Newsletter of the Shard*low Study Group

by Gerry Langford

January 2002

DNA Testing
It has become clear I over estimated the interest there would be in the project I proposed and I have decided to abandon the idea.

I was disappointed by how few responded to my request for feedback, it would seem members felt it better not to reply at all rather than give a negative answer and this, in itself, was also disappointing. Perforce most of the content of the newsletters is written by me but that does not mean comment and/or criticism would not be welcomed.

Battle of Britain
In "Shards 17" I reported that the "Songs of Praise" television programe had featured Fred Rushmer, a Spitfire pilot who was lost in this conflict. He was the son of Annie Rushmer neé Shardalow, Wilfrid George, Fred's cousin, has told me that on Remembrance Sunday a memorial plaque was dedicated in Thurlton church recording Fred and four soldiers from the village who died in WWII.

"English Origins" update
So far as I know no new records have been added to this site but when I ran a check recently it gave me six Shardelow marriages it had not reported before although some of these are on the IGI

    1563 Shardelow Leon marrying Tibenham An  Norwich

    1587 Shardelow Tho.    "      Covel Fran     Westhall   (Covill on IGI)

    1642 Shardelow Mary    "     Weeler  Geo.   Langham, Essex

    1740 Shardelow Tho.    "      Jefferies Sus.   Denham Nr Eye

    1776 Shardelow Tho.    "     Smith An      Mildenhall

    1784 Shardelow  Tho    "     Newdick  Eli.   Barton Mills

Shardelow in the NE
At last I have been able to resolve the question of the identity of the George Batholomew S. born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he was definitely a Shardelow.

When his parents married the certificate was made out as SHARDLOW and his father signed that way but, even on a photocopy, you can see that he has put a small `E' over the top.

I have found his Baptism in the Parish Registers of St. Nicholas, Gt.Yarmouth, Norfolk,

He is the son of Samuel Acheson Shardelow and Phoebe neé Wiseman. Samuel was a brother of John Hyat Shardelow so the mysterious George was distantly related to Gwyn S. in Barry and Paul S. in Haverhill. Searching the 1881 Census has failed to find George or his mother so she probably married again.

George Batholomew's mother's maiden name was Peggs, is it too fanciful to suggest this might have been the inspiration for the name Peggoty in in Dicken's "David Copperfield" set in Gt.Yarmouth?

Nine months for £50
On 6th May 1892 "TheTimes" reported a case at the Central Criminal Court when SYDNEY GEORGE SHARDLOW pleaded guilty to a charge of falsifying accounts. The sum involved was £50 and he received a sentence of `Nine months hard  labour'. The 1881 census shows him as being born in London but living in Ardwick Lancashire with his widowed mother but the family had obviously moved several times as he had siblings born in Derby and Leek

Sports Section
In the past it has not been thought necessary to devote space to this activity but we may have to in the future. Some time ago I reported trying, without success, to make contact with a Tommy Shardlow in South Africa who won medals for cycling in the 1952 & 56 OlympicGames.

Tony Shardlow, himself a keen cyclist, has reminded me of this with an extract from the newsletter of a South African cycling club reporting a visit from Tommy. Lynn Shardlow tells me both her father, Graham, and his uncle Charlie played cricket for their Counties and I have recently been told of B. Shardlow playing in a cricket match between "Derby Deaf & Dumb and Leeds Deaf & Dumb". I have not been able to find a "B" Shardlow at the time (1885) or anyone with a name likely to be shortened to "Bert".

Has anyone any knowledge of this or of an ancestor handicapped in this way?

Incidentally Derby batted all day and made 167 for 5, Leeds never got to bat. B. Shardlow was `Run out' without scoring!

Security
Thanks are due to Warren Shardlow who often alerts me to new viruses. I know some members do not like opening attachments to E-mails, such as this newsletter, I have always made a point of not opening or downloading any material if I do not know the sender but I have now installed a virus protection program as an added precaution. It also has `Firewall' protection against unauthorised access to my computers so the information with which you entrust me is safe from `hackers'.

New Contact
Avril Marshall has put me in touch with John Shardlow who seems to be related to another member, Graham Shardlow, the connection being the use of WISEMAN as a second given name or hyphenated to the surname. This requires further investigation after the holiday but I can say it is NOT related to the Phoebe Wiseman mentioned above in connection with George Shardelow born in Gt.Yarmouth.

I would like to thank John Shardalow for getting this newsletter on to his web site, it has played a big part in increasing the membership of the group, each new contact extends our records and thus enables me to help others with their research. "Shards" now goes direct to 30 people, I don't know many read it on John's web site.

Thanks also to those who have sent items for inclusion in "Shards", I am sure there are others who have a story to tell. I would particularly like to add some personal details to the names and dates we already have. Some of our fathers and grandfathers have, I know, had colourful lives serving in the forces but everyday events can be equally effective in painting a picture of the person instead of an impersonal set of dates so lets hear from you.