RollittAround

The Bequest

noreply@blogger.com (linda) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:29:00 +0000

My Dad remembers a madcap quest for a Hunter watch...

"Around about 1938 word reached my father that Mary Jane nee Cheshire had died in Kidderminster. She lived alone... she was intestate... she was virtually penniless... but she had relatives in Shrewsbury who regarded the death of a family member as an opportunity to at least gain a few bob from the chattels that were left behind.

Sam Cheshire began to organise an epic journey to recover whatever spoils had become available in Kidderminster. He primed Joe Drew with a few pints of beer, and Joe had words with Cappers the Agricultural Engineers for whom he was a driver.

This brought forth a clapped-out builder's truck and all was arranged for Sunday morning to be the big expedition. Sam Cheshire, Joe Drew, my brothers Jack and Sam and several more all piled on the lorry and away it went.

They got as far as Wenlock Edge and it virtually conked out... all the gang pushed it and pushed it, finally getting to the top. But the journey took hours.

They eventually reached Kidderminster and the home of Mary Jane, only to find that Sam Waters, whose wife was Mary Emma Bishop (I always knew them as Uncle Sam and Auntie Emma) had been to Kidderminster only hours before and taken all the rich pickings... including a gold Hunter watch which my father had been given to understand was bequeathed to him.

The retrieval party was gutted. They couldn't think of enough four-letter words to describe Sam Waters. They did however load up anything and everything of value, and roped it to the ailing truck.

On the way back down Wenlock Edge the brakes failed and they were careering around the 'S' bends on two wheels with furniture falling off in all directions. Finally arriving back in New Park Road late in the evening they all disembarked at the New Inn for liquid refreshment.

Sam Cheshire never spoke to Sam Waters again, but for my part Auntie Emma always treated me regally and so did Uncle Sam. Ken Waters, my closest friend, was deeply embarrassed and upset over what happened, but we lived to forget the incident”.

Upton Magna

noreply@blogger.com (linda) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:51:00 +0000

How I love Ellis Peters’ Cadfael novels! In One Corpse Too Many, it is on the collapse of the siege of Shrewsbury in the 12th century that Empress Maud’s followers Fitzalan and Adeney escape the clutches of King Stephen. With Cadfael’s help, Fitzalan’s treasury is eventually smuggled across the border and back to its owner whilst Adeney’s daughter is returned safely to her father.

The Fitzalan portrayed in Cadfael (Ellis Peters based her stories on real people and events in history) was possibly one of the ancestors of the earls of Arundel whose large estates, along with the monasteries, were dominant features of the medieval landscape in Shropshire.

I have become fascinated by one of the earl of Arundel’s manors – Upton Magna, about 5 miles east of Shrewsbury. From the 1868 National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland, I summarise: “494 inhabitants living in a parish comprising over 3000 acres of chiefly arable land… a considerable hill on one side forms a rabbit-warren and sheep-walk, and the remainder is divided into farms: the soil is generally good, and under profitable cultivation”.

My folks lived and worked on the farms in the area at least as far back as 1759 and probably earlier. Thomas Cheshire (b 1759) and his wife Jane lived to see their three score and ten, but their children were not so lucky – if they survived their teens, they didn’t make it much past thirty, as the burial records at St Lucia’s church in Upton Magna attest.

Especially following the BBC’s showing of Lark Rise to Candleford, I feel a close bond with country women, even though I live in a town and my hands rarely turn soil in my own garden. My grandmother Eliza Hotchkiss was the green-fingered owner of an allotment just down the road from Shrewsbury castle – she was born near Chirk in Wales. Her husband’s great grandma Jane was born in 1785 in Ellesmere, married to Richard Cheshire of Upton Magna, widowed in her forties, an outdoor servant and head of her household until past her mid-seventies. I wish I knew her maiden name and I’d love to continue the Cheshire line back to the time of King Stephen and the Empress Maud.

Remembrance Day

noreply@blogger.com (linda) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:44:00 +0000

Remembrance day again and I have been investigating the WWI pension records now on http://www.ancestry.co.uk/. As well as the 'lions led by donkeys' who were killed in action, there were many brave men that joined up with the intention of serving their country only to die of the diseases they contracted.

My Granny Eliza Hotchkiss’ first marriage was to Richard John Bishop in 1913. Ten years earlier, he had joined the Shropshire Light Infantry at the age of 20. He was 5’ 4½” tall, had a 33” chest, fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair and was pronounced fit for military service on 14 Apr 1903.

For the first year or so he served at home, probably training, polishing his kit and no doubt square-bashing. On 28 Nov 1904, he was transferred to India for six months, where he spent some time in Fyzabad and attained a 3rd class certificate of education in Kasauli Hill Station. He also passed classes of instruction in stretcher drill.

In addition to the British Army stationed in India, Great Britain maintained a large locally recruited force, the Indian Army, made up of three armies brought together as a single army in the reforms which began in 1903. The 7th Bengal Cavalry were based in Fyzabad and presumably the contingent from the Shropshire Light Infantry was brought in to help with the reformation.

According to his army records, Richard appears to have been a bit of a rogue – he was docked some pay on a couple of occasions. With his consent, he was transferred to the Army reserve in Mar 1911. On 4 Nov 1911, he was ‘In Civil Custody, convicted and sentenced by the Civil Power to 3 months hard labour for a misdemeanour’.

Richard was posted several times with the Medical Expeditionary Force in France in 1914-1915 between intervals back home. By Nov 1915, he had been appointed an unpaid lieutenant corporal and by Dec 1915 he was being paid in that post. However on 17 Apr 1916 he was deprived of the Lieutenant stripe; in May he had suffered 3 days of haemoptysis (coughing up blood) and on 10 Jul 1916 he was pronounced no longer physically fit for war service. He died in 1917, leaving the care of his family in the capable hands of his cousin Samuel Cheshire.

Mrs Findlater

noreply@blogger.com (linda) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:47:00 +0000

An old friend contacted me via Friends Reunited and said that she had a special reason for remembering me and still thinks fondly of the bold stance I took at infant’s school, over 40 years ago.

I was six year old, standing at Mrs Findlater’s desk in front of the class, wretchedly trying to add up a sum. I had a guess at the answer and was astonished when she turned in frustration and pushed me away, saying, “Oh, get out of my sight!” So I did.

I slipped out of the classroom and loitered around the corridors for a while. When I heard someone coming, I hid behind the huge wooden front door that had been wedged against the wall and quaked when she rushed past. I found out later that Mum was frantic and the police were called to the scene. The adventure ended when Mum and Mrs Findlater peered at me over the top of the toilet door. My report at the end of the term said “Linda is a particularly sweet and helful child, loved by everyone, and I shall miss her very much” – I’m sure Mrs Findlater meant helpful?