It must be the sun...

Well, something's bringing out criminals in my tree .....

I was furkling about, following the life of Thomas Pates .... born 1827 in Biggleswade, married Jane Hawkins in 1851 and begat seven children. They moved to Wellingborough in the early 1870s and John changed from being an ag lab to a shepherd.  So far, so very ordinary.

Then, noting his absence from the 1881 census, I looked for his death prior to that and there it was in 1878.  Idly thinking "he's quite young at 51", I returned to the main Ancestry page, to see that there was an entry in the England and Wales Criminal Registers Index.  In 1878.

Sharp intake of breath.  Surely not a black cap moment in court? Not a murderer?

Well, no, actually ... turns out he was up for larceny.  A bog-standard tea leaf.  Not sure whether I was disappointed or relieved!

But he never made it to trial:

"Evidence given that prisoner died since committal. Costs of prosecution ordered to be paid and recognisances of prosecutor and witnesses discharged."

Are we looking at a death in custody?  Don't think I'll be claiming against the constabulary - they'll probably charge me the prosecution costs!

More soon.

A third first!

So, the Easter Bunny has been - turned up on a bike, complaining that the Mis-Guided Busway has 'hills' in it - and very kindly deposited chocolate onto my lap. Nice!

And I've found another 'first' - a death at sea. Henry Sydney Culpin, aka Harry, was born in Godmanchester in 1877, the son of Harriet (and a father, obviously, but I'm blowed if I can find his name) and moved with the family to the Manchester area while he was still young. Mother (re)married circa 1900. Harry appeared with his grandparents in the 1881 census and was then conspicuous by his absence until I found him in the Probate Index.

But not in the Deaths Index. Curious, I thought, until I finally read the narrative of the Probate entry and found that he died at sea. That would explain it, I guess, but I need to do some research into where the details will be. Time to dig out my well-thumbed copy of Mark Herber's excellent reference 'Ancestral Trails' ..... he'll know!!

I also need to find him in the 1891 and 1901 censuses. I know he married in 1898 in Cheshire, to Georgina Lea, but I can't find her either. So they're hiding from me or I simply wasn't paying attention when I was sitting in the sun this morning with the computer ....

More soon.

Balancing ...

Following on from the mildly criminal soldier of my last entry, I thought I'd restore the balance by introducing you to Miss Daisy Ellen Culpin, born in Hackney in 1883.

Her father, Millice, took the family to Queensland in 1891 and Daisy, the youngest of six children, grew up to become a school teacher.  And then the Headmistress of an independent school in Toowoomba, as the Brisbane Courier-Mail of 19 June 1940 tells us:

Farewell to Fairholme College Principal

Toowoomba, Tuesday - Miss D.E. Culpin, who is retiring at the end of the week from the position of principal of Fairholme Presbyterian Girls' College, which she has held for 18 years, was farewelled at the school today, and presented by the Rev. Mervyn Henderson, principal of Emmanuel College and chairman of the Presbyterian Board of Education, with a cheque for £250 from the board.  The senior prefect (Olive McMahon) presented Miss Culpin with a wallet of notes from the staff and pupils.

Indeed the school's website is good enough to confirm Daisy's tenure: 

Miss Daisy Culpin became the third Principal of Fairholme (1922-1940) and also the longest serving Principal.  She guided the College through the formative period of the twenties and the difficult depression years of the thirties.  Consolidation and expansion of enrolments and the establishment of facilities were noteworthy features of her term of office.

See, a bit of respectability in the tree!  Wait till I tell you what I found today in the Aussie papers .....

More soon.

Australian Records

They're wonderful!

Australian Records, I mean. I've been following a line of Culpins in Victoria/New South Wales which started with John & Charlotte (nee Spurr). They emigrated in 1852 and ended up in the Ballarat area, begatting eleven children; sadly, at least five of them died in infancy (including four Williams) and a couple of them are still eluding me.

However, George (born 1863 in Italian Gully) married Catherine Bond and had eight children; Sarah (1845, Colsterworth, Lincs) married Alfred Hamea and had at least six children; Mary Ann (1849, Colsterworth) married John Crougey and added seven to the grandchildren total.

So far, the most info I have is on George's offspring, thanks to the wonderful newspaper site www.trove.nla.gov.uk and the Mapping our Anzacs site http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au.

So far I have found one son who beat his wife and was fined for Bad Language; incidentally he was also turned down for the AIF in the Great War.

Another son served three years in the Great War; his papers show a fair number of 'Absent without Leave' entries and being 'disrespectful' to his superiors which, given the circumstances, I actually found quite understandable! The newspapers tell us he's coming home in 1919.

Then they tell us that he lost his life in an accident at a railway station. Not sure yet, but looks as though he meant it, which makes it even more tragic.

Loads more to find out and report, so stay tuned!

More soon.

Wanted in connection ...

... with murder!!

The time: September 1888; The place: Eskbank, Sydney

Dramatis Personnae: George & Elizabeth Culpin, Reuben and Elizabeth Taylor.

According to the local papers (now on the Internet) the above-mentioned four were out for a stroll near the railway line and then had an argument, possibly alcohol-fuelled!

Next morning Mrs Taylor's body was found; cause of death was asphyxiation. Fortunately she hadn't been run over by a train (as the article pointed out). The coroner's jury couldn't make up its mind, despite being locked in a room for eight hours, and the Culpins & Taylor were remanded into custody to await trial.

Stay tuned for the outcome ....

More soon.

The learner driver ...

Nothing to do with genealogy but deserving of publication:

At a set of traffic lights locally, a queue of cars had built up behind a learner driver who kept stalling the engine. The other drivers were getting impatient and hooting their horns.

However, the car behind the learner contained members of the constabulary and, after the lights had changed a couple of times with no movement, the police driver turned on his loudspeakers and asked the drivers behind him to be patient, pointing out that 'we've all had to learn'.

Then the learner driver got the car in gear and moved off.

Backwards.

Into the police car.

Then the queue heard over the loudspeaker, 'Bloody stupid cow'!

Another first ...

As the title suggests, I hit another "first" this week, by discovering a Prisoner of War amongst my various & distant ancestors.

Blaydon Edward Pilbrow, for t'was he, was born in July 1899 to William & Laura (nee Blaydon) in the village of Hinderclay in Suffolk. He lived briefly in Ipswich, although he may well have been too young to notice (speculation, m'lud, no evidence!), and then the family returned to his birth place by 1911.

According to the Great War Service Records on Ancestry, Blaydon enlisted on 6 September 1917 at the age of 17yrs 359 days, then joined the British Expeditionary Force in France on 2 April 1918.  Three weeks later he was taken prisoner.

Blaydon died five months later, in the prison hospital in Metz.  I originally thought that Metz was in Germany but, having just looked it up, it seems to be in France - just south of Luxembourg and just north of Nancy.

So, the next thing to do is to look for information about POWs in the Great War .....

More soon