Newsletter of the Shard*low Study Group

by Gerry Langford

Julyl 2001

New Members
Our numbers continue to grow, largely due to John's efforts in putting these letters on the web, since the last report 6 new names have been added to the Mail List.

Lesley Halliwell in Jamaica is Cliff's sister and a cousin of John. Deb. in Michigan, is distantly related to Tim, Andy Ross shares a gret grandfather with Derek. I am still waiting for a little more information from Denise Shardlow and Barrie Shardlow before I can fit them into a family. Lastly Allan Dobney whose partner, Jane, is descended from the Shardalow’s at Thorpe next Haddiscoe. It is gratifying that, as more people are contacting us, it is possible to connect them to other members of the group.

Barrie contacted me as the result of a message addressed to Warren which was misdirected to Barrie, has anyone else had this happen to their Email?

A hearty welcome to you all.

In addition to these Warren has sent me details of Ron. Shardlow's family which is the Australian branch of Avril's. I have not had direct contact with Ron but some time ago Avril had a letter a Jack Shardlow in Queensland who is probably Ron's uncle or cousin.

Both Avril and I replied but have not heard any more.

Perhaps I might be permitted a little `gripe' at this point, I occasionally get enquiries from people who, when I reply with whatever information I can, turn out to already know it.

I would beg anyone contacting us for the first time to give as much information as possible even if they are not sure it is correct. Tales handed down in families often have a foundation in fact and can help to identify a person or family.

OtherLines and Contacts
Ian Shardlow , W.Australia, has sent me a lengthy `Gedcom' file of his family originating in Derbyshire, this seems to be a new line although I feel sure it will, at some point, connect with that in the village of the same name. Ian had also been in contact with a Stephen S., a lecturer at Sheffield University with whom I hope to make contact.

National Burial Index
You may have seen reference to this project by the Federation of Family History Societies who invited FH Societies or individuals to submit records of burials which would be made available on CD.. This could be a useful source of information on people who, for various reasons, moved after marrying and christening children in one place. The IGI records very few deaths, Civil Registration was far from complete in the early years and does not record the place of burial.

The first CD has been published and contains more than 5 million records but is an ongoing project and updates will be issued as and when more burials are submitted.

Initially the response has been very varied, some counties submitting no information while others contributed over 200 thousand burials. Unfortunately for Shards Notts is one of those who did not respond, Derbys provided less than 60.000 and Leicester less than 20.000. The latter have published their own CD so it is understandable they would not want to spoil the sale of this but it means that three counties where the name is most common are not well covered.

Norfolk have contributed around 200,000 entries and Suffolk even more, disappointingly only one Shardalow and 12 Shardlow’s were found.

National Burial Index

Burial Date Forename Surname Age County Place

27 May 1801 Christopher SHARDLOW Derbys Heanor, St Lawrence
1 Feb 1818 William, 78 Warwicks Polesworth, St Editha
20 Sep 1800 Willm., Derbys Heanor, St Lawrence
30 July 1834 Dorothy SHARDALOW, 87 Norfolk Hockering, St Michael
1 Nov 1894 Ambrose SHARDLOW, 52 Yorks W/R Sheffield, Fulwood, Christ Church
24 Jan 1905 Eliza Dinah SHARDLOW, 33 Lincs Cleethorps Cemetery
16 June 1852 Frederick, 8 Derbys Ripley. All Saints
22 Feb 1888 Herbert, 3m Derbys Heanor, St Lawrence
27 Aug 1884 John Alfred, 9 Yorks W/R Sheffield, Attercliffe Christ Church
17 Apl 1833 Sarah, 16 Warwicks Sutton Coldfield Holy Trinity
17 Apl 1833 Sarah, 46
16 Jan 1900 Sarah, 13m Derbys Blackwell St Werburgh
1864 William R., 15 Surrey Guildford, Holy Trinity

1911 Census
I must apologise for some misleading information in "SHARDS 19".

I said that the 1901 census for Norfolk was being made available on line as a trial before releasing the data for the whole of the UK. This was incorrect, the trial is based on the census for 1891 and I apologise if I have caused anyone to waste time trying to find the 1901.

This is not a free service and if you wish to view the original document you must have a credit card account but having said that I was able to print out in full all the usual census details without incurring any charge. It was quite a simple and quick process and I look forward to it being available for other counties and other census years. If anyone wants to try it for themselves the address is http://census.pro.gov.uk but be quick, the trial finishes at the end of July.

English Origins
I have reported previously on this firms joint effort with the Society of Genealogists to put the society's records on line, the only records additional to those already reported are Boyd's Marriage Index for Cambridgshire. This is said to be virtually complete coverage for the county but only produced two records of interest to us.

 1728 Shardelow Diana marrying Wilford ? Cambridge, Holy Trinity

 1830 Shardalow Jn. F. marrying Shaw Eleanor Cambridge, St.Andrew

The second of these will be of interest to Marj. as it clears up some doubt as to the bride's maiden name and I don't think we had a record of where the ceremony took place.

Female Immigration - Tasmania
Marj . has continued her investigation of Keziah Shardelow and her marriage to William Sherwood and we now have a pretty complete picture of their children and grandchildren. Marj. also sent me copies of Tasmanian records on the subject of early immigration, they are too long to reproduce in full but I have extracted the following. " Single women were badly needed in Van Diemen's Land, where the disproportion of the sexes was great"..... "The first group of women arrived per the Princess

Royal on 6 Sep. 1832."..... "Most of the women found situations but Arthur [ The Governor] was unhappy..... as several bad and dissipated persons had been selected."

"...new women arrivals by the `Strathfieldsay' 13 Aug. 1834..... were of a higher moral tone and more industrious in their habits". Thanks for this Marj.

Who was he? In the State Papers Domestic: Charles I, held in the PRO at Kew there is a letter written by Thomas Shardelow regarding troop movements . This is dated 18 Feb. 1628 I have a record of a Thomas christened in 1599, could he be the one?

South Africa, again
 As regular readers will know I have, on numerous occasions, referred to a family whose English roots I have been unable to find. The only clue was that the original immigrant Samuel Thomas Shardalow stated he was born " in the North of England", when I found a reference to a baptism of a George SHARDELOW in Newcastle, Northumberland I thought I was on to it at last. George was christened in 1849, only 3 0r 4 years after the supposed birth of Thomas Samuel for whom I had been searching. As this was only 2 years before the first detailed census I hoped to find Samuel Thomas was a brother and if so where he and his father were born. I got the census entry but no Samuel and no father. George's mother was listed as a widow so, presumably her husband had died, they were living at North Shields, between Newcastle and the coast, and their name had been spelled Shardlow. The only useful information was that George's mother, Sarah, was said to have been born in [Gt] Yarmouth, Norfolk so there is a chance she was married there. I shall follow up this but I am still no nearer finding the origins of Samuel Thomas.

If anyone can add anything to either of these families I would be pleased to hear from them.