Ruth A. Symes - Unearthing Family Tree Mysteries

Dedication

To William Clifford Symes Barlow, Ruby Alice Sachak and Robertson Clifford Symes Barlow. And in memory also of William Symes, the grandfather they never knew.

First published in Great Britain in 2016 by

PEN AND SWORD FAMILY HISTORY

an imprint of
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire S70 2AS

Copyright Ruth A. Symes, 2016

ISBN: 978 1 78346 350 3
Paperback ISBN: 978 1 47386 294 4
PDF ISBN: 978 1 47386 297 5
EPUB ISBN: 978 1 47386 296 8
PRC ISBN: 978 1 47386 295 1

The right of Ruth A. Symes to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Many people have helped me in the writing of this book. Thanks first to members of my family: Michael Barlow for technical help of all kinds (particularly concerning the images) and for providing the initial idea for the book; Colin Daniels for permission to publish a page from his father (Jack Daniels) diary; Teddy Hargreaves and Elsie Ireland for memories and information on the Symes sisters; Margaret McMenemy for some of the information on George and Mary Wilkinson; the Sachak family (particularly Kurban Sachak and Ruby Karimjee) for information on their father Taibali Essaji Sachak; Amir Sachak, for providing a rare book on East African Asians in Tanganyika; Ruky Sachak for some of the old photographs of East Africa; Zara Sachak for the image of East African-Asian food; Naomi Symes for general historical assistance; Olive Symes for her memories of her Wigan roots; and Wilfred Wilkinson for his image of the Leeds-Liverpool canal.

Thanks to friends: Eric Lloyd for the images from his passport; Tim New for a variety of images including the Gladwin Family Bible; Paul Ogden for encouraging my interest in certificates and censuses years ago; Anne Sheinfield for some of the information on Jewish sayings and eating habits; and Ian and Betty Summers for the pictures of the Higham Family Bible.

I would also like to express my gratitude to various archivists, librarians and researchers up and down the country for their assistance in many aspects of this project. These include Boots Archives for the images of Boots newsletters, Gail Collingburn from the Company Secretarys Office at WHSmith for the images of the WHSmith staff magazines; Alan Davies, archivist, Wigan Record Office for information on Wigan miners; Alison Gill, Information Officer, Greater Manchester County Record Office, for general advice on images of Manchester; Roger Hull, Researcher, Liverpool Record Office, Liverpool Libraries, for the pictures of Liverpool in the Blitz; Ron Hunt for the pictures of nineteenth-century Wigan; Roy Maber (Martock genealogist) for the images of Martock, Somerset; Diane Miller, Solicitor, for permission to publish the images of early Marks and Spencer branches; Emma Marigliano, Librarian, The Portico Library, Manchester, for access to images of old Manchester; Kirsty Shields, archive assistant, Marks and Spencer for finding the images of the branches; Tameside Record Office for providing the obituary of Elizabeth Symes from the Stalybridge Reporter; Somerset Record Office for the images of Kellys Directory for Somersetshire and Devonshire; Milton Wagy, Librarian, the Ellensburg Public Library, Washington for the images from the Roslyn Washington Image Collection; Charlotte Wand, Assistant Librarian, The Portico Library, Manchester, for providing the images of old Manchester; and the UK Passport Service.

Final and greatest thanks to my husband Zainul Sachak for his unfailing support and encouragement in all aspects of this project.

Introduction

Everyones family history is made up of stories: some sad, some shocking, some humorous and some extraordinary. We can summon up fairly easily (and especially so with the aid of a computer) the essential names and dates that give our ancestors a basic identity again. But, whilst the discovery of such factual information can be thrilling, it is vital to understand that family history research can also bring far greater satisfactions. Sensing the character of a person (previously known only from a photograph) come to life as you unearth his or her past; piecing together, from mere fragments of information, the drama of a catastrophe that changed the family fortunes forever; debunking the myth that surrounds a significant family event; these are undoubtedly the real pleasures of family history.

Today a vast amount of information is available to help you to tell the stories of your ancestors lives. You will, of course, need the official sources, birth, marriage and death certificates and census returns but you can also learn a great deal from many other, less likely, sources. This book aims to show you how to find this information and what to do with it in order to tell the tales that will make your past vibrant and meaningful. With its help, you will do more than add more branches to your tree diagram. Rather, you will start to tease out the many stories of your family in the past and learn to imagine them in their true place in history. Before long, the joys, tragedies and oddities of your ancestors lives will start to unfold themselves before you in all their colour, variety and unexpectedness.

Stories from your Family Tree

The stories in this book are from my family but they touch on themes that are common to many families in Britain. On my mothers side (from as far back as I have cared to trace) I am descended from Lancashire mill workers and miners. Their history is about the poverty and dangers of the industrial world. My fathers family, on the other hand, originate from Somerset. My paternal great-grandfather moved from the West Country to Manchester (over 300 miles) in the 1880s to find work a fact which caused me to wonder about the way people migrated from one place to another in the nineteenth century. My husbands family, by contrast, is from outside Britain, from Tanzania and before that from India (something that has enabled me to include a chapter in this book on Empire and immigration). From all these strands I have picked twelve stories that I believe might resonate with the tales in your own family.

Family photos are most helpful where they portray several generations in one place. The Gillings family (including my father, grandfather, grandmother and greatgrandfather), York, c. 1936. (Authors collection)

The Stories behind the Sayings

Each chapter of this book takes its title from a family saying or anecdote: He didnt come from round here, We come alive behind shop counters, Great-grandfather lived with the Red Indians. No doubt, there will be similar cryptic remarks floating around in your family. Although inevitably time can distort and alter them rather in the manner of Chinese whispers there is nearly always a glimmer of truth in sayings passed down through the generations. You may have wondered whether such remarks (and the silences that may have followed them) indicated embarrassment, distaste or reverence for the ancestors to whom they referred. This book will show you how it is likely that behind the few words, a host of half-forgotten stories lie waiting to be discovered: stories with plots, characters, settings and should you choose to invent them moral messages, as well.