The British in Afghanistan

This is a piece written by someone else.  It expresses my thoughts.

There should be a national debate abnout the tragic loss of lives in that dusty hell-hole commonly known as Afghanistan; and perhaps more importantly a discussion of the possible fate of all the politicians who sent, and continue to send, British Services personnel into harms way in order to establish a ‘Democratic State’ in Afghanistan.

The other ‘purpose’ of this multi-billion pound endeavour is alleged to be ‘keeping us safer here at home’ because of the sacrifices of those bright shining spirits in the drug- and blood-soaked sands of Afghanistan. The sheer lunacy of even believing in the very idea of a ‘democratic Government’ in Afghanistan should give all sensible people a pause for thought.

We tried it, to govern Afghanistan that is, over a century ago, and we eventually scurried out over the bodies of the sixteen-odd thousand British members of the column from Jalalabad. We went in again, time after time, to prevent influence from France, from Russia, and it got us absolutely nowhere.

We should have taken to heart the warning of the latest Russian occupation which was to support their Afghan proxy, an occupation which was total, brutal and unswerving, but which eventually came to nothing after the Mujahideen gained superiority through the advent of the Stinger missile supplied by America. Was the NATO-led invasion justified after 9/11? Most certainly yes, but instead of ‘nation-building’ by force, which has ever been a fruitless exercise wherever it been tried, we should have handed over to the Afghanis, told then that the next time the West would be coming, we would be coming to make their ‘country’ a smoking radio-active car-park, and to mind their manners; and then left.

Western politicians have yet to learn that you cannot make a Nation out of ten thousand villages, soaked in the beliefs of muslim autocracy. But we saw Bush, and Blair, and all the other guilty parties, including the fool John Reid, with his forever-remembered ‘British Forces could leave Afghanistan without a shot being fired’, prate, and parade, and posture.

We saw them line up beside the Cenotaph, with their wreaths of poppies, while not understanding that what they had signed the British Army up to achieve was just unachievable. And let us not forget that none of these posturing, primping princes of political thought have ever served one single day in uniform, of any colour or rank, at all.

We do not retain, in Britain, the ability to legally kill someone who has committed treason, but I for one would sign any petition to restore such a power, and then the first ones to be tried would be every politician, of any Party, who has expressed the slightest desire to extend, for one second, our presence in the corrupt stagnant pool of drugs, grand-scale larceny and murder which is the alleged country named Afghanistan.

The Sharrocks of Cornwall

In 1620, the College of Heralds visited Cornwall. Their visit was to check on the pedigrees of families claiming the right to bear arms. Armigerous families. Amongst the minor gentry of Cornwall was a family listed as the Sharrocks of Veryan. A later note was attached to the family tree claiming that they had originated in Lancashire, fled to Ireland, where they stayed for a hundred years before moving to Cornwall.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to link my wife’s paternal line to the Visitation family. She seems to be descended from a Thomas Sharrock, born about 1640, location unknown. His oldest known child was Matthew, baptised in St Just in Roseland in 1671. Matthew is my wife’s 6 times grandfather.

The family lived in and around St Mawes, where they were farmers. Matthew described himself as Yeoman, one step above a tenant farmer, and fairly respectable, as he was the Reeve of the Manor of St Mawes.

Throughout the 18th century, the family remained in St Mawes, presumably farming and also fishing. Certainly Joseph Sharrock, who died in 1833, was a mariner. The next generation joined the Royal Navy and then the Coastguard. The Coastguard was recruited from Navy personnel. Usually, tours of duty were not in the man’s home town, so the family moved to Boscastle on the north coast of Cornwall.

The next generation of my wife’s family was born near Swanage in Dorset at yet another Coastguard station. Joseph Pascal Rowe Sharrock, born in 1843, became a mariner in the Merchant Marine, often sailing out of Boscastle. The family now remained on the North coast of Cornwall, spread out between Newquay and Bude.

The next generation left the sea and settled in Newquay.

Although I cannot find any link between the Visitation family and that of my wife, all of the Sharrocks in Cornwall till quite recently are members of this one family. There were also Sharrocks in Cornwall before the Visitation family. So, the note on the 1620 pedigree might be correct and the Sharrocks arrived in Cornwall in the 14th century. Long enough to be naturalised?

Rioting

In 1961 I was a 25-year old sergeant in the RAF. I was stationed in Singapore flying Shackletons out of RAF Changi.

In the British colonies, as in the UK, the military were committed to assisting the Civil Power However, in Singapore it was a bit more immediate than in the UK. Which is how I came to be in a scruffy street in central Singapore. I was not on my own, there was a very young officer (younger than me), a Chinese magistrate and 30 airmen. We were a riot squad. Six of the airmen had rifles but no ammunition; the rest had batons. They wore khaki shirts and shorts with long socks and boots. They also wore steel helmets. The officer and I were dressed in similar fashion and we had revolvers - also with no ammo.

The opposition was about 20 Ghurka soldiers in sports kit The weren’t allowed to throw things at us, so they shouted, leaped about and pulled faces. A bit like the New Zealand rugby squad in their pre-match dance.

The magistrate read the riot act and we then unfurled our banner. Disperse or we fire. The airmen with rifles moved from the rear of the squad to the front, but didn’t aim their weapons. This had no effect, so the officer ordered me to send in the snatch squads. There were 3 pairs of airmen detailed off for this and they ran forward to nobble significant rioters. Three fights started, but eventually they secured three Ghurkas. I turned to my officer to report this and found him gone. Half a dozen Ghurkas had snuck up a side alley and seized this commissioned twit. He was supposed to stay in the middle of the squad but had wandered off for some reason. I watched him being hustled off down the alley and out of sight.

I was then seized of the dilemma that had bothered Hannibal, Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington. Should I split my force, deal with the rioters and at the same time chase after my officer. Things seemed to be going well without him, so I decided to deal with the rioters and forget about him. My own inclination was to order the riflemen to open fire (shouting bang bang), but the magistrate thought not. In fact, I was now in charge, once he had read the riot act he was out of the loop. However, I took his advice and got ready to lead the squad in a frontal attack on the Ghurkas.

At that point, the Army officer acting as observer stepped in and halted the exercise. He thought it had gone well, although he did suggest that losing your officer was pretty bad form. The Ghurkas returned my officer and we all got into our truck.

Another part of life’s rich pattern was complete!

Monthly newsletter for FreeBMD, FreeCEN and FreeREG

Issue 1 - March 2011

Welcome to the first FreeUKGEN newsletter, updating you on the latest information about the three constituent projects, FreeBMD, FreeCEN and FreeREG.

Dr Nick Barratt - Executive Director (nick.barratt@virgin.net)

1. Tri-project seminar

The tri-project seminar will take place on Thursday 21 April 2011 at The National Archives.

2. Executive meetings

In advance of the Tri-project seminar on 21 April, I will be meeting the Executives of FreeCEN and FreeREG on 29 March to discuss detailed requirements for each project.

3. Access to data and copyright

This issue remains a major concern to FreeCEN and FreeREG, and is currently being addressed in conversations with various organisations, including Familysearch, Ancestry, Find My Past and the Federation of Family History Societies. Contact with county and diocesan archives will also be made, once the first set of discussions to obtain material via partner organisations have concluded.

However, the situation is complicated by copyright issues which need to be addressed at the same time. This is not an easy area to work in, given the way copyright is created and assigned especially when ‘format shifting’ original raw data into printed format, microform or digital image. Similarly, copyright of transcriptions entered into the three project websites needs clarification as well and is also being addressed as an ongoing issue.

4. Software and website development

We are currently examining ways to make the three project websites look more synchronised, as well as provide elements of synchronicity when searching for people. The aim is to move towards a front-end platform that serves as a portal to the three sites, permitting the user to search across all three datasets by name; or drilling down into each individual website to search specific datasets, as they do at the moment. The look and feel – the skin – of the sites needs to be updated, and decisions made about the level of advertising hosted on each site, as without funds we cannot survive as an organisation.

Linked to this is a recognition that amendments need to be made to the current software for creation and submission of transcription data to ease the workload of Dave Mayall, and make the data easier to search across the projects. As with copyright, this is a tricky area because of the ongoing nature of the work; integrating new software could cause problems, whilst a completely new operating system might be equally disruptive. Work is ongoing, though, to fix existing problems based on the feedback we receive from the project Executives and Co-ordinators; however, as with any volunteer network, these things can take time so one route under consideration is the injection of funds to commission some work in this area. We are talking to a couple of organisations that might be able to assist with this, as well as the possibility of Open Source coding from the web or recruiting more technical volunteers. If you know of anyone who would be able to assist with coding and web development, please let me know via email.

5. Marketing and Promotion

Until the website situation is addressed, there is only a limited amount of marketing and promotion we can do around the three projects. However, an article about the work of FreeREG in Your Family History magazine generated a flood of enquiries from potential volunteers; and at the recent Who Do You Think You Are Live event, held at Olympia 25 – 27 February 2011 the projects won third place in Family Tree magazine’s Website of the Decade award, as voted for by the readers of the magazine. Given that this is the largest circulating magazine in the sector, and considering the number of commercial websites out there with large budget spends, this is an amazing achievement and one of the Trustees, Camilla von Massenbach, proudly collected the award at the event. Congratulations must go to everyone – the transcribers for producing the data, the Co-ordinators and Executives of the three projects, and the Trustees for facilitating the site.

We are also looking into using the social network Twitter to promote our work, and encourage volunteers to join up for transcription. At the moment, the most obvious user names have already been taken – FreeBMD, FreeCEN and FreeREG – so alternatives are being sought. If anyone would like to manage their relevant project account and post information, please let me know.

6. Open Genealogical Alliance

The three projects, under the banner of FreeBMD, have become major supporters of the Open Genealogical Alliance, announced at Who Do You Think You Are Live on the main theatre with the support of actress Miriam Margolyes. The aim of OGA is to challenge the current predominance of commercial organisations in the sector, as they skew access to data towards ‘pay-per-view’ models which means organisations such as ours are disadvantaged when trying to access data at source from the archives. This is one of the issues we’re facing at the moment when negotiating with county archives for access to parish registers, albeit a special case since parish registers are not considered public records per se, something else that OGA will be examining as part of its remit. As a consequence, OGA is questioning whether pay per view data is truly open; and if not, then projects such as ours should be given free access to the digital images to work off – thus producing higher quality ‘clean’ transcriptions which will benefit everyone.

Other projects that OGA are investigating include an economic survey of the genealogical sector, examining ways in which the market can still be monetised, but more room is made for volunteer transcription projects without compromising the need for archives to digitise, and recover costs (linked to what’s been outlined above); a survey of the various means of access to genealogical data, to produce a one stop shop guide to all data on the web (think ‘genealogy supermarket price comparison website, and you’re on the right lines); an assessment of Big Society Government projects that we could get involved with, such as the civil registration digitisation and indexing project that was halted last year; and an assessment of the legal status of parish registers – public record or private deposit by the church.

The other key driver of OGA is the Open Rights Group, and supporters also include the Open Knowledge Foundation and the Federation of Family History Societies. The website has only just been launched www.opengenalliance.org and you can follow them on Twitter @opengenalliance

This is an edited version - edited by me.

Cornish Family History for Free

Occasionally I get emails asking for advice on researching Cornish family history. Sometimes the writer seems to be asking me to conduct family history research - to which I say no thank you. However, I do have advice on how to carry it out online - and for free.

The first port of call should be the Cornish pages of GENUKI. Not only is there lots of information about Cornwall in general, there is a page for each parish. Numerous sources of information are linked to these pages.

Then you might check out the Cornish OPC scheme web site. Here again, each parish has its own page and there is much information, both in general and in particular. The Online Parish Clerks are committed to helping FH researchers and you should write to them asking for help. At the very least, they should be able to give advice on where to look.

A daughter project of the OPC scheme is C-PROP. Originally intended to carry parish register transcripts (which it still does), it has expanded its scope to include other sorts of data. It is a FREE online searchable database. No other county has one.

All of the Cornish 19th century census returns have been transcribed and posted online at the COCP web site. You can search them as texts or you can use the accompanying search engine. All of the 2.25 million records have also been uploaded to the FREECEN database.

You should join the CON-GEN Rootsweb mailing list. Post your questions there remembering to give as much detail as you can. List your surnames of interest in the subject line in BLOCK capitals. You can search the mailing list archives for these names, hopefully other people have included your names in their subject lines. In any case, an archival search will also search the texts.

On the wider national front, you can search for free the index of certificates for the UK on FreeBMD. Over 16 million census records are available on FREECEN and about 5 million parish register entries on FREEREG. Not all of these are Cornish obviously.

Finally, there is on the international scene, the LDS, the Mormons. Their database, which is free, contains hundreds of millions of entries and is constantly enlarging itself.

There are other avenues open to you, such as the Cornish FHS, but these are not free.

By the way, I have attended a number of “granny hunts” at Wadebridge. I usually ask beginners (and others) if they have taken the time to type their names and places of interest into Google. It is surprising how many haven’t, almost as surprising as what turns up. My brother-in-law, who is in the film business, had about ten thousand hits!

I haven’t listed any URLs (lazy) but Google will find them for you.

The Cornish OPC scheme - a personal view.

Looking round at the family history scene now, it is difficult to remember what it was like ten years ago when the OPC scheme was conceived. No Ancestry, no Familysearch and most people using computers had just been promoted from using toasters!

The three of us first met at the AGM of the CFHS, although we had been in touch via the internet and Paul and David had actually met as the latter returned from Canada. At the AGM we asked what were the plans of the CFHS to use digital media including the internet. Not only did they have no plans, but later correspondence revealed that the Chairman at that time was actively hostile to anything electronic.

The first sign of the changes to come was the successful launch of FreeBMD. All those hours we spent pouring over microfiche or huge books to locate the reference numbers you needed to buy an ancestral certificate. Now, hundreds of volunteers were transcribing the indexes and putting them online – free-to-view.

A sister project of FreeBMD was FreeCen. In 1999 that project was running a pilot project transcribing the Devon 1891 returns. I invited myself aboard and started off transcribing the Cornwall 1891. I was pleasantly surprised to find volunteers easy to recruit. So easy, that we started up the 1841 in parallel.

After the AGM, the three of us decided to meet for a pub lunch once a month to discuss family history. Occasional shouting attracted interest from the regulars and we got FH questions from some of them. We thought that, given the successful launch of the census project, that it would be nice to turn to the parish registers and give them the same treatment. Then we decided that we quite liked the “adopt-a-parish” idea. But it was the arrival of the name “Online Parish Clerk” that spurred us into action.

We liked it because it married the internet to family history. We also widened the scope to include any data, not just parish registers. We also liked it because it involved the worldwide Cornish online society. A feature of the Cornish census project was something that the organizers of FreeCen didn’t like. The emphasis in recruiting was on the Cornishness of the project.

Initially, the job of scheme co-ordinator was just to maintain a list of parishes and OPCs. Recruiting was done by occasional messages on the Cornish Rootsweb mailing lists. In addition, we appealed for anyone who had transcribed parish registers to gift their work to us. Our intention was to accumulate these transcripts to place them online free-to-view – one day.

This approach was maintained for two or three years with considerable success. Things changed when Myra took over as co-ordinator. The scheme acquired its own web site with a page for each parish. Then the searchable online database was created. The transcription of parish registers took off when the LDS started to supply copies on disc. Under Myra’s epic leadership, other sources of data were incorporated into the database.

In my opinion, Myra, aided by Diane Donohue, Julia Mossman and Bill O’Reilly, has created a scheme that is better than our original vision. I look forward to the next ten years!

The history of Mitchell

Michel is first styled a manor (manerium) in 1301 and a borough (burgus) in 1305, but both these titles were in process of creation in the earlier part of the thirteenth century. It is evident that the community was in its infancy at this time and we need not look in Domesday for any reference to it. In 1239 Walter de Ralegh and Isabel his wife (in whose right he was lord of the Manor of Degembris) obtained a royal charter for a yearly fair on St Francis’ day and a weekly market at Meideshol. It is probable that the chapel of ease at Michell dedicated to St Francis was erected by Walter de Ralegh at this time. We find it mentioned in a deed of 1292, and its dedication shows that it could hardly have been erected before the canonization of St Francis in 1222 and probably dates from about 1239. St Francis was the patron of the community and the chief Court Leet was held on the day after his feast.

In the early thirteenth century we can picture the infant community of Michell as a mere appendage to the Manor of Degembris. In 1284, however, Peter de Ralegh sold that manor to Sir John de Pello Prato. Michell was at this time cut adrift from the manor and sold separately to Sir Reynfry Arundell, who died lord of it in 1288. Once separated from the parent manor, the new Manor and Borough of Michell could hope to develop as an independent community. In 1283 it had sent its own representatives, a jury of six, to the Eyre at Launceston, thereby showing its right to a separate representation from the Hundred of Pydar. It did the same in 1301 and 1305. In 1283 and 1301 it bears the humble title of ‘villa’ but in 1305 the style ‘burgus’ is used to the first time. Sir Reynfry Arundell probably purchased Michell as a speculation. His son in 1289, regardless of the laws of political economy, raised the tolls at the fair, to the great hurt of the whole country. For this he was punished at the Eyre of 1301. At the same time he was compelled to show by what warrant he claimed ‘emendation of the assize of bread and ale when broken’, in his Manor of Medeshole.

Michell never became wholly exempt from its duties as a tithing of the Hundred of Pydar, despite its separate representation at the Eyre. It had to pay 13s. 4d. as smoke-silver and also maintain a thing-man at the Hundred Courts. In 1327 the ‘villa de Medeshole’ pays the subsidy apart from the parishes of St Enoder and Newlyn in which it was situated. In later rolls, however, no distinction of this kind is made.

Besides the actual village, the limits of the co-extensive ‘Manor and Borough’ included the tenements of Goonmarth and Nantellion. The greater part lay in St Enoder parish, the residue in Newlyn.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there were probably some eight free burgesses, holding burgages of the lord (freeholders). Some of these holdings were amalgamated and their holders at the end of the eighteenth century became the five ‘Mesne-Lords’ of the borough, who were created by the chief lord of the manor by lease and release; and it was from among these that the portreeve or returning office had to be chosen. The lord of the manor had become the ‘chief lord’. In 1552, when the borough acquired parliamentary representation, these offices and titles gained a real importance. After constant disputes the House of Commons finally decided that the mesne-lord (including the portreeve), and the inhabitants who paid scot and lot (i.e. Rates), were alone entitled to vote. In 1829 there were four mesne-lords and three rate-payers!

Michell was probably at the zenith of its prosperity in the fourteenth century, before the Black Death. It sank in the fifteenth to rise again under Henry VII. Parliamentary representation failed to do more than keep it a living and increasingly corrupt corpse. After 1832 it became a peaceful country hamlet.

The People of Mitchell 1851

The people of Mitchell were enumerated in April 1851. There were 183 people, divided into the parishes of St Enoder (101) and Newlyn East (82). The number of people and households has doubled since 1851, this is mainly due to the lead mine a mile to the north at Wheal Rose.

Household 1 Richard Pope Head M 33 Ag Lab born Lanteglos

Household 2 Thomas Courtis Head M 36 Ag Lab born Newlyn

Household 3 Mary Moyle Head U 25 School Mistress born Kenwyn

Household 4 Simon Yeoman Head M 45 Blacksmith born Lower St. Columb

Household 5 William Harris Head M 25 Lead Miner born St. Clements

Household 6 John Curtiss Head M 47 Labourer born Crantock

Household 7 Ann Batten Head W 43 Employed On Farm born St. Dennis

Household 8 William Nancarrow Head M 57 Mason Emp 2 Men born Newlyn

Household 9 John Trenberth Head M 43 Lead Miner born Gwinear

Household 10 Samuel Brabyn Head M 35 Ag Lab born Mawgan

Household 11 Philip Oates Head M 39 Lead Miner born St. Agnes

Household 12 Mary Ann Williams Head W 65 Retired Dressmaker born St. Minver

Household 13 Francis Bassett Head M 28 Innkeeper & Farmer Of 140a born Mitchell

Household 14 Mary Williams Head M 61 Maltster's Wife born Kea

Household 15 Charles Woon Parks Head M 49 Farmer Of 180a Emp 6 Men born Newlyn

Household 16 William Bassett Head M 27 Miner born Roche

Household 17 Henry Henwood Head M 30 Butcher born Newlyn

Household 18 Grace Tamblyn Head W 38 Shopkeeper born St. Erme

Household 19 Michael M Chegwidden Head M 33 Lead Mine Agent born Gwennap

Household 20 John Vincent Head M 60 Retired Farmer born Crantock

Household 21 William Tremayne Head M 31 Lead Mine Agent born St. Mewan

Household 22 Ann Long Head W 48 Grocer born Gwennap

Household 23 William Tremayne Head M 55 Lead Mine Agent born Phillack

Household 24 Timothy Symons Head M 62 Retired Farmer born Grampound

Household 25 William Tamblyn Head M 37 Master Carpenter Emp 1 Man born St. Enoder

Household 26 Elizabeth Merrifield Head W 51 Blacksmith Widow born St. Enoder

Household 27 William Merrifield Head M 28 Blacksmith born St. Erme

Household 28 James Tamblyn Head M 54 Farmer Of 10 a born St. Enoder

Household 29 Richard Manhire Head M 49 Farmer Of 30a Emp 1 Man born St. Enoder

Household 30 John May Head M 53 Ag Lab born Newlyn

Household 31 Richard May Head U 20 Lead Miner born St. Enoder

Household 32 William H Martyn Head M 25 Master Blacksmith Emp 1 Man born Newlyn

Household 33 John Manhire Head M 46 Master Shoemaker Emp 2 Men born St. Enoder

Household 34 William Whetter Head U 57 Ag Lab born Mitchell

Household 35 James Martyn Head M 30 Carpenter (Journeyman) born Mitchell

Household 36 James Oliver Head M 29 Lead Miner born Ladock

Household 37 Amy Francis Head U 70 Annuitant born St. Minver Blind

Household 38 Robert Vincent Head M 25 Maltster Farmer 23a 3 Men born St. Enoder

Household 39 Richard Tabb Head M 35 Lead Miner St. Enoder

The People of Mitchell 1841

On the 6th June 1841, the people of Mitchell were enumerated. The census showed there were about 70 people in 18 households. Just over 50 were of working age - 14 years and upwards. The rest were children and one Army Pensioner. At that time, the village straddled the parish boundary between St Enoder and Newlyn East. Households 1-12 were in Newlyn East, the rest in St Enoder. Addresses were not in general use in 1841.

Household 1 - Tamson Bilkey 65 Female Servant Born Cornwall

Household 2 – Francis Bassett 20 Inn Keeper Born Cornwall

Household 3 - John Kendall 60 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 4 - William Nancarrow 40 Mason & Builder Born Cornwall

Household 5 - Richard Bassett 50 Farmer Born Cornwall

Household 6 - Charles Parks Woon 40 Farmer Born Cornwall

Household 7 -Richard May 35 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 8 - Thomas Curtis 25 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 9 - Nathan Tamblyn 30 Carpenter Born Cornwall

Household 10 - John Curtis 35 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 10 - James Morcom 30 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 12 - Mary Kea 40 Independent Born Cornwall

Household 13 - William Whetton 47 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 14 - John Vincent 50 Farmer Born Cornwall

Household 15 - Edwd. Budge 50 Drainer Born Cornwall

Household 16 – Harriet Tamblyn 20 Female Servant born Cornwall

Household 17 - Amy Francis 55 Ind Born Cornwall

Household 18 - John Manhire 35 Cordwainer Born Cornwall

Household 19 - Richd. Manhire 40 Farmer Born Cornwall

Household 20 - William Bassett 40 Farmer Born Cornwall

The House of Lords

One of the worst characteristics of the Blair-Brown governments of the last 13 years has been their cavalier attitude towards our constitutional arrangements. Nothing has been sacred to them, from a botched Scottish devolution to the abolition of the heretidary peerage.

Here is my plan for reform of the House of Lords.

There should be an elected House of Lords, populated by Senators. These Senators would be elected under our normal first-past-the-post arrangements, with two Senators from each of our ancient counties with extra ones from London and a few other large cities. They would serve a fixed five-year term. None could serve more than five terms or for more than three consecutive terms for a particular county. Minimum age would be 40 and retirement would be automatic on reaching the state pension age.

One of the most noticeable things about the recent election was the almost total absence of women from the national campaign. This is carried over into the current government, with only one major office filled by a woman. So each county would be required to elect a senator of each sex.

A major objection to an elected House of Lords is that we don’t really need another layer of party politicians. Obviously, you couldn’t prevent political parties putting up candidates but you could discourage them by banning Senators from being members of the government of the day. They would have to resign.

It is often said that the current arrangements means that the House of Lords holds lots of expertise and experience. This might be true, but it also houses a lot of clapped out ex-politicians. Personally, I can’t see why Melvyn Bragg, for instance, should be making laws for me. The new Senators would be salaried and would have a substantial budget to pay for any expert advice and research they needed. The remaining hereditary peers and the life peers could retain their titles but would lose access to the Palace of Westminster.

As they are serving for a fixed term, there would be a fixed date for Senatorial elections. This would be the first Sunday in May and 20% of the Senators would be up for election every year. This would also be day for local elections. The current government seems to be inching towards a fixed term for the House of Commons, so perhaps this “Election Day” could serve us for all three types of elections.

This new Senate should inherit the powers of the current House and its first task should be to instigate a joint commission with the House of Commons into their future relationship. If this commission resulted in proposals for change, then they must be put to a general referendum.

Indeed, this is my final proposal. The switch from appointed Lords to elected Senators must be first agreed by the electorate in a referendum.

A mounting tide of irritation!

Last February, I noticed that I could get all I wanted from my ISP, Demon, by using their Demon Home 8000 service rather than my current service, Demon Home Office 8000. Thus saving £4 a month! I wrote to them and they sent me the paperwork which I completed and sent back. And thought nothing more of. In May, I switched credit card numbers and noticed that they were still charging me for the Home Office service. I told them and they asked for a copy of my original paperwork. I sent it in.

On July 14th, we had a power interrupt during a thunderstorm. The computer went off, but the router didn’t. Later that day, I noticed I had no broadband connection. The next morning I spoke to the Demon Help Desk. I have always found them to be very helpful, and at the price of a local rate phone call, very cheap.

After checking I had all the correct things set, username, password and so on, they said it was my router. I then spoke to the router people, Draytek. They said it didn’t seem to be the router, but as it was 6 years old, it would probably be a good idea to get a new one. I popped into Truro (using my free bus pass!) and bought one.

Started setting up the new router using the disc supplied by Belkin. This had a set-up wizard, so I used that. The details I inputted were from the previous router, already checked as correct by Demon. The start-up Wizard failed, sticking on the 6th of 6 steps. On the phone again, this time to Belkin. Set up the router using the browser. Nice and easy, except that I couldn’t make a web connection.

Back to Demon. They didn’t know anything about Belkin of course; but we went thru’ the whole rigmarole again and again. Username, password, email address etc, etc. No joy. Finally, they declared that it was a BT line fault, involving my local exchange. This would take 24-48 hours. As I was going away the next morning I decided to leave it for now. In the event, I accessed my email over the weekend using Demon Webmail. I also have a Googlemail account.

On my return home, I took up the phone again with Demon. Every time I contacted the Help Desk I had to go over the whole problem; the notes they are supposed to make don’t seem to avoid having to do this. Eventually they decided it was another BT line fault (they had supposedly fixed the first one) and this time it would take up to five days. I just gave up.

The next day, they phone me – made a change. The gentleman calling identified himself as the BT Line fault guy. It was not a line fault he said. He gave me a new username and said that he was sure it would work. And it did. I had my broadband connection back after 8 days. Why was my username changed? He didn’t really know he said. Nor did he know why the numerous so-called “advisors” I had spoken to hadn’t known either.

So – everything fixed. Of course not. I could not connect to collect emails by my email programme, or by webmail. In both cases, the Demon server said the passwords were wrong. Back on the phone – passwords re-set – still no joy. Whilst waiting for something, I idly sent myself a test message from my Googlemail account. It bounced – domain not known! Back on the phone; and then it dawned on them, someone somewhere had changed my domain name by adding a 1 at the end of Medeschole. It wasn’t the passwords after all.

Although I can’t get them to admit it, what I believe happened was that the change of service from Home Office to Home involved a change of username. They made this change and told no one including their own Help desk. Some days after this change, they also changed the domain name. Once again, they didn’t pass this change on to anyone. I subscribe to a number of mailing lists and companies. All of these are now broken because of the change of domain name.

The Demon Help Desk is helpful but you can’t help feeling that they know little about Apple computers (although they are supposed to be the UK ISP of choice for Apples). And of course, they are based in India or somewhere and English is not their first language. I could hear myself getting more and more irritated!

I am now looking for a new ISP – any ideas?

Change of course - again

"Parrot with hammer". By Jamie, 2 years old, completed in about ten seconds. Nothing to do with anything really.


Hello folks

With the ending of my assocation with Free Census, the main reason for this blog disappeared. I had thought to change it to Tales from the past, but it is too much like hard work.

So, I am just going to use it as a pulpit to get things off my chest. Mainly about Cornwall of course.

However, if anyone wants to send in a Tale from the past, I would be only too happy to accommodate them and publish it.

Rgds from a sunny Cornwall

Michael

Tales from the Past No 5 - Joseph Ward

Tales from the Past – Joseph Ward one of Cornwall’s first Police Inspectors

Joseph is my Gt. Gt. Grandfather on my Mum’s side and it’s his fault that I got involved in the Cornwall Online Census Project and later took on the OPC role for Gerrans – hence he has a great deal to answer for!

Joseph was born in Gerrans and was baptised there in Dec 1822, the son of Richard Ward, a labourer, and Harriet Sawle. I really don’t know much about his early years other than a sentence in his obituary saying that “…in early life took to the sea. Not liking this he entered the Metropolitan Police Force. ” That probably explains why I haven’t been able to locate him in the 1841 census as he was probably on a boat somewhere.

He’s still a sailor when he marries Jane Broad Collett in Aug 1850 in Philleigh but 8 months later in the 1851 census he’s a policeman in Kenwyn so according to his obituary he must have already been through the Met. Police in London. His wife was not with him in 1851 but staying with her parents in Philleigh, possibly because she would have been pregnant with Eliza Jane, her first child. Pregnancy seems to have become an almost full time role for her as she produced 10 children over 15 years:
Eliza Jane (1851), Ellen (1853), Richard John (1854), Joseph (my Gt. Grandfather, 1856), Alfred (1857), James (1859), William Henry (1861), Peter Collett (1863), Albert (1865) & Arthur (1866).

While Jane was busy with the children, Joseph was busy with police matters and his name crops up several times in the West Briton e.g.

TRURO POLICE (extract from West Briton 18th March, 1853) On Monday last, John WEST, who lives near Malpas, was charged with being drunk and assaulting policeman WARD while in the execution of his duty. Between nine and ten o'clock on Saturday night, the policeman saw the prisoner lying drunk on the pavement outside the Devon and Cornwall Bank in Boscawen Street. He got him up and advised him to go home, on which the prisoner struck him three or four times. He was fined 5s. and costs, or one month's imprisonment.

TRURO POLICE (Extract from West Briton, Friday August 19, 1853) On Monday last, John TRESIDDER, labourer, of Kenwyn Street was charged with stealing apples from the garden of Mr. John TICKARD, of Trehaverne. He was fined 40s., or in default to be committed for two months to hard labour. Tresidder was also charged with assaulting policemen WARD and PRATER, while in the execution of their duty. He was fined 40s., or one month's hard labourer for assaulting Ward, and the same penalty for assaulting Prater. George PAPPIN was charged with attempting to rescue Tresidder when in custody, and also with assaulting Policeman Ward and Prater. When in the execution of their duty. He was fined 40a., or one month's hard labourer, for each assault, and was ordered to find sureties to keep the peace for six months.

TRURO POLICE (extract from West Briton, Friday October, 21, 1853) CATHERINE BROWN, 46, was indicted for obtaining from Mary GLUYAS the sum of 2s. 7d., by falsely pretending that a compound metal ring she sold to her was gold. Mr. CHILDS conducted the prosecution. Mary Gluyas is a servant with Mrs. MUDGE, of Truro, and said that on Wednesday, last week, prisoner came to the back door of the house, and offered to sell her a ring, which she said was gold. She asked 3s. 6d. for it, but said she was in distress, and ultimately sold it for 2s. 7d. The ring was produced in court by police constable WARD, and was stated by Mr. W.B. SHAW, goldsmith, of Truro, to be made of compound metal, and that such rings were sold for 8d. or 9d. a dozen. Verdict, Guilty. Another indictment of the same nature was preferred against the prisoner, for obtaining 1s. 9d. from Sibella DUNGEY, of Truro, by selling her a ring of compound metal, which she falsely pretended was gold. Verdict, Guilty. A third indictment against the prisoner for selling a similar ring for gold to Eliza TREGANOWAN, of St. Clement, for 3s. 6d. was on the calendar, but was not proceeded with. Four Months’ Hard Labour.

Joseph moved from Truro to Camborne which is where the family were when my Gt Grandfather (Joseph) was born in 1856. A year later the Cornwall Constabular Force was formed and Joseph was appointed an Inspector – initially in Liskeard and from August 1857 in Penzance. This is Joseph in his rather stylish inspector’s uniform:

In Penzance he and Jane continued to raise their expanding family until tragedy struck when Jane died on Christmas Eve 1867, just 2 weeks after the birth of Arthur. Her death was recoded as being due to “Chronic disease of knee joints and tubercular disease of lungs”. This left Joseph with 10 children to raise on his own and his own health was probably already deteriorating as on 31st Oct 1869 the Chief Constable issued the following bulletin:

“The Chief Constable informs the force that Inspector Ward has now been compelled from ill-health to retire from the service, and would now record his great regret at losing the services of this officer who was one of the first to join the Force on its formation, has served the County faithfully for 12 years and leaves the Force with an exemplary character.

The Chief Officer takes this opportunity of laying before the officers of the Force the scheme by which he determined the gratuity awarded to Inspector Joseph Ward and which he proposes to carry out in similar cases of retirement – as to gratuities to officers of good character compelled by ill heath to leave the Force before completing 15 years service and recommended by the Chief Constable for gratuity.
1) up to 10 years service he shall receive a month’s pay for each year’s service
2) after 10 years service and up to 15 years service, he shall in addition receive at the rate of 2 months pay for each year of good service.”

Thus I infer that Joseph was the first member of the Cornwall Constabulary to be retired through ill health as the Chief Constable had to make up the pension rules for him! His police record shows that he received a gratuity of £105 1s 3d out of the superannuating fund.

Just over a year later Joseph was dead from TB and he was buried in Gulval on 30th Nov 1870. His obituary read as follows:

Death of Mr. Joseph Ward, late of the Cornwall County Constabulary
November 27th, 1870, aged 48 years
Hundreds of persons who knew Inspector Ward first at Truro, then at Camborne, then at St. Just, and last at Penzance will regret to hear of his death, at the latter town on Sunday evening, of haemorrhage of the lungs age 48. Mr. Ward we believe was a native of Gerrans and in early life took to the sea. Not liking this he entered the Metropolitan Police Force and afterwards held a similar situation in Truro. He then removed to Camborne where he was engaged by the parish prior to the establishment of the local constabulary. On the formation of this body he was made an inspector, soon afterwards was transferred to St. Just and, eventually was placed in Penzance with a view to aid him to recover broken health. There his wife died leaving 10 young children. Gradually Inspector Ward’s strength failed owing to repeated bleeding from the lungs and becoming incapacitated from active service he received a gratuity of a hundred guineas from the county, and resigned. For two years since then he had lingered until he succumbed on Sunday to a violent and protracted attack.
At Camborne and St. Just when a policeman was a novelty, and some of the rougher sort, especially on pay days, relished a set to with the man in blue, Inspector Ward had hard times of it occasionally, yet he gained not only the confidence of his superiors, but the goodwill of those who at first looked on him as an enemy. His quiet but firm demeanour, his discharge of his duty without the least appearance of meddling, and his neighbourly conduct, joined to sympathy for his position when sickness fell on him and deprived him of his helpmeet, made for him a host of friends and well-wishers who will regret to hear that his large family are now orphans.


Joseph’s police record describes him as follows:
Height: 5ft 9in. Visage: Long, Complexion: Fresh, Eyes: Hazel, Hair: Brown
…that just about describes me and my facial profile is very similar to his. I’d also very pleased with myself if I could live up to the qualities described in his obituary!

Posted by Bill O'Reilly - UK

Tales from the Past - Thomas Rielly

Thomas is my Gt. Gt. Grandfather and a bit of a thorn in my side! He was born about 1836 somewhere in Ireland. He attested for the army in Kilrush, Co Clare in 1853 stating that he was from Tulla in Co Clare but researchers in the area confirm that there were no Rielly, Reilly or any other spelling (with or without the ‘O’) families in that area so “Thanks a bunch Thomas” for leaving me this brick wall.

Thomas served with the 18th Royal Irish Regiment and the Royal Artillery for 21 years. Between 1854 and 1855 he saw service in the Crimea and was at the siege of Sevastopol. There he was awarded the English medal for the Crimea with clasp for Sevastopol and also the Turkish medal for the Crimea. The medals have not survived within the family and I recall my Dad saying that they had probably been pawned by his grandfather

Thomas served with the 18th Royal Irish Regiment and the Royal Artillery for 21 years. Between 1854 and 1855 he saw service in the Crimea and was at the siege of Sevastopol. There he was awarded the English medal for the Crimea with clasp for Sevastopol and also the Turkish medal for the Crimea. The medals have not survived within the family and I recall my Dad saying that they had probably been pawned by his grandfather

After the hell of the Crimea he returned to Ireland and spent a couple of years based in Dublin at Pigeonhouse Fort before being shipped off to India. He was in India between 1857 and 1859 no doubt addressing another aspect of British history, the Indian Mutiny.

Somewhere along the way he married Maria Mooney but I’ve never found out when or where. Tracing Irish marriage records is not easy unless you happen to know which church they married in! I suspect he married while he was in Dublin but there are quite a few churches in Dublin and I’d probably need to spend at least 2 weeks researching in Dublin in order to have a chance of locating the record.

Thomas & Maria’s firstborn was Christopher William, my Gt. Grandfather (see photo), who was born in about 1861 in Madras. Does that make me Indian?

Next came Alfred in about 1866 in Secunderbad and then John in about 1868 somewhere in India.

By 1869 he and his family were back in Ireland and Elizabeth was born in 1869 while he was back at Pigeonhouse Fort followed by Sophia in 1871 when they were based in Athlone. At about that time he seems to have switched regiments again as in Sept 1872 he was serving with the Coast Brigade when he rescued Lizzie McFadden by jumping into the water (the Shannon) and bringing her to the surface. She was ‘insensit’ and he rolled her on the grass to bring her round. For his efforts he was awarded a testimonial on vellum by the Royal Humane Society. The rescue was witnessed and reported by the Horse Guards who received a reward. I hope Thomas received more than a piece of nice paper for his efforts!

In October 1874 he was discharged from the army in Belfast and appears to have relocated to Newcastle on Tyne where Henry was born. By March 1878 he was working as a labourer in Newcastle when Joseph arrived and in the1881 and 1891 census records he was a labourer living in Elswick in Newcastle. In the 1901 census he was a ‘labourer in Elswick Works’ which later became known as Vickers Armstrong – manufacturers of military ordnance.

Thomas’ obituary appeared in the Illustrated Chronicle in Newcastle on 25th Jan 1912,
“Mr Thomas Riley, one of the oldest members of the Northumberland Veterans' Association, died at his residence, 932, Scotswood Road, Newcastle, yesterday, after a brief illness.
Mr Riley had a distinguished military record, having served in the 18th Royal Irish Regiment, and later in the Royal Artillery for a period of over 21 years. He was one of the veterans who were inspected by King George V., when, as Prince of Wales, he visited Newcastle in July 1908.

Mr Riley served throughout the Crimean campaign with the Royal Irish Regiment, and was present at the siege of Sebastopol. He was in possession of the Turkish medal for the Crimea, the medal for long service and good conduct, and also a testimonial from the Royal Humane Society, awarded to him on Jan 16, 1873 for gallantry in saving life.

He was a fine specimen of the Crimean veteran, standing nearly 6 feet high. His photograph was presented to Col. R.O. Kellett and officers of the Royal Irish Regiment by special request some time ago. An enlargement was made and framed with a small tablet attached, setting forth Riley's record of services to his country, and by command of the present commanding officer of the regiment was placed in a prominent place in the regimental institute.

The funeral takes place at Elswick Cemetery on Sunday.” I’ve tried to locate that framed photograph but I suspect it was consigned to the skip when the regimental institute was closed. It certainly never made it to the regimental museum in Ballymena.

Thomas was certainly given a good send off! His coffin was borne through the streets of Newcastle on a gun carriage and he buried with military honours in Elswick.

So this is my one and only link with Ireland and unless there is a minor miracle I suspect it will continue to have that status.

People often assume that with my surname I must be Irish but that really isn’t the case. My Dad was born in Newcastle and his family came from Ireland, India and Somerset; my Mum came from Barnsley but her ancestors came from Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Cornwall. So am I Irish, Indian, Cornish or whatever? I don’t know – but I do know that I’m from the Isle of Wight!