The Farrers of Pontefract- Watch Makers

Our prompt for creating a layout this week was Occupations. I have several that Id like to do a layout about but I chose to start with the Farrers of Pontefract because, well I thought that being Watchmakers might be easier to find out something about their work than some of my ancestors who were Agricultural Labourers or other less interesting professions.

But in actual fact I really had quite a bit of trouble finding out  much specific about the Farrers watch and clock making business  ( except I did find a bankrupcy discharge notice for Joshua Farrer from 1831.

I notice it says here his real estate will be sold – I must investigate what he owned and where he went after this.

 

Anyway back to my layout. It came together quite quickly and Im quite happy  with this layout even though I have no photos of Benjamin nor Joshua Farrer at this point. I used my Secret Desires Value Collection and a few other clock themed embellishments from other kits – and used the Census and a photo of  a Benjamin Farrer watch that I found on google to illustrate this layout.

My journalling here reads:

The earliest watches were made before 1600, but they were driven by weights and not particularly practical for carrying, and were not particularly accurate either. The was no precise way to cut the gears and so that the art of watchmaking was not particularly accurate. - however the popularity of the time piece grew and watches became more of a jewellery piece and were engraved, enamelled and pierced decoratively. These pieces which could be quite ostentations were worn as a pendant or a pocket watch. The original cylinder design changed to the circular hinged domed cover device . By 1625 though with the Puritan Movement the unadorned watch became more popular for men .
Gradually accuracy was increased with the introduction of balance and spiral springs and because of this increase in accuracy, a minute hand and dial subdivided into minutes was added.
It was by the late 1700s that watches became accurate enough to be significantly useful and by 1800 the pocket chronometer was a readily available accurate time piece.
Benjamin and Joshua Farrer were part of a family of watch and clock makers based in the Pontefract region .The family had been making time pieces since as early as the late 1600s. It is understood that there was an Abraham and a William Farrer who could have been brothers or father and son who were highly proficient clock makers based in Pontefract. by 1690. - Charles Farrer who was born in 1761 and based himself in Doncaster, was making beautiful, ornately painted long case clocks .
Benjamin and Joshua born 1788 and 1790 respectively were brothers both listed in various trade directories in the early 19th century as Silversmiths, watch and clock makers, and at least one son of Benjamin carried on the family business

The Loss of a part of a Generation of Allingtons

I’m still really interested in one particular branch of  my family and that is the ABBOTT Family. ( Ive posted before about Sarah Ann Abbott).
One thing that interested me was that one of her daughters, Phoebe, married a George ALLINGTON. This is interesting because Sarah Ann’s maiden name was ALLINGTON.
Sarah Ann ALLINGTON n was the fourth child of John and Mary ALLINGTON , and was born in Stretton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire.
Sarah Ann and her husband Henry ABBOTT emigrated to New Zealand in 1874 aboard the ship “Tweed”
I started to wonder if any  of the other members of the ALLINGTON family emigrated to New Zealand as well. A quick search of the NZ Immigration Passenger Lists records at familysearch.org gave me the information I needed.

Indeed 2 of Sarah Ann’s male relatives  bought their families to New Zealand in 1874. Both nephew Charles, and his wife Hannah, and brother George and his wife also named Hannah, and their children Emily, Elizabeth, George and William arrived in New Zealand aboard the ship Crusader in 1874


and sister Lucy and her husband James WEST, and their children George,Edward and William arrived on the Tweed with Sarah Ann and Henry


The other two daughters may well have emigrated here as well but I have no evidence of that at this time.

Anyway on with my story. – Of course  my first thought was that Phoebe may have married her first cousin George Allington ( second son of George and Hannah Allington) – but it doesnt pay to make assumptions in family history, and I would have been wrong because in the Chistchurch Star on Friday 14th April was posted the following

Friday  14 April  1893
Marriage  - 
ALLINGTON  -  BRISTOW  -  George,  2nd son of Geo. Allington,  of Warwickshire,  England,   to   Nellie Bristow,  nee Keeble,  3rd daughter of Geo.                        Keeble,  of Essex, England.
 
More research of the Allington name bought up some rather sad and disturbing news.
You will remember my post earlier about George Earnest ALLINGTON( son of Phoebe and her husband George)  who was one of the many casualties of WW1. Well it turns out he wasnt the only ALLINGTON casualty of WW1.
I found the following information from the Cenotaph Database
 
ALLINGTON – Samuel
Died in 1916 of Wounds, he fought in France and Egypt

• August 1915 Samuel Allington falls ill in Dardanelles and is admitted to H.S Ulysses, and transfered to hospital at Abassia, Egypt.
• 5 December admitted to NZGH, Cairo, suffering from influenza.
• 20 January 1916 fell ill and spent time at Pontak Koubbeh Hospital, and NZGH, Cairo, and at the base depot at Ghezireh. (Church, p.67)
• Private Allington was the son of Charles and Hannah Allington, of 4, Leinster Rd., St. Albans, Christchurch, New Zealand.
• On 27 September Samuel Allington received gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and chest while involved in the Battle of Morval in the Somme.

he is buried at Brokenhurst Churchyard Hampshire England , Plot A Row 2 Grave 8, and
 
ALLINGTON – William George

 
Son of Mrs. Nellie Allington, of Richardson Rd., Mount Albert. Auckland, New Zealand.
Last Unit Served Wellington Infantry Regiment
Place of Death Ypres, Belgium
Date of Death 4 October 1917
Age at Death 30
Year of Death 1917
Cause of Death Killed in action
Cemetery Name Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Grave Reference XIII. E. 12.
 
The Allington name certainly has did  their country proud, giving 3 young men  to the madness of WW1.

An Historic Vessel–The history of the Phenella , built by Samuel Middlebrook

Samuel Middlebrook, my 2x Great Grandfather was a fairly well known identity in Katikati which he had a hand in founding, by being the one to lead George Vessey Stewart into the area with his group of Irish Settlers. He remained living in the area until not long before his death and for many of the latter years of his life lived aboard his boat the “Phenella”

Here is a layout that recounts the history of the boat, both during and well after Sam’s death.

 

Journalling on the layout reads:

Built on the Uretara River in the early 1900s by Sam Middlebrook with help from his friends William Mulgrew and Noble Johnston, the 28 foot long Phenella was a well known vessel in the Kati Kati area. It was Sam Middlebrook's second boat, the first having been wrecked by a stray kauri log in a flood on the Tuapiro River. It was built as a houseboat and in fact Sam did live on the boat for more than 20 years in the latter part of his life. Most of the hardware on board including the “Union Engine” was salvaged from the wreck of the previous boat, the Monuwai. It was fitted with a Mast and Sails and often was sailed on the harbour.
Sam used Totara for the hull, and Kauri for the upper works of the boat.
Sam was an excellent and experienced boatman with an expert knowledge of the Tauranga Harbour; and on one occasion was responsible for saving the lives of a party of excursionists caught by a storm on the harbour. When Sam “retired” to Waihi, the boat was sold to a Mr Blomquist, the Chairman of the Tauranga Harbour Board who renamed it the “Whanganella”. During World War II it was designated a rescue craft in case aircraft flying off the Mount Maunganui aerodrome crashed into the harbour, but it was only once called out due to its mooring on the Uretara River and it could only get out to the harbour on the high tide. On one occasion one of the RNZAF planes made a mock dive bombing attack on the Whanganella when it was out on the harbour.
When Mr Blomquist died the boats ownership was passed to a Mr Claude Hume. By this time age and years had caught up with the old vessel, but its totara hull was still sound , though the kauri upper-works had to be entirely rebuilt by a professional boat builder.
Mr Hume kept the boat for 20 years on the harbour near his home at Matahui, and he cruised in it extensively, going as far afield as the Bay of Islands. He renamed it the Kotuku and then this name was retained when the boat was once again sold to a Mr Lomas who took ownership in 1971.
When Mr Lomas had a minor collision with a wharf, the boat builder who repaired the boat said the hull was as sound as the day it was built over 50 years before.
In fact the timber in the hull where two planks needed repairing was so hard that he could not saw out the damaged pieces, and they had to be burned off.
I wonder if the old boat is still sailing now. It certainly would have some stories to tell .

An Interesting Character–William McClellan

 

One of my most interesting family branches is the McClellan/Brodie branches.

My maternal Grandmother was a McClellan, and it is her grandparents that form the basis of a MOST interesting story. I still am in the throes of researching and Im sure it wont be a quick job but what Ive learned so far would make for a great family saga novel!!

We can start the story in Stronsay, in the Orkneys in the far far north of Scotland .

One Betsy BRODIE ( born about 1838 ) daughter of John and Eliza BRODIE married one John LENNIE, a blacksmith in July 1841.

They had 3 children, David, John Gorrie and Catherine and in 1870 when Catherine was not yet 2 they made the long voyage far south to New Zealand, aboard the ship “Merope “

 

Its a little hard to distinguish but the notation on the side indicates they were heading for Kowhai Pass, but for whatever reason they settled in Pleasant Point.

They had a further 2 children, in 1871 and 1875 and then sadly in July 1876 John Lennie died aged just 42, widowed with 5 children, it appears Betsy Brodie didnt waste time and in February 1877 she married William McClellan, a fellow Scot, from the Isle  Wighorn. ( She married as Elizabeth  Brodie not Lennie)

In July 1877 she had a further child, also named William McClellan ( my Great Grandfather) .

From this time onwards their life is a bit of a mystery which Im still researching. It appears Willliam took the children as his own, some of them even used the McClellan surname later in life.  John Gorrie died aged 17. Catherine married at age 16 to a man 17 years her senior and had 12 children in the subsequent 18 years before dying in childbirth.

William ( and it appears John Lennie before him)  was a member of various lodges in Pleasant Point including the Independent Order of  Good Templars.

This testimonial though from the Salvation Army “War Cry” gives you a wonderful insight into the man who appears to have been quite the character.

“ A sinner, saved by grace through the instrumentality of the Salvation Army, an old man-of-war’s man, a hard smoker and chewer of 43 years, at one time a terror to the Army,but now a Salvation Soldier”

 

Sometime after  their marriage, the family moved from Pleasant Point, near Timaru, to Woodville in the South Hawkes Bay/Manawatu area. 

Quite a strange move for those days I would say, and I’m not sure of the reason but it appears they became boarding house keepers, managing the Post Office Temperance Hotel in Woodville which came up for sale in 1887

.

You can see an old photo of the hotel from the Alexander Turnbull Library Archives here. The building in fact is still standing – currently the Atmosphere Gallery.

 

Sadly though , in 1894 Betsy was to be widowed for a second time, when William died , aged 56 of Cancer of the Stomach

 

 

There were several small notices in the Woodville Examiner regarding Williams death.

The Woodville Examiner Friday December 14 1894

We regret to record the death of Mr McClellan, of the Post Office Temperance Hotel. Deceased was for many years a seafaring man. About six months ago his health began to fail, and it was ascertained that he suffered from cancer of the stomach, the disease gaining head way till resulting in his death yesterday afternoon. Deceased leaves a widow and son. The funeral will take place on Sunday at 2pm.

and then over the next couple of weeks the following items were printed

“Mr Sandel has kindly undertaken to have raffled a large picture worked in wool by the late Mr McClellan, the proceeds of which will go the widow and family. There are 48 tickets of 5s each, and there are still about 20 tickets to be taken up. The permission of the Colonial Secretary has been obtained to the disposal of this picture in the above manner. As soon as the remaining tickets are taken up the date of the drawing will be duly notified.”

 

Drawing for Picture by Late Mr McClellan

As the list of members for the raffle for the large picture worked in wool, is now filled up, all interested in same will please attend at the Masonic Hotel, on Wednesday, the 26^th inst., at 8 pm, when the said picture will be raffled for.

On the evening of Boxing Day about twenty assembled at the Masonic Hotel to take part in the lottery for the large wool picture worked by the late Mr McClellan, and the proceeds of which, amounting to about 12 pound, will go to the aid of the widow and family. Mr Haggen was the successful drawer and handed the picture over to Mrs McClellan as a memento of her late husband. Mr Sandel generously went to a lot of trouble in organising and carrying through the drawing.

 

Elizabeth ( Betsy) moved to Wellington not long after and remained a boarding house keeper. William was married by the Salvation Army in 1900 – forming a connection with the Grant and Abbot families – both lines of my family strongly involved in the Salvation Army Church.

Elizabeth lived until 1924 and is buried in Karori Cemetery in Wellington.

I’m sure there is much more to this family story- Im yet to find Williams naval career records, and cant pin down  with complete certainty his parents and whether he had any siblings or a previous marriage, and Im aware there is definitely more to the story of the Lennie children, so I’m determined to delve deeper!!

A Family Story Proven False

A few posts back I mentioned the family mystery regarding our link to the Archbishop of Canterbury Frederick William Farrar.

I mentioned in that post how many years ago ( 38 years ago to be exact) my Great grandfather had written out a family tree story of sorts explaining this link, but that at least 8 years ago this letter had become misplaced.

Well last week I was cleaning out some old cookbooks to give to charity, and blow me down, what was underneath one pile, but the letter from my Great Grandfather

 

The letter goes into some detail about the life of the Archbishop, details of which I can only assume my Great Grandfather got from an encyclopedia, because he certainly didnt get it from any personal connection with Dean Farrar.

On the second page of the letter near the top he says, and i quote “ The Deans Sister Ellaen Farrar married one, Middlebrook in England and came to New Zealand about the year 1860, This union produced Samuel Middlebrook “ Palou” and his daugther Ellen Winifred became your Nana and Great Grandmother.”

 

Well the one grain of truth here is that Ellen Farrer did marry John Middlebrook in England. They did come to New Zealand in 1862 and the union did produce Samuel Middlebrook and then his daughter was Ellen Winifred my Great Grandmother, however that is where the truth ends and I must respectfully put my Great Grandfather right.

Ellen Farrer was NOT the sister of Dean Frederick William Farrar Archbishop of Canterbury. She was born before the Dean, and it would appear as far as I can establish that Frederic William Farrar had no older sister at all!

From the marriage of Charles Pinhorn Farrar and Caroline Turner there were the following children, Henry Jeffreys Farrar, Frederic William Farra and Vernon Farrar. All three born, not in England but in India!

Charles remarried and had two further children, Charles Ernest and Mary.

My research is that Ellen Farrer ( my 3x Great Grandmother ) was in fact the daughter of Benjamin Farrer, and Ellen Thompson clock and watchmaker of Pontefract.

This fact is further proven by the names of several of her her children including the name Thompson as a middle name.

And the transcription from the English Marriage register lists

First Name  -  ELLEN

Last Name  -  FARRER

Collections from  -  United Kingdom

Country  -  England

Record set  -  England & Wales marriages 1837-2008

County  -  Yorkshire

Year  -  1847

Spouse Forename  -  JOHN

Spouse Surname  -  MIDDLEBROOK

 

So I can now with as much certainty as I can muster say that my Great Grandfather was wrong. Where the story originated I don’t know and probably never will. ( He was not part of the Farrer family at all but married to Ellen Winifred Middlebrook my Great Grandmother.)

There is a remote chance that several generations back there may be a link between teh two families.

Charles Pinhorn Farrar’s Grandfather was John Farrar of Doncaster ( 1735- 1825), and there was a branch of the Farrer clockmakers family in Doncaster before the mid 19th Century .

Charles Farrer was born about 1761, probably at Pontefract though we do not know his father. He married in Doncaster in 1790 to Ann Cookson. He died suddenly at Pontefract in 1817 at the age of fifty six, probably on a visit to his family. His widow lived on at Doncaster till 1842, when she died aged 76. Joshua Farrer, born at Pontefract about 1771, also worked in Doncaster and was probably the brother of Charles. Joshua died in 1838, his widow in 1845.

Whether either of these two Farrers are related to the John Farrar of Doncaster who was the Great Grandfather of Frederic William Farrar I dont know at this stage, but if I ever prove a link I will be sure to toast my Great Grandfather who with his “letter of fiction” started me on my genealogical journey.

What’s in a Name–RALPH

 

I’ve known since I was a child that my mothers family was rife with “family” names. Names that have been passed down through the generations, Surnames that became middle names, or even Christian names and while I wasn’t given one, nor did I  chose any for my children, I now really love that tie to the past that those names deliver.
What I didn’t realise was that my fathers name was indeed a “Family” name as well.  The name Ralph appears to have been in the family since 1807.
Ralph Deakin, A Coal miner from Dawley, Shropshire, was the fifth son of Thomas Deakin, ( also a collier) . I imagine after 4 previous sons, he and his wife had run out of family names and named their son Ralph.  This is the first instance of the name that I can find in the family .  Ralph also had a son named Ralph, but it was through the marriage of his daughter Jane Ellen to Richard Glazebrook Poole that a line of Ralph Pooles was born.  Their eldest son took the name of Jane’s father and was christened Ralph Poole ( with no middle name) . He married Mary Garbett, and at that point they nearly broke the chain, for whatever reason, none of Ralph and Mary’s 3 sons were named  Ralph, but their eldest son Samuel chose to re-establish the name and his eldest son carried the name Ralph Poole ( no middle name) . That Ralph, my grandfather named his only son Ralph Poole, also with no  middle name.
My parents also passed on the name Ralph, but as a middle name to my brother, and my fathers Aunt also named one of her sons Ralph.

 

A Death in France ( or Belgium)

 

How is it that a life was valued so little that even when fighting for his country records cant even state the country that a young man died. Such I assume was because of the vast waste of life that the “Great” War of 1914 – 18 was.

 

He’s not the only member of my ancestral family of course to die in the “Great War” which took the lives of most of a generation of young men of the time, but George Ernest Allington seems to me to be such a good looking man, and it was a bit of luck that his war records were available to be downloaded from the NZ Archives.

George Ernest was the son of George ALLINGTON  and Phoebe ALLINGTON ( nee Abbott). Phobe was the daughter of Sarah Ann Abbott who I have posted about before.

( as a side note its interesting Phoebe married a man named Allington as this was her Mother’s maiden name. One wonders if there is more of a connection than cooincidence – Allington is hardly a common name!.

Anyway back to poor George Ernest Allington. I must say what hit me the most when reading his military records was how little information they contained. If I was the mother of a young man fighting for his country I would want more details than are listed in the reports. Im sure times have changed markedly and a life given for the country is much more highly valued now.

From his records – compressed into a mere 2.3 MB pdf file ,it appears he spent some time in a base hospital after being “unsuccessfully” vaccinated for typhoid. I’m not sure what effect an unsuccessful vaccination would have but he it appears he was in the Base hospital in Cairo for over 2 months between September and November 1915 .

He rejoined his Unit from hospital in January 1916, and then in April embarked for France.

On July 22nd he was promoted to Lance Corporal and then in January 1917 promoted again to Corporal , though in May of that year he once again was sent to hospital, this time only spending a week before rejoining his Battalion in France on the 12th of May.

On 16th June he was promoted to Temporary Sergeant (one wonders if he was replacing someone else who had died that day, and in fact on that very same day he was promoted,the report simply lists “Killed in Action”. No more detail than that – just another casualty,  and in fact – even the country he died in seems to be unknown. Under Place it says “ In the field, FRANCE or BELGIUM

Posthumously decorated with the 1914- 15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal – not much of a victory for his Mother.

 

POSTSCRIPT:

The NZ Wargraves Project has a memorial at Messines Ridge – Maybe he did die there, or maybe not – his records really dont tell us – Interestingly the wargraves project has a date of death 2 days earlier than his records too, and the page for the wargraves website states : There are no stories for this casualty. – isnt that pretty much the story of most of these men. It really seems like it was a reflection of how the troops on the ground were valued about as much as some replaceable commodity.