Newsletter of the Shard*low Study Group

by Gerry Langford

December 2004

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Comment
First I must apologise for an error in the item “Fatal Accident” in Shards #32, I said that Kitty was the daughter of Kate Stocks nee’ Shardlow, this was incorrect and should have read Lillian Stocks nee’ Shardlow. Lillian was a sister of Kate and married James Stocks in 1900. I regret any inconvenience this has caused.

Currently I am combining data held on two different programs plus some not yet entered, this is proving a lengthy process as there is some overlapping of all three but is also a useful check where information from different sources does not agree.

Usually this is a case of one or more children missing on one set of information or confusion between date of birth and Baptismal date. Although I am a great advocate of checking everything at the original source it is not possible for me to do this with all the information sent to me so I am glad of anything which points to a possible mistake. I should also say that on at least three occasions I have, from personal knowledge, found the original entry to be wrong.

Family size
Another ‘spin off’ from consolidating this data is that families previously thought to be unrelated are in fact all one. This is through the male line, not by marriage, I record the children of female Shard*low’s but not subsequent generations.

The champion, for the moment, family by the same parents is that of Joseph Walter Shardlow, born Eccleshall 1862 and Mary Ann Clark, born 1877, who had 14 children all but two of whom lived to adulthood. I think Joseph must have been a soldier, his army records have not been found but the birth of their children charts their travels. Joseph and Mary Ann were married in Meean Meer, India the date is not known but their first child (also Joseph Walter) was born there in 1890, by 1891 they were back in England when Mary was born followed by George in 1893. A year later William was born in Ireland followed by Frederick in 1897 but by 1899 they were back in Meean Meer, India for the birth of Florence. The thought of the journey to India, presumably on a Troop Ship, with 4 children under 7 is a daunting one. The source of my information is a family history in the library at the Society of Genealogists, it does not give the birth place of the other eight children but reference to the GRO index of Birth Registrations confirms them, with one or two small differences of date, as born in England. Charles 1902, Robert 1904, Frank Percy 1907, Harold 1906, Bert 1910, Leslie 1912, Phyllis 1915 and Patricia 1918 .

Long tenancy
Some time ago Tony Shardlow sent me a copy of an article which appeared in “The Daily Express” in 1935, this featured the tenancy stretching over 150 years of the “Three Crowns Inn” at Little Stoke, Staffordshire. All this time it was kept by successive members of a Shardlow family which can be traced back to the marriage in Duffield, Derbyshire of John Shardloe and Mary Robinson in 1703. It seems probable that John was a brother or cousin of the William Shardlow of Makeney and Aston-on-Trent.

New Contacts
David Matthews had a Shardlow grandmother who was part of a family in Markfield, Leicestershire which has been traced back two generations to a John Shardlow of Leicester (town) who married Martha Scott at Markfield in 1800.

John’s origins have yet to be confirmed, a GG grandson, Alfred, emigrated to South Africa and it is his family who sent me a photograph of the Memorial Plaque which was published in Shards #25. They are not related to the Edward John Shardelow whose name is on the plaque.

I have also heard from Jane Kelly and David Booty who are distantly connected to the Norfolk Shardalow’s.

Our Webmaster John Shardalow had an inquiry from John Alden who had read Maud Milgate’s book on John’s home page but his interest was in the mention of Shimpling rather than the Shard*low name.

The Name
Back in January this year Heather Eaton drew my attention to entries in the parish registers of Repton, Derbyshire. These were in the late 16th and early 17th Century for Shardly, Shardlye, Shardloe and, in one case, Shardloue. At the time I am afraid I was rather preoccupied and did not follow this up. On closer examination of the Baptismal names and the occasional use in other sources feel sure they can be attributed to the unregulated spelling at that time and can be translated as Shardlow.