Dennis Bill's Family History
Skeletons - and other stories
On this page
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The Will of John Bennett of Tollard Royal (1692-1746)
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Gun-running for Queen Victoria
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The Crinoline Church
Regina versus John Wiseman
This is a document I found in The Morant Family Papers at Hampshire Record Office. It is the official manor court record of the trial of John WISEMAN (1800-1882), my great great grandfather, for salmon poaching. The trial was held at the Crown Inn, Ringwood on 26 January 1857. The long hand-written record includes evidence given by Thomas HURDLE, Morant's water bailiff, and his son Thomas James. In his defence John Wiseman claimed that he was after a jack (pike) not a salmon. After hearing the lengthy but inconclusive evidence the magistrate, W C D Esdail Esq., declared that John WISEMAN was "innocent, but morally guilty" !!
The Vanishing Blindmaker
My great aunt, Annie Georgina WISEMAN, married James George MILLS on 31 August 1890. Between then and 1903 they had five children, but one morning in 1903 James George left home as usual to pursue his work as a blindmaker but was never seen again. After seven years he was officially declared dead and Annie Georgina subsequently married a second time to Joseph FOSTER (see the Gun-running story below) , having a further two children by him. To her dying day she never knew what happened to her first husband. I hope to find time to investigate what might have become of him including a search of emigration records to see if he left the country, but if you recognise his photo please contact me!
The Naughty Ladies of Malta
My paternal great grandfather was James BILL. He was born in Belfast in 1848 and after leaving school he worked as a flax dresser in the once famous Belfast linen industry. Presumably it was the lure of adventure and a better life that made him enlist in the Army. He joined the 28th Regiment of Foot (aka The Somerset Regiment) on 15 June1868 and within six months was in Gibraltar, followed by spells in Malta, Strait Settlements (Singapore) and Hong Kong. He did not return to Irish soil until 1877, a nine-year odyssey that must have been quite an adventure for a young Belfast lad. He certainly furthered his 'education' whilst in Malta as his medical records show that he spent 48 days in the sick bay with gonorrhoea!! No doubt the result of one visit too many to Straight Street (also known as The Gut), Valetta's infamous red-light district.
The Will of John Bennett of Tollard Royal (1692-1746)
John Bennett is my maternal g-g-g-g-g-g-grandfather and I found his will in the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office at Trowbridge. There is actually a package of documents that includes not only the will itself but also probate documents, inventories and accounts. These papers have a number of interesting points including the lovely archaic preamble to the will in which he states that he is "very sick and weak of body but of perfect mind and memory". His executor is his youngest son, Thomas, who was only 15 at the time and so wife Mary and eldest son John are appointed as trustees. Amazingly they have to stand one thousand pounds surety to The Archdeacon until Thomas comes of age, a huge sum of money in 1746. But what really brings the will to life are the inventories of the farm and farmhouse. These detail all the livestock and equipment and everything "within doors" down to the saucepans and napkins, and all are valued to a total of £416. To see images of the will documents click here. Or for my transcriptions click here.
Gun-running for Queen Victoria
My great aunt, Annie Georgina Wiseman, was married twice. Her first marriage ended in mystery - see the story of The Vanishing Blindmaker above. Her second husband was Joseph Foster (no relation to her mother's family who were also Fosters) who was born in 1870 and at the time of their marriage was her lodger (?!). He was a Navy man having joined straight from school at the age of 15. At 18 he signed-on for 12 years and by 1900 had risen to Leading Seaman and was posted to HMS Terrible. Terrible and its sister ship Powerful were state-of-the-art cruisers, the largest built at the time, and a match for any Navy. But it wasn't fighting a Navy foe that brought them fame. In 1901 HMS Terrible was sent to South Africa, and HMS Powerful re-directed on its return journey from China, to assist the British Army in the South African War. Things were going badly and the garrison town of Ladysmith had been beseiged by the Boers using their "Long Tom" gun, which had a range that made them untouchable by the British Artillery. The Captain of HMS Terrible was Percy Scott, later to become Admiral Sir Percy Scott. Scott was a gunnery specialist and a bit of a genius. On arrival at Durban he was asked to make plans to dismount the 4.7-inch guns from the Terrible and devise a carriage to get them across country. He produced the plans in ten hours and 48 hours later, having raided the Dockyard blacksmith's shop had produced a wheeled 4.7 -inch gun that was better in range and accuracy than anything the Boers had. He manufactured other portable guns after dismounting them from the ships and a Naval Brigade contingent from the two ships set off by rail for Ladysmith. The final part of the journey used oxen and a fair bit of man-handling by the gun crews using drag ropes. They eventually opened up on the Long Tom from 6000 yards range and Ladysmith was eventually relieved and the rest is history. It was this action that inspired the Royal Navy Field Gun competitions that were the highlight of the Royal Tournament for over fifty years; the competition still takes place at a Navy shore station near Portsmouth each year. The crews from HMS Terrible and HMS Powerful were feted on their return home and were allowed to march through the streets of Portsmouth and London with colours flying, they even had tea with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. Joseph Foster was a Petty Officer (Rigger) on board HMS Terrible and took part in these celebrations but the evidence suggests that he was not part of the land actions but remained with the crew on board ship guarding Durban whilst the Naval Brigades were ashore.
In the middle of the 19th century Portsmouth was a boom town and residential development could hardly keep pace. As the Southsea area began to expand there was a serious lack of churches to serve the rapidly growing community. It was to fill this gap that a strange timber building was erected in 1858 on a circular plot of land in Outram Road. It was a twenty-sided building, 22 metres in diameter and 18 metres high, with its open-space interior lit by a great chandelier comprised of 36 lights - the design was originally intended as a field hospital for the Crimea War. It wasn't only its shape that astonished local residents - the timber building was erected in only 28 days. It served the community as an offshoot of St James's church for three years until the completion of a permanent stone-built church (St Bartholomew's). That was not the end though as the timber building was then dismantled and re-erected in Waverley Road, again in 28 days, to serve as a temporary St Simon's . Four years later it was surplus to requirements again as a brick-built St Simon's was completed; but this was still not the end of the story as the Crinoline Church, as it had become known, was taken down and re-erected once more in St George's Road, Eastney, as St Andrew's the chapel for the Royal Marines Barracks. It served in this role for nearly forty years until it was demolished in 1905 following the completion of a new St Andrew's.
The Marksman Gene
When I first started work at Ordnance Survey in 1962 I was befriended by John Pitt, the son of a work colleague of my father. We met on the train on my first morning, John having started three months before me. John was interested in rifle shooting and when he found that Ordnance Survey had its own rifle club and indoor range he persuaded me to join with him. I began to shoot in the Southampton small-bore league and then later joined Fareham Rifle Club, being near my home. I shot for them for several seasons in the Portsmouth league before I found that the strain of the close work I was engaged in at Ordnance Survey was having an effect on my 'evening eyesight' and so gave it up, supposedly temporarily but I was never to return to it. During these years my brother, who was in the RAF, was also introduced to the sport by our cousin who was a member of the MG rifle club in Abingdon, Berks. My brother went on to shoot in RAF competitions and the two of us took part in the Bisley week championships on several occassions - I still have the badges!
Some 40 years on when I started to research my family history I was lucky to find my grandfather's army records at The National Archives in Kew. This supplied me with a lot of information about his life that I didn't know - he and my father had become estranged after the death of my father's mother and grandfather's subsequent remarriage. This meant that I knew very little about grandfather although I did know him vaguely as a child. His army records show that he joined the Leinster Regiment (Prince of Wales' Royal Canadian Leinster Regiment) in Birr, County Offally, Ireland in 1899. In June 1905 he qualified at the School of Musketry in Hythe, Kent and was subsequently promoted to sergeant. He returned to Hythe to qualify in advanced musketry in 1908 and eventually became Colour Sergeant Instructor of Musketry to the end of his 21 years service. Quite a coincidence.
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