Top of my mystery list

While I'm deeply immersed in mysteries of the fictional kind, as I beaver away writing the next Esme Quentin novel, I'm stacking up a few real mysteries of a family history nature which I plan to investigate once this first draft is in the bag.

I'm sure this young woman has a tale to tell. I can see by the initials on her epaulettes that she was a member of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in World War I. I know her name is Nora from the signature in the corner but there after it gets tricky.

The notes accompanying the photo say she was the daughter of Hilary and Alice Griffiths but according to the records I have, their daughter was called Edna and was born in 1910, making her only 8 years old when this photo was taken. So, some significant detective work required there before I even start!








Another mystery on my long term hit list is that of my great aunt, Mary Ann Diggory or Annie, as she was called.

Annie walked out of the family home in 1904 when she was only 16 (shortly after the photograph on the right was taken).

No one heard from her again. Until, in her 90s, shortly before she died, she contacted her younger sister Edith, my grandmother.

I know Annie became a nurse and that she trained at Redhill hospital in Surrey before returning closer to home and living in Shrewsbury. But what was she up to in the intervening years?




The flamboyant Herbert Henry Coules Colley, my grandfather, born in 1871, known by his stage name as Ken Barton, has always been something of an enigma.

According to family lore, he joined Robson's Theatrical Company and travelled to South Africa. The story goes that he became ill and had to stay behind in Johannesburg when the company went on tour. He ended up, as naturally you might if you were a theatrical artiste and performer, as... an officer in a private mounted police force! Really? Now that's something I must get to the bottom of!

image courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

And finally, having written about the Purle family (see Purles of Wisdom, Part 1) and their association with toxophily (i.e. archery), I was contacted by a present day manufacturer of archery equipment who, as an admirer of Harry Purle, the subject of my second post on the Purles (see Searching for Harry), had engaged a genealogist to research the family.

It seems that the name Purle may well be derived from the Purlewents, a well-to-do Somerset family prominent in the 17th century.

A quick check on Somerset's County Records catalogue threw up some interesting hits, so a trip to Taunton for a dig around in the archives looks to be the next stage of that particular journey.


But all that's for another time. For now, I must get back to my fictional secrets and writing the next Esme mystery!

Purles of wisdom... Part 2: Searching for Harry

My previous post, Purles of Wisdom... part 1, told of the early stages of my investigation in to the Purles, the family my husband's ancestor, Eliza Mott Viner married into in 1844.

Meeting of the Royal British Bowmen, 1822
 image courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

As manufacturers of archery equipment, the Purle family appear to have been well known in archery circles of the time, their bows and arrows being considered of the highest quality.

Arthur Credland, the editor of the Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries, confirmed this with a quote from experienced bow and arrow maker, James Duff (1870-1935) : "During all the many years I was in London, the finest arrow maker known to me was Harry Purle."

Having learnt that Eliza and William did have a son called Harry - Harry Richard Purle - born in Leamington, in 1855, it seemed possible that this was the Harry in question. But my hopes were dashed when I discovered the record of his death 1881, aged only 26. 

At first I wondered if something archery related had been the cause of his demise. Had he speared himself while crafting one of his famed arrows? But sadly, when his death certificate plopped on to my door-mat, I read that the poor young man had died of 'phthisis', a condition common during in Victorian times and better known now as consumption or TB.

Besides, it seems his occupation was not a maker of archery equipment, but a commercial clerk, though I suppose he could have been working within the family business, albeit not as one of the craftsmen.

However other Purle family members were involved in archery manufacture, so I decided to dig a little deeper in my "Harry Hunt".

I started by going back to James Purle, William's father, born in 1795. On the first census (the first of real use to the family historian, anyway) in 1841, he's recorded as being a bowyer (bow maker) born in London. William, his eldest son and Eliza Mott Viner's future husband, is 20 years old, but his occupation isn't recorded. William's younger brothers are, Henry aged 15, Charles 9 and Robert 7.

By 1851, the picture becomes a little complicated (doesn't it always?) as James now claims to have been born in "Somersetshire", his name is listed as "Jas" William Purle and the transcriber has suggested his middle name is not William but Wilson! That made me wonder if I'd got the right James Purle (despite there being a Bath/Somerset connection), especially as this time his occupation isn't recorded so I couldn't confirm the archery connection.

But his sons Henry, Charles and Robert are all present, though none claim here to be employed in the archery trade. William has by now, of course, left home having married my husband's ancestor, Eliza, in 1844, and we already know (see Part 1) he's trading as an archery manufacturer then.

By 1859, however, it seems that two of William's brothers, Charles and Robert, have joined the family trade as when both marry that year they cite their respective occupations as 'Bowyer' on the documentation.

Sadly, though, Robert dies a few short months after his wedding, no children follow and neither have I found any children for Charles.
 

Henry, meanwhile, having declared his occupation as a carpenter at his (second) marriage in 1852, pops up on the 1881 census as an "archery bow maker". Perhaps now that his carpentry skills are honed, he's now able to apply them appropriately and join the team!

The same census reveals that William's eldest son Frederick, born in 1846 who was an apprentice

"manufacturer of archery" in Bath in 1861, (see Part 1) is still a bowyer
 and his children are listed, the eldest of whom is called... Harry! Will this young scholar go into the family firm? Could this be the famous Harry Purle, so praised by James Duff?

Fast forward to 1911. We now have Henry, William's brother who's now a "retired" archery manufacturer. His son, also called Henry, has followed in his father's footsteps and also become an archery manufacturer, (the word "wood" is helpfully filled in alongside) but at 57 and unmarried, Henry junior has no sons to continue the trade.

But our Harry is also there  on the 1911 census and he's making archery equipment. I'm sure now that this must be the legendary Harry Purle. The time-scale certainly seems to fit in with James Duff's working years.

As to how much longer the Purle family continued to make archery equipment, I've yet to find out. There doesn't seem to be much "out there" about the trade itself and I was reminded by current traditional longbow manufacturer, Pip Bickerstaffe, that the trade guild's were very secretive about their craft back in the day, and little was widely known outside the workshops. But perhaps there's a chance more can be learned if records exist and I'm still pursuing leads in that direction.



 

Finally, I have one pressing, and potentially sad, mystery to solve - what became of James Purle, born in 1795 in either London or "Somersetshire". While browsing records on Ancestry I came across an entry for a James Purle in The City Road Workhouse in Holborn, 1873. Was this "our" James? Was this where he died? You can be sure I'm on the case!

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There are some excellent websites listing old medical terms for causes of death you may come across on death certificates and giving explanations. Rootsweb has a fairly comprehensive glossary. A good source of alternative 'medical/diseases' list sites are on Cyndi's List.

Peter Higginbotham is an authority on the history of workhouses and has an excellent website worthy of a read www.workhouses.org.uk
 

Purles of wisdom... Part 1

One thing I especially like about family history, is what else you learn along the way about other aspects of history, particularly on subjects you'd not ordinarily go out of your way to research.



     Richard Mott Viner, born 1809      
           Eliza's eldest brother     

This was the case with an ancestor of my husband's, Eliza Mott Viner, born in 1824 in Bath. The "Mott" part of her name dates back to a maiden name from the previous century in a place called Ogbourne St Andrew, in Wiltshire and continues to pop up as a middle name in different branches of the family for the next 150 years, which has often been extremely useful for making connections.

But I digress. The Mott trail is a different story altogether. This one centres on the family into which Eliza marries, and their connection with bows and arrows, and all things archery or, if you prefer, toxophily - a new word on me and the start of my education on the subject.

Sadly, I don't have a photograph of Eliza, only of her eldest brother Richard, taken in 1875, aged 66.

Eliza married William Frederick Purle, in Bath in 1844. William, born in 1821, was a "manufacturer of archery", as was his father, James Purle.

William and Eliza appear on the 1861 census, living at 4 Somerset Buildings in Walcot, Bath,

 

along with their children, Frederick aged 15, Alice 11, Laura 9, Harry 6 and Walter 3. William's occupation is recorded there also as a manufacturer of archery and it looks as though 15 year old Frederick is apprenticed to the trade.

William is also listed in the 1860-1865 Bath Post Office Directory as one of the city's archery dealers, at the same address as in the census, along with others: John Fare, S.C. Silverstone and Joseph Somerton, all trading in different parts of the city. It's noted that both our William and Mr Fare, as well as dealers, were also manufacturers and teachers.

An advertisement for his wares appear in the Bath Chronicle & Weekly Gazette, during 1864 and 1865, as well as in the Western Daily Press, Bristol, in 1865.

But it appears that William Purle only traded in Bath for a relatively short period in the 1860s.

During my initial research about the Purle family as archery manufacturers, I came across a mention of a particular arrow being made by "Purle of London". Indeed records suggest that William and Eliza left Bath for London immediately after their marriage, as their eldest son, Frederick was born in Marylebone a year later, in 1845, and their daughter Alice's birth was also registered there in 1850.

At this point, however, things begin to get confusing.

Despite William citing his birthplace on the 1861 census as "Somerset, Bath", he appears on the 1841 census, aged 20, living in London, with his father James and mother Elizabeth, and being born in the county of Middlesex. James is also apparently Middlesex born, though Elizabeth is not. William's occupation isn't given but his father James is recorded as a "bowyer" which is backed up by an entry in the 1841 edition of The London Post Office Directory as being "Purle James, bow and arrow maker" at 15 Stephen Street, off Tottenham Court Road.

There is a baptism record of a William, parents James and Elizabeth Purle in St Anne's, Westminster in 1821 which would seem to confirm his birthplace is London and not Somerset, but this James is recorded as being a coachman, rather than a bowyer. Is that because he'd not yet begun his career as an archery manufacturer or is this a different James? A James "Wilson" (possibly William?) Purle of around the same age, shows up on the 1851 census in Marylebone, Middlesex as being born in "Somersetshire", with wife Elizabeth (born 1801 in Herefordshire), and with sons Henry, Charles and Robert. Frustratingly, James's occupation is not noted. Henry is a carpenter, Charles is a coach trimmer and Robert is learning the same trade. Of course by now, their elder son William (if this is indeed our William's parents) is married to Eliza Mott Viner by now and living in.... where? Probably London, seeing as Alice was born there in 1850, though I haven't yet found the family recorded. The 1851 London census does have gaps, so perhaps this is the reason I've failed to track them down.

As to William's assertion in the 1861 census that he was Bath born, while it's not impossible that he was born in Bath and baptised in London, it may be that he felt that as he was trading in the city, it was commercially prudent to present himself as being a local!

So was William and Eliza's return to Bath an attempt to expand the trade beyond London? Was it something to do with Eliza's family, the Viners? It's worth noting here that it was around the 1860s that Eliza's brother, Richard Mott Viner (pictured above) moved to London with his family along with his parents Richard and Mary Ann Viner. Richard was a carpenter and Richard Mott was a tailor. Exact dates as to when they relocated are difficult to establish because both the 1851 and 1861 census lists seem to be missing many of the relevant Viners and Purles!

And so back to London once more, it seems, (for the moment, anyway) and evidence that the Purle's reputation in the archery trade was flourishing. Arthur Credland, the editor of the Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries, tells me that a certain James Duff (1870-1935) who had nearly fifty years' experience in archery, making longbows and arrows with the famous makers of the 19th century, said in his book on the subject: "During all the many years I was in London, the finest arrow maker known to me was Harry Purle."

It so happens that Eliza and William did have a son called Harry - Harry Richard Purle, to be exact, born in Leamington, in 1855. In fact there appears to be a key link back to Leamington - the two younger sons of William and Eliza's were born there.

Interestingly, in September 1860, there was a "group" baptism of all the Purle children except for Frederick (whose baptism had already taken place in Marylebone), in Leamington Priors (see left). So why here? Was archery big in Leamington and they'd moved there for the trade? There's certainly a street called Archery Street and I also came across an illustration of an Archery Competition in 1852 which took place in Jephson Gardens, a location renowned for entertainment of all sorts.

On contacting the Leamington History Group, their secretary kindly replied to inform me that, yes, Leamington was a major centre for Archery in the mid-Victorian period and for many years the National Championships were held there.

So did the Purle family supply the famous toxophilites of Leamington? Did they move there only for commercial reasons or did they have other links to the town? And another critical question came to light just as I thought that Eliza and William's son must be the famous Harry Purle, mentioned in James Duff's book, when I stumbled upon the death of Harry Richard Purle in 1881, aged only 26. What happened to him - did he have a nasty accident with a bow an arrow?

I'm afraid you'll have to wait for Part 2 to find out, as for now my investigations continue...

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If you want to look up ancestors who had a trade, a selection of Trade Directories of several areas of the country can be accessed online at Leicester University's Special Collection 

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Regular readers of this blog know that the distinguished Mr C J Vincent, pictured left, is a mystery man in the centre of my search-n-find radar.

The good news is that thanks to an online Q&A session with Ancestry Hour a couple of weeks ago, Tom of Forces War Records, identified (from his cap-badge in the photograph) that our man served in WW1's Tank Corps. This
has given me an exciting new line of enquiry, though, as ever, it's slow progress.

But as soon as there's something worth reporting, you'll be the first to know!