Volume 19 Number4, December 2004

Amongst my late mother’s effects I found two old photographs (see cover) and an interesting press cutting from the Midland Daily Tribune of 5 Nov 1947, it was headed:

Naturalised American Re-visits his Native Nuneaton

It told how Alfred, my grandfather’s youngest brother had travelled to England on the Queen Elizabeth as a member of a goodwill mission of the American Legion led by Col. Paul Griffith, its National Commandant. In London the group was welcomed by the Foreign Secretary, Mr Ernest Bevin. They went on to France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy and in the Vatican were received by the Pope. Visits were made to cemeteries of American soldiers killed during the recent war.

Alfred had left Nuneaton in 1913 when he was seventeen and ‘after many travels and experiences in Canada’ joined his elder brother (Albert) in California. In 1917 he volunteered for the American Army and sailed to France with the 28th Massachusetts Engineers. He was wounded in the Spring of 1918 and was in the military hospital in Rouen at the time of the Armistice.

Alfred recalled that he and his four brothers had served during the 1914-1918 war in five different armies: George in the Indian Army, Richard with a New Zealand contingent of the ANZAC Force, Albert was with the Canadians, Walter (or Harry?) with the British. Providentially, all survived.

Alfred died in Long Beach, California in November 1969.

I also found a field postcard written by Richard from France on 12 April 1917 to his sister. In it he sends her his condolences on the death of her baby, asks for the address of his brother George and closes, “I am expecting to go up to the firing line any day now.”

Clive Blencowe
Worcester, November 2004

Postscript

As reported in the August newsletter, the descendants of George Blencowe (1858-1940) and his wife Matilda Nourse (1865-1945) were invited to attend a reunion at the Griffith Pioneer Park Museum. Griffith is a town in western NSW only 36 miles from Leeton where the Blencowes settled after the First World War. It was the ideal setting for the gathering as the museum depicted the era in which they were farming. The towns of Griffith and Leeton came into being with the commencement of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area circa 1913.

The Reunion was tinged with sadness with the passing of George and Matilda’s grand-daughter, Gwen Hill, nee Blencowe, on the Sunday before. Gwen, who had been looking forward to the reunion, was laid to rest after a service conducted by the Leeton minister at the Uniting Church in Griffith.

More than sixty of the family had travelled to the Reunion from Belgium, Western Australia, Queensland, the ACT and throughout NSW. George and Matilda had 19 grandchildren of whom only five are now living: Jean Luhrs (Blencowe), Noel Blencowe. Norman and John Taylor and Beryl Crouch (Blencowe). Noel was not well enough to travel and John was attending his grandchild’s wedding in Queensland. Jean, Norman and Beryl had a wonderful weekend

Saturday 2nd October began mid-morning with family putting up the displays of their memorabilia which included embroidery and crocheting of Matilda and a very old music box/photo album belonging to the couple. A professional photographer was hired to record events and, more importantly, to scan all the old photos and documents considered important to preserve for future generations and to be available on CD ROM to the wider family.

The afternoon was spent mingling and getting to know one another. Due to the spread of our family throughout Australia, no one had met very many of their relatives. Many took the opportunity to visit one or two of the many wineries in the area making the most of cellar door sales.

The formal part of the reunion was the Saturday evening, beginning with a roast dinner. Beryl Crouch had specially made cream table cloths with pleated skirts, purple and cream table runners, and floral table centre pieces in mauves and purples. The table settings took us back to the era of George and Matilda, whose painting hung over the mantelpiece on which proudly stood the Blencowe coat of arms beautifully crafted by Beryl and her husband, Bob. The room was set up “just as Grandma would have wanted it”. Our eldest family member, Jean Luhrs welcomed everyone and said Grace.

An after-dinner talk on our early pre-Australian history was given by Wilfred Blencowe who had travelled from Belgium for the occasion. Wilfred had managed to track our family back to Adam de Blencow via Brackley, Radstone and Marston St Lawrence. The audience was captivated by his little anecdotes, especially about a maiden aunt Olive’s decision to turn down an inheritance from England because it came from the sale of a brewery! Beryl spoke about the life of George and Matilda and the legacy they left us.

On Sunday many family members travelled to Leeton for the 9.30 service in the Leeton Uniting Church. Rev Mark Collins welcomed the return of the family and gave recognition to the part played by George and Matilda in the foundation of the original church in Leeton and the building of the present one by their son and grandson, both also named George. Three generations of Blencowe were born in Leeton but four generations grew up within the Leeton church which was the centre of not only our spiritual life but our social and recreational life as well. The present congregation welcomed us with a morning tea following the service.

After church, a tour of Leeton and district past former Blencowe homes and our various farms, including where George Henry Blencowe and seven other growers harvested Australia’s first commercial irrigated rice crop. The nostalgic Leeton tour culminated with a visit to the Leeton cemetery to pay tribute to George and Matilda and other family members.

The final official function was back at the Pioneer Park in Griffith for a good Aussie barbecue tea and final farewells as most were leaving for home the next morning.

Wisconsin Blencoes return to Gawcott

On October 8, 2004, three of us set out to look for footprints of William and Mary Ann Blencoe in Gawcott, near Buckingham. My sister Beth Beier, a cousin Gwen Hejna, and I flew into Gatwick Airport. Jenny Coulson (whose grandfather was a Blincoe) had arranged a car rental for us and we headed for Abingdon, near Oxford.

Our home for the next week was a very comfortable cottage at Kingfisher Barn Holiday Cottages, on the edge of the town, recommended to us by Jack Blencowe. We loved being near the River Thames, the interesting town of Abingdon, Oxford, and, of course, Gawcott.

I had corresponded with Jack for nine years and was delighted to meet him and his charming wife, Kee. We had three opportunities to be with them, and when it came time to leave, we did so reluctantly, since a true feeling of kinship had developed by that time.

William A. Blencoe was born at Gawcott on 9 November 1822, the son of John and Hannah (Herring) Blencoe. In 1833, he and his family emigrated to America and settled near Norwich, New York.

In 1853 he married Mary Ann Marof the Norwich area, who was also a native of Gawcott. Mary Ann had been born on 10 September 1835, to Emanuel and Mary (Bennett) Marks and had moved with her family to New York State in 1849.

Shortly after their marriage, William and Mary Ann migrated west from New York and homesteaded on a farm near what is now the village of Alma Center, Wisconsin. William was a successful farmer, brick maker, and builder.

One of their eleven children was my maternal grandmother, Ella Victoria (Blencoe) Buckley. (Mary Ann had fond memories of throwing flowers in the path of the Queen as she rode through Gawcott and so bestowed the name “Victoria” on one of her daughters.)

On our first Sunday in England we decided to attend Gawcott’s Holy Trinity Church, which was built in 1827, replacing an older building. It was a moving experience to worship in the very room where our ancestors had once worshipped worshipped. The attendance that morning was not large, but the service was impressive. It was led by a lay person, Sue Ambrose, who invited us to her home for coffee following the service. We then took time to walk through the old cemetery surrounding the church. We saw several Blencowe markers but could relate to only one, that of Frances Blencowe, our William A. Blencoe’s half sister. (Frances married her cousin Thomas Blencowe.)

After spending time in Gawcott, we drove a few miles to Great Horwood, the ancestral home of Mary Ann Marks’ family. In the church cemetery in this village we found Marks and Bennett graves.

On another day we drove the short distance from Gawcott to Marston St. Lawrence, realizing that our Blencoes were probably connected in some way to the Blencowes of that village. We investigated the ancient church and its many Blencowe graves, drove by Marston House (once owned by the Blencowe family but now the property of Lord & Lady Wellesley), and had coffee and sticky toffee pudding at the cozy Marston Inn. In spite of almost constant rain, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this historic Blencowe site.

Our stop after Marston St. Lawrence was nearby Helmdon, where at least some of our Blencoes lived before moving down to Gawcott. Then we drove to nearby Stowe School, which is at the center of one of the finest landscaped parks in Britain. This school, once a stately home, is now an exclusive boarding school. Blencoes from our family worked there as stonemasons when the magnificent home was built.

While staying at Abingdon, we also toured Oxford, Coventry, Stratford-on-Avon, Winchester, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. And then we proceeded on to Cambridge, Ely, Ipswich, Canterbury, Rye, and Brighton. While at Rye, we stopped for coffee at the Mermaid Inn and were surprised to find that the co-owner of this ancient and fascinating inn is Judith, wife of Martin Blincow.

Our last night was spent near Gatwick at Gatwick Gable End Guest House, which we highly recommend. Jenny Coulson lives nearby and drove us to the airport the next morning.

Jack Blencowe tells us now that our two weeks in England were a portion of the wettest October on record. That we can believe, but in spite of the weather, we had a memorable time!

To walk where our ancestors walked; to enjoy the hospitality of Jack, Kee, and Jenny; to see some of the great historic sights of England; and to experience the courtesy and the kindness of the English people … Those things we will not soon forget. All three of us came home glowing with pride in both our English and our Blencoe heritage!

Mary E. Van Gorden,
Black River Falls WI
November 2004

The Museum is well worth a visit in its own right. Numerous historic buildings have been brought there and re-erected in a beautiful location on a farm worked using traditional methods. Huge Shire horses pull the ploughs and draught oxen can be seen pulling simple sledges that replaced wheeled transport. There are sheep, of course, pigs and cattle. A great day out for youngsters of all ages, especially city-dwellers.

Tina conducted her workshop in an original centuries-old Tudor kitchen and showed her pupils how traditional ‘goodies’ could be produced using simple ingredients and minimal cooking facilities. An open fire with the smoke going out through the roof seemed to be the main source of heat! Outside the old building was a kitchen garden and acollection of traditional culinary herbs.

Two weeks later the books came to hand and we were invited to an elegant book store in Petersfield for the ‘launch’. Tina modelled the superb dress she had commissioned in the style of that worn by Lady Ann in the portrait featured in the book. Refreshments included cookies ‘baked the Marston way’. A good number of interested persons attended, as did the local press. The book was reviewed for The Herald by artist and author Rita Greer:

‘This is time travel indeed. Imagine you are back in the latter part of that chaotic century. No electricity or gas; no super markets, fridges, canned food, freezers; no NHS if you fall ill, no ‘A & E&rs. You might get some help from the local vet or a concoction from the local apothecary, or you might have someone like Lady Anne to sort you out. She had a garden and a still room as well as wild hedgerows and woodland to provide her with herbs and plants for medicinal recipes. But first Lady Anne’s kitchen and what it produced.

Looking through the book I cannot but feel envy for the occupants of her house, who must have enjoyed delicious food; all organic vegetables, meat and fish, organic butter, milk and cheeses, and everything homemade.

Some of the delicacies you will recognise, such as ratafias, gingerbread, egg custard and marmalade. But they won’t be anything like the ones we get today from the supermarket.

Take biscuits, for instance. No queuing to buy biscuits full of hydrogenated fat, sugar and salt, manufactured in a factory by machines, to stay shelf fresh for months. Instead ponder on freshly made home-baked biscuits made with butter, layered overnight with fresh red rose petals, freshly ground wholemeal organic flour from the local mill, home made wine and rose sugar.

There would also be elegant and rich dishes for entertaining and celebrations, with generous use of eggs and cream. Remember these were days of innocence, before anyone knew about the dreaded cholesterol.

On the physic front I do feel sorry for those dosed. The ingredients of some of the medicines are quite ghastly —

Christina Stapley has not just entertained us with this book but also given us more. than a glimpse of 17th-century life \n the kitchen and still room. It would have been all too easy to swamp Lady Anne’s original book with a modem approach, but she has accomplished it with sensitivity and empathy.

This is an absolutely fascinating book with recipes you can actually use in your own kitchen. Regarding the medicinal recipes, pass! The author does warn us not to try them, but they make interesting reading all the same.’

I took a hundred copies home to distribute to members and, to use an appropriate metaphor, ‘they have gone like hot cakes’; I am awaiting a second delivery. In UK you can have copies at £7.00 including p&p. For American members we have settled on US$15.00 for a single copy or US$14.00 each for two or more. That’s p&p included, by ‘Book Post Surface Mail’. Cheques (checks!) payable to the Association, as for your annual subscriptions. I’ll work out an appropriate price for ‘downunder’..

A Family Archive on CD-ROM

Anne Burton gave me a copy of a CD that she and Dennis had made as a beginning of a family archive. It seemed to me a brilliant idea and something that we all should think about doing. It is laid out like a book and you can scroll through it page-by-page.

It deals with the successive generations of the family, starting off with data presented in the format of a ‘Family Group Report’ used in many genealogy programmes. It goes on to give biographies of the persons involved with pictures of homes, schools and so on. Family trees are included and historic family pictures all captioned. The disk can be read using ‘Acrobat’ Reader which is widely available and allows you to see pictures in full colour. If you find the technology too difficult, turn one of those teen-age grandchildren loose on the task, they’ll love doing it and might even get interested in the family history part as well!

Lady Ann Blencowe had a brother and her father and her son were involved with the Secret Service!

Paul Jackson wrote that he had noticed mention of the cookbook on the website and wanted a copy.

Paul is a descendant of Ann’s brother John Wallis. I didn’t know of any other child of the Rev Dr John Wallis and asked for details, he replied that in 1988 he had found a partial family tree compiled by an ‘unknown’ member of his family after his Grandfather died.

Lady Ann had two siblings, a brother John born in 1650 and a sister Elizabeth. Their father, John Wallis was born in 1616 and was an important mathematician. He had obtained his M.A. at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and been appointed Savilian Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford, Keeper of the archives, Member of the Royal Society and Chaplain to King Charles II.

Paul had not known that Wallis had been Decipherer to the Secretary of State. Meanwhile, Roger Blinko had spotted some more information about Wallis in that role in :-

Decipherers 1701-1844
‘Although cryptography and translation were amongst the general responsibilities of the Secretaries of State from the Tudor period, it was only in the early eighteenth century that settled arrangements were made for the decipherment of letters and dispatches. After the Restoration [of Charles II]much of the work was entrusted to Wallis, who, until 1701, had no established position, being paid by the Secretaries of State for each commission that he executed. In that year, however, the Decipherers’ office was placed on a permanent basis, Wallis and his grandson, [William] Blencowe, being granted a regular salary by privy seal. Blencowe was succeeded in 1713 by Keill who was himself succeeded in 1716 by the elder E. Willes.

[The article then lists the Decipherers up to 1844 and goes on to discuss their salaries.]

‘Until 1722 the salaries of the Decipherers were paid at the Exchequer. From that year until 1782 they were disbursed by the Secretary of the Post Office from secret service money in the same manner as those of the officials of the secret department of that office with whom the Decipherers came to be closely associated. …

The salaries of the Decipherers varied considerably in amount. Wallis and Blencowe were granted £100 in 1701, Blencowe’s salary being raised to £200 in 1709.’

At the beginning of the 17thC these were substantial sums of money indicating the importance the Government attached to the work involved.

Surfing the Internet

Daphne Austin has turned up some more interesting stuff. Looking at a website she found the story of John Blencowe of Middleton Cheney, a manservant who had been convicted of theft from his employer and sentenced to transportation for 14 years to be served in Tasmania. He shipped out on the Lord Lyndoch and arrived at Hobart in 1841. On arrival his sentence was reduced to 18 months. During his probation period he worked as a baker for Mr Thomas Archer ar Woolmer’s Estate. Mr Archer was known to have great compassion for convicts, not agreeing with the system of transportation, thus treating his workers well.

In 1846 John married Elizabeth Horner of Pontefract who had travelled to Tasmania with two sisters to work as domestic servants. They had arrived in Launceston on the Elizabeth and Jane in 1835.

John and Elizabeth moved to Victoria with their family circa 1835. The information has been provided by Vera Lay and lists six generations of descendants.

Daphne also sent me a long printout of hundreds of Blencowes (Blincos, etc) from the National Burial Index listed on a CD. This proved to be quite a gold mine. In addition of more than seventy ‘new’ individuals to the database it gave the burial date and location of more than a hundred individuals previously known only from the General Register of Births & Deaths (which mentions only the registration town). It was possible to identify the parentage or spouse of some individuals and revealed a number of towns and villages where Blencowes had not been known to be living. There were others (some of which I thought we has ‘dry’) where an un-expected numbers of ‘new’ records appeared:

Bedfordshire:
Felmersham, St Mary
Haynes, St Mary
Stagsden, St Leonard
Berkshire:
Kintbury, St Mary
Sonning, St Andrew
Stratfield Mortimer, St Mary
Wargrave, St Mary
Buckinghamshire:
Chesham
Denham, St Mary
Grendon Underwood, St Leonard
Cheshire:
Pott Shrigley, St Christopher
Taxall, St James
County Durham:
Haverton Hill, St John the Baptist
Cumberland:
Irton, St Paul
Dorset:
Melcombe Regis, St Mary & St John
Weymouth
Essex:
Basildon, Holy Cross
Blackmore, St Lawrence
Fryerning, St Mary the Virgin
Great Burstead, St Mary Magdalene
Great Wakering, St Nicholas
Mountnessing, St Giles
Rayne, All Saints
Springfield, All Saints
Hertfordshire:
Braughing
Chipping Barnet, St John the Baptist
Leicestershire:
Belgrave, St Peter
Lincolnshire:
Stamford, All Saints
Northamptonshire:
Aynho, St Michael & All Angels
Burton Latimer, St Mary the Virgin
Chacombe, St Peter & St Paul
Croughton, All Saints
Pattishall, Holy Cross
Silverstone, St Michael
Nottinghamshire:
Bulwell, St Mary
Teversall, St Catherine
Oxfordshire:
Cottisford
Fritwell, St Olave
Shutford, St Martin
Somerset:
Bathwick, St Mary
Walcot, St Swithin
Staffordshire:
Tipton, St Martin
Suffolk:
Barrow, All Saints
Badwell Ash, St Mary
Bury St Edmunds, St Mary
Friston, St Mary
Fryerning, St Mary the Virgin
Ipswich
Leiston, St Margaret
Little Whelnetham, St Mary Magdalene
Woodbridge, St Mary
Surrey:
Ashtead, St Giles
Byfleet, St Mary
Wimbledon St Mary
Sussex:
Chichester, St Peter the Great
Horsham, St Mary
Parham, St Peter
Rye, St Mary
Shipley, St Mary
Storrington, St Mary
Warwickshire:
Barston
Coventry, St John the Baptist
Exhall, St Giles
Foleshill, St Laurence
Grandborough, St Peter
Loxley, St Nicholas
Solihull, St Alphege
Stockton, St Michael
Stretton-on-Dunsmore, All Saints
Tysoe, St Mary
Wolston, St Margaret
Wiltshire:
Draycot Cerne, St James
Yorkshire:
Harthill, All Hallows Kimberworth, St Thomas
Leeds
Rokeby, St Mary
Rotherham
Sheffield, Brightside St Thomas
Yafforth, All Saints
Most Parish Registers will name the parent or spouse of the deceased and thus yield more detail of their relationships.

Visitors to Oxford

Anne and Dennis Burton made an all too brief visit as part of a grand tour, including taught school for a couple of years), Marston St. Lawrence and other ancestral villages. Shortly after they flew back home to take part in the family reunion at Griffith NSW. Anne gave me a copy of a CD that I have reviewed elsewhere.

Antony & Susan Farnath drove over from Wolverhampton and invited us out to lunch. Our house is difficult to find (as Anne & Dennis had discovered) so we arranged to meet at a nearby rural restaurant … best laid plans … an horrendous pile-up blocked the road completely and we arrived nearly two hours late!

Antony had brought with him a number of family history items, especially the magnificent parchment scroll issued by the College of Heralds as a Grant of Arms in right of his Blencowe heritage and his mother’s Harley descent. He also had pictures of two elderly aunts showing an uncanny resemblance to centenarian Angela Blencowe pictured in our December 2003 issue. Blencowe genes showing through?