Every cloud has one they say. Following the “demo” on 18th August my granddaughter and I went to the meeting at The Pilgrim. En route I met Heidi of Milbanke Close, with her children. She is one of the organisers and I thanked her and promised support to Protect Brislington’s Green Spaces.  At the pub we signed the petitions. Not that petitions do much good from my experience of working for a Member of Parliament.

The Pilgrim has Pillinger connections – the widowed Maria Pillinger (her husband was accidentally killed on Brislington Hill) was landlady there in the middle of the 19th century.

In the pub, I struck up a conversation with a kindred spirit, Jill Jacobs. Much to my surprise, after such a brief acquaintance, Jill thrust a sheaf of old photos into my hand and said she would trust them with me, until we should meet again.  I must have an honest face.

The photos were of the Burt family who lived in Brislington at the turn of the 20th century. I scanned the photos – see below. The family groups, Bob & Agnes Burt and their children were dated 1914 and 1905, making them ideal for census investigation.

In 1911, the family is listed as follows:

Robert Burt, head, married 36, bricklayer, born Bristol

Agnes Burt, wife, 37, born Wellington, Somerset, and their children:

Elsie, 14, scholar, born Taunton, Clifford, 13, scholar, born Taunton, Hilda, 11, scholar, born Taunton, Gladys, 10, scholar, born Bristol and Ivy, 8, born Bristol.

And here’s the surprise. They were living at Nelson’s Glory, Brislington. So what, you may say. Readers of The History of the Pillinger Family, Part 2, will know that Nelson’s Glory, in the 1820s was the abode of Henry Pillinger and his family! Synchronicity, or what?

So there we have Maria, the landlady of the Pilgrim and Henry at Nelson’s Glory, not to forget Julia from Bath in a previous post, I can’t help thinking that they’re all upstairs holding a Pillinger symposium to which they are trying to invite me. Not yet, I earnestly hope.

The following are the photographs of the Burt family:

In 1905: Mother : Agnes Burt. Father: Bob Burt

children from left to right Hilda, Ivy, Elsie, Gladys, Clifford.

In September, 1914:

Mother: Agnes Burt; Father Bob Burt and in between, Lena, the latest arrival.

adult children, from left to right: Hilda, Elsie, Cliff, Gladys, Ivy

Gladys Burt in 1922, with unnamed boy friend at Poplar House, School Road,  Brislington.

Bob Burt, 1935 at Poplar House.

Agnes Burt, with “Bob” – a grandson? and John Evans also at Poplar House

Agnes & the family dog, what a shame we don’t know its name.

Robert Burt married Agnes Thorne in 1897 at Wellington and by 1901 they were living at 34 Sandgate Road, Brislington. As a bricklayer, perhaps Bob had a hand in the building of these new houses. It must have been a recent move for as we have seen their children, aged 3, 2 & 1, Elsie, Clifford and Hilda, had all been born in Taunton.

In 1891 Robert, then about 14, was living at Road, Stoke St Mary, Taunton with his elder brother Albert (18) and widowed mother Sarah, aged 44. Though the two boys had been born in Bristol, Sarah’s birthplace was Old Cleeve in Somerset. Robert and Albert were the sons of Sarah’s marriage to Robert Burt and she had a previous son, William Tarr, born 1863.  Robert senior died in 1876, the same year that his son and namesake was born.  In 1881, Sarah, then 36, was living at 14 Kenilworth Terrace, St Philips, and working as a charwoman. Two of her sons were with her, William Tarr, aged 18, (a porter in a printing office who was born at Washford in Somerset) and young Robert, a scholar of five. Brother Albert, aged seven was staying at the time of the census with his paternal grandmother, Mary Ann Burt, aged 60, a widow, who was farming at Thurlbear in Somerset, assisted by her son, Andrew Burt.

In 1871, young William Tarr, aged seven, was a boarder at a house at St Decumans, Highbridge, belonging to a Sarah Sully, aged 68. Among other boarders was a John Burt, a freestone sawyer, born Montacute, but without further research I cannot say whether John Burt and Robert Burt senior were related or if this was simply coincidence.  Meanwhile, Robert, senior, 21, was living on his father’s farm, Netherclay, Thurlbear with six brothers and sisters. His father, Worthy Burt, born about 1823 married Mary Ann Williams at Taunton in 1847. Her father, Robert Williams, an “Ag lab” born 1789 was living with the family in 1871.  I have yet to establish with any certainty the whereabouts of Sarah Burt, formerly Tarr in 1871.  

In order to find more about Agnes Thorne, I would need her marriage certificate to discover her father’s name. So far, census searches have proved inconclusive.

The Bristol Times is a supplement in the Evening Post which appears on Mondays. Recently, there has been correspondence about Bristol South Baths which was used for other activities rather the obvious. I sent my contribution which appeared on Monday 26th July

“Your letters about Bristol South Baths brought back memories happy and sad. As well as roller skating they used to have pantomimes there with the performers amazingly strutting their stuff across the boards laid out over the water. My mother took me and my little brother, by bus from Kingswood, in the early fifties. The strapping “principal boy” was a traditional thigh slapping female and perhaps the pantomime was “Dick Whittington” for I remember joining in singing the bizarre “Open the Door, Richard”.

As to roller skating, about six years later, when working as a petrol pump attendant at Jack Lamb’s Garage in Downend, I became friends with a boy called Barry Turton who worked in the butcher’s across the road. Once a week we would roar off on his motor bike, me on the back, through the freezing fog of the winter nights. Arriving at Bristol South we would join the queue to hire the unwieldy skates which had to be strapped on over your shoes. The most decrepit and ancient pair, with a broken leather toe piece and/or missing laces always seemed to be reserved for me. Some “posh” people had their own skates. What luxury! The noise was deafening: the shouts and screams as people fell over, the racket the wheels made on the wooden boards magnified by the ever present swimming pool echo. I was a useless skater and stuck close to the side but Barry, who was very handsome, treated his fans to an exhibition of fancy footwork in the middle of the arena.

The next summer I went away for six months travelling round Europe (I was a little ahead of my time) – and when I returned home in the autumn of 1959, I heard the tragic news that Barry had been accidentally killed in a motor-cycle accident. He was nineteen.”

Last night, the 28th July, I was delighted to receive a telephone call from Barry’s younger brother, Roger, who by coincidence is visiting the UK from Australia where he now lives. We were able to share a few more memories of Barry. He told me that his mother died a few years ago but that she would have been very happy to know that he is still remembered with affection. 

I recently received the following email:

My name is Brian Sheen. I am researching a Walter Brain the son of William Brain and Sarah Tripp nee Edwards, William was a Farmer a Publican and also a Mine owner.

Walter was living at home in the 1861 census for Stapleton Gloucester. There is no trace of him in the 1871 census yet in the 1881 census he and his (wife) plus 6 Children all born in Bath are there, Walter’s occupation is a furniture salesman, their youngest Thomas William being born © 1866 as I said in Bath.

Walter’s wife puts her name on the birth certificate of their daughter, (the line I’m tracing) Leonora Tamar as Annie Pettigrove Brain formerly Howes.

I have a copy of the marriage certificate for Annie Pettigrove daughter of Daniel Pettigrove and Hester (Esther) Hudd; the marriage took place in St Philip and Jacob Church July 20 1840 after Banns. Annie at the time was a minor.

I can find no trace of a marriage between Walter Brain and Annie Pettigrove nee Howes what so ever. I searched through www.freeBMD.co.uk and www.ancestory.co.uk, trying all sorts of spelling combinations for Brain and Howes, all to no avail.

As I said Annie has put her name on the birth certificate as if she were married to Walter Brain.

From your information on the Brain family; would you by any chance have anything on this Walter and Annie Brain of Bath please?

Thank you.

I replied:

Dear Brian

The Brain papers were left to me by my friend, the late Walter Anthony Brain who I knew as Tony. His name suggests that he belonged to the branch of the Brain family that you are researching. (I am descended from Hugh Brain who also came from the Bitton area.)

I have looked through Tony's lists and there is no Brain/Howes marriage shown. (I think your marriage for Annie Pettygrove Hudd is a red herring. The name Pettygrove is not unusual in the Kingswood district.) I have also checked the Bath Register Office index of marriages - no luck - and the births index which unlike 19th century FreeBMD gives the mother's maiden name. All the children were registered at Bath 1866-81, all Brain/Howes.

Walter was missing somewhere in 1871, perhaps on the road as he was a salesman, but I have found Annie in Devizes. I used the most unusual name among those she chose for her children (Flora) to do a search and found the family as follows:

Thomas Howes, head, married, innkeeper, Black Swan, 25 Market Place, wife Ann, and children Thomas, Rhoda, Tamar and Lilly. All were born Bitton except Lilly who was born Melbourne, Australia!  Visiting were Annie Brain, daughter, 25, Thomas W. Brain, grandson, 4 and Flora L Brain, granddaughter, 2, plus several servants.

I can't throw any light on Walter's whereabouts in 1871 - or why (apparently) he and Annie did not marry. It would seem to suggest that one or other had a previous marriage, but so far I have drawn a blank on this too.  Could they have been in Australia at some time with Annie's family?

If you have not already done so, I would suggest you might it helpful to join the Bristol & Avon Family History Society where you are likely to find other Brain researchers as the name is common in our area and fairly localised to Kingswood. See also Brain and Howes in the alphabetical lists in my Kingswood Index. See top of this website.

I have received the following email:

As direct descendants of the subject: Quaker mother and daughter, my family owns an original painting of one of these ladies when she was probably in her early twenties.  The husband of EBB, John Burgwin of Wilmington NC USA, had his portrait done in England by Boston native John Copley (recently gifted to the North Carolina Museum of Fine Art) who was an academy contemporary of Sir Joshua Moore.  I am wondering if you might be able to help me prove the painting's subject and artist.  Please contact me by email in this specific regard at your earliest convenience.  In addition, I am most interested in any information on related Bristol families including: Bush, Moore, Burgwin, etc.  Thank you for this and all you do to preserve family legacies.

Michael Denton
Richmond, Virginia, USA

Dear Michael

I would suggest you contact the Royal Academy or the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery with a copy of the portrait to see if they can offer any advice. As to “information on related Bristol families” – this is a very wide remit, particularly as two of the names are not rare. I have forwarded your email to a professional genealogist who specialises in Bristol families who may be able to help you.  I think you may find it advantageous to join the Bristol & Avon Family History Society where you may discover others researching your family.

I have put this correspondence on the blog it case anybody can help.

Good hunting!

I have received the following message from Averil Douglas who used the contact form at http://www.bristolfamilyhistory.co.uk/contact.

“I am descended from Lazarus Jacobs [b: abt. 1709 Frankfurt, Germany; d: 1796 Bristol) and Mary (nee Hiscock), his wife [b: 1725 Templecombe, Somerset; d: 1816 Bristol) through their daughter, Susannah (Sukey)[1759-1851] who married Joseph Moses Alman, thence through their son Mosley Moses Alman, then his daughter Leah Alman who emigrated to Australia 1853 aboard the ship "Cambodia" and married Abraham Barnett Simmons, a son of Rabbi Barnett Asher Simmons of Penzance, Cornwall and his wife Flora (nee Jacob) in Melbourne, Vic. Australia.

Isaac Jacobs was a brother of Susannah (Sukey, referred to above) and became a very famous glassmaker.  His portrait I understand is housed in the Bristol City Museum [Object Number K458), an oil painting by Isaac Pocock.  I am hoping you have access to a photograph or this portrait on file and may be willing to share it with me.  I live in Australia and do not plan to visit the UK at this point in time.

In addition, I would appreciate hearing from you with any other information you can provide or details of publications that would be of interest to me. I would also be happy to provide you with further information from my family tree should you be so interested. If you hold on file information about Joseph Moses Alman of Bristol, [1748-1835] and his family, including any siblings as well as his  descendants other than Mosley Moses Alman (1785-1852) I would appreciate hearing from you with this information.  Thanks.”

Unfortunately I have no information other than the items already posted but am endeavouring to find the portrait of Isaac Jacobs mentioned by Averil.

I am sorry to record the death on 13th June of a Brislington resident, Jean Jarvis of Winchester Road at the age of 77.

The funeral, ably conducted by her friend and neighbour, David Jarrett, who also gave the Tribute, took place on at South Bristol Crematorium on 22nd June.

The Hymn “The Day Thou Gavest Lord is Ended” was followed by David’s reading from John 14: 1-6 & 27. Jean’s grandson Remi Jarvis then read from Ephesians 3: 13-19. If the selection of the second hymn, “The Old Rugged Cross” with its rather gruesome words was at first mystifying, all is explained by the second line of the refrain “Till my trophies at last I lay down” for Jean was a past Lady Captain of Knowle Golf Club. Following the service, at Knowle Golf Club, we were privileged to be seated with three former Lady Captains of the club, one still turning out for the county and the eldest aged 94.

I always found Jean to be a cheerful character, who made light of her own suffering and was always concerned for others.

I was sorry to read in the “Telegraph” of 25th June, that Robin Bush has died aged 67. For many years Robin was archivist at the Somerset Record Office in Taunton. In 1992, I was struggling to transcribe bits of Brislington’s history from the Bishops’ Papers of the early 17th century and discovered there some slightly seedy goings on. A few of the more juicy pieces of gossip were the reports of certain shenanigans in a sheep fold by two married parishioners, a lady who accused the vicar’s wife of assaulting her – in church - and the interference by a brother in his sister’s love life.  The fact that these notes appear in intelligible form in my “Brislington Bulletins 1601-1699” where both the guilty and complainants are named, is largely thanks to the patient help I received from Robin.

He was a genial character, rather larger than life, and I was thrilled to see him on Channel 4’s “Time Team” and missed him when he did not appear after 2003.

Robin was a brilliant orator and I well remember a speech he gave at a meeting of the Bristol & Avon Family History Society when he told a rapt audience of his adventures when he had taken on a seemingly “ordinary” genealogy quest, if such a thing exists. It appears he was able to hitch a ride on the family tree of a landed family, which led somehow to the Almanac de Gotha and culminated (as far as I recall) with a possible link to the Holy Family!

He concluded with an exultant shout – to prolonged applause – “……..and it’ll never happen to me again!”

The following touching report appears in the Bristol Mercury of 6th May 1837:

“On Monday, May 1^st, Stephen Cave, esquire and his lady of Cleve Wood celebrated the 50^th anniversary of their marriage by inviting all the old couples of Mangotsfield who had been married fifty years and upwards to their mansion to partake of a comfortable repast. Five couples attended and after dinner were presented with a liberal donation of £5 each. The good old gentleman was highly affected at meeting on such an occasion his aged neighbours and gave them some excellent advice which greatly affected all present concluding that the only way that he and they could hope to meet in heaven to celebrate the grand jubilee there would be by repenting their sins and throwing themselves wholly on the merits of their Redeemer.

“The party including Mr & Mrs Cave consisted of seven couples, their combined ages reaching 1,036 years.

“On the same day, 180 children of the school established by Mr Cave twenty five years ago assembled on the lawn for plum cake and cider after which he presented each with a shilling. The appearance of the children was neat and clean and they conducted themselves with credit to the pleasure of their patron. They sang “God Save the King” and were joined by Mr Cave and his family for whom they gave three hearty cheers.

“This excellent philanthropist also gave a handsome present to every one under his employ and his benevolent lady gave articles of clothing to some of the girls and to poor widows. In compliment of the occasion the bells of the village rang a merry peal.”

According to my “Kingswood Index”, Stephen Cave and Ann Daniel were married at St Augustine’s Bristol on 1^st May 1789, and if the entry is correct (I have been known to err!) the above Golden Wedding anniversary celebrations appear to have been a little premature.

I am sorry to say that I rather maligned Stephen Cave in one of my early efforts, “The Budgetts of Kingswood Hill” noting that in 1816, he chaired a meeting devoted to the suppression of the “Cock Road Gang”. These people, largely consisting of the Caines family and their relatives and friends became notorious in the first quarter of the 19th century: several ended their miserable lives on the gallows and others were transported to Australia. I compared Stephen, a Tory paternalist, somewhat unfavourably with the self made Kingswood grocer and philanthropist Henry Hill Budgett. In hindsight, I realise that the men had more in common than I thought, each believing that education would improve matters among the ignorant poor of the neighbourhood and both founded schools.

Stephen Cave died on February 18^th 1838 at Cleve Wood, aged 75. He was described in his obituary, (Bristol Mercury 24.2.1838) as “a most worthy and honourable man in all relations of social life and one of the best of our citizens.”

Stephen’s widow Ann went to live with her daughter Harriet and son in law John New at Craddock House, Ulfculme, Devon and it was there that she died on January 5^th, 1851 aged 86, described as the relict of Stephen Cave, esq., and sister of (Alderman) Thomas Daniel of Bristol. (obit. Bristol Mercury 11.1.1851). Being interested in family trees, I was pleased to find that the surname Cave was long commemorated in Thomas Daniel’s family. His descendant, living 1952, was called Henry Cave Daniel.   

(For additional information on the Cave family see “Mangotsfield” by Andrew Plaster, BAFHS Journal 125, September 2006)

My old friend Willie Haswell has sent me a copy of his memoirs published under the auspices of the Living Memories Association.  Willie is now in his 90th year.

The Canongate is in Edinburgh and of course has nothing at all to do with Bristol Family History – except that over a quarter of a century ago I traced Willie’s ancestors. Although he and his parents and grandparents are and were Scots, the Haswells originally came from in Wiltshire and until recently some strands of the family remained in the Bath area.

My endeavours came to a halt with Daniel Haswell. He was born about 1775, reputedly at Bradford on Avon, a weaver by trade, who joined the army in Jersey in 1806, at the late age of 31, married a wife called Isabella and begat of long line of soldiers who served in various regiments of the British Army, becoming Scots somewhere along the way. If anybody can find Daniel’s baptism, Isabella’s maiden name or a record of their marriage, Willie and I will be your friends for life.   

If your immediate ancestors were poor and grew up in the Canongate, then Willie Haswell’s book is for you. I cannot recommend it too highly.

Hello Postal Voters. Did you know that in the days prior to Polling Day your envelope was liable to be opened by Bristol City Council officials for “sampling” in the presence of other interested people, party activists, volunteers, nosey parkers, so that the “trends” in voting can be revealed? No, neither did I. I’m baffled as to why it should be allowed. I’m also furious.

The truth came out via Twitter by Kerry McCarthy, the recent Member for Bristol East who is standing for re-election on Thursday May 6th. In the excitement she revealed specific numbers of votes cast for each of the parties in the constituency.

She wasn’t meant to tell of course. It’s against the law. She took speedy action to bolt the stable door but by then the horse was well away. I know Kerry and realise it was a rush of blood. Her misdemeanour does not enrage me half as much as the fact that any trend in the way votes are cast is allowed to be known by anyone else IN ADVANCE of the election.

Inadvertently, I think Kerry did us Postal Voters a favour. I believed that my envelope would not be opened until the polling stations closed on Election Day. Now the truth is known, I for one have taken steps to revert to the old fashioned method and in future will vote in person ON THE DAY, come what may.

My votes, national and local, for May 6th were cast, my envelope was signed, sealed and ready to go but I shan’t be posting it, thus disenfranchising myself for this election, the most open in years. Sadly, it will be the first election since I was 21 (once upon a time you had to be 21) where I have not cast my vote.