Volume 21 Number 1 May 2006

For a variety of reasons I’m late again with what should be the March issue. However, whilst I have been delayed other things have happened to relieve some of my doom and gloom.

Good news is that Anna Burton in NSW has volunteered to take over this newsletter: This is particularly important for I seem to have lost some of the dexterity in my left hand, leading to countless typing errors and a lot of frustration. It will probably pay to continue printing and distribution from Oxford; Anne will send me the files by e-mail. ( If/when I pop my clogs the printer can accept copy direct by e-mail). With luck we’ll get three issues out this year, but certainly not four.

For some years Nancy Bruyn has kindly looked after payments in Australian dollars. Anne has also volunteered to take on this task and use her English accent from time to time to transfer the relatively small amounts to Oxford without incurring bank charges. However, I am the sole signatory of the UK account: I must have someone to share this responsibility, if the aforementioned clogs get popped we’ll be in trouble.

Some time ago Jill Dudbridge gave me a book Kings Lynn by Paul Richards from which most of what follows is drawn. The book included a number of references to the Everard family and a mention of the Blencowe connection.

Kings Lynn is an important market town situated where the river Ouse drains into the Wash. In former days it was, after London, the most important east coast port, with links to the ports of the Hanseatic League in Scandinavia and Germany. The handsome picture on the cover page of the Customs House, (not shown here) indicates something of the grandeur of those days. There were imports of timber and flax – important naval supplies for masts, spars, sails and rigging. When trade to the east was hampered by war shippers turned their attention to timber, sugar and rum from the Americas; there were also substantial imports of wine, especially from Portugal. One of the Vancouver family was Collector of Customs and the father of George who sailed with Captain Cook and subsequently surveyed the west coast of North America.

Trade was largely in the hands of half-a-dozen merchant families of whom the Everards were one of the more important. In 1743, along with the families Allen and Bagge, they had something of a monopoly on brewing in the town. In 1757 Edward Everard bought the Hanseatic Warehouse from its German owners and in 1785 another Everard together with a fellow named Browne had deals in stock from the Baltic worth more than £ 10,000.

In 1794 there were fears of invasion by Revolutionary France and £6,000 was collected to support some 500 infantry and cavalry commanded by another Edward Everard.

In 1796 a Blencowe connection was made: Henry Prescott Blencowe married Rebecca the daughter of ‘Edward Everard Snr’. Three years later his younger brother John married Rebecca’s youngest sister Pleasance. Henry became head of the Thoby Priory branch of the family; it was he who sold Blencow Hall to the Duke of Norfolk in 1802. It was John who involved himself in the Everard family business. Richards says: “Daily business affairs were increasingly directed by able and trusted lieutenants … J[ohn] P [rescott] Blencowe, who lived opposite St Mary’s Church, was ‘the leading light’ of the merchant house of Everard.”

Much of the prosperity of Kings Lynn was owed to its access by water to inland towns such as Bedford and Cambridge (it was cheaper to send goods from Cambridge to London via Lynn than more directly by road). The arrival of a railway connection in 1847 removed this advantage and, although Lynn remains an important centre for agriculture-based industry, and still has coastal trade with the Baltic, its heyday passed.

Although John Prescott Blencowe and Pleasance had eleven children their offspring do not seem to have been inclined to marriage. John Prescott (1800-?), Pleasance (1802-1837), Elizabeth (1803-1885), Mary (1805-1900), Edward (1806-1895), Henrietta (1809-1890), Walter (1812-1885), Agnes (1818-1896), Margaret (1819-1898) and Ellen (1820-1893) were all unmarried. Jane, who married Rev Stephen Allen in 1847 (a widower with a grown-up daughter), died before 1851. Edward became a parson; when he died he was Vicar of Stow Bardolph, living in the Vicarage with four servants. Walter lived in Nelson Street in Kings Lynn; Margaret, Ellen and Henrietta lived there with him, conjuring up the image of Timothy in Galsworthy’s Forsyte Saga living cossetted by his unmarried and widowed sisters.

Richards writes that, as the importance of Lynn declined as a trading port, the merchant families became more interested in their landed properties. The Everards moved to Congham near Sandringham. All this doesn’t take us closer to identifying the James Everard of Lowestoft who married Elizabeth Blencowe in 1794. Hopefully, if Brian Everard keeps searching, he will find more of the story.

Fern and Ron Gibbard made a return visit to their ancestral villages during March. Fern descends from the Blincoes who emigrated from Mixbury on The Sea in 1844 to Elora, Ontario. They stayed with Ron’s cousin in the picturesque village of Padbury (near Buckingham) where Gibbards have lived for thirteen generations. We met up for lunch in Padbury and afterwards visited churchyards in Helmdon, Stoke Lyne and Gawcott. The weather was bitterly cold but the bright sunshine made the photo opportunity of Thomas Blencowe’s gravestone at Gawcott too good to miss. Thomas was not one of Fern’s family but one of the stone masons (probably from Helmdon) who gave rise to the Blencoes of Wisconsin. The late James Blencowe of Painted Post NY reported that Thomas had carved his own gravestone. I’m sure the picture will remind Mary Van Gorden of her visit there last year.

Fern and Ron live in Naramata near Kamloops in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. When he was over here in 1993 Ron told me that, as an honorary game warden, he occasionally had to trap and relocate badly behaved bears!

In Appendix VII of our Blencowe Book Jean Imbery wrote of ‘The tale of the missing heir’. In brief, the story was that, when Sir John (Judge) Blencowe died at Marston St Lawrence in 1726, he was succeeded by his eldest son, also John. He died in 1740 and the property passed to his son, again John, who died unmarried in 1777. By an indenture of 18 October 1745 John broke the entail and made his nephew Samuel Jackson his heir. Samuel Jackson assumed the family name and inherited the property.

However, John who died in 1777 had not been the eldest son; a son Thomas had been born a year earlier. Thomas had died at the age of twenty, presumably unmarried, in 1739.

Years later Jean’s great aunt Anne Tait Macleod (nee Hooper) and her grandmother Rose Ellen Raisbeck believed that their grandfather, Thomas Blencowe, was descended from an unrecorded great grandson of Sir John Blencowe (1642-1726).

The strongly-held family tradition was that Thomas, who would have been under-age, had married a dairy maid and that his family had refused to recognise the marriage. Thomas, the supposed son of the marriage, had married a Mary Webb whose son, another Thomas (1791-1857) had married Elizabeth Pressman in 1813 and produced yet another Thomas (1814-1871), the grandfather of Mrs Tait McLeod and Mrs Raisbeck. There were holes in the story (there seemed to be a generation missing after the first of the four Thomases) but Mrs Tait McCleod was convinced of its truth and searched every possible record she could find, even including those at the blacksmith’s shop at Gretna Green in Scotland; the romantic destination of eloping couples in those days. She firmly believed that her family should have inherited the Manor of Marston St Lawrence, and that’s where the story stood when the book went press six years ago.

The new development came from Joan Harrison, a grand-daughter of Mrs Tait McCleod:

“Well, at last I have found ‘my’ Thomas in the 1851 Census, living in Walthamstow (as my grandmother had said). He gave his age as 59 and born in Helmdon, Northants (around 1792). As this is near Brackley, I thought that maybe he was from the same family as Jill Dudbridge, but on further investigation I also found another Thomas Blencowe born in 1791 at Croughton, which is on the other side of Brackley. Do you have records of these two families?”

This proved to be easy, a Thomas Blencowe was baptised at Helmdon on June 9 1792, the son of Nathaniel Blencowe and Jenny Hiron, a descendant of the family of stonemasons. It was known that Thomas had married Elizabeth Pressman and Joan was able to confirm that the Census recorded his wife as Elizabeth born c. 1790 in Bethnal Green.

So, that makes it pretty clear that Thomas was not of the family of Marston St Lawrence but of the same group as Mike Walton’s ancestors and probably connected to the Blencoes of Wisconsin; pity we can’t do a DNA! It’s a shame to put an end to the dairy maid story, but facts are facts.

A warning of transcription errors: family records reported that Thomas had died 1871 of Erysipelas – an unlikely cause of terminal illness. Joan had obtained a copy of the death certificate showed it to have been ‘general paralysis’, presumably a stroke.

The family name was well represented at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Peter Blencowe sent me a note about Claire Blencowe, the youngest member of the English diving team Daughter of Phillip and Debra Blencowe of Sheffield, Claire has two brothers who are keen gymnasts; born in 1990, she has her sights set on the up-coming Olympics. Peter also mentioned that a Blinko was swimming for NZ.

Anne Burton sent me a report on Adrian Blincoe who ran for New Zealand in 1500m finals. Adrian is at University USA and aims to do a lot of competition running; he and his father have excelled in cross-country running in NZ.

Evelyn Judith Lane (nee Blencowe) 1919-2004

Judy, (as she was always known in the family), Lane, was the eldest of the three daughters of Charles Blencowe, who some will recall sank the German gunboat on Lake Victoria in World War One.

She was born in East Africa, but in her young days saw little of her parents for she was sent back to England to be educated at St Mary’s Brighton, and spent her holidays with her Blencowe grandmother and an Aunt in North Wales. At the start of the last war, she returned to Kenya and enlisted as a nurse with the East African Rifles.

When the war ended, she sailed to England and was trained as a nurse at St Thomas’s Hospital, and then back to Africa where she worked as a District Nurse. I can see her now, during the Mau Mau emergency, having somehow reached a remote village on the slopes of Mt Kenya, surrounded by armed askaris and the inevitable black Scottie, or maybe, two or three, giving injections to a long queue of African Children.

After the death of her parents, Judy spent time in what was then Rhodesia and South Africa, before returning to retirement in Dorset. Here she met her Bruce, whom she married in 1985. Sadly they were only able to enjoy 10 years together for Bruce died in 1995. There was always laughter and leg-pulling in their home in Bournemouth, but they were ideally matched and devoted to each other. Judy had many gifts, which she shared with those around her. There was that gift incorporated in her nursing, that of bringing comfort, and often restored health to those who had been ill. She was also a very talented artist. Many of my family have her paintings on their walls. She was also a keen ornithologist with its extraordinary knowledge of East Afriban birds and was seldom without a camera, for again photography was a life long interest of hers.

After suffering a number of mini strokes her health began to fade and her quality of life decreased, but she never lost her sense of humour, spending her final years at Alexandra House in Poole.

Peter Blencowe
Walderton

To Lucy and Iain Brewster on the safe arrival on 26 March of their first son, another grandson for Peter and Anna Blencowe. Angus Rory Walcot Brewster was born in Bangkok; if I remember rightly, his sisters Iona and Flora were born in Buenos Aires and Istanbul respectively!

Peter’s grandfather and great-uncle married two Walcot sisters. Talking of the name led to another story from Peter: he came across an old paper that his father had obtained for him in 1931 certifying that he was descended from a Knight of the Garter! We couldn’t think of a Blencowe who had been thus distinguished and Peter finally tracked down a Walcot connection with the Brydges family who became Duke of Chandos.

I had a major glitch with my computer a week or so back and lost a lot of the contents of my e-mail “filing cabinet”. Fortunately the address list remained intact; however, if any of you have contacted me recently and not received a reply, please write again.

Peter Hinton sent me a lengthy compilation of his researches into the early records of the Blenko Glass family. I’ve not had time yet to enter all the data into my computer but I can see that there are probably some errors or at least discrepancies in my records. I must spend some time trying to puzzle it all out.

Peter and his mother Sheila recently visited his great-aunt Eilean (b. 1919) who is now living in Northern Ireland. Eilean is the daughter of Rebecca Jesseman Blenko and William Murphy; Rebecca was the daughter of William John Blenko by his first wife Rebecca Jesseman. Peter has also made contact with descendants of Lilian Mary Blenko (Rebecca’s sister) who married E.T. Stevens in 1904 and emigrated to Christchurch, New Zealand.

A letter from Jack Blincoe, who lives near Oldham, sought information about William Bates Blinko (1789-1856) who was a lighterman in Horsleydowm, Surrey. William was born in Clerkenwell and married (his second wife) Charlotte Babington at Camberwell in 1832. James Blinko (1799-1871, relationship to William unknown) was also born in Clerkenwell and married Elizabeth Frances Babington there in 1818. James was also a waterman and pilot in Horsleydown; these two must have been related! What’s more, James’ father John (1744-1775) was almost certainly linked to the Blenkos, also of Clerkenwell, Keep digging, folks, there’s more to be discovered!

Another treasure trove of data came from Julie Stuart-Thompson; Julie has obtained access via the internet to the General Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths and offered to let me have the Blencow/Blinco (etc) records for the database. Jill Dudbridge had trawled the ledgers at St Catherine’s House pretty thoroughly, as far as 1900. I asked Julie to download the post-1900 records. These I now have; but it takes a lot longer to enter the records into the computer than to print them out. I am working my way through, doing a print-out in a standard format and will eventually deposit the lot at Northants Records Office. Before I do that I’ll get it all into the computer. The later records are particularly useful: The death records also give date of birth and the marriages also give the name of the spouse. If you have a record you are searching (back to 1837) let me know, or maybe contact Julie direct: <yulie.st @ btinternet.com>

Mary Blincoe wrote from Balham telling of (mis)adventures in Australia last year. She and her sister Dorothy were in the Blue Mountains where they both had a fall. Mary said. “I bounced, but Dorothy sustained a really bad fractured ankle. She spent the next two weeks in a Sydney hospital before flying home for further surgery.” Nothing duanted, the sisters now plan a visit to the Scottish island of Iona and a train journey in South Africa.

Phil Bailey in Australia has been corresponding with me, Anne Burton and others about his Blencowe ancestors from Brackley. Phil paid me the compliment of asking my permission to quote extensively from our Blencowe book. I take this opportunity to tell you all that I have no feelings about copyright matters. Mention where it came from, but quote away to your heart’s content!

Sandra Smith wrote from North Baddlesey (near Southampton) asking if 1 could add to the village record of the Vicar Ralph Blencowe who in 1582 “taught school” in the room over the old gateway leading into the monastery. I had a note of this record but could not add to it; it’s one of very few such early records in southern England and Ralph is a very uncommon name within the family. Sandra’s interest was in parish rather than family history; she told me that the village is keen to remember old connections and has named a street after the Blencowes.

Tina Stapley wrote at Christmas to tell that she has given lectures on Lady Anne Blencowe’s cookery and that her book is attracting a lot of interest. A Special Christmas Event at Hampton Court Palace featured 18th Century cookery. They baked Lady Anne’s ‘Great Cake’ and Tina was sent a complimentary ticket to attend.

A letter from Mary Jane Grutzmacher opened up a very interesting discovery. She asked if I had ‘any tidbit of information on Annie Marie Blencowe who may have been born in or around 1861 somewhere in Minnesota. Her parents were from England. She Annie Marie (Blencowe) Jewby married my grandfather, William Carter Jewby, and had three children. I have no idea when they were married but they had children in 1888, 1889, and 1901 respectively. She is listed in the 1910 census as well as the 1920 census. We are running into brick walls with that entire part of the family!’

I replied ‘If this is who I think it is, it’s exciting! Thomas Blencowe, a druggist, went from Towcester in England to USA “to sell medicine to the Indians”. Whilst there he and his wife Elizabeth had children John Franklin in Illinois c.1856, Anne M in Minnesota c.1858 and Arthur in NY c.1861.

The family returned to Towcester, probably because Thomas’ father Timothy was ailing and needed help. Timothy died and Thomas sold up in 1873 and some time after returned to USA; they hadn’t liked the severe winters and settled in Lynchburg VA. Anne M. was in Towcester with her parents in the 1871 Census and, so far as we know, went to Virginia with them.’

Mary Jane contacted one of the family of her aunt Alice Elizabeth (Jewby) Tiller who remembered having two short conversations mentioning that Annie Marie’s father was a druggist who lived in Lynchburg, Virginia. So, that clinched it! I was able to tell her that she had numerous relatives in Virginia and also in Kidderminster U.K. (Colin Blencowe). Mary Jane asks if the photo she sent me had any resemblance to her great-grandfather; maybe Fran Blencowe and family can comment on that. Mary Jane can be contacted: <mjgrutz @ yahoo.com>

Another interesting one came from David Blencowe of Box Hill, Victoria who wrote. ‘I am, as I understand it, a fourth generation Australian Blencowe. My father is Sidney Louis (Lou) Blencowe and his father was Sid Blencowe who spent much of his working life managing copra plantations in New Guinea. One of Sid’s many siblings, Lou, was killed at the age of 17, during the Gallipoli Landings and his photograph in his Scots Guards uniform takes pride of place in my hallway.

Anecdotal information suggests that the Blencowes in Victoria have tended to be market gardeners, at least in my grandfather’s generation.’

I replied: ‘When I first got your email I thought, “Here’s another descendant of John Blencowe who emigrated from Brackley to Tasmania in 1831”. However, the computer came up with something quite different.

A Sidney Walter Blencowe’s birth was registered at Kings Norton 1stQtr 1908. His wife was Louisa, and he served in the Australian Army in WWII. His father was probably Sidney [Sydney] bapt 31 Dec 1882 Souldern, whose marriage was registered at Kings Norton 4thQtr 1907, spouse Louis[?] Smith, this must surely be the right family. This Sidney can be traced back pretty reliably to 14thC Adam de Blencow of the village of that name near Penrith.

I was interested to hear of your Grandad’s PNG connection. I spent a couple of months there looking at agricultural development projects, mostly at the Popondetta end of the Kokoda Trail. I look forward to hearing more from you!’

David replied: ‘My Grandfather mostly worked on Kaa-Kaa island. I was told that he was in PNG either side of the war but returned to Australia while the conflict was on. Just to add some more to that picture, his wife Eileen Mary, (known as ‘Peg’ remained in Australia, after the boys came along, but, from the stories they used to tell, she must have enjoyed the lifestyle in the early days. Sid died at Christmas, 1974 but Peg lived on for another 10 years.’

An e-mail from Marilyn Astle told that she and the family are leaving the Gulf and are repatriating to Canada, She can still be contacted at <marilyn.astle @ yahoo.com.ca> but her mailing address will be Box 32, Sangudo, AB TOC 2A0, Canada.

I know Marilyn has enjoyed her work at Fujairah Women’s College but it should be good to be closer to family and friends and in more stable political surroundings.