Edward Charles Drake and Emma Jane Gloyne

Former entrance to Roath Basin, Cardiff
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Chris Allen - geograph.org.uk/p/6404417

Edward Charles Drake, son of Edmund Drake and Esther Elizabeth Palmer, married Emma Jane Gloyne, daughter of Samuel Pascoe Gloyne and Emma Jane Coombes, on 12 Jul 1886 in Roath, Glamorgan, Wales. 

Edward Charles Drake's mother, Esther Elizabeth Palmer, was the older sister of Edward Oxford Palmer, who was married to Emma Jane's older sister, Charlotte Emma Gloyne. So, Charlotte's husband was Emma's husband's uncle - or Emma's husband was Charlotte's husband's nephew. The two couples' respective children will have been double-cousins, once removed and once not, I think. Working out family relationships just got very complicated!

Edward and Emma had eight children:

1. Esther Kathleen Drake b. GRO Reference: 1887 J Quarter in CARDIFF Volume 11A Page 330
2. Gladys Emma Drake b. GRO Reference: 1889 S Quarter in CARDIFF Volume 11A Page 334
3. John Gloyne Drake b. 6 May 1891, GRO Reference: 1891 J Quarter in CARDIFF Volume 11A Page 342. Died 4 Jul 1915 (see below).
4. Francis Oxford Drake b. GRO Reference: 1892 J Quarter in CARDIFF Volume 11A Page 396
5. Helen Palmer Drake b. 7 February 1895 in Plymouth. (No GRO record.)
6. Fred Silby Drake b. GRO Reference: 1895 D Quarter in MONMOUTH Volume 11A Page 16. Died, aged 4, in GRO Reference: 1900 J Quarter in DEVONPORT Volume 05B Page 253
7. Constance Edith Drake b. GRO Reference: 1899 J Quarter in BRISTOL Volume 06A Page 8
8. Florence May Drake b. GRO Reference: 1902 M Quarter in EAST STONEHOUSE Volume 05B Page 255

In 1891, Edward Drake (28) Iron Moulder, Emma Drake (29) and their first two daughters, Esther (3) and Gladys (1) were living in the household of Edward's parents, Edmund and Esther Drake in Moira Street, Cardiff.

In 1901, Edward C Drake (39) Iron & Brass Founder, was resident in Durnford Street, East Stonehouse, with wife Emma J Drake (40), Gladys E Drake (11), John G Drake (9), Francis O Drake (8), Helen P Drake (6) and Constance E Drake (2). Eldest daughter, Esther Drake (13) was staying with her grandparents, Edmund and Esther Drake, in Seymour Street, Roath.

In 1911, Edward Drake (49) Iron and Brass Founder, was still in Plymouth with wife Emma Drake (50) and daughters, Gladys Drake (21), Helen Drake (17), Constance Drake (12) and Florence (9). Esther Kathleen had married in 1906 and was living in North End, Buckland, Portsmouth; John Drake (19) Stoker, was in Chatham, Kent; haven't yet located Francis.

Emma Drake died, in 1912, age given as 51 - she was 54 (GRO Reference: 1912 S Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 05B Page 276).

Son John Drake died at HMS Vivid (shore establishment 1890), the Royal Navy barracks at Devonport. John Drake had joined the Royal Navy, at 18, on 9 July 1909, at which time he was 5 ft 3½ in with a 33¾ inch chest, light brown hair, light brown eyes and a fair complexion. At the time of his death he was assigned to Vivid II, the Stokers and Engine Room Artificers School in Devonport. The note on his naval record states that he was DD (Discharged Dead) on 4 July 1915 in Sick Quarters, Devonport Depot as result of cycle accident. Inquest verdict:- Accidental death through cycle accident. This was only weeks after his cousin, Charles Edward Palmer, Engine Fitter at the Government Dockyard, Devonport, also died, on 17 Apr 1915.

Edward Charles Drake (55) married Helen or Ellen Saull (48) on 23 Dec 1916, in Roath, Glamorganshire, Wales. 

In 1921, Edward Drake (59) Iron Moulder and wife listed as Norah Drake (54) from Plymouth, Devon, were living at 41, Harold Street, Roath, Cardiff.

Edward Charles Drake died, at 74, in 1935 (GRO Reference: 1935 D Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 05B  Page 403).

Augustine Wynnall and Elizabeth Knighte

Great St Helen's Street, London, EC3
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Hallam-Jones - geograph.org.uk/p/3406231
The Grade II-listed 12th century Church of "St Helen's, Bishopsgate" occupies the centre space. This was William Shakespeare's parish church when he lived in the area in the 1590s.

Augustine Wynnoll (sic) and Elizabeth Knighte (though I suspect the final 'e' is superfluous) - who were a pair of my 9th great-grandparents - married on 12 May 1634 at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate (one of only a few churches in the City of London to survive both the Great Fire of 1666 and The Blitz). 

Augustine and Elizabeth appear to have five children:

1. Mary Winnall b. Monday, 17 Feb 1634, Mary daughter of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman bap. 20 Feb 1634 at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney (at 3 days old).
2. Elizabeth Winnall b. Tuesday, 29 Aug 1637, Elizabeth daughter of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman bap. 6 Sep 1637 at St Dunstan's (at 8 days old). Elizabeth daughter of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman, was buried at St Dunstan's on 24 Feb 1640.
3. Amy Winnall b. Friday, 1 Nov 1639, Amy daughter of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman & Elizabeth bap. 6 Nov 1639 (at 5 days old)
4. John Winnall b. Wednesday, 23 Mar 1642, John son of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman and Eliz., bap. 31 Mar 1642 at St Dunstan's (at 8 days old).
5. Rachell Winnall bap. 19 Oct 1643. Rachel daughter of Augustine Winnall of Blackwall, Waterman & Elizabeth, buried 20 Nov 1643.

Sadly, almost all the records of the Company of Watermen prior to 1666 were destroyed in the Great Fire of London so finding these records of a waterman from before that time, is gold. That it's my direct ancestor, breath-taking.

Their only son, John Winnall, who was my 8th great-grandfather, therefore, was born in the same year as the start of the English Civil War.

Augustine Wynnall of Blackwall, Waterman was buried, on 2 Feb 1642, at St Dunstan's, Stepney. (Which either means Rachel was a posthumous child, baptised very late, or (more likely) the date of her baptism, which only appears on the transcript of her burial, is incorrect. Perhaps it was 1641?)

Anthony Tompson of Blackwall, Sawyer, aged 26 years married Mary Winnall aged 20 years, at St Dunstan, Stepney, on 13 Feb 1654.

Buried on page 408 of the Calendar of the Quarter Sessions Papers: pt. 1. 1591-1621, is the following item: 

If this is the same Augustine Wynnall (and, with the same fairly unusual name, just seven years before the above marriage, I imagine it must be), then several conclusions may be drawn: he appears to have been wanted to appear before the Quarter Sessions for some reason that I have yet to discover; he probably originally hails from Buckland, Gloucestershire and he was a Labourer.

More interestingly, however, is that among the notable burials at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate is the tomb of Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579), royal agent to King Edward VI (1547–1553) and Queens Mary I (1553–1558) and Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and founder of the Royal Exchange, whose father, Sir Richard Gresham (1485-1549), Lord Mayor of London, and Member of Parliament, who served as a commissioner under Henry VIII, had both held the manor of Buckland. One imagines, therefore, that Augustine Wynnall may have come to London in the service of their descendants.

Blackwall and the Watermen

Samuel Pepys, who commuted by water from his home to his job at the Admiralty, refers to the death of his waterman in his diaries of 1665 revealing the particular vulnerability of Thames watermen to infection. 

On Sunday 20 August 1665, he writes, "And I could not get my waterman to go elsewhere for fear of the plague."

Thames watermen and ferries: "Wherries could be hired at many stairs that led down to the Thames. Watermen gathered at each, jostling for custom, crying “oars oars sculls”. Working a passenger wherry, ferry, or barge on the Thames in all weathers and tides required knowledge and skill, with tides used to achieve remarkably quick journeys up and down river. The men who operated such craft, as well as those who transported goods by barge or lighter, were a special breed, whose families undertook the same work for generations."

Blackwall had a proud maritime tradition and both Raleigh and Nelson are said to have had homes here. The first colonists of Virginia sailed from Blackwall in 1606 and later the East India Docks - a group of docks in Blackwall, east London - brought thriving inter­na­tional trade.

Blackwall Yard was famous for building East Indiamen, which vessels were often called Blackwallers. Built in 1614, it was the first wet dock in the port of London and was the East India Company's principal shipyard, "... residential development at Blackwall commenced in earnest during the 1620s and 1630s, and it continued throughout the century as both the shipyard and overseas trade prospered and the demand for labour in the area increased."