'I like this beautiful land better than the old country'

Commonwealth Day 2013 celebrates 'opportunity through enterprise' and we have the evidence of journeys to and from Cheshire that young people have made in search of opportunity. In 2011-2012 we supported the Journeys to Cheshire project but our collections also witness journeys from Cheshire ...

Our Wright family of Bollington collection includes correspondence home to Cheshire as members of the same family set out to build new lives in New Zealand and Canada. The 1871 census records joiner and carpenter Alfred with his wife and young family at home in Bollington.

On 30th August 1883 Alfred and two of his sons, Charles and Phillip boarded the ‘Lady Jocelyn’ in Portsmouth. After she was damaged, put back to Portsmouth for repair for two and a half weeks, she faced bouts of atrocious weather until she arrived in New Zealand on 1st January 1884. When 18 year old Charles writes to his Aunt Mary, he comments: 

‘... do not expect to hear anything about our passage out, for my hair turns white every time I think of it. I assure you I was as thin as the shadow of a match when I landed instead of being fat’.

 In the same letter, we begin to understand more about what has motivated the men to take such risks: 

‘... all I can say is that I don’t regret coming in the least, because a working man has a chance here, while in the old country if he must live at all respectable he can’t save much.’ 

It is Charles who seems particularly taken with New Zealand. In a letter to his sister, Martha Ann, he remarks that he doesn’t want to go home. He tells her that he ‘... likes this beautiful land better then the old country’ and goes on to make a case for Martha Ann to travel to New Zealand and take advantage of the ‘... benefits of this glorious land’.

Alfred writes affectionately to his family back home, with letters dedicated to each family member individually. In a letter written to his sons, John and Samuel, back in England, Alfred describes his journey aboard the Lady Jocelyn. He writes extensively about flying fish, dolphins, porpoises, whales and even sharks - ‘... it bit a thick rope in two as easily as Martha Ann snaps her thread with her teeth’. Compared to his letters to his wife and daughter, the letter to his sons is rather more grisly in its descriptions!

The men also relate their experiences of the native population. In one instance, Charles describes a Maori work colleague as ‘... a full blooded Maori, but so well educated, he speaks the best English I ever heard...’. Alfred describes in detail what he has learned of Maori culture in a letter to his wife Ann.

But later in 1884, in a letter to his sister Mary, Alfred states that although he likes New Zealand very much, he has decided to return home to be with his family. He affectionately refers to his wife as ‘... the best of wives’. It would appear that the distance between the couple proved too much for him to bear. He returned to England with Phillip, but without Charles on 4th January 1885.

In 1886, New Zealand suffered a major volcanic eruption. The eruption of Mount Tarawera was documented by Charles in a letter to his mother and father in July 1886. He describes how the fearful eruptions at Tarawera and the Hot Lake district had resulted in ‘... great loss of life’. He goes on to say that it is believed that the worst is over and he is comparatively safe from harm. 

Charles frequently discusses national and cultural events at length, and of course continues to relay personal news to his family back home. One particularly notable event was his marriage to Leah in 1886, where he describes the event as ‘...something now worse than earthquakes, volcanoes and almost everything in the history of New Zealand’!

Although later letters home begin to suggest that unemployment was becoming an issue, not only for Charles, but for the country as a whole, and his family ‘back home in the old country’ were sorely missed, Charles Wright appeared to be settled, contented and happy with his decision to stay in New Zealand.

1485 - the record keeper's dilemma!

In a week of remarkable revelations about the life and death of Richard III comes evidence from Chester's medieval records of how local government responded to regime change - with understandable caution!

One of our regular researchers using the Sheriffs Pentice Court Rolls was stunned to find a piece of political commentary. The Pentice Court in Chester, named after the building it was held in, dealt largely with cases of debt and trespass and the records of its proceedings are dry and factual. Dates are recorded using regnal years, the format refers to the year of the monarch's reign. But in bringing a case against one man after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 the clerk needed to refer back to events when Richard III was king. He notes the offence in the year 3 Richard III, and presumably so that there can be no question as to the court's loyalties by the end of August, after 3 Richard III appears a note 'de facto non de iure' - expressing the opinion that Richard had reigned in practice but not in law!

The use of regnal years also appears to have posed similar problems for clerks compiling the Mayor's Books around the time of Henry VII's invasion up to the events at Bosworth Field on 22nd August.

One matter before the Mayor is dated by the feast of St Peter ad Vincula 3 Richard III so, 1st August, 1485. By the time of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the 15th August, the regnal year is ignored completely and the clerk chooses to use roman numerals instead. By the end of August and the 'Beheading of John the Baptist' on the 29th, 1 Henry VII appears along with a numeric 1485 for the last time, and the system reverts to regnal years once more.

Records of a month's routine administration in Chester, the fascinating evidence of people trying to keep pace with fast-moving national events!

The Dew Family of Chester

Whilst checking a baptism entry in the Chester St Mary parish register, an unusual name stood out from all others on the page. ‘Evening Dew’ was baptised on 24th February 1884 to parents Henry and Ellen Dew of 36 Pyecroft Street in Chester. Such an unusual name prompted the question...’what if they have a family member called Morning Dew?’ This was too interesting to ignore! So follows the story of the Dew family of Chester...

Henry, a stone mason by trade, and Rose Ellen King were married in Clerkenwell, Middlesex in 1868. They went on to have six children, five of which survived into adulthood. The first child to be born was named Rosina Dew in 1869, born in Farnham, Essex, followed by Henry Dew born in Lymm, Warrington in 1873. These two children were baptised in Chester St Mary in 1874, prompting the conclusion that Henry senior and Rose Ellen moved from Clerkenwell to Lymm and then Chester, all within in the years 1868 and 1874.


Along with Rosina and Henry junior, their younger brother ‘Morning Dew’ was baptised in Chester St Mary on 25th May 1874. We did a few double takes, but the name is definitely right and the question which prompted this search was answered. Evening Dew did indeed have a sibling called Morning Dew!

This was not the end of the discovery of unique names in the Dew family legacy. Henry and Rose Ellen went on to have another daughter, Rose Ellen King Dew baptised at Chester St Mary in 1879. This was however, after the birth of the couple’s third son, Mynott King Hercules Dew! Mynott was baptised in Chester St Mary on 5th June 1876.

All of the Dew children bar one went on to marry in Chester. Unfortunately Evening Dew died aged 8 months in 1884. Even more unfortunate was the discovery of the death of Henry senior in 1883 aged just 39 years. Both father and child are buried together in Overleigh cemetery, although the evidence suggests that neither met in life and were only united after their deaths. Rose Ellen Dew (nee King) was still alive aged 60 in the 1911 census living with her daughter Rose Ellen King Turner and her family. She is listed as a widow, so it appears Rose Ellen never re married after Henry’s death.

Although an abrupt and sad end to Henry senior and his young child Evening’s lives, he did leave a family whose names definitely do not go unnoticed! I wonder whether they started a family tradition and continued using such curious names?

Olympic Records

As the London Olympics draw closer, and in honour of our ‘It’s a Record Event’ on the 20th July, we thought we would delve into our collections to see if we could find any Cheshire connections to the previous two London games. In doing so, we came across the story of Wilfred Edwards; world class swimmer at the 1908 London Olympics. Born on the 23rd October 1889, to Robert and Elizabeth Edwards, Wilfred was baptised ‘Charles Wilfred Edwards’ on the 20th November 1889 at St John the Baptist, Chester. Wilfred lived on 5 Newgate Street in the city and was admitted to the Chester College School on the 21st September 1903.

The Cheshire Collection available with Find my Past allows you to search indexes of marriages, baptisms and burials. You can view Wilfred's baptism entry if you have a subscription (or for free at the Record Office and some Cheshire libraries).

A keen swimmer from an early age, he honed his skills as a part of the Chester Swimming Club and took part in the opening gala of the Corporation Swimming Baths in. The Chester Chronicle reported on the Mayor’s speech at the opening ceremony in September 1901:

‘… [it is] fervently hoped that in those baths, in the immediate future and for many generations to come, that noble art of swimming might be learnt, more especially by the young’

Ground floor plan of Chester Corporation Public Baths
(Cheshire Archives and Local Studies Reference: ZDB/30)

These words were certainly fulfilled by Wilfred. At the age of just 18 he successfully competed in the Olympic trials and earned his place on the Great Britain team. The Chester Chronicle reported in the run up to the games:

‘One is glad that Chester’s champion swimmer, Edwards, has qualified in his trials to meet the picked men of the world ’

In the heats for the 100m freestyle, Edwards matched the world record time of 1:05:8. Unfortunately, Wilfred failed to repeat the performance in the semi-final and did not make it through to the final event. A new world record of 1:05:6 was set in the final by the gold medal winner - Charles Daniels of the USA. The times for silver and bronze, however, failed to match Edwards’ earlier time in the heats.

Wilfred served in the Veterinary Corps during World War One and continued to live in Chester for the rest of his life.  He died aged 60 on the 15th July 1950.

Titanic: how the story unfolds in Cheshire

This week marks 100 years since the sinking of the Titanic and the tragic deaths of 1,514 people on board. In the days after the sinking, as details about the accident emerged, the story was pieced together for Cheshire residents through the local papers. Before the scale of the disaster was realised, the Chester Courant reported on 17th April that,

‘... immediately after the collision wireless messages were broadcast, the operator signal “S.O.S”, the urgent call for assistance. There was no panic on board, and the liners Baltic, Virginian and Carpathia ultimately arrived on scene and transferred passengers. Nothing but the watertight compartments and the invaluable wireless telegraphy, however, prevented the most appalling disaster, for the collision was a severe one, and to an ordinary vessel would have been immediately disastrous’.

As later telegrams were received, the true extent of the accident was revealed and further additions to the article present the bleaker outcome of the collision. The latest telegram reported that: ‘At two o’clock this afternoon...there is no information as to the remaining 1,300 persons on board, and unofficially it is feared that the latter have perished’. By the 20th April the Chester Chronicle recorded, ‘... the Titanic sank at 2.20 on Monday morning, that is to say about four hours after the collision. Of those on board, numbering about 2,200, by far the larger portion perished’.

Of those who died, a number had Cheshire connections. Mr Austin Aloysius Ashcroft aged 26, a ship’s clerk from Seacombe, died as did Charles Frederick Morgan, a ship’s storekeeper from Birkenhead. The Chester Chronicle reported on ‘Cheshire Victims’ and recorded that a Mr William Henry Parr, an electrical engineer, was unaccounted for after the accident – it later emerged he had not survived. His wife was from Northwich and the couple had been married there only twenty months earlier.

Others were luckier. The Chester Chronicle reported on 20th April that the whereabouts of Mr Joseph Thomas Wheat, Ship Steward, of Rock Ferry, were unknown. However, passenger lists show that he survived and was taken to New York aboard the Carpathia. Further survivors included Sarah Agnes Stap, aged 46, a Ship’s Matron, who told her story to the Birkenhead News on 4 May 1912. We found her in the 1911 census residing at 41 Bidston Avenue in Birkenhead. The census information reveals the extent of her seafaring life, her father was a retired Master Mariner and Sarah is listed as being ‘born at sea’.

'Come lasses and lads ...' R. Caldecott, a Chester-born artist

Randolph Caldecott is remembered for his delightful drawings of rosy cheeked damsels, rural scenes and animals in children’s books. He co-wrote and illustrated these stories at a time when publishing attractive, inexpensive books for children was in its infancy.

Born in Chester on 22nd March 1846, his family lived at 150 Bridge Street (now number 16) on the Rows. As a child Randolph spent much of his time outdoors enjoying the countryside around Chester, drawing and modelling animals. Leaving King’s School at age 15 he went to work as a bank employee. Banking was not for him, however, and he continued to draw and paint scenes of life in Victorian society, many of them humorous. In 1861 he had his first drawing published: a sketch of the disastrous fire at the Queen Railway Hotel in Chester which appeared in the Illustrated London News together with his account of the blaze.

After moving to London in 1872 at the age of 26 he developed a good reputation drawing cartoons of London society people but it wasn’t until he began illustrating children’s stories in 1877 that he became internationally famous. By 1884 he had sold over 800,000 copies of illustrated nursery rhymes and exhibited sculptures and paintings at the Royal Academy. Randolph died whilst on holiday in Florida in February 1886, just over a month before his 40th birthday. He is commemorated in Chester with a blue plaque outside his old home in Bridge Street and a memorial inscription lies in the north transept of Chester Cathedral.

Cheshire Archives and Local Studies hold a collection of his personal papers (collection reference number D7651). Among the collection are sketches, letters, newspaper cuttings and tiny notebooks of drawings. Chester Library is also home to a superb collection of his books ranging from children’s picture books to biographies and travelogues.

Visit our 'Caldecott of Chester' exhibition - now online!

Charles Dickens: the Cheshire connection!

To celebrate Charles Dickens' bicentenary year CALS staff delved into the Local Studies collections to search for Cheshire connections.

His paternal grandparents William and Elizabeth were employed by the Crewe family as steward and housekeeper at Crewe Hall in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. According to Annabella Crewe (daughter of the second Baron Crewe) Elizabeth Dickens was a wonderful storyteller, and on his visits Charles would sit in the housekeeper’s room listening to tales full of imagination and humour. Elizabeth left a great impression on the author and may have been immortalised in the characters Mrs Rouncewell in Bleak House and Mrs Nickleby in Nicholas Nickleby.

As an established author, Charles returned to Cheshire to give a public reading of his works. Visiting Chester on 22nd January 1867 during bitterly cold weather he remarked in a letter to his daughter Mary 'I have seldom seen a place look more hopelessly frozen up than this place does. The hall [the Music Hall] is like a Methodist Chapel in low spirits, and with a cold in its head. A few blue people shiver at the corners of the streets'. However, he did enjoy an enthusiastic reception and later wrote that it was a 'tremendous night'. A review of his performance in the Chester Courant newspaper of January 30th 1867 cites his 'sparkling eye and fine voice' and his 'talent for dramatic representation'. The reporter for the Chester Chronicle, initially unconvinced of his acting talents, went on to say that Dickens 'fairly convulsed the audience with laughter' and the reading concluded 'amid loud applause' (January 26th 1867).

Other connections include a professional relationship with Knutsford’s Elizabeth Gaskell, river trips to Birkenhead and New Brighton on the Wirral, and visits to Cheadle Hall and Stanthorpe Lodge near Middlewich. There is speculation regarding a Cheshire experience being the inspiration for Miss Havisham’s untouched wedding breakfast in Great Expectations, and that characters from the story ‘The Cricket on the Hearth’ were based on a Northwich family, although this remains unproven …