Family Folklore

As always family stories go down the generations. Here are some from the author's (David Skyrme) branch of the famiily:

• The family have a strong naval tradition - many worked in Pembroke Dock, and other later (early 20th century) moved along to other South Coast naval bases - Plymouth and especially Portsmouth.
• There was a pirate in the family (James Skyrme 1720-1722 - details to follow)
• Great uncle George (now deceased) recalled vividly the Battle of Jutland, where he swept up dead people's limbs from the ship's deck
• Another relative was shipwrecked off of Whitby in a storm in the 19th century.

In The News

Raymond Perrett, father of Jane Skyrme, celebrated his 100th birthday in October 2003. He was the last surviving crew member of HMS Victory (when it was afloat). His story featured in the York Evening News 7th October 2003 and on BBC News. If we can get permission we will reproduce these stories here. He died in Dec 2006, aged 103.

How Well Do You Know Your Skyrmes?

During my recent research into the Skyrmes of Manorbier and Penally some interesting facts have been uncovered. Here are 10 teasers. You'll find the answers on page 41 in the recently published The Skyrmes of Pembrokeshire (1) (PDF 2.5Mb).

1. Which Skyrme went north using one Christian name and came back to Wales with another?
2. Who dropped the surname Skyrme and used a version of their middle name as their surname?
3. Who was the object of an attempted (but failed) murder?
4. Who was shipwrecked just 200 yards off the coast at Whitby and was lashed by gales and high seas before being rescued 50 hours later?
5. Which were the most popular boy's and girl's Christian name up to 1900?
6. Why was a London Metropolitan policeman stationed in Pembroke?
7. Why didn't HMS Pembroke go to sea?
8. Which family did two male Skyrmes marry into, who are believed to have descended from a 7th century king?
9. When was the first census where the majority of Pembrokeshire Skyrmes lived outside of Pembrokeshire?
10. What mode of transport did the Skyrme shipwrights from Monkton use to get their job in Pembroke Dockyard?

Other Skyrme Trivia

A search of "Skyrme" on the internet will reveal lots of entries to do with the Skyrme model. When I (David Skyrme) was doing research in nuclear physics at Oxford University, I was often asked if I was related to Professor Tom Skyrme a nuclear physics professor at Birmingham University. It was after him that the model was named and also the Skyrmion "Loosely, a quasiparticle corresponding to topological twists or kinks in a spin space". Click here for a short profile of THR Skyrme and his work. Therefore he is probably the most famous, and best known Skyrme to date. Though any one of you reading this could change that....!

Other notable Skyrmes I have heard of include the former Chairman of The National Bus Company in England and Sir Thomas Skyrme (1915-2002), a barrister who wrote a seminal work History of the Justices of The Peace.

Coming out of the toilets in Hereford Cathedral on a sightseeing visit some years ago, my wife was shocked to find herself standing on a tombstone with her name!!

If you visit the museum in Pembroke Castle - in the heart of the Skyrme principality - you will see some needlecraft done by a Skyrme.

The (out-of-print) book Historic Pembrokeshire Homes and their Families describes how the Skyrmes from Herefordshire settled in Wales. It notes that the estate of Vaynor, Llawhaden "is a good family house belonging to a descendant of the Skyrmes whose ancestor accompanied Oliver Cromwell into the principality during the civil war. The Skyrmes "owned that estate for seven successive generations until the death of William Skyrmes in 1823.

A William Skyrme of Alltgoch was Sheriff of Cardigan (mid-Wales) in 1809.