Capital Ring: Streatham Common to Richmond

After a couple of weeks break I was back up to London with my friend Chris to continue walking the Capital Ring around London.

The weather was quite a mix today, the morning began with drizzle (we had some much needed rain overnight) but this had stopped by the time we stepped off the train at Streatham Common. Although for most of the morning it was cloudy it was not cold, and after the cloud thinned out a bit in the afternoon it became very warm again.

The first part of the route was not particularly interesting, mainly residential to start with, but a few bits of parkland. Probably the most interesting thing was walking alongside the railway line, not because of being near the railway, but because we were walking through areas that we had previously only seen from the train. One example was the fine looking building below in Streatham which was actually a water pumping station.

From Streatham the route took us through Balham to Wandsworth (past the prison), then onto Earlsfield and Wimbledon Park. From Wimbledon Park the path continued on to Wimbledon Common, this marked a change in the route, from mostly residential to more open country.

Wimbledon Common is perhaps best known as the home of the Wombles. As a fan of the Wombles since childhood I was somewhat disappointed not to actually spot any today. There is however a nice windmill on the common which is quite easy to spot, as was the welcome tea shop next door.

Wimbledon Common was quite easy walking and much softer underfoot, up until then most of the paths (even those across the parks) had been tarmac or concrete. Crossing a busy road on leaving Wimbledon Common took us into Richmond Park, again a much nicer place to walk.

According to the Royal Parks website, Richmond Park is the largest Royal Park in London and is home to "around 650 free roaming deer". We didn’t spot any of them but then the park is almost 2500 acres, so they had plenty of space to hide.

For me there were only two things that spoilt Richmond Park. Firstly was the succession of aeroplanes that passed over head, on their approach to Heathrow Airport. The second was the state of the grass, it should have been a nice lush green, but the lack of rainfall in the last few months has really taken it’s toll on the grass. Of course the grass will recover, but I doubt the skies will ever be clear of planes again until we have another volcanic eruption that grounds them all.

Apart from the planes it is the first time I have really felt like I was out in the countryside whilst walking this route, although we have been through some large parks the scale of Richmond Park was quite breathtaking. It is such a lovely place that I will have to put it on my list of places to visit again in the future.

We left Richmond Park by Petersham Gate, but before leaving we treated to some wonderful views out to the west across the Thames Valley, a view dominated by the rugby stadium at Twickenham. From Petersham we took a bus to Richmond where we caught the train back to Clapham Junction. Changing onto another train to head south to Sussex we passed through the area where we started our walk this morning, but seeing it from a slightly different perspective this time.

Australian Relations: William Joseph Henry BATEMAN (The Marriage: 1905)

This is the third in a series of articles about William Joseph Henry BATEMAN and his family from Australia. This is an ongoing research project and so far much of the research is based on index entries and is unverified, if you have more information or corrections then please get in touch.

On the 22nd April 1905 William Joseph Henry (WJH) BATEMAN (aged 23) married Annie Clark BULL (aged 24). The ceremony took place at the Parsonage, Yarra Street, Geelong, Victoria, Australia and was performed by William Williams, a Methodist Minister.

The digital copy of the marriage registration is not very clear and slightly tricky to read, but for someone used to English marriage certificates it potentially provides much more detail. Instead of just a father’s name, it also includes the mother’s maiden name. It also gives place of birth for the bride and groom and their present residence and their usual residence.

WJH is shown as a seaman, living on the HMS Katoomba, Annie’s residence is not easy to make out except that it was in Geelong, neither is her place of birth, somewhere in Victoria but that is all I can work out.

WJH’s parents are correctly shown as Henry BATEMAN and Dorothy KINGHORN, and Henry’s profession is given as coachman, which agrees with other sources. Annie’s parents are Thomas MCCONACHY (a restaurant keeper) and Elizabeth STEEL. This suggests that at the relatively young age of 24 years Annie was already a widow.

This is confirmed in the condition column, which also tells us that her previous husband died in 1900 and that she had one child surviving from that marriage.

Australian Relations: William Joseph Henry BATEMAN (The Navy Years: 1898 to 1912)

This is the second in a series of articles about William Joseph Henry BATEMAN and his family from Australia. This is an ongoing research project and so far much of the research is based on index entries and is unverified, if you have more information or corrections then please get in touch.

It wasn’t until I located William Joseph Henry (WJH) BATEMAN’s marriage record in the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages that I discovered that he had served in the Royal Navy.

Prior to this I had been unable to work out how WJH had ended up in Australia. We knew he was in Australia and had a rough time frame from postcards that had been sent home, but I couldn’t find him on any passenger lists.

The only information I have is from his entry in Registers of Seamen’s Services (downloadable from The National Archives) which doesn’t appear to go into as much detail as the British Army service records do, and the quality of the digital copy is not brilliant.

On top of this I am not an expert on the Royal Navy, so can only pull out some basic details from the record. I am sure given time I could certainly find out more, but for now I will stick to the basics and please forgive me (and correct me) if I get anything wrong.

It appears WJH enlisted either at the end of 1897 or the start of 1898. His first period of service was from the 3rd January 1898 on the Impregnable, a training ship. When he enlisted he would only have been 16 years old. His height was given as 5 ft 5½ ins, his hair was dark brown, his eyes brown and his complexion “fresh” (at least I think that is what it says).

Presumably because of his age he started his career as a Boy, 2nd Class, about nine months later, whilst serving on the Lion, he became a Boy, 1st Class. When he reached eighteen in January 1900 he became an Ordinary Seaman and in December that same year he became an Able Seaman.

Although his twelve years continuous service started only started on his eighteenth birthday, it appears he joined the Royal Fleet Reserve on the 24th December 1905. By this time he was sailing in Australian waters, and looks like he had been for a couple of years at least.

From what I understand once in the Royal Fleet Reserve he was back on dry land and able to return to his normal day job, although having started as a boy he didn’t really have an occupation (when he enlisted his occupation was given as “errand boy”. It sounds like he would have been able to carry on a normal life with the possibility of being called back to the navy at any time up to the end of his twelve years service (which finished in January 1912).

Whilst I don’t know much detail about his naval career, the most important event during his time with the navy was his marriage on the 22nd April 1905 to Annie Clark BULL. I don’t know whether this brought about his transfer to the Royal Fleet Reserve or whether that would have happened regardless.

Australian Relations: William Joseph Henry BATEMAN (The Early Years: 1882-1898)

This is the first in a series of articles about William Joseph Henry BATEMAN and his family from Australia. This is an ongoing research project and so far much of the research is based on index entries and is unverified, if you have more information or corrections then please get in touch.

William Joseph Henry (WJH) BATEMAN was my 2x great-uncle. He was born in Brighton, Sussex on the 19th January 1882. His birth was registered in Q1 1882 in the Brighton Registration District, although I don’t have a copy of his birth certificate yet. So far I have yet to find a record of his baptism, although I haven’t made a thorough search of all the parishes in Brighton yet.

His parents were Henry BATEMAN and Dorothy Isabella KINGHORN who were married in Brighton Registration District in Q4 1881, again I don’t have a copy of their certificate yet nor have I found their entry in the parish registers. This is an interesting marriage, Henry was from Gloucestershire and Dorothy was from London, and it appears that they met whilst working at Spratton, Northamptonshire.

In a very short space of time the couple have moved to Brighton, got married and had a child. The speed with which this happened makes me suspect this was all rather unplanned. In the 1881 census they are living close together (probably both working at Spratton Hall), by the end of the year they are married and at the start of the following year Dorothy gives birth to a son.

I don’t know a lot about WJH’s early years, he appears in the 1891 census as a nine year old boy living with his parents at 19 Yardley Street, Preston, Sussex (just on the outskirts of Brighton). Also living there with WJH is his one year old sister Dorothy May (my great-grandmother) and his grandmother Isabella KINGHORN.

The family appear to have moved to Yardley Street around 1889, but I don’t know where they were before then, other than Brighton. I have yet to find out which school WJH attended and when, but I am sure that given time I will uncover the details. Around 1897 the family moved to Hurstpierpoint, Sussex although it is not known whether WJH was still living at home at that time.

What is known is that at the start of 1898 WJH joined the Royal Navy and it was this that ultimately led to him settling in Australia several years later.

Who Do You Think You Are? – Rupert Everett

To be honest I was a little disappointed with last night’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? I must also confess that I still have no idea who Rupert Everett actually is (I obviously don’t waste enough time watching TV and films), although I did miss the first couple of minutes which would probably have told me more about his career.

The story was more interesting to me than last week’s episode, there at least appeared to be some proper research research going on, but my first complaint was that there were too many loose ends left dangling.

It appeared on screen that virtually no effort was put into finding out what happened to the wives of Frederick William Cunningham Everett when he sailed off into the sunset. I am sure some more research must have been done, but if the only searches were the two census searches that we saw on screen then I am not surprised that his first wife wasn’t found.

It was almost as if they were leaving that avenue of research open for some audience participation, but they weren’t quite bold enough to say it. I am sure there will be plenty of people online today looking for her, trying to prove they can do a better job than the show’s researchers.

What really frustrated me the most were Everett’s ‘flights of fantasy’. He seemed to have a very vivid imagination and lack of hard evidence seemed to allow him ample opportunity to fill in the gaps. The informant on Frederick’s death certificate “must be some old sailor hag”, even though all he knew was a name (not even a first name just initials and a surname) and address.

I can’t let the use of the word “navvy” go unmentioned. Someone please correct me if I am wrong but merchant seamen, or any other type of sailors, have never been called navvies. I always thought navvy was short for navigator, and that navvies were the labourers responsible for building canals and railways.

Two episodes into this latest series and it is starting to seem to me that it has reached the end of it’s life. It will be interesting to see what the ratings say, but this avid genealogist is beginning to wonder if it is worth watching the rest of the series.