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Rev Canon Albert Edward ANDREW (1872-1961) - #21 (52 Ancestors)

5/26/2015

Theme: Military | Images: Click on many to enlarge

From a booklet on the clerics and history of
"St. John’s Anglican Church, St. Eleanor’s, P.E.I., Canada",
published by Irwin Printing Co. Limited, Charlottetown, P.E.I., undated

My great uncle Albert Edward ANDREW not only distinguished himself in his chosen career as cleric with the Church of England, but he also displayed courage, valor and leadership during his military service as an army chaplain in the Great War.

Albert, the oldest son of William ANDREW and Harriet Washbourne COMPTON, was born 12 Sep 1872 in St Eleanors, PEI, Canada. His baby brother Harry ANDREW was my maternal grandfather. Albert knew his calling at a young age, as by 1891 he was already a divinity student. He attended high school in Summerside PEI, then King’s College in Windsor NS, receiving his BA degree 1894. Albert taught at St Peter’s boys School in Charlottetown before ordination. He was ordained Deacon in December 1895 at St Lukes Cathedral in Halifax, and served as curate of St Peters Cathedral in Charlottetown in 1895 and 1896. Late in 1896 he was ordained Priest and served in Glace Bay Nova Scotia (1896-1899), then Antigonish and Bayfield (1899-1908).

Albert married Minnie Ethel Sinclair early in 1900 in her home town of Bridgetown Nova Scotia. In 1901 the couple lived in Heatherton, Antigonish NS with her widowed mother Margaret SINCLAIR nee WILLETT (who continued to live with them until at least 1921, if not until her death in 1935). In 1908 Albert's job took them to Pictou NS where by 1911 they already had 5 of their 6 children: Marjorie, Gerald, Geoffrey, Paul and Margaret Elaine. Their youngest son Arthur was born in 1915.

Soldiers pick their way through the ruins at Cambrai, 1918. ARCHIVES OF ONTARIO—C224-0-0-10-37

In 1916 they moved to Windsor NS. Albert resigned his cleric position and enlisted in the fighting ranks in Halifax on 16 Dec 1916 as Lieutenant. He received officers’ training and qualified for the Heavy Siege Battery. In April 1917 he was declared fit to go overseas, and on 3 May 1917 he set sail aboard the S S Justicia, disembarking in England on 14 May 1917. Initially second in command of the 10th Section of the 5th Division Ammunition Column, he transferred to Canadian Chaplain Services on 13 Sep 1917 while in England. He received postings in turn to Shoreham, Brighton Hospital, Seaford and Sunningdale. On 23 Mar 1918 he arrived in France as a reinforcement and was first attached to the Canadian Stationary Hospital. Albert was transferred to the 3rd Division headquarters on 1 Aug 1918 for duty with Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR). These details are recorded in his military file; other news accounts vary as to when he went overseas (England, France) and in what capacity.

I don’t know why he transferred to Chaplain Services, but perhaps he or his superiors saw a greater need for him to support the troops through his religious rather than military training. One unsourced news clipping says that "He enlisted first as a combatant, having failed to secure a chaplaincy, going overseas as lieutenant with 100 men whom he and Lieutenant Gunn recruited for the ammunition column. He transferred overseas to the chaplain service of the Royal Canadians, and was closely associated with the men in the trenches." So perhaps it was his original intent. But his military training still proved very useful because in September 1918, when the Canadian Regiment was hard hit on the front lines near Cambrai France, he advanced to the front on his own initiative and did what he could to alleviate the situation and save lives until replacements arrived. For his actions near Cambrai, Captain (Rev) Albert Edward ANDREW was awarded the Military Cross on 8 Dec 1918.

In the last days of 1918 Albert became sick with bronchitis, and on 3 Jan 1919 he was evacuated from France and hospitalized for a time in London. He recovered and ended the war in England, sailing back to Canada on 12 Apr 1919, and demobilizing on 23 Apr 1919.

News of his Military Cross award reached local PEI newspapers after an RCR soldier, who fought in this second battle at Cambrai, sent a letter home to his mother (as quoted in the Island Patriot 19 Feb 1919, pg 2, col 1-2):

A Brief Commentary on The Military Cross awarded to Lt. Col. A. E. Andrew, MA, MC, ED.”

The following Brief Commentary is made by me from facts partly given by my Brother-in-law, Col. ANDREW, as well as from other Officers whom I have met, as follows:-

At the Battle of Cambrai the Royal Canadian Regiment came under very heavy fire from the enemy. As a result, all the regimental officers and most of the N.C.Os were either killed or wounded, and put out of action.

Hon. Captain (as he was then) A. E. ANDREW was in the support lines, when he met three of the R.CR. retreating back from the front line, badly wounded. These men told Captain ANDREW of the state of affairs in the front line, with the result that Capt. ANDREW at once went forward to see what he could do to help matters. As a Chaplain, he was expected to remain out of range in the reserves, but that was NOT his nature. On his arrival at the Front Line, he found things as described. At once he began to organise bearer parties, who carried out the wounded and brought in ammunition and supplies. And for FORTY hours, Capt. ANDREW remained on the field, directing operations, ministering to the wounded, burying the dead, as well as directing the fire and maintaining the morale of his Regiment, the R. C. R. At the end of FORTY hours selfless Devotion to Duty, help arrived to assist Captain ANDREW and he and the regiment were relieved and sent back to the reserve lines for necessary rest and reinforcements. And Capt. ANDREW, having acted without orders and not being a combatant officer, was recommended for ONLY the Military Cross. When in the opinion of many military men whom I have met, the exploit just mentioned deserved a much higher award, even the VICTORIA CROSS.

Island Clergyman Gets the M.C.

Capt. (Rev.) A. E. Andrew, rector of the Anglican Church in Pictou who went overseas as Chaplain with the Nova Scotia Highlanders, has been awarded the Military Cross. Rev. Mr. Andrews is the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Andrews of St. Eleanors, and before his ordination was on the teaching staff of St Peter’s Boys School in Charlottetown. He is a brother of Nursing Sister Andrew, at present in the city. Particulars as to how Captain Andrew won this honor are contained in a letter from Pte Dan Campbell of the R.C.R. to his mother Mrs. Alex Campbell of Central Caribou NS who wrote:

‘Our Chaplain, Rev. A.E. Andrew, has been decorated with the Military Cross. He did well earn it. He went “over the top” and tended the wounded under heavy shell and machine-gun fire. While dressing one fellow he (the wounded one) was struck three times with machine-gun bullets It was at Cambrai he did the good work. When I got there, - for it was at Cambrai I joined them Mr. Andrews was with us We got orders to go over the top. When we went about a hundred yards every machine gun the Germans had was turned loose on us. An officer told Mr. Andrew that it was no place for him but he said: “If the men can go I can.” However, we did not get over that day, and we lost twelve men out of forty. Next morning our artillery pounded the hill for two hours and two other battalions succeeded in capturing the position.’

Military Cross medal, courtesy of thercr.ca

The following is another personal account, this time written by his brother-in-law Major Frederick F May in 1944, about Albert's bravery and subsequent medal during the first war:

The official version of his commendation was published 4 October 1919 in the Second Supplement to the London Gazette, Issue number 31583, Page number 12352:

Rev. A.E. Andrew and friend leaving
Buckingham Palace after receiving
his M.C. from His Majesty.

Rev. Albert Edward Andrew, Can. Chaplains Serv., attd. R. Can. R., Nova Scotia R.
"For conspicuous gallantry during the operations near Cambrai, from 27th September to 1st October, 1918. For forty hours, without any interval for rest, he made repeated trips into No Man's Land, often in the face of heavy machine-gun fire, bringing back into our lines wounded. On several occasions he organised and guided stretcher parties to a dressing station through heavy shell fire. Throughout he displayed fine devotion to duty."

After the war Albert decided to further his education, and earned his MA degree in 1920. Returning to cleric duties, he became rector in turn in Newport NS, North Sidney NS, and again in St James parish, Pictou NS in 1926. In 1932 when Albert was still in Pictou NS, he was invited to preach in his home parish of St John’s in St Eleanors PEI for their 100th anniversary celebrations. The following year in May 1933 Albert was promoted and appointed Canon of All Saints Cathedral in Halifax NS.

Rev Canon Albert Edward ANDREW at his home in Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada, 4 Sep 1936
BACK ROW: his son Paul, wife Ethel, niece Mabel M Andrew *
FRONT ROW: niece Alice M Andrew *, Albert, and brother-in-law Fred F May*
[* Visiting from PEI]

In 1938 his native parish celebrated another centenary in honor of their current St Johns church building (their earlier church had been destroyed by fire in 1835 and the replacement wasn't completed until 1838). Albert again delivered a sermon and was present at the unveiling of a bronze memorial plaque he wrote in honor of his parents. The inscription on this Andrew Tablet, dedicated Sept. 25, 1938 at St John’s Church, St. Eleanor’s, reads (as published in The Charlottetown Guardian, September 28, 1938, page 8, column 5, 6):

To the greater glory of God
and in Proud and Affectionate
Memory of
WILLIAM ANDREW
High Sheriff of Prince County
1849-1920
Native of St Eleanor’s and son
of Charles Andrew who emigrated
from Kilkhampton, Devon, England,
in 1842. A just and upright
man, staunch Churchman, loyal
subject, and citizen approved.
Faithful in all the occasions of life.

HARRIET WASHBOURNE
COMPTON
his wife,
1850-1923
Native of St. Eleanor’s and Great
Granddaughter of Colonel Harry
Compton, proprietor in 1803 of Lot
17 in this Province. Her life of
genuine piety, deep maternal love,
and selfless service to need, has
given a lasting fragrance to her
name.
“I thank my God always on
your behalf”
1 Cor. 2-4

This tablet has been erected by
the sons and daughters (and their
families of the late Sheriff and
Mrs. Andrew, to their parent’s
memory).

Rev. Canon A.E. Andrew , age 86,
celebrates the
62nd anniversary of his ordination.

Rev. Canon A.E. Andrew, age 86, retired
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Thursday, December 19, 1957, page 3

So Albert and his siblings did truly “honor thy father and thy mother” [Exodus 20:12].

Although released from military service in 1919, Albert continued to receive citations for his wartime service. In 1933 he was Chaplain of Colchester and Hants Regiment with rank of Major, as was also a Provincial Chaplain for Nova Scotia. He was awarded the King George V Jubilee Medal in 1935 for Militia Service. In 1936 he received the Canadian Efficiency Decoration as “Hon. Major. A.E. Andrew, M.C., C.C.S.”.

After long service in the Diocese of Nova Scotia, Albert retired in Sept 1936 at the age of 64 due to ill health. He then lived for three years in Cape Breton before moving to Windsor NS, where he enjoyed gardening, his books and researching his family history. On an extended trip back to PEI in 1940, Albert presented his private Holy Communion set used during the War in France to Saint John’s parish. In 1967 it was still in active use and hopefully still is. As reported in The Charlottetown Guardian, October 19, 1940, page 8, col 2-3:

Rev. Canon Andrew has presented St John’s Church in his native parish a very beautiful portable silver communion service, which was used by the Canon on active service in the last Great War. The following inscription is engraved in silver on the case of the service. “The Communion set was presented to the church of St. John, St. Eleanors, P.E.I. as a permanent possession for the use of the Rector. It was carried on the field by Canon A.E. Andrew when Chaplain with the Royal Canadian Regiment during the last hundred days of the Great War 1914-1915 [sic].”

Andrew family graves.

Retirement must have been good for his health. In 1946 Albert celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination as Anglican Priest. Then in December 1957 at the age of 86, Canon A.E. Andrew celebrated the 62nd anniversary of his ordination as Deacon back in 1895. In his later years, perhaps after his wife Ethel died in 1947, he lived with his daughter Marjorie and family.

Canon Andrew died suddenly on 7 June 1961 while working in the garden of his home "Twelvetrees" at Curry's Corner, just outside Windsor, Nova Scotia. He was 88 years of age. Albert and his wife Ethel were buried in Maplewood Cemetery, Windsor Nova Scotia, along with their 2 daughters and sons-in-law, and next to their son Gerald.

REFERENCES and FURTHER READING

Island Newspapers - search PEI newspaper online
"Old St John’s & The Village of St. Eleanor’s Prince Edward Island” by Robert Critchlow Tuck, 1967 - digital book online courtesy of Island Lives site - see image 16 for reference to Canon Albert E. Andrew

Library and Archives Canada - digitized WWI records
The Royal Canadian Regiment and The First World War - 1914-1919 - Regimental Rogue site
RCR Military cross (MC) Recipients - list, medal image and description. Includes Rev. Albert Edward ANDREW
The First World War - a multimedia history
Second Battle of Cambrai (1918) - wikipedia
CEF Book summaries, including one on the 2nd Battle of Cambrai (1918) - King and Empire site, also battlefields.ca
Researching a Canadian Soldier of World War I - a how-to and resource book in pdf format, from gooselane.com

I have posted additional information on my ANDREW families elsewhere on this website.

"52 Ancestors" is a reference to the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge I am participating in.
Reference the No Story Too Small blog by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow for more details.
It is giving me the much needed incentive to write and publish my family stories.

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George Major COMPTON (1851-1928) - #20 (52 Ancestors)

5/16/2015

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Theme: Sheep [of any colour] | Images: Click on many to enlarge

What colour were George COMPTON's sheep?

Search as I may, I found it hard to identify any black sheep in my family tree. No ancestor stuck out as being overly odd or a troublemaker or even disreputable, as the definition of "black sheep" suggests. Perhaps I need to dig deeper! Certainly there were examples of illegitimacies in my tree, a possible cause for being shunned or outcast by a family (often the consequences of being a "black sheep"). Although I personally wouldn’t call him a “black sheep”, I have already written about the most obvious candidate, Charles ANDREW, who fled England with his young wife and base born daughter in 1842. This theme was quite the challenge!

So instead I decided to broaden the scope of the theme this week to include sheep of any colour and of the animal variety, as I have plenty of farmers in my tree. But surprisingly I have only uncovered one reference to sheep farming. Other animals like cows and horses and chickens seemed more popular. There were likely other ancestors who raised sheep, but I lack the specific details on how most of my farmers made their living.

My mother’s great uncle George Major COMPTON (1851-1928)) was a farmer who, it seems, lived his whole life in St Eleanors, PEI, Canada. He was the oldest son of Albert Harry COMPTON and Mary Robinson COATES, and a younger brother of my maternal great grandmother Harriet Washbourne (COMPTON) ANDREW. In the 1861 census, his father Harry was listed as head of household, and there were a total of 5 males and 6 females living on their 175 acre farm. One of them would have been George, age 10. Unfortunately PEI had not yet joined the newly formed Canada by 1871, so was not included in the federal census that year. By 1881 PEI had become a province of Canada, and George and his younger sister Sarah where listed in the census living on their own farm in St Eleanors. When their father died in September 1889, George was still single, but not for long.

On 21 January 1890 and at the age of almost 39, George married Eliza Jane MacGougan at St Johns Anglican Church in St Eleanors. They did not have any children; they lived alone according to all the federal census between 1891 and 1921. The only personal details I know about George and Eliza COMPTON came from my mother, who grew up in the same area of PEI and obviously knew them as a child. She remembers that Eliza used to twiddle her thumbs, so this trait obviously made quite an impression on Eliza's great-nieces. George was known for his “long beard, long grace”. So they must have had family dinners together on occasion. I can just picture others at the table watching their meal get cold as George’s lengthy blessings went on and on! If ever there was a time for twiddling thumbs!

It was only recently that I stumbled on a reference to George in a an old PEI newspaper “The Daily Examiner” for 27 September 1890. The Prince County Exhibition, held in nearby Summerside every Fall, had published their list of prize winners. Three entries caught my eye:

“SHEEP: Pen 2 Long Wool Ewes, having reared lambs this season - 1st, Stewart Burns, Freetown; 2d, George Compton, St. Eleanors; 3d, Murdock Ross, Bedeque. ...

”SHEEP: Pen two Ewes other breed or cross, having reared lambs this year - 1st, Judson Burns, Freetown; 2d, A. C. Rogers, S'side; 3d, Geo. Compton, St. Eleanors. ...

“POULTRY Pair Turkeys - 1st, Albert Craswell, St. Eleanors; 2d, Geo. Compton, do.”

Although the top prize seems to have eluded George, it is gratifying to learn that he won prizes for four of his ewes (not to mention the two turkeys), and that he raised a variety of breeds. I am no expert on sheep, but I suppose some could have been black?

At the age of 77, George passed away in St Eleanors on 28 Feb 1928, and his wife remained a widow until her death in 1945. Both are buried in the St Johns Churchyard in St Eleanors, PEI.

I have posted additional information on my COMPTON families elsewhere on this website.

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William Scoons BOORMAN (1842-1909) - #19 (52 Ancestors)

5/9/2015

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Theme: There's a Way | Images: Click on many to enlarge

c1900, High Street, Wandsworth, Surrey, England
where William Scoons BOORMAN was born in 1842

I’m switching over to my husband Terry’s side of the tree again to tell the story of his great-grandfather, who found his way to Victoria BC Canada in 1892 from Wandsworth in what is now London, England. William Scoons BOORMAN was born 26 Aug 1842 on High Street in Wandsworth, the son of Mary Ann GREEN and Thomas BOORMAN (1810-1894, a wheelwright from Headcorn Kent, and from a long line of Thomas’s).

William's middle name SCOONS (sometimes written as SCOONES) was an unusual and much appreciated distinction, although the reasons for this name are somewhat obscure. His father Thomas’s sister Ann BOORMAN married Dalby SCOONS. His other sister Jane Eliza BOORMAN married a William LILLYWHITE who named their youngest son Edward Scoons LILLYWHITE, and their daughter Mary Ann”Polly" married a John SCOONS. So they seemed quite partial to honoring this surname, apparently only associated by marriage. A clue to the reason why is provided by a family story published in “Notes on the Life and the Descendants of Thomas Boorman” compiled by Caroline Dyer c1954 (a granddaughter of Thomas through his oldest daughter Mary Ann):

"Grandfather Boorman's sisters … were always referred to by my Mother as Aunt Scoons, Aunt Lillywhite and Aunt Fairbridge and Aunt Louisa, as the last named remained unmarried … Aunt and Uncle Lillywhite immigrated to Australia in or about the year 1850, taking with [them] ten of their eleven children. One daughter, named Mary Ann, they left behind with Aunt and Uncle Scoons who, being childless themselves, wished to adopt her. She was generally known as Polly Scoons and she eventually married a nephew of Uncle Scoons and had three sons.”

So it seems that Thomas was so impressed with his sisters’ multiple associations with the SCOONS family that he gave that name to his own son William as well.

William (minus his Scoons middle name) first appears in the 1851 census as a boy of 8 living with his parents and 4 siblings on High Street in Wandsworth, Surrey, a “scholar at home”. In 1861, William is found living in the BEVERLY household on High Street in Wandsworth, working as a servant and grocers’ assistant.

Four years later on 31 Aug 1865, William married Frances Jane “Fanny” ROBSON in the Congregational Church on the corner of Geraldine Road and High Street, Wandsworth. William was listed as bachelor and clerk residing at 3 West Street, Wandsworth. By 1871 they were living at 2 Cedar Terrace in Fulham with three young daughters who had been born, in succession, in Wandsworth Surrey, King’s Cross Middlesex, and Fulham Middlesex. So the family was obviously moving frequently while William gained work experience and looked for the right placement. In 1871 at age 28, William was already a master grocer with his own grocer’s assistant and a general servant in his employ.

A decade later in 1881, William was working as a clerk for a coal merchant in Battersea, living at 31 Ashbury Road with daughters Henrietta EA and Amelia A, and sons Walter W and Albert S. Their oldest daughter Frances Eliza “Lillie” was living with (or visiting) her Grandfather Thomas and Aunt Sarah in Wandsworth at this time. By 1891 William and family were still living in Battersea, and their youngest son Harry E (age 9, Terry’s grandfather) had been added to the household. Son Walter William had already left home and daughter Frances was living in Staffordshire with her Aunt Jane Hookey and family.

BOORMAN - Victoria BC Canada - c1900.
Standing L to R: Albert Sidney, William Scoons, Walter William and Harry Eustace BOORMAN.
Kneeling in front: Jim ROBSON (son-in-law and nephew of William Scoons).

There is no sign of this family in the 1901 England census. So where and when did they go? And why did they move? Being William's descendant, we know they ended up in Victoria BC Canada. But so far we have not been able to find them on any passenger lists to pinpoint the exact date and route of the immigration. We have, however, found their eldest daughter Frances arriving in Montreal Canada later in 1912 aboard the “Ultonia".

The 1901 Canada census lists the others already in Victoria BC. It tells us that William immigrated in 1892, and his wife and 3 children Alice, Albert and Harry followed in 1894. Henrietta arrived in 1893. Son William (this would be Walter William) is listed in his own household in Victoria with wife Mary, young daughter Kate E, and sister Kate E (Where did she come from? We have her 1877 birth certificate but can’t find this child in any England census, and thought she had died as a young child.) The 1901 Canada census also says that the siblings William [Jr.] and Kate E both immigrated in 1889. So it looks to me that Walter William was the one who initiated the exodus to Canada.

From the Victoria City directories, the earliest that I have found any of this family is in 1894, when William BOORMAN [Sr] is the only one listed (although there is a W H BOWMAN working as a clerk for E J Salmon & Co, residing on Johnson who could be his son). William [Sr] was living at 274 Johnson Street and employed as a clerk in the Driard Hotel, newly built in 1892. In 1895 there were four Boorman names listed, all living at 26 Beechy, Victoria: Wm (clerk at the Driard), Wm (assistant furniture store, Salmon’s), Miss H, and Albert (cabinet maker). William is listed a second time under the last name “Boarman”, a night clerk at the Driard Hotel. Beechy street no longer exists but seems to have been in the Fairfield area near Rupert and Vancouver streets.

In 1897 the family (Albert, Harry, Wm J, Wm and WW) had moved to 129 Michigan Street in the James Bay area. Again there appears to be a duplication of one of the Williams. William [Sr] was still working as a clerk at Driard House. His son W W Boorman was working as a clerk at 44 Johnson street, which might be the location of E J Salmon used furniture store on Johnson where also a Wm J was working (I am assuming that these 2 entries were for the same person in spite of the variances). Others living with the family on Michigan Street were sons Albert and Harry. The four of them were still listed there in 1900.

Fortunately, at least part of the reason for their move from England has been provided in the family history written by cousin Caroline Dyer in about 1954:

“NOTE: William [son of William Scoons Boorman] immigrated to Canada when quite a youth intending to take up a Government grant of land and go in for farming. He found, on arrival there, that he was too young to be given a grant of land. His father (Uncle William) decided to go out to him, being then a middle aged man who had been a clerk most of his life. He went and was followed by his wife and all his family except for Lillie who then had a boarding house in Ventnor. Cousin William and Uncle William having died, Lillie decided to go out and join the rest of her family and she took with her Dorothy Freeman.”

1904 - View of Victoria BC Canada from the Driard Hotel on View Street.

This story also mentions the death of William Sr, who in fact died in Victoria BC on 16 Feb 1909 from cancer at the age of 66. His son William Jr died two years earlier at age 36 in the typhoid epidemic of 1907. Both of William Sr’s two surviving sons married in 1910, the year after his death, so it must have been sad indeed not to have their father as witness at their weddings. (1910 was also the year of a large fire in downtown Victoria in which the Driard Hotel, where William Sr. had worked, narrowly escaped destruction.) His daughters Frances “Lillie" and Amelia “Alice" never married, but William did live to see his daughter Henrietta marry her cousin James ROBSON in 1897, and his son Walter William marry Marian GUTHRO in 1898. William would also have welcomed four grandchildren into the world before he died.

It is indeed heartening to realize that this family found a way to stay together as long as life allowed, taking turns crossing the Atlantic ocean and (probably) the American continent on their way to its Pacific west coast where they reunited. They likely journeyed across Canada by train because, in 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed between Ontario and BC, making it much easier for people to travel west by land. We are so very grateful that they first forged the trail to such a beautiful country that we now call home.

I have posted additional information on these BOORMAN families elsewhere on this website, also
Descendants of William and Sarah Boorman - 9 Generation Family Tree
For additional Boorman blog posts, click on the "Boorman" category to the right.

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Henry Proctor RICHARDSON II (1825-1905) - #18 (52 Ancestors)

5/4/2015

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Theme: Where There's a Will | Images: Click on many to enlarge

The first Will document relating to an ancestor that I ever saw in its entirety (discounting any will indexes, summations, extracts and hearsay as to content) was for Henry Proctor RICHARDSON, "late gamekeeper of 47 Cedar Street Derby in the County of Derby” in England. He was my maternal great-great-grandfather. The probate was granted on 24 March 1905 at Derby to executors Frederick LEWIS and Herbert MORGAN.

The main body of the 1905 will of Henry Proctor RICHARDSON - short and sweet.

I admit that my initial excitement upon finding this will was somewhat short-lived, as it turned out to be a handwritten “true copy” on a single page, very short on details. Henry signed with his mark so he probably could not read or write. He bequeathed equal shares of the remainder of his personal estate (after expenses and debts) to his five unnamed daughters. The names, occupations and addresses of both executors were listed though. But that’s all. The associated probate document was also a single sheet, which duplicated much of the same information found in the will and added his death information (died on 12 March 1905 at his home address) and the value of the estate (£161 0s 0d). But in spite of their brevity, these documents do contain some valuable information and help to substantiate some details obtained from other documents and family sources. And of course we know much more than this about Henry Proctor's life ...

Henry, who may have been known by his middle name Proctor, was born in Brede, Sussex, England on 24 Feb 1825, one of nine children born to Henry Proctor RICHARDSON Sr and Ann PACKHAM. During his early years, times were hard for farmers. England’s economy was certain affected by the potato blight and famine in Ireland and Scotland in the 1840s, and there was a long drought in England between 1854 to1860 (and likely in earlier periods), that affected the quality and quantity of their crops. And with the added trauma of the death of Henry Sr in 1850 when Henry Jr was 25, the family seems to have disbursed, traveling and emigrating to various parts of the world.

A couple of years ago I wrote about this Richardson migration question based on a story my grandmother told. Did this Henry really travel to Australia or perhaps New Zealand with his brother Edmund? I’m still looking for answers and confirmation of Henry Proctor Richardson’s travels. As names such as Henry were repeated frequently in this family in each generation, it has been difficult to be sure which Henry had which adventure. Since this previous post, a new theory has surfaced. I now think it probable that, as a lad of 16 or 17, this Henry set sail aboard the “Lord Auckland” in Sep 1841 as an “assisted” passenger, arriving in Wellington, New Zealand in February 1842 and continued on to Nelson NZ.. He was listed only as a Henry Richardson in the New Zealand early passenger lists, a farm labourer, emigrant, single and age 16. The age matches my Henry. This information corresponds nicely with the 1841/42 emigration account records for the Parish of Brede, Sussex, which lists a Henry Richardson, age 17, who was subsidized by the parish for expenses of £5 3s 9d to move to New Zealand.

Although Henry appears to have traveled alone (unlike in my grandmother's story), there was another Richardson family from Brede - James and Mary Ann and their two children - who also received emigration assistance that year, and who traveled aboard the “Mary Ann” that same month also bound for Nelson NZ. Coincidence? Or were they related? I don't yet know. But this James (son of Thomas RICHARDSON and Mercy FURNER) did have a younger brother also named Henry who was born in 1821, so he would have been 20 rather than 16 or 17 in 1841. It seems that this slightly older Henry also ended up in New Zealand, dying in Wellington in 1898, but I am told he married in Kent England in 1851. This likely occurred before he emigrated unless he made two different trips to New Zealand. So he was probably not the one to journey to New Zealand in 1841/42. I'd still like to find their connection, if any, to my Henry. If anyone has further information on this RICHARDSON / FURNER family, please let me know.

Henry Proctor RICHARDSON worked on the Weston Hall Estate in Weston Longville, Norfolk, England
as a gamekeeper from approximately 1860 to about 1891. Photo of Weston Hall taken about 1946.
Courtesy of https://norfolk.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/PICNOR/BIBENQ?BRN=712439

If my Henry was in fact the one to travel to New Zealand in 1841/42, he couldn’t have stayed there very long. By 1853 he was in Lambeth, London, England where he married Elizabeth HARRIS of Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire on 15 March 1853 in St Mary’s Chapel. Together they had 8 children, born between 1853 and 1870. Henry and Elizabeth must have quickly left Lambeth after their marriage because their oldest three children were born in Cranbrook, Kent: Mary Jane (1853- ), Henry Proctor III (1855-1894) and Francis Elizabeth “Fanny” (1857 - ). Henry Proctor and his family then moved to Weston Longville in Norfolk where he worked as a gamekeeper on the Weston Hall Estate, living in one of their cottages. His youngest five children were born there: Agnes (1860-1942), Sydney (1862-1951), Lewis James (1864- ), Alice (1866- ) and Annie (1870- ).

The names and birth dates of all these children, as well as details of their parents' marriage, were "taken from Register when home in England Feb 7, 1899” according to their granddaughter Nell (Richardson) Andrew, who wrote down the details as told to her by her father Sydney. The names and ages of their three sons and five daughters have also been found in the various census documents. The five girls equally inherited Henry Proctor Richardson's estate, but why not the boys?

Henry Proctor Sr’s oldest son was his namesake and sadly died in 1894 at the age of 39, predeceasing his father. Their second son Sydney Richardson was my great-grandfather who emigrated to Canada in about 1882. I don’t know why he wasn’t mentioned in his father’s will; perhaps he received his inheritance when he moved to Canada and needed help getting started in a new country. Henry's youngest son was named Lewis James, who in 1881 worked in Weston Hall as a young footman for the Custance family (also Henry Proctor's employer). By 1891 it is possible that Lewis was attending gunnery school in Essex, having joined the military. So far I haven’t found any further trace of him, nor a death record, so perhaps he also emigrated and received his share of the estate earlier.

By 1891, Henry Proctor was age 66 and still employed as head gamekeeper in Weston Longville where they lived with their youngest daughter and grandchild. Sometime before 1901 Henry and Elizabeth moved to Derby where several of his daughters lived and married.

As to the executors of his will, Frederick LEWIS, nurseryman, lived at 45 Cedar St Derby and was the husband of his eldest daughter Mary Jane. Known as Fred and Jane, they were living in Derby as early as 1881, and they raised their 7 children there. This may be why Henry decided to move to Derby with his wife after retirement. In 1901 they were living at 47 Cedar Street, almost next door to the the Lewis household. The other executor was Herbert MORGAN (or Worgan), foreman of 63 Sherwin Street in Derby. I have not yet determined his relationship; I’m pretty sure he wasn’t a son-in-law. As Sherwin Street is just one street over from Cedar Street (both being close to Markeaton Lake in Derby), they were practically neighbors and may not have been related.

Elizabeth likely died in 1902 in Derby and, as we have seen from the probate record, Henry Proctor Richardson died there in 1905. From his funeral flyer, handed down in the family as a keepsake, we know that he died 12 Mar 1905 at the age of 80. This is also confirmed by his death certificate. His will, although short and sweet, helped me to build a more complete story of Henry Proctor Richardson’s very interesting life.

I have posted additional information of my Richardson families elsewhere on my website:
Richardson Genealogy and Photos
Descendants of Richard Richardson & Ann Watts - 8 Generation Family Tree

References and Further Reading

Brede Sussex Genealogy - familysearch site
Village of Brede, Sussex, England
Weston Hall Estate, Weston Longville, Norfolk property photos, description - Rightmove real estate site
Early Settlers in New Zealand - Nelson Provincial Museum site
Passenger Listings for Vessels bound for New Zealand - Rootsweb site
Lists of passengers to Nelson NZ, 1841-1850

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