Geoffs Genealogy Update 5th January 2012
Thursday January 5th, 2012 | Geoff
I’m a few days late with this blog entry, the result of a very merry Christmas & New Year holiday. I hope that you, also, had a good break, and that 2012 is good to you.
Looking back over the past year, although it was obviously a lousy year in economic terms for most people in the UK, for me in many respects it was pretty good. We enjoyed two lovely European holidays with some splendid weather, super food, good company and wonderful country. We also had a number of very enjoyable short weekend breaks, and had the excitement of our niece’s wedding. On top of all that, we had the excitement of the Bankes Descendants Reunion in June. What a thrill that was. All this plus a number of visits to various theatres or concert halls, where we enjoyed some wonderful performances. No complaints from me about 2011!
Mention of the Bankes Reunion leads me to draw your attention to the recently added section on this website, that is devoted to that subject. Here you will find transcriptions of the three talks that were given, plus a selection of photographs taken by attendees. I hope you will find this interesting.
For those of you who heard Helen’s super talk on Robert Hanham Collyer (1814- abt 1891) at the reunion you may be interested to know that recently even more information has come to light about this talented but flawed individual. Not only does the new British Library Newspapers website contain a number of articles that report on various of his exploits, but Helen has recently found some new sources as well. As is the case with all subjects, extra information is being placed in cyberspace all the time, so it is always worthwhile to keep re-searching for information on your chosen topic. In fact, not only this is true of the internet generally, but also of individual websites. For instance, the content on the British Library Newspapers site is being added to daily on a huge scale. I shall certainly be re-visiting it time and again.
Apart from the Robert Hanham Collyer finds, Helen’s initial sweep of this site brought forth quite a number of articles that are of great interest to us.
There is, for instance, the case of Joseph Culshaw, a Lancashire man who had befriended three local lads and invited them into his house for a friendly chat in Leyland in 1887. Just why, I wonder, did he suddenly take his gun off the wall and start shooting at his visitors as they made a hasty retreat?
We’re not sure that Joseph was “one of ours”, but superficially it seems quite likely.
Then there was Barney Sayer, who was in court in East Anglia in 1891 because he had assaulted an assistant schoolmaster. He was fined 20 shillings plus 9 shillings costs, or 14 days imprisonment with hard labour.
I don’t want to give you the impression that our forebears were all violent people, but I can’t deny that this type of detail adds to our research immensely. Isn’t it funny how most of us would steer clear of most kinds of trouble, but we usually start licking our lips when we find an ancestor who had some juicyskeletons in their cupboard?
We have become aware aware that a problem has arisen with the family tree on the Geoff Genealogy website. For some reason the data appears to have become corrupted, and unfortunately it cannot necessarily be assumed to be correct. In fact quite a lot of the dates that are you will find are not correct. Our apologies for this.
Fortunately in our family there are some people who are far cleverer than I, and this situation will be rectified. It may be a while before this can be done, however, and in the meantime if you find that the data you are seeing on our website does not make sense feel free to contact me, and I will try to help you.
My mother’s name was Bertha (Hughes) Culshaw. She was born in Sept 18, 1912 and died in August 2000. Recently I came across a few photos and began looking into the Culshaw name. When I “googled” her name, your website appeared. I believe my grandfather was Herbert Culshaw. I remember my mother talking about her brother Roy who died at an early age due to a heart defect. I believe he may have been Joseph Roy Culshaw as the dates appear to match up with my mother’s story. My mother also had a sister, Amy.
My mother married James Loynd in 1940 and they had three children: David Anthony, Graham Francis, and myself Katherine Jean. My brothers were born in England. Then my parents emigrated to Canada where I was born. We know very little of our family history and so it was intriguing to find the names of my presumed grandparents: Bertha (Hughes) Culshaw and Herbert Culshaw, along with my uncle Roy on your website.
I would have to do a bit of digging to find dates etc. as our family has been lean on keeping any sort of family records but maybe your website is a bit of a start.
Thank you,
Katherine Loynd
Trying to get in touch with Geoff from here in Australia, and I cannot seem to find an email address in order to send a message.
Not sure if the blog is the way to go but it’s worth a try!
cheers, Janice
Hi Janice
My great grandfather appears on this list – Henry Youldon – and I also can see other names of relevance from when I have done work on our family tree.
I was just wondering how you fit in overall. I also noticed you are from Australia too. Henry’s daughter moved to Australia in 1959.
Regards
Mike.
On searching ‘google’ I came across this page, looking for anything on my Grandpa, who is Dudley Adderly Dashwood Sleigh. My mother is one of his three children, Alfred, my mother Margaret Norah, and Colleen. I was delighted to find your page! Many thanks
Billie Harlow
Campbell River, B.C. Canada
Dudley A. D. Sleigh was my uncle, brother of my mother, born Nora Laura Augusta Clarinda Sleigh.
If you would like further information I would be happy to share.
–Ted
(Edward Sleigh Hewlett)
My grandfather Arthur Henry Swindlehurst was the brother of Elizabeth Swindlehurst. I haven’t really researched the Culshaws, but the info I have gleaned about the Culshaws has been of interest.
This may not be relevant, but many years ago I had a Summer job at County hall in Preston, where I came across a Jimmy Culshaw.
Paul Swindlehurst, Warrington