The blue fabric-bound hard-back book had been compiled in 1970 by Alicia Constance Percival and her cousin, Brigadier Edward Lewis Percival – the flysheet is signed by the authors. At 148 pages, plus old black and white photographs and a number of family tree diagrams at the back, it's a fabulous family record. An order form I found inside reveals that at the time of publication a copy cost 30/- (helpfully translated into "new" money – £1.50 – in readiness for decimalisation due to come in the following year).

The flysheet with authors' signatures

Family Reunion

It seems the book was put together for a family reunion held on 13th December 1970 at Kimsbury House, Gloucestershire, where the Percivals had lived for a number of years. Sadly I've not been able to find any image of the house, but it's a Grade II listed building and its listing entry reveals that it was built around 1884 and styled with Queen Anne and Jacobean influences. It was appraised as, "an accomplished late Victorian house of considerable landscape impact".

At the time of the grand reunion, Alicia's aunt, Lady Percival (with the wonderful name of Henrietta Lucilla Vigne Percival – she'd married her cousin, Alicia's Uncle John Hope Percival) was the oldest living Percival, at the age of 92. 

Tucked inside the book is a type-written list of all those who attended the gathering, stating where they'd travelled from, along with a brief note to explain their family connection.

Detail

But it's the detailed content within its pages which is so impressive and must have taken a long time to gather and collate. From the earliest recorded ancestor – William Percival, who died in 1679 – each member of the family is listed in alphabetical order, along with the name of their parents and a summary of key elements in their life history. 

Alicia's baptism record

Alicia's entry tells us that she was educated at Sherborne School for Girls and St Hugh's college, Oxford, that she'd travelled extensively in India and Egypt, teaching and lecturing. During the Second World War, she had been secretary to the Women's Land Army in the Middle East between 1941 and 1945. At the end of the entry are listed the academic books she'd written, including her latest publication, Very Superior Men – some early public school headmasters and their achievements. A leaflet with more details and an order form was amongst the loose papers tucked inside.

There is so much information here, it will take me a while to read it through, as those particularly active Percivals, especially those who served in the military, are mentioned in additional accounts complied from diaries and other records. To complete the compilation, there are 7 pull-out family tree diagrams of different branches of the family from various parts around the UK. 

Northampton

Northampton seems to be where the Percival family originated which caused us to raise an eyebrow. My husband's great uncle, Theodore Percival, moved to Northampton and married there in 1915. 

On his marriage certificate, his father, Shadrack Percival, is stated as being an architect, when, in fact, he was a postman. Great Uncle Theo does not feature much in the family memory and the impression has always been that Theo distanced himself from his family back in Essex. Was Theo aware of the more affluent Northampton Percivals and tried to imply that his heritage lay there in an effort to impress, rather than admit to his more modest ancestry? 

Sad discovery

As I browsed through The Percival Book, I noticed a scribbled note had been added to Alicia's entry, referring the reader to the entry of her brother, David Athelstane Percival. When I found the relevant page, I saw that there was another additional note in the same hand. It read: "Died of food poisoning with his sister Alicia when she was staying with him, 1987." 

Sure enough, their deaths are both listed in the same month – September 1987 – and was announced in The Times. A sad ending to a long and active life. Alicia was 84 and her brother was 81.

What's interesting is that David lived in Great Baddow, Essex, only around 20 miles from Great Tey, where our very own "Ag Lab" Percivals originated. A coincidence? Or was there a particular reason why he settled there after spending so much time abroad during his life. It will be interesting to study the book and see if I can find any connections!

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Are you related to the Percivals? Do you recognise this particular branch? Do you know of this amazing book? I'd love to hear from you.

Wedding Photo Quiz

With a family wedding earlier this month, it seemed a good time to dig around in our own archives and look at some of the old wedding photos we're lucky enough to have.

1. The first couple to star are my husband's grandparents, Albert Joseph Saunders, born in 1884 in London and Caroline Matilda Long, born in 1885.

Caroline was born and grew up in the beautiful historic village of Lavenham in Suffolk.  They were married in... well, perhaps you can guess? Answers on a postcard.. no, just joking. Answer is at the bottom of the page.

 Albert was a cabinet maker and made a lot of their furniture, mainly in mahogany. His apprentice piece was a small stool with a drawer in it and remains in the family.

2. I love this next photograph! It's of my own grandparents, Ernest George Shelley, known as George, and Edith Alice Diggory. George was born in Claverley in Shropshire in 1897, and Edith a year later, in 1898. She was grew up in the lodge house of Park Hall, Sedgeley, Staffordshire, where her father worked as a groom. Her brother, Thomas, worked in the house as a footman before the First World War. Park Hall is now a hotel. Love the hats, don't you?



3. Couple number three are my great uncle George Diggory and his bride Ethel Price. George was a twin. He and his sister Hannah were born in 1896, in the same lodge house as my grandmother.
















4. Moving on now, with my husband's parents, Dennis Percival and Eunice Irene Saunders, both born in 1914.

Dennis was a school teacher and a physicist. He built the family's first TV in his garden shed so that they and the neighbours could watch the Queen's coronation in 1953.

5. And then there's my parents, John Shelley and Patricia Barton, bless 'em, a decade or so later.










6. And finally, another of those mystery weddings. It's a picture from that bundle I mention in The Mystery of 138 photographs. I believe it's that of Mabel Maud Talbot and John Herniman Ben Mowels,  a conclusion arrived at due to a note on a scrap of paper I found in the same pouch as the photograph.

Interestingly, having studied it (with a magnifying glass - it's quite small) I think I can see Mabel's sister Nellie (Helena) peering out from behind the groom, wearing her signature Alice band. What do you think?

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Dates to photos - were you right?

1. 1913 2. 1921 3. 1921 4. 1940 5. 1956 6. 1918

The Lace Lady Mystery Solved

Mrs. Percival

Those who have read my blog before may recall  my stumbling upon a photograph of a Mrs Percival, taken in the 1950s, making Coggeshall lace. The post told the story of Coggeshall lace and can be read here.

But who was she? And was she a relation of my husband's?

I enquired at the museum at Coggeshall and received an enthusiastic reply but after browsing all through their information there was little more they could add. As I was busy with other projects at the time, the query was shelved, until I mentioned it to "Percival Family Expert" John Priestly (with whom my husband shares a twice great grandfather), who recalled seeing the photograph himself when he visited another of the Percival clan, Evelyn Beard, nee Percival.

Evelyn (sadly no longer with us) told him more about lace-making in the district as her grandmother, Emma Percival (nee Mann) was also a lace maker, as was her aunt Rosa.

The custom was for the lace makers in nearby Great Tey to deliver their finished work to a Miss Surridge in Coggeshall. The job was given to a boy in the family and Evelyn knew that when her father, Albert, was a lad he had the job of taking the lace to Coggeshall on Saturday mornings. It was a walk of about three miles there, and three back and he earned a small fee which he used to buy himself a custard tart for the journey home.

Evelyn presumed that he wasn't alone in this task, that there would be a small army of boys also making the journey delivering lace on behalf of their respective families. John (perhaps thinking back to his own days as a small boy!) speculated, "A party of small boys in a remote country lane must have found a few adventures as they progressed, but we can imagine that dropping the precious cargo in the mud was something they dared not risk and any skylarking was confined to the return journey!"

Coggshall lace

Evelyn said that her "Aunt Rose" (Rosa Louisa Thorp, nee Percival) was particularly skilled in her craft and it's said in family circles that some articles she made ended up in royal households. She even won an award for her work as far away as Belgium, though was unable to go and receive it until after the end of WW1.

As far as our mystery lady goes, Evelyn identified her as Mrs "Percy" Percival, who lived in Chappel Road, in Great Tey and she assumed there must be a family connection. However, the records list several Percy Percivals, so there's some sifting to do yet before our mystery is completely solved.

But, as I mentioned in my previous post, there's another family connection here, not necessarily with Mrs Percy Percival, the lace lady, although that's quite feasible, but with Evelyn herself and my previous post.

As I said above, Evelyn's father was Albert Percival, born in Great Tey in 1880, the son of Walter and grandson of Alfred, who was born around 1830.

 Alfred was the elder son of Hannah Rayner and our old friend, the transported convict Moses Percival, making Evelyn Moses' great-great granddaughter!

John didn't reveal whether the old lady had any qualms about being related to a convicted felon...

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If you have relatives in the Coggeshall area, there's a wealth of information and some useful links to other family history sources on the Coggeshall Museum website.

Happy hunting!

Plebs to Plods

Officers of the Metropolitan Police appear more than once on our family tree, rising from rural beginnings to join the police force in the great metropolis.

A Victorian Police Officer, circa 1850

My ancestor Ernest ELLISDON, was born in 1846 in Moulsham, a hamlet on the outskirts of Chelmsford, Essex. By 1881, he is recorded on the census as a police sergeant, living in the High Street in Southwark, with his large family.

William PERCIVAL 1864 - 1892

William PERCIVAL, born in 1864 started life in rural Chappel. He left the world of the agricultural worker and joined the Met in 1883. He was 19 years old, though he must have lied about his age to the authorities! Recruitment was usually between 21 and 27 years.

William Percival, aged 7, on the 1871 census

But William's new life-style was to be short lived. After less than four years, he was forced to leave the Met in 1887 after being seriously injured while on duty and losing the sight in one eye. He was awarded a police pension which, ironically, would have been equivalent to the wage of an agricultural labourer. Sadly, his health deteriorated over the next few years - the assault possibly a contributory factor - and he died in 1892.

The Metropolitan Police force was set up in 1829 under Home Secretary, Sir Robert Peel, from where the nickname 'Bobbies' or 'Peelers' came. By 1899 there were 16,000 serving police officers.

That my two ancestors would have been eligible to join the force indicates that they'd been educated sufficiently to satisfy the necessary criteria. Applicants had to be able to read, write legibly and have a 'fair knowledge of spelling.' 

Many, like William, would come from an agricultural background, others might have a military background and most recruits were born outside London. All had to be in good health and not less than 5' 9" tall.

Unmarried officers lived in a section house and, like the military, would have to seek the permission of their senior officer to marry. Potential brides would often have to undergo an interview by an inspector or even the chief constable!

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Useful sources in searching for information on police ancestors include The Metropolitan Police Heritage Centre and they will be attending WDYTYA Live at Olympia, London from 20-22nd February 2014.

The Essex Police Museum has lots of information on its website, including a search facility and another site full of fascinating facts, stories, books to read and images about policing in London is the wonderfully entitled History by the Yard.

Happy hunting!

Mystery of the lace lady

My visit to St Fagans, near Cardiff last weekend (see last blog post) set me thinking about Ag Labs, or agricultural labourers which many of us have on our family trees. To refresh my memory of ours, I dug out the 1871 census image for the Percivals, who lived in Chappel, Essex.

Browsing the entry for William Percival and his family, I noticed that his wife Eliza and two other women neighbours were listed as being (when I finally deciphered the handwriting) Tambour Workers.

Having no idea what a tambour worker was, I googled it and discovered it was a type of lace maker. The art of Tambour lace-making originated in the Far East and its name originated from the frame the workers used, shaped like a drum or tambour.

Tambour or Coggeshall lace

The craft was introduced into Coggeshall, less than 6 miles from Chappel, around 1812 by a Frenchman, Monsieur Drago. With the help of his two daughters, M. Drago taught a group of women and children in the village to make lace using a traditional tambour hook, which has a small barb on its shaft rather like a fish-hook, and it became known as Coggeshall lace.

With the Napoleonic wars causing a scarcity of Tambour lace, business blossomed and throughout the 19th century lace was made in homes and villages all around Coggeshall.

Inevitably, with war and then industrialization, the trade declined, though there was an attempt to revive it in the 1930s by promoting it to the Royals and three Coggeshall handkerchiefs were given to Princess Marina on the occasion of her marriage in 1934.

It was while browsing Coggelshall Museum's website and reading the history of  lace making that I spotted the lady in the photograph...

Mrs Percival...
with the tablemat she made as a wedding gift for a Royal lady-in-waiting in the 1930s

I wonder if anyone in Coggeshall knows which Mrs Percival she is and whether she's related to my husband!