GENEALOGY

My interest in genealogy began in earnest when my aunt, Irene HARRISON, fished out from a drawer a printed memorial dated 1884 commemorating the death of Charlotte SLIGHT (née TWISS, 1800-1884). Neither of us knew for certain whether or precisely how she or her husband (the Rev. Benjamin SLIGHT) were related to us. It was only in 1990, when I passed my driving test and became sufficienty mobile, that I was able to visit with ease the places mentioned in the memorial (East Grinstead and Ashurst Wood in Sussex), within striking distance of my home in Guildford.

Our first port of call was the public library in East Grinstead. Literally within five minutes of skimming through books and pamphlets on local history, we found a picture of the Reverend SLIGHT (part of the print shown below, dating from 1836) and details of his life in and around East Grinstead as well as references to his time in Tunbridge Wells.

We then visited the nearby village of Ashurst Wood where we were able to visit the church which he caused to be built in 1859 (now St. Dunstan's parish church) and the adjoining house "Nenthorn" (named after the Berwickshire village in which he was born) built by him the following year and his home until his death in 1889. The present owner of the house very kindly took the picture shown below to commemorate our visit.

Later, we were able to establish that the Rev. Benjamin SLIGHT (1800-1889) was, in fact, my great great great uncle and to determine his antecedents in Roxburghshire, in the borders of Scotland, as far back as 1739.

Other discoveries relating to this and other lines have followed in the succeeding years. These include:

Will (with probate) of Rev. Benjamin SLIGHT (1884-9)

Will of Richard BULLY, master mariner (1830) (ggg grandfather)

Richard BULLY's ship: the Schooner "BRITANNIA" (1827)

Richard BULLY's voyages (Lloyd's Shipping Register 1814-1831)

Thomas BULLY's ship: the Schooner "GEORGE" (1833) (gggg uncle)

Thomas BULLY's voyages (Lloyd's Shipping Register 1807-1842)

Will of Richard GARTON, tobacco merchant of Lincoln (1847) (ggg uncle)

Will of Thomas GARTON, tobacco merchant of Lincoln (1849) (ggg uncle)

Mary BULLY's indenture (relating to Richard BULLY's house) (1857) (ggg grandmother)

Will of Georgina CORDINER (née GARTON) (1918) (gg aunt)

Will of Ernest C. ROBERTS, master mariner (1943) (g uncle)

and a couple of articles have appeared in local newspapers:

S. S. LANGLEECRAG - one of my father's ships

Stanley BULLEY's False Teeth

The results of this research (family names BULLEY, LEIGHTON, PILLAR, GARTON, BELL, JARRELL, ELGATE, HARRISON, ROBERTS, FOX, LONGBOTHAM, GROOMBRIDGE, ROBSON, SLIGHT, DOWNS, WATSON and MARR), which is, of course, still ongoing, are summarised on Keith BULLEY's Ancestry Chart showing all known ancestors and various details of their lives (except where the individuals are still alive, such persons being marked as 'Withheld') together with source references and links to collateral lines. Similar information in narrative form ('Ahnentafel') can be found by clicking here on Keith BULLEY's Ancestors. At some future date, transcriptions of the actual source documents themselves will be included on these Web pages.

 

 

Lines of Descent

 

 

 

 

BELL

BULLEY

ELGATE

FOX

GARTON

GROOMBRIDGE

HARRISON

HUTTON

JARRELL

MARR

POLL

ROBERTS

SLIGHT

Perhaps my most interesting ancestor was my great grandfather, Charles LEIGHTON, who emigrated from the USA (either Boston, Mass. or New York) to England (illegally?) in the 1880s and was reputedly of Native American parentage.

Research into one particular family line has led to rectification of an omission by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission which had lasted for over 80 years. Alexander CORDINER, master mariner and husband of my great great aunt, Georgina GARTON, died at Ruhleben, a German PoW camp in Berlin in March 1918. Alexander was born in Nova Scotia and he and his family lived at 28, Alice Street, South Shields and had an eventful sea career involving numerous, rather unfortumate accidents.

Despite the implication on the headstone of his wife, Georgina and son Charles in Harton Cemetery in South Shields (below), Alexander is not buried there:

Over a period of months, I was in contact with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission who finally agreed to erect a memorial on 3 October 2001 not far from his unmarked grave at the South Western Cemetery,Stahnsdorf, near Berlin:

Links:

 

Pan Yard, South Shields

Location 10 on this page and home of Richard William BULLEY until 1921

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Last updated: 29/11/01 23:23:37