August 15th, 2025 - The 80th Anniversary of VJ Day

 I'm ashamed to admit, that I was a bit slow remembering that today is the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.¹

I imagine my Mum, in particular, would have had something to say about that, both as an ex-service woman (post war), but also because one of her aunts was later married to a man who had been a rubber planter, and who, I believe, spent much of the war imprisoned in Changi Prison, on Singapore.

Thinking about the day, there didn't seem to be an obvious way of easily identifying servicemen who might have been involved. But the news today reminded me about the "Calling Blighty" films, short films, made by servicemen in the Far East, between 1944-1946, as messages home to their families.² 

On searching the database, I discovered a recording of a Joseph PARRY, from Thatto Heath, Lancashire.³

I might be duplicating research already carried out by the team (since it isn't that difficult to trace some people, these days.) But I thought I would see what I could find out about Joseph.

From the film, as well as mention of his Mum and Dad, we get the names of "Flo", "Davy", "Ronnie", "Ruth", and "Mary". [If I'm hearing them correctly.]

His service number is given on the site, 1731832, but no regiment, or rank. 

My first port of call was the National Archives, from which I learnt that Joseph's records are closed until 2035⁴:

However, as you can see, the entry does give his date of birth, 6 September 1919.  

Using this, I can see that there are at least nine trees on Ancestry for him, although some have the usual issues, such as place names allocated to the USA, a lack of information about vital events, and also several of them are private. 

I am going to ignore the trees to start with, and just see what I can find out using the information I have.

I started with just his name, and the keyword of his service number.  That found me two records in each of FindMyPast and Ancestry

From FindMyPast

First name(s) Joseph

Last name Parry

Service number 1731832

Regiment The Royal Regiment Of Artillery

Year 1940

Country Great Britain

View the original source View the record's source 

Original source Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942

Record set World War 2 Allies Collection

Category Military, armed forces & conflict

Subcategory Second World War

Collections from Americas, Australasia, Great Britain, Ireland, UK None

First name(s) Joseph

Last name Parry

Birth year -

Birth place -

Age -

Attestation year 1940

Service number 1731832

Former service number -

Record set Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942

Category Military, armed forces & conflict

Subcategory Regimental & Service Records

Collections from Great Britain, UK None

Since his attestation was in 1940, he, unfortunately, appears in the later books, which (according to the description on FindMyPast) give less information than the earlier ones, namely just:

 

Army number

Full name/s

Details of transfer to other Corps or cause of becoming non-effective (including date)

And any abbreviations need looking up in the King's regulations, which were published in 1914, 1923, and 1940.

In Joseph's entry, the last column shows "Field 1/9/44 (7028A)" (in red), "17/10/46 Z/T"(in blue), and "(FIELD BRANCH)" stamped in purple ink.  Under his name there is also "134/113" (written like a fraction).  

I'm not going to stop to find the relevant King's Regulations now, as I would like to post this today. But I might come back to the abbreviations later.

From Ancestry

A card appears for Joseph in the database, "UK, World War II Royal Artillery Tracer Cards, 1939-1948", which comes from the Royal Artillery Museum; Salisbury Plain, Larkhill, Wiltshire.  These cards were used by the Royal Artillery, in order to show where a soldier was, at any particular time.

There are a lot more abbreviations on this one, which, again, I'm not going to try to identify straight away. But from the card, there is the information that Joseph enlisted on 12/12/1940, and his unit was the "304, EA A/TK Regt." There is then a date, "1/9/44", in what looks to be the same ink. Above the "unit" is written "BY5/44", in blue.

Underneath that, are several lines in blue:

216/45 302 (EA F Regt 18/7/45

254/45 Depot RA 24/10/45

Release

Unit 93/46 [?]hist (&) 10/7/46

Release

1484/46 Z/T Ris: 17/10/46

And, finally, more in black

48/Recs/53 DiscPara 234-11, 20/4/53

Docs IY/E Lib

The second record on Ancestry is from the database "UK, British Army World War II Medal Cards, 1939-1945." Unfortunately, the actual image is only available on Fold3, which I don't have a subscription for, so I am using Ancestry's transcription, since it provides some useful details:

Name Joseph Parry

Rank Lance Bombardier

Birth Date 1919

Award Date 15 Apr 1950

Discharge Date 17 Oct 1946

Applicant's Delivery Address 498. Sutton Heath Rd Thatto Heath St Helens Lancs

Service Group Number 33

Class of Release A

Service Number 1731832

Regiment 304. (E A) Regt. Field, (R. A.)

Stars/Medals Issued 1939-45; Burma; Defence; War

Since Joseph did not enlist until 1940, he will appear in the 1939 Register - at this point, I returned to the pedigrees on Ancestry, since I had noticed, in the listing of the nine trees, that a couple of them did include the 1939 Register.

And, yes, following up the image for those entries does show a PARRY family who live at 498 Sutton Heath Road, St Helens.⁵

Not all of the family are visible, which indicates some might even still be alive. But the visible entries are:

Sarah PARRY, 9 May 1891, M, Unpaid Domestic Duties

Florence PARRY, (later to become CROSS), 3 Aug 1923, S, Greengrocery Shop Assistant

Joseph PARRY, 6 Sep 1919 S Coal miner (Haulage) Below 

[There are four "officially closed" records below this]

According to the pedigrees, Joseph married a Ruth Mildred SMITH, in 1946, and he died in 1996.  I suspect his future wife might be the "Ruth" mentioned in the film.

As well as Florence, who was visible on the 1939 Register, several trees show a sibling "May" (b.1928). But no other siblings, which is disappointing, since I had been going to stop at this point.

But now I 'need' to find out who else Joseph was referring to in the film. ☺

So, first I'm trying FindMyPast, in case other names have been uncovered in their version of the 1939 Register. 

It turns out one of the four has - Ronald, born 8 March 1925. So that's probably "Ronnie."

The Ancestry trees indicated that the maiden name for Sarah, Joseph's mother, was "Phillips". So I started by checking the GRO Index for births of the known children, to confirm that maiden name, and found the following entries:

Joseph: GRO Reference: 1919  D Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1547

Florence: GRO Reference: 1923  S Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1419

Ronald: GRO Reference: 1925  M Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1308

Since I can find these three entries, which match to the information I have, I'm going to narrow down the search to just the Prescot district, and include the mother's maiden name, to see who else I can find over the years after June 1917, when Sarah PHILLIPS married James PARRY.

Unfortunately, PARRY is a 'frequently occurring' surname so, even narrowing the search terms down like that, produces several 'extras', who are unlikely to be relevant:

Robert: GRO Reference: 1915  D Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1388 

Lily: GRO Reference: 1917  D Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1131

Robert Lloyd: GRO Reference: 1919  J Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1116

[Joseph fits here 1919] 

Albert Charles: GRO Reference: 1921  S Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1484

[Florence fits here 1923]

[Ronald fits here 1925]

Muriel: GRO Reference: 1926  S Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1347

Thomas: GRO Reference: 1928  S Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1150

May: GRO Reference: 1928  D Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1209

Donald: GRO Reference: 1931  S Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1273 

Hilda; GRO Reference: 1933  S Quarter in PRESCOT  Volume 08B  Page 1172

The first three entries can be discounted, Robert Lloyd's birth being too close to Joseph's birth, and the previous two not being shown in the 1921 census, which I later looked at.⁶

The "females 1927+/-2 years" search results showed four entries without the mother's maiden name, along with one having the maiden name "HORNBY" (which seems a bit strange!) 

The "males 1932+/-2 years" search results showed eight entries without the mother's maiden name, one of which was a David. ("Davy" seemed to be one of the people Joseph named in the film.)

The "females 1932+/-2 years" search results also showed eight entries without the mother's maiden name.

There is an issue on the GRO site, in the later years, with regard to showing the mother's maiden names. The site also doesn't contain birth entries between 1934 - 1984.

So, I resorted to FreeBMD.  That just gave me the same people as above (with the exception of the Thomas in 1928, who wasn't found, for some reason). However, it did allow me to identify that the mother's maiden name of the "David" was MATTHEWS, so he isn't relevant. 

From the trees on Ancestry, and the 1921 census for the PARRY family, I know Sarah had been married before, her first husband, Peter TWIST, dying at Gallipoli.⁷ The 1921 census shows two children from the first marriage, Peter b. 1912, and Gladys b. 1914 - but those names don't seem to relate to the people named by Joseph in the film.

So I think I am reaching the end of what I can easily discover today.  One last attempt - any newspaper references to the PARRY family in Thatto Heath? (No)

So, quickly rechecking before posting - and I realise that, whereas Ancestry normally seem to batch together all the trees relating to a particular person, the set of nine trees I'd found earlier on Ancestry are not the only suggested ones - there is another batch, of five trees.  These indicate that the birth registrations for Muriel, and for Donald, possibly belong to the same family, and that there is then another, "unknown" daughter.

Have I misheard some of the names? Or might they be other people, rather than his siblings, that Joseph is naming?

It is very tempting, given the price of pdf birth certificates these days, to purchase those in order to resolve the issue, one way or the other.

But I am going to resist the temptation, and call it a day.  It only remains for me, over the next day or so, to contact all of the tree owners, to see if they are aware of the "Calling Blighty" films, and the possibility that one of their relatives - maybe even an ancestor - is shown in one.  

I hope I have done him justice.

Notes and Sources

1. VJ Day and the 80th Anniversary: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_over_Japan_Day

A Government site, marking the VE Day and VJ Day anniversaries https://ve-vjday80.gov.uk/

2. The "Calling Blighty" films: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/north-west-film-archive/projects/calling-blighty

3. The film except by Joseph PARRY: https://www.nwfa.mmu.ac.uk/blighty/record.php?token=1534cbl13234Li38711B12962b4

4. Joseph PARRY: National Archives result https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C20049000

5. 1939 Register entry: 1939 Register reference: RG 101/4607G

6. 1921 Census reference: RG 15/18047, ED 48, Sch 174; Book: 18047

7. Peter TWIST, on CWGC site: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/683686/peter-twist/

Half way through August already! (July's news - and more sidetracks! :-) )

Much of my research time during July was spent creating posts for one of my other blogs. So this post was going to be one of those 'last minute' entries, sneaking in just before the end of the month, containing a round up of a few PARRY references that I have come across recently, along with information about some databases that have been mentioned on mailing lists, and which have turned out to contain relevant references.

But things are rarely that simple, and the day (and month!) passed by, with the post still unfinished.

So here we are, the middle of August and I have failed at my goal of writing (at least) one post each month throughout 2025.

Maybe next year..... ☺

But failure is no reason to stop 'practicing' so, to continue with posting something:

Here are some of the databases that came to my attention over the month:

Records for the Home Guard (WW2) for Durham are now available at the TNA and on the Genealogist site. The Home Guard (initially called the "Local Defence Volunteers") existed from 1940-1945.¹

From my first glance, I was going to say there are fifteen PARRYs - but then I realised that a couple of them appear more than once so, to be correct, there are fifteen results, covering thirteen men. The 'duplications' appear to be because two of them served in two different battalions.

Their birth dates range from 1894 - 1926, which I thought was quite interesting.  National Service in the UK operated from 1939-1960² and, after a short period in 1939, when it only affected men aged 20-22 years old, the age range was increased to 18-41 years. In 1942, the upper age limit for men was then extended to 51 years.

So, some of the PARRYs would have been too old to be conscripted at the start of the war, and others too young. I'm assuming, at the moment, that those in the middle age range were either working in 'reserved' occupations, or had been rejected for active service as being medically unfit. 

But that would be an interesting follow-up activity to carry out, checking the enrolment forms at the TNA (available for free when signed in) to see what additional information about the men can be discovered. (But I won't sidetrack to do that now, or this post will never get finished!) 

Another database, "French register of deceased persons since 1970"

Somehow, the site https://arbre.app/insee came to my attention.  This is a site produced by an individual (Florian Cassayre), using data from INSEE, which is the French "National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies."³

There are 350 results when I search for PARRYs, and it is possible to download the results. 

Unfortunately, the site interface has 'crashed' several times, initially when I clicked on the settings button, to see what was there, and then again after I downloaded the results. So I'm not sure how stable it currently is - but it could be a useful site for anyone with French ancestry (or who is doing a one-name study.) (Or even just tracing people who disappeared across the channel - I've just found several potential entries for one of my other surnames, NAYLOR, including people who were born in the UK but died in France.)

The "statistics" tab shows a distribution of entries for the surname:

As well as graphs of annual births for the surname:

And also deaths: 

[The births graph shows less entries in the later years, since most of those people will still be alive, and therefore their information will not yet be included in the database.]  

I haven't read all the details about the site but assume it might be updated in the future, as more data gets released. 

A third site that came to my attention was the Oxfordshire Family History Society's database of "Transcribed Wills."⁴

There are four PARRYs currently mentioned in this, from three Wills:

In 1704, a William PARRY, Jr, was a witness to the Will of a William BOULTER of Kingham.

In 1740, a Barbara PARRY, of Standlake, received £20 from the Will of James TUCKEY of Cassington.  Barbara has been identified as "nee TUCKEY", although the Will doesn't specifically state that.

And then, in 1740, an Elizabeth PARRY, and an Isaac PARRY, are both listed as close relatives of a Thomas KILLINGWORTH, of St Martin in the Fields, Middlesex, Elizabeth being his sister, and Isaac his brother-in-law.  They each received £10, to purchase mourning dress.

As is often the case, probate entries, such as these, can provide useful details, which then lead to further information.  For example,  a possible baptism for Barbara TUCKEY can be found in Standlake, Oxfordshire, on 5 Nov 1707, daughter of a Richard TUCKEY (Ancestry). According to a couple of pedigrees on Ancestry, her marriage (to a Thomas PERRY, rather than PARRY) took place in Oxford, on 11 Aug 1730 - although the pedigrees show no source for that.  

However, FindMyPast has the "Oxfordshire Marriage Bonds 1634-1849" database, which does include the marriage (only as "1730," not the full date).  That marriage index can also be found on a page of the Whipple One-Name Study site.⁵ The database is only a transcription, no images, but the index shows Elizabeth's spouse as a Thomas PERRY, so that probate entry can now be identified as "potentially" not relevant to the PARRY study. (But the marriage index did turn up two other potential PARRY entries though - an Elizabeth PARRY of Abingdon, Berkshire,  marrying a John WRIGHT of Culham, in 1723, and Ann PARRY of Oxford, marrying a William STEEL, of Woodeaton, in 1830. So, lost one, gained two! ☺)

I had better luck following up the Elizabeth KILLINGWORTH. Again, her potential baptism can be identified using pedigrees on Ancestry (30 January 1724, Wootton, Oxfordshire). Her marriage to Isaac PARRY appears in the "England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973" on Ancestry, as having taken place on 5 Sep 1760, at Saint Martin In The Fields, Westminster.  This time, there are also images available, under "St Martin-In-The-Fields, 1757-1762", in the "Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935" database.  And Isaac is very clearly written as a PARRY (and Elizabeth's surname is spelt KILLINWORTH.)

Finally, the sidetrack - this is a bit of a 'meander' along the route my research went!

As I mentioned at the start of this post, much of my time recently has been taken up with other research - but even in doing that, I came across some PARRYs. (They do get everywhere. ☺)

These two are not 'previously unknown' PARRYs.  In fact, they are quite well known ones. 

But it's always interesting to come across new sources (although disappointing when one also finds errors in them!)

I've been looking into the progresses of Queen Elizabeth I and, in particular, her progresses to Coventry and Kenilworth. And I have known for some years that at least two PARRYs were servants of the Queen, both from before she came to the throne:

The first, Thomas PARRY (c.1515-1560), held various offices, including that of the Princess Elizabeth's "cofferer", responsible for paying her household expenses.⁶ The reference I came across was the 1823 version of the book about the Queen's Progresses, by John Nichols⁷

This contains an abstract of "The Accompte of THOMAS PARRY" - so I then went down a 'rabbit hole', trying to make sense of some of the quantities. For example, under "The Bakehouse and Pantrye", there were five payments for wheat, totaling 80 quarters of wheat, which I gather was about 160 stones, or 2240lb⁸

Thomas also paid for supplies to "The Buttery and Cellar", but I struggled to find 'sensible' conversions for these, since the list includes "10 dole of beer" at £10 3s, but the "dole" doesn't seem to be a measurement - it just refers to beer given out as charity. 

Another entry showed the purchase of "10 ton 1 pipe of beer" for £10 3s, the same cost as the 'dole' entry. So my assumption is that, that was likely to be the same quantity purchased in the 'dole' entry, as well.  

But whether the "10 dole of Gaskoine wine" at £80 was also 10 tons, I have no idea!

And yesterday, writing this up, I discovered that Thomas Parry's account of the Princess's household expenses, which covered the period from 1 October 1851 to 30 September 1852, was published by the Camden Society, in 1853 (after the Nichols' publication) and it is available in the Internet Archive.⁹

So, from that, I now know that there were actually over twenty entries relating to wheat, rather than just the five quoted in Nichols - and a lot more alcohol!

Clearly, I need to do more work to understand the account book.

The second PARRY I had found a reference to, still in Nichols, was Blanche PARRY (c1507 - 1590), one of Elizabeth's gentlewomen, and also keeper of the Queen's Jewels.¹⁰

Again, there is a lot of information available about Blanche, who was one of the Herefordshire PARRYs. But this reference initially sent me searching through the various versions of Nichols' work, looking at the listings of New Year gifts to, and from, the Queen.

I also came across the site https://tudorsdynasty.com/elizabeths-ladies/, which has some information, not just about Blanche, but also about the wife of the Thomas Parry above, Anne Rede, and the wife of their son, another Thomas Parry, Dorothy Brooke. Both of these women also served the Queen.

At least that site doesn't refer to any connection between Blanche PARRY, and Thomas PARRY. 

However, following up the various references mentioned on the site, led me to discover a doctoral thesis, by Charlotte Merton, concerning "The Women Who Served Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth: ladies, gentlewomen and maids of the Privy Chamber, 1553–1603."  This is available online.¹¹

I'm looking forward to reading this - partly because it is a topic of interest. but also because it does have over forty references to the surname PARRY.  

However, I spotted that, on page 33, the thesis refers to Thomas PARRY (the husband of Anne Reade) as being the brother of Blanche PARRY.

No, they were *not* siblings.

That reminded me of another book I was looking at recently, which also contains an error, regarding their relationship - page 61 of "The Masters of the Revels and Elizabeth I's Court Theatre"¹² refers to Blanche as being the wife of Thomas.

No, they were *not* married to each other.

Thomas PARRY was the son of Henry VAUGHAN of Tretower, Breconshire, who was the son of Sir Thomas VAUGHAN, the son of Robert VAUGHAN.

Yes, there is a reason for listing several generations - I often think it is interesting that Thomas took the surname PARRY (from his father's first name of Henry/Harry), in accordance with the Welsh patronymic style, despite the VAUGHANs having been using the English naming system (of a fixed surname), for several generations.  

Bearing in mind that this was at a time when many of the Welsh who were involved with the Royal court in England would have been doing exactly the opposite, particularly following the "Laws in Wales Acts" of 1535 and 1542.

So I often wonder, "Why?"

Blanche PARRY was the daughter of Henry Myles of Newcourt, in Bacton, Herefordshire. 

Again, her surname comes from the Welsh patronymic system - but her family had still been using that system over previous generations, with her line tracing from Griffith ap Henry, down through Henry ap Griffith, Myele Parrie, and then her father, Harry Myles, as you can see in the "Parry's of Golden Valley" pedigree at https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~parryresearch/family/gvfull.htm. 

Blanche never married, serving Elizabeth from the time of Elizabeth's birth in 1533, until Blanche's death in 1590. 

Although the various VAUGHAN and PARRY families in that border area of Herefordshire and Breconshire did intermarry (frequently!) there doesn't seem to be a close link between the two specific families of Thomas and Blanch. 

One day, I hope to get back to working on the early pedigrees, but that's enough sidetracking for now!

Notes and Sources

1. The Home Guard: 
The National Archives: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/home-guard-personnel/  Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Guard_(United_Kingdom)

2. Conscription in the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_Kingdom

3. INSEE, the French "National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.": 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institut_national_de_la_statistique_et_des_%C3%A9tudes_%C3%A9conomiques

4. Oxfordshire Family History Society's database of "Transcribed Wills":
http://wills.oxfordshirefhs.org.uk/index.html

5. Oxford Marriage Bonds, in the Whipple One-Name Study site: https://whipple.one-name.net/oxford/3_alpha_by_grooms_parish.pdf

6. Thomas PARRY, Cofferer to Queen Elizabeth I: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Parry_(Comptroller_of_the_Household) 

7. John Nichols: "The progresses and public processions of Queen Elizabeth. : Among which are interspersed other solemnities, public expenditures, and remarkable events during the reign of that illustrious princess. Collected from original manuscripts, scarce pamphlets, corporation records, parochial registers, &c., &c. Illustrated, with historical notes" available on the Internet Archives, at

https://archive.org/details/progressespublic01nich/page/n10/mode/1up?  

8. Trying to convert Tudor weight descriptions to modern values:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_%28unit%29
https://tudortimes.co.uk/politics-economy/weights-measures

9. The Camden publication of Thomas Parry's account of the Princess's household expenses: "Household expenses of the Princess Elizabeth during her residence at Hatfield, October 1, 1551, to September 30, 1552," available from the Internet Archive  https://archive.org/details/householdexpense00elizrich/page/n11/mode/2up 

10. Blanche PARRY (c1507 - 1590): Wikipedia page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanche_Parry 

There is also a book specifically about Blanche, written by Ruth Richardson, ‘Mistress Blanche, Queen Elizabeth I’s Confidante’.  Ruth's website can be found at https://www.blancheparry.com/index.shtml

11. Charlotte Merton's 1992 Thesis: "The Women Who Served Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth: ladies, gentlewomen and maids of the Privy Chamber, 1553–1603." available online - or, at least, it was a few days ago!

I downloaded the thesis from the University of Cambridge repository, 
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/373daa8b-6592-4796-ae95-25c9ce922988  However, the service is currently (18 August 2025) showing as "503 Service Unavailable". Hopefully, it is just a temporary issue.

12. "The Masters of the Revels and Elizabeth I's Court Theatre", W. R. Streitberger, Oxford University Press, 26 Feb 2016. The book is searchable on Google books, but it is not possible to view whole pages. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Masters_of_the_Revels_and_Elizabeth.html?id=SQd-CwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

The Funeral, in 1918, of Hubert PARRY (aka Charles Hubert Hastings PARRY)

 [This is a continuation of my post about the Guild of One-Name Studies' Education Seminar in June, since that post was becoming quite long.]

I'm sure I say this after every seminar, or the Conference, but one of the best features about attending Guild events is the opportunity to meet up with other members.  It was good to catch up with a few of the Warwickshire contingent face-to-face at the seminar, rather than just via our zoom meetings.  It was also lovely to see members from elsewhere around the country, some of whom I have known for over twenty years now.

And I'm always grateful when one of them has taken the trouble to record a PARRY that they've come across.  

So, thank you to Bob Cumberbatch for this photograph of the grave of Hubert PARRY, from St Paul's Cathedral, in London.

Although frequently known as Hubert, this is actually Sir Charles Hubert Hastings PARRY.  As a non-musician, I hesitate to even comment about the contribution to music that he made, but I do hope readers will at least recognise the song, "Jerusalem", which comes from a poem by William Blake, called "And did those feet in ancient time," that Hubert set to music.

I don't normally spend much time researching, or trying to write about, "famous" PARRYs.  There is already so much information available about them, there seems little point in rehashing it.  But I did look at Hubert's family tree some years ago, after reading the book "The Parrys of the Golden Vale."¹

The "Golden Vale" is the Golden Valley in Herefordshire, from where a particular PARRY family originated, which had several 'high profile' members, such as Blanch PARRY, lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth I.  Since my own family trace back to the border area of South Wales with Herefordshire, and I've always found the Elizabethan period interesting, the book was worth reading.

Some of Hubert's relatives claimed descent from this Herefordshire family - but there was a lack of genealogical evidence.  The claim seems to have mainly been based on the family owning some items with the relevant coat of arms on. But, at the same time, they thought their great grandfather had tried to hide his parentage.

Now, that seems an interesting contradiction, hiding one's parentage, while at the same time displaying a coat of arms.  

Unless, of course, the two don't match. ☺ 

It is some years since I researched the family, so perhaps it is time I took another look, in case there is more information available on them now.

But, to go with Bob's photograph, I thought I would transcribe a newspaper report of Hubert's funeral, along with some other tributes to him from the same newspaper².  As you can see, there was a very impressive list of attendees.

The Late Sir Hubert Parry. 

BURIED IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 

The funeral of Sir Hubert Parry, Bt.. C.V.O., D.C.L., Mus.Doc. Director of the Royal College of Music, took place on Wednesday afternoon at St. Paul's Cathedral. in the presence of a large congregation. The officiating clergy were the Archdeacon of London, Canon Alexander, and Canon Newbolt. With Sir Walter Parratt presiding at the organ, in the absence, through ill-health, of Mr. Charles Macpherson, there were present as conductors Major H. Walford Davis (organist to the Temple Church) and Dr. H. P. Allen, Professor of Music at Oxford University, the last-named conducting a performance of the dead composer's six-part unaccompanied motet, " There as an old belief." The hymn was " Brief life is here our portion," and to this succeeded Stanford's setting of "I heard a voice from heaven."  In addition to Bach's choral prelude. " Jesu, priceless Treasure," which, ere the service began, the organist coupled with Parry's " As pants the hart," there was heard Bach's " Passion " chorale, " Commit thy ways to Jesus." Last of all came the choral prelude for organ which Parry founded upon Croft's "Ye boundless realms of joy," and the service closed with the Benediction pronounced by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury. 

The King was represented by Mr. Harry Verney, Queen Alexandra was represented by Earl Howe, the Prince of Wales by the Hon. Sir Sidney Greville, and Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, by Colonel Vernor Chater. The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London were present in State, attended by the Macebearer and the Swordbearer, and occupied seats in the choir. 

The family mourners included: Lady Maud Parry (the widow), Mr. Arthur Ponsonby, M.P. and Mrs. Ponsonby (son-in-law and daughter) Mr. H. Plunket Greene and Mrs. Plunket Greene (son-in-law and daughter) and their children, Mrs. E. T. Cripps and Master William Cripps (Cirencester), Lady Mary von Hugel, the Dowager Countess of Pembroke. the Countess of Pembroke. Lady Herbert. the Misses Gambier Parry, Mr. T. Gambier Parry, Mr. Mark Parry, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Parry, Lieut. Richard Gambier Parry, Miss Joan Gambier Parry, Mr. and Mrs. Oxley Parker, the Hon. Mrs. Ernest Gambier Parry, the Hon. George Herbert, and Mr. Sidney Herbert. Major E. Gambier Parry was prevented by illness from attending the funeral. 

Nine boys from Eton College acted as pall-bearers, headed by the Keeper of the Field, which Sir Hubert Parry formerly was, with four Oppidans and four Collegers. They were Mr. S. S. Burt, K.S., Mr. G. W. Wrangham, K.S., Mr. W. L. Runciman, K.S., Mr. O. G. Bowlby, K.S., Mr. C. V. N. H. Hely-Hutchinson, K.S., the Hon. Charles Baillie-Hamilton (captain of the Oppidans), Mr. D. O'B. E. ffrensh-Blake, Mr. H. M. Strickland-Constable, and Lord Morven Cavendish-Bentinck. 

Among those present in the congregation were: Earl Beauchamp (Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire), the Headmaster of Eton, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (representing the Vice- Chancellor of Cambridge University), Lord and Lady Rayleigh, Lord Stanmore, Lady Delia Peel, the Hon. Lady Reid, Clara Lady Vincent, Sir Edward Poynter, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Lord Muir Mackenzie, Lord Stuart of Wortley, Mr. Justice Younger, the Dean of Windsor, Canon Edgar Sheppard, Sub-Dean of the Chapels Royal, the Archdeacon of Salisbury, Lady Cynthia Colville, Lady Olga Montagu, the Hon. Norah Dawnay, Lady Parratt, Sir Frederic Cowen, Mr. Landon Ronald, Miss Muriel Foster, Sir Charles Nicholson, M.P. Sir George Donaldson, Sir Homewood Crawford, the Hon. Robert Lyttelton, Sir Francis Champneys, Sir Charles Metcalf, Sir Ernest Palmer, Mr. Lionel Benson, Dr. C. Harford Lloyd, Mr. Montague Muir Mackenzie, Mr. Howard Morley, Mr. Bruce Richmond, Sir Robert Morant, General Sir Desmond O'Callaghan, Sir Walter Raleigh, Dr. Robert Bridges, Sir Sidney Colvin, Mr. Adolphus Liddell, Mrs. Andrew Lang. Sir George Greenwood, M.P., Sir Louis Mallet, Sir William Richmond, Sir Edward and Lady Elgar. Sir Frederick Bridge, Mrs. George Lillie Craik (representing members of the Fynes-Clinton family), Mr. Basil H. Philpott (Chapel Royal, Hampton Court), Prof. H. H. Turner, Mr. Leonard S. Lush Mr. Arthur F. Hill, Dr. R. M. Going, Dr. Gerald Harper. Mr. Herman Klein (representing the music critics' circle of the Institute of Journalists), Mr. C. Partridge, an old member of the choir at Highnam, Canon Park, Mr. W. H. Morgan, Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Eels (Highnam), Mr. Fred Haine and Mr. and Mrs. King (Over), Mr. J. H. Jones (Gloucester), and Mr. Arthur Grove. There were also present representatives from the Royal Academy of Music, Associated Board R.A.M. and R.C.M., Guildhall School of Music, Trinity College of Music, Royal Choral Society, Royal Philharmonic Society. Royal College of Organists, Bach Choir, Royal Albert Hall Corporation Handel Society, Royal Society of Musicians, People's Concert Society, Musical Association, Music in War-time, Incorporated Society of Musicians, Worshipful Company of Musicians, National Orchestral Association, Staff Sight Singing College, Tonic Sol-fa College, Elizabethan Madrigal Society, Society of British Composers, Cambridge University Musical Society, Cambridge University Musical Club, Welsh Folk Song Society, Three Choirs Festival, Kneller Hall (Royal Military School of Music), Bristol Madrigal Society, Bristol Musical Society, Oxford University Musical Club, Royal College of Music Union Royal College of Music Magazine, Royal Academy of Arts, Oxford University, Cambridge University, London University, Trinity College, Dublin (Dr. P. C. Buck), Oxford University Dramatic Society, Royal Geographical Society, Royal Yacht Society, the Literary Society, the Society of Authors, Queen Alexandra's House, Windsor and Eton Choral Society, and the Professional Classes War Relief Council. 

The Archdeacon of Bristol was unavoidably absent. 

I found myself comparing it to the funeral report I transcribed in December, for the "Lonely Soldier." What a difference!

Following the report of the funeral, the newspaper carried several other articles concerning Hubert PARRY, and events at the time, so I transcribed them as well, since they add to the picture of his life, beyond his music. 

MEMORIAL SERVICE AT HIGHNAM. 

The morning service on Sunday at the Holy Innnocents' Church, Highnam, was of a special Character, memorial being made thereat of the late Sir Hubert Parry. The lessons were taken from Ecclesiasticus, c. 44, and I. Corinthians, c. 15 and the Psalm chosen was the 90th, from the burial office; further portions of that service being read at the end of matins. The Vicar (Canon Park) preached from II. Samuel, c 3, v. 38. his sermon taking the form of an affectionate tribute to the late squire and patron of the church. Additional strength was given to the choir by the welcome presence of Messrs. Rose. F. Trigg, G. Clarke and R. Morgan (the last two being home on leave). Sir H. Parry's exquisite setting to Tennyson's poem "Sunset and Evening Star" and his fine tune to "The roseate hues of early dawn" were sung, and at the close of the service Mr. W. H. Morgan played Beethoven's Funeral March. The service altogether was of a singularly touching as well as appropriate character, and gave expression to the deep feelings of those present at it, for Highnam people fully realise that by the death of Sir H. Parry they have lost not only a great man from their midst, but also one who was a true and genuine friend to all in the parish. Two beautiful laurel wreaths, the gifts respectively of the Staff at Highnam Court Estate and Mr. Morgan and the Choir, were placed on and near that seat in the chancel which the late squire always occupied at public worship.  In view of the fact that Sir H. Parry's remains were not to be laid in the church- yard, and also because the Vicar and other leading representatives of the parish had arranged 

to attend the public funeral in London on Wednesday, no memorial service could be held on that afternoon at Highnam ; hence it was decided that Sunday morning was the most suitable time for the remembrance to be made of the deceased in his own parish. Wreaths from Highnam were sent from the Vicarage, the servants, and the school teachers and children. 

HIS MAJESTY'S SYMPATHY. 

Mr. Muir Mackenzie, hon. secretary of the Royal College of Music. bas receiving (sic) the following letter from Lord Stamfordham :- " Your letter of the 8th inst. announcing the death of Sir Hubert Parry has been laid before the King. His Majesty has received the sad news with deep regret. He regarded Sir Hubert as an old friend, and in his Majesty's successive positions of President and Patron of the College he had opportunity to realise how much it possessed in its gifted and beloved director.

The King commands me to convey to the members of the Council the expression of his true sympathy in the irreparable loss which they and the Institution have sustained." 

WORK FOR MUSICIANS IN DISTRESS. 

Sir Homewood Crawford writes to "The Times " :-In the various obituary notices which I have read no mention is made of the splendid war work done by Sir Hubert Parry to help to relieve distress in the musical world attributable to the war. Shortly after war broke out the Professional Classes War Relief Council was formed. Sir Hubert Parry, with several other leaders of the musical profession were invited to join the Council, of which the Lord Mayor for the time being is the president. and the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Bourne vice-presidents. Major Darwin acting as chairman. Committees were at once set up to deal with the various spheres of the Council's work and Sir Hubert Parry readily accepted the chairmanship of the Music in War-time Committee. For upwards of four years Sir Hubert Parry gave the Committee the benefit of his valuable services, presiding over all committee meetings, and personally investigating and supervising every detail of the work entrusted to the Committee. When I state that the Joint Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John have left to our Committee the organisation of hospital concerts throughout England and Wales it will be readily understood that the task has not been light. Moreover. the alleviation of distress among hundreds of musicians has necessarily involved the Committee—and especially their chairman—in much arduous and anxious work. Sir Hubert Parry never spared himself, and I owe it to his revered memory to make known publicly the increased indebtedness under which the musical profession remains for the never-ending interest taken by him in its welfare.  I need hardly say that the important and useful work of the Committee will continue with, if possible, increased vigour, so that the wants of musicians in real distress may not go unrelieved. 

The Guild's Education Seminar at Bearley

 The Guild of One-Name Studies held another seminar this month, at Bearley Village Hall, near Stratford-upon-Avon.  Entitled "The Best Days of Your Life", the sessions focused on education and, as usual, there was a good variety in the talks.

Once the welcome and administrative information was dealt with, the day kicked off with a fascinating talk by Taresh Solanki, "William's Schoolmaster", giving us an insight into the education William Shakespeare, and other pupils in the 16c, might have experienced.  Since Taresh was dressed for the part, and 'in character' it was easy to imagine being in the classroom at that time, and I think a visit to "Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall" might be one of my future activities!¹

Following this, we watched one of the videos from the Schoolroom, "The Prefects Table in Shakespeare's Schoolroom".²  This reminded me of a project carried out by the Coventry Family History Society, recording the names inscribed on the desks of the old Grammar School there.³  

Such carvings really are "unusual" name rich sources, but wouldn't it be amazing to find someone with your research surname on one of them? 

Which is actually something I did, when I followed up one of the other suggestions for unusual sources - checking the various displays within the village hall.  One of these is a set of tiles of "Residents and Friends of Bearley at the Millenium" and, among those, I found a PARRY family!

After a short break, Margaret Roberts told us about the changing role and experience of the teacher, covering teacher training from the Edwardian period up until the "swinging sixties", with a particular focus on the Cheshire Training College, in Crewe. The early segregation of the sexes there reminded me of how, even in the 1970s, at my secondary school, there were certain subjects only available if you were of the 'right' gender, and how, for assembly, boys and girls sat in different halves of the school hall (something I probably recall more vividly because three of us made the mistake of going down the boys' side in our first year! :-) )

Alison Boulton then shared with us the research carried out by Denise Bright, on Moorfield School for Girls, in Plymouth.  The records for this school were lost, after it closed in the early 1960s, and Denise has done an amazing job in managing to identify over a thousand of the pupils who attended between 1850 - 1962, in what was a fairly small school.

 After the usual, excellent, buffet lunch, Val Brenton spoke about how to trace teachers in the family, using examples from the records relating to two particular teachers.  I noted the need to dig a bit deeper, when finding someone recorded as a "teacher", or a "certified teacher" in records, such as censuses.  It turns out that there were various methods for becoming certified, and even a headteacher might just be described as a "teacher" at times. 

The FANS principle, of researching "friends, acquaintances, and neighbours" can also be of importance, especially when researching spinster teachers, who often went to stay with a variety of relatives. Again, I was reminded of a couple of cases I have come across - one, an elderly "aunt" of my Dad who, I gather, lived with my grandparents, when my Dad and his siblings were growing up, before moving on to stay with someone else. The second, an "Eleanor Agnes Plant", whose gravestone is in the London Road Cemetery, in Coventry, and who is someone I researched because the inscription intrigued me, since the stone was put up by her cousin:

Transcription:

In loving memory
Of
My dear cousin
Eleanor Agnes Plant
Who died October 12^th 1912.
“He giveth his beloved sleep”

Born in Salford, Lancashire, but seemingly (based on census entries) brought up by her uncle and aunt in Leicester, rather than by her father and his second wife, Eleanor is recorded variously as a "Teacher of music", "Private governess (teacher)" and as a "Governess", before finally living on her own private means.⁴

I haven't investigated her potential teaching qualifications, since I was more interested in the cousin relationship (and music can be a "special case" when it comes to teaching qualifications, anyway.)  But she seems to be a possible example of this principle of spinster teachers who lived with relatives, once they no longer worked.

Having heard all about records relating to teachers, Claire Moore then gave us an introduction to school and education records, and the information we might find for pupils, which included a brief history of schooling, and of different types of schools, such as the National, Reformatory, Industrial, and Ragged schools.

After a short quiz based on exam questions from the 1800s (no, I couldn't list all the main towns along the south coast, from Dover to Falmouth, either,) the seminar finished with three more 'Tales from the Schoolroom', by Margaret and Alison, which covered an example of a child study by one of the trainee teachers at the Crewe College, the education of the deaf and dumb, and finally, information about the sporting activities of the female teaching students during the Edwardian period.  

I seem to have written more than I originally intended to, about the seminar itself, and about the thoughts that came to mind during it. So I'm going to stop here and then write a separate post, to follow up on something not directly related to the seminar contents.

Notes and references:

1. Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall: https://www.shakespearesschoolroom.org/

2. Back to School videos by Shakespeare's Schoolroom & Guildhall: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdJwy6CrVaSlc2EcZQQXF_TcdMYK2sEQp

3. Coventry Family History Society pdf of the Graffiti in the Old Grammar School can be accessed from https://www.covfhs.org/records/

4. Census entries relating to Eleanor Agnes Plant:

1861 census RG9/2293/88/2 

4 Napier Terrace, Lutterworth Road, St Mary, Leicester

First name(s), Last name, Relationship, Marital status, Sex, Age, Birth year, Occupation, Birth place

James Plant, Head, Married, Male, 42, 1819, Manufacturer of fancy hosiery employing 20 hands, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Mary J Plant, Wife, Married, Female, 35, 1826, -, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Eleanor A Plant, Niece, Unmarried, Female, 10, 1851, Scholar, Salford, Lancashire, England

Eliza Dester, Servant, Unmarried, Female, 20, 1841, Housemaid, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

1871 census RG10/3282/39/20

40 West Street, Leicester

First name(s), Last name, Relationship, Marital status, Sex, Age, Birth year, Occupation, Birth place

James Plant, Head, -, Male, 51, 1820, Manufacturer (abt 50 hands), Leicester, England

Mary E Plant, Wife, -, Female, 42, 1829, wife, Leicester, England

Eleanor A Plant, Niece, -, Female, 20, 1851, Teacher of Music, Manchester, England

Florence M Plant, Niece, -, Female, 9, 1862, Scholar, Leicester, England

Mary Allen Servant, -, Female, 19, 1852, Domestic serv., Leicester Gt Glenn, England

1881 census RG11/3173/39/26

40 West Street, Leicester

First name(s), Last name, Relationship, Marital status, Sex, Age, Birth year, Occupation, Birth place

James Plant, Head, Married, Male, 62, 1819, Geological surveyor, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Mary Elizabeth Plant, Wife, Married, Female, 55, 1826, -, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Eleanor Agnes Plant, Niece, Single, Female, 28, 1853, Private governess (teacher), Manchester, Lancashire, England

Florence Mary Plant, Niece, Single, Female, 19, 1862, Private clerk, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Mary Tradsham, Servant, Single, Female, 18, 1863, Domestic servant, Coalville, Leicestershire, England

1891 census RG12/2536/39/20

40 West Street, Leicester

First name(s), Last name, Relationship, Marital status, Sex, Age, Birth year, Occupation, Birth place

James Plant, Head, Married, Male, 72, 1819, Retired surveyor, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Mary E Plant, Wife, Married, Female, 62, 1829, -, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Eleanor A Plant, Niece, Single, Female, 34, 1857, Governess, Salford, Lancashire, England

Florence M Plant, Niece, Single, Female, 26, 1865, Governess, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Jane, Price Servant, Single, Female, 32, 1859, General servant domestic, Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England

1901 census RG13/5297/36/20 

2 Stanley Crescent, Holyhead, Anglesey

First name(s), Last name, Relationship, Marital status, Sex, Age, Birth year, Occupation, Birth place

Margaret Prytherch, Sister, Single, Female, 49, 1852, Lodging house keeper, Llanynghenedl, Anglesey, Wales

Mary Prytherch, Sister, Single, Female, 52, 1849, Lodging house keeper, Llanynghenedl, Anglesey, Wales

Jane Prytherch, Sister, Single, Female, 43, 1858, Milliner & fancy drapery, Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales

Eleanor A Plant, Visitor, Single, Female, 45, 1856, Living on own means, Salford, Lancashire, England

David O Owen, Boarder, Single, Male, 19, 1882, Bank apprentice, Caernarvonshire, Wales

1911 census Ref RG14PN18523 RG78PN1110 RD390 SD1 ED13 SN44

Living at 6 Grosvenor-road Coventry

Florence Mary Marston, Head, 43, widow [says “none” under the “children born alive to current marriage”], Private means, Leicestershire, Leicester

Eleanor Agnes Plant, Cousin, 56, Single, Private means, Lancashire, Salford

Florence Underhill, servant, 38, Single, General servant domestic, Warwickshire, Leamington

Activities in May - an unexpected PARRY sighting, and a visit to an ancestral village in Herefordshire.

The 'unexpected' PARRY sighting

A one-name study researches the genealogy, and family history, of all the people with that surname.  

Although that does not necessarily mean collecting every mention of the name (an impossibility for a frequently occurring surname, such as PARRY, in these days of the internet), I still love coming across references to the surname in unexpected places, and will always try to 'capture' those.

And so it was earlier this month, while I was enjoying a lovely day out at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival.¹ 

I'd decided to listen to a talk by Alan Titchmarsh and, since the main theatre area was full, was sitting out in the overflow, ready to watch the talk via a large screen.  On the screen, various adverts were cycling through beforehand. 

Suddenly, up popped an advert for PARRYS of Malvern, a jewellery company!

I was so surprised, the advert had been replaced by the time I got my camera out. So I then had to sit through all of Alan's talk, and several cycles of adverts, before I finally managed to obtain a photograph:

It felt like an "added bonus" to an already wonderful day.

Herefordshire

Following the show, I spent a few days in Herefordshire, so that I could attend some events that were being held as part of the Herefordshire Histories Festival².  There were several that were of interest to me, but I focused on just a couple of them, in particular. One of these was the event in St Mary’s Church, Walterstone, entitled "From Walterstone to New York."³

This was an exhibition about a David Price, who emigrated to America in the 1840s. But the event was also aimed at attracting visitors "who are exploring the history of their own families or local properties or past life in Walterstone in general." 

And that description certainly fits me!

Walterstone is part of an area known as Ewyas Lacy⁴, which is in the south west corner of Herefordshire, bordering Monmouthshire and Breconshire.  This border area is a "hot spot" for PARRY families - and Walterstone is one of the villages that some of my own ancestors lived in, as they moved around the area.

Next door to the church is a pub called the Carpenters Arms.  During the 1800s, and early 1900s, the owners of this pub were a PARRY family and, although I have not found any blood relationships between that PARRY family and my own, the two families definitely knew each other since, in 1911, my 2xgreat grandfather, Thomas PARRY, made John PARRY of the Carpenters Arms, one of the executors of his Will:

The keen-eyed among you will notice that my Thomas PARRY had a son who was also called John PARRY - but they were definitely two different Johns.

I shall write more, both about my Thomas PARRY, and about the Carpenter's Arms PARRYs, in my next post but, since it is already the last day of May, and I'm trying to stick to my aim of at least one post per month, that's all for now.

Notes and References

1. The RHS Malvern Spring Festival: https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/malvern-spring-festival

2.The Herefordshire Histories Festival: https://herefordshirehistories.org/

3. Exhibition "From Walterstone to New York.": https://herefordshirehistories.org/walterstone-to-new_york/

4. Ewyas Lacy: https://www.ewyaslacy.org.uk/doc.php?d=rs_home_sub1

April - the 2025 Guild Conference - "Gateway to the World"

 Last weekend saw the annual conference of the Guild of One-name Studies, which was held in Liverpool.  I would normally attend the conference in person but circumstances prevented it this year, so I was very grateful that the Guild had made it a hybrid event, with remote access to all of the talks, and specific Q&A sessions for the remote attendees, as well as several opportunities to 'get together' online. 

Management of the online presentations was also handed over to members in the USA during Saturday night/Sunday morning, which permitted more topics to be covered over the weekend. I still need to catch up with a few of the overnight talks but everything I have watched so far has been interesting and informative.

Given Liverpool's role as a "gateway" to the world, for so many people over the years, it's no surprise that the talks covered topics such as migration, specifically of the Irish, the Welsh, and those from northern Europe who passed through the port, maritime records, the slave trade, and the Liverpool Home Children.  Other talks connected to the area included the Liverpool court houses, the Lancashire cotton famine, and a potted history (with demonstrations) of clog dancing.

There were talks on topics such as DNA, and taking over, or passing on, a one-name study, as well as information about websites, such as Family Search, Name & Place, and FindMyPast.

In some ways, it is too early for me to write specifics from the talks (two & a half days of almost constant online does lead to feeling a bit "brain dead" ☺ ) but I thought I'd just highlight some of the things which particularly resonated with me during the event, as well as the initial follow-up that I have carried out.

"Internal migration" was one phrase - the fact that people often moved within their own countries, before they made a jump to another country.  Since my own ancestors did a fair amount of "border-hopping" between Herefordshire and the South Wales counties before, in some cases, going abroad, this struck me as something I should pay more attention to.  

This tied in neatly with the talk by Jen Baldwin, of FindMyPast, entitled "Telling their story is *our* story" with its emphasis on the fact that 'every story matters' - we're not just compiling names and dates etc (a habit it is easy to fall into, with a study of a relatively frequently occurring surname) but actually revealing the humanity of the people we write about, who they were, what they did and, where possible, the why of it, their hopes and their heartbreaks.  

Perhaps I was biased by the fact I was clearing a few items from my mending pile, while watching the conference, but I wrote down two phrases that particularly stood out - "the rich tapestry of lives" and, from a different talk, "mending torn fabric."  Again, they relate to filling in more about the people themselves, rather than just recording facts and figures.

Another talk I found thought provoking was Wayne Shepheard's, concerning the relevance of environmental factors, ie "Mother Nature", on people's decision to migrate.  In the past, I've often tended to focus on economic, or family and health related reasons for movement, so it was good to be reminded to consider other issues.

There are two specific sites that I have so far looked up, as a result of the conference.  The first one is the Slave Voyages site at https://www.slavevoyages.org/ 

There are several reasons why I followed this one up. I knew that there were a few Parrys who received compensation after the abolishment of slavery.  Some years ago, I was also in touch with a Parry descendant who thought his ancestors had owned objects that might have had an African origin - but he'd never researched where the objects came from, or how his family had obtained them. Thirdly, from a book of Will abstracts, I know that a Parry was one time governor of Barbados. And finally, many years ago, I'd carried out research into a Parry family who used the middle name of "Colston" over many generations - potentially this might have been the maiden name of a wife in the late 1700s but, in 2020, when the statue of Edward Colston, a slave trader, was toppled into Bristol harbour, I did wonder whether there might have been some connection to him instead. 

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to search the whole site for any Parrys.  I did do a quick search on google using '"parry" "slavevoyages.org"', which indicates there's probably ten pages on the site with a Parry mentioned, as well as numerous other sites containing both search terms. 

So this is a topic I need to spend more time investigating.

The second site I've looked at is the 1950 census on FamilySearch.  This was because Taneya Koonce mentioned in her talk on researching black family history that "race" was shown as a category in that census, and I wondered what that might reveal about any Parrys.

As you can see from the following image, it is possible to filter the 6,888 Parrys in the census by various racial terms which were in use in the 1950s - along with some other, rather puzzling, terms (eg "74", "2", "U" etc).

So far, I have only checked a few of the lowest numbered entries and it turned out many of those are errors, for example the "74" relates to an entry with no-one at home, which says "see sheet 74", the 74 just happening to be written in the column where race would be recorded.

Clearly there's a lot of work that needs to be done to correct the transcriptions, before one can even identify the relevant people, yet alone think of trying to write their stories. 

But, just to sum up, I found the whole conference enjoyable and think it was a great idea to make it a hybrid event.  Whilst there were a few technical (or administrative) issues, such as talks beginning before the remote broadcast time, or no-one knowing the separate password that was required to get into the Q&A sessions, in general everything seemed to run smoothly. 

So, even though I will try to attend in person next time, I do hope the Guild will continue to use this format in the future, for the benefit of those members, throughout the world, who are unable to do so. 

Notes

Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/

The story of the statue of Edward Colston: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Edward_Colston

Family Search 1950 census: https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/4464515

March update and collecting statistics

 I've been carrying out research on several 'non-PARRY' branches of my own family during this past month, and there's been very little progress specifically about PARRYs, or for the wider One-Name Study, so this will be quite a short update.

On the 15th March, I attended the Malvern Family History Show.  It was lovely to catch up with numerous members of the Guild of One-Name Studies, who were either there helping with the Guild stand, or on other family history society stands, presenting talks, or just having a day out, as I was.  

But I didn't take any photos, not even the lovely view of the hills in the sunshine, as we queued just before the show opened, which I now regret!

One of the aims of a One-Name Study is to develop "added value", going beyond the stories of individual families, in order to draw conclusions about the surname itself¹. One topic that I had hoped to write about this month concerns the frequency and distribution of the PARRY surname in British censuses.  Back in 2005, when my web site was still available, I had collected some preliminary information relating to the numbers of PARRYs in the censuses from 1851 - 1901, and created the following image, giving some indication of how the surname distribution had changed over those years: 

I'd also produced an attempt at mapping a modern (2002) distribution of the surname, which is available on the PARRY study profile, at https://one-name.org/name_profile/parry/ .

In the years since those were produced, the data for the other British censuses (1841, 1911, and 1921), as well as for the 1939 Register, has become available, and I have made a start on collecting the information from those, so that I can produce a more complete sequence of map images.

But things are never simple, are they?

One would think that it should be a fairly straightforward task, to do an exact search for the surname PARRY in the various genealogical databases, obtain totals per county, and then create the maps.  

But, no, it isn't!

I knew there was likely to be some differences between the totals provided by different companies - it is rare that they have been able to use data for a census that has already been transcribed.  So they have all undertaken their own transcription process, and therefore show differences due to the way the surname has sometimes been transcribed.  

Even if they had been able to use an 'already transcribed' dataset, as might have been possible with the 1881 census, which was initially transcribed in a joint project between the Federation of Family History Societies (now the Family History Federation), and the Genealogical Society of Utah, over the years, as users submit corrections to whichever company they might have searched in, the datasets would develop differences. (Although one might hope that this would eventually lead to a coalescing of the totals, as all the mistakes get picked up and corrected.)

But when you discover that the individual county totals from a particular company, when added together, don't even match the overall total that company shows for the census, then you realise a lot more work is going to be needed to obtain even moderately accurate figures!

I think some of the issues are to do with registration districts that overlap county boundaries, and therefore get included within both individual counties.  There are also variations in how the companies treat individual counties (for example, why does TheGenealogist lump Huntingdonshire and Rutland figures together?  They might be small counties, but they don't even border on each other.) 

Clearly, I need to do a lot more investigation before I can draw any conclusions, and post some updated distribution maps.

Notes and Sources

1. About One-Name Studies: https://one-name.org/one-name-studies/

Parry Postcards

 I had a nice surprise last year, when I was contacted by Colin Buck.  Back in the 1990s, Colin had created "The Postcard Index", with the simple idea of purchasing postcards from dealers, indexing them, and then, by advertising the Index, passing the cards on to people with an interest in the names.  Over the years, it seems many One-Namers (and no doubt other researchers, as well), benefitted from Colin's work.  But Colin told me that he was no longer collecting the cards, and was keen to pass on as many as possible, of those that he still held, to interested parties.

And so it was that, just a little while later, I gratefully received thirty nine postcards, which had been sent to people with the surname PARRY.

I'm looking forward to carrying out some research on the people the cards were sent to, but haven't yet decided on the most appropriate way of posting the information here.  To some extent, that will depend on what I can find out when I research them.

However, I thought I'd start with just a quick summary of the cards.

As one might expect, all were sent to UK addresses - twenty-one of the cards were sent to addresses in England, seventeen to Wales and one to Scotland.  Four of the addresses appear more than once.  

Thirty four of the cards show pictures of places.  Of these, the majority, eighteen, are places in England, six are in Wales, five in France, and then there's one each from Scotland, Germany, Jersey, Italy and California (this last one posted in England).

The following table shows the numbers of cards for various combinations of "picture country" to "destination country":

Of the five cards that did not have pictures of places, two were sending birthday wishes and one sending New Year wishes.  The final two?  Well, I imagine there's an interesting story behind each of them, but I'll let you make up your own minds as to what that might be (and no, I haven't tried the dumpling recipe.☺):

I will be posting more about the postcards over the coming months. Colin also kindly sent me a list of the cards relating to PARRYs that he no longer held.  Even though I don't know what was on the cards, it will still be of interest to follow up on the addresses that they were sent to.

Okay, I couldn't resist doing a little bit of research on the two posted above:

Regarding the first image, in 1851, there is a PARRY family living in a house called "Prysmawr" in Llanuwchlyn, Merionethshire, (a widowed Ann, with children Robert, aged 8, and Jane, aged 5).  However, they aren't in the property in the following censuses.  But, in the 1901 census, when a DAVIES family live there, there is a Thomas PARRY, aged 28, appearing as the farm bailiff.  This is possibly the Thomas PARRY who appears in the 1881, and the 1891, censuses for Llanuwchlyn, as one of the grandchildren of an Ellen JONES, living in a house called Wern. It is possible Thomas (aged 28 in the 1901 census, and already a widower), then remarries in 1901 to a Catherine EVANS, and they appear with their children in the 1911 and 1921 censuses, and then finally, just as a couple, in the 1939 Register, still in Llanuwchlyn.  In 1911, they are living in a house called "Penrhiw", and in 1921 and 1939, they are living in a house called "Llys Arthur".  But, since the postcard seems to be dated 1920, if it is the correct family, they potentially lived at "Prys" between these other two properties.

The second postcard is dated 1909.  Although there are PARRYs in Grimsbury at a later date (1921), no PARRYs appear to be associated with the Causeway.  However, intriguingly, an Edward Thomas PARRY marries an Alice May CAISBROOK in Banbury RD (which covers Grimsbury), in 1915. Alice was living in Merton Street, Grimsbury, in 1911, with her mother and siblings.  Alice and Edward PARRY are the PARRYs in Grimsbury in 1921. Edward, born about 1881 in Corwen, Merionethshire, was an engine driver for the Great Western railway in 1921.  He previously appeared as an railway engine stoker, boarding in Shrewsbury in 1901, and as a railway fireman, boarding in Brentford, Middlesex, in 1911. So potentially he might have been boarding in Grimsbury in 1909.  Perhaps there was just a little bit of "disguise" in the postcard, through the re-arrangement of their initials?

Notes and Sources

(To follow)