From Alan Hattle of South Africa:
Further to the focus on the weekend of 18/19 July on the fisher families of the Greenses, Berwick-upon-Tweed, I am hoping that someone will be able to give me clarification on the Burgon(e) side of my family tree.
My great-grandfather John Hattle married Isabella Elspeth Burgon(e) in Berwick in 1865, and her birthplace (November 1844) in censuses is given as Sunderland. Several descendants after that were given the middle name of Burgon (my father, born 1914 in South Africa) was John Burgon Hattle.
My research notes were all lost in a fire, so I need to follow this line up again, but I suspect the following:
Isabella Elspeth Burgone was the daughter of James Burgone and Elizabeth Douglass, and had siblings Mary (born 1840), Peter (born 1846) and possibly Elizabeth (born 10 years later in 1856).
James Burgone was possibly the son of John Burgon and Mary Fowlerton (I have copies of family letters from the early 1950s in which my grandfather and some siblings try to unravel the family tree, and comment that they believed Isabella Burgon(e)'s father was a James, and that her grandmother was a Mary).
And I suspect John Burgon was one of the sons of Peter Burgon and Ann Elliott, whose line down through other sons seems to be well-documented.
I have no knowledge of the ancestors of Elizabeth Douglass, other than her mother was probably a Sarah.
Regarding the name Burgon/Burgone, I have a copy of a 1954 letter to my grandfather from his sister, Mary Burgon Hattle (then living in Edinburgh) in which they discuss the difficulties of tracing the family tree, and at one point, Mary writes,
"By the way Mother's birth and marriage lines as she always told us it should be and we copied on her headstone - Burgone. The E she said gradually got dropped - perhaps considered locally "Swank", though her Rothesay cousins went a step further and added the Y - Burgoyne. French ? extraction which may add a thrill to .....'s (I can't make out the handwriting) imagination. I remember Alice was keen for me to join Edin. P O savings bank lent me 2/6 and to put Mary "Burgoyne" but at Ber got matters put right told them Burgon these things can be very awkward later on."
Alice was one of Thomas and Mary's sisters - great aunt Alice married Alexander Duncan late in life (1927 at age 49) in Hartington Gardens, Morningside District, Edinburgh.
If you can help Alan, please put a comment below.
Celebrating 900 years of Berwick's history and cultural heritage.
Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
Thursday, 23 July 2015
John Stapleton Weatherburn (1883 -1915) - part 2
This is a continuation of John Stapleton Weatherburn (1883 -1915) - part 1, alternatively you can see the whole family story of John Stapleton Weatherburn.
From Margaret Rogers of Wagga Wagga, Australia:
Once in Australia, John Stapleton Weatherburn (of Berwick) visited his sister, Margaret, who at the time was living at Wattamondara near Cowra in New South Wales.
At the outbreak of World War I, John Stapleton Weatherburn, labourer, enlisted in the 1st Battalion, Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at Randwick in Sydney on 29 August 1914. He gave his address “Care of Mrs Burns, Wattamondara” on his enlistment papers.
When he enlisted he was described as 30 years and three months old, 5 feet 7 inches (1.7m) tall, fair complexion, blue grey eyes and light brown hair and a Baptist.
The 1st Battalion had only been formed on 17 August 1914. General Bridges, GOC 1st Division, inspected the battalion on 14 September and on 17 September the men completed a route march to South Head and back.
After marching through the streets of Sydney in the rain the battalion embarked on HMT Afric on 18 October 1914 bound for Albany, Western Australia to join a convoy assembling to sail to Europe. John Stapleton Weatherburn embarked with H Company according to the embarkation rolls. He then became part of C Company as his other records refer to C. On 1 November the fleet, totalling 36 ships carrying 29,500 men, departed for Cairo, Egypt. The 1st Battalion’s strength was 1013 including officers.
The diary of Archie Barwick who was also in this company has a vivid account of the enlistment, embarkation, training, the Gallipoli landing and battles. It is held at the State Library, New South Wales and is available at Archie Barwick diary, 22 August 1914-September 1915.
After training in Egypt the First Battalion left Alexandria on 5th April on the Minnewaska. The ship carried about 1900 men and 500 horses plus a large quantity of timber to construct a wharf. The ships arrived in Lemnos, an island off Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea, on the 12th April where the battalion practised small craft landings. More provisions were taken on board and some days later the ship moved out to sea ready to join the allied attack planned to capture the Dardanelles in Turkey.
John Stapleton Weatherburn got into trouble and was given 162 hours of field service as punishment, in Mudros on the island of Lemnos for leaving a fatigue party while on shore and not returning to the ship. However he embarked for Turkey with his battalion.
From Margaret Rogers of Wagga Wagga, Australia:
Once in Australia, John Stapleton Weatherburn (of Berwick) visited his sister, Margaret, who at the time was living at Wattamondara near Cowra in New South Wales.
At the outbreak of World War I, John Stapleton Weatherburn, labourer, enlisted in the 1st Battalion, Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at Randwick in Sydney on 29 August 1914. He gave his address “Care of Mrs Burns, Wattamondara” on his enlistment papers.
When he enlisted he was described as 30 years and three months old, 5 feet 7 inches (1.7m) tall, fair complexion, blue grey eyes and light brown hair and a Baptist.
The 1st Battalion had only been formed on 17 August 1914. General Bridges, GOC 1st Division, inspected the battalion on 14 September and on 17 September the men completed a route march to South Head and back.
After marching through the streets of Sydney in the rain the battalion embarked on HMT Afric on 18 October 1914 bound for Albany, Western Australia to join a convoy assembling to sail to Europe. John Stapleton Weatherburn embarked with H Company according to the embarkation rolls. He then became part of C Company as his other records refer to C. On 1 November the fleet, totalling 36 ships carrying 29,500 men, departed for Cairo, Egypt. The 1st Battalion’s strength was 1013 including officers.
The diary of Archie Barwick who was also in this company has a vivid account of the enlistment, embarkation, training, the Gallipoli landing and battles. It is held at the State Library, New South Wales and is available at Archie Barwick diary, 22 August 1914-September 1915.
After training in Egypt the First Battalion left Alexandria on 5th April on the Minnewaska. The ship carried about 1900 men and 500 horses plus a large quantity of timber to construct a wharf. The ships arrived in Lemnos, an island off Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea, on the 12th April where the battalion practised small craft landings. More provisions were taken on board and some days later the ship moved out to sea ready to join the allied attack planned to capture the Dardanelles in Turkey.
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| 1st Battalion at Lemnos |
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
John Stapleton Weatherburn (1883 -1915) - part 1
From Margaret Rogers of Wagga Wagga, Australia:
I have been researching when my ancestors came to Australia and a bit about what kind of background they came from. As 2015 is the centenary of Australia’s involvement I have also been looking at the role some of my family played in World War I. I knew my father’s uncle had died at Gallipoli but in looking at my mother’s family I came across the fact that her great uncle had also died there.
At first I assumed it would have been as a member of the British army but when I looked closely at the photo of the Berwick memorial at St Mary's, Berwick, I noticed that it said AIF so I began to research to find out how that had happened.
John Stapleton Weatherburn was the sixth and youngest child of Alexander Weatherburn (born 1844 in Berwick) and Elizabeth Morrallee. He was born in 1883 in Berwick-upon-Tweed and is shown in the 1891 census living at 6 Castlegate, Berwick-upon-Tweed with his family except for his oldest brother, William, who was a policeman in Blyth in 1891 and who later emigrated to the USA.
He was the youngest brother of Margaret Morrallee Burns (nee Weatherburn) shown in the 1891 Census as a 21 year old tailor’s machinist. She is my great grandmother.
After attending Corporation Academy, in Berwick (a school which provided free education for the children of the Freemen of Berwick Guild) he enlisted in the regular British Army on 14 February 1898. His older brother, Alexander, had enlisted in 1893 aged 15 years and served until 1911, taking part in the Boer War.
On his attestation (enlistment) papers John Stapleton Weatherburn was listed as a shop boy aged 14 years 9 months, and was 5'3½'' (1.61m) tall.
He served in the Royal Artillery as a gunner and bombardier in the Royal Field Artillery Howitzer Brigades 151, 56 and 50 for 12 years. In the 1901 census he is shown as an enlisted soldier boy (aged 17) at Shoeburyness Barracks in South East Essex. During this time he had a record of mild misconduct and redemption as shown on his service record. His service record does not show service in the Boer War in South Africa. By the time he signed out in 1910 he had grown to 5' 7'' (1.7m) and he signed on to the Army reserve and received a pension as shown in UK Chelsea Pensioners Service Records 1760-1913.
Once he left the army John Stapleton Weatherburn returned to the Scottish Borders, was admitted as a Freeman of Berwick Guild on 3 October 1911 as "4th son of Alexander, deceased", and lived at Greenlaw, north east of Coldstream in Scotland. He appears on the 1911 Scottish Census.
At this time his sister, Rebecca, was married and living in Coldstream as was his maternal grandmother. His mother and brother, Henry, had moved to Consett, near Durham.
His older sister, Margaret Morrallee Burns and her children, Elizabeth (Morley), Rae, Iris, Bill and Alex, as well as her stepdaughter, Betty, had emigrated to join her husband, John Rea Burns, in Australia in 1911. They had been married in in July 1899 (at the Scotchgate Baptist Chapel in Castlegate, Berwick.
John Stapleton Weatherburn did not remain in Greenlaw long, as on 16 July 1912 he embarked on the White Star Line steamer, Waimana, from Liverpool for Sydney. He described himself as a farmer from Scotland on the passenger list.
I have been researching when my ancestors came to Australia and a bit about what kind of background they came from. As 2015 is the centenary of Australia’s involvement I have also been looking at the role some of my family played in World War I. I knew my father’s uncle had died at Gallipoli but in looking at my mother’s family I came across the fact that her great uncle had also died there.
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| Berwick War Memorial |
John Stapleton Weatherburn was the sixth and youngest child of Alexander Weatherburn (born 1844 in Berwick) and Elizabeth Morrallee. He was born in 1883 in Berwick-upon-Tweed and is shown in the 1891 census living at 6 Castlegate, Berwick-upon-Tweed with his family except for his oldest brother, William, who was a policeman in Blyth in 1891 and who later emigrated to the USA.
He was the youngest brother of Margaret Morrallee Burns (nee Weatherburn) shown in the 1891 Census as a 21 year old tailor’s machinist. She is my great grandmother.
After attending Corporation Academy, in Berwick (a school which provided free education for the children of the Freemen of Berwick Guild) he enlisted in the regular British Army on 14 February 1898. His older brother, Alexander, had enlisted in 1893 aged 15 years and served until 1911, taking part in the Boer War.
On his attestation (enlistment) papers John Stapleton Weatherburn was listed as a shop boy aged 14 years 9 months, and was 5'3½'' (1.61m) tall.
He served in the Royal Artillery as a gunner and bombardier in the Royal Field Artillery Howitzer Brigades 151, 56 and 50 for 12 years. In the 1901 census he is shown as an enlisted soldier boy (aged 17) at Shoeburyness Barracks in South East Essex. During this time he had a record of mild misconduct and redemption as shown on his service record. His service record does not show service in the Boer War in South Africa. By the time he signed out in 1910 he had grown to 5' 7'' (1.7m) and he signed on to the Army reserve and received a pension as shown in UK Chelsea Pensioners Service Records 1760-1913.
Once he left the army John Stapleton Weatherburn returned to the Scottish Borders, was admitted as a Freeman of Berwick Guild on 3 October 1911 as "4th son of Alexander, deceased", and lived at Greenlaw, north east of Coldstream in Scotland. He appears on the 1911 Scottish Census.
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| Rebecca Weatherburn (seated) and Margaret Morrallee Weatherburn |
His older sister, Margaret Morrallee Burns and her children, Elizabeth (Morley), Rae, Iris, Bill and Alex, as well as her stepdaughter, Betty, had emigrated to join her husband, John Rea Burns, in Australia in 1911. They had been married in in July 1899 (at the Scotchgate Baptist Chapel in Castlegate, Berwick.
John Stapleton Weatherburn did not remain in Greenlaw long, as on 16 July 1912 he embarked on the White Star Line steamer, Waimana, from Liverpool for Sydney. He described himself as a farmer from Scotland on the passenger list.
Sunday, 5 July 2015
Hattle Family Photographs
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| Thomas Hattle and Mabel Smith |
The previous articles were Thousands of Miles by Taxi, a Trip by Thomas Hattle, who emigrated from Berwick to South Africa in 1901 and More about the Hattle Family .
These photos are of Thomas' wedding to Mabel Smith in South Africa in 1911.
Can you identify them ?
Tuesday, 30 June 2015
More about the Hattle Family
I separated this from the earlier post, Thousands of Miles by Taxi, a Trip by Thomas Hattle, who emigrated from Berwick to South Africa in 1901 so as to have one post about Thomas Hattle and his family.
From Alan Hattle:
The 1829 will of Thomas Hettle/Hattle (my great-great-great grandfather, of Windmill Hole in the Borough of Berwick), mentions a son, Jess, "who is at present in America". I have not established whether this Jess(e) stayed in America and/or had any children. I did have some data on another distant Hattle cousin who moved to Massachusetts in the 1800s, but my files were lost in a fire and I need to explore that line again. There were at least two other Hattles (one a female married to a Robertson) who made it to South Africa at some stage, but those are also lines I wish to explore more.
While most of my ancestors and their families remained in the Berwick/Berwickshire/Borders area, a few ventured further afield in Scotland.
A first cousin, 4 times removed (Thomas Hattle, born 1832, son of Young Hattle and Isabella Lyal(l)) emigrated to Canada, and there is a growing branch of the Hattle family in Ontario.
I would be thrilled to hear from locals in Berwick who have links to my family.
If you would like to contact Alan, please comment below with your email address (the email address won't be published).
From Alan Hattle:
The 1829 will of Thomas Hettle/Hattle (my great-great-great grandfather, of Windmill Hole in the Borough of Berwick), mentions a son, Jess, "who is at present in America". I have not established whether this Jess(e) stayed in America and/or had any children. I did have some data on another distant Hattle cousin who moved to Massachusetts in the 1800s, but my files were lost in a fire and I need to explore that line again. There were at least two other Hattles (one a female married to a Robertson) who made it to South Africa at some stage, but those are also lines I wish to explore more.
While most of my ancestors and their families remained in the Berwick/Berwickshire/Borders area, a few ventured further afield in Scotland.
A first cousin, 4 times removed (Thomas Hattle, born 1832, son of Young Hattle and Isabella Lyal(l)) emigrated to Canada, and there is a growing branch of the Hattle family in Ontario.
I would be thrilled to hear from locals in Berwick who have links to my family.
If you would like to contact Alan, please comment below with your email address (the email address won't be published).
Monday, 29 June 2015
Thousands of Miles by Taxi, a Trip by Thomas Hattle, who emigrated from Berwick to South Africa in 1901
From Alan Hattle:
My paternal grandfather, Thomas Hattle, was one of ten children of John Hattle and Isabella Elspeth Burgon(e), and apparently the only one to emigrate.
A brother, James Burgon Hattle died in 1915 in an accident aboard the HMS Macedonia while in the Falklands on service during World War I, and is buried in the cemetery at Port Stanley.
Thomas had six children (all born in South Africa) and 19 grandchildren, most of whom stayed in southern Africa, although some descendants have since emigrated to New Zealand and Australia, and one has spent many years teaching in China. He was born on 19 February 1876 in Berwick, worked in the Telegraph Department of the North British Railway Company from 1890 until 1901 when he secured a job in the post and telegraph offices of the Cape of Good Hope, based in Port Elizabeth.
Thomas Hattle must have been an interesting and determined gentleman (unfortunately he died when I was a small child so I never really got to know him). He made a taxi trip covering some 4,714 miles, which appears to have been (at that time at least) a world record.
P.E. Man Recalls an Adventure
A recent report emanating from Cape Town to the effect that a Mr. R. Oliver, a businessman from India on holiday in the Union, had employed a taxi to carry him from Cape Town to Mombasa – a distance of nearly 6,000 miles – has prompted a Port Elizabeth man, Mr. Thomas Hattle, to relate his story concerning what he regards as the longest taxi trip ever undertaken by a South African.
In fact, two overseas newspapers, the Berwick Advertiser and the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, published accounts of Mr. Hattle’s long taxi ride of just under 5,000 miles driven all the way by a Port Elizabeth taxi-driver, Mr. S. Blom. The feat took place in 1937 and both overseas papers printed the story in 1939 when Mr. J. H. Curle, noted English traveller and author, set out on a 2,500-mile taxi trip which the American Press claimed as a world record.
Mr. Hattle’s trip of 4,714 miles occupied a full month and embraced travelling over some of the country’s worst roads and frequently over mere footpaths, over steep passes and through swirling rivers. His task was concerned with telephone development study in the vast Transkeian territories as far north as Port St Johns.
An interesting feature of this trip was the meeting of Mr Hattle and Chief David Dalindyelo of Moekezweni. The Chief acted as interpreter to His Majesty the King when the Royal Family visited Umtata a week or two ago, and in 1937 he took great pride in signing his autograph in Mr. Hattle’s notebook, which is still in the latter’s possession.
Since Mr R Oliver is not expected to reach Mombasa until April 1, it is possible that the achievement of Mr Hattle and his driver, Mr Blom, in covering 4,714 miles in a single taxi trip in the same car, stands at the moment as a record for this country and possibly a world record."
Thomas Hattle's son, John Burgon Hattle (my father) was a meteorologist, and had the distinction, as a wartime Major in the South African army, of opening the meteorological station on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, and operating it for many months during the World War II years. As a child, before the destructive Tristan volcano, I remember him frequently receiving letters from the many friends he made among the island community.
I would be thrilled to hear from locals in Berwick who have links to my family.
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| Thomas Hattle |
A brother, James Burgon Hattle died in 1915 in an accident aboard the HMS Macedonia while in the Falklands on service during World War I, and is buried in the cemetery at Port Stanley.
Thomas had six children (all born in South Africa) and 19 grandchildren, most of whom stayed in southern Africa, although some descendants have since emigrated to New Zealand and Australia, and one has spent many years teaching in China. He was born on 19 February 1876 in Berwick, worked in the Telegraph Department of the North British Railway Company from 1890 until 1901 when he secured a job in the post and telegraph offices of the Cape of Good Hope, based in Port Elizabeth.
Thomas Hattle must have been an interesting and determined gentleman (unfortunately he died when I was a small child so I never really got to know him). He made a taxi trip covering some 4,714 miles, which appears to have been (at that time at least) a world record.
 | |
| Berwick Advertiser, 24 August 1939 |
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| Newcastle Weekly Chronicle 2 September 1939 |
An article in the Port Elizabeth Advertiser, 18 March 1947 said:
"Thousands of Miles by TaxiP.E. Man Recalls an Adventure
A recent report emanating from Cape Town to the effect that a Mr. R. Oliver, a businessman from India on holiday in the Union, had employed a taxi to carry him from Cape Town to Mombasa – a distance of nearly 6,000 miles – has prompted a Port Elizabeth man, Mr. Thomas Hattle, to relate his story concerning what he regards as the longest taxi trip ever undertaken by a South African.
In fact, two overseas newspapers, the Berwick Advertiser and the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, published accounts of Mr. Hattle’s long taxi ride of just under 5,000 miles driven all the way by a Port Elizabeth taxi-driver, Mr. S. Blom. The feat took place in 1937 and both overseas papers printed the story in 1939 when Mr. J. H. Curle, noted English traveller and author, set out on a 2,500-mile taxi trip which the American Press claimed as a world record.
Mr. Hattle’s trip of 4,714 miles occupied a full month and embraced travelling over some of the country’s worst roads and frequently over mere footpaths, over steep passes and through swirling rivers. His task was concerned with telephone development study in the vast Transkeian territories as far north as Port St Johns.
An interesting feature of this trip was the meeting of Mr Hattle and Chief David Dalindyelo of Moekezweni. The Chief acted as interpreter to His Majesty the King when the Royal Family visited Umtata a week or two ago, and in 1937 he took great pride in signing his autograph in Mr. Hattle’s notebook, which is still in the latter’s possession.
Since Mr R Oliver is not expected to reach Mombasa until April 1, it is possible that the achievement of Mr Hattle and his driver, Mr Blom, in covering 4,714 miles in a single taxi trip in the same car, stands at the moment as a record for this country and possibly a world record."
He must have indeed been a very fit man, as I recall seeing a report in which it was noted that he never took a sick day off in his long career. Of interest is the attached note confirming that 10 years before his retirement (1936, at age 60), he had accumulated 644 days of leave credit. Sadly he was only paid out for 180 days!
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| 644 days of leave credit |
During my grandfather's boat trip to South Africa in 1901, and his first months in South Africa, he wrote a long detailed account of his adventures and impressions (including an account of his train journey from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth), and this journal was published sometime in late 1901 / possibly early 1902 in several long instalments in the Berwick Advertiser (possibly headed 'Diary of a Berwick Man').
Thomas Hattle's son, John Burgon Hattle (my father) was a meteorologist, and had the distinction, as a wartime Major in the South African army, of opening the meteorological station on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, and operating it for many months during the World War II years. As a child, before the destructive Tristan volcano, I remember him frequently receiving letters from the many friends he made among the island community.
I would be thrilled to hear from locals in Berwick who have links to my family.
If you would like to contact Alan, please comment below with your email address (the email address won't be published).
Wednesday, 28 May 2014
Which Berwick ?
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| Berwick-upon-Tweed town centre from the Elizabethan Ramparts |
We see Berwick-upon-Tweed called Berwick-on-Tweed, and most often Berwick but there are other places named Berwick in the world.
There's:
Berwick, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Berwick, Louisiana, USA
Berwick, Maine, USA
Berwick, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Berwick, New Brunswick, Canada
Berwick, Nova Scotia, Canada
Berwick, Ontario, Canada
Berwick, Otago, New Zealand
Berwick, Pennsylvania, USA
Berwick, South Africa
Berwick, Sussex, England
North Berwick, Scotland
Find A Grave says that Berwick, Louisiana, USA was named after Thomas Berwick (1740-1792), a surveyor from Pennsylvania and Wikipedia states that he was the first white settler to trek through the wilderness in that part of America.
According to the town history of Berwick, Nova Scotia, Canada, it's named after Berwick-upon-Tweed, the bear on the Canadian town's arms being taken from Berwick-upon-Tweed's arms.
Berwick, Pennsylvania is a twin town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and is named after Berwick-upon-Tweed.
According to Wikipedia, the Berwick suburb of Melbourne is named after Berwick-upon-Tweed, as was Berwick, Maine (perhaps due to the transported Scots prisoners of war from the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 ?)
The origins of Berwick, Sussex, England and North Berwick, Scotland suggest that like Berwick-upon-Tweed, the name Berwick is derived from the old English words 'bere' meaning barley and 'wic' meaning farmstead or settlement.
I'm disappointed that I haven't managed to find out about why these places were named Berwick:
Berwick, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Berwick, New Brunswick, Canada
Berwick, Ontario, Canada
Berwick, Otago, New Zealand
Berwick, South Africa
but I hope you'll leave me a comment below or send me a tweet @Berwick900.
I've probably left out several other places named Berwick and if that's the case, please don't hesitate to let me know.
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