All posts by ewart.tearle

19Mar/15

Frederic Arthur Tearle, 1907, Islington, UK

New Zealand, , , , , , ,

You can tell that these two pictures of Fred (6m, and 2yr) were taken in London, can’t you? I have left the photographer’s signature, just in case.

Fred, 6 months, London

Fred, 6 months, London

Fred, 2 years, London

Fred, 2 years, London

Dad always used to tell the story that Arthur crashed Baron Rothschild’s best car, and then his second best car, on the same day. The first was when he hit a horse as he was speeding back from Leighton Buzzard railway station, being a bit of a dare-devil for a younger house member, and the second when he backed into a gas standard. He had to pick up My Lord in a horse-drawn carriage and was dismissed for the transgressions. He and Sadie were married in St Barnabus Church, Islington, London in 1904 and Fred was born in Holloway Hospital, London, in 1907. Dad told me that Sadie had got Arthur the job as a mechanic driver with the Rothschilds because she lived there. She worked from aged ten as a maid for the Rothschilds, and for Ella du Cane, the artist and book illustrator. Ella’s family were friends of the Rothschilds in both Ascot and in Mentmore Towers.

Fred and Evelyn Latta married in Invercargill on 22 Dec 1945 “in the residence of Mr R Latta, Moa St, Waikiwi,” says the marriage certificate. Robert Latta was a sawmiller and neither of the witnesses’ names mean anything to me, since they are both Invercargill residents. The family story is that Fred, getting near 40yrs and with no marriage – or even a girlfriend – in sight, put a letter in the lonely hearts column and Evelyn responded. This is the official photo of their wedding.

Fred and Evelyn Latta

Fred and Evelyn Latta

Fred returned to Hastings and took a job as a freezing company worker in the Tomoana Freezing works not far from where he and Evelyn lived in Haumoana. He kept this job until he retired. I don’t know exactly what he did there, but the work can be heavy and physically demanding.

Fred was a volunteer fireman

Fred was a volunteer fireman

There was real tragedy for Fred and Evelyn over the welfare of their girl, Edith, seen here with Fred and her grandmother Sadie. I met her only once, as a teenager, and we went for a walk around the park not far from home. She was a simple girl with limited language, and she lived in a sheltered home. However, she had enough ability to work as a maid in the home, and she earned a little money.

We received a telegram from Fred on 23 Jan 1978 saying that Edith was very sick in Hastings Hospital. On 31 Jan came the awful news that she had died. She was just 31yrs. Fred told us that she had become very depressed and that she had drunk a terrible poison. She must have been in the most horrible agony for all those days between the telegrams.

Edith, Fred and Sadie

Edith, Fred and Sadie

19Mar/15

Ewart Frank Tearle 1947, Rotorua, NZ

New Zealand, , , , , , ,
School Days. Glenholme Primary School, Rotorua. I’m 5th from the right, second row down. Nice school. The principal’s name was Mr Bassett. My friends and I spent an awful lot of time on our knees playing marbles in chalk circles on the asphalt, while other boys played rugby or soccer on the school fields.

School Days. Glenholme Primary School, Rotorua. I’m 5th from the right, second row down. Nice school. The principal’s name was Mr Bassett. My friends and I spent an awful lot of time on our knees playing marbles in chalk circles on the asphalt, while other boys played rugby or soccer on the school fields.

I still know the names of most of the children in the photo above. The principal encouraged gardening, and he showed us how to grow and prune roses.

I hitch-hiked to see Sadie one summer and this was the photo she took of me in her garden in Haumoana. She was so short she fitted under my arm, but she was very nice to me and I went fishing in the mouth of the Tukituki River not far away, whilst she had an afternoon nap.

I hitch-hiked to see Sadie one summer and this was the photo she took of me in her garden in Haumoana. She was so short she fitted under my arm, but she was very nice to me and I went fishing in the mouth of the Tukituki River not far away, whilst she had an afternoon nap.

A boy and his dog. I was too skinny to go sailing and couldn’t hold the yacht upright. I took my dog to obedience classes and he got quite good at it. Dad made the gates in the background.

A boy and his dog. I was too skinny to go sailing and couldn’t hold the yacht upright. I took my dog to obedience classes and he got quite good at it. Dad made the gates in the background.

My 21st. I didn’t know they were planning it and the occasion was quite a surprise. Doesn’t Mum look gorgeous - and young!

My 21st. I didn’t know they were planning it and the occasion was quite a surprise. Doesn’t Mum look gorgeous – and young!

This is the inside of Sadie’s cottage, below, exactly as I remember it when I visited her. The picture above the mantlepiece is of Leonard Adams, a Navy man (a marine) who visited her when his warship the Renown, carrying the Prince of Wales on a voyage around the Colonies, called in at Napier and Wellington and he was allowed some time off to go and see her. He says on his copy of the sailing plan “Napier – Where I left to see Auntie. May 4th 1920.” The radio was made of black bakelite and she listened to the BBC six o’clock news every day, as she had during two world wars. She knitted peggy squares for the New Zealand Red Cross. These were 6-inch squares of knitted wool, which could be multi-coloured, and were made entirely from garter stitch. Someone dropped off the wool she was to knit, and came back in a few weeks to pick up the finished squares. Other volunteers sewed the peggy squares into blankets for the needy. Thousands of New Zealand women knitted them – my mother did from time to time – and the project seemed to have its origins in the Great Depression of the 1930s. Sadie was knitting them both times I visited her, and she told me hers were going to London. She must have made thousands of them.

Sadie's cottage

Sadie’s cottage

19Mar/15

Frank Theodore Tearle 1915, Hastings, NZ

New Zealand, , , , , , , ,

Here is the obituary I wrote for my father, who died a few months after Mum:

It is a source of great sadness to me that I should have to speak to you about my father so soon after farewelling my mother.  I had hoped to be able to speak with him and to write to him for some time yet. I shall miss him. There is no-one in the world who has had such an influence on me and on my life as Dad has.

Frank and Sadie 1925 Hastings NZ

Frank and Sadie 1925 Hastings NZ

“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.” My dad’s life and my dad’s guiding principle in a single sentence. There is only one way of doing something – do it right the first time, do it right every time. It didn’t matter if he was doing a small job on a model motor, or whether he was working on another project on his house, he approached every job with the same serious concentration, meticulous planning and careful execution. I have stood for hours and talked with him while he worked at his lathe and made those beautiful boats and engines for which he is justifiably famous.

I can remember many nights on the porch in Western Heights watching him work his magic on a small piece of metal, a magic I longed to weave, but had no gift for at all. I always felt close to him when I stood there and watched him work.

Frank Tearle at his lathe, Hahei.

Frank Tearle at his lathe, Hahei.

Here in Hahei, Dad made a boat for Jason and we all went down to the little stream at the end of the Hahei beach to watch this delicate little steam engine drive Jason’s new boat and to marvel at the intricacies of the remote control mechanism by which it was steered. Jason absolutely loved it and promptly christened it Genevieve, in honour of his sister. This boat is now a lovely and graceful monument to Dad’s beautiful grandson. One of the very best portraits I have taken is a photo of Dad, in his workshop in Hahei, looking over his lathe at me while he worked. I am proud of it, and he thought it was pretty good, too.

I remember a few things very vividly from my childhood about Dad. The first thing was that he knew everything. There was no subject brought up at the table – and we had dinner as a family every day – that he couldn’t teach us things about. While he wasn’t very educated, he always read very widely and thus he was very knowledgeable. No man I have ever met, then or since, was as knowledgeable as Dad.

He always had a vegetable garden. He could never see any reason for growing flowers, but he had the biggest vege garden that would fit onto any back lawn he was allowed dig up. And he grew the most beautiful vegetables; fat potatoes, huge and perfect carrots, beetroot, parsnips, cabbages, cauliflowers, rhubarb and in Rotorua he had this 15 feet high trellis for the chinese gooseberries, as they were called then, right at the front of the garden. They are called kiwifruit now. He had a thing about the soil in Rotorua being too porous and he wanted lots of organic material in the soil to give it some body and retain the water properly. He dug in people’s old hay and he grew lupines and dug them in, too.

I went with him one afternoon to a fishmonger in Rotorua whose freezers had failed overnight and after Dad had fixed the freezers, the man gave him the contents; some sharks, barracudas, groupers, mostly big fish, which Dad heaved onto the back of the truck. When he got home, he dug some trenches through the garden and dumped these fish into the trenches. For years we dug up fish scales. It took the neighbour fully five years to get to know Dad well enough to ask him the burning question, “What were you trying to grow when you sowed the fish?”

Frank and Peter at Sadie’s 1958.

Frank and Peter at Sadie’s 1958.

Dad wasn’t a big man – I suppose five feet eight – but he always had physical jobs and so kept very fit. You know he built his mother’s house in Haumoana when he was only 15, don’t you? In Hyla Rd. It was originally a shed on a section his mother bought with £100 her brother sent her. Levi Tearle, her father-in-law sent her £80 and with that she dug a well. The house Dad built is still there and the well is still there. He left school and went to work for an apiarist, so he knew a lot about bees and how different honeys are made. Then he went to work for a builder and during World War II he was building houses in Wellington.

He wasn’t allowed into the army because he had had rheumatic fever as a boy and it had left his heart with an irregular beat. He had also had mumps at fifteen and that left him deaf in one ear. He met Mum in Wellington and after they were married he had work as a builder in Whakatane, a farmer in Te Aroha, a refrigeration engineer and a joiner/fitter in Rotorua so he knew his way around wood and metal. That’s well documented – everyone here will know what a lovely job he made of building his own house in Hahei and how talented he was with his lathe – what you may not know is how unbelievably strong he was.

He and Mum used to gather strays and one of them was a lady called Marlene and her boyfriend. Now, he was a weightlifter, bigger than Dad, with muscles on muscles that he liked to display. One day he and Dad replaced the big ends on this chap’s car, filled the motor with oil and tried to start the car. The starter motor did nothing, just growled, so Marlene’s boyfriend took the crank handle and gave the starter motor a hand. Still nothing. I can see him in his singlet, sweating in the warm autumn sun, muscles bulging as he strained to turn the motor over. Still nothing. “I’ll have a go,” said Dad, stepped forward, set his feet, grabbed the crank handle in both hands, and turned it over, just like that. But the motor hadn’t made a sound. Dad pulled the crank out of the hole and we saw that he had made a very tidy 360-degree worm in the middle of the crank handle. “You don’t have to have lots of muscles to be strong, you know,” he murmured to me later.

Frank and Sadie, Haumoana 1967

Frank and Sadie, Haumoana 1967

The third thing that stands out so powerfully about my dad is that he was so generous. He gave so willingly of his time and of his patience and of his considerable talents. He was kind, outgoing and friendly. You know all the work he did here in Hahei for the fire brigade and for his local water supply. You know that he did the work only because it needed to be done; he never asked for recognition and he never asked for pay. He did the work because one day he put his hand up and said, “I can do that,” and he did, not just for that day, but for years and years and years. My dad didn’t do things by halves; if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

When you think of him today, think of his family here in England also grieving for a lost cousin and friend. He was very, very moved when they came to see him and to correspond with him over these past few years. Thelma Shepherd, Sheila Leng, John Wallace, Jenny Pugh, Norah Lowe, Ivor and Iris Adams and lastly Roland Adams, his cousin who sent him his first lathe in about 1930 – the very one he worked his magic on for me, for his model motors and for the people in Hahei. I have spoken to all his English family, many more than just the list above, and each of them wishes to send you their heartfelt greetings and their deepest sympathy.

Frank and Genevieve, NZ 1994

Frank and Genevieve, NZ 1994

Is it too much to say that for all my life Dad has been my hero, the one person I never wanted to let down, the one man I always hoped would be proud of what I do? I shall miss him. I shall miss his presence in the back of my mind as I walk around London and get to know the world so familiar to his parents, composing the letter that I write to him each month about what I have seen and what I have discovered. I shall really, really miss him.

Ewart Tearle

St Albans 2002

19Mar/15

Jason Gordon Tearle, 1979, Hamilton, NZ

New Zealand, , , , , ,

This little plaque in the Hamilton Lawn Cemetry, Newstead, marks the grave of my own son, Jason Gordon Tearle, born 3 Jan 1979 in Hamilton NZ. He was helping his school raise funds for a tour of England to play cricket. One of the venues was to be Rugby School. He was struck by a car and tragically killed.

Gravestone, Jason Tearle, Hamilton

Gravestone, Jason Tearle, Hamilton

His school, Hamilton Boys High School, commissioned a memorial called the Jason Tearle Memorial Trophy, which is awarded annually to the best all-round Year 10 student in the school. To date almost every recipient has gone on to become Head Boy.

Jason Tearle Memorial trophy

Jason Tearle Memorial trophy

While he was actually born in Waikato Hospital, in Hamilton, Jason was a son of the Waitomo District, in the King Country. Here is his memorial on the window of the Millennium building in Te Kuiti, NZ.

Memorial, Te Kuiti

Memorial, Te Kuiti

Jason’s branch is also John 1741.

We met the first of our English relatives in the summer of 1993, when John and Corinne Wallace came to see us with photos and news of Levi and his family. John took this photo of Jason, and taught him a few things about cricket. This visit was the beginning of our association with our English family and was the inspiration for Jason’s desire to go to England on the cricket trip. John’s mother, Sheila, was one of the three women who came to see us late in 1994 and to plant the walnuts from Wing in the story I have told on Thelma’s page.

Jason during John and Corinne's visit

Jason during John and Corinne’s visit

Jason had a very good sporting and academic record. He played soccer and cricket for King Country and was capped for his role in a King Country v Taranaki tournament in Taupo. At HBHS he was in the choir, he was learning the guitar, played soccer and he was, of course, selected for the cricket squad to tour England. He was in the the first five in all of his academic subjects and, as the Headmaster pointed out was “A good kid.” It was because of his all-round excellence that the school determined to remember him with a major school trophy, named in his honour, and given to a boy who has those qualities. She told us that Jason would probably have gone on to be Head Boy, which is why she is not surprised that most of the recipients of the trophy have done so.

The last photo of Jason, 2 weeks before his death

The last photo of Jason, 2 weeks before his death

 Elaine is tending the two seedlings that grew from the Wing walnuts. One of them was planted out on the farm with a service by Rev Fred Day of Te Kuiti, conducted in Latin.

Elaine Tearle and Wing Walnut Tree

Elaine Tearle and Wing Walnut Tree

19Mar/15

Marguerite Matilda (Tia) Tearle, 1921, Wellington, NZ

New Zealand, , , , , , , ,

Here is the obituary I wrote for Mum’s funeral:

For my mum, Tia Tearle.

For longer than I care to remember, I have dreaded this day because from this day forward I have to face the future without Mum.  I can no longer ring her up and talk to her, and I can no longer write to her.  All I can do now is to commune with the memory I have of her. But this day had to come; death is one of life’s absolute certainties, it happens to us all and there is no appeal.

The Queen recently said, “Grief is the price we pay for love.” The hurt and the pain we feel, and the tears we cry, are all because of the love we have for Mum.  But in spite of that, however sad we feel and however much loss we suffer, today is not a tragic day; it is a day of rejoicing in a life full of richness and many friends, full of laughter and a wicked sense of humour.

Tia Tearle, Lakeside Flats Rotorua C1952

Tia Tearle, Lakeside Flats Rotorua C1952

Although poverty was a constant companion in her childhood, Mum grew up in a relationship with her father and older brother Maurice that was rich with incident and variety. I shall be forever grateful to her younger brother, my Uncle Dick, for coming to New Zealand a few years ago and helping her to lay the ghosts that had so haunted her life and the memories of her family. James Ewart Dawson was a tall, gaunt man of immense physical strength and strong moral fibre, with a wonderful laugh and a generous, humane nature. Her father gave her from his huge heart the unbounded generosity which so enriched her life. He also gave her a lifelong love of horses. This was a mixed blessing.  “Racehorses,” she used to say, “kept us poor.” But it was a passion she shared with her father and through it she met jockeys, trainers and some memorable horses.  She had even groomed the mighty Phar Lap.

James Ewart Dawson, Tia’s father (left) with Maurice, her brother, at the Wellington races. James was known as Lofty by all who knew him. The Dawsons were from Lisburn and Belfast.

James Ewart Dawson, Tia’s father (left) with Maurice, her brother, at the Wellington races. James was known as Lofty by all who knew him. The Dawsons were from Lisburn and Belfast.

My Mum was also a lady of definite opinion and she hated pretension.  She was home early one day from her job as a nurse’s aide in Rotorua Hospital when I was still in Intermediate School.  She was sitting with her neighbour at the table in the window of our Western Heights house and she was alternately laughing and crying.

Tia and Frank’s wedding cake

Tia and Frank’s wedding cake

“They’ve sent me home early,” she said. “This horrible woman had moaned and complained about everything from the moment she woke up. When we made her bed she wanted to be left alone.  When we left her alone she complained because we hadn’t adjusted her pillows.  I took her the morning’s porridge.  It was nice and warm, I had poured the milk on it and there was a heap of brown sugar just as she liked and she said to me, “What’s this stuff? I don’t want porridge today I want toast.” I couldn’t stand her any more! I said to her, ” Well if you won’t eat it you can wear it,” and I threw the plate of porridge all over her.”

She had genuine steel in her, too. I was very sick in my third form year and Mum stayed home to look after me. I was hot and feverish and she rang the doctor, but he was busy. I can still feel the resolution and determination, I can still hear that icy tone as she instructed him to come and see me. And he came. After his examination he declared I had tetanus, but it should be treatable because it had been diagnosed at an early stage.  I ate pills the size of Oddfellows for a week, but it may well be possible that she had saved the life of her middle son.

Tia’s boys. I’m the one in the middle, in my school cap and jersey. The boxing is around a pipe that fed hot mineral water into a very large bathing tub. It was closed later due to fears about poisonous gas.

Tia’s boys. I’m the one in the middle, in my school cap and jersey. The boxing is around a pipe that fed hot mineral water into a very large bathing tub. It was closed later due to fears about poisonous gas.

So what are the memories of my mum that I shall particularly treasure?

Mum drove me to Hamilton each month for a year to see Mr Davies, the orthodontist, who straightened my teeth.  Gertie the Anglia could run at 45mph “cruising nicely,” said Mum and 60mph downhill with the wind behind her.  We drove up the narrow, winding metal road through the Mamakus and Mum would curse at the car in front if it slowed her down on an especially steep, windy bit. “Look at that,” she fumed, “a bloody great Vauxhall. That silly bugger’s got more power in his car than a dozen of mine, and he slows me down on tight corners like this. It’s all right for him, but Gert takes a long time to get back to speed if she’s slowed down right now.” She tooted and the car ahead surged away. “See?” she said. “He just needed reminding to concentrate on his driving and stop thinking about his floosie in Rotorua.” I don’t remember a single conversation – if we had one – but I remember the feeling of being special because Mum was doing something for me alone.

Tia and Frank cut the cake.

Tia and Frank cut the cake.

During the summer of my 6th form year – my second 6th form year, I think – Mum didn’t go to work and she asked me to come home for lunch. As I walked along the road behind our house I could see the house across the gully and Mum would wave to me from the dining room window. When I arrived home we would sit at the table in the window and eat our lunch.  It seems to me now that every day was a sunny day because I can only remember blue skies and bright sunlight across our back yard.  There are few more precious memories in my life.

Tia comes home with a new baby, our sister Tups.

Tia comes home with a new baby, our sister Tups.

I had trained for weeks to do well in our annual High School Cross Country race. The day of the race was sunny and warm and we ran up the very steep slope of Ngongotaha Mountain, down the newly sealed roads and then past our house in the last mile of the event. I was exhausted. Suddenly I heard Mum’s voice. “Go, Ewart – you’re third!” I couldn’t believe that Mum had come outside to watch me run. I don’t know why, but I was really surprised. I tried to run down the boy in front of me but he heard me coming and kept surging away any time I got closer than about 50 feet. I ended up third, all right. There is a little corner of my mind where I can still hear Mum encouraging me.

Tia and Maurice Dawson. Morrie ended up slightly brain-damaged after a fall from a pony, and died in his late middle-age, never marrying.

Tia and Maurice Dawson. Morrie ended up slightly brain-damaged after a fall from a pony, and died in his late middle-age, never marrying.

She taught me a lesson about women. Whenever it was Dad’s birthday, or at Christmas time, I would get him something he wanted, like a drill or a chisel, so when I was about 10 and Mum’s birthday was coming up, I heard her complaining about her eggbeater being almost useless and a lot of work to get it to go properly. So I bought her an eggbeater for her birthday. To my utter horror she just cried.

“What’s the matter? What have I done?”

“It’s my birthday and you have given me tools,” she sobbed.

“What should I have done?”

“You don’t buy a woman tools,” she said. “I am not someone who just works for you all in the kitchen. You could have bought me something nice, like perfume.”

I had never thought of her as a woman. I was shocked. It is a lesson I have never forgotten and a lesson I have completely subsumed.

Frank, Tia and Gertrude the Anglia at Sadie’s, Hastings, Hawkes Bay, 1958

Frank, Tia and Gertrude the Anglia at Sadie’s, Hastings, Hawkes Bay, 1958

For the last 20 years we have taken our Christmas holidays at Pauanui. Every year we have had Christmas with Mum and Dad and for the past 10 years or so, they have travelled to Pauanui on Jason’s birthday, the 3rd of January. It has been a time that brought us closer together and given our children a good sense of their grandparents.

She had so many friends! Any time you sat in Mum’s living room for more than an hour, you would meet someone who was just dropping in to say hello. Some of them were her friends and neighbours calling in to give back a plate that Mum had given them full of biscuits, some were calling in to give her a present. Some of them were the stray pups she picked up as part of her AA work, calling in to get a little encouragement, a few words of advice or a good kick up the bum.  

Frank, Tia, my brother Graeme and his children, with Elaine sitting. Pauanui, Christmas 1994.

Frank, Tia, my brother Graeme and his children, with Elaine sitting. Pauanui, Christmas 1994.

Mum’s fundamental belief was that nothing would happen of its own accord – you had to want it to happen first. If you wanted change in your life, you had to recognise that change was necessary. Until then no-one could help you, and she wouldn’t hesitate to say so. She had half a lifetime of helping people and she gave them the help they needed, even if it wasn’t always what they expected. People loved her because she gave. But she had a keen eye for the bludger and she didn’t suffer fools at all.

So in the midst of your sorrow, reserve a space for happiness and laughter.  Mum had a huge and infectious laugh and if her sense of humour didn’t always overwhelm her immediately, she could see the funny side once she calmed down.  Today is a time of music because she loved to sing and dance and play; today is a time of sadness and tears because she is gone and we shall not see her again in our lifetime; and today is a time for laughter and telling stories. She was our Mum; no-one can ever take her place and we shall love her for ever.

In a little chapel in our wonderful St Albans Cathedral two small candles are burning bravely. One is for my beautiful son and other is for my lovely, lovely mum.

Fly towards the Light, Mum, for in the Light there is peace.

Ewart Tearle

St Albans 2002

18Mar/15

Edward Tearle, 1868, Preston, UK

Preston, UK, , , , , ,

As so often seems to happen, we simply “fall over” a Tearle incident and then we spend many hours in research and discussion trying to find out the story behind the incident. Edward’s story begins with a bottle and Richard tells it thus:

“Two or three years ago, I saw an old ginger beer stoneware bottle advertised on e-bay, which indicated that it ‘belonged’ to Edward Tearle of Oldham. I had never heard of him (we had not got the information about the Preston Tearles from CemSearch at that time). Nor was I entirely sure if ET was the maker of the bottle or the provider of the contents! Some token investigations revealed nothing and the matter became a ‘pot boiler’. Other – glass – bottles came up on offer, but still research fell on stony ground. Finally, about two months ago (Sept 07) one came up that I could afford but I was outbid. Every time one came up for auction, I would mail the seller and ask if they had any information about Edward – none of them knew anything. Many bottle experts and collectors were mailed, but I still no progress.

Vintage bottle

Vintage bottle

Out of the blue, a seller of a previous example offered to send me, free gratis, another bottle he had. I accepted gratefully and it duly arrived. At last I could see exactly what was on the bottle. The seller had dated the ir as 18th century, but this was clearly incorrect: the figures 1707 appeared on the base of the bottle and it would be easy to assume that this constituted a date. As it turned out, it was a maker’s mark. The maker’s name was ‘N & Co’ which I was able to establish as Nuttall & Co of St Helens. They were active in the mid 19th century until 1913 or so when they were absorbed by the United Glass Co.

The markings on the bottle were decisive: ‘Edward Tearle’ and ‘Oldham’ were prominent as was the trade mark – an 8 pointed star with ‘E.T’ and an embossed circle inside. Either side of the star were the words Trade and Mark – this helped establish that 1707 wasn’t a date as trade marks were not noted until the mid 19th century.

There was some speculation in the group as to whether this might have been, in fact, Ebenezer Tearle, who was a known brewer in the London area, and whether the trade mark had any connection with Thomas Tearle’s Star Brewery, also in London.

But a second bottle turned up in quick succession which was exactly the same except for the bottle makers – CS & Co – who were also based in St Helens.

For me, it was impossible to get away from the Lancashire connection and much renewed research began – but with little to add except to confirm the few things we already knew:

CS & Co seemed to have been active mostly between 1872 and 1916: United Glass Co was formed in 1913 by 4 companies, two of which were CS & Co and Nuttall and Co. CS & Co were also based in St Helens and one thing which comes up a lot is descriptions of bottles whereby the brewers (or whatever) have their marks and location on the side of the bottle, with the maker’s details on the base. The point of this is that it would now be fairly certain that Edward Tearle was active in Oldham as both bottles have that place on the side.”

We knew we needed local knowledge, but with none available, we could not conduct the enquiry any further.

We were contacted by Hazel Anderson of Preston, great-grand-daughter of Mary Ann in the photo above.  She volunteered some local research, a quite extraordinary note from Susan Smith of the Oldham Local Studies and Archives:

“Edward Tearle only appears in the Worrall’s 1895 Trade Directory of Oldham along with a Henry Tinsley trading as Tinsley and Tearle, Herb Beer Brewers. Edward’s home address was 14 Minton Street, Oldham and Henry Tinsley’s home address was 9 Firth Street, Oldham. Their business was located on Rink Road, off Union Street, Oldham. This may have been a short lived business as they do not appear in any other trade directory either as partners or as individuals brewing herb beer. In the 1891 census, there were many drapers living in Minton Street, but not Edward, so maybe the Edward Tearle living in Preston

is the man who brewed herb beer in Oldham, but whose later occupation was as a draper.

I have tracked his partner, Henry Tinsley in the Electoral Rolls and he was listed at 9 Firth Street in 1894 and his previous address was 15 Cromwell Street where he was living at the time of the 1891 census. Cromwell Street is very near to Rink Road. Henry’s occupation then was given as a carter. See attached census extract.

I could not find Edward Tearle in any Electoral Register.”

We had hardly drawn breath from this revelation when Hazel wrote again:

“I have been to Preston reference library today to find out where Sophia and Joseph’s grocers shop was. It seems they had two. One at 34 Maitland Street and one at 139 Ribbleton Lane. It looks like a lot of the Tearles owned businesses in Preston.

There was mention of Edward Tearle a draper at 91 Ribbleton Avenue, Preston”

As usual in these circumstances, Barbara Tearle of Oxford came up with the key:

“I’ve just consulted one of my favourite sources, the London Gazette, and come up with the following:

The Gazettes of 1892 and 1893 contain details of Joseph Tearle of Preston and Oldham going bankrupt.

Joseph Tearle, of 100, Wilbraham Street, Preston, trading at 139, Ribbleton-lane, Preston, also at Rimes-road, Union-street, Oldham as a Provision Dealer [at the first address] and as a Herb Beer Manufacturer [at the second address].

The words in brackets are my additions based on the layout of the page in the Gazette.

The Official Receiver at Preston dealt with this and Joseph managed to repay 1s 11d halfpenny in the pound of his debts.

Is Joseph, Edward’s father?”

Richard:

“it identifies our man quite a bit and may well point to your Edward being a one-time herb beer manufacturer, possibly before he became a draper….”

Hazel:

“Edward Tearle is the son of Joseph and Sophia Tearle and therefore my great grandmother Mary Ann Tearle’s brother. The information you have found in the Gazette seems to prove that Edward Tearle of Oldham and Edward Tearle of Preston are one and the same person.”

Richard:

“Mystery solved. Although a small thing in Family History investigation, I feel that persistence, collaboration, lateral thinking and perhaps a little bit of luck have contributed to this story having a successful conclusion!”

We had uncovered the story of Edward, the herb beer maker of Oldham and seen into the life of Joseph and Sophia nee Kibble. We had been witnesses to a drama of the past and filled in some of the details we could only guess at from the 10-yr apart snapshots of the censuses.

Edward died in 1903 and a colourful chapter of Tearle history in Preston closed.

18Mar/15

Preston Tearles

Preston, UK, , , , ,

I first came across a Tearle family living in Preston when I discovered Charles Tearle, who had been killed in France in World War 2

Here is his service record from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Name: TEARLE, CHARLES  Initials: C

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment/Service: The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment

Unit Text: 1st/5th  Bn.

Date of Death: 30/11/1917

Service No: 36932

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 8.

Memorial: CAMBRAI MEMORIAL, LOUVERVAL

This memorial is, of course, in France, but Charles 1894, Preston, was the son of Charles 1858 Preston and Jane nee Fletcher. He died, along with more than 7000 British and Commonwealth forces, in the Battle of Cambrai, Nov and Dec 1917. Through his grandmother Sarah Tearle 1832 of Leighton Buzzard, he traces his ancestry to Joseph 1803 of Tebworth and Mary Ann nee Smith, and through them to Richard 1778 and Mary nee Pestel, which puts Charles on the branch of Joseph 1737. Joseph 1803 made the trek to the North when his own son, Joseph 1838 of Leighton Buzzard married Sophia Kibble. Her mother, Elizabeth, took them up to Preston, probably for a better life but also so she could be with her own family.

My involvement with the Preston Tearles started with the entry above of young Charles who was killed during WW1 in France. Then Richard sent me a report from CemSearch of all the graves in the Preston Cemetery. You can see the report on his Yahoo site, the link for which is on the last page. I found Charles in that list then I found the death of Joseph Tearle aged 90 and I sent off for the certificate. Here are the details:

Death cert 1889 Trinity (Preston) Lancaster 14 April 1889, 90yrs, Old age. Informant, Joseph Tearle, son, at 279 Newhall Lane Preston.

Using this certificate as a starting point, I developed a theory on the origins of the Preston Tearles.

Let’s start near the end and work both ways. According to the CEMSEARCH records “Report for Tearle in the Preston Cemetery,” Joseph Tearle died in Preston 1902 aged 64. There he is in the 1901 census at 34 Maitland St, Preston, living above a grocers shop, aged 61 with Sophia (63) and daughters Elizabeth 28 and Mary A 17. He records his place of birth as Beds Leighton Buzzard.

1901 Joseph 1840 LB p2 Mary A 17 in Preston

1901 Joseph 1840 LB p1 Sophia 63 Elizabeth 28 in Preston

Now here’s the first part of the theory. Mary Ann nee Smith is wife to a Joseph and mother to a Joseph as well. Perhaps the name of this last girl is a hint that Mary Ann nee Smith is the mother of this Joseph. Also you may notice that the numbers don’t tally. In 1901 he is 61, but in 1902 he is 64. In the same records there is the death in 1889 of Joseph Tearle, 90, father of Joseph, above. Since he is the father of Joseph Jnr, and we think Joseph’s mother was Mary Ann nee Smith, then Joseph Snr must be husband to Mary Ann. We also notice in the cemetery record the death in 1895 of Elizabeth Kibble, 83, mother of Sophie.

In the 1881 census I found Elizabeth Kibble, mother of Edwin Kibble and his family, with young Charles Edward Tearle (Preston) 21, nephew.

1881 = Charles Edward 1860 neph w Elizabeth Kibble 69 in Preston.

So the Kibbles and the Tearles kept close links. Also in the 1881 census in Preston is Joseph 1798 (ie Joseph Snr) born Beds Tebworth (transcribed Searle, but our man, all right) in the household as father-in-law of William Smellie, so Phoebe 36 (1845, from LB) William’s wife, is Joseph Snr’s daughter and Joseph Jnr’s sister.

1881 = Joseph 1805 Teb with dau Phoebe Smellie 36 in Preston.

There were just over 2000 Josephs in Preston in 1881, but only three of them were of interest to us. In 1881, Joseph Jnr (1839 LB) and Sophia were living in Fishwick, Preston, with six children.

1881 = Joseph 1839 LB n Sophia 44 Geoffry 17 John Thomas 15 Edward 12 Elizabeth 9 Alfred 6 Joseph 3 in Preston.

We now know that Joseph Snr’s family must consist of Mary Ann nee Smith, Joseph and Phoebe, who must be younger than Joseph Jnr. Since Joseph and Sophia are an unusual name for a couple, we’ll keep our eye on them as we work backwards. In the 1871 census, George 1825 and Maria are in Holbeck, Leeds, while there is a Jabez 1853 Stbg in Shipley, Yorks, labourer for an engineer – this is Joseph 1798 of Stanbridge and Maria nee Millings’ boy. Is it looking for work that’s driving them North?

Also in the 1871 census we can see Joseph 1803 Teb living with Phoebe Smellie. This is Joseph Snr and his daughter.

1871 = Phoebe 1845 LB wife William Smelley 26 Mary A 2 Joseph 4m Joseph Tearle 1803 Teb in Preston.

In the 1861 census there are some nice little tie-ups: Joseph (1850) in Leighton Buzzard (LB) and Sophia 23 have little Charles 1 at their knee (born in Preston) and are living in Preston with Elizabeth Kibble as head of the house and Edwin her son 10yrs.

This is definitely Joseph Jnr from above, but you do have to wonder how his age can swing so far in just 20yrs.

1861 = Joseph 1840 LB Sophia 23 Charles 1 in Preston.

In the 1851 census in Lammas Close, Leighton Buzzard, there is a Joseph 1803, widower, of Tebworth, father, living with George 24, LB, Maria 21 and Julia 6m. More tellingly, also there on that night was Phoebe 6 LB, sister (of George) and Charles 2 LB, brother – of George.

1851 = George 1824 LB Maria 24 Julia 6m Joseph 1803 Teb wdr father Phoebe 6 LB sis Charles 2 LB bro in Lammas Close LB.

A short distance away in Vandyke Rd, Leighton Buzzard (look up Multimap) living as brothers-in-law to John Sharpe are Thomas 1837 and Joseph 1839. This means Ann Sharp was Ann Tearle 1823 LB. This is the daughter of Joseph and Mary Ann.

1851 = Thomas 1837 LB Joseph 1839 LB in house as brother-in-law to John Sharpe and Ann 1823 LB in Vandyke Rd, LB.

So we now know that Joseph Snr’s family consisted (at least) of Ann 1823, George 1827, Thomas 1837 Joseph 1839, Phoebe 1845 and Charles 1849. There are other christenings for Joseph and Mary Ann nee Smith, but since they haven’t shown up in this story it is not necessary to list them. Also, don’t take too much notice of the ages; in 1841, Ann and George were both 15. This list is independent of the Leighton Buzzard christenings and has been compiled by working backwards; This family is without doubt that of Joseph and Mary Ann nee Smith.

Now, in order for this story to hold up, Mary Ann nee Smith must have died between 1849 and census night 1851, and eventually I found Mary Ann’s death certificate:

wp10_wp43b8e240

I have Joseph T and Mary Smith married in LB 3 Jan 1825 witnessed by William Clarke. In 1833 (LB) they baptize James. In 1836 (LB) they baptize Thomas. But they did not stay for Joseph. HOWEVER, I have the birth certificate of Joseph Tearle born 7 Sep 1838, LB, son of Joseph Tearle and Mary Ann nee Smith.

When telling the story of the Joseph Tearles you have to be careful that you don’t mix up Joseph and Mary’s Joseph (1838 LB) with Joseph and Maria’s Joseph, 1836 Stbg. George and Elizabeth of Tebworth also have a Joseph born 1829, Tebworth, and we distinguish this Joseph because his father is not Joseph and he was not born in LB.

The Preston Tearles are definitely Tearle Country Tearles; they are the descendants of Joseph Tearle of Tebworth, born about the turn of the 19th Century. He certainly was not born 1798 nor was he 90 when he died. If we take his age in the 1841 census, that makes him born as late as 1806. I am quite confident that the tree is correct; Joseph 1798 was from Stanbridge and married Maria Millings.

So now we need to search the Tebworth/Chalgrave records to find Joseph 1860-ish. There’s a nice big gap there between Phoebe 1803 and William 1814, children of Richard and Mary nee Pestell…. and a large number of the descendents of Joseph 1737 and Phoebe nee Capp called a daughter Phoebe.The original Joseph was Joseph 1803 (he changes his age with each census, but this is him) one of the unbaptised children of Richard 1778 of Stanbridge and Mary nee Pestel.

As a result of a lot of discussion and a full review, I have ended up with this family for Richard and Mary:

Phoebe 1803    Chalgrave

Joseph 1803/4    Tebworth

James 1806    Tebworth

Charlotte 1808    Tebworth

George 1809     Wingfield

William 1814    Chalgrave

Thomas 1816    Tebworth

Mary 1818    Chalgrave

Joseph 1803 and Mary Ann had, amongst others Sarah 1832, and Ann 1826 who married John Sharpe and hosted Thomas 1836 and Joseph 1838 for a while in LB, at least in 1851.

Joseph 1838 married Sophia Kibble and they are housed by Sophie’s mother Elizabeth Kibble, who takes them up to Preston, where many of her family live. Joseph’s father and Phoebe his sister follow them. While she is in Preston, Phoebe meets and marries William Smellie of Preston. Sarah 1832 has a boy Charles and then goes up to Preston and marries Thomas Hoole from Manchester. She has two children by him and dies in Preston, aged 53.

Young Charles marries Jane Fletcher and has, amongst others, Pvt Charles Tearle who is killed in France in 1917.

Those are pretty bare bones, but that’s it. All the Preston Tearles in the CemSearch report of the Preston Cemetery are the family of Joseph 1803-Ish, born in Tebworth.

The Tearle Family group was taken at 69 Calverley Steet,Preston approximately 1898 and is as follows: Back Row: (Left to right) Edwin, Joseph, Elizabeth, Thomas and George (Edwin is either Edwin Kibble or Edward Tearle, and I have no record of a George) Front Row: Alfred, Joseph (father) Mary Ann (age 14) Charles and Sophia (mother) This photo was sent to me by Hazel of Preston, for which I am deeply grateful.

The wedding photograph is of Mary Ann Tearle (the youngest daughter daughter in the photo above) to Henry Gillgrass Parker (couple on the left). This photo was also sent to me by Hazel of Preston

The wedding photograph is of Mary Ann Tearle (the youngest daughter daughter in the photo above) to Henry Gillgrass Parker (couple on the left).
This photo was also sent to me by Hazel of Preston

Hazel also went on a field-trip to the Preston Cemetery and transcribed the following information from the three headstones still standing there:

The first is the family of Joseph 1838 LB and Sophia nee Kibble. You can see listed here Joseph 1803 Tebworth, his father.

JOSEPH AND SOPHIA TEARLE

In affectionate remembrance of Elizabeth daughter of Joseph and Sophia Tearle who died January 5th 1865 aged 4 years. Also Sophia their daughter who died March 11th 1877 aged 10 months. also Joseph Tearle grandfather of the above children who died April 14th 1889 aged 90 years also Elizabeth Kibble mother of above Sophia Tearle who died Jan 2nd 1895 aged 83 years also Emily May daughter of Edward and Emily Tearle (grand-daughter) who died Dec 19th 1899 aged 1 year and 7 months also above named Joseph Tearle who died October 18th 1902 aged 64 years. also Elizabeth Tearle daughter of above who died October 25th 1906 aged 35 years. Also Rachel Tearle daughter of Joseph and Rachel Tearle(grand daughter) who died March 7th 1908 aged 11 months. also Sophia wife of above named Joseph who died January 20th 1922 aged 84 years.

CHARLES EDWARD TEARLE

Charles Edward Tearle who passed to the higher life April 10th 1906 aged 48 years also Elizabeth Ann wife to the above who passed to the higher life June 19th 1946 aged 85 years. Also Gladys,daughter of the above,who passed to the higher life Sept 15th 1893 aged 12 years. Also Mabel,daughter of the above who passed to the higher life August 17th 1897 aged 4 years. also Edith,daughter of the above who died July 4th 1945 age 61

This is Charles Edward 1860 Preston, eldest son of Joseph 1838 and Sophia, above.

CHARLES AND JANE TEARLE

Joseph son of Charles and Jane Tearle who died May 13th 1893 aged 4 months also Arthur their son who died August 9th 1900 aged 1 month also PTE Charles Tearle 1/5th L.N.L Regt. son of above killed in action November 30th 1917 aged 23 years. Also Jane,wife of above Charles and mother of the above children who died October 9th 1921 age 62 also Charles, husband of Jane and father to above children who died 26th June 1922 age 64. Also Mary Fletcher mother of the above Jane Tearle who died Dec 11th 1898 age 74. Also Sarah Hoole, mother of the above Charles Tearle who died November 14th 1884 age 53. Also Ellen sister of ????? (I could not read any further as the stone was covered with soil.

This is Charles 1858 Preston, son of Sarah 1832 LB, who was an elder sister of Joseph 1838 above. His wife was Jane Swarbrick. One of their sons, Charles 1894 Preston, as you can see from the inscription, was killed in WW1.

Charles was killed during the Battle of Cambrai, which started on 20 Nov 1917. When the Germans regrouped and attacked on 29 Nov, after initial Allied success, Charles was killed in the following 5 days of fierce action. Cambrai Memorial was established to commemorate those who have no grave. A railway porter, he is remembered by the LNWR memorial in Euston Rd, although there are no names on it.

Euston Station War Memorial

Euston Station War Memorial.

Around the base of the monument there are four over-sized bronzes of military men; a sailor, an infantryman, an airman and a gunner.

Bronze figure Euston Station War Memorial

Bronze figure Euston Station War Memorial.

I understood that there was a list of about 3500 names of railway employees killed in WW1 associated with this memorial, and I spent a day around the station trying to find it. Eventually, I discovered that the names had been collated and printed in a book, a copy of which was given to the family of every casualty. It would be interesting to know who of Charles’ family the book was given to, and whether it still exists. I would love to see it.

Suffice it to say, that the Euston memorial will have to speak for Charles, and now that we know at least some of his story, and the history of his family, we can be assured that we will not forget him, and that we will always remember the sacrifice he made for his country and his family.

 JAMES AND ALICE TEARLE

See the story of James 1862, the soldier, who is buried in Cardiff.

18Mar/15

Tearle, Otho George, 1892, Willesden, UK (RAMC)

London, UK, War Stories WW1, , , , , ,

“National Roll of the Great War” has this entry:

Tearle, G (RAMC)

Tearle George RAMC National Roll

This is the entry for Otho George Tearle 1882, service number 47279, 29th Btn Middlesex Regt and 331034, 335th Lowland Field Ambulance, RAMC, who married Ellen Yule nee Rogers. He seems always to have called himself George. He was at the above address for the birth of two of his children. Son of Jonathon 1862 of Stanbridge and Alice nee Kearns and g-son of William 1832 and Catharine nee Fountain. Another member of the Willesden cell. Brother of James Harry Tearle.

Pamela wrote to me, asking what I knew of Otho George. Here is what I wrote to her:

Our common grandparents were Thomas b 1806 and Mary nee Garner. Thomas was a son of Richard 1773 and Elizabeth nee Bodsworth. Thomas had two sons of interest to us, James 1827, the eldest, born in Toddington. If you have a look at my pictures site, http://www.flickr.com/photos/27466815@N03/ you will see recent pictures of Toddington. You could walk there from Stanbridge in a couple of hours, and I intend to do so. Chalgrave is at the end of the High Street, on the Dunstable road.

Thomas and Mary’s third son was William 1832, born Stanbridge. James married Mary Andrews from Eggington. They had Levi, my great-grandfather, but not so long ago that our dear Jennie Pugh still remembered him very well. Levi’s eldest was Arthur and he was my grandfather. I never met him, but I did see Sadie, my grandmother about 4 times.

When James died in 1887, Mary married Charles Shillingford in 1888. Both James’ and Charles’ headstones are still standing in the Stanbridge churchyard. When Charles died in 1891, Mary married your gg-grandfather William 1832, and he outlived her by some 6 years, dying in 1920. We’ve often talked about Mary marrying her husband’s brother, which might be illegal, but there must be some way round it. Perhaps because she was Mary Shillingford when she married William, she wasn’t still the widow of James. I don’t know, and I certainly don’t think she did anything wrong. Actually, neither did Levi Tearle, her son, who was a very staunch Primitive Methodist, because he was a witness at her wedding to William – in Watford. She died in Levi’s house and he signed the death certificate as “present at the death.”

Now, your William 1832 had a son Jonathon (always called, and spelt, John) who went to London and had your grandfather Otho George – and the rest is history.

So our gg-grandfathers were brothers. If you go to Stanbridge Church, you will see the side-by side headstones of my gg-grandfather James and another of his and William’s brothers, John.

The George Tearle who married Ellen Yule did so on this form – you might like to send away for it. The date is remarkable.

Name: Otho G Tearle
Spouse Surname: Yule
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1948
Registration district: Willesden
Registration county (inferred): Middlesex
Volume Number: 5f
Page Number: 489

I had a look to see who the Yule girl was and her entry says:

Name: Ellen Yule
Spouse Surname: Tearle
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1948
Registration district: Willesden
Registration county (inferred): Middlesex
Volume Number: 5f
Page Number: 489

So that means that Otho George Tearle and Ellen Yule were your father’s parents – and certainly that Otho George was your grandfather.

I have attached Otho George’s baptism. You can see that his parents were Johathon and Alice, and that he was born in Notting Hill, London.

Now, interestingly, there is an 18yr old George Tearle of Notting Hill in Pentonville gaol in the 1901 census, and he is our Otho George.

Jonathon Tearle is a son of William 1832 and Catherine nee Fountain. A very famous family on the Family Tree. This is the same William who married my gg-grandmother Mary nee Andrews when both of them were in their 70s. You can see her story on in the Tearle Stories section, along with William and Catharine nee Fountain’s story.

Your g-grandfather’s name is not John, but Jonathon – but they called him John anyway, even in the census returns.

George died in 1961, the form below would show you the address at the time.

  • Name: Otho G Tearle
  • Death Registration Month/Year: 1961
  • Age at death (estimated): 78
  • Registration district: Willesden
  • Inferred County: Middlesex
  • Volume: 5f
  • Page: 214

I have come across a significant document that might help us to identify your grandfather.

An army document from WW1 shows your father, and some of his siblings with their birth dates and places, and George, and Ellen, and their address all on the same page.

Otho George lists his family on entry to the army.

Otho George lists his family on entry to the army.

Ellen is Ellen Yule, not Rodgers, which is most likely her maiden name, and she is described as a Platonic wife.  Pvt George Tearle’s army number, by the way, was 331034

From Pat Field:

It does seem however that Ellen Rogers married William J A Yule and they had 8 children together, then William Yule disappears until his death in 1944.  All the children except for one were in the Kensington and Chelsea Workhouse School in Ewell Surrey in 1911.   Ellen was in North Kensington with one daughter, Ellen aged 7.  It appears she then lived with Otho George/aka George and they had 3 or 4 children, one being Brian’s father Charles Walter Yule.  There are military records on Ancestry that are very informative naming Ellen Yule as George’s Platonic wife and listing 4 children.  Only 3 of these were Tearles because the oldest daughter was born a Yule.

I would think from this that William J A Yule was in some form of institution and this is why Ellen and George could not marry until 1948, after William Yule died.

18Mar/15

Charles Walter Yule Tearle, 1919, Harlesden, UK

London, UK, , , , , , , , ,

Brian Tearle has asked me to see if I can find his Willesden ancestors. This is what I have found:

Brian’s father is Charles Walter Yule Tearle, b1919 in Harlesden, Willesden, Mdx.

In the years since I took up the quest to find out who this man and his family was, I had a good deal of help from, especially, Pat Field of Bedfordshire and Sue Albrecht of Auckland.

Brian sent me his father’s birth certificate, and that said his father was George Tearle and his mother was “Ellen Tearle formerly Rodgers”. Importantly, it also noted the address: 77 Carlysle Avenue, Harlesden and that he was “Private, Royal Army Medical Corps (General Carman).” That hit a note; G Tearle, the soldier in the National Roll, was also from the same address and had the same job in the army; they would be the same man.

Brian then sent me his father’s marriage certificate and it showed they were married in the Petersfield Registry Office in Nov 1940. Charles was a sapper in the Royal Engineers, as well as being a railway porter in civilian life. His father was George Tearle. The marriage certificate did not help me a lot, because the name George Tearle doesn’t tell us much.

I came across the medical records of all the Tearle men who had been injured, or at least came to the attention of an army hospital. The medical records were kept at Chelsea Hospital, and a George Tearle was amongst them. The Attestation page was crystal clear – George Tearle, 77 Carlysle Ave, Willesden. He was 34yrs in Dec 1915, (born 1881) and he was a labourer. The army gave him the number 331034, and put him in the Middlesex Regiment, and from there he was transferred to the 19th Coy, RAMC in Sep 1916. His infringements were relatively minor – 7 days confined to barracks for a guard duty error, and 14 days imprisonment for being 36hr late from leave.

And then I came across the page about his family:

Address 77 Carlysle Ave, Willesden

His “Platonic Wife” Ellen Yule and children:

Ellen Dorothy 1903

George 1912

Alan John 1913

Athol James 1914 and

Charles Walter Yule 1919.

Now I knew all this about him, and he definitely was Charles’ father, but I still didn’t know exactly who he was. And a platonic wife, with children, seemed an odd expression.

It was Pat who solved the problem when she found George’s marriage certificate of 1948; it was a revelation. His name was Otho George, he was 65, a bachelor and he was marrying Ellen Yule, aged 69, a widow. George’s father’s name was Jonathon Tearle and Ellen’s father was Alfred Rogers. We also found George’s baptism in St Michael and All Angels, Paddington, in Oct 1884, his name certainly was Otho George and his parents were Jonathon and Alice Tearle. Sue had also found a previous marriage for Ellen Rogers to William James Alfred Yule in 1897. She was finally allowed to marry George when William Yule died.

Otho George 1882, born in Willesden, was a son of Jonathon Tearle 1862 of Stanbridge and Alice nee Kearns, who were married in 1882. They had two boys in WW1, and one of them, James Harry Tearle 1891 of Willesden, was killed in the Somme in 1917. Jonathon was a son of William 1832 and Catharine nee Fountain, and traces his lineage back to John 1741. His father became my step-gg-grandfather when he married my gg-grandmother, Mary nee Andrews in Watford in 1893.

18Mar/15

John Tearle, 1856, Stanbridge, UK

London, UK, , , , ,

I saw John first in the 1901 London census, where he was a Foreman Platelayer on the railway. His eldest son, John 22, is a Stoker. Another son, George is said to have been born in Stonebridge, Mdx. Here is a transcript of the census return:

1901 John 1856 Stbg Elizabeth 45 John 22 Louisa 18 George 12 Horace 5 Freda 4 Herbert C 1 in Willesden Mdx.

I dug back into John’s past.

In 1891, John and Elizabeth are living in 5 Melville Rd, Willesden and he calls himself a General Labourer.

1891 John 1856 Stbg Elizabeth 35 John 12 Laura 8 Arthur 4 George 2 Ethel 4m in Willisden Mdx

Now, this is the interesting bit:

In 1881, John and his new wife are in Northall, but they have with them their new son, John 1879, who was born in Middlesex. I found their marriage:

Name: John Tearle

Year of Registration: 1877  

Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec  

District: Leighton Buzzard  

County: Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire  

Volume: 3b  

Page: 895

and she is Elizabeth Tompkins of Eaton Bray. The certificate says John’s residence at the time of marriage was Northall and his father was John Tearle, Labourer. Also interestingly, they are living in a house immediately next door to John and Charlotte Irons.

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1881 John 1857 Stbg Elizabeth 24 Northall John 2 Mdx in Northall

In 1871, John is 15ys and living with John and Charlotte Irons – he is John’s nephew.

1871 John 1856 Stbg neph John Irons 56 Charlotte 53 in Northall

In 1861, John is 5yrs old, living in the household of his uncle John and Charlotte Irons. He is their nephew.

1861 John 1856 Stbg nephew of John Irons 41 Charlotte 1818 Edels in Northall

I could not find the link that made John Tearle 1856 a nephew of John Irons, so I concentrated on his parents; who were they? One of them was John, not surprisingly, a labourer and in the village was a John Tearle who in 1840 had married a Northall girl called Eliza Irons. I sent off for their marriage certificate, too.

wp1d69de5d_05_06

Eliza Iron’s father was Edward Irons and a search though the IGI gave me the marriage of Edward Irons and Hannah Tarman in Northchurch, Herts, on 12 Aug 1803. They had 10 children, and two of them were Eliza, born 1818, and John Irons, born 1814, one of Eliza’s elder brothers. Another brother was Thomas Irons born 1812, and Ann Irons, born 1821, they were here making their marks as witnesses to this wedding. There was no question I had the right family. As we can see from the marriage certificate, John was born to an unmarried Mary Tearle, almost certainly of Stanbridge. I went looking for her. In the 1841 census, a John Tearle aged 20 with a wife Eliza 20, a daughter Sarah aged 2 and a daughter Mary aged 4m, are living in Stanbridge only a few houses from Abel Tearle and Martha nee Emerton. Abel has his children living with him as well as his 65yr old father-in-law, Joseph Emerton. In villages, families combine and re-combine to give support to each other. And to a certain extent, in a village as small as Stanbridge, everyone is also a neighbour. If our John is 20, then he was born about 1820. Barbara reminded us that there was a Mary Tearle who baptised a  “John son of Mary Tearle a bastard” in 1823. Mary was the daughter of John 1770 and Mary nee Janes. The Stanbridge PRs record her baptism in 1803.

We have to be careful not to get too tied up over accurate dates, here, because John is a bit woolly either on his maths or his birth date, or both, because in 1841 he is 20, in 1851 he is 32, in 1861 he is 40 and in 1871 he is 54. He died on 1 Oct 1877.

There is the fascinating picture of John in the 1871 Stanbridge census with an unmarried daughter Mary Ann (29) and her daughter Annie, as well as another unmarried daughter, Jane (26) with her son Zephaniah.

So the last son of John and Eliza, John 1856, did not live with his family, although admittedly not very far away from them, but lived with his uncle and aunt, John and Charlotte Irons. Why? I think the answer lies in the fact that his mother Eliza died in Dec 1856, probably of childbirth or one of its many complications. Unusually, John did not remarry, probably because he had daughters who were old enough to look after him so he didn’t need to marry again quickly, as many of the village men had to do. John 1856, therefore, was given to his childless uncle and no doubt into a very grateful and caring little family, no matter how poor they were.

So why did he go to Willesden?

Richard Tearle has pointed out the following:

“As I’m sure you’re aware, Willesden, Harlesden and Stonebridge are very close together in London and, all of these places tie in with Watford and Leighton Buzzard as being important places on the (then) fairly new LNWR line from Euston to Scotland (via Preston!!)”

There was work – and there was family.

We know John and Elizabeth were in London between 1881 and 1891, because in the 1891 census, John is recorded as having been born in 1879 in Alperton, then Louisa was born in Willesden in 1882.  In 1881, Jonathon 1862 (son of William 1832 and Catharine nee Fountain) was in Willesden, George 1844 of Stanbridge and Lavinia nee George were in Kentish Town, George 1855 of Slapton and Elizabeth were in Mile End, Old Town (a railway town) John 1831 from Toddington and William were in Acton, Joseph 1834 of Dagnall and Elizabeth nee Naylor were in Hammersmith, William North Tearle and Emily were in Camberwell. It’s noo far a stretch to point out that there are family ties throughout all of this, but the strongest ones are to George 1844 and William North and Emily. George is a Stanbridge man, so ties to the village are very strong, and a railway voyage was an adventure. William North T and Emily must have gone back to Leighton Buzzard to have their last child, because Monta Monica 1876 died in Leighton Buzzard in 1877.

So we have now uncovered the story of John 1823 and his son John 1856. Interestingly, we have also visited the stories of John’s mother, Mary 1803, and even of his grandparents, John 1770 and Mary nee Janes. In two sons, we have traversed from 1770 to 1901.