To "plough and to sow, to reap and to mow..."

As indicated at the end of yesterday's post, a little about the life styles of English farm workers - "agricultural labourers" of the past. Many of my own ancestors were part of this group, in Yorkshire and in the south-east and south-west of England. Information following comes from writings of someone who must be a distant relative of mine, in Yorkshire, her website is HERE. (Illustrations added by me).

Until the middle of the nineteenth century, farm service was a common, perhaps the most common, way of dealing with rural youngsters when they reached working age and became too big and too hungry to fit into the crowded cottage of the agricultural worker. Children of farmers often went into service, so it was not only an institution catering for the labouring poor. The youngsters benefited from being housed and fed by the farmer whilst learning the skills needed to carry them through their working lives. They gained freedom from parental control and were able to broaden their horizons and mix with other workers within the system; they also received an annual wage from which the thrifty would save towards the future and marriage and which the not-so-thrifty would spend on beer and tobacco. They might, in their time as servants, work on several farms, usually within a radius of 10 or 15 miles of home.

Farm servants were different from other agricultural workers in that they were hired for a year at a time. These workers found employment through the annual hiring fairs, which were held in the market towns of East Yorkshire during Martinmas week at the end of November. Hiring fairs were held in places like Beverley, Bridlington, Driffield, Hedon, Hornsea, Howden, Hull, Malton, Patrington, Pocklington, and York. Here the agricultural servants – male as well as female – would gather in order to bargain with prospective employers and, hopefully, secure a position for the coming year. If a bargain was struck, the farmer would seal the transaction by giving the hired lad or man fest, or fastening, money – a small sum – in recognition of the hiring. In the late nineteenth century the amount was usually 5s[hillings] for a wagoner and 2s[hillings]& 6d[pence] for other workers. Once the fest had changed hands, a legal contract had been entered into.

Local newspapers reported on these colourful and sometimes rowdy gatherings.

The Driffield Times, 15 November 1873:

Early in the morning the great stream of humanity rolled into the town, conveyed thither in every conceivable appliance that could be obtained for the occasion; but conspicuous among the rest were the heavy wagons with their living freight, which were deposited amid the greetings of those who had chanced to outstrip them in the drive to town. Other vehicles, from heavy wagons to the humble donkey and cart were to be seen threading their way through the streets to their several destinations. The railway Company, too, brought hundreds into the town by special and regular trains, which were literally packed. At nine o’clock the bustle was commenced in earnest, for by that time most of the servants had congregated …
One former Farm Servant described the fair -
"We lined ourselves up on one side of t’road and farmers on t’other. They looked you over, talked to one another, and asked each other if they knew you and what you were like. They’d discuss you among themselves. Then they’d come across and say, “Noo, lad, dos’t thoo want takin’ on?”"

This tradition continued right through into the 19th century. The hirelings lived with the farmer or farm foreman, whose wife looked after them and on whose cooking skills, care and consideration their well-being depended. Living conditions were basic and on the rough and ready side; sleeping in crowded attic rooms, sweltering in summer and waking to frozen-stiff clothes in winter, they had no bath or washing facilities except a cold tap in the yard outside the kitchen door

An old rhyme about Martinmas:

"Come all ye dames arise
and let the maids lie still
They've risen all the year
It was against their will"

“Martinmas" [Note from Twilight: pronounced in East Yorkshire as "Mart'mas"] on the twenty-first of November, was when the farm servants would go to the Hiring Fairs in places like York and get hired by a new farmer if they didn’t want to remain with the farmer they were with. If they were "stopping on" they had to stay at home and do a days work. I remember hearing the workers talk about Martinmas.
"Is 'ta stopping on Jack?"
"Nay. I've packed me box. I'm off to the hiring's tomorrow. Bert."
"If you get taken on Jack, don't spend your fest all at once. Tha could get drunk for a shilling!"

The fest refers to when a man was taken on by a farmer, he was given a shilling to seal the bargain. The fest was probably a corruption of feast -a chance to go and treat yourself.”

Tout le monde - or as we say down here - "all y'all"

I was entertained earlier this week by this piece at Salon:

The secret history of “Y’all”: The murky origins of a legendary Southern slang word,
The phrase "y'all" might not simply be the shortened form of "you all" — but something far more complex,
by Cameron Hunt McNabb.

Comments following the piece brought several chuckles-out-loud from yours truly, especially when it came to plurals and possessives.

I enjoy "y'all" - don't actually say it out loud, but often find myself writing it in these posts. "Y'all" and "kind of" and "guy"/"guys" are, I think, the only bits of American-speak I've adopted so far. I used to find myself adopting local expressions and inflections quite easily during my wander around Britain in the 1960s and early 1970s. I suppose because, back then, due to my work I had to converse quite a lot in real life. Now I don't. I rattle around on the keyboard more than rattling my tongue around my teeth.

I just love it when I hear "y'all", "all y'all" and derivatives of that. It feels warm and comfortable to me. All the chit-chat about formal and informal "you" is for school-rooms. Real people say what they feel like saying. In Yorkshire, decades ago, my grandparents would very often use the old "thou" instead of "you"(but pronounced "thoo" or "tha").

Wikipedia has a version of a rather mean stereotypical old rhyme about Yorkshire folk:

'Ear all, see all, say nowt;
Eyt all, sup all, pay nowt;
And if ivver tha does owt fer nowt –
Allus do it fer thissen.

Being translated: Hear everything, see everything, say nothing. Eat everything, drink everything, pay nothing. And if ever you do anything for nothing, always do it for yourself.

Not good advice to live by, y'all!

Monday's Mouthwatering Memories

I often get to thinking about some of the dishes my grandmother used to prepare, especially the desserts - or as we called 'em "puddings". Her mother, my great grandmother, had taught her to cook. Great grandmother had been a cook for the owners and workers at a large Yorkshire farm, her talent, among the family anyway, was legendary. She would have had easy access to the best of everything, all fresh and grown, reared or preserved "on the spot". Not that good ingredients are all that's needed - a little "magic" helps too.

My grandmother must have been a good student. She also had access to good quality ingredients, living as she did in a tiny rural village, farms all around, with her own and neighbours' large gardens providing vegetables and fruits; berries were abundant in the hedgerows at certain times of the year, wild blackberries/brambles, wild raspberries. Strawberry fields were just down the road, where villagers could "pick their own" . Some village people kept chickens, some kept, or shared the upkeep of a couple of pigs.

 Something like this

For most of her life, Grandma had no fridge, no gas or electric stove. She cooked using the small oven at one side of the huge black fireplace, heated by the coal fire in the hearth. At the other side was a container for water, also heated by the fire. The big fireplace had to be "black-leaded" regularly to keep it shining. During the few weeks, or days, of the year when it was too hot for a fire, a minimum of cooking was done, using an oil stove, sometimes two, in the "wash-house" in the yard. She knew her coal-fired oven so intimately that she could gauge the required heat just by "feel", even for such delicacies as Yorkshire Pudding which can stand or fall (literally) by cooking in the wrong heat.

I've digressed. I'd meant to write about some favourite remembered desserts.

Grandma often made what she called "Egg Pudding". I've never seen it on any menu or in any cookbook. It has, I suppose, to be a near relation of Yorkshire Pudding. It was an egg, milk and flour thick batter wrapped in a cloth, to form a big round ball, then boiled (I think - or steamed?) in the cloth, in a pan of water. When ready it was unwrapped, cut open and a huge piece of fresh farm butter and lots of sugar inserted before sharing among mouthwatering diners.

Her classic Yorkshire puddings were superb. On Sunday the big "Yorkshire", baked in a special rectangular tin, was served first, before the main course, with lovely gravy made from juices of the joint of beef. Sometimes there'd be thinly sliced cucumber in vinegar as an accompaniment. Grandma would certainly never entertain those, now popular, silly little individual Yorkshire puds! If there was ever any pud left over it would be eaten eagerly with butter and sugar later.

Apple suet dumpling was another favourite dessert when visiting Grandma: sliced apples from local trees sweetened and wrapped in a cloak of suet pastry (something I've not tasted for many decades) then, not baked, but again, boiled in a cloth. Scrumptious with copious amounts of custard. I've always loved a good vanilla custard!

At blackberry time, her "bramble cake" was always a family favourite. We'd go picking the berries, bring them back to her and within an hour or so the "cake" would be ready. It was a kind of pie, but instead of being baked in a tin, a circle of pastry was simply wrapped around the brambles and sealed with egg and milk, placed on a flat tray on the oven shelf. When ready, a piece was cut from the top of the "cake" and a lump of fresh butter inserted.

Around this time of year Grandma always made some special ginger bread, known in some circles as Yorkshire Parkin; hers was lovely and moist, rich, and baked in a big square tin, then cut into small squares. It went down a treat while watching the bonfires and fireworks of Guy Fawkes night: November 5th.

Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings were always made weeks, maybe months before the event. Very rich, moist fruit cake, lovingly wrapped in cloths, stored in the front room sideboard, fed regularly with rum, brandy or whisky, whichever was to hand, injecting same with a sterilised knitting needle.
Almond paste covering and sugar icing came much later.

A favourite for all seasons, for me, was her chocolate cake...yummm...what can I say? Hers was of a texture colour and flavour I haven't found anywhere else since, and I've always been searching!

These thoughts are likely to put an inch on my waistline! Does any passing reader have good memories to share of deliciousnesses from their youth or childhood?

Turning Down the Empty Glass #4

Click on the numbers for the 3 earlier parts of this 4-part series, those relating to paternal ancestors are #1 and #2.
#1......#2.... #3


My maternal grandmother and her ancestors are last, but certainly not least in the four posts about my family history.

My grandmother May Bracegirdle married Sidney Bulpitt (see #3) in or about 1915. Their elder daughter, my mother Mary, was born in late September 1915. May and Sid would have a second daughter, Lillian some 7 years later.

 Sidney and May Bulpitt with elder daughter Mary, my mother.

 3 generations: May, Mary and Ann (me looking coy)

The back of the photograph (above) was inscribed by Lillian (my Aunt Lil)  : "Mum & sister Mary & Ann. This picture went through the 1939 war pinned on many gun site walls"

May, my grandmother, was born on 19 May 1894, daughter of Sarah (formerly Petch) and John Bracegirdle. May had borne a son out of wedlock (father unknown) in 1910. Her son, John, was raised by May's mother, Sarah.

Sarah and John Bracegirdle, my great-grandparents

Who was John Bracegirdle, my great grandfather? Where was he born? This has proved to be one of the most stubborn of brick walls in my family history. I know from census returns that he was a groom and servant at a picturesque and historic stately home in East Yorkshire: Burton Agnes Hall, shown here.

His place of birth on census return for 1891 was given as "Fulford", a village not far from York. I have been able to find no records of any Bracegirdle families in that area, nor have any helpers on genealogy message boards I've approached for assistance.

Bracegirdle is an unusual surname. It derives from an occupation:

This most interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a metonymic occupational name for a maker of breech-girdles, that is a maker of belts for holding up breeches, from the Olde English pre 7th Century, Middle English "brec" (Old French "braie"), breeches, with the Olde English "gyrdel", a girdle, belt. The surname is particularly widespread in the county of Lancashire (and Cheshire)...... The first recorded namebearer appears in London in the late 13th Century............(See here).

I was close to my grandma, May, having spent some years of my childhood during World War 2, living with her and grandad. I used to ask her about her father. He had died young, she said, when she was around 4 years old, her memories were hazy. His death certificate is recorded in 1898, his age then noted as 37, which might be an approximation, as on his marriage certificate in 1890 he was listed as age 27. My grandmother told me, when asked where her father came from, that he was "a foreigner". "Foreigner" in those days probably meant someone not from the surrounding area, rather than someone from another country. She would usually add that he "liked his drink", something that might have led to his early death. One of her clearest memories of her father was of him coming home one Christmas-time, drunk and carrying a pig under his arm! I believe I'd have rather liked my great grandfather! No such tale was a helpful lead to John Bracegirdle's origins though.

The letter below, dated 13 Dec. 1896, was treasured by my grandma, as a memory of her father. He is writing to his mother and father(presumably his in-laws for this to have remained in my grandma's possession) for an invitation to visit them at Christmas-time. Whether this was the Christmas when John arrived the worse for wear, and bearing a pig, isn't known!

John Bracegirdle appears in the 1891 census return as age 28, married, "groom/domestic servant in Burton Agnes, born "Fulford".

I obtained a copy of the marriage certificate of John Bracegirdle and Sarah in the hope of finding helpful clues. It certifies that the pair were married in Nafferton on 26 November 1890, when he was 27, she 23. His occupation is noted as "Groom", place of residence: Burton Agnes, his father's name is given as another John Bracegirdle, occupation "Labourer". Sarah is listed as "spinster", residence at time of marriage: Nafferton, her father William Petch, "Labourer". Witnesses were George Wilkinson and Mary Petch, Mary A. Staveley, all relatives or neighbours of Sarah.

If John Bracegirdle truly did come from Fulford, I doubt he'd have been thought of as "a foreigner" by my grandmother. As there's no sign of any Bracegirdle families in that area, I suspect that either the census taker misheard or misinterpreted the place name - or that my great grandfather had tried to cover his tracks for some reason. I suppose there is always the chance that he was son of a pair of travelling agricultural servant/labourers who spent a shortish time in Fulford and gave birth to a son, between census times - a 10-year gap. I suspect, though, that John Bracegirdle could have moved to Yorkshire from rural Cheshire, where there are to be found numerous Bracegirdle families. I tracked down any likely John Bracegirdles there, also in Lancashire, and came up with one I consider a likely "favourite": John Bracegirdle born in Knutsford (Knutsford.....Fulford.....ripe for misinterpretation?) who was 17 and a groom/domestic servant to a veterinary surgeon in the census for 1881. I've been unable to pin him down in an 1871 census at age 7 so far though, if his father's name really was John, but there are several other John Bracegirdles aged 7 listed with fathers of different first names.

John Bracegirdle's true origins will remain a mystery for ever, I fear. Sarah, John's wife and my great grandmother, remained a widow for some years after John's death.

 Sarah Bracegirdle, my great-grandmother

She married Henry Earnest Waites in 1910. Sarah and her second husband brought up my grandmother's son, John and eventually they ran a small farm in Gembling, East Yorkshire. Sarah worked at one point, my grandmother told me, as caterer looking after workers on a larger farm. She was always remembered by relatives as a "wonderful cook", a title my grandmother and my aunt inherited, though my mother and I missed out - at least on the "wonderful" part! I met my great grandmother several times, remember her as a tall, slender - almost gaunt - lady, but no more detailed memories remain.

Sarah's parents were William Petch of Nafferton and Martha (formerly Wilkinson, of Brigham). William, born in Hutton Cranswick, worked in the Nafferton flour mill, is listed in the census of 1901, then aged 54 as "weighman miller in flour mill", Nafferton, East Yorkshire.

William Petch , his wife Martha below

His wife, Martha is noted as aged 53. Also listed as living (or visiting) at 70 Station Street with William and Martha are some grandchildren:
Florence (11), Fred (4), Mary (6) (should be May) and Alice (2), along with "visitors", Sarah Bracegirdle (widow, 32), John Petch (28), Mary Petch (24), Thomas Tomlinson(30), Hannah Marson (17) and Thomas Sawdon (21). The three male "visitors" all farm servants.

Quite a house-full! I wonder if that census was taken close to some holiday time, or maybe near the date of a  wedding when family members gathered together. Sarah and May are the only pair present I fully recognise as mother and daughter - my grandmother and great grandmother. The family tree of the rest of the Petch family has always been a huge mystery to everyone; my mother, her sister and I have giggled over it more than once. I knew Florence and Alice as older "aunties", but neither was my grandmother's sister - maybe they were her cousins, but even she, and they, seemed hazy on that score.

William Petch was born about 1848, his father John Petch born 1815/18, Hutton Cranswick , married Sarah Jefferson (1816-1851). John Petch's father was another John Petch (1791/2)born in either Hutton Cranswick or Louth, Lincolnshire, who married Mary (possibly Mary Wallis). Both Johns were agricultural labourers.

There's a muddle here, I'm not yet clear on it.

This photograph of a John Petch comes from ancestry.com, it appears in several different family trees which must be loosely linked to my own, if this is, indeed the same John Petch, grandfather of William (my great-great grandfather). I'm not happy with the "Louth, Lincolnshire" connection, but it could fit. In the census of 1871 a John Petch, aged 80, married to Mary, is noted as born in Hutton Cranswick. That is my John Petch. In earlier census returns a John Petch with a wife Mary (nee Wallis) was noted as born in Louth Lincolnshire - but resident in Hutton Cranswick.

The following links are not 100% certain due to the above confusion: Father of the senior John was another William Petch (1770-1847), his wife was Jane (nee Wise 1769-1823). William's father was yet another William Petch, married to another Jane (nee Green).

PETCH: The surname, Petch, is said to be of medieval French origin and derives from the Old French "pech(i)e", the Latin "peccatum", meaning sin. A curious nickname surname, it was probably used more often in jest than as a mark of censure, or even in the ironical sense, as in the case of Robert Pecce, the Bishop of Coventry in 1123! The following examples illustrate the name development from the earliest recording ... Haimund Peccatum, Hamo Pecce (1121 - 1160 Suffolk), Rotbert Pecceth (1123 Anglo Saxon Chronicle), William Pesche (1178 Pipe Rolls Yorkshire), Gilbert Pechie (1200, Pipe Rolls, Cambridgeshire), Geoffrey Pech (1191, Pipe Rolls London), Richard Pechee (1275 Hundred Rolls Norfolk). In the modern idiom the variant include Pe(t)chey, Peach(e), Peech, Petch(e).
From HERE.

(From Wikipedia)

Pipe Rolls were financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, or Treasury. The earliest date from the 12th century, and the series extends, mostly complete, from then until 1833. They form the oldest continuous series of records kept by the English government, covering a span of about 700 years. The early medieval ones are especially useful for historical study, as they are some of the earliest financial records available from the Middle Ages.

Returning to my great grandmother's father, William Petch - his wife Martha Wilkinson's family can be traced back to early 18th century:

Martha's father was James Wilkinson (1828-1876 ) born in Skerne, married to Frances of Kirkburn (1829-1892).

James Wilkinson's father was George (1787-1876) born in Cherry Burton, married to Martha Jane (formerly Ness 1789-1834) of Nafferton, daughter of John Ness of Wansford and Martha(nee Marson 1761-1816) of Nafferton.

Martha's parents were Richard Marson (1722-1794)of Nafferton and Mary Haggard of North Frodingham (1722-1759).

Those place names seem scattered but all are close together in the same area of East Yorkshire.

My maternal great grandfather's origins remain a mystery, but female lines in this branch of my genealogy are strongly based in East Yorkshire.

Turning down an empty glass for my grandmother May, with all her, and my, ancestors, known and unknown.

And when Thyself with shining foot shall pass
Among the guests star-scatter'd on the grass,
And in thy joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made one - turn down an empty glass!

Gathering the 4 family strands together: my traceable ancestor lines derive from East and North Yorkshire, Suffolk and Essex, Wiltshire and Hampshire, possibly Cheshire. Further back than documentary evidence allows, it's likely that a few elements in these lines had their deepest roots in France (Vasey, Petch) and in Scotland (Scott).

The "brick-walls" encountered so far are:
a)Who were my paternal grandfather's father and antecedents?
b)Was John Thomas Midgley the biological father of my paternal grandmother, or was she daughter of his wife Fanny(his second cousin) before they married?
c) Where did my maternal great-grandfather come from, who were his family?


A last photograph, small one but one I've always loved it, because it was taken some time after my father had suffered injuries in a motorcycle accident. A friend had encouraged him to try to drive the motorbike and Dad had managed to throw himself off it into the road and damaged his face quite badly. You can still see signs of some dressings I think. He had scars for the rest of his life. It could have been horrendously worse. I'm posting this, coincidentally, on my Dad's birthday, 8 February. This little pic of an ice cream party, with Dad, Mum, Grandma May and me carries a very happy memory.

 Happy Birthday, Dad!

Turning Down the Empty Glass #3

Click on the numbers for two earlier parts of this 4-part series, those relate to paternal ancestors. #1......#2

My mother's father, my maternal grandfather, was Sidney Bulpitt. Like my paternal Grandad Scott, so with "Siddo" or "Daddy Sid"(pet names for him), he also had made his way up to Yorkshire from the south of England in his youth, looking for better work opportunities. I sometimes tell myself that genes from these two wandering grandfathers of mine shaped my own wanderlust. My parents were great wanderers also, in their day.

Bulpitt is a fairly unusual surname. It's thought to derive from the place from whence families of Bulpitts, Bulpits, Bulpens, Bulpins, Bulepin etc.originated: the bull pit would have been a pit or depression in the ground where a bull or bulls were kept, either for stud purposes for the area, or a pit where bulls were kept for the ancient and very nasty "sport" of bull-baiting. The Bulpitts, and other versions of the name, must have lived near to a bull pit, I guess. The word bull came from Old Norse 'boli', which morphed into Old English 'bula'. The surname was first noted in the county of Somerset, adjacent to, and to the west of Wiltshire where Sidney Bulpitt was born. Many of his antecedents came from the county adjacent to Wiltshire to the east : Hampshire.

I've come up with little, other than names and dates and places, on this branch of my family, but as will become obvious, I do have more old photographs of some of these relatives than I do of the relatives in my father's lines.

Sidney Bulpitt was born on 10 June 1890 in a rural village, Upper Chute, in Wiltshire. His parents were Charles Bulpitt and Caroline (nee Newman/Smith). He was, I think, seventh of 10 or more children. Some of his siblings: William, Alice, Emily, Frederick, Albert, Mary, Susan, Lillian, Eliza, Dolly and Ruth, born between 1877 and 1900.

Sid's mother Caroline's parents were Henry Smith born in Fyfield, Hampshire and Sarah Newman. Henry Smith was son of John and Mary Smith of Fareham Hampshire, born around 1810; Sarah's parents: Edward and Louisa Newman of Andover, Hampshire, born around 1812.

 Sid's parents seated, and 5 of his elder siblings. 

 Caroline Bulpitt centre, daughter Dolly left, an in-law ? at right

Sid's youngest sister emigrated to Ontario, Canada. I met three of his other sisters, who all, eventually, made their homes around London; also knew one of his brothers, Albert, "Uncle Bert". I met Bert when I lived for a year or so in the south of England, in Brighton, where he had worked for most of his life as chauffeur to a wealthy family. He was a bright, happy guy, full of fun. My grandad was a fun guy too, in his own way. If stories are to be believed (they probably are)Sid was something of a philanderer in youth, in middle-age too, but his marriage to my grandmother lasted long enough for them to celebrate a Diamond Wedding anniversary (60 years).

 Sid and Micky

 Sid with his sisters

 Sid's sister who emigrated to Canada

 Sid's brother Albert ("Bert") and wife Rose

In the 1911 census, at age 21, Sid was still listed in Wiltshire, as a carter, working on a farm, boarding with the senior carter in Wherwell, a village in Hampshire. By 1915 though he had moved some 240 miles northward to East Yorkshire and had married my grandmother, May. They had two daughters, my mother, Mary, and her younger sister, Lillian -Aunt Lil - (see blog post HERE).

Once in Yorkshire Sid didn't stay with agriculture or horses and carts for very long. He somehow learned how to drive one of those new-fangled horseless carriages, and worked as driver for a local taxi firm in the market town close to where he lived.

My mother is in the car somewhere, Sid at the wheel

Sid with a  rather more stately vehicle

When a local 'bus service needed drivers Sid became one of the first 'bus drivers in the area. Just before World War 2 he had somehow saved enough to buy his own taxi, and for many years was the local taxi man.

 Sid and his taxi

When business became scarce, years later, he drove an ice cream van around local villages in summertime, along with various other jobs at the local post-war air field close to home. He had a streak of ingenuity in him - he electrically wired the little cottage where he and grandma lived most of their lives together. His knowledge of electricity was negligible, but that didn't stop him! It's a wonder the cottage didn't burn down, but it didn't. I lived with "Siddo and Nanny" for a couple of years or so, as a very young child, during the worst of World War 2.

Sid lost most of his his sight in his last years - but never lost his determination to overcome all difficulties.  He died in 1978.

One of the last photos of Sid and May with my parents and me

So - what of Sid's parents, Charles and Caroline, and their history?

Charles caused confusion. I have to thank someone who must be a distant relative of mine for shedding light on the muddle. On a genealogical message board some years ago he'd asked for assistance. He too had encountered confusion. He had obtained marriage and death certificates for Charles Bulpitt, his great-great grandfather. Charles was married to Caroline Newman in 1876 in Chute, Wiltshire, on the certificate Charles' father is noted as George Bulpitt. Census returns for 1871, 1881, 1891,1901 and 1911 all show Charles being born in Hurstbourne Tarrant, a village about five miles north-east of Andover, Hampshire, between 1843 and 1847. However, there is no Charles Bulpit(t) registered as born around that time or in that area. The death certificate shed some light. Charles is described there as Charles Warwick Bulpitt (died 1922 in Chute). A Charles Warwick is shown born around 1846 in Hurstbourne Tarrant - the birth certificate named his mother as Louisa Warwick, no father is listed. In the 1851 census there is a Louisa Warwick (Aged 25) unmarried, and living with her father in Hurstbourne Tarrant, but no sign of a Charles Warwick (or Bulpitt).

In the 1861 census a 15 year old Charles BULPIT, born in Hurstbourne Tarrant, was living with grandparents, John and Eliza Bulpit in Andover, Hampshire.

John BULPIT aged 56, carter, born in Hungerford, Berkshire.
Eliza aged 52 born in Pambourne (Pangbourne?) Berkshire.
Charles, aged 15, grandson/carter, born in Hurstbourne Tarrant.

In census of 1851 the same John and Eliza Bulpitt had a son, George aged 24, listed as living with them, he born in Hampstead Marshall. John and son George were both agricultural labourers. No sign of Charles in 1851. In 1861 George BULPITT appears as married and living in Andover. If this is the same George Bulpitt, he was then an innkeeper, his spouse Ann, formerly Ann Potter, who had been living next door to the Bulpitts in 1851 with her innkeeper brother.

It would appear, then, that Sid's father Charles was born out of wedlock, but was acknowledged by the father, George Bulpitt, as his son.

John Bulpitt's father was another John Bulpitt (born 1761), his wife was Martha, formerly Martha Shepherd, and that's as far as I've been able to trace the Bulpitt name, no extra detail has emerged, so far.

So...Louisa Warwick was my great-great grandmother. She didn't marry George Bulpitt, though their son took his name. Louisa possibly married another George later on - a George White/Wight in 1853 in Andover. I cannot be certain this is the same Louisa Warwick, but it seems likely.

Louisa Warwick's father and his antecedents can be traced back to the mid 1600s, but nothing is known of them other than their names. Louisa's father was Richard Warwick, beyond him were another Richard, two Williams, a Stephen and an Edward Warwick, he born 1624. These Warwick men married women from families of Cummins, Potticary, Cowdery, Welloway, and Moore.

Turning down an empty glass to my grandfather Sidney Bulpitt then, along with his, and therefore my, ancestors.

And when Thyself with shining foot shall pass
Among the guests star-scatter'd on the grass,
And in thy joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made one - turn down an empty glass!

Turning Down The Empty Glass #2

#1 in this proposed 4-part series featured my paternal grandfather Edward James Scott and his forebears. His wife, my paternal grandmother was Mary, maiden name Midgley. I am fortunate that local genealogists linked to the Midgleys had already done much digging in the parish registers of East and North Yorkshire before I ventured down this family history rabbit hole. Thanks to them I've been able to delve much deeper into this particular part of my gene pool than I could manage in Grandad Scott's case.

MIDGLEY the name: Two possibilities:
1) an old Yorkshire name, probably first arising in West Yorkshire, where there's a village called Midgley; how, or if the East and North Yorkshire Midgley branch links to the village isn't clear.
2) A derivation of Michelson or Mitchelson. There is evidence that a Christopher Midgley on the Acklam Land Tax Assessments, in successive years, went from signing Chris. Michelson to Chris. Midgley. Christopher's father was John Mitchelson. I haven't yet connected John and Christopher to my direct line of Midgleys, but my forebears have clear connections to Acklam, so I'd say that it's highly likely that this is where my line of Midgleys got their name, rather than from a village in West Yorkshire.

My own relatives can be traced back to the mid-1700s; beyond that though, the families of several Midgley spouses, my 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th 8th 9th and 10th great grandmothers, can be traced back - and back - into the 1500s.

My Midgley line's earliest known character was a Richard Midgley probably of Sheriff Hutton, Yorkshire, born about 1734. His son Richard, born 1769 married Hannah Nichols on 6 December 1790 in Kirkby Grindlyth on the East Yorkshire Wolds. Richard the younger was Parish Clerk as well as being involved in some form of agricultural employment. He and Hannah had 10 children. Hannah, maiden name Hicks, hailed from Hutton Bushel, a village between Pickering and Scarborough.

Maps below show the general area involved in the family history included in this #2 chapter.
Click on an image for a bigger version.

Richard and Hannah's large family and their descendants formed a tangled Midgley network around the Wolds of East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and the Moors. It was very easy to be led astray once entering this network, due to many similarities of first names in similar time spans. More than once I followed mistaken threads and had to start over.

Of Richard and Hannah's ten offspring, two are significant to my own line: Thomas Midgley born 10 June 1801, and Benjamin born 10 January 1812 - both recorded in Kirky Grindlyth parish, though the nearby village of Duggleby could well have been their home.

The reason I link to two members of Richard and Hannah's offspring: Benjamin's youngest daughter married one of Thomas's grandsons. That caused lots of confusion! Thomas Midgley and his wife Mary (nee Wallis) had a son, Abel. Abel and wife Elizabeth (nee Boyes) had a son, John Thomas who married Benjamin Midgley's youngest daughter Fanny.

John Thomas Midgley, born in 1861 in Acklam, and Fanny Midgley born 1863 in Duggleby are recorded as marrying in 1887. They became parents of William, born 1889, Emma Midgley, 1890, Ben Midgley, 1892, Tom Midgley, 1894, George Midgley, 1896 and Ida Midgley,1898. However, and it's a big however, in the census of 1891 there's another offspring listed as daughter of the couple, born 1885, before their marriage. This daughter, Mary, then aged 6, was my grandmother. By the 1901 census Grandma was listed as "servant to veterinary surgeon", and by 1911 she was married to Grandad Scott and mother of four, with six more to come.

Now - was Mary, my grandmother, the daughter of both partners, born before they married, or was she daughter of one partner only? Her name would still be Midgley either way. I'll never know this, it's a second brick wall in my family history, matching that of Grandad Scott's unknown father. The fact that Fanny and John Thomas were...(?) second cousins, or cousins once removed does mean that, in any event, the onward reach into the past, via Midgley spouses will remain relevant to my own genealogy. I think it more likely that Grandma Mary was definitely Fanny's daughter, if not also John Thomas's.

This was Mary Midgley/Grandma Scott:

I have hazy memories of her. She'd visit us during my young childhood, every Friday evening, never failed to leave a shilling for me. She was known as a sweet-natured, hard-working woman. She brought up 10 children of her own and several grandchildren whose parents were encountering difficulty. She attended "chapel" every Sunday, the strangely named Primitive Methodist Continuing Chapel. Grandma died in 1952.

I met Fanny Midgley, my great grandmother, just once when I was very young, around 4 or 5 years old I think. My only memory is of a lady in a long dark dress, and of feeling afraid of her. I was told by my parents, amid laughter, that my only comment to my great grandmother had been "I don't like you!" What a charmingly outspoken brat I had to be! I hereby apologise.

Fanny Midgley's father, as mentioned above, was Benjamin Midgley. Her mother was Mary, maiden name Bogg, born in Duggleby 1821. Mary Bogg's parents were Jonathan Bogg and Margaret Vasey. Whereas most of the later Midgleys were agricultural labourers of one sort or another, several of the Boggs, from various census entries, appear to have been tradesmen, such as grocer, postmaster, joiner.

Margaret Vasey, Jonathan Bogg's wife and my 3rd great grandmother was born in Allerston, North Yorkshire. Her family line is capable of being traced way back, via her father William Vasey.

VASEY:

 Ruins of Rievaulx Abbey

Vasey the surname (and its several alternative spellings) is said to have originated with those involved in the Norman invasion of England. First recorded spelling of the family name is, it is thought, that of Robert L'enveiset, dated 1131, in the register of Rievaulx Abbey, in North Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry 1st of England (1100 - 1135). Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. Surnames in every country have continued to "develop" resulting in variations of the original spelling. L'enveiset became De Vesci; De Vesci became Vasey, Vasie or alternative spellings.

At a website 1066 Medieval Mosaic in the section titled THE BATTLE ABBEY ROLL. WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NORMAN LINEAGES, the Vesci chapter outlines the De Vesci family's tangled ties with lands in a newly Norman England. My interest is in a particular area of Yorkshire, and place names there are mentioned as having been, at some point in the mists of time, in ownership of some member of the De Vesci family. Allerston, Hutton Bushell, Pickering Marishes are mentioned - all villages or areas which turn up regularly in relation to my Vasey connection.

It'd be good to feel fairly confident that the Vaseys named below had some kind of family link to those De Vesci characters from Norman France, but I have no proof. How the surname might have appeared in this area otherwise is puzzling though:

My Vasey line proceeds via: Margaret Vasey (my 3rd great grandmother), her father, William Vasey (1756-1823), his father Matthew of Marishes Vasey (1690-1784). Matthew's father was Thomas of Marishes Vasey (born between1640 &1665, died 1704). Thomas's father was Matthew of Boswell Moor Vasie (1603-1664) and his father was another Thomas Vasie, born 1580.

Place names involved are in a tightly bounded area around Allerston and Pickering (see map above). I haven't yet been able to identify "Boswell Moor", but suspect it could have been the name of a single farm or piece of land in the same general area as Marishes - on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors.

The last mentioned Thomas Vasie is my 8th great grandfather. There the direct Vasie name trail ends. Before leaving the Vaseys though, there's this (click on it for a bigger version). It must refer to the Matthew Vasey noted as "of Boswell Moor", due to the date. Which could be a clue that the location of Boswell Moor was really the same as Marishes, as in the name of his grandson Matthew.

 King Charles II

Restoration of the Monarchy, after the Civil War and Oliver Cromwell's time in power, occurred in 1660. Prince Charles (King Charles the Second)whose father had been beheaded, had been in exile until 1660 by all accounts. I guess he could have slipped into England from Europe, to a quiet port on the Yorkshire coast - there were many - and made his way inland across the area near Allerston.





OWSTON

Another name of interest, linking to the Vaseys, comes via the wife of my 6th great grandfather Thomas of Marishes Vasey, she was Elizabeth Owston.

The name Owston almost certainly refers to a location. There's a village of Owston in South Yorkshire.

Some of the modern Owston family have taken their genealogical investigations to extreme levels - DNA testing. An article titled Owston DNA Studies: Another F2642 Y-DNA Mutation Reported refers. There has, so far, been no definite conclusion as to origins. A recent test shows links to France. That's not surprising because William the Conqueror, after victory in 1066, gifted his many royal relatives, nobles and hangers-on with big chunks of England to play with. Reference the De Vesci's (aka Vasey) above!

The Owston's history is tied up with the Vaseys:

Earliest known Owston is Peter, my 10th great-grandfather, and his wife Petronel my 10th great-grandmother. (Taken from THIS website)

Peter Owston the husbandman of Sherburn, died in 1568 leaving quite a young family made up of three sons, all minors (under twenty one years)....... Peter lived through interesting times. He would have probably been born during the reign of King Henry VIII, seen the abolition of the Monasteries, the rise of Protestantism, possibly heard of the Pilgrimage of Grace and known about the other risings in the North. Petronel survived at East Heslerton with her second husband and was probably the "Widow Borman" who was buried on the 7th April 1594 at West Heslerton.

In spite of misty notions that "we" (via Owston and Vasey connections) could possibly have roots originating in characters involved in the Norman invasion of England, most of my ancestors have remained within the levels of, at best yeoman (owned own farm), or husbandman (tenant or smallholder); the majority, pre-World War 1, were just lowly agricultural labourers, the females domestic servants to the gentry.

Others linked to my Midgleys, through marriage and reaching back into the 1600s, include surnames Fiddis, Belt, Hopkin, Smartfoot and Lawne.

So...concluding my paternal family history wander, a photograph from a Scott family wedding at which both Grandma Scott (Midgley) and Grandad Scott were present, though oddly standing apart, he at the back of the group, she at the front. (Click on photo for a bigger version). In other wedding pictures the same thing happened - Grandad was obviously camera shy! The wedding here was of my father's younger brother, George, just after World War 2, so mid-1940s. My Dad is on George's left and my Mum, whose family history will follow in chapters #3 and #4, is the one in the snazzy hat behind Dad's left shoulder. Grandma Scott is to my Mum's left. Where's Grandad Scott? Hiding: back row second from right. See the Scott likeness, Grandad and sons? I'm not familiar with most others in the photo, relatives of Uncle George's wife, Nan, whose father was the guy in military uniform. I think Dad's youngest sister, Mary, is present but almost hidden behind Grandma; the rest of the Scott clan must have been about their business elsewhere on that occasion.

For Grandma Scott, the Midgleys, Boggs, Vaseys, Owstons, and all others who made up this branch of the family, I turn down an empty glass.

And when Thyself with shining foot shall pass
Among the guests star-scatter'd on the grass,
And in thy joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made one - turn down an empty glass!

Helpful sources on Midgley family history:

Bonson History - Midgleys of the Wolds
Midgley Webpages, East Yorkshire.