George Arthur CHAMBERS

George Arthur Chambers was the eighth of ten children born to John Chambers and Paulina Green. He was born in 1886 in Barnsley, Yorkshire, and appears there on the 1891 Census with his parents, four brothers (John Thomas born in 1871, Joseph in 1873, Charles in 1878, all in Attercliffe; and Albert, born 1888 in Barnsley) and four sisters (Annie born in 1875, Beatrice born in 1877, both in Attercliffe, Yorkshire; Paulina Maud born 1881 and Ada born 1884, both in Worksop, Nottinghamshire). John and his two eldest sons were Coal Miners.

Ten years later, John and Paulina were still in Barnsley; – John was still a miner. John Thomas, Joseph, Annie and Beatrice had all left home, and Charles, Paulina Maud, Ada, George and Albert had been joined by Mary Ethel, John and Paulina’’s youngest daughter (born in 1892 in Barnsley), and Ernest, who was listed as Grandson of John and Paulina. I ordered his birth certificate, and found that he was the illegitimate son of Beatrice. It is believed that he was the product of an incestuous affair between Joseph and Beatrice.

John Thomas married Mary Ann Hunter in 1893 – by 1901 they had three daughters: Eva Mary, Elizabeth Annie and Ethel May; Joseph married Isabella Staniforth in 1899 in Sheffield, Yorkshire – baby Phyllis was born just before the 1901 census; Annie married Albert Penty in 1899 in Barnsley; and Beatrice married Benjamin Townsend in 1898 in Barnsley – their son Joel was born the following year.

The 1911 Census for John Chambers Sr. threw up something of a mystery: he is listed, with Ada, George, Albert, Mary and Ernest… but where is Paulina? I checked the census returns for the older children, and found her visiting Benjamin and Beatrice – who by now had had 3 daughters in addition to Joel: Paulina (born in 1901), Elsie (born in 1904) and Tizzy/Lizzie (born in 1909). Also with the Townsends was Beatrice’s widowed sister, Paulina Maud. She had married Frederick Smith Hague in 1904 in Barnsley, but just six years later he was dead.

John Thomas and Mary had a 5 year old son, also named John Thomas; by 1911 – Eva had left home and was working as a live in maid in Barnsley.

Joseph and Isabella had moved to Fernie, in the Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada, with Phyllis, and they had another 2 daughters by 1911, both Canadian-born -– 5 year old Doris and 3 year old Gladys. Annie and Albert were still living in Hoyland. Charles married Ada Maude in 1907 in Halifax; by 1911 they were living in Birdwell, Barnsley. George married Maud Burgin in 1913 and they had six children, one of whom was my paternal grandfather, Horace Chambers.

So far, I have only found military records for Joseph and Albert. Joseph served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WW1, and Albert fought as part of the Royal Army Medical Corps. I believe Joseph made it safely through, but alas the same cannot be said of Albert. He was gassed only 8 months before the end of the War, and is buried in a war cemetery at Étaples, about 65km south-west of Calais on the northern French coast.

Albert’’s service record gives address details for all his siblings -– both his parents were dead, and Ada was his Next of Kin as of October 1919: John Thomas lived at Hill Street, Elsecar; Joseph was in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Charles lived on Sheffield Road, Birdwell; George lived at High Street, Hoyland; Annie lived on Broad Street, Hoyland; Beatrice was living at 1 Wilton Lane, Holmes, Rotherham; Paulina had married a Joseph Laycock in 1916 in Rotherham and was living at 5 Florence Road, Masborough, Rotherham. Ada’s address was given as ‘The Infirmary, Strood, Rochester, Kent’, and Mary Ethel’s home address was given as 3 Broad Street, Hoyland. Mary Ethel, known as Meth, married a William Lodge in 1916 in Barnsley and they had a son, Albert, in 1918, who was also born in Barnsley.

Gateshead, Durham

This is a map of the location of Newcastle and Gateshead. This post was inspired by a comment from a friend of a second cousin of mine in Canada who assumed that our great grandfather, David Harrison BRENNAN, was a Geordie because he came from Gateshead.

*I* thought that only people from Newcastle were classed as Geordies – so I did some Googling and it appears I am wrong!

Gateshead’s Wikipedia entry states that “the town of Gateshead is situated in the North East of England in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear, and within the historic boundaries of County Durham. It is located on the southern bank of the River Tyne at a latitude of 54.57° N and a longitude of 1.35° W. Gateshead experiences a temperate climate which is considerably warmer than some other locations at similar latitudes as a result of the warming influence of the Gulf Stream (via the North Atlantic drift). It is located in the rain shadow of the North Pennines and is therefore in one of the driest regions of the United Kingdom.”

“One of the most distinguishing features of Gateshead is its topography. The land rises 230 feet from Gateshead Quays to the town centre and continues rising to a height of 525 feet at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Sheriff Hill.This is in contrast to the flat and low lying Team Valley located on the western edges of town. The high elevations allow for impressive views over the Tyne valley into Newcastle and across Tyneside to Sunderland and the North Sea from lookouts in Windmill Hills and Windy Nook respectively.”

“The Office for National Statistics defines the town as an urban sub-division which largely shares the same boundaries as the historic pre-1974 County Borough of Gateshead.However, the administrative divisions of the larger Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead do not correspond to these borders, meaning the town is almost entirely indistinguishable from surrounding areas in regards to local governance.”

“Unofficially speaking, the town of Gateshead typically refers to the urban area directly to the south of Newcastle City Centre as well as various surrounding suburbs. Felling, Heworth, Pelaw and Bill Quay, in a separate ONS urban sub-division and not part of the historical County Borough, are sometimes considered to be within the town of Gateshead due to their closeness to the town centre and because they are in the same contiguous urban area.”

“Given the proximity of Gateshead to Newcastle, just south of the River Tyne from the city centre, it is sometimes referred to as being a part of Newcastle. Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council teamed up in 2000 to create a unified marketing brand name, NewcastleGateshead, to better promote the Tyneside conurbation. When outside the North East of England a resident of Gateshead would most likely say they are from Newcastle, as it is largest and most recognised city in the region. Within the North East however, they would usually state that they live in Gateshead or more specifically give their neighbourhood within the town, such as Deckham or Dunston, for example.”

David Harrison BRENNAN

David was one of my great-grandfathers. He was born on 30 July 1892 and baptised three and a half weeks later in Gateshead, Durham, to Thomas and Georgiana (née Harrison).

At the time the 1901 census was taken, overnight between March 31/April 1, the 8 year old David was living in Gateshead with his parents and siblings – Thomas W (14), Sarah A (10), William S (5), Robert (3) and 2yo John.

By 1911 (the census having been taken on Sunday 2 April), the family had moved to 11 Oakland Gardens, Harrowgate, and had been enlarged by another 3 children – George aged 8, 6 year old Georgina and Violet (3).

David signed up to join the British Army in October 1915, enlisting in the Royal Engineers – he again gave his home address as 11 Oakland Gardens.

Shortly after joining up, he married Janet Conway, who had already fallen pregnant with their eldest daughter! The marriage was registered in Darlington in the first quarter of 1916; and they went on to have another 3 daughters, among them my paternal grandmother. David died in 1981 in Sheffield, almost 3 weeks after his 89th birthday.

Why genealogy?

I have been interested in genealogy for longer than I have known what it was. I remember being given a scrapbook by my late grandmother (on my father’s side) that had my paternal family tree on the back… I think it went back two or three generations. As I was born and raised in an area of the UK to which I have no ancestral links, I have often wondered ‘where do I come from?’ and would like to help others answer that same question.