Guild Blog Challenge Post 10: What's in a Name? Pluvius Cambria PARRY

Considering the topic of the previous few posts, perhaps I should subtitle this one, "and now for something completely different." 🙂

As one-namers, we are all used to the idea that names have meanings.  For surnames, that's usually related to the origin of the name - for example, there are surnames derived from occupations, from nicknames, from geographical or topographical features, and from a parent's name, as in patronymic or matronymic naming systems. PARRY is an example of a patronymic surname, since it comes from the Welsh use of 'ap', or 'son of', before a father's name of 'Harry'.

First names often have some form of meaning attached to them, as well.  There are meanings based on the origin of the word, eg for 'Harry', this is described as a Medieval English form of Henry, as well as being used in modern times as a shortened version of both Henry and Harold. Henry was itself derived from a German name, meaning 'home ruler'

But first names are also called 'given names' - a clue to another type of meaning, the meaning placed on it by the parents (or whoever named the child) in choosing that name and giving it to the child.

Sometimes names are chosen because the family are following a tradition:

First son was named after the father’s father.
Second son was named after the mother’s father.
Third son was named after the father.
The fourth son was named after the father's eldest brother
The first daughter after the mother's mother
The second daughter after the father's mother
The third daughter after the mother
The fourth daughter after the mother's eldest sister*

Other times, the name might have some personal relevance to the family - maybe a special relative, or someone who had assisted and supported them in some way, or someone they admired. It might mark an event of personal or national importance, or be a virtue the parents hope for the child (or experienced themselves).

Whatever the reason, 'given names' are chosen names - and, for some names, this just begs the question:

Why?

Why would parents inflict such a name on their child?!

I came up with my own scenario for the strangest name I have so far come across, in the PARRY One-name Study.  Imagine the scene, in a house in Wales, where new mother, Eliza, is talking to her husband, Powell, following their recent house move from England:

"It's raining"

"Yes dear, I know it's raining, but I need to go out to register the baby's birth"

"But, really, look at the weather!  It is *still* raining.  Does it never stop raining here?"

 "Well, it does,...er... sometimes.  But I still need to go out and register the baby's birth now.  What are we going to call him?"

"Rain in the morning, rain during the day, rain in the evening.  That's all I've seen since we arrived here.  RAIN! "

"Yes, dear.  I'm going out the door now - what shall we call him?"

"RAINY WALES!"

……

[a little while later, in an office in town]

"Yes, Registrar, I know it's a strange name.  But that's definitely what my wife said.  You think it might sound better in Latin?   Yes, I think you're right - please register his name as "Pluvius Cambria Parry"

……

[the End]

I may never discover the real reason why Powell and Eliza PARRY gave their son the names "Pluvius Cambria" but that story came to mind when I first discovered them in the censuses.  Powell came from Mold, Flintshire, but Eliza was from Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire.  Pluvius was born in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire so, when the family appear in Mold, Flintshire, in the 1841 census, I could just imagine the name as a new mother's response to being uprooted to live in a wet and soggy North Wales.

It was a nice story but I now know that it couldn't be true - since the birth of Pluvius was not actually registered, and he was also christened while they were still in Tewkesbury, on the 18 Dec 1839. 

In 1841, Powell (30), Eliza (20) and their one year old son, Pluvius, are in Mold, Flintshire, in the same household as a Cain PARRY, aged 25, and Ann PARRY, aged 60.  Cain and Ann, potentially, are Powell's brother and mother, although I haven't yet tried researching Powell's parentage.

Powell's occupation in 1841 is recorded as "Poor rate collector" - which seems a bit of a change from "Railway Contractor", which was his occupation when Pluvius was christened.

In 1851, the family are still living in Mold.  Powell (43) is now an "Auctioneer" and it is this census which tells us that Powell was born in Mold, while his wife, Eliza aged 34, was born in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire.   As well as Pluvius, aged eleven, two further children have been born, Llewelyn Horne, aged seven, and Amanda Ann, aged five.

In 1855, Powell dies and, by the 1861 census, Eliza, Llwellyn and Amanda have moved to Eliza's birthplace, Berkhampstead, in Hertfordshire.  I did think I'd found Pluvius in all of the relevant censuses but, if I did, for some reason I didn't keep a record of where he was in 1861.  [So that's a 'mission', should anyone choose to accept it! ]

By 1871, Pluvius is living in Charles Street, St. Marylebone, London, working as a drapers assistant.

On the 4 Dec 1873, Pluvius married Anne Eliza OWEN at St George Hanover Square.  The details for this from the church records were obtained for me some years ago, as a result of one of the marriage challenges.  But, thanks to the newspaper collection on the National Library of Wales, I now know that the marriage was announced in the "Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser and Cheshire Shropshire and North Wales Register":

PARRY-OWEN - On the 4th inst., at St. George's Church, Hanover Square, London, by the Rev. J. H. Murray, Pluvius C. Parry, formerly of Mold, to Anne Eliza, daughter of the late Mr William Owen, Tre'r Dryw Farm, Llanidan, Anglesea.

It appears that Pluvius might have ventured into a change of occupation - on the 14th January 1875,  Pluvius and his wife were in Llanwrwst, as the "North Wales Chronicle and Advertiser for the Principality" published the following on the 23rd January 1875:

LLANRWST. THE ROYAL HOTEL.—A supper took place at the Royal Hotel in this town, on Thursday, the 14th instant, on the occasion of Mr Pluvius Cambria Parry, from London, having taken the hotel, when a numerous and respectable party attended and enjoyed a capital spread. After the cloth was removed the usual loyal and patriotic toasts were proposed and drunk. The healths of the worthy proprietor and proprietress coupled with kind wishes for the future happiness and prosperity, the healths of the president and vice-president and other toasts were also drunk. Much credit is due to Mr and Mrs Parry for the way in which they catered for the enjoyment of their friends, who one and all expressed themselves much satisfied with the entertainment which had been provided for them. 

At first, knowing that Pluvius and Eliza are in Marylebone in 1881, I thought this report might just have meant that Pluvius and his wife were staying at the hotel, and put on a meal for their friends there.  However, they clearly did spend some time as the proprietors of the Royal Hotel, as another newspaper report, in "Llais Y Wlad" on the 2nd July 1875, has an account of a court case relating to charges of drunkenness and negligence against a Mr Roberts, which mentions Pluvius.

Llais Y Wlad is a Welsh language newspaper but, thanks to the wonders of modern technology in the form of Google Translate, we learn that it reads:

Pluvius Parry, proprietor of the Royal Hotel, Llanrwst, testified that Mr Roberts had been in the coffee-room at his hotel on the evening of the 6th of May. He remained in conversation with him for about an hour, and the witness, to whom he was essentially an individual, had not the slightest hesitation in saying that he was perfectly sober. Mr Roberts left between five and six o'clock, and both had a glass of beer each.  

I don't know how long Pluvius and Anne were at the Royal Hotel but, by the 1881 census, they are again living in St Marylebone - if I hadn't been searching for probate entries for his father, Powell, in the National Library of Wales, and then carried out a 'random search' for Pluvius amongst the newspaper records, I would not have even realised that the couple had spent time back in Wales.

They have no children with them in 1881, so it seems likely that they never had any (surviving) children.  They are living in 248 Great Portland Street, as are two other families and we know, from the electoral rolls, that they were renting a large unfurnished room on the second floor at 4 shillings a week.  Pluvius is working as a "clerk clothworkers". 

By 1883, they have moved to 43 Museum Street, Finsbury, and are renting one front room, on the second floor, at 6 shillings a week.  The Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com for 1884, 1885, 1888, 1889, 1890, and 1891 continue to place them there.

Pluvius dies on the 2 Nov 1890 and the administration of his estate is granted to his wife, Anne Eliza, on the 17 Nov 1890.

Every time we visit Wales, and it rains, I think about poor Pluvius and wonder why his parents gave him that name.  From my newspaper searches, I was interested to find numerous references to "Jupiter Pluvius", in particular regarding events that were disrupted by rain.  This was derived from the Ancient Roman mythological concept of Jupiter as the god of the sky and thunder, and therefore as the bringer of rain.

So perhaps naming their child "Pluvius Cambria" really was a response to the idea of moving to Wales!



*
Relationship naming pattern - https://www.genealogy.com/articles/research/35_donna.html

Census Entries
1841: Class: HO107; Piece: 1410; Book: 12; Civil Parish: Mold; County: Flintshire; Enumeration District: 1; Folio: 12; Page: 15; Line: 5;
1851: Class: HO107; Piece: 2501; Folio: 566; Page: 20;
1861:
1871: Class: RG10; Piece: 148; Folio: 51; Page: 32;
1881: Class: RG11; Piece: 137; Folio: 89; Page: 24;

"Jupiter Pluvius" meaning - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(mythology)