Distant connection - the Brampton Parish Hall Roll of Honour

It was bound to happen eventually ... I have found a connection between some of the men named on the Brampton Parish Hall Roll of Honour and my husband (aka the OH).  As I have been researching the OH's family history for the past twenty years or so I have come to realise that Barnsley really isn't that big a place. If your family has a line that stretches back two hundred years in the area, just beyond the census returns and into the realms of the parish records being the best available sources, there is a very good chance that you are connected to everyone else in the area who has equally long lines.

Quite a few years ago now I discovered that the OH's father and one of his best friends, who had for many years, with their wives, been accustomed to taking Tuesday nights off and going out for a drink together, were fifth cousins. I have shown that the OH is related to a number of his own friends, admittedly in some cases with marriage links rather than blood lines, and using the OH as an intermediary one of my BWMP (Barnsley War Memorials Project) colleagues was related to her husband!  These connections are usually via the OH's paternal grandmother Mary Blackburn; I have determined that thirteen of her great-grandparents (out of a possible sixteen) were born in the Barnsley area between 1800 and 1831. In comparison, on his mother's side not a single one of her great-grand parents were born in Barnsley!

Cropped section of the Brampton Parish Hall RoH
showing Joseph and Walter Savage's names

The connection with the Savage family is via a marriage link. In 1957 the OH's great aunt married into the Savages, a family who have been in Barnsley since about 1819.  George Savage, born 1767, his wife Mary and at least three of their eight children (that I am aware of) moved to Barnsley in time for the birth of their youngest son Joseph in 1819. They had previously lived in Newark in Nottinghamshire and George, head of the family, was a weaver. The OH's connection descends from that Joseph Savage born in Barnsley in 1819 and the two brothers on the Brampton Parish Hall Roll of Honour descend from his older brother, George Savage, born in Newark in 1806.

A short history of the Savage family by Vivian Thomas can be found in Moving Lives: Stories of Barnsley Families (Barnsley Family History Society, 2007). Vivian is the granddaughter of Walter Savage who was listed on the Roll of Honour and her article includes a photo of Walter in uniform. I confess that I have only just noticed this, my only excuse is that I bought the book years before I really started researching the OH's First World War relatives.

I have been researching the names on the Brampton Parish Hall Roll of Honour since the beginning of February. At a rate of one or two men a day, and with a hundred names on the list, it is not a quick job! Yesterday I reached Joseph and Walter Savage. I did wonder about them as Savage is not a common name in Barnsley, but with them being in Brampton I didn't immediately assume there was a connection to the Barnsley family I knew were related to my husband.

1911 census for 6 Wath Road, New Wombwell (from Ancestry)

My first search was in the 1911 census where I found the two men, obviously brothers, living at 6 Wath Road, New Wombwell, with their father George, mother Mary Jane and two other siblings, Charles and Sarah. The address is in the vicinity of most of the others I have traced on the Roll of Honour and therefore I accepted that I had found the correct men.  In a previous post I explain how most the men named (that I have researched so far) appear to come from a small area around the Concrete Cottages and Wombwell Junction.

I noticed that George Savage, the father of the assumed soldiers, was born in Barnsley in 1866, and my suspicions were aroused. It was fairly easy to find his marriage to Mary Jane Skiffington at St George's Church in Barnsley in 1886 on Ancestry and I saw that both he and his father Charles Savage were described as Publicans. I remembered that the Savages in the OH's family tree had run a few pubs so I tracked back one more generation. Charles Savage married Sarah Naylor at St George's Church in Barnsley in 1864 and his father was George Savage 'Inspector of Nuisances'. Yes, they were connected to the OH!  I wrote a post about the family in 2013.

1891 census for 1 and 2 Wombwell Junction, Guide Post Inn (from Ancestry)

In 1891 Charles Savage was running the Guide Post Inn at Wombwell Junction. George, his son, already married to Jane (aka Mary Jane), was still living in his father's household along with his sons Charles and Walter.  Charles had previously run the Melbourne Hotel on Sheffield Road in Barnsley which is where I found him and his family in the 1881 census.

1905 map snip of the Wombwell Junction area
(from National Library of Scotland)

Vivian Thompson, in her article in Moving Lives, refers to the triangle of houses with the Guide Post Inn at the apex (see map on left) as 'the three cornered hell' which seems a little harsh. She does not explain from where she got this term.

There is a picture of the pub on the Old Pictures of Barnsley Facebook site which probably dates from the 1960s as the houses behind it appear to have been demolished. In several of the comments attached to the picture the term 'three cornered hell' is also mentioned.

Walter Savage enlisted in the Royal Artillery in 1909 giving his address as 6 Wath Road, Wombwell and his occupation as Colliery Trammer. His place of birth was New Wombwell, which I have noticed is the term used for the area covered by the Junction and the Concrete Cottages.

You might have spotted that in 1911 he is listed as a Soldier in his father's census return. As George also includes a deceased child, Tom Savage, he appeared to interpret the census instructions very broadly, including all his children whether at home or not, so the presence of Walter on the return does not mean that he was living at home in 1911.

A further search of the 1911 census, now that I know Walter had enlisted in 1909, uncovered him in Kirkee, India (now known as Khadki) in an army barracks with the 81st Battery, Royal Field Artillery. Some information on the 81st Battery and the 5th Brigade of which it was part can be found on the Long, Long Trail website.  Walter's Medal Card, service number 54143, informs us that he reached a theatre of war (unspecified, so it could be Egypt or France) on 6 November 1914, which qualifies him for the 1914 Star. His rank was Gunner.  The Barnsley Chronicle on 13 November 1915 reports that he had a brief return home to Wombwell.

Corporal Walter Savage, R.F.A., on Wednesday, made an unexpected re-appearance amongst his family and friends at Wombwell Junction, Wombwell, after being absent for over six years. At the outbreak of war Savage was serving in India. The regiment was recalled after the outbreak of war, and he was drafted to France in October without having the pleasure of paying a visit to his home. He has seen a great deal of heavy fighting, but, fortunately, so far has received no injury. He was given a great reception by his old friends. Savage was once prominent in local football circles.

He was discharged on 1 January 1921 and the address he gave at that point was 74 Hawes Side Lane, Blackpool.  He had married Faith Hope Charity Pearson (lovely name!) on 24 December 1920 at Marton in Lancashire, presumably whilst on his final leave from the army. Marton is now a suburb of Blackpool and is very close to Hawes Side Lane. By 1939 he had moved around the corner to Powell Avenue. Walter and Charity (Vivian refers to her by this name) appear to have only had one child, Alice born in 1922 in Wombwell oddly enough.

Joe Savage, Walter's younger brother, enlists into the Territorial Force in June 1915 and joins the (West Riding) Royal Horse Artillery, service numbers 4050 and 831644. Joe's Service Records have survived and can be viewed on Ancestry and Find My Past. He was a tall man for the time, 5 feet 11.75 inches and with a 38 inch chest. He gives his father's address as 6 New Wombwell, but I assume this is the same as 6 Wath Road. He lands in France on 23 May 1916 and is wounded in the right leg in September 1917, but this does not appear to cause any lasting disability.  He was discharged on 13 March 1919 and gives his address as 6 Wath Road, New Wombwell. He marries Nellie Count on 21 September 1919 at St Mary's Church in Wombwell. They have three children, Betty who dies young, Jessie and George. In 1939 the family is living at 80 Wath Road in Wombwell. Joseph is listed as a Licensee - but of which pub?  Vivian's article helps again telling us that the Guide Post Inn was run by three generations of the family (although not continuously), Charles, George and Joseph before its closure in 1968.  Joseph apparently ran it for 38 years!

It is always nice to link the OH to pubs as he is a longstanding member of the Campaign for Real Ale (Barnsley Branch). But he hadn't heard of the Guide Post Inn before so I look forward to telling him his tenuous connection.

Thank you for reading.

The Moorhouse Family and the Pindar Oaks Hotel

First published in November 2016 in Barnsley CAMRA's BAR magazine

As part of a project to Remember all of Barnsley’s WW1 servicemen and women last year the Barnsley War Memorials Project transcribed the 1918 Absent Voters’ List which gives the names and military details of over 6,000 men from Barnsley who served in the war, most of whom came home safely. Two thirds of service records from WW1 were destroyed in the blitz in WW2 so this listing is often the only clue we have to these men’s time in the armed forces. A copy of the transcription can be found in Barnsley Archives where you can also view the original document on request. Pubs are not named in the Voters’ List but if on checking the address in the 1911 census the occupation of the residents suggests the pub trade the Tasker Trust website is the next place to call to find a photo of a lost pub.

The Moorhouse brothers, Ben and Henry appear in the Absent Voters’ list at 274 Doncaster Road. Ben is listed as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers and Henry as a Lance Corporal in the 4th Reserve Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Trying to find Ben on the Lives of the First World War website the only match available was a Captain Ben Moorhouse – but checking his Medal Index Card confirmed his home address as above, so he had been promoted quite rapidly. Only men who served abroad have medal cards and nothing could be found for Henry, suggesting he served his time entirely in the UK. 

Pinder Oaks Hotel copyright the Tasker Trust

In the 1911 census no. 274 Doncaster Road is named as the Pindar Oaks Hotel, and is the home of the Moorhouse family headed by George Henry Moorhouse, occupation beerhouse keeper, aged 38, married to Sarah, with five surviving children (a baby, Walter, died in 1897 aged just 3 months) living at home along with a niece, a servant girl and a visitor. His son Ben is 16 years old and ‘assisting in the business’, whilst Henry is 14 years old and is an apprentice joiner.

On the Tasker Trust website a search for the pub brings back this picture and a list of occupants covering one hundred years.

The first licensee listed was John Harper in 1872, then Henry Moorhouse took over in 1883. A quick search of local newspapers on the Find My Past website returns a few mentions of Henry at the pub. In September 1883 the York Herald reports that H Moorhouse of the Pinder Oaks Hotel, Measbro’ Dyke, offered £15 in prizes for a Pigeon Flying Leger which was advertised as the largest competition to take place in South Yorkshire for some time. The birds flew from Doncaster Railway Station to their own cotes at Ardsley and Barnsley. Henry advertises a Grocer’s Shop and House to let at Barugh Green in the Barnsley Chronicle in 1885, which could have been the family’s previous home. Henry died in June 1898 aged 66 and is buried in Barnsley Cemetery. The pub passed to his widow Betty and then on her retirement in 1908 to their son George Henry Moorhouse, who had previously been a Pork Butcher at 260 Doncaster Road. Betty dies in 1922 aged 84 and is buried with her husband. In 1929 George Henry and his wife Sarah retire to a nice new semi-detached house in Doncaster and their son Henry Moorhouse jnr, who had been the KOYLI soldier in WW1, takes over the pub very briefly until his death in October 1929 aged just 33. The next name listed on the Tasker site is Elsie Moorhouse, who is Henry jnr’s widow. The pub passes out of the family in 1932 with five more licensees until its closure in 1972.

Top of Portland Street (from Google Maps)

A picture from a similar viewpoint on Google Maps today shows new housing on Portland Street has replaced the pub.

The 49 year tenure of the Moorhouse family at the Pindar Oaks Hotel was not their only connection to the pub trade. Tracing the family backwards through the census returns before their arrival on Doncaster Road I found that they were at the Spencers Arms at Barugh in 1881. Henry Moorhouse snr, born 1833 in Hepworth, nr Holmfirth, is listed as a Beer Seller. Henry and his family were in Barugh at an unnamed establishment in 1871, where he was listed as a Miner and Publican. A newspaper cutting from 1869 mentions Henry Moorhouse applying for a spirit licence for a beerhouse in Ardsley, which was refused, but with a watching brief for the next year. In 1861 they were living at Low Hill, Higham and Henry’s occupation was solely as a Miner. The family appear to have progressed from a modest background and worked their way up by taking on various pub businesses and expanding over the years.

I did wonder why Ben Moorhouse, being the elder son, had not taken over the Pindar Oaks Hotel in 1929 when his father retired. It seems that obtaining a commission in the Royal Engineers during the war changed his life. He had enlisted early in the war, first arriving in France in October 1915. He was commissioned in September 1917 and would have had some special training as a ‘temporary gentleman’ as part of this. After the war he took a B.Eng Degree whilst still living at the Pindar Oaks Hotel. 

He married Phyllis Crossland, daughter of the Registrar at Barnsley Cemetery in 1924 giving his occupation as Engineer; his brother Henry had married her sister Elsie in 1920. He had finished his Electrical Engineering degree by 1927 because by then he and Phyllis had moved to a new semi-detached house in Osbaldwick near York. In 1939 he is a Works Manager for a firm of Chocolate and Confectionary Manufacturers in York (maybe Terry’s?). The Moorhouse family’s journey from coal miners to professionals had continued, helped along the way by Ben’s experiences in the First World War. No wonder he hadn’t wanted to take on the family pub!

John William Kilner killed WW1 - Connections to the White Horse Hotel Chapeltown

I suppose you could say that I have two major hobbies, history and beer.  I have been a CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) member since 1992 and I have been researching family history for nearly as long.  About four years ago I really started getting interested in the First World War and I have been a supporter of the Barnsley War Memorials Project (BWMP) since it began in early 2014. Their project to index all the war time (August 1914 - March 1919) issues of the Barnsley Chronicle has almost reached a successful conclusion with just a couple of months worth of issues yet to be transcribed.  I have contributed a few issues, in between my other WW1 volunteer work for the Imperial War Museum (IWM), mainly because I find indexing a nice calming and yet fascinating job.

Barnsley Chronicle 30 October 1915
with thanks to Barnsley Archives

Today I was looking the 30 October 1915 issue of the Barnsley Chronicle (with thanks to Barnsley Archives for letting the BWMP have access to the digital version) and amongst a gallery of photos of fallen soldiers on the front page I spotted a familiar name.  The soldier was a Private Kilner and his picture was very clear. 

As the years progress and the numbers of casualties increase the images get smaller and grainier (is that a word?) but in 1915 the newspaper still managed to print nice clear photos - depending on what they had been given by the families I suppose.

There are Kilners from Mapplewell and Smithies in the OH's family tree - a connection by marriage and marriage again admittedly, but I traced them years ago idly wondering if there was a link to the Kilner family of the famous jar. Who, as revealed on 'Who Do You Think You Are?' a few years ago, are related to Jeremy Clarkson, previously of 'Top Gear'.

I searched for other mentions of Private Kilner and found that a piece reporting his death was apparently in the previous issue of the newspaper, 23 October 1915.  The index the BWMP is creating is being made available as a printed copy on the open shelves of Barnsley Archives and the Project have also supplied the Archives with a searchable digital version. The index just gives a few words about each entry for a serviceman or woman, but I could see that John William Kilner was from Chapeltown, so probably not a relative of the OH's relatives.  

J W Kilner is listed on Chapeltown War Memorial

Having invested a little time in this soldier I didn't want to let him go until I'd found out more about him.  There is a really good website for Sheffield Soldiers in WW1 and Sheffield Memorials, so I looked Pte Kilner up on that. Sure enough he is remembered on the memorial in Chapeltown Park. I also looked him up on Lives of the First World War, only to discover that I had already remembered him as a Barnsley connected soldier!  He had apparently attended Barnsley Holgate Grammar School and is remembered on the Old Boys memorial which is now in the Cooper Art Gallery in Barnsley.

I have a copy of the recent book, 'Great Sacrifice', about the men and boys remembered on the Grammar School memorial, so I looked up John William Kilner. In 1911 John's father, William Kilner, was the landlord of the White Horse Hotel in Market Place, Chapeltown. Ah, ha! Now there is a pub involved in the story I am getting very interested. The piece from the 23 October issue of the Chronicle has been fully transcribed in the book and William Savage, sanitary inspector of Barnsley, which sounds quite important, is mentioned as the soldier's uncle.  So John William was quite connected to Barnsley despite my disappointment in him not being another branch for the OH's family tree.

But is he not?  

As it happens there are also Savages in the OH's family. I met his great-uncle by marriage, who is a Savage, at a family gathering and I did some work on his line for him following a lovely chat at that meeting.  The Savage family came to Barnsley from Newark in Nottinghamshire, in the early 19th century and set up as Linen weavers.  Before long they had expanded into more into the business end of things, becoming warehousemen and linen factors.  In 1864 George Savage was the Inspector of Nuisances in Barnsley (what a lovely title!) There is a lot more about the Savage family in a little book by the Barnsley Family History Society called 'Moving Lives'. Once I had completed my calculations it turned out that Pte Kilner was the OH's great-uncle's 3rd cousin once removed! 

I have found a photo of the White Horse Hotel in Chapeltown.  I have asked for permission to use it on my blog, but in the meantime here is a link to the picture on the Ecclesfield District Archives.  If I get permission I might write more about the Kilners and the Savages their links to another pub in the Chapeltown area. 

Leaving you on that hopeful note - thanks for reading!
 

The Meaning Behind a Beer Name - Double Maxim Beer and my cousin Ernest Vaux

My choice when I got up today was to do a bit of work on the Imperial War Museum's War Memorials Register (I am slowly adding all of Barnsley's 640+ war memorials to their website), or to continue working my way through my ancient 'to-do' list.  Put on one side in 2012 when I began researching war memorials for a talk commissioned by the Friends of Barnsley Archives I have barely touched my own family history for over four years.

Descendants of John Storey Vaux of Sunderland (I use Family Historian)

Several items on my list refer to the Vaux family of Sunderland.  I am distantly related to this well known brewing family, as my first cousin 4x removed, Harriet Douglas, b.1837 in Sunderland, married John Storey Vaux in 1861. In the snip above little tags after the boxes for each person indicate which census returns I have found them.  These 'flags' can be customised in Family Historian to indicate all kinds of facts, I have just added a little cannon to Ernest Vaux to show that he was a soldier prior to WW1 and a 'Tommy' symbol to show he served in WW1. Other than those two military flags this is how I found this part of my family tree this morning. It's a bit thin on the ground!

If you look at this old post about a Vaux family gravestone in Bishopwearmouth Cemetery you will see an even earlier version of this tree section which includes a previous generation of the Vaux family.  There are quite a lot of Vaux's for me to research.  But today's connection combines two of my favourite things - WW1 and beer!

Maxim Beer Label (from Zythum - An Ale Anthology)

This is reason that I wanted to write about one of the Vaux family today.  It is a beer bottle label, possibly dating back to 1901.  I wonder how many people know that the present beer name refers back to a machine gun!

Double Maxim Beer label (from Sunderland CAMRA's site)

The original beer, Maxim Ale, was apparently first produced to celebrate the return from the Boer War of my 2nd cousin 3x removed, Major Ernest Vaux.

Captain E Vaux South Africa Medal and Clasps (from Ancestry)

He had commanded Maxim guns in the 5th Imperial Yeomanry during operations in the Transvaal, Orange River Colony and Cape Colony. He was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal in 1901 with clasps commemorating these campaigns, see snip above from UK Campaign Medals on Ancestry. He was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in November 1901 (from Wikipedia).

The websites I have looked at today offer slightly different stories about the origin of the 'Double' which now forms an integral part of the name.  The Maxim Brewery site suggests that the beer was originally quite strong, but the strength was reduced because landlords complained their customers were falling asleep.  Both this site and Zythum - An Ale Anthology do agree that the strength of the beer was doubled in 1938 and at this point the name was changed to reflect this.  I wonder if the strength was originally reduced during WW1 when legislation was brought in to reduced the detrimental affect of alcohol consumption on the war effort?

Major Ernest Vaux on a cigarette card dating from the Boer War
(saved in 2012 from a now closed website)

After his return Ernest Vaux married in 1906 to the daughter of a local shipowner.  I have mentioned before how my Sunderland family branches worked and married within a close community of middle class business families.  The middle names of their children frequently reflect the surnames of mothers and of other local families, maybe those of godparents or other relatives. For example Ernest's fourth child and only son was baptised Peter Douglas Ord Vaux in December 1913. Douglas will refer to his grandmother's maiden name and Ord to his mother's.

Lt-Col Ernest Vaux (from a Sunderland newspaper website)

When the Great War began in 1914 Ernest Vaux, being an experienced old soldier, stepped forward immediately. He had commanded the 7th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry since 1911. He reached France in 19 April 1915 where he was mentioned in dispatches many times. Lieutenant Colonel Vaux was invalided home in April 1918 suffering from dysentery. He died in 1925 aged 60.  You can find his page on Lives of the First World War here.

A few months ago I regaled some the OH's CAMRA colleagues with this story during a beer tasting in Maison Du Biere at Elsecar Heritage Centre after spotting a bottle of Double Maxim for sale.  I've been meaning to write it down ever since.

Thanks for reading.