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News Updates 2019
Oct 2019 - A Visit to Laugharne; 100, 150 and 200 Years Ago
May 2019 - The Cornet Player's Wife; New Herefordshire Information
Apr 2019 - 50, 100, 150 Years Ago: The Chemist, WW1 Aftermath, The Skyrme Kernel (apple)
Mar 2019 - 200, 150, 100 Years Ago: Thomas Skyrme; The Property Developer; The Wesleyan Minister
Mar 2019 - William Skyrme: Millionaire Miner - Fact or Fiction?
Feb 2019 - 150, 100 Years Ago: Edwartd Skyrme, The Doctor; Hopla - Riddle Solved
Feb 2019 - Hoplow or Hopla? Lost Hiers of William
Jan 2019 - 100, 150 and 200 Years Ago: Fred cornet player, Liver Pills, a Commodious Dwelling
Jan 2019 - Richard Skyrme: Archer of Arques (1437)
October 2019
A Visit to Laugharne
Apologies for the lapse in posting an update, but it's been a busy summer. I've also spent time away from the Skyrme ONS while researching my own and wife's non-Skyrme ancestors. In late July I went on a geology course in Pembrokeshire and stopped at Laugharne in Carmarthonshire on the way. I reported on William Skyrme of Laugharne and the sloop named after him exactly a year ago (News, Oct 2018). During my visit I walked along the shoreline to find the place where it would have been laid down.
It is to the right of the main car park (see photo), a tidal part of the River Taf. Dylan Thomas's boathouse is around the promintory on the left. While there I did the town's heritage walk looking out for other Skyrme associated buildings and objects, with varying success:
- The Corporation Building: Laugharne Corporation is fairly unique, being the last surviving medieval corporation in England, other than the Corporation of London. William Skyrme and his father served as Portreeves (head of the corporation). The plaque on the building tells you more about this institution (see photo).
- Graves in the churchyard: I was out of luck with this one - see below.
- Island House: where William Skyrme lived. I was trying to locate it from an old map, but was unsure so took photos of several buildings in the local vicinity, apart from one derelict building. What is mistake!
Less than a month later, I received two emails out of the blue - how lucky I am to have knowledgeable people to correspond with me. Both were from local residents. The first attached a photo of William Skyrme's grave. It was in an overgrown part of the churchyard, and this was followed up with another photograph taken a few days later after some heavy rain which made the inscription more (but not completely) legible. It says something like "In memory of William Skyrme Son of William Skyrme xxxx in the County of Pembroke Esquire and Jane Abra his Wife only Daughter of and Sole Heiress to XXXX Hughes of this Town ---".
The second email alerted me to the fact that there was a new intiative "Save Island House". This was announced at the end of August and a public meeting was held at the beginning of September - see BBC News item. The building is a Grade II listed building dating back to Tudor times. It had been left to decay since its last owner died. And guess what - it's the building at the corner of The Grist and Wogan Street which looked so dilapidated that I did not bother to photograph it!
Thanks again to my correspondents for your valuable inputs to the Skyrme One-Name Study.
100, 150 and 200 Years Ago
A selection of newspaper articles and adverts from the summer months
200 Years Ago - Sale of "Truly Valuable Farming Stock"
This advert in the Hereford Journal of 13 Oct 1819 announced an auction "upon the premises, at Wootton Farm, in the Parish of Wellington, Six Miles from Hereford, on Thursday the Twenty First of October, 1819 (Being the Morrow after the Great Cattle Fair at Hereford)." The stock was the property of Humphrey Moore who was quitting the farm. Now this farm in the mid-1800s was in the hands of Richard Skyrme and family. It lists the various stock - Heifers, Calves, Bullocks etc - "also, about Twenty Cider Hogsheads and Pipes, in Good Condition". The link to Skyrmes in this advert is the following: "The Auctioneer begs leave to assure Gentlemen, Farmers, and Breeders of Cattle, that the above Stock will be found highly deserving their particular attention, the whole being descended (exclusively) from the Stocks of the late Mr B. Tomkins and the late Mr. Skyrme, of Stretton - too well known in various parts of the Kingdom to require any comment".
I commented on the contribution of John Skyrme of Stretton Sugwas to developing the Hereford cattle breed on page 13 of The Skyrmes of Herefordshire. Although I've done research into Richard's ancestors, I've yet to investigate the Stretton Skyrmes, so have yet to find the relationship between Richard and John. Either way, this advert highlights Wootton Farm as a common point of reference.
150 Years Ago - Town Sewage Fertilizes Wurtzels!
The Ross Gazette of 28 October 1869 contains a report of the Ross Agricultural Show and Dinner. After describing some wheat "upwards of six feet high" and "six swedes, the average weight of each being 10lbs" it continues: "Mr Wall, being anxious to show the fertilizing effect of town sewage, induced Mr Skyrme to show a few plants of mangold wurtzel off ground which had been treated with the sewage matter three years since, and which bore a favourable comparison with any in the showyard." The Mr Skyrme was in fact the infamous solicitor John Henry Skyrme (1836-1873), also featured in The Skyrmes of Herefordshire (page 22). Spelt today mangold wurzel (or mangelwurzel) this is a variety of beet of the species containing sugar beet. It is mainly used as a cattle feed.
100 Years Ago - Charles Skyrme's Fine Furniture Sale
What caught my eye in 1919 was an advert in the Norwood News of 5th September. Sale by Auction, Messrs Knight, Frank & Rutley (still in business today) "by direction of Charles G Skyrme, Eaq., 6 Grange Road, Upper Norwood. The sale was for "the remaining Contents of the Residence" and included a carved cherrywood escritoire, a set of Hepplewhite chairs, Turkish rugs etc.
Now Charles was a descendant of the Skyrmes of Dewsall in Hereford and had several well known siblings (a surgeon, a pharmacist, a rector etc.). He himself started life as a pharmacist and like his younger pharmacist brother lived in Hastings or St. Leonards (Sussex) in the early 1900s up to at least 1909. After his first wife died he married Katherine Meta Smith from Maryland and there are many passenger records of this couple travelling the world. Now I have never found them in the 1911 census (probably they were in the USA) but knew that their only son William Thomas (later to become Sir Thomas Skyrme) was born in Norwood in 1909, but by 1924 the couple were living in Baltimore. So this auction of furniture gives a good indication of the time when they moved to the States. However, by the 1930s they were back in England living at a fashionable address in Kensington.
An interesting coincidence is that Charles died a month after I was born at the Chequers Hotel in Newbury (just a few miles from where I live) and is buried locally.
May 2019
Welcome and Unwelcome News
It is often said that people only get into newspaper articles if a) they are eminent or b) they are criminals, ie. they are famour or infamous. The classic Skyrme that fits both situations is that of John Henry Skyrme (1836-1873) the solicitor from Ross-on-Wye. He featured in our March news (The Property Developer). However, during some recent searches of old newspapers, I came across another example of unwelcome news (first item below), plus many of the welcome sort (second item below).
The Cornet Player's Wife
I featured Fred Skyrm in my January news. I had found him in just one census after he left the family home in Pembroke. This was the 1891 census which shows that he lived in Hadden Street, Aberdeen with two lodgers, one of whom was Ellen Skyrm. It did not say she was Fred's wife. Search as I did I could not find any marriage or any other census featuring either of them. However, earlier this week I was searching for newspaper articles on my grandmother Ellen Skyrme, and came across Ellen Skyrm under the headline "A Living Skeleton - Shocking Case of Neglect". This was in the Manchester Courier in July 1899. The living skeleton was not Ellen but her 18-month old baby. The article confirms Ellen as a married woman "whose husband is a bandmaster in Scotland, and makes her a regular allowance." It also gives her address as 9 Firth Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock, the same address that lists Fred as occupier in an 1899 Manchester Rate Book.
The newspaper article is about a prosecution by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. It accuses her of neglecting her four children, ranging in age from 18 months to 12 years. It states that Ellen was addicted to drink. When an inspector visited the house, he found the children in appalling condition: "They were swarming with vermin, filthy beyond description and badly nourished".
Since Fred was my 2nd cousin, 3 times removed, this was definitely a case of a skeleton in the family cupboard.
Lots of New Herefordshire Information
I've mentioned before that every week or so I search to see new Skyrm(e) references on the British Newspaper Archive. Normally my searches result in less than 100 newly uploaded items, but a search earlier this week for items since 1st May listed many many more. Most were from the Kington Times which covers a wide area of Herefordshire including Leominster, the Pyons, Vowchurch and Weobley (photo right). If you restrict your Skyrme newspaper search to this title you get 713 items, dating from 1915 to 1959. The British Newspaper Archive blog of 7th May reports that over 100,000 new pages were added to the archive that week and that the Kington Times was one of three new publications. It highlighted several stories about the 1919 Spanish Flu epidemic, that across Europe killed off more people than the First World War.
I am working systemcatically through the 713 articles, which will obviously take some time. I tend to skip over Whist Drives and cricket results, to focus on anything that provides useful genealogical information. In this regard I have found funeral reports most useful. As well as giving exact date and often cause of death, they list mourners and generally their relationship to the deceased. For example, the report of the funeral of 89-year old Elizabeth Skyrme of Kingsland, lists amongst the mourners Mrs. Butt of Stroud (daughter) and Mr. Barrie Maund (nephew).
Clearly this is a very useful resource for those researching their Herefordshire Skyrme ancestry. I'm sure I'll find some interesting stories to share with you in future, but if you come across any sooner, then please share them via this website.
April 2019
This Month - 50, 100, 150 Years Ago
When I started this feature last November a search of Skyrm(e) in the British Newspaper Archive resulted in just over 11,000 items. Today it is 13,025 and rising. Many recent editions are more modern newspapers and Skyrmes feature in sporting and horse racing results, and also in adverts (see first item below). Our 1919 item reminds us of the aftermath of World War I. I notice that I have been inconsistent in whether I go forwards or backwards in time, but from now on I shall put the newest entries first.
50 Years Ago - The Emergency Chemist
Local papers generally have a list of 'emergency chemists', i.e. pharmacies in an area work that open outside normal shop hours on a rota basis. The only newspaper item turning up from my April 1969 search was on such a list in the Harrow Observer. It lists a Mrs B W E Skyrme of 39 High Street, Pinner (Middlesex) as being open from noon-1pm on Sunday. This rung a bell with me since I was received an email last June that read:
"I've no idea whether you are interested in this, but my brother and I did a delivery round for a chemist called Skyrme in Pinner Middlesex in the late 1970s. It was an old style shop... opposite the church that seems to be in every picture of Pinner."
You can see it in this postcard from the Francis Frith collection.
Not many Skyrmes are found in this part of Middlesex and a search soon found several electoral register records. The Mrs Skyrme was Beryl Winifred Emily Skyrme neé Marshman (1903-2004 - yes she achieved her century!) who married Herbert John Skyrme (1899-1979) in Suffolk in 1930. Herbert was born in Port Talbot (South Wales) and was for many years a headmaster in Highbridge, Somerset before the family moved to Pinner, living at 77 Paines Lane, Hatch End. Herbert was one of the Skyrmes whose ancestors were from Penally/Manorbier in Pembrokeshire, and turns out to be my 4th cousin, once removed.
100 Years Ago - The Aftermath of World War I
Three out of the four search results for April 1919 are about the Rev. Anthony Taylor Skyrme, a Wesleyan Minister who featured in last month's news. The reports (all in the Boston Guardian) covered the anniversary celebration of the Brothertoft Road Wesleyan Sunday School, his presiding over a meeting of the Boston Temperance League, and attending as Chaplain a parade of the Boston Boys Brigade which included some soldiers demobilised after WW1.
The 4th Skyrme reference was a reference in the Western Gazette of 11th April 1919 about the Colliton Hospital, Dorchester: "A popular whist drive was held at the hospital on Friday, for which acceptable prizes were provided by Messrs. E Riglar, W. Skyrme..." [and 4 others]. A quick search of my database shows only three Skyrmes living in Dorchester at the time - William Skyrme (1873-1926), his wife Emily (b1875) and their son John (1900-1981). William was an ironmonger, born in Pentre, Glamorgan and who had moved to Dorchester (Duffryn, Prince of Wales Road) in the late 1890s. His ancestors were from Dewsall in Herefordshire.
The interesting aspect of this story, though is the Colliton Hospital. It was a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Hospital. These units were initially set up by the Red Cross and comprised of nurses who looked after war wounded. Their hospitals were quite often stately homes converted for hospital use. Highclere Castle, near where I live, was one such hospital, set up by Lady Almina, the Countess of Carnarvon (see the book by the current Countess of Carnarvon Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle). There is a list of WW1 VAD hospitals (over 3,000 in total) on the Red Cross website. Colliton hospital was set up at Colliton House (near the site of today's county hall) and was in operation from November 1914 to May 1919 (a month after the whist drive). It had 200 beds and treated 2,000 service people wounded in France.
150 Years Ago - The Skyrme Kernel
This item is not about a person, but an apple. An advert in the Gloucester Journal of 3rd April 1869 advertises a sale by auction of "5,500 gallons of very prime Ansel Apple, Cowarne Red, Skyrme and Captain's Kernel cider". Herefordshire (just over the border) is renowned for its apples and several 19th century documents list Skyrme farmers having orchards while one specifically refers to a cider making mill. What is known is that there is an apple variety known as Skyrme's Kernel mentioned as long ago as 1810 and believed to have been developed at the Skyrme's Brockhampton-by-Ross estate. It is described by William Forsyth (an eminent horticulturist) as "an attractive, late, conical culinary apple and also a cider variety, very highly reputed at the time". You can read more about it on the list of apple varieties at the Bernwode Fruit Trees website. It is one of the many varieties that they grow for sale. (The photo by the way is a generic one, courtesy of Bruno Scramgnon).
Poet Diane Jackman wrote a poem about this apple variety at the Ledbury Poetry Festival in 2014, calling the 'skyrmion'(nuclear physics) the second Skyrme kernel - see https://www.poetry-festival.co.uk/the-poetry-orchard/. A second poem about it (though not as specific) is by Jane Burn near the bottom of the page.
March 2019
This Month - 200, 150, 100 Years Ago
More newspaper extracts that include Skyrmes from 100, 150 and 200 years ago. They indicate a variety of occupations - hosier and glover, solicitor and property developer, and Wesleyan minister.
200 Years Ago - Thomas Skyrme advertises his wares
I mentioned Thomas in our post about the Worcestershire Skyrmes (News Oct 2018). An advert in The Hereford Journal, 3 March 1819, shows that he opened a warehouse in Hereford. The advert starts: "London Hat, Hosiery, and Glove Warehouse, HIgh Street, Hereford, Adjoining the City and County Bank". Thomas then "most respectfully informs the Inhabitants of Hereford and its vicinity, that he has opened a warehouse... where he begs to solicit their attention to an extensive Assortment of LONDON HATS, HOSIERY, and GLOVES from the first Manufactories in the kingdom, which he purposes vending upon equally advantageous terms to the Public, as any House in the London Trade." It carries on in similar vein and concludes "N.B. Cottons for Sewing and Embroidery Work of every description".
The advert was repeated a week later.
150 Years Ago - The Property Developer
In The Skyrmes of Herefordshire, there is a section on "The Infamous Solicitor" of Ross. This was John Henry Skyrme, supposedly a pillar of the establishment, but who turned out to defraud people of their money. Before he was rumbled, he appears quite regularly in newspaper reports. There is a report in the Ross Gazette of 18th March 1869 on the Vestry Meeting at Ross Church. After electing overseers (they oversaw administration of Poor Rate relief) and parish constables their attention shifted to assessing the value of new properties. The article goes on: "There being no new property to assess in the parish, except the recently-formed allotments of land for building site, belonging to Mr. Skyrme, it was unanimously resolved to defer the valuation thereof until a new poor-rate be required."
Later records do indicate that Henry did own quite a bit of property around the town.
200 Years Ago - The Wesleyan Minister
The Lincolnshire paper The Boston Guardian of 22nd March 1919 has a report of the Wesleyan Circuit Quarterly Meeting. From other records we know that many Skyrmes in Pembrokeshire were Wesleyan, including the minister John Brown Skyrme at Llangwm at the end of the 19th century. This report, though, includes a short note about his son: "The circuit stewards proposed a vote of thanks to the Rev. A. T. Skyrme, with an invitation [to serve] for a third year." This was Anthony Taylor Skyrme who in 1927 went with his sister Norah (who acted as his housekeeper) as a missionary in Jamaica for about 6 years. He had moved from Llangwm some time in the early 1900s to Lincolnshire. You can read more about "The Missionary on the Coke Circuit" on page 18 of The Skyrmes of Llangwm and the Cleddau.
March 2019
William Skyrme: Millionaire Miner - Fact or Fiction?
If you search for the name Skyrm(e) in the British Newspaper Archive, you get over 12,000 results. So I tend to use it 1) when researching a specific individual or family; 2) for posts on this page of 100, 150, 200 years ago; and 3) for a monthly check on what new items have been added. It was doing the latter about 6 weeks ago that I came across an article in The People (a Sunday tabloid) of 13th June 1926 headed "Hunt for Heirs to Fortune - Chief Constable's Quest for Skyrmes". The article reported that a William Skyrme had died in California leaving a large fortune but no obvious heirs. He was supposedly born in Portsmouth but lived his early life in Swansea. He then emigrated to America moving from place to place. The amount he left could be anything from £20,000 to half a million.
I did some initial searches of my databases for William with Portsmouth and Swansea connections but found no obvious candidate. I reported yesterday to a U3A geneaology group of which I am a member that I had not made any progress. Last night I felt I should try harder, so went into my downloaded but unprocessed newspaper articles to refresh my memory. There, a few entries above The People article (and it had been there since 2014!) was an article from The Nevada State Journal of 16th August 1925 headed "Millionaire Maker Dies at Advanced Age of 92". The article is quite effusive about William's exploits. During his lifetime he was a foreman and superintendent of some 20 mines from Butte (Montana) to others in Nevada, Utah, California and South America (he is said to have spent 4 years there). He is described as at one time the right hand man of Marcus Daly who made his first millions by exploiting copper seams in the silver mines at Butte, to take advantage of growing demand for electric cables. It is said that William made millionaires of mine owners in four states.
Virginia City 1867-7. US National Archives and Records Administration Ref: NAID 519492.
As for his character. 'Bill' is decribed as a big Welshman "fearless, independent and fair, but always demanding a full day's work from his workers." And later in the article: "Good-natured, shrewd, strong, with an average man's body but the strength of iron", it then described an incident where he was stabbed in the stomach but held his wound in one hand while breaking his stabber's jaw with the other.
By searching various online sources (mining history websites and the US Geological Survey reports as well as the usual geneaology sources), I have been able to put together something of a timeline of his time in the USA:
- 1860: Arrived at Virgina City, Nevada in February after a long trek (which passed over the current site of the City of Reno) in which he walked over snow-covered mountains and saved his frost-bitten leg with a poultice of bread and tea leaves; the world's largest deposit of gold and silver had been found here the previous year
- 1864: Listed as a resident in Aurora, Nevada (now a ghost town, some 100 miles from Virgina City); it is here that he is said to have known Mark Twain
- 1864: Married Janette Love, Virginia City
- 1870: Possible census entry Virginia City (spelt Schraum but other facts fit)
- 1878: Appointed as county assessor of Storey County, Nevada (the county of which Virginia City is the capital)
- 1879: Married (A)delia Higgins in Virginia City; with her there in 1880 census
- 1900: Anaconda, Montana - shown as superintendent of the High Ore Mine, of 223 workers; a US Geological Survey lists a Skyrme vein among the list of mining fissures
- 1925: San Francisco - died Saturday 15th August.
I still have work to do, since I have not yet found him in censuses after 1880. Also, previously I had not searched early enough in UK sources, since I did not appreciate how old he was when he died. Working from his age at death gives a birth date around 1832-3, but his ages at the 1870 and 1880 censuses of 34 and 44 indicate his birth as around 1835-6. The Skyrmes from Pembrokeshire did not move to Swansea or Portsmouth until much later in the 19th century, so perhaps William emigrated directly from Wales rather than Swansea as suggested by the article in The People.
So there are some definite facts, but what about some some of his exploits and claims to fame? The Nevada newspaper article does note that some of its information came from his Reno friends to whom he recounted his "adventures" on a visit six months before his death. Also, how about his fortune? It simply says: "While Willliam Skyrme was always on the outskirts of the big money from the mines, Reno friends last night said that in the early days of his career he made a small fortune and it is believed retained a portion of it."
Clearly William was a fascinating character and I may have more to report in a future news item.
February 2019
This Month - 100, 150 Years Ago
This month, I found nothing for Skyrme 200 years ago, other than yet another repeat of the advert for a "commodious dwelling" mentioned last month.
150 Years Ago - Edward's Energetic Exertions
I write something about the Skyrmes of Worcester in my post of last October. Among them was Edward Skyrme (1832-1892) who ran the inn at the racecourse. He, like his son, was very involved with horse racing. The Worcester Chronicle of 24th February 1869 reports on the inaugural meet of the Norton-Juxta-Kempsey Races which "was in every respect successful, especially if the comparatively short notice of the event is taken into account". It notes that for those less interested in the racing "other sports were available", including roulette tables and a 'Punch and Judy Show'. Before publishing the results it noted:
We must not omit to mention the name of one gentleman to whom is in a great measure due the success of the meeting: Mr. E. Skyrme of the Bird-in-Hand, Worcester, exerted himself most energetically, both in obtaining a good entry and making efficient arrangements, and the pleasant way in which the meeting passed off must be highly gratifying to him."
100 Years Ago - The Doctor Gives Evidence
A Dr Skyrme is reported to have given evidence at a worker's compensation hearing at Hasting County Court in February 1919. It concerns a man who worked at Bexhill Munitions Works and who made a claim under the Workers Compensation Act. He contracted blood poisoning after an accident and had one eye removed. The works had been producing munitions under contract during WW1. He had gone to Dr Skyrme with sores on his hands. Several witnesses were called to ascertain whether it was conditions in the works that caused his problems. The article goes into possible causes of the problems. The judge deferred his judgement until he could confer with the local Medical Assessor. The Dr Skyrme was presumably Harold Edgar Skyrme (1877-1930), who ran a successful pharmacy and whose details can be found in The Skyrmes of Herefordshire. Over 50,000 tins of his 'Shurzine Antiseptic Healing Ointment' were sent to the Navy and Army as a healing ointment during WW1.
Hopla - Riddle Solved
In my last post I said I still had not worked out the relationship betwen Jane Hoplow (Hopla) who married Charles Skyrme (179301937) and Elizabeth Hopla who married Charles's grandson Charles (1840-1908). I recently bought the marriage certificate of Charles and Elizabeth that revealed Elizabeth's father was a William Hopla, shoemaker. Now a 'sounds like' search for William found nothing. I then resorted to working down the generations from Jane's parents Stephen and Elizabeth. I found a Thomas Hopla, a James Hoply, a George Hopler as their children. It was only when I went page by page through the images of the Pembroke St Michael baptisms on FindMyPast that I found William Hoplar, another child. So the 'sounds like' found Hopler and Hoply but not Hoplar - strange!
The net result is that Charles junior married the niece of his maternal grandmother.
February 2019
Having spent quite a bit of time on my One-Name Study in recent weeks I have gone back to focus on my own ancestors. This is partly because a correspondent highlighted an error in a date of death in The Skyrmes of Manorbier and Penally (PDF). This publication is now some 8 years old and my master database has corrected many of the errors. So if you have Manorbier / Penally descendants, by all means read the above document to get the local context, but do ask me for a print-out of the relevant section of the database.
Hoplow or Hopla?
Those of you who have traced back your Penally/Manorbier ancestors will find that the earliest known ancestor is John Skyrme (1749-1845) who married Elizabeth Maurice (or Morris). Their son Charles (1793-1837) married a Jane Hoplow on 7th September 1817 at St James Church in Manorbier (photo). Now Hoplow sounds very English but I never could find her ancestors. It was a tree on Ancestry that gave me a pointer that her parents were Stephen and Elizabeth (née Coscar) Hopla. Now I am quite dismissive of Ancestry user-contributed trees that do not give sources. For this Pembrokeshire branch of Skyrmes some trees will show births after the death of mothers, wrong children and wrong family groups. However, I was able by looking at parish records myself to trace Jane Hoplow's Hopla ancestors back three generations. She had a brother Thomas spelt Hopla and a brother James spelt Hoply!
The above spelling variants got me looking at how this name appears in Surname Atlas which lists all surnames in the 1881 census and the surname database which looks at surname frequency in England and Wales (and the Isle of Man) for 2002. The results are as follows:
| Variant | 1881 | 2002 |
| Hoplow | 0 | 0 |
| Hopla | 45 | 106 |
| Hoply | 8 | 0 |
| Hopley | 932 | 1620 |
| Skyrme | 303 | 954 |
For comparison, I also entered the name Skyrme. Now the 2002 database must have some errors since there was a zero result for Skyrm (no 'e'). 40 of the 45 Hoplas in 1881 are in Pembrokeshire - the others are individuals elsewhere. There are 8 Hoplys in 1881 (Shropshire) and 932 Hopleys (mostly Cheshire, Lancashire, Staffordshire and Shropshire) but none in Pembrokeshire. So although it sounds more likely than Hopla, the name Hoplow for Jane Hoplow we call a deviant, since it was just a mis-spelling of the Hopla name, as was that of her brother James. Another resource, public profiler uses more recent electoral rolls. It shows 'heat maps' of surname concentration but not numbers. As expected the 'hottest' place for Skyrmes is Herefordshire. For Hoplow and Hoply there is no data. But for Hopla the biggest concentration is now in East Anglia followed by Birmingham, London and South Wales but nothing in Pembrokshire! However, FindMyPast gives 5 Hoplas born in Pembrokeshire between 1986 and 2005, but seems to place other Hoplas in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire but not up in Norfolk or Suffolk. Incidentally, I recently found that a grandson of Charles and Jane, the eldest son of their son George, also named Charles, married an Elizabeth Hopla. I've yet to confirm the Jane Hoplow, Elizabeth relationship. And in similar vein a son of John Skyrm and Elizabeth Maurice, namely another John Skyrm, also married a Maurice (Mary). All very fascinating.
Lost Heirs of William
The growing number of online newspapers helps to give context to family histories. The British Newspaper Archive has recently reached the milestone of 30 million pages online, which could mean over 300 million individual articles. If you search "Skyrm(e)" you get over 12,000 references (articles, family notices, adverts). I do look up stories on given individuals, but I also take advantage of the advanced search which lets you look for articles digitised within a given time window. I typically do this about once a month to check what's recently been added.
One story that caught my attention this month was from The People - a Sunday tabloid - of 13th June 1926. 'Hunt for Heirs of Fortune' is the headline. It says that a William Skyrme, a Welshman, died in California leaving a large fortune. Apparently born in Portsmouth, he had several jobs in Swansea before emigrating to the USA. After wandering around different states he finally settled in California. Over time he became wealthy - it doesn't say how. But the fortune could be worth anything from £20,000 to half a million.
With little known of his family, it is said that claims to his estate were being made by families in both Swansea and Portsmouth. This story has so intrigued me that I am keen to find out more about William and find out what ultimately happened. I haven't really started my hunt for gold yet - there is no William born in Portsmouth or Swansea in my database - and it would help if we got to know his age. My family did live in Portsmouth at the time, but if they made a successful claim it didn't get passed down to me! So if any of you know about this William, please let me know.
January 2019
This Month - 100, 150, 200 Years Ago
More newspaper extracts that include Skyrmes from 100, 150 and 200 years ago. All of the interesting ones this month are in adverts.
100 years ago: Fred Skyrm, The Cornet Player.
An advert in The Stage of 30th January 1919 reads:
"WANTED, by Exp. Cornet Player, Engt. Can open Feb 3, or later. Any bus. - FRED SKYRM, Empress Playhouse, Glasgow."
Fred was in my branch of the family from Pembrokeshire. His parents were James Skyrm, a farmer, and his wife Dorothy née Ferris from Penally but who later moved to Abergavenny. Fred left home in the 1870s and appears in the 1891 census as a musician in Aberdeen living with an Ellen Skyrm, presumably his wife but for whom I have found no other records. Notices appear in various newspapers about his performances, e.g. as a member of a 7-piece orchestra in "Pantomime Babes in the Wood - One Night Only at Burgh Hall, Montrose" in Feb 1899. He appears to have moved around quite a bit. For several years in the 1890s he was band master of Whitehaven Rifle Volunteer Corps Band and later lived in Manchester and then Durham before his death at Gateshead in 1937. (Photo: Wikipedia, public domain)
150 Years Ago: Dispensing Liver Pills Without Mercury.
An advert in the Worcestershire Chronicle of 6th January 1869: "Only two Medicines really act upon the Liver; one is Mercury or Blue pill, the other Dandelion. Thousands of Constitutions have been broken down by Mercury, Blue Pill, or Calomel. The only safe remedy is
DR. KING's DANDELION and QUININE LIVER PILLS
Which act very gently and efficaciously upon the Liver liberate Bile, disperse Wind and strengthen the whole frame."
The advert goes on to list chemists who sell them including a G.E.Skyrme of Worcester. This is undoubtedly Edward Skyrme (1832-1892) who started life as a Chemist but by 1873 had become a publican at Worcester Race Course (he features in our news of October 2018. Presumably at the time of the advert he preferred being called George, since that was the name of his son born in November 1869. His ancestors were well respected glovers of Worcester.
200 Years Ago: That Commodious Dwelling Advertised Again
Not quite in January but close enough, another advert, this time in the Cheltenham Chronicle of 4th Feb 1819. This is an exact re-run of the advert featured in our November 200 years ago news:
"Hereford City - To Be Let and entered upon immediately. A commodious DWELLING-HOUSE, fit for the rection of a genteel Family... For particulars apply to Thomas Skyrme, Esq., Widemarsh Street."
Obviously, the earlier more local advert in the Hereford Journal of 2nd September 1818 failed to find a tenant. Gloucestershire is one of the neighbouring counties to Herefordshire and quite a few Herefordshire Skyrmes later migrated to parts of Gloucester but not as far as Cheltenham.
Mea Culpa
Incidentally when looking for articles of 1869 I realise that in the December news articles my 150 year ago articles were from 1858 - some 160 years ago - arrgh!
January 2019
Richard Skyrme - Archer of Arques
Over the Christmas break I was catching up on my family magazine reading (Who Do You Think You Are?) when I came across a reference to a relatively new database of medieval soliders - Medieval Soldiers. The database consists of the name of soldiers and their captains who served for England in the 100 years War from 1369 to 1453. And surprise, surprise up came three Skyrme references in mid-15th century muster rolls:
- 1431. Skyrmot, John Man-at-Arms (foot), Garrison of Honfleur (with creu) - Captain: Beaufort, Henry (1374 - 1447) Cardinal, Bishop of Winchester, 3 Feb 1431, Muster Roll. A similar entry occurs in a 1433 muster roll.
- 1437. Scyrme, Richard Archer (mounted), Garrison of Neufchatel, Captian - Talbot, John (1385 - 1453) Earl of Shrewsbury, 14 Apr 1437, Muster Roll.
- 1445. Skyrme, Richard Archer, Garrison of Arques - Captain: Devereux, Walter, Sir (1411 - 1459), 19 Dec 1445, Muster Roll.
Now the first entry Skirmot may or may not be a variant of Skyrme. Certainly this spelling seems to be obsolete by the 17th century but in other medieval records there are several are references to William Skirmeston (sometimes spelt Skyrmeston) and Thomas Skirmestone e.g. 1401 William Skyrmeston, the King's Coroner in Shropshire, and we do know that there was an early cluster of Skyrmes in Shropshire.
We are on much more certain ground with Richard Skyrme, since there is a succession of Richard Skirmes from 1530 onwards in Lugwardine, Herefordshire and Richard Skyrmes from 1683 in Ludlow, Shropshire. It is likely that the second and third entry above are the same person - perhaps 8 years on from the first he was struggling to mount a horse! And perhaps the modern spelling of his surname might indicate Shropshire, although Walter Devereux came from Bodenham in Herefordshire, and would probably have recruited from that area.
Normandy Garrisons and Their Captains
One of the researchers on the medieval solider's project Anne Curry has written some interesting articles and there are also several in-depth books published about this period. Anne writes in English War Captains in the Hundred Years War:
"The English garrisoned about 45 major towns and castles in Normandy, although there was fluctuation in this number as places were lost to the French or recovered by the English. Harfleur provides a good example of this. It surrendered on 22 September 1415. It remained in English hands until recaptured by the French in January 1436 along with several other places in the pays de Caux such as Dieppe. Harfleur was retaken by the English in October 1440 and held by them until the final surrender of 1 January 1450".
She notes that the names of 381 captains and lieutenants, serving in the Norman garrisons between 1417 and 1450, are known, and gives a table of their ranks. Henry Beaufort was one of just two bishops (there were 4 dukes, 13 earls, 11 barons and 115 knights). She continues:
"The role of Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, in supporting the funding of war after the crises of 1429, his presence with the young king on the coronation expedition and his diplomatic activities, explain his appointment to the captaincies of Caen (1429-30), Honfleur (1430-1) and Cherbourg (1431-2, 1437-8), although he also had to rely on series of lieutenants for the safekeeping of all these places."
There are quite good biographies of the other two captains on Wikipedia. In summary:
John Talbot - Known as "Old Talbot" he was the "terror of the French". Tough, cruel and troublesome he distinguished himself militarily, for example taking the town of Pontoise in 1437 and threatening Paris.
Sir Walter Devereux - history indicates that he probably accompanied King Henry VI for his coronation in France in December 1429. He later helped raise funds for an expedition by Richard, Duke of York, to defend England's possessions in France and was captain of the garrion at Arques in 1442.
Finally, a word about the archers of England - of which our Richard (or Richards) was one (or two). They used long bows, a bow originally developed in Wales in the 12th century. Compared with cross-bows, as used by the French, they had greater range (over 200 yards), good accuracy and a good archer could shoot over 10 arrows a minute. They did require greater training and skill, but it was the superiority of English archers and their long bows that helped secure victories at Crecy (1346), Poitiers (1356) and Agincourt (1415).
All fascinating stuff - and though we can't prove the link to modern day Skyrmes, it is interesting to know that our namesakes played their part for King and country in the 100 years war.
Photo: Longbow Archers - The Reference Site for the longbow.