Inherited Craziness
A place to share all the nuts found on my family tree

Showing posts with label Trevail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trevail. Show all posts

Wednesday 10 April 2024

Charles Archer and Kate Trevail

St Saviours Church, Pimlico
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © PAUL FARMER - geograph.org.uk/p/2815323
Picture taken from Chichester Street

Charles Archer (bap. 29 Dec 1861 at St Paul's, Poole, Dorset), son of Charles Archer, Queen's Messenger, and Ellen Briggs, married Kate Trevail (b. 12 Nov 1857 in Luxulyan, Cornwall), daughter of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, at St Saviour's, St George's Square, Pimlico on 10 Apr 1884.

Charles and Kate had three children:
  1. Charles Archer b. 10 Jul 1885, bap. 10 Sep 1885 at St Saviour's, St George's Square
  2. Ellen Florence Archer b. 23 Sep 1887, bap. 6 Nov 1887 at St Saviour's, St George's Square
  3. Eileen Elfrida Trevail Archer b. 19 May 1897, bap. 18 Jul 1897 at St Gabriel's, Warwick Square
The birth of their second child was registered as Ellen Florence, but she was baptised Florence Ellen and later as an adult, mostly used Florence Ellen.

In 1891, Charles Archer (29) Collector, Kate Archer (33), Charles (5), Ellen F (3) and Lizzie Isch (20) General Domestic Servant, were in Chichester Street, Pimlico. (Kate's sister, Olivia and her family, also lived in Chichester Street in 1891.) "Collector" (to disappoint all of us thinking of antiques and curios), in the context of Charles Archer's job, is a Gas Rate Collector, i.e. the bloke who goes round collecting the shillings from the gas meters.

In 1901, still at 8, Chichester Street, Pimlico, were Charles Archer (39) Gas Rate Collector, Kate Archer (43), Charles Archer (15) Mechanical engineer's apprentice, Ellen Archer (13) and Eileen Archer (3).

In 1911, once again at 8, Chichester Street, Pimlico, there were Charles Archer (49) Collector, Kate (53), Ellen Florence (23) Lady clerk, Eileen Elfrida (13) at School and Beatrice Matthews (28) General Domestic Servant.

In 1921, Charles Archer (59) Collector (retired) from Poole, Dorset, was living at 18, Townley Road, Dulwich, Camberwell with Kate Archer (63) and Eileen Elfrida Trevail Archer (24) Music Mistress.

Charles Archer died on 17 Jan 1936, aged 74, in Hale, Cheshire.

Kate Archer, as well as Charles Archer Jnr and his wife and Eileen and her husband, were all living in Hale, Cheshire (now Greater Manchester) in 1939.

Kate Archer, of Girvan, Leicester Road, Hale, Cheshire, widow, died on 29 Jan 1947, aged 89, leaving £557 10s to her son Charles Archer.

  1. Charles Archer married Gladys Mary Pardew (b. 24 Aug 1885 in Plymouth, Devon), daughter of John Andrew Pardew and Pricilla Nichols Millard, in Bucklow, Cheshire, in 1920. Their son, Charles John Trevail Archer was born on 17 Oct 1921. In 1939, they were living at 23 Crescent, Hale, Cheshire. Charles Archer died on 31 Oct 1956 in Hale, Cheshire. Gladys Mary Archer died in Buckinghamshire, in 1961. Charles John Trevail Archer FFARCS died in St. Marylebone, London, in 1974.
  2. Florence Ellen Archer married John Leonard Ravenhill (b. 29 Dec 1881 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey), son of Henry Ravenhill and Hannah Street, at St Saviour's, St George's Square, Pimlico, in 1911. They had two children: Eileen Nellie Trevail Ravenhill b. 1912 and Harry Kenneth Trevail Ravenhill b. 27 Jan 1917. In 1939 they were at 17 Townley Road, Dulwich, London. Florence Ellen Ravenhill died on 30 Nov 1952 in East Dulwich. John Leonard Ravenhill died in Surrey, in 1970.
  3. Eileen Elfrida Trevail Archer married Frank Marsden (b. 13 Jul 1887 in Dukinfield, Cheshire), son of John Marsden and Maria Hallas, in Camberwell, London, in 1927. Frank was a widower at the time of his marriage to Eileen and had a daughter, Joan Doreen Marsden b. 16 Dec 1919, from his previous marriage to May Chadderton, who had died in 1925. Frank and Eileen added a son, John Charles Marsden b. 22 Dec 1927. In 1939, they were living at Girvan, Leicester Road, Hale, Cheshire and Frank Marsden's occupation was Managing Director, Iron Foundry. Eileen Elfrida Trevail Marsden died in Northamptonshire, in 1976.

Sunday 31 March 2024

Charles Trevail and Mary Flemming

St Margaret, Westminster
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/4749411

Charles Trevail (b. 1852 in Luxulyan, Cornwall), son of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, married Mary Fleming (b. ~1855), daughter of Henry Flemming, Tailor, at St Margaret's, Westminster on 31 Mar 1874. Both listed their address at the time of the marriage as 3 Artillery Terrace. Witnesses were Henry Fleming, bride's father and Dahlia Trevail, groom's sister.

Charles and Mary had five children, all born in Lambeth:
  1. Charles Frederick Trevail b. 1874
  2. Herbert Fleming Trevail b. 1877 
  3. Edwin Fleming Trevail b. 1880
  4. Lily Mary Trevail b. 1885
  5. Daisy Fleming Trevail b. 1893
In 1881, Charles Trevail (29) Engine Fitter, was living at 13, Meadow Terrace, Lambeth - at that time Charles' brother, Joseph, lived at 6, Meadow Terrace - with Mary (26), Charles F (6), Herbert F (4) and Edward (sic) F (0). On the 1881 census, Mary claimed to be from Barnstaple, Devon, born around 1855. In 1891, she said she was from London; in 1901, Westminster and 1911, London City. One would normally trust the earliest records, but it transpires her father, Henry Fleming, tailor, was from Barnstaple, while her mother, Edith was from Middlesex, City (i.e. London) - there is a marriage of a Henry Fleming to Edith Arding, in Kensington, in 1842 that may refer. On the 1871 census where Mary (17) is living with her parents at Artillery Terrace, St Margaret, Westminster, says she was born in Soho, Middlesex.

By 1891, they had moved to Osborne Terrace, Lambeth. With Charles (38) Engine Fitter, were Mary (36) Pattern Maker, Charles F (16), Herbert F (14) Messenger, Edwin F (10) Scholar and Lily M (5).

And in 1901, at 195, South Lambeth Road, Lambeth, we find Charles Trevail (48) Engine Fitter, Mary (46), Edwin (20) Carpenter, Lily (15) and Daisy (7). 

In 1911, Charles Trevail (59) Engineer, Mary (57), Frederick (37) widower (he married Charlotte Ada Land in Camberwell, in 1898), Daisy (17) and Arthur Trevail (11) Grandson, had moved to 10 Elgin Road, Wallington, Surrey.

Former Netherne Hospital administration building, converted to housing in 2002.
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Ian Capper - geograph.org.uk/p/5962277

Mary Trevail died on 28 July 1938, aged 85. The probate record says Mary Trevail of 62 Milton Road, Wallington, Surrey (wife of Charles Trevail) died at Netherne Hospital (formerly The Surrey County Asylum or Netherne Asylum: a psychiatric hospital), Coulsdon, Surrey, leaving effects of £300 to Charles Trevail of no occupation and Lord Harold Graves, builder. (Lord was a given name, not a title - he married Daisy Fleming Trevail in 1917.)

In 1939, Charles Trevail, Refridgerating Engineer Retired, was living with his daughter, Lily M Townsend (she had married William Dring Townsend in Croydon, in 1904) at 23 Dalmeny Road, Sutton, Surrey. 

Charles Trevail died, in Surrey, in 1946, aged 94.

Monday 22 January 2024

James Higgs and Ellen Trevail

Whistow Farm
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Phil Williams - geograph.org.uk/p/196552

Ellen Trevail, daughter of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, married James Higgs, son of Samuel Nicholas Higgs, farmer, of Whistow Farm, Lanlivery, and Maria Olver (m. 9 Oct 1821 in Morval) at Luxulyan Parish Church, on 22 Jan 1862. Upon their marriage, James Higgs was listed as a Policeman.

In Dec 1862, James (24), Ellen (22) and their infant daughter, Maria Jane, embarked on that same voyage on the Huntress, with her younger sister, Mary Ann, arriving in Lyttelton, New Zealand on 21 Apr 1863. 

Records suggest that James and Ellen had at least eight children: 
  1. Maria Jane Higgs, bap 10 Aug 1862 at Luxulyandied, in 1863, in New Zealand at 13 months.
  2. Kate Higgs born 12 Jul 1864 in New Zealand
  3. Joseph Higgs born 1868
  4. James Higgs born 1871
  5. Dahlia Higgs born 1873
  6. Ellen Olivia Higgs born 1876
  7. Emma Jane Higgs born 1878
  8. William John Higgs born 1881 (died 30 Mar 1910, aged 28 and is buried at Linwood Cemetery along with his wife, Amelia “Mena” Higgs)
James Higgs died on 17 Apr 1913 and is buried at Linwood Cemetery. In his will, he appointed his sons, Joseph and James, as his executors, both butchers. Ellen Higgs died on 21 Jul 1929, aged 88, and is also buried at Linwood Cemetery, along with her husband and youngest son.


I've found no further records for Dahlia, Ellen Olivia or Emma Jane.

Sunday 7 January 2024

John Bawden and Mary Ann Burn Trevail

Luxulyan Church
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Rod Allday - geograph.org.uk/p/2708738

Mary Ann Burn Trevail, daughter of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, married John Bawden (bap. 3 Apr 1837 in Lanlivery), son of John Bawden and Elizabeth Giles, at Luxulyan Parish Church, on 7 Jan 1861. Mary Ann's sister, Ellen Trevail, was bridesmaid at the wedding. Witnesses were the bride's father, Joseph Trevail and James Higgs, who married Ellen Trevail the following year, who it may be imagined was likely best man.

In 1861, newlyweds John (24) and Mary Ann (19) were living in the household of his parents, a miller at Lanlivery. The address, in 1851, was listed as Rosnea Mill, Lanlivery. Roseney Mill is used as an AirBnB

Then John Bawden Snr died in 1862 and whether that had anything to do with their decision, but on 10 Dec 1862, John Bawden (25), Mary Ann and their infant son, Nicholas (bap. 6 Apr 1862 at Lanlivery), embarked in London aboard the ship, the Huntress. They arrived in Lyttelton, New Zealand on 21 Apr 1863, after what must have been a nightmare journey of 130+ days

Between the tactless and unpopular captain, quarrels and firearms being drawn, much discontent about the way victuals were cooked and a terrible cyclone just south of the equator, when passengers were locked up in their quarters (for their protection, but equally frightening), when, "The ship reared almost perpendicularly bows or stern up or down, also rolling sideways, and all ways, in a most alarming manner", this was certainly no pleasure cruise.

Travelling on the same voyage was Mary Ann's sister, Ellen (22), her husband James Higgs (24) and their infant daughter, Maria Jane. Each couple contributed £17 towards the £26 for the cost of the passage as assisted emigration. £17 in 1862 is worth £2,644 in 2023. A big investment.

On the voyage there were "15 deaths, all children with the exception of one young women aged 17 and a boy belonging to the ship". Nicholas Bawdin (sic), died, aged 16 months, in New Zealand, in 1863. Ellen's daughter, Maria Jane Higgs, also perished at 13 months. The deaths were registered in New Zealand, but they could have been part of those grim statistics.

At the end of their arduous journey, John Bawden undertook heavy manual work digging the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel - the first tunnel in the world to be taken through the side of an extinct volcano - completed 1867 and, in 1921, John was "one of the last survivors of that little band of tunnel workers."

Although the Trevails were farmers, not miners, reading how Cornish Miners were going to New Zealand for new lives and to work on this project when and because the tin mines closed in Cornwall - and one can imagine much local talk and newspaper coverage of that in Cornwall - probably explains where they will have got the idea to make the decision to emigrate.

John and Mary Ann Bawden had 10 children in total, seven sons and two daughters survived: 
  1. Nicholas Bawden bap. 6 Apr 1862 at Lanlivery, Cornwall (died, aged 16 months, in 1863 in New Zealand)
  2. Mary Jane Bawden born 1864 in New Zealand
  3. John Bawden born 1866 in New Zealand
  4. Henry Bawden born 1868 in New Zealand
  5. Joseph Bawden born 1869 in New Zealand
  6. Alfred Bowden (sic) born 1872 in New Zealand
  7. Charles Bowden (sic) born 1874 in New Zealand
  8. Samuel Nicholas Bowden (sic) born 1876 in New Zealand
  9. Emma Bawden born 1878 in New Zealand
  10. William Bowden (sic) born 1883 in New Zealand
Mary Ann Burn Trevail Bawden died on 5 Jan 1921, aged 79-80. Sadly, Mary Ann just missed her diamond wedding anniversary by two days, because the marriage certificate shows that they were married on 7th Jan (not 2nd as it says in the article). Mary Ann is buried at Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery

John Bawden died on 14 Aug 1929, aged 91, and is buried with his wife.

The obituary for John Bawden lists eldest daughter as Mrs M Lewis: Mary Jane Bowden (sic) married Isaac Lewis in 1894 and their younger daughter as Mrs E Ballard: Emma Bowden (sic) married Walter Charles Ballard in 1906.

The Lyttelton portal of the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel with construction workers in 1867
Very likely one of the men in this picture was John Bawden.

Thursday 23 November 2023

Silvanus Trevail Architect and Mayor of Truro

Truro : Lemon Street
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Lewis Clarke - geograph.org.uk/p/4611928

Silvanus Trevail, architect (1851–1903)
The phrase, "gone" or "going Bodmin", means, "going mad". Indeed, if you describe someone as being, "a bit Bodmin", you are saying that they are not in full control of their mental faculty and it refers to the Cornwall County Asylum (or Bodmin County Lunatic Asylum) opened in Westheath Avenue, Bodmin in 1815, much of which is still in existence, although it has now been turned into housing. Later becoming St Lawrence's HospitalBodmin, when it was extended, "a completely new building to stand to the west of the first was designed in 1901 by Silvanus Trevail (1851–1903), one of Cornwall's best-known architects." 

It's an unfortunate association really, given his history. 

Silvanus Trevail was born 31 Oct 1851 to John and Jane Trevail at Carne Farm, Luxulyan, Cornwall. His birth registration shows that his mother's maiden name was also Trevail and, indeed, John Trevail had married Jane Trevail, on 23 Nov 1851 in Luxulyan, Cornwall. 

John Trevail, born 1821, was the son of Charles Trevail and Ann Key of Higher Menadew Farm, Luxulyan. Jane Trevail, born 1822, was the daughter of Philip Trevail and Elizabeth Church, also of Luxulyan. Records prior to this get a bit too woolly to be able to tell how they were related.

It also hasn't been possible to tell exactly how Silvanus Trevail was related to the rest of the Trevail and Rundle clan of Luxulyan, into which one of my blood relatives - my 1st cousin 3 times removed, Alice Maud Stanley Blazey - married, but with the same two surnames in the same small farming community, I'd be much more surprised to find no connection. 

In 1861, we find Silvanus Trevail (9) at Carne Farm with his parents and younger sister, Laura (2), b. 26 Dec 1858. He was still there, at Carne Farm, at 19, with his parents, sister Laura (12) and maternal grandmother, Elizabeth (71) in 1871. In 1881, Silvanus Trevail (29) Architect, lived in Boscawen Street, Truro. Laura remained at home in 1881 and 1891, not marrying until her late 30's, in 1897, to Richard Rundle, born in Broadoak. The couple adopted a daughter, Mary Adelaide, born 1899. Meanwhile, Silvanus Trevail, rose to become Mayor of Truro and President of the Society of Architects, and famous for his radical reforming politics as much as for his architecture: most of Trevail's legacy can be found in Truro city centre. (As well as, notably, the Cornish Bank building in St Columb Major, seen more recently, repurposed, on George Clarke’s Remarkable Renovations.) 

In 1891 and 1901, Trevail was residing in fashionable Lemon Street, Truro

His success however, did not bring him happiness. Trevail, it is said, suffered from depression. On 7 Nov 1903, he shot himself in the lavatory of a train

Trevail left £8,738 13s 6d (£1,089,855 in 2021) to his sister, Laura Rundle, wife of Richard Rundle. Silvanus Trevail is buried at St Cyriacus and St Julitta churchyard, Luxulyan. The east window at Luxulyan Church is a monument to Silvanus Trevail, erected by his sister Laura Rundle.

Luxulyan churchyard
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Phil Williams - geograph.org.uk/p/196433
The finely carved cross marks the grave of John Trevail of Carne, Silvanus Trevail's father.

Monday 13 November 2023

Thomas William Colwill and Olivia Trevail

St George's, Hanover Square
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Anthony O'Neil - geograph.org.uk/p/4518508

Thomas William Colwill (b. 1861 in Pimlico), son of Henry Colwill and Mary White, married Olivia Trevail (b. 1854 in Luxulyan), daughter of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, at St George, Hanover Square on 13 Nov 1886. Witnesses were Kate Archer and Charles Trevail, the bride's sister and brother.

Thomas and Olivia had two children:
  1. Harry George Colwill born 1888 in Pimlico
  2. Elsie Mary Colwill born 1896 in Dalston
In 1871, at 20, was a kitchen maid in the household of Francis Gosling, Banker, at Wellbury House, Great Offley, Hitchin, Hertfordshire. (Goslings Bank was one of the banks merged into Barclays Bank in 1896)

In 1891, Thomas Colwill (29) Labourer joiner, living at Chichester Street, St George Hanover Square, with wife Olivia Colwill (33), son Harry (2), as well as four boarders: Charles Usher (26), Walter Wilham (35), Constance Wilham (25) and Ernest Aller (24). Thomas claimed to be from Taunton, Somerset. He wasn't. Following the clues, we discover that Thomas William Colwill, born in Pimlico in 1861, was the son of Henry Colwill, Joiner, and Mary White - who married in Wells, Somerset, in 1857. Thomas William Colwill was merely baptised at St Thomas, Wells, Somerset, in 1861. 

By 1901, Thomas Collwell (sic) (39) Builder's foreman, living at 24, Back Common Road, Lake Avenue Terrace, Chiswick, with Olivia (36), Harry (12) and Elsie (4), had remembered that he was born in Pimlico.

In 1911, Thomas Colwill (49) Foreman Joiner, Olivia Colwill (53), Harry Colwill (22) Joiner and Elsie Colwill (14), were living at 21 Slowmans Cottages, Ashingdon Road, Rochford, Essex. 

In 1921, T W [Thomas William] Colwill (59) Commercial Traveller; Olivia Colwill (63) and Elsie Mary Colwill (24) Clerk at the Ministry of Pensions, were living at 108, Oval Road, Croydon, Surrey.

Thomas W Colwill died, aged 69, in 1930, in Croydon.

Olivia Colwell died, aged 83, in 1937, also in Croydon.

Sunday 22 October 2023

Nicholas Rundle Trevail, Ann Bennett, Sophia Jane Olver

The 'Cornish Arms', St. Blazey
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Dr Neil Clifton - geograph.org.uk/p/1236213

Nicholas Rundle Trevail (bap. 28 Jan 1838), son of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, married Ann Bennett, at the Parish Church in Luxulyan, on 22 Oct 1864. Ann died giving birth to the couple's only child, Ann Bennett Trevail. The Royal Cornwall Gazette Death Notice read TREVAIL - At Rosemelling, Luxulyan, February 19, Ann, the wife of Mr Nicholas Trevail, aged 27. She was buried and the infant baptised on the same day, 21 Feb 1867.

On 3 Aug 1869, Nicholas Rundle Trevail, widower, by profession, a butcher, remarried to Sophia Jane Olver (b. 1845), daughter of Joseph Olver and Mary Kingston, at the Church of St. Blaise, St Blazey, Cornwall. Sophia's father was a Master Mariner, born in 1816 in Mevagissey and had married Mary Kingston, from Devonport, at St Andrew's Church, Plymouth on 31 Mar 1837.

But Nicholas and Sophia were married for only four months, when Nicholas Rundle Trevail died, on 11 Dec 1869, at St Blazey. He was buried, on 15 Dec 1869, at Luxulyan. The probate record, which granted his effects to Sophia Trevail of the Parish of Mevagissey gave Nicholas' occupation as Innkeeper.

In 1871, the four year old orphan, Ann B Trevail was living in the household of William and Tabitha M Carkeek, at High Lanes Cottage, Veryan, Truro, where she was described as their niece. Tabitha Martha Bennett, born 1842, was her mother's younger sister. In 1881, Ann (14) was still living with her aunt and uncle, Tabitha and William Carkeek, now a grocer, at Church Town, Luxulyan. 

In 1891, Ann Trevail (24) had moved to the household of Elizabeth Bennett (44) widow, farmer at Colkerrow, Lanlivery, another relative of her mother's. Living there also was Elizabeth's father, James Rundell (Rundle?) (73).

Sadly, by 1901, A B Trevail (35) single female, Pauper Patient, was an Inmate of the Cornwall County Asylum, later St Lawrence's Mental Hospital. Annie Bennett Trevail died, aged 43, and was buried, in Bodmin, on 4 Sep 1909.

As was hinted on the probate record, Nicholas Rundle Trevail's widow, Sophia Jane, returned to her family in Mevagissey after his death. In 1871, Sophia Jane Trevail (25) was living with her widowed mother, Mary Olver (55), her sister Mary (27) and brother, George (21), in Fore Street, Mevagissey.

By 1891, Sophia (42) and her mother, Mary Olver (75) retired and living off her own means, were at Prospect Terrace, Church Street, Mevagissey

It was not until 1896, when Sophia Jane Trevail, by then 51, remarried, in St Austell, to Walter Henry Sanders. And in 1901, they were living in Pouddlin Lane, St Austell, where Walter H (60) from Chatham in Kent, was a Grocer. Living with him and Sophia (53), were her mother, Mary Olver (83). 

In 1911, widowed again, Sophia Jane Sanders (66) was a Grocer in her own right, with her niece, Beatrice Mary Olver (19) as a Companion.

In 1921, Sophia Jane Sanders (76) was living with her sister Elizabeth Doidge Kymbrell (82) Widow, in Church Street, Mevagissey, Cornwall.

Sophia Jane Sanders died, in St Austell, in 1931, aged 85.

Fore St, Mevagissey
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © N Chadwick - geograph.org.uk/p/5694544

Thursday 21 September 2023

Joseph Rundle Trevail and Eliza Thursby

Lambeth Palace, London SE1.
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Hallam-Jones - geograph.org.uk/p/3972034
The redundant St Mary-in-Lambeth Church at the side.

Joseph Rundle Trevail, aged 40 and claiming to be a Bachelor, son of Joseph Trevail, Farmer, married Eliza Thursby (34) Spinster, listed as daughter of James Thursby, Butcher, at St Mary, Lambeth, on 21 Sep 1890. Then, just 5 days later, on 26 Sep 1890, Joseph R Trevail and Eliza Trevail embarked on the RMS Ormuz, bound for Victoria, Australia, where they arrived in Nov.

Joseph Rundle Trevail (bap. 21 Jun 1847 in Luxulyan, Cornwall), son of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, had previously married Gertrude Augusta Shepherd (bap. 25 Apr 1845 in Colaton Raleigh in East Devon), illegitimate daughter of Eliza Shepherd, in Q1 of 1871 in St. George Hanover Square, London. Naturally, checked the National Archives for a record of a divorce, though it would be unlikely for ordinary people at that time, and of course there wasn't one. Bigamy is a prison offence in both the UK and Australia.

What's more, Joseph and Gertrude Trevail had five children:

  1. Charley Thomas Trevail born 1871 (died 1871, aged 0) in Devon
  2. Charley Joseph Walter Radford Trevail born 1872 in St Thomas, Devon
  3. Annie Gertrude Trevail born 1875 in St. George Hanover Square
  4. Kate Olivia Trevail born 1880 in Lambeth
  5. Gertrude Augusta Trevail born 1884 (died 1885, age 0)
Mother's maiden name, in all cases, spelled Sheppard.

At the time of the 1871 census, Joseph Trevail (24) Engineer Fitter, was living in Denbigh Street, Westminster with wife Gertrude (25), brother Charles (20) Engineer Fitter, sisters Amy* (16) and Jane (12), as well as a visitor, Selina Rundle (20). (* Joseph didn't have a sister called Amy. Kate, maybe?)

In 1881, the family living at 6, Meadow Terrace, Lambeth, London, comprised: Joseph R Trevail (34) Engine fitter, Gertrude A (36), Charles J W R (8), Anne G (6), Kate O (0) and Eliza Sheppard (69) 'Relative' (Gertrude's mother).

In 1891, Gertrude Trevail (46) wife, married, mender of fine lace, was alive and well, at the family home in Meadow Terrace, Lambeth, with daughters Annie G (16) & Kate O (10), and her mother, Eliza Shepperd (78).

By 1901, Gertrude Trevail (55) Married [still], Honiton lace manufacturer, was living at 153, Kennington Road, Lambeth, with daughter Kate (20).

Meanwhile, Joseph Rundle Trevail, Engineer, was shown on the Australia Electoral Rolls in 1903, living in Market Street, New South Wales, Australia.

Gertrude Trevail died, aged 58, in Q4 of 1910, in Epsom, Surrey.

Departure of the P&O RMS CHINA
Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons

Mr J R & Mrs Trevail (almost) departed from London, on 17 Nov 1910, on the RMS China, this time bound for Sydney, via Freemantle, Adelaide and Melbourne, arriving in Fremantle, Western Australia on 20 Dec 1910.

Then, in 1911, Joseph Rundle Trevail married Eliza Thursby in Canterbury, New South Wales, Australia. Again. Non-bigamously this time.

On 27 Feb 1921, J R and Mrs Trevail left Sydney for Wellington, New Zealand, on the SS Marama, as tourists. Joseph's sister Mary Ann had just died and his sister Ellen was still in New Zealand.

The last will and testament of Joseph Rundle Trevail, who died on 20 Jan 1934, aged 86, of 52 Market Street, Randwick, New South Wales, Gentleman, left the balance of his estate to his 'dear wife Eliza', after various other bequests [and clues]. Among beneficiaries were a grandson, Arthur Waymark (his daughter, Annie Gertrude Trevail had married Louis Charles Waymark in Lambeth in 1898); his sister Olivia Caldwell (Olivia Trevail had married Thomas William Colwill in 1886 in St George, Hanover Square); her daughter was Elsie Bates; a niece, Florence Wright; other bequests go to a John Edwards and to granddaughters, Amy Edwards and Edith Anderson (née Edwards) (daughter Kate Olivia Trevail had married Frank William Edwards in 1903). His estate was valued at £3,757 in 1934, worth £275,819 today.

52 Market Street, Randwick, New South Wales

Tuesday 5 September 2023

Herbert Fleming Trevail and Alice Maud Stanley Blazey

Kensington: St. John the Baptist Church, Holland Road
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Dr Neil Clifton - geograph.org.uk/p/3161496

Herbert Fleming Trevail (b. 1877 in Lambeth), son of Charles Trevail and Mary Flemming, married Alice Maud Stanley Blazey (b. 21 Dec 1875 in Dinapore, India), daughter of Francis Robert Blazey and Louisa Susan Stanley, both of 155 Holland Road, Kensington, on 5 Sep 1898, at St John the Baptist church, Holland Road, Kensington, London. Witnesses were Francis Robert Blazey, the bride's father and Edwin Flemming Trevail, the groom's brother. My 3rd great-grandparents, Francis Stephen Blazey and Hannah Minns were Alice's grandparents, which makes her my 1st cousin 3 times removed.

Various records point to Herbert and Alice having seven children:
  1. Daisy Trevail b. 1899 S Quarter in LAMBETH Volume 01D Page 464. (Died 1899 S Quarter in LAMBETH Volume 01D Page 343)
  2. Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail b. 16 Sep 1900 (1900 D Qtr in LAMBETH Vol 01D 386), bap. 4 Nov 1900 at St Anne, South Lambeth
  3. Eric Herbert Stanley Trevail b. 29 Jul 1904 (1904 S Qtr in HATFIELD Vol 03A Page 796), bap. 18 Sep 1904 in WelwynHertfordshire
  4. Stillborn child b. 25 Oct 1908 in Christchurch, New Zealand
  5. Lancelot Edwin Stanley Trevail b. 30 May 1910 in Christchurch, NZ. 
  6. Edna A S Trevail (if I was betting, I'd go for Alice Stanley), born and died in 1915 in Balmain North, New South Wales, Australia
  7. Carmen Joyce Stanley Trevail b. 1917 in New South Wales, Australia
The mother's maiden name on the first three in England was BLAZEY.

There is only a record of a burial of a stillborn child (gender unknown), simply listed with the surname Trevail, born 25 Oct 1908, and buried at Linwood Cemetery, Linwood, Christchurch City, Canterbury, New Zealand. That would indicate that Alice was pregnant during the voyage. This pregnancy also fits neatly into the otherwise long gap between 1904 and 1911.

In 1901, Alice (25) was at her father's household at 31, Sinclair Gardens, Hammersmith, Fulham, along with her daughter, Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail, while Herbert (24) Carpenter and Joiner, was alone at what was presumably their home at 83, South Lambeth Road, Lambeth. 


On 5 Aug 1908, Mr H Trevail (31), Mrs A Trevail (32), Miss W Trevail (7) and Master E Trevail (2½), embarked in London on the SS Miltiades. They were bound for Sydney, where they arrived in the September. 

They were in Lyttelton, New Zealand in 1909 - where Herbert's aunts, Ellen Higgs and Mary Ann Burn Trevail Bawden then lived - because reports in the Lyttelton Times in Oct 1909 detail that Miss Winnie Trevail was appearing in one of the principle roles in a production staged by the Garrick Juvenile Opera Company, at the Opera House there.

In 1911, Herbert Fleming Trevail, carpenter, and Alice Maud Trevail were listed on the New Zealand Electoral Rolls at 56 Stanmore Rd, Linwood, Christchurch. (Herbert's aunt, Jane Rundle Robinson, lived in Christchurch.)

Then in 1913, we find both of them listed on the Australia Electoral Rolls at Mount Victoria, Hartley, New South Wales, Australia.

Painting of the British ocean liner RMS Olympic by Fred Pansing

On 2 Feb 1927, Herbert Trevail (49), Alice (50), Lance (16) and Carmen (10) sailed from Southampton to New York on the White Star Line's RMS Olympic. They gave their last address in the UK as 62 Milton Road, Wallington, Surrey, the home of Herbert's parents. On 29 Aug 1927, they left San Francisco, bound for Sydney, on the RMS Tahiti. (Known for the Greycliffe disaster.)

Herbert must have made another visit to England, because on 1 Mar 1933, he sailed, on his own, from Southampton to Sydney on the SS Moreton Bay.

In 1935, Herbert and Alice Trevail are both listed on the Australia Electoral Rolls at 3 Griffiths Avenue, North Bondi, New South Wales

On 8 Jul 1949, Mr H. F. Trevail (72) Builder, and Mrs A. M. Trevail (74), travelled from London (Port of Tilbury) to Sydney on the SS Orontes

Herbert Fleming Trevail died on 26 Nov 1961 in Ashfield, Sydney NSW.

Alice Maud Stanley Trevail died on 9 Mar 1965, in Dade, Florida, USA.

  • In 1923 Eric H S Trevail married Miriam E Tuppling, in Balmain South, New South Wales, Australia. They went on to have two children: Conway Eric Stanley Trevail who married Beryl Pearl De Berg and Lois Winifred Stanley Trevail who married Ross Munro Brown, both in Waverley, New South Wales, Australia in 1944.
  • Lancelot Edwin Stanley Trevail married Nancy Mary Harris Matthews in Waverley, New South Wales, Australia in 1935. Lancelot Edwin Stanley Trevail, Casket Maker, died on 6 Sep 1947, in Bondi, NSW.
  • On 30 Sep 1937, Miss C. J. S. Trevail (21) travelled from Wellington, New Zealand to Sydney on the MS Wanganella, her profession listed as Theatrical. Carmen Joyce Stanley Trevail married Leslie Earnest Hull in Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia in 1938.

Sunday 30 July 2023

Henry Charles Orton and Dahlia Trevail

St Mark's Church, North Audley Street, London W1
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/1536122

Henry Charles Orton, Widower, Carpenter of Shepherd's Market married Dahlia Mackness, Widow, of 1 Park Lane, London, daughter of Joseph Trevail, Farmer at the parish church of St George's, Hanover Square on 30 Jul 1881

Henry and Dahlia had two children, both born at 6, Church Road, Watford:
  1. Charles Orton b. 3 Jul 1882, bap. 24 Sep 1882 at St Andrew's, Watford
  2. Emily Maud Orton b. 21 Sep 1884, bap. 2 Nov 1884 at St Andrew's
Dahlia Trevail, daughter of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, in 1871, was cook to Thomas William Bramston, Conservative Member for South Essex, at the family estate of Skreens, Roxwell, Chelmsford, Essex. Then, in 1876, aged 27, she had married Frederick Mackness (bap. 14 Feb 1827), a sawyer, son of George and Susanna Mackness, at St Mark, North Audley Street (St Mark's, Mayfair, now home to Mercato Mayfair). The marriage was short-lived, because in the 4th quarter of that same year, Frederick died, aged 49. 

In 1881, Dahlia Mackness (31), widow, was once again employed as a cook, in the household of Sir William Miller, 1st Baronet in London, at 1, Park Lane. 

It was "third time lucky" for Henry, son of Charles Orton and Mary Leach, born in Warwickshire in 1838. Henry had first married Elizabeth Neal on 11 Oct 1863 in Leamington Spa, but Elizabeth died, aged 31, in 1867, in Shipston-on-Stour. That marriage didn't produce any children. Henry then married widow, Ellen Reynolds (née Carpenter), in 1869, in what was then Aston, Warwickshire. They had three daughters: Florence Mary Orton, was born in 1870, in Southam; Nellie Rose in Warwick in 1873 and Lizzie in Watford in 1877. Ellen Orton died, aged 47, also in Watford, where Henry C Orton (42) Builder's foreman, was living at 6, Church Road, in 1881.

In 1891, Henry C Orton (52) Carpenter, wife Delia (sic) (42), Florence (21), Charles (8), Maud (6), plus boarders: Samuel Cos (21) and Albert Batchelor (19) were living in London at Worcester Street, St George Hanover Square.

Then Henry Charles Orton died in the 4th quarter of 1892, aged 54.

Various newspapers in Apr 1893 reported on:
DAMAGES FOR THE LOSS OF A HUSBAND

The case of "Orton v. Simpson" came before Judge Bayley and a jury at Westminster County Court for a partition of the damages. Mrs Dahlia Orton and her children claimed £280 under the Employers' Liability Act from Messrs. Simpson and Company (Limited), engineers, of Pimlico. The husband was an engineer, and on 3 Dec last was killed whilst in the employ of the defending company through the bursting of a defective cylinder. The plaintiff had two children, aged eight and ten years, and there were two children of the deceased by a former marriage, aged 18 and 21. The defendants admitted their liability and paid £210 into court, which sum the plaintiff accepted, at Westminster County Court yesterday applied under Lord Campbell's Act for a partition of the damages. The jury awarded the plaintiff £50, the two children by a former marriage £5 each, and the plaintiff's two children £75. 

In 1901, Dahlia Orton (52) widow, was living at 16, Balfern Grove, Chiswick with Charles Orton (18), Emily M Orton (16) and three boarders: Alfred Hooke (22), Thomas Willcox (25) and Albert Clarke (27).

In 1911, Dahlia Orton (62) was staying with her daughter and her husband, William Charles Creedon (27) Licenced Victualler at the Builder's Arms8 Wyvil Road, Lambeth. (William Charles Creeden and Emily Maud Orton married, in Brentford, in 1907 and, in 1910, William Charles Creedon had been landlord of the Oxford Arms, 77 St Peter Street, Bethnal Green.)

In 1921, Dahlia Orton (72) Widow was once again living with her daughter and son-in-law, this time back at 16, Balfern Grove, Chiswick, Middlesex.

Dahlia Orton died in 1925, aged 76, in Brentford.

Monday 10 July 2023

Con Colleano and Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail

Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail and Con Colleano

Cornelius Sullivan (b. 26 Dec 1899 in Lismore, New South Wales), Theatrical, son of Cornelius Sullivan and Julia Robinson, married my 2nd cousin, twice removed, Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail (b. 16 Sep 1900 in Lambeth, Surrey), Actress, daughter of Herbert Fleming Trevail and Alice Maud Stanley Blazey on 10 July 1926 in DetroitWayne County, Michigan. The marriage record states that they were married by the Associate Pastor of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, from which I deduce that the venue was the Central United Methodist Church (Detroit), although they were resident in Brooklyn, New York. Both stated they had not been married before.

Known professionally as Con Colleano, Cornelius Sullivan, was the most famous and highest paid "swashbuckling circus performer with matinee idol looks" of his time, “The Australian Wizard of the Wire”. A member of the Circus Hall of Fame, Con Colleano is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first person to prefect the forward somersault on the tight wire. 

"Mrs. Winnie Colleano (neé Trevail) was herself a well known Australian Vaudeville Soubrette", dancer and trapeze artist." One article says that Winnie Trevail began appearing on the stage in Sydney as a child, but actually, she was performing before that in New Zealand. There in Lyttelton, New Zealand in 1909 - where her father's aunts, Ellen Higgs and Mary Ann Burn Trevail Bawden then lived - reports in the Lyttelton Times in Oct 1909 detail that Miss Winnie Trevail was appearing in one of the principle roles in a production staged by the Garrick Juvenile Opera Company, at the Opera House there. 

Trevail abandoned her own career in 1924 to travel with her husband.

Con Colleano on a slack-wire, circa 1920
Con Colleano, was of Aboriginal, Anglo-Irish and West Indian descent and adopted a Spanish persona and a costume of a ‘toreador’ or bullfighter.

Colleano’s Indigenous heritage was unknown to his fans – which included one of history’s most infamous racists - "Few people are aware of the fact that in the 1930’s, Adolf Hitler issued an Aboriginal Australian tightrope walker with a German passport so he could come and go as he pleased."

Passenger lists reveal that Cornelius Sullivan and Winifred C. S. Trevail left Southampton, England on 13 Sep 1924, on the RMS Berengaria (former SS Imperator), The first Cunard "Queen". This was their first trip to the US, so their port of arrival was the infamous Ellis Island, New York. Various sources tell us that, in 1924, Con made his debut at the New York Hippodrome before returning to the circus with Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

There's also record of Cornelius and Winifred C Sullivan Colleano travelling from Southampton to New York, on the Berengaria, on 24 Feb 1937.

On 7 Jan 1938, Cornelius and Winifred (Sullivan) Colleano, left Sydney, bound for California, on the luxury ocean linerSS Mariposa (1931).

On 8 Sep 1939, Cornelius and Winifred Sullivan, listed as British, boarded the Italian ocean liner, SS Rex, leaving Genoa, bound for New York.

In 1940, they are shown arriving in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

These, I'm sure are just the tip of a globe-trotting iceberg, but it was finding these records of voyages that led me to discover more of their story.

The former Albion Hotel (pub) at Forbes, New South Wales, Sheba, CC BY-SA 2.0

"Sadly Con and Winnie ultimately lost all their money indulging in a luxurious lifestyle, giving it away to friends and making a disastrous investment in a pub in outback Australia in the 1950s (what were they thinking?)."

Con Sullivan died, in Miami, Florida, on 13 Nov 1973 and in his obituary in The Stage, the wife of Con's brother is quoted as saying, "His wife WINNIE has cabled that she is broken-hearted because she found my dear brother-in-law lying dead, obviously she is too shocked to tell me more."

Winnie returned to Australia, where she died, in Sydney, in on 5 Jan 1986. 


While researching, I found a record of a marriage of a Winifred C Trevail, in Victoria, Australia, in 1919 to a Leonard Mendoza. It would take $20 AUS to obtain the certificate to see if there are enough clues to tell whether this is the same Winifred C Trevail, but just how many people named Winifred C Trevail are there likely to be in the same area? We know Winnie was in Melbourne before this, because in the Victoria Police Gazette of 11 Apr 1918, is: "TREVAIL, WINNIE theatrical, 7 McKenzie Street, Melbourne, reports stolen from the dressing-room, Bijou Theatre, Bourke Street, Melbourne on the 3rd inst. a diamond cluster ring, diamond in the centre set with other stones around, the centre stone is set a little to side, gold band at side of setting is wavy. Value £8." It's obvious this report is from "our" Winnie and hard to accept that a completely different Winifred C Trevail turned up in the very same area only a year later. Someone with the surname Mendoza even sounds like Winnie's "type". It's said that Winnie met Con, in Melbourne, Victoria, when she was 22. What can have happened to Leonard Mendoza? If he died, or they had divorced, Winnie would have listed that she was a widow, or a divorcee when she married Con. Was Winnie committing bigamy in 1926?

I'm much amused by self-aggrandising family stories, but this one probably takes the biscuit - although no surprise perhaps among theatrical types. In several articles, it mentions that Winnie "claimed descent from the Earls of Derby" and it appears that the source of that quote is her own brother, Eric, so it may well have been a story perpetuated in the family. A claim doesn't make it true though! And through which side would that be, I wonder? The line we share to the 'illegitimate born' former dyer who downgraded to labourer in Norfolk, or the bankrupted tenant farmer in Cornwall? Lovely people, I'm sure, but Earls or any other type of nobs they were not!

Sources (many of these links contain images):

Further reading: The wizard of the wire : the story of Con Colleano