espinet/espenett - seafaring bishops
CHAPTER 15
LATTER-DAY BISHOPS
This chapter follows with more Bishops of my Grandfather’s generation who were born in the last half of the 19th century. The following Bishops being grandchildren of Robert Bishop and Margaret Elizabeth Rust. To start with the children of Captain Robert Reuben Bishop.
Robert Reuben Bishop junior, the only son of Robert Reuben Bishop and Susan Perciville Constantine was born 26 March 1866 at Albemarle Street, Westoe, County Durham. It is rather confusing as Robert Reuben senior had two sons named Robert Reuben Bishop and both were living at the same time, unknown to one another. So you will find that I have listed them both as Robert Reuben Bishop junior, one born 1866 and the other born 1877.
156. Tally clerk checking a consignment of bananas at West India dock
In the 1881 Census Robert was an apprentice cigar maker living with his mother and sisters. Then on Christmas Day 1888 he married Sarah Barrett at Trinity Church, Stepney. At his marriage he was a cigar maker living at 12 Trafalgar Square, Stepney and Sarah was a machinist of 24 Ocean Street, Stepney. Robert and Sarah had the one child, William Reuben Bishop born 23 June 1889 at 24 Driffield Road, North Bow, London (William Reuben had ten children). At that time the father was a journeyman cigar maker, but soon after Robert changed occupations and was a ship’s tally clerk working in the docks in 1891, 1901 and 1911. He continued living in the east end of London as a tally clerk, and was residing at 35 Prestager Street, Poplar in 1891, at 59 Lingham Road, West Ham, Essex in 1901 and at 26 Kelly road, Canning Town in 1911. Robert Reuben Bishop a former tally clerk in the docks, of 26 Kildare Road, West Ham died 11 August 1935 aged 69 years, of myocarditis at 214 Central Home, Leytonstone, Essex. His niece F. Parmenter of 33 Kildare Road was the informant.
Before the advent of container ships the ships cargo would have been loaded by stevedores into the holds and the paper work involved was extremely important but not too complicated except that a great many copies were usually required. Generally there were tally sheets, hatch lists, a stowage plan and of course the manifest. As the cargo moved aboard to be stowed in the holds, tally clerks would keep a record of each load, checked it against what they had been advised to be loaded and noted any damage or discrepancy. The same applied to the discharge of cargo. Part of my time when I worked for the Port of London Authority, I was training as a warehouse officer in the Royal Docks (now London City Airport) and had control of some twenty regular PLA tally clerks.
William Arthur Bishop, the eldest son of Robert Reuben and Sarah Isabella Bishop was born 5 August 1874 at Beverley Terrace Cullercoats and known as Willy. He was a sea-going marine engineer (only an apprentice in 1891) who was married by Banns to Rosina Tampin on Boxing Day 1899 at St. Luke’s Church, Deptford. Rosina was the daughter of Tobias William and Caroline Tampin (née Standring) born on 1 March 1879 at 10 Rosemary Lane, Ipswich in Suffolk. Her father, Tobias William (usually known as William) had moved from Ipswich to Deptford and was a seaman in the Merchant Service and later in 1891 was a ship’s engineer. William Arthur and Rosina had one son, William Clement Charles Bishop, born 18 October 1900 at 213 Grove Street, Deptford but Rosina died four years later aged 25 on 20 October 1904 at 85 Lower Road, Rotherhithe of phthisis (consumption) 2 years; a miscarriage and hæmoptysis (spitting blood). Her mother Caroline Tampin of 213 Grove Street, Deptford was present at her daughter’s death.
Six years later William Arthur Bishop, a widower, married Clara Annie Sully on 16 October 1910 at the Parish Church of St. Aidan, South Shields. They had three children born in South Wales:-
Arthur Reuben John 3rd August 1912 Dunraven St, Tonypandy, Rhondda
Isabella Jane 17 July 1914 Cardiff, South Wales
Thomas Charles 7 January 1922 Cardiff, South Wales
William Arthur died aged 86 on 8 Feb 1961 at 1a Mortimer Road, Cardiff of carcinoma of the larynx. His widow, Clara Annie died ten years later of broncho- pneumonia and influenza aged 88 on 29 Dec 1972 also at the same address. Their son Thomas Charles was the informant of both these deaths.
Robert Reuben Bishop, junior was born 20 November 1877 at 20 Eleanor Street, Cullercoats, Northumberland, the third son of Robert Reuben and Sarah Isabella Bishop (not to be confused with the one of the same name born 1866). He followed his father and became a Master Mariner, with special qualifications in steamships (Certificate No. 003043, passed at Sunderland in 1909). He married Johanna Youart, daughter of Anthony Hedley Youart, a block and mast maker, at Holy Trinity Church, South Shields on 2nd April 1903. Robert and Johanna had five children:-
Thelma Irene (Rene) 9 Sep 1903 58 Hedley Street, South Shields
Sarah Isabella 1 Aug 1905 58 Hedley Street, South Shields
Olive 29 May 1914 8 George Scott Street, South Shields
Johanna (Joan) 2 Apr 1916 South Shields
Robert (Bob) 8 Mar 1918 South Shields
Johanna died at 90 Baring Street, South Shields on 27 November 1918 of influenza and pleurisy. Eight months later Robert Reuben remarried to Elizabeth Ann Lyon on the 26 July 1919 at the Parish Church, Hendon, Bishopwearmouth (near Sunderland). Elizabeth Ann was 14 years younger than Robert; born on the 1 November 1893 at 12 Gardner Street, Westoe, County Durham the daughter of Louisa Lyon, a domestic servant. On Elizabeth Ann’s marriage certificate she stated that her father was Thomas Jones, a butcher deceased.
Robert Reuben and Elizabeth Ann Bishop had three children:-
Elizabeth Ann (Ann) 17 Jun 1920 South Shields
Alexander 7 Sep 1921 64 Denmark Street, South Shields
William Arthur (Bill) 26 Nov 1923 90 Baring Street, South Shields
Robert Reuben junior was captain of the following steamships from 1910 - 1928:-
BRID, ALTO, IVYDENE, ALTO, RELENTLESS (late Alto), PRIMO, MUTO, PRESTO, LESTO, AZIRA, SPERO, CITY, HYLAND, SCANDIA, EUOPEAN, HAUXLEY, WOTAN, WILLIAM BALLS, GATERSIDE.
(Those ships ending in “O” belonged to the Pelton Steamship Company.)
The ALTO was lost on 16 July 1916 by a mine from the UC1 German submarine and sunk four miles off Kessingland, Suffolk when returning in ballast from Rouen to Newcastle (no casualties). The PRESTO was in collision in the River Tyne on 31 July 1914 but on 6 April 1917 she was mined and sunk 4 miles off Roker Point, Sunderland and six crew died. The LESTO, a British vessel of 1,940 gross tonnage, defensively armed, was torpedoed without warning and sunk by a submarine on 23 May 1917, 8 miles west of Le Blanc Lighthouse (Ile de Pillier) whilst on a voyage from Bilbao, Spain bound for Garston, Merseyside, with iron ore. Four lives were lost and the Master, Robert Reuben Bishop, made prisoner. In the month of May 1917 a total of 122 British merchant ships were lost at sea due to enemy action. Ile de Pillier is a small island close to Ile de Noirmoutier and off St. Nazaire in France, the site on 12 December 1999 where the Maltese tanker ERIKA broke in two and her cargo of heavy fuel oil heavily polluted much of this area.
The AZIRA, a British vessel of 1,144 gross tonnage, was torpedoed without warning and sunk by a submarine on 4 August 1917, 4½ miles from Tyne Pier (though another record gives 6 miles SE of Seaham harbour), whilst on a voyage from the Tyne for Cherbourg, France with a cargo of coal. One life was lost. In the month of August 1917, 91 British merchant vessels were lost at sea due to enemy action. The HYLAND was in collision in Cardiff Roads on 20 December 1919.
Robert Reuben Bishop of 11 Poplar Grove South Shields a retired Master Mariner died at the age of 80 at South Shields General Hospital on 7 July 1958. His son Alexander, a librarian, who was single at that time and living with his parents, was the informant of his father’s death. Robert’s widow Elizabeth Ann Bishop died aged 70 at 22 Allendale Drive South Shields on 7 May 1964. Alexander, the son of the same address who was then married and again the informant.
Alice Maud Mary Bishop, always known as Polly, was born 7 November 1880 at 20 Eleanor Street, Cullercoats, Northumberland the daughter of Robert Reuben and Sarah Isabella Bishop. She married Robert Augustus Kelly at St. Michael’s Church, South Westoe County Durham on 22 October 1902. Robert Augustus was a “motor-man” in 1902, born at Douglas I.O.M. about 1877, the son of Thomas Kelly, a shoemaker, and Sarah Jane, née Morrison. Polly and Robert had one son, Robert Edward Charles. Kelly. Robert senior came to London to work as an electrician on the trams but died in 1939 aged 61 at Bow in east London.
157. L.C.C. Tramcar
Polly was expecting, when she had a nasty fall whilst dismounting from a tram and miscarried. Whilst recuperating she was advised to apply for a job and started work in the Stewards Department of Buckingham Palace in 1910, initially covering for just three weeks. When presented with the Royal Victorian Medal (for personal service to the Sovereign) by King George, he said “This young lady came to us for three weeks but stayed on for 43 years”; unfortunately she never received a pension. Alice Maud Mary died 22 January 1966 at Epsom District hospital in Surrey of bronco-pneumonia and cerebral haemorrhage. Robert had died 26 years earlier aged 61 at Bow in east London.
Next follows the grandchildren of Robert Bishop, the children of William Bishop.
Margaret Sarah Bishop, the eldest daughter of William Bishop the river pilot and Eliza Mary Egerton was born 21 August 1862 at 20 South Place Bermondsey, Surrey. Margaret married Horatio Nelson Perry 10 September 1884 at St. John’s Roman Catholic Chapel, Gravesend. Horatio was 12 years her senior (born 1850 at Bath) and a Chemist and Druggist of 73 High Street, Gravesend. In the 1891 Census Horatio was carrying on his business at this address with an assistant and a servant while Margaret was living with her Uncle and Aunt, Joseph and Julia Anderson, at 48 Buckingham Road, Brighton, Sussex. It may be that she was ill and was visiting for a period of time to try and recuperate. Margaret Sarah Perry died 20 December 1891 in Sussex County Hospital in Brighton of peritonitis from an operation on a fibrous tumour of the uterus. Three years later Horatio Nelson Perry remarried to Emily Formosa Bolton on 29 September 1894 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Farnham, Surrey. Horatio and Emily had the one child Gladys Marion Perry born 1st Qtr 1895 at New Southgate, Middlesex. Horatio died from brain paralysis and exhaustion in the Union Workhouse Infirmary at Gravesend on 23 January 1909.
Mary Egerton Bishop, the second eldest daughter of William Bishop the river pilot and Eliza Mary Egerton was born 3 August 1865 at Blake’s Building, North End, Yarmouth, Norfolk. She was a scholar boarding at Palmers School, Grays Thurrock in Essex in the 1881 Census. Mary married James Dowling 25 July 1885 at St. John’s Roman Catholic Chapel, Gravesend. James Dowling born in Liverpool about 1852 was a solicitor of 31 Great Orford Street, Liverpool at his marriage. In the 1901 Census James had changed occupations and place of abode; he was a shorthand writer living at 25 Maitland Park Villas in St. Pancras London. Charles Dickens was also a shorthand writer for a time. Molly Weir was another prodigious shorthand writer and used to demonstrate for Pitmans. It was her way out of the Gorbals. A shorthand writer was a very prestigious job and still is in places such as the courts (reporting all High Court trials) and Parliament (Hansard) as they reached very high speeds - verbatim up to about 350+ wpm. James Dowling had rather middle class neighbours; perhaps he was an exceptional shorthand writer. In the 1911 Census James had changed occupations again and was a solicitor of law, residing at No. 1 Clephane Road, Canonbury in north London. Of his six children who were living; the eldest was in Germany, the youngest aged eleven a scholar at home and the other four were all shorthand typists.
158. Mary Egerton Dowling née Bishop 1865-1928
James Dowling and Mary Egerton Bishop had the following children:-
William George Bishop b. 3 May 1886 Liverpool d. 27 Feb 1959 Brighton
m 18 Jan 1913 Katherina Theodora Schuller
Stephen John b. 25 Aug 1887 New Brighton d. Dec 1967 Majorca
m 20 Sep 1913 Emma Elizabeth Catmore
Margaret Catherine b. 27 Dec 1888 New Brighton d. 27 Dec 1889 New Brighton
Kathleen Nora b. 14 Jul 1890 Bootle, Lancs d. 30 May 1979 Richmond
m 27 Jul 1914 Curtin McKenna
Mary Josephine b. 10 Jun 1892 Bootle, Lancs d. 7 Feb 1978 Italy
m 20 Nov 1913 Eustace Fulton
m 2 Feb 1922 Nicola Favia
Dorothy b. 22 Dec 1894 Bootle, Lancs d. May 1988 Richmond
m 14 Jun 1913 Percival Walter Grey
Julia b. 31 Jan 1896 St. Pancras d. 29 Sep 1899 Liverpool
James Egerton b. 24 Jan 1900 Kentish Town d. 21 Sep 1976 Newbury
m 29 Jul 1933 Dorothy Elizabeth Standley
Joseph b. 24 Oct 1901 Kentish Town d. 3 Jul 1902 Kentish Town, London
Ellen Mildred Bishop, the youngest daughter of William Bishop the river pilot and Eliza Mary Egerton was born 27 January 1875 at 188 Albany Road, Camberwell, Surrey. Ellen married Arthur Frederick Flood 7 October 1899 at St. John’s Roman Catholic Chapel, Milton-next-Gravesend. Arthur Frederick Flood was a Chartered Accountant’s clerk of 9 Mainland Park Villas, Haverstock Hill, Hampstead in London. Ellen and Arthur had two children, Charles Bernard Flood born 4 September 1900 at 29 Estelle Road, Kentish Town, London and Catherine Edith Mary Flood born 25 May 1902 at 14 Savernake Road, St. Pancras, London. In the 1901 Census Ellen, Arthur and their baby Charles were living with Ellen’s father and her step-mother.
Charles Bernard Flood went on to become a Roman Catholic priest of the Roman Catholic Church at Fulham. He was Canon and later Monsignor of the Catholic Children’s Society (Westminster) from 1953 until his death. The Charles Bernard Flood Trust was established in 1964 after his death to provide help and support for destitute Catholic orphans and families in need in the Diocese of Westminster irrespective of race or faith and to provide them with education and a trade apprenticeship.
159. Epitaph - Charles Bernard Flood
William John Bishop was born 18 July 1851 at Victoria Terrace, Stranton, Hartlepool, County Durham the son of Samuel James Bishop and Helen Brown and baptised at All Saints Church, Hartlepool the following day. A baptism on the day of the baby’s birth, or soon after, was usually because the baby was ill and might not live but maybe in this case the father was off to sea the next day and wanted to be present at the baptism. William John Bishop was a seaman and married Sarah Isabella Hedley at St. Thomas’s Church, Bishopwearmouth (part of Sunderland) on 17 March 1877.
William and Sarah had six children all born in Sunderland, County Durham:-
William John b. 20 Dec 1877 25 Zion St. d
m. not married Lavinia Johnson
Sarah Jane b. 22 Aug 1879 25 Zion St. d.
m. 6 Oct 1900 John Geo Brown Parkinson
Maria b. 8 Aug 1883 41 Queen St. d. 13 Nov 1952 Sunderland
m. 8 Oct 1904 John Thomas Sewell
Henry b. 25 Mar 1885 41 Queen St. d.
m. 27 Sep 1908 Amelia Marion Smith
Alfred b. 17 Dec 1886 41 Queen St. d.
m. 9 Apr 1912 Dora Dickenson
Walter b. 9 Apr 1892 Lawrence St. d. 6 Dec 1971 Sunderland
m. 3 Aug 1914 Mary Ann Finlay Whatcott
By 1901 William had retired from the sea and was an engine fitter’s labourer residing at 20 South Durham Street, Sunderland, and in 1911 he was still in the same occupation but living at 2 Plevna Terrace, Sunderland. William died 23 March 1921 of cardiac disease at 21 Glebe Street, Sunderland and his (at then) unmarried son Alfred of the same address was present. William's widow Sarah Isabella died five years later on 6 June 1926 aged 76. She died in Sunderland Mental hospital after accidentally falling from a window and fracturing her skull and neck. An inquest was held by the Coroner on 8 June.
Sarah Elizabeth Bishop was born 26 March 1853 at New Stranton, Hartlepool the daughter of Samuel James Bishop and Helen Brown. For some unknown reason she was baptised twice; first at All Saints Church Stranton on 2 July 1853 and second on 25 March 1855 at St. Margaret’s Church Rochester in Kent (where the family later lived).
Sarah Elizabeth Bishop married Charles Walter Secker at the Parish Church, Monkwearmouth, County Durham on 11 March 1869. Charles Walter Secker was born 4 October 1843 in Kingsdown Coastguard Station, Ringwould, Kent the son of Miles Bloomfield Secker and Ann Plattin.
Charles and Sarah Secker had the following four children:-
Sarah Elizabeth b. 15 Dec 1870 Sunderland d. 6 Apr 1871 Sunderland
John James b. 12 Apr 1875 Folkestone d.
m. 1 Jul 1900 Adelaide Mary Thompson
Lilian b. 23 Jun 1879 Folkestone d.
m. 12 Apr 1896 John Edward Hanson
Charles William b. 13 Oct 1881 Southsea d.
m. 25 Sep 1901 Edith Annie May
Charles was a mariner in 1881 either visiting or residing with his father-in-law Samuel James Bishop, while his wife and two children were at home at 21 Queen Street, Folkestone, Kent. By 1891 Charles had retired from the sea and found a job as a colliery labourer residing at 156 Hill Street, Bedwelty, Monmouthshire, South Wales with his family. He was still working at the colliery in 1901 residing at 92 Queen Street, Bedwelty. Bedwelty is not far from Tredegar and Pont-y-Pool, the hilly district of Monmouthshire rich in iron and coal. At that time there were 3,000 to 4,000 persons engaged in the great ironworks and collieries in the vicinity; where many people moved to find employment. At the Bedwelty Colliery on 4 Dec 1875 there was a mining disaster when 23 miners lost there lives due to a firedamp explosion caused by a faulty safety lamp. At least Charles was not there at that time and did not work below ground with the constant fear of such disasters. Charles Walter Secker, a colliery yard foreman died instantaneously aged 63 on 21 September 1907 when he was run over and crushed by a railway engine on the Brecon and Merthyr Railway at New Tredegar. An inquest was held and the Coroner certified that it was an “accidental death”. A year later his widow Sarah Elizabeth Secker died on 20 November 1908 at Newport, Monmouthshire of “softening of the brain 6 months”.
Helen Eliza Bishop was born 31 December 1854 at Orange Terrace, Rochester, Kent the daughter of Samuel James Bishop and Helen Brown. Helen Eliza married William Frederick Gridgeman on 11 April 1870 at the Parish Church, Monkwearmouth, County Durham. William Frederick was born 14 November 1840 at West Walton, Norfolk the son of George Gridgeman and Sarah Elmer.
160. The tea clipper CUTTY SARK at Greenwich
Her bows resting over what was once Fisher Alley
William Frederick was a mariner living at Dock Street, Monkwearmouth in 1871 and at 2 Greenbank Square Kingston-upon-Hull in 1881. Then in the 1891 Census William had forsaken the sea and found a job as a dock labourer living at 2 Victoria Terrace, Hull. Ten years later in 1901 we find that he was a marine engineer living at 149 Walker Street, Hull. The Census does not give any indication whether this occupation of marine engineer involved work aboard or if it was land-based.
Although there is no actual proof of the fact, it is thought that William was a mariner aboard the famous CUTTY SARK who came home from a voyage with a monkey perched on his shoulder; the monkey dressed in a red velvet suit.
William Frederick and Helen Eliza Gridgeman had no issue. William, a waterman, died of pulmonary consumption aged 62 on 4 May 1903 at 149 Walker Street, Hull. His widow Helen Eliza was an inmate of Hull workhouse on Alaby Road in 1901 and at the age of 89 years died on 9 December 1943 of cerebral thrombosis at the Evan Fraser hospital in Hull.
Thomas George Bishop was born 7 October 1858 at Orange Terrace, Rochester and baptised at St. Margaret’s Church, Rochester 10 April 1859, the son of Samuel James Bishop and Helen Brown. By 1871 Thomas was already at sea; aboard the ALFRED RAY of Portsmouth lying off Lowestoft, Suffolk with the Captain, Mate, 3 able bodied seamen, 3 ordinary seamen and Thomas, who must have been an apprentice at that age (but not classified as such). Thomas George Bishop married Matilda Louisa Attrill on 14 September 1879 at the Parish Church, East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Matilda was born in Whippingham, I.O.W. in 1857 the daughter of Thomas Attrill and Sarah Matilda Beed.
Thomas and Matilda had the following children born in West Cowes:-
Thomas George Bishop b. 1 Jul 1880 m. 21 Oct 1904 Annie Beatrice Fuller
Jessie Matilda Bishop b. 6 Apr 1883 m. 18 May 1907 Ernest Gardner
Florence Amy Bishop b. 6 Jan 1885 m 3 Oct 1908 Reginald William Lashmar
Arthur Henry Bishop b. 2 Mar 1886 bur. 30 Jun 1905
161. The steam yacht MEDEA
Whilst living at West Cowes, Thomas George was a stoker aboard several Cowes based steam yachts including the AMETHYST, METEOR, LIGHTNING and ARGO (chief stoker aboard this yacht). They were owned by the very rich and no doubt were their status symbols. These steam yachts came in all sorts and sizes. One is the S.Y. MEDEA launched in 1904 for its Scottish owner for use on social occasions. It was requisitioned in WWI as an escort gunboat and WW2 as a barrage balloon vessel. In the 1950s and 1960s it was a charter vessel cruising off Cornwall and the Isle of Wight. Purchased by the Dodge (motor cars) family in 1971, it was restored and donated to the San Diego Maritime Museum and now steams round San Diego Bay.
Thomas George Bishop, a yacht's stoker, and family were living at Thetis Road, Cowes, Isle of Wight in 1891 and 1901 but by 1911 they were living at 'Ontario', Stephenson Road, Cowes (their eldest son had emigrated to Ontario hence the name). Matilda Louisa Bishop died on 27 February 1937 at 'Ontario', Stephenson Road, Cowes and Thomas George Bishop a retired yacht engineer of 42 Stephenson Road, Cowes died of cerebral thrombosis in St. Mary's Hospital, Cowes on 28 January 1944.
162. 14
Thetis Road, Cowes, I.O.W. 163.
'Ontario', Stephenson Road, Cowes, I.O.W.
Thomas George Bishop junior, son of Thomas George Bishop and Matilda Louisa Attrill was born 1 July 1880 at Langley Terrace, West Cowes on the Isle of Wight. In 1901 he was a steam engine maker’s turner (fitter), single and residing with his parents. Two years later in 1903 he went to Kingston in Ontario, Canada as a mechanical engineer where he married Annie Beatrice Fuller by licence on 21 October 1904. Annie was born 17 March 1881 at 43 Napier Road, Bromley, Kent the daughter of Edwin Fuller, a coachman, and Martha Anne Ramsey. Annie had a brother, William George Fuller, born in 1879 who joined the Royal Navy. He was an artificer engineer aboard the battle cruiser HMS Queen Mary at the Battle of Jutland when it received direct hits from the German ships Seydlitz and Derrfflinger on 31 May 1916 and blew up with the loss of 1,266 crew with only nine survivors. HMS Queen Mary was launched in 1912 and was also at the Battle of Heligoland and the Battle of Logger Bank. William left a widow and several small children. The Portsmouth Naval Memorial remembers these poor souls who lost their lives in such a terrible disaster.
Thomas George Bishop and Annie were listed on the Ellis Island immigration records as arriving in New York aboard the PHILADELPHIA from Southampton on 2 February 1908, both married and of English/Canadian ethnicity. On 5 September 1924 Thomas and Annie left Southampton aboard the Cunard liner ANDANIA bound for Montreal, Canada and they had their only child Dorothy Marguerite born 8 February 1909, listed as a student, with them.
Kingston is a Canadian city, located at the junction of the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario and the Rideau Canal and the county seat of Frontenac County.
164. Cowes Man’s Advancement in Canada
From a Cowes, Isle of Wight newspaper dated September 1926:-
The Kingston Daily Standard of Eastern Ontario, Canada, of 26 March 1926, contained a photo of Mr. Thomas G. Bishop, who is president of the Kingston Board of Trade. He was born in Cowes in 1880, went to Kingston in 1903 as a manual engineer, and in 1913 entered the general engineering business. Mr. Bishop, who is president of the Frontenac Club (a gentleman's club), has been active in Masonic work, and for six years has represented the City Council on the Board of Education. He is a lay delegate of St. George’s Cathedral on the Diocesan Synod. Mr. Thomas Bishop, who is a son of Mr. T. G. Bishop of Stephenson Road, received his early education at York Street School.
165. Frontenac Club, at 225 King Street, Kingston, Ontario
Thomas established a successful business in Kingston and then sold it in 1936 when he retired at the age of 56. Three years later, bored with retirement, he offered his services to the government at the beginning of WWII. By 1940 he had taken over from Melville Thompson as the general manager of the Kingston Shipbuilding Company shipyard as he had trained as a marine engineer. Donald Page who worked at the shipyard at that time described him as “a fierce person who would frighten most people” who “when the going got tough could stare down the navy”.
The cornerstone for the Kingston Dry Dock, a federal repair facility, was laid in 1890 but leased in 1910 to the Kingston Shipbuilding Company which built ships up till 1968. Today it is part of the Marine Museum complex on Ontario Street.
At first, at the beginning of the war the navy needed ships for coastal duties that were cheap and fast to build. Traditional warship construction, full of watertight compartments and complex control, steam and electrical systems, was too exacting for small shipyards that had mostly lain dormant before the war. There was also the practical consideration that Kingston is situated in eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. The largest locks that gave passage to the sea were only 250 feet long and for five months of the year ice locked the ships in above Montreal. To meet the urgent need for patrol and escort vessels, the British Admiralty decided they needed a small ship based on a whaling boat design. This type of ship that had been intended for coastal duty was designed and put to service escorting cargo carriers to England and was to be known as the Corvette Class. Canada was able to help and commissioned existing shipyards on the Atlantic or Pacific coasts and along the St. Lawrence down to the Great Lakes.
166. HMCS NAPANEE on the stocks ready for launching
The HMCS NAPANEE was the first corvette launched in Kingston on 31 August 1940 and served extensively in the convoy system. The Kingston Shipyards built eight mine-sweeping trawlers from 1917-1919 and 11 corvettes and two anti-submarine trawlers from 1940-1944. Two of these corvettes (the HMCS CHARLOTTETOWN and the HMCS TRENTONIAN) built at Kingston were sunk and 15 lives were lost in the Battle of the Atlantic. Many of the RCN corvettes built in Kingston were named after nearby communities Napanee, Belleville, Smiths Falls and Trentonian (for Trenton).
Thomas George Bishop was a lay delegate of St. George's cathedral in Kingston and this is where his only daughter Dorothy Marguerite must have met Northcote Richard Burke who was the curate of St. George's. Dorothy, who was living with her parents at Johnson Street, Kingston went on to marry the Reverend Northcote Richard Burke about 1933 (at that time curate of St. John's, Ottawa) and they had two children. Probably soon after their marriage Dorothy and her husband arrived in England from Montreal on 6 August 1933 giving her grandparents address at Stephenson Road, Cowes where they would staying be while in England.
Dorothy Marguerite Bishop was born 8 February 1909 at Kingston, Frontenac, Ontario.
167. Wedding announcement for Dorothy Bishop
Northcote Richard Burke, a native of Kingston was born 5 July 1903 of Canadian parents, Philip Harvard Burke and Ruth Adeline Pollitt. His theological education had been at Trinity College, Toronto and his military service as naval chaplain during the Second World War and he was an experienced radio broadcaster. In 1951 he was the rector of Christ Church, Deer Park, Toronto and was due for a week of preaching at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver. He impressed the congregation as a speaker but even more impressive was the length he had gone to arrive in time. Exhausted the curly-haired clergyman rushed in five minutes before the Monday service. His train from Toronto had been delayed so he had hitched a ride down the Fraser River on a tugboat. Two years later in May 1953 he was installed as Dean and Rector of Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver, a position he held until his death on 29 May 1968.
After the death of Thomas George Bishop in September 1950 his widow Annie moved to Vancouver to live with her daughter and family and this is where she died on 25 July 1968, a few weeks after the Very Reverend Northcote Richard Burke had died. Dorothy lived on as a widow and died at Vancouver in 1993.
Amy Emma Bishop, daughter of Samuel James Bishop and his third wife Emma Jane Smith was born 6 February 1879 at 40 York Street, West Cowes, Isle of Wight (baptised 18 March 1879 at Wesleyan Methodists, Cowes). Amy Emma married Frederick Charles Gibbons at St. John’s Church, Northwood, Isle of Wight on 29 August 1901. Frederick Charles, known as Fred, was born 20 December 1875 at Islington, London the son of Thomas Phillip Gibbons and Sophia Elizabeth Cook. Fred's father died when he was only three years old and he was brought up by his grandmother Kezia Gibbons. Kezia was a widow, a grocer and post-mistress of Warborough in Oxfordshire. It would seem that after leaving school Fred obtained a job as brass finisher (his occupation in 1891) but by 1901 he had moved down to the south coast as a mechanic at Wyke Regis in Dorset. He was still in the same occupation but classed as a tool-fitter by 1911.
Fred and Amy had two child, both born at Wyke Regis, Dorset :-
Reginald Charles Gibbons b. 17 Aug 1902 d. Jul 1989 Basingstoke
m. 2 Aug 1926 Dorothy Florence May Atkins
Freda Amy Gibbons b. 25 Dec 1905 d. 14 Oct 1907 Wyke Regis
Freda Amy was born on Christmas Day 1905 but she died and was buried aged one year old at Wyke Regis Parish Church 14 October 1907. Her mother, Amy Emma, died of coronary thrombosis on Christmas Eve 1936 aged 58 at 82 High Street, Wyke Regis and was buried 29 December 1936.
168. No. 23 Lynmoor Road, Wyke Regis, Dorset
Fred of 23 Lynmoor Road, Weymouth, a fitter employed at Whitehead Torpedo Co. Ltd. died 15 August 1939 in Weymouth Hospital aged 63. He died of multiple injuries which he sustained on 31 July whilst he was crossing, as a pedestrian, the main Weymouth to Dorchester road near St. Augustine’s Church and was knocked down by a motorcar. The inquest recorded “misadventure” and he was buried 19 August 1939 at Wyke Regis Parish Church. The Whitehead Torpedo factory provided much needed employment to generations of locals.
169. Commemorative plinth of the Whitehead Torpedo Co. Ltd, Ferrybridge, Dorset
“Robert Whitehead (1823-1905) was the inventor of the deadly underwater torpedo and it was on this site on the 11 April 1891 that the foundation stone of his famous Torpedo factory was laid down. Torpedoes from this factory were tested in Portland harbour and Weymouth Bay and achieved World wide recognition. During the World wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 the torpedo made a major contribution to the defence of the realm”. (see previous page).
Charles Samuel Bishop was born the 6 September 1867 at 146 New Chester Road, Tranmere, Cheshire, the son of John Samuel Bishop and Emma Hodges.
Charles was a shipwright working for a boat builder of Crayford, Kent when he married Alice Mary Duck at St. Paulinus Church, Crayford on 8 December 1889. Alice Mary was the daughter of Timothy William Duck, a Waterman (bargee) who was born in Fylingdale, North Yorkshire but in 1891 was living in Erith, Kent. Charles and Alice had but one child (it would seem) Charles William Bishop who was born at 3 Frances Terrace, Arthur Street, Crayford, Kent on 21 March 1890. Charles Samuel was living at 20 Rook Road, Twickenham, Surrey in 1899 when he was present at the death of his mother. By 1901 Charles was a boat builder residing at 7 Lombard Road, Battersea in London and in 1911 a boat-builder of 19 Afghan Road, Battersea, He moved south and was a yacht builder of 98 Woolston Lawn, Woolston, Southampton at his death on 30 December 1928 he died there of leukaemia with his widow present at his death.
Charles Henry Bishop was born 6 September 1859 at 9 George Street, Birken-head Cheshire, the son of Charles Ford Bishop and Sarah Hickman. Charles Henry married Gertrude Annie Lock at St. Peter’s Church, Mile End Old Town, Stepney, London on 31 January 1890. Gertrude was born 2 February 1860 at 5 Russell Road, Tranmere, Cheshire the daughter of Thomas Joseph Lock and Sarah Ann Gill. Charles Henry was a Master Mariner residing at 32 Tollit Street, Mile End Old Town at his marriage in 1890 but had moved south by 1895 to the Isle of Wight when he was a Mate in the Merchant service. There was another move across the Solent to Southampton in 1897 and he was here as a seaman residing at 76 Manor Road in 1901 but no trace of him after that which suggests he may have died at sea.
170. Band pipers of Gordon Boys Orphanage, Dover
Charles and Gertrude had two children:-
Norman Lionel Bishop born 28 Mar 1895 1 Bay View, Gurnard, IOW
marr 4 Mar 1922 Lily Violet Edwards at Milton, Kent
died 6 Mar 1970 Gravesend hospital, Kent
Gertrude Bishop born 1 Jan 1897 Mortimer Road, Southampton
171. The famous mast of HMS GANGES
In 1911 mother son and daughter were living in three different locations. Gertrude Annie Bishop was an assistant matron at the Gordon Boys Orphanage at St. James Street, Dover in Kent, son Norman Lionel was a boy under training at HMS GANGES at Shotley near Ipswich, Suffolk and daughter Gertrude was at the St. Agnes Orphanage for Girls, Gladstone Terrace in Dover. So Charles Henry had died sometime after 1901 leaving a widow and two orphans. It would seem that Gertrude was unable to look after her two children and this was her best option. Probably Norman was originally at the Orphanage for Boys at Dover before joining HMS GANGES so mother would be in close contact with her children. The Gordon Boys Orphanage was established by Thomas Blackman as part of his Dover philanthropic work in memory of General Gordon soon after his death in the Sudan. The usual number of boys in the orphanage was about 117. HMS GANGES was HM Royal Navy Training Establishment, originally old hulks but a “stone frigate” was established ashore in 1905 for training recruits in seamanship, gunnery and traditional aspects of sea life. Maybe Norman was one of the first cadets to be trained at this shore establishment at Shotley Point.
Norman Lionel Bishop was born 28 March 1895 the son of Charles Henry and Gertrude Bishop. He was a seaman when he married Lily Violet Edwards at Christ Church at Milton-in-Gravesend on 4 March 1922, and they had two children, Evelyn and Charles. Norman Lionel was a retired hairdresser when he died on 6 March 1970 of cancer at Gravesend and North Kent hospital, Gravesend.
James Bishop, son of Charles Ford Bishop and Sarah Hickman was born 11 May 1861 at Princes Street, West Cowes, Isle of Wight. He was baptised 3 weeks later at the Cowes Wesleyan Methodist Church.
172. James and Flora Emily Bishop with their 2 sons
James Stephen Dauntless Bishop & Reginald Joyce Bishop
In the 1881 Census at the age of 19 he was a Marine Engineers Apprentice and boarding with William Fielder, a shipwright foreman, and his family at 9 Northam Road, Southampton. James Bishop married Flora Emily Joyce on 10 October 1888 at St. John’s Church, Northwood on the Isle of Wight and at that time aged 27 was a fully fledged Engineer. Flora Emily was born 11 March 1860 at Node Hill, Newport, I.O.W. the daughter of Stephen Charles Burt Joyce, a Master Printer, and Ellen Atwell.
James and Flora Bishop had three children:-
James Stephen Dauntless* Bishop 11 Nov 1889 1 Birmingham Road, West Cowes
Flora Ellen Hickman* Bishop 26 Jan 1892 West Cowes
Reginald Joyce Bishop 12 Sep 1893 Bernard Road, West Cowes
Flora was living “by her own means” at 30 Medina Road, Cowes in 1891 but James must have been at sea outside English waters. In 1901 James was recorded as the 2nd Engineer aboard the SS SHEDAWELL off the Essex coast. James and Flora lived at 2 Martello Terrace, Cowes for many years. For more than 30 years James was connected with a Hartlepool shipping firm and for the last 12 years with that firm he served as engineer aboard the SS LONGSCAR. The SS LONGSCAR was a defensively armed merchant ship of 2,777grt when on 14 February 1917 it was attacked by a German submarine 15 miles SW of the River Gironde in France. The ship was captured by the submarine and sunk by bombs. Two gunners were made prisoners and the ship’s crew took to the boats. James had the terrible experience of being 25 hours in an open boat in the Bay of Biscay during dense fog and Arctic weather.
173. James Bishop 174. Flora Bishop & son Jimmie
After losing his ship and returning home James worked in the shipyard of J.S. White of Cowes IOW for a short while but returned to sea as soon as he could. This was as 2nd Engineer aboard the defensively armed merchant ship SS MOIDART (80,425 grt and built in 1878 by J. Cormack & Co and registered Leith) when he left England on 24 June 1917.
On the 9 June 1918 the SS MOIDART a steam collier, was carrying coal from Barry in South Wales back to Newport IOW when she was torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine in the English Channel with the loss of 15 lives; she went down seven miles SE of Lyme Regis in Dorset and is today a wreck used for diving.
In the first World War, the Merchant Navy’s duty was to be the supply service of the Royal Navy, to transport troops and supplies to the armies, to transport raw materials to overseas munitions factories and munitions from those factories, to maintain, on a reduced scale, the ordinary import and export trade, to supply food to the home country and – in spite of greatly enlarged risks and responsibilities – to provide both personnel and ships to supplement the existing resources of the Royal Navy. Losses of vessels were high from the outset, but had peaked in 1917 when in January the German government announced the adoption of “unrestricted submarine warfare”.
175. No. 3 Martello Terrace, St. Mary's Road, Cowes in 1929
The subsequent preventative measures introduced by the Ministry of Shipping – including the setting up of the convoy system where warships were used to escort merchant vessels – led to a decrease in losses but by the end of the war, 3,305 merchant ships had been lost with a total of 17,000 lives. In the Second World War even heavier losses were sustained; 4,786 merchant ships with a total of 32,000 lives lost. The Tower Hill Memorial (close to the Tower of London) commemorates almost 12,000 Mercantile Marine casualties who have no grave but the sea. The only place where the death of James Bishop is commemorated is on the memorial in St. Mary’s Church Cowes.
Flora Emily Bishop, widow of James, lived on at Martello Terrace, St. Mary’s Road, Cowes until her death there on 30 January 1935 from uraemia and gastric influenza. Her son James Stephen Dauntless Bishop of 185 Garforth Street, Chadderton, Oldham was present and the informant of his mother’s death.
Clara Bishop was born 7 April 1865 at Arctic Cottage, West Cowes the daughter of Charles Ford Bishop and Sarah. She became a nurse and in 1881 was an unmarried nurse at the Children's and Women's Hospital on Waterloo Road in Lambeth. This establishment was built in 1823 and considerably enlarged in 1875 and was supported by donations and subscriptions of which Queen Victoria was a long standing subscriber. It was situated in the middle of one of the poorest districts in London and provided at that time some 50 comfortable beds and cots, good food, kind nursing and medicines for children and women who could not get these things at home.
176. Royal Waterloo Children's and Women's hospital, Lambeth
Clara was nursing in Manchester (probably the North Manchester General, see sister Laura page 222) in 1901 and at Middlesbrough in 1911 and this is probably where she met and married at the age of 48, Charles Ernest Lynas. Charles was a widower and master joiner at North Ormesby in Middlesbrough in 1911 but they were married two years later on 23 July 1913 at the Parish Church Burley near Bournemouth where her brother and sister were living. They returned to North Ormesby where Charles Ernest Lynas had his joinery and under-takers business as well as being a carriage proprietor but he died here eight years later at his home at 'Croft Villa' on 7 July 1921. Clara now a widow moved back south to Burley to live (probably with her brother Henry and sister Sarah Jane) but outlived them both when she died of cerebral thrombosis aged 88 years of age at 55 Lowther Road, Bournemouth (her normal address was 46 Capstone Road, Bournemouth).
177. Charles Ernest Lynas 1851-1921
Sarah Jane Bishop was born 4 April 1856 at Birkenhead in Cheshire, the eldest child of Charles Ford Bishop and Sarah. She remained single all her life, at first living with her parents. After the death of her widowed mother, Sarah Jane ran the boarding-house 'Lawnside' at Burley near Bournemouth. Probably on retiring she lived at 'Fairlawn House' in Burley and died on 17 January 1937 aged 80 at 'The Nursing Home' Ringwood in Hampshire. Returning to Clara Bishop who married late in life; now can be seen the possible reason why she and husband-to-be travelled from Middlesbrough down to the south of England to be married – sister Sarah Jane was one of the witnesses at the marriage in 1913 and she and brother Henry her closest relatives.
Laura Bishop was born 5 February 1864 at Arctic Cottage, West Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, the daughter of Charles Ford Bishop and Sarah Hickman. Until the age of 27 at least, she lived with her parents on the Isle of Wight. But at sometime between 1891 and 1893 she met and married a Scotsman, George Duncan, this happened a good 260 miles from home, north at Manchester. In 1901 Laura’s sister Clara was a nurse in Manchester visiting a friend at Cheetham not far from the North Manchester General Hospital, but search though I may, I have been unable to find her in the 1891 Census. So maybe Laura was in Manchester visiting her sister when she met George. I believe George was a boarder and a bookkeeper in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester at that time, though his place of birth was only recorded as “Scotland”.
George Duncan was born 7 February 1865 at Oldmeldrum (about 20 miles north-east of Aberdeen) in Aberdeenshire, the son of William Smith Duncan and Christina Wilson who were both teachers and lived at the Free Church of Scotland school-house in Oldmeldrum. William Smith Duncan had three children to Christina but she died in 1866 after only six years of marriage. William married again in 1869 with three more children (twin girls and a boy) to Helen Clark a widow, nee Campbell but he was soon left a widower again. He moved from Oldmeldrum to take up teaching (which was a superannuated position) on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides and married another teacher, Marion McInnes the sewing mistress there, on 8 January 1885. William and Marion had six children born on Harris. William died there on 27 May 1912 aged 78 years while Marion lived on until her death on 8 December 1938 aged 84.
Laura Bishop and George Duncan were married at the Prestwich Register Office, North Manchester on 12 August 1893. George was a warehouse manager and they both gave their residence at the time of marriage as 6 Thirlmere Street, Cheetham (Cheetham where sister Clara was in 1901). There were only two witnesses, the wife or close relative of the registrar and a Lillie(sic) Bishop, who might have been Lilly Mary Bishop, a cousin of the same age as Laura who also lived on the Isle of Wight. What surprises me is the marriage was not at Laura's parish church at Cowes and her parents were not witnesses, so had she married against her parents wishes or without their knowledge.
George and Laura had their only child Eveline Laura Duncan who was born 1 May 1894 at Cheetham, North Manchester. They lived in England for only a short time before moving to Scotland. In the 1901 Census George was a manufacturing agent residing at 106 Calder Street in the Gorbals of Glasgow. The Gorbals was an area on the south bank of the River Clyde in the city of Glasgow but at that time due to over-population it had been known as a dangerous slum area. Fortunately they did not live here long and moved to Bishopbriggs a more select area on the outskirts of Glasgow. George was still a manufacturing agent working on his own account in the general drapery trade. They were still here when their daughter Eveline Laura Duncan, a clerk at that time, married Andrew Bennett, a marine engineer at her home at 7 Arnold Avenue, Bishopbriggs on 14 June 1919 according to the rites of the United Free Church of Scotland. George was a commission agent at that time. Nothing has been found of George and Laura from that time onwards or of their daughter Eveline Bennett
Henry Bishop was born 4 April 1873 the youngest child of Charles Ford Bishop and Sarah. Henry, or Harry as he was known, became an engineer's apprentice and after his apprenticeship he became an engineer turner/fitter. He also remained single all his life, at first living with his parents but on the death of his widowed mother it looks as if he moved in to live with his sister Sarah Jane Bishop who had the boarding-house at Burley. In 1911 he was recorded as a poultry keeper but I guess he also helped run 'Lawnside'. Henry died at the Royal South Hampshire and Southampton Hospital on 11 September 1934 at the age of 61 years. He was a poultry farmer of Moor Hill Cottage in Burley and his sister Clara Lynas of 41 St. Clements Road, Bournemouth was the informant of his death. Maybe Sarah Jane was already in the nursing home and so sister Clara was by his bedside when he died.
Kate Elizabeth Ann Bishop was born 17 September 1871 at 166 Spa Road, Bermondsey the daughter of William Bishop and his first wife Eliza Mary Egerton. At twenty years of age Kate married William Henry Lawson on 16 April 1892 at St. Saviours church Southwark in London. William Henry Lawson was born 16 April 1868 at Sproatley in the East Riding of Yorkshire. William's father died in 1885 and in 1891 his widow was running a boarding-house at Southcotes in Hull, later moving across the Humber to Grimsby. William did not stay long with his widowed mother but went down to London to take up a teaching post as an elementary school teacher while boarding with a waterman at Milton-in-Gravesend, where he must have met Kate. He had travelled down to London with Joseph Rank the son of the Sproatley miller and later to become the father of J. Arthur Rank (1st Baron Rank), famous for his work in the film industry and founder of the Rank Organisation. At their marriage in 1892 William had given up teaching and was a clerk. At some time William and Kate moved north to Grimsby living at 26 Tasberg Street close to his mother and sister at No. 32. William worked for Marshall Knott and Barker the timber merchants as a clerk but more importantly as their commercial traveller. William was well established with this firm having a new house built called 'Glenthorne' on the Holderness Road into which the family moved in 1904. William and Kate had four children, although their first in 1898 did not survive infancy. Both William and Kate lived to a good age, William died first aged 88 years on 1 December 1956 while Kate lived on a few months when she died aged 86 on 30 September 1957.
Robert Odell Bishop was born 15 March 1893 at No. 1 Park Place, Milton-in-Gravesend, the son of William Bishop and his second wife Louisa Alliette Odell. Robert was educated at the famous Christ's Hospital and studied to become a chemist. Robert volunteered in 1914 serving as a private in the Honourable Artillery Company in the trenches in France. He rose to become Lieutenant in the Royal Army Ordnance Department and on 9 July 1917 he married Margaret Louise Humby at the Roman Catholic church at West Derby, Liverpool. After WWI they went out to Kuala Lumpur, Malaya where Robert worked in the rubber industry as a chemist and where their four children were born. In WWII Robert ran a munitions factory at Pembrey, near Llanelli in South Wales and after the war bought an apple orchard in Wicham Bishops in Essex where his son Robert still lives.
178. Site of the Royal Ordnance Factory, Pembrey, South Wales
In World War II some 3,000 people were employed at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Pembrey in South Wales on a site consisting mainly sandhills and sand dunes to provide some protection against damage caused by an explosion, producing TNT, tetryl for military use and ammonium nitrate for agricultural use. It has now been turned into Pembrey Country Park with fine views of the Gower Peninsular and eight miles of golden sands with extensive leisure facilities.
