Gadsden Bell Swires families

Maud Alice Gadsden, nee Swires (my grandmother), with her only son, 

my father William Bell Gadsden, aged about 6 months, ca 1910.

William Bell Gadsden was the son of Sydney Bartle Gadsden and

grandson of Thomas Alfred Gadsden who married

Eliza Ann Bell.

Bell Caithness family descendants

Mary Ann Caithness, daughter of James Ramsey Caithness and Ann Scorey, was born at Marchwood, Hampshire, 20 March 1820. She married William Douglas Bell at Port Elizabeth 29 June 1838. Their children were Mary Ann Elizabeth Pamela, Douglas William, Ellen Selwyn Sophia (d in infancy), Ellen Harriet, James Colquhoun, Sarah Scott, Sturges Bourne, Eliza Ann, Jessie MacGregor, George John Head, Alfred Thomas Payne, and Alice Millican Bell.

Mary Ann Elizabeth Pamela, their eldest child, married John James Johnason and they had a boy and a girl. Douglas William did not marry. Ellen Harriet married Edward Abbott Forbes Baxter, producing one son, Alexander. James Colquhoun married Sarah Clark in 1874 and had eight children. Sarah Scott married Charles George Pay; they had 3 children. Sturges Bourne's marital history remains unknown and he is the subject of further research. Eliza Ann married Thomas Alfred Gadsden, the Bluff lighthouse keeper; their children were William, Philip, Sydney Bartle, Faith and Hope. Eliza Ann and Thomas Alfred were my great grandparents.

Jessie McGregor married James Evans Pascoe Martin, engineer of the SS Basuto; no children are recorded. George John Head married Mary Catherine Tonkin. Alfred Thomas Payne Bell died in Whitechapel, London, in 1884 at the youthful age of 24. Alice Millican married Alfred Mathias Tilley and had two children. 

                                                                 Sydney Bartle Gadsden

                                     William Bell Gadsden and his mother Maud Alice nee Swires.

Reformatory Ancestors: Caithness Bell

William Caithness Bell and his brother Alfred Douglas Bell, grandsons of Captain William and Mary Ann Bell nee Caithness, are missing from their family’s entry in the 1891 UK Census. Parents James Colquhoun Bell and Sarah nee Clark are at home in Lyndhurst Street, South Shields, with their other children ranging in age from 11 years down to the infant Elizabeth. Where were William and Alfred, then aged 15 and 14 respectively, on Census night, 5/6 April 1891 - perhaps away working, possibly apprenticed to a trade?

These would be reasonable assumptions but the truth is that, unexpectedly, the two boys are listed elsewhere. On that date they were guests of the North Eastern Reformatory, Netherton, near Morpeth, Northumberland.

William Caithness Bell was born when his parents were living in Mile End Old Town, London. 

A photograph of him in a dress (as small boys were before being ‘breeched’) and wearing only one shoe, shows William as bright-eyed and chubby-cheeked. Unusually, there’s a date written on the back of the photograph, 9 November 1876, so William was a year old. Tartan or similar checked fabric was a popular choice for children and there are yards of it in William’s outfit, complete with a large bow, as if he’d been gift-wrapped.

By 1881 William (5) had two younger brothers, Alfred Douglas (4) and James Colquhoun Bell jnr (1). Ten years later the family were in South Shields, probably having moved there due to work opportunities for James snr: he was a ‘Marine Enameller’. Additional children had arrived in the interim and seven are listed in 1891: James jnr (11), Hester, Henry, Ellen, Victor (his full name was Sturgeous Victor), and Frederick.Bell.

Local newspapers provide nuggets of information about the absent sons. On 31 December 1890, a brief report appeared in the Shields Daily Gazette:

Today's Police News: Pigeons.—William Caithness Bell (I4) and James (16) [no surname given]were charged with stealing two pigeons, the value 3s, the property of Charles Temple, joiner, 109 Edith Street. James Townsley, pigeon dealer, Mill Dam, said the elder lad brought the birds to his shop and he bought them from him. Fined 5s and costs each.

This was a relatively minor brush with the law, but there had been at least one previous misdemeanour in October 1890 and William was soon to be in the news again. In February 1891 he and Alfred were charged with three separate incidents of breaking and entering. The Bell brothers were duly sentenced and served two weeks in prison after which they were sent to the North-Eastern Reformatory for four years.

South Shields Gazette and Shipping Telegraph
Tuesday 24 February 1891

It seems a harsh punishment, though in an earlier era they might have been transported or worse. As the 19^thc neared its close, there was a slightly more enlightened view. Juvenile offenders, especially those who had appeared before the court more than once, could be placed in Reformatories and hopefully redirected onto the straight and narrow path. These institutions weren't holiday homes, as entries in the Punishment Book for 1891 reveal, and the cane was frequently used.

The North-Eastern Reformatory School for Boys was founded in the mid-1850s, moving to a site at Netherton near Morpeth in 1859. By William’s and Alfred’s time there would have been 210 boys at the Reformatory. From 1933 the establishment became the Netherton Training Approved School.

Alfred Douglas Bell’s further adventures remain unknown but William Caithness Bell emerged apparently unscathed after his four year stint, marrying a Durham girl, Elizabeth Mankin, in May 1900 and settling down to raise a family. William was ‘in work’ at the shipyard. By 1911 they had a daughter Victoria Josephine and a son named James Colquhoun Bell (the third in that line), evidence that William valued family tradition and that his life was back on track. 

Cape Shipping 1829 including Conch under Cobern

The schooner Conch was making regular sailings carrying colonial produce and passengers between Algoa Bay and Table Bay, and other ports, before William Bell took over her command. Here she is under another master, Cobern, variously given as 'J' and 'T' but probably the same person. Extract from SACA 31 Dec 1829.

Ships in Algoa Bay in the 1820s, by Thomas Baines

Captain William Bell of the Conch: death of his daughter in 1844

From the South African Commercial Advertiser 27 April 1844: the death, on 23 April, of Ellen Selwyn Sophia Still, aged 1 year and 8 months, daughter of Captain William Douglas Bell 'of the schooner Conch'. It must have been a low point for Bell and his family. At this juncture, after his heroic part in the action at Port Natal in 1842, Bell had returned to the relatively quiet life of a coastal mariner, commanding the Conch, and based at Algoa Bay, making regular sailings to and from Table Bay and other ports. 

That people had not forgotten his courageous act in taking British troops into land at Natal under enemy fire had been evidenced by one particular letter which appeared in the local press in November 1843. This and other efforts by the public on Bell's behalf eventually led to an offer by the colonial government of a post as 'Harbour Master' at Natal. But the course would not be plain-sailing. 

This child, born shortly after Bell's return to Algoa Bay in July 1842, had been given the middle name of Selwyn - after Major Selwyn who had played an important part in events at Natal in June of that year. Sadly Ellen was to die very young. A Bell daughter born subsequently in May 1846 would be named Ellen Harriet. By that date the Bells had their eldest daughter, Mary Ann Elizabeth Pamela, b 1839, and their first son, Douglas William, b 1841.

St George's Cathedral Cape Town Cape Colony 1800s:
watercolour by Thomas Bowler

Cape Shipping 19 November 1828 including Cobern commanding Conch

Conch is noted as then under command of 'J' (should be 'T') Cobern, agent J Smith (later to be William Bell's agent). The schooner had been on a regular run to Mossel Bay and was arriving back in Table Bay on 19 November with a cargo of colonial produce. 

Cape Shipping May 1830 Conch under Cobern, Flamingo under Scorey

This report from the South African Commercial Advertiser shows the Conch arriving at Table Bay under command of Cobern - with the Captain's wife on board as passenger, from Algoa Bay on 15 May. The date of departure from Algoa Bay is given as 29 May which must be an error unless the Conch was into time travel.
The Flamingo date of departure is also dubious, unless like Cobern he was travelling backwards. Interestingly the latter vessel is commanded by Scorey (note error - his initial should be J not F) - who would later become a relative, by marriage, of Captain Bell. There was an intriguing group of Cape mariners operating in coastal waters at this period, all linked either by agent or by personal ties and of course acquainted with one another. A small world which Bell would soon join.

                             Table Bay and shipping: Thomas Bowler (South African Sketches)

Cape shipping: Conch and W Bell Nov 1837

A snippet from the Grahamstown Journal November 1837 shows W Bell in command of the Conch, and sailing between Table Bay and Algoa Bay, carrying passengers as well as cargo. From this year Bell and Conch were firmly riveted together. It would be five years before the big events of 1842 at Port Natal completely changed Bell's life.

                             Circle of Thomas Bowler, Table Bay Shipping 1835-39

Cape shipping: Conch and Bell 1837

1st mention in South African Commercial Advertiser 1 April 1837 of Bell as captain of Conch. There is an earlier reference in the Cape Government Gazette in January of that year. 

The Schooner Conch 1842 by Thomas Baines. Bell was commanding
the vessel at the time of the insurrection of the Dutch at Port Natal, when the British
garrison was besieged at what is now the Old Fort, Durban. Because the frigate Southampton was of too deep a draught* to enter the channel, the Conch towed boatloads
of troops across the Bar, landing them safely at the Point. The siege was lifted
and the Dutch withdrew on Pietermaritzburg.

* The draught of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull (keel), with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draught outline would be obtained. Draught determines the minimum depth of water a ship can safely navigate. The entrance to Port Natal was blocked by a shifting sandbank, the Bar, over which the depth of water changed according to tides etc. 

Conch - a fatal accident with a gun, July 1831

A small quite early snippet re the Conch: [CO53/2  TNA Kew ] 

South African Commercial Advertiser 2 July 1831 

ACCIDENT.  Before the Schooner Conch got under weigh on the 20th ult. in Algoa Bay, a brass gun was fired for the purpose of warning the Passengers to embark, when unfortunately the gun burst, and severely wounded the seaman who fired the gun.  He was immediately taken on shore, and it was found necessary to amputate one of his legs, but he expired on the following day. 

Note: Captain Bell was not in command of Conch on that ghastly occasion.  Thorne, on which Bell was reported to be serving as '2nd officer' in 1831, went aground on 18 May of that year.

Conch schooner and other Cape shipping October 1834

South African Commercial Advertiser 30 October 1834

Here the Conch is described as a fast-sailer but after another ten years steam was gradually beginning to overtake sail as the favoured method of transport by sea: 

19 Oct 1844 SACA

By this time Captain Bell had been offered a position as Harbour Master at Port Natal, though with the inevitable colonial bureaucracy there would be some delay before he was able to take up the appointment officially, followed by a dispute over his job description and remuneration. Bell, never one to bow the knee, stuck to his guns, returning to the coastal mariner's life until matters at Natal were arranged more appropriately.  Bell and his family (at that stage his wife and 4 children) finally sailed for Natal on the Douglas on 19 January 1850 to start the new phase of their lives. 

Schooner Conch for sale 1843

South African Commercial Advertiser 31 May 1843
The same advert remained in the paper until 17 June, the date of the auction.
The next we hear of the Conch is that, under command of Capt Moses,
she came to grief on the bar at Port St Johns when the wind failed on 7 November 1847.
No lives were lost in the wreck.
Capt William Bell had in the interim taken up an appointment at Port Natal.

Shipping Cape 16 Dec 1837: miscellaneous ships and masters

South African Commercial Advertiser 16 Dec 1837

Wreck of the Lady Leith 1848

Eastern Province Herald 15 Apr 1848

On Saturday the 22nd Instant will be sold by Public Auction in front of the stores of Messrs Cawood Brothers All the Masts, Beams, Deck, Plank Timbers, Bowsprits, Spars, Sails, Iron Water Tanks ...Guns and Carriages complete, chain, various sizes, Ship's compass, a new Warp, Iron-work etc brought from the above wreck. Also a few cases of ... Beef, Pickled Herrings and a variety of other stores. After which will be sold the remainder of the Wreck including a quantity of workable wood, now lying above High Water Mark, together with the Anchor, Chains and all that may wash up.

W M HARRIES, Auctioneer

Port Elizabeth April 14 1848

The brig* Lady Leith was entering Algoa Bay after sailing from Waterloo Bay when a south-easterly gale forced her on to Thunderbolt Reef, 27 February 1848. Her captain was James Ramsey Caithness jnr., brother of Mary Ann Bell nee Caithness, and brother-in-law of Captain William Bell of the Conch. 

Henry George Caithness was also living at the Cape: captain of the schooner Louisa in 1839 and of the Fame in 1840, sailing between Table Bay and Algoa Bay (Port Elizabeth), and also to Mauritius, carrying colonial produce. 

Though the Lady Leith became a total wreck and her remains were auctioned off in bits, there were no lives lost.

*sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts

Information from Anita Caithness, Steve Steere and Lorna Cowan..

A rose by any other name ...

A blog reader sent me a list of the latest in Australian baby names:

Number 16 Bus Shelter  (don’t ask)
Benson and Hedges  (twins)
V8 (I’m speechless)
Hula Tulula from Hawaii (the name comprises all those words)
Weekend (can you imagine, ‘Come here, Weekend, you naughty girl!’)

There are other examples which I’ll refrain from repeating. Apple, Blossom, Tulip, Sky and so on must have become old hat. Where are we headed in this naming business? 

The National Records of Scotland website tells us:

For the eighth year running Sophie is the most popular girls' name, and Jack the favourite name for boys. Emily, Olivia, Ava, Lucy and Sophie make up the top five girls' names, while Lewis, Riley, James, Logan and Jack make up the top five names for boys.

Those seem hearteningly conventional. And it's a comfort to know my granddaughter Olivia is in good company. Read more at 
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/vital-events/births/popular-names/archive/forenames-1900-2000.html 
and http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?561 where the added dimension of nicknames is explored, as well as interchangeable forenames such as Jane/Jean/Janet: all could apply to one person – and indeed does in my Scottish family tree.  

They left out Helen, which is interchangeable with Ellen and Nell; or perhaps Nell should be regarded as a nickname. My Aunt Agnes was always known as Nancy, another interchangeable Scottish forename. Georgina became Ina and Margaret was usually Peggy. A girl christened Williamina in Scotland became Wilhelmina in South Africa.

Elizabeth might be recorded as Elisabeth, Eliza, Betty, Betsy, Beth, Bessie, Elspeth, Lizzie, and even Elsie. My grandmother taught me the following verse:

Eliza, Elizabeth, Betsy and Beth
Went to the woods to find a birds nest
Found a nest with 5 eggs in it
Took one each and left 4 in it.

In Northumberland, Isabel and Elizabeth were interchangeable in the 19th c, as I found to my cost when researching in that area.

Sol Plaatje

Among Byrne settlers to Natal, children’s names were permanent reminders of the voyage out – Ocea Isabel, Ocean Robert – and Natalia was an obvious choice for daughters. Frederick York St Leger, the Irish born founder of the Cape Times, named his eldest son Frederick Capetown St Leger. Sol Plaatje went one better, naming one of his sons Frederick York St Leger Plaatje, a mouthful for any child. So far I’ve been unable to discover the derivation of the name Sturges Bourne Bell, a son of Captain William Bell. Ideas welcomed.*

Where there’s no apparent family tradition in a forename, there’s always a chance that the baby was named after the doctor or midwife present at delivery; a well-known local personality who might act as sponsor – or godparent – to the child; a famous figure of the time – my grandfather’s middle name was Bartle after Sir Bartle Frere. 

Sir Redvers (pronounced Reevers) Buller

Numerous babies in the early 20th c acquired the name Buller in honour of Sir Redvers Henry Buller, commander of the Natal Field Force during the Anglo-Boer War. Mr & Mrs Willis, residents of Ladysmith during the Siege, named their son Harry Buller Siege Willis. Florence Nightingale was tacked on to various surnames, as was Sherlock Holmes. At least Florence was a historic personage and not a fictional character. Boys were named after battles – Trafalgar, Waterloo, but not, I think, Isandlwana.

Middle names, naturally not gender specific, often give an indication of a mother’s maiden name, as in the case of Cathrine Gibson Hamilton (my mother): her mother was Annie Gibson. Elizabeth Smith Hamilton (my aunt) was named for her grandmother, Elizabeth Smith. This causes confusion as the original Elizabeth Smith married a Hamilton, so we have two people of the same name on the same family tree. Frequently there are many more repetitions of a name through succeeding generations and we have to resort to numbering the ancestors (Thomas Gadsden I, Thomas Gadsden II) or identifying them by occupation as in Thomas Gadsden the Mariner, Thomas Gadsden the Founder et al. A local example is Henry Francis Fynn: there were three of them.

Surnames as forenames are a growing trend today: their success depends on the surname they precede. That goes for traditional forenames, too. Surely the following example must be apocryphal: a family named DOWN who had children named Neil Down, Eileen Down and Ida Down.

*This mystery has now been solved. More anon.

A peal of Bells

There's no such thing as plain sailing in family history research. It's not an ideal pursuit for the perfectionist, as research never ends and there will always be gaps and brick walls to contend with. There may be unexpected complications, too. For example, I found that the surname Bell occurs in my maternal and paternal lines. William Bell the mariner (see picture left) was my paternal great great grandfather, but there was a whole raft of other Bells who cropped up in my maternal ancestry.

Bell is a commonly-found name in UK: according to some sources it occurs 1669 times per million people (in the British Isles). It is prevalent in Cumberland, which was William Bell's place of origin. However, there are thousands of Scottish Bells, too, and that's where the Bells of my maternal line originate.

Some recent members of this line were keen to establish a connection with Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone (among other things). Trying to trace forward from a famous individual in the hope of linking him/her with your own family tree is an endeavour doomed from the start. Far better to plod backwards, beginning with yourself (the known), through each generation establishing as much documentary evidence as possible for every individual. So far, I have found no such evidence that my maternal Bells are related to Alexander Graham Bell - though I am keeping an open mind.

Exploring the meaning and etymology of a surname can be rewarding, as well as giving clues as to a family's geographical origins. I've found Reaney and Wilson's Dictionary of English Surnames very useful.