The Daglish clockmakers of Alnwick

Have you seen a Daglish clock? I did once - many years ago on a family holiday in Northumberland when our children were still young, we visited a nearby National Trust property and in the team room we saw a grandfather clock with the name "Daglish, Alnwick" on it. We didn't take a photo - and I have never seen another!

I was recently I was in touch with Peter Fenwick, a clock enthusiast who lives near Alnwick and who had owned a Daglish clock - but had recently sold it. The picture on the right (which appeared in the February 2002 edition of Clocks magazine) is of Peter's clock - you can just about see the name of Daglish on the dial.

The Daglishes made fine clocks, mostly grandfathers with brass or painted dials, many of which survive - but most of which are owned privately by collectors and rarely appear for sale.

During the 18th and 19th century, there were three generations of clockmakers called Joseph Daglish who lived and worked in Alnwick, Northumberland.

The family apparently had Scottish origins and are described as "dissenters" or nonconformists. The first Joseph Daglish arrived in Alnwick some time before 1740 - he was married to Ann Forster in that year. They had two sons, Joseph (1749-1798) and Robert (1753-1807), and both became clockmakers. Joseph succeeded his father, whilst Robert remained a journeyman all his life. Robert junior also had a son Joseph (1775-1843) who took over the business on his father's death. Over a hundred years of clockmaking under the Daglish name.

As far as I know, the youngest Joseph did not marry and had no children. He appears in the 1841 Census, living with his sister Ann, also unmarried - so I believe that the clock business ceased when he died.

Some Daglish clocks clocks are described in the book "North Country Clockmakers of the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries" by C. Leo Reid (1925). A grandfather clock had a "face decorated with pictures of old English warships and at each corner there is a painting of admirals, one of which is Nelson". Another had a dial showing "old English figures painted with two pheasants and vase, in each corner flowers".

I would be very interested in any information about this clockmaking family - and to know the wherabouts of any Daglish clocks or to see any photos. Maybe we will have to pay a return visit to that National Trust property to see if we can find the clock that we remember seeing all those years ago!

Details from the book "Clock makers of Northumberland and Durham" by Keith Bates (1980). Other information supplied by Peter Fenwick.

Ian Daglish, military historian

Ian Daglish writes books about the Normandy campaign of 1944, and his latest book “Operation Epsom” is due out later this summer - it was originally scheduled to be published this week, but has been delayed due to some production issues. This is a book that has been forming in Ian’s mind for more than ten years.

Ian’s interest in history in general and the Normandy campaign in particular has grown throughout his life. Ian was born in Redhill, Surrey, in 1952, and when he was 8 years old his family moved to the United States for a few years. Ian remembers:

Alabama was in the throes of celebrating the centenary of the American Civil War, and this made school history lessons more exciting than usual. I returned to England with a passion for war stories, toy soldiers and board war games.

He read History at Trinity College, Cambridge, writing a thesis on Napoleon Bonaparte and the Invasion of England.

Some fifteen years later, a chance purchase in a California supermarket of a paperback about the American paratroops of 1944 sowed the first seeds of Ian’s interest in Normandy. The book accompanied Ian on many business trips - and by the 1990s Ian had visited the airborne battlefields of the Cotentin peninsula, written numerous articles about the air campaign and designed a series of board war games on the subject for a New York publisher.

Meanwhile a deeper interest was forming. Returning from a family holiday in the Dordogne in 1994, following a midday picnic by the Orne river, Ian suggested a short cut to avoid the town of Caen. The route led over Hill 112, the site of a key battle in 1944, and on through the village of Gavrus, where Ian recalled that a Scots battalion had fought a brave battle against the Germans. On returning home Ian read everything he could find about the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders’ action there. Ian found it an inspiring story – but one which was not well documented.

The following year he was back in Gavrus to do some serious research, and in the years that followed Ian has learned more and more about the story of the Argylls at Gavrus. A highlight for Ian was a return to Gavrus in 2004, leading a party of surviving Argylls. Ian recalls:

The village turned out, the band played, the anti-tank gunners revisited their gun positions by the bridges and elderly Jocks entertained appreciative visitors with their war stories.

Eventually Ian persuaded a publisher, Pen & Sword, to let him write a book - not about Gavrus, but the later Operation Bluecoat also involving the Argylls. This was well received and the publisher asked Ian to write a second book, Operation Goodwood – both books are part of the publishers Battleground Europe series. By this time Ian was becoming accepted as a military historian – he was inducted to the British Commission for Military History, invited to lecture and to speak on the Normandy campaign and to lead serving soldiers on battlefield tours.

For his third book, Ian persuaded the publishers to let him cover a Normandy battle at greater length and greater depth – and this format provided Ian with the vehicle for a book about the Argylls at Gavrus and the broader Operation Epsom - the book he has wanted to write for so long.

Ian’s father was Anthony Fenwick (Tony) Daglish, the only son of Francis Richard (Frank) Daglish. Frank volunteered with the 10th Northumberland Fusiliers in 1914 and served as a Lewis machine gunner until severely wounded on the Somme. His two brothers also served, one was later killed in WW2 and one was gassed but never regained his health.

His father Tony attended Chester-le-Street Grammar School and won a scholarship – at his headmaster’s suggestion he went to Trinity College, Cambridge where he read Chemistry. On completion of his studies, he was sent to work in armaments production at Bishopton, near Glasgow. Whilst there he served with the Bishopton Home Guard, led by a former Argyll & Sutherland Highland Regiment officer, and wearing the Argylls’ famous cap badge.

Years later during Christmas 2004, Ian mentioned to his father his involvement with the Argylls. His father asked whether Ian knew that this was the largest cap badge in the British Army, and then casually mentioned that he had once worn the badge. Ian remembers that he nearly fell off his chair!

Ian has his own views of the source of the Daglish name. He strongly believes that it is independent of the Scots Dalglish and Douglas names – and has a hunch that it could be a corruption of Danegeld-ish, denoting Danish invaders who first accepted Danegeld as a bribe to go away, and later settled the area which took its name from the tax levied to pay the bribe. Ian heard a radio documentary in which a historian happened to describe these people who settled in the North East as the Danegeld-ish.

Ian's books are:

Battle Ground Europe series
Operation Bluecoat: The British Armoured Breakout (2003)
Operation Goodwood: The Great Tank Charge (2004)

Over the Battlefield series
Operation Goodwood (2005)
Operation Epsom (due summer 2007)

Ian's board games are in the Advanced Squad Leader series, published by Multiman Publishing.

Jenny Hay, contemporary sculpture

Today marks the start of Bucks Visual Arts 2007, an annual event now in its 22nd year, where local artists throw open their doors to meet the public and to show their work. This year's event runs for two weeks, until July 1.

My sister, Jenny Hay (nee Daglish), has participated in this for a number of years, opening her garden in Monks Risborough to visitors who can view and purchase examples of her work.

After her children had grown up in the early 1990s, Jenny took up painting, working in oils, acrylic and watercolours. During the summer of 1997, she took a pottery class in Aylesbury - and found that she liked working with clay. She then took a City & Guilds in ceramics, before beginning a three year degree course in ceramics and glass at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College.

Since then Jenny has continued working with clay and enjoys experimenting using different methods and glaze techniques. She produces large abstract pieces but also enjoys producing smaller, stylized animals.

Jenny's main influence is nature, and she particularly loves the Dorset and Cornish coastline. She is also influenced by the work of Barbara Hepworth, Andy Goldsworthy and Peter Randall-Page.

For anyone interested in visiting Jenny, details can be found under the list of exhibitors on the Bucks Visual Arts website under Sculpture.

Ben Daglish, musician and composer

Returning to the recent theme of people who have worked in the arts, this week we feature the person who always gets the most results when you enter “Daglish” into Google or any other internet search engine - Ben Daglish.

Ben was born in London in 1966, and became involved in music very early in his life. At the age of 5 or 6 he started playing the penny whistle and the harmonica, encouraged by his mother who, with his father, ran the Three Feathers folk club in London.

He then moved to Sheffield, where he studied oboe and played cornet in the Stannington Brass Band before settling on percussion as his main study. He was principal percussionist for the City of Sheffield Youth Orchestra and later played with the Sheffield Youth Orchestra and the Wolverhampton Symphony Orchestra, performing extensively as both percussionist and conductor. When he was about 17 he found himself listening to the music of Jethro Tull, and on his 18th birthday received a flute as a birthday present - it is the one he still plays today (and probably the one in the photo).

After an abortive stint at Essex University studying maths, Ben started composing music for computer games in the early 1980s, mainly for the Commodore 64 (usually referred to as the C64). This period is particularly well documented on the internet.

Ben moved on to composing what he describes as more "real" music and spent the next five years composing, performing and acting as musical director for a number of theatre shows, due mainly to the influence of his partner Sarah, a theatre director. He has worked with a number of theatre companies (including being Musical Director of the Marlow International Youth Theatre from 1992 to 2000) and performed in a number of Box Clever productions, including the Canterbury Tales around English Heritage sites and a touring version of Merchant Of Venice which toured from Dublin to Jerusalem.

Now living in Derbyshire, Ben plays with a number of bands, including Loscoe State Opera, and is involved with musical and theatrical projects. Ben owns upwards of a hundred different instruments – but still concentrates on whistle, flute, guitar and percussion. He also continuesto work as a computer programmer and analyst.

Loscoe State Opera is a seven piece group which one reviewer described as:

"Classical and Celtic influences along with the combination of traditional instruments with modern electric guitar give LSO a sound that not only crosses genres of music, but a sound that crosses oceans of time, bringing a familiarity from the past to life".

Their summer appearances this year include appearing at the Belper Music Festival on June 30 and at the Stainsby Festival on July 29.

Ben’s family tree stretches back to Morpeth – and he is a distant relation to Neil Daglish, actor - featured below. Both Ben and Neil have kindly agreed to participate in the Daglish DNA Study. We hope that this may help us to understand whether the "Morpeth Daglish" family is related to the Daglishes from County Durham, something that has been difficult to find from paper records.

Death
It was with great sadness that we learned of Ben's death on 1 October 2018, age 52.

Sarah Jane Daglish - Trip Across The Plains

This week I received a transcribed copy of a remarkable diary written about a journey across the plains of the United States from Knoxville, Iowa to San Bernardino, California. It was written by Sarah Jane Rousseau (nee Daglish). Below is a page from the original diary.

The story begins in England in North Shields, Northumberland, where William Daglish (who is my g-g-great uncle) married Mary Elliott in May 1812 at Christ Church, Tynemouth. The couple had two daughters, Mary Ann and Sarah Jane. In the 1820s the family moved to London, from where they emigated to the United States, arriving in New York in 1833.

A picture of family life in London is given in an article written by Sarah's granddaughter Evelyn Anderson-Strait. She wrote that the family lived in Brunswick Square where the girls were taught by tutors "and for seven years they were taught by a music master who had been a pupil of Beethoven".

In America, Sarah met James Rousseau, who had been sent on a government mission to survey the then unknown lands of Michigan. He later became a doctor, and the couple married in 1839, having 4 children. There is a a pair of portraits of Sarah and James, which are reputed to have been painted by Samuel Morse, inventor of Morse code - but otherwise a distinguished portrait painter.

In 1864 the Rousseaus (Sarah, James, and children Elizabeth, John and Albert - elder daughter Mary Ann stayed behind in Iowa) joined three other families in a wagon train to San Bernardino. The others were the Earp, Hamilton and Curtis families. The Earp family included the notorious Wyatt Earp, then 16 years old.

It was a hazardous journey, setting out in May and arriving in December, seven months later. The reason for the Rousseaus making this trip seems to have been for Sarah's health; at this time she was crippled by arthritis and she believed the warmer climate would give some relief.

Their route followed the so-called "Mormon Trail" to Salt Lake City, and then the "Mormon Corridor" to San Bernardino. Although established routes, there were still hardships and dangers, particularly from Indians. During the first part of the journey these were principally from the Sioux, Comanche, Snake and Blackfoot tribes which posed a real and constant threat. During the latter part of the trip, an interesting relationship was created with the Paiute Indians, who would ride with the party by day and at night some would tend the horses and cattle whilst others were "held prisoner" until the morning to ensure the safe return of the animals.

After reaching Salt Lake City, they frequently encountered Mormons, who were invariably friendly and hospitable. The men of the party were invited to meet Brigham Young (pictured right), sometimes known as The American Moses, who Sarah describes in the diary as "easy in manners, affable and a good deal of a gentleman". They also heard his brass band - Sarah notes that they played "A Life On The Ocean Wave", which she says was a great favourite of hers.

On the darker side, they passed the site of the Mountain Meadows massacre, where in September 1857 a Mormon militia and some Paiute Indians killed an entire wagon train - around 120 unarmed men, women and children were killed. Sarah notes that "only 6 small children too young to tell the tale were suffered to live. They are at Salt Lake City. I cannot for a moment suppose that such barbarism will be buried in Oblivion. Oh it cannot be. It will be brought to light and the aggressors punished."

Sarah wrote in her diary every day; the entry normally includes a description of the weather conditions and the daily mileage travelled - 25 miles on a good day. She also records details of the passing landscape and buildings. It is a truly remarkable, historic document that I cannot do justice to here.

Sarah died in San Bernardino in February 1872, and her husband James in July 1882.

So, a story which includes Beethoven, Wyatt Earp and Samuel Morse. The mention of Beethoven seems like a possible embellishment, whilst the portraits appear to me to be a little crude for Morse's normal style - but the Wyatt Earp connection is a historical fact.

Meanwhile Sarah's sister Mary Ann Daglish married Albert Miller in 1838. Albert, usually referred to as Judge Albert Miller, was a distinguished pioneer in Michigan - Miller's mother's family claims descent from those who arrived aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Mary Ann and Albert had two daughters. In the 1850s my great great uncle, another William Daglish, also emigrated to America, qualifying as a doctor and lawyer before joining the Millers in Michigan, where he married his cousin Emily Miller. This could be a story for future weeks ...

I am very grateful to Pam Greenwood who so kindly sent me a copy of Sarah Jane's diary and has provided much additional detail, and to Dick Molony who was the source of most of the information and in particular the article by Sarah's granddaughter Evelyn Anderson-Strait and the portait of Sarah. The transcribed version of the diary is in the San Bernardino Historical Society's collection.

Update - July 2008: Sarah Jane and her husband James Rousseau are buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in San Bernardino, California. The following pictures were provided by Dick Molony.

Eric Fitch Daglish, author and engraver

This week I would like to write about my father, Eric Fitch Daglish. He was born in Islington, London, in 1892, the son of James William Daglish and Kate Annie Fitch. The family originated in Whickham, County Durham - and had arrived in London in the mid 19th century, via France and Somerset. The family established a business in the area - firstly in cabinet making and upholstery and later as overmantel mirror makers.

Eric studied in London and in Bonn, Germany, before the outbreak of the First World War. During the war, he served in the Middlesex Imperial Yeomanry and the Royal Field Artillery in Ireland, Flanders and France. When the conflict ended, he continued in Army life as Officer in charge of education at Woolwich Garrison until 1922.

The family then moved out of London to the Buckinghamshire Chilterns, where Eric could pursue his lifelong interest in the countryside and natural history. His first of many books was published in 1923.

He became a member of the Society of Wood Engravers, which revived the art first developed in the 18th and 19th centuries by Thomas Bewick and others. Fellow members of the society were his close friends the brothers John and Paul Nash, and Eric Gill who lived close by. More information about wood engraving can be found at the web site of the Society of Wood Engravers.

He used wood engravings as illustrations in many of his books. Most wood engravings are black and white, but it was also possible to hand colour these - as was done in the book Birds Of The British Isles (see cover which shows a coloured wood engraving of goldfinches). He also illustrated books by other authors, including Walton’s Compleat Angler.

His wood engravings are in the permanent collections of the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the art galleries of Liverpool and Manchester, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

 

As well as engraving, Eric also painted. His paintings show the same level of detail seen in the wood engravings. Shown here is detail from a painting of parrots.

Other interests included breeding dogs and he wrote several popular handbooks on a number of breeds. He judged at many dog shows, including Crufts. The picture above shows him judging at a local show at Thame in September 1953.

My father died in 1966, and his books are now out of print. In recent years there has been something of a revival of interest in the art of wood engraving and I have received a number of enquiries from libraries and museums in the last year about works by my father.

The engravings can be divided into those made for sale as signed prints and those created as illustrations. I get asked about copyright in these works: generally, the copyright in the signed prints is with the family, but the copyright for engravings created as illustrations for books usually is with the publisher. For more details, please contact me and I will try to help. Some of the signed prints have been added to the Art Uk website here.

Peter Daglish, artist

This week I had the pleasure to meet Peter Daglish and his wife at their home and studio in London.

Peter Daglish was born in Gillingham, Kent in 1930. It was his grandfather William Daglish (1874-1949) who moved from Newcastle upon Tyne to Gillingham in the 1890s, where he married and raised a family. William worked as a coppersmith in the Chatham dockyard. Peter's father, another William (1898-1968) also worked in the same dockyard - and I was interested to find that both Peter's father and grandfather were awarded the Imperial Service Medal in recognition of their services - William senior in 1934 and his son in 1958.

At the age of 25, Peter emigrated to Canada where his interest in painting developed whilst he was working at a hotel in Banff. He received encouragement from artists such as Maxwell Bates (1906-1980), and enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montreal where he studied from 1956 to 1960. He then won a Max Beckman Scholarship to continue his studies at the Brooklyn Museum Arts School in New York.

In 1961 Peter married Marian Brown in Banff and soon after returned to the UK, where he continued his studies at the Slade School in London from 1963 to 1965. This was followed by teaching posts at Ealing College, London and from 1969 to 1971 at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Back in London, Peter taught printmaking at the Slade School and Chelsea School of Art in London from 1973 until his retirement in 1996.

Since his retirement, Peter has continued to be active with exhibitions and workshops around the world - most recently solo exhibitions in Canada and Cuba.

Peter's early works were paintings in oil - but he soon focussed on linocuts and lithographs. Since 1985 he has made fired enamel on steel plate. When we saw him this week he was busy preparing for work to be collected the next day for an exhibition in Bristol, where he has recently been working at the University which has an enamel research department.

Among the many public institutions that own work by Peter are The British Council, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, Portland Museum of Fine Art and the University of New Mexico.

Peter's other passion is jazz and Cuban music. He plays saxophone and plays regularly with a number of jazz ensembles around London.

In a strange coincidences, we discovered that Peter's son now lives in the small village in the Buckinghamshire Chilterns where I grew up and attended the local primary school, and where my father is buried in the churchyard. It can sometimes be a small world!

Gordon James Daglish

I am hoping that someone can help with this, please.

This painting was sold at auction by Bonhams at Knowle, UK, in September 2006. It is attributed to Gordon James Daglish (19th century), and entitled "A Dinghy and A Barge On An Estuary, A Town Beyond".

The problem is that I have no knowledge of Gordon James Daglish, and can find no reference to him in the art reference books. I have written to Bonhams to check the details but, so far, have received no reply.

Is this the correct name - or could the artist perhaps be a Dalglish, or similar? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Robert Daglish - our man in Moscow

Robert Cyril Daglish (1924-1987) is now mostly remembered as an accomplished translator of books from Russian to English.

Robert was born in Honor Oak Park, London, the son of Walter Daglish and Ethel Stocken. His grandfather, James Daglish, was born in North Shields, Northumberland, and the family moved to Bermondsey, London in the late 1880s. Robert read Russian history and literature at Jesus College, Cambridge. He started work at the British Embassy in Moscow in 1949, where he met and married his Russian wife, Ina Gregorievna Nogtich, in 1954.

In March 1982 in a letter written to Richard Daglish, Robert wrote:
“You will be surprised to find me domiciled out here. I have been working in Moscow for over thirty years on translations and dictionaries and am at present producing a complete English edition of the works of Mikhail Sholokhov (author of “Quiet Flows the Don”). I have also played small parts in eight Russian films.”

He also wrote:
“My interest in the family history has been mainly confined to wondering about the origin of our name, which is so often distorted by all and sundry, even the BBC pronounced it with the stress on the last syllable!”.

A more colourful account of Robert’s life in Moscow written by Lev Navrozov appeared under the title of “Why an Englishman Did Not Become a Soviet Citizen”, which makes an interesting read.

Robert is remembered at his old University through the Robert Daglish Fund. The Fund was established 'for the encouragement of Russian studies' through a bequest from his wife Ina in memory of her husband. The purpose of the Fund is to 'make grants or loans to undergraduate members of the University to assist them in travelling to or in Russia in connection with their studies in the University'.

Neil Daglish, actor

In the next few weeks I hope to feature some Daglishes who have worked in the arts. I will start with Neil Daglish, an actor with an impressive career working in the theatre and in television.

Neil was born in in Hebburn, Co. Durham in December 1949, the son of Matthew Daglish and Mary Dobson. When he was ten, the family moved to the East End of London. After the death of his father, Neil left school at 15, working in a Magistrates Court as an assistant court clerk.

Neil writes: “After three years working in the Magistrates Court, I decided that I’d rather be an actor than a court clerk. I went to the Webber Douglas School of Acting in South Kensington and completed a 3 year course. I was employed (off and on) for the next 30 years as an actor in the theatre and television and thoroughly enjoyed it. I still work as an actor, but mostly in television and do very little theatre work”.

Among the highlights of his career, Neil lists:

• appearing in the West End production of Terence Rattigan’s last play “Cause Celebre”, with Glynis Johns;
• playing Ernest in “The Importance of Being Earnest”, with Penelope Keith;
• appearing as Sir Robert Chiltern in Sir Peter Hall’s production of “An Ideal Husband”;
• starring with Nicholas Lyndhurst in “Straight And Narrow” at the Wyndham’s Theatre;
• five plays at The National Theatre, including Arthur Miller’s “The American Clock”, William Congreve’s “Love For Love” and “The Beggar’s Opera” with Tim Curry;
• World tours with the Derek Nimmo British Airways Playhouse Company.

The programmes from two of these productions are shown here.

Neil’s many TV credits include everything from Dr. Who (with Peter Davison) to Rumpole of The Bailey, and his recent TV work has included appearance in popular favourites such as The Bill, Casualty and Eastenders.

My thanks to Neil for providing the information. I contacted Neil a couple of weeks ago to ask his permission and it has been a pleasure to find out more about his life and work.

Research shows that Neil's family tree goes back from Hebburn, where Neil was born, to Gateshead and then to Morpeth in the mid 19th century, back John Daglish who married Hannah Hall in Morpeth in 1768 - and we know that there were Daglishes living in Morpeth long before this date. This is a large and extensive family tree that we will visit again in coming weeks.

For anyone with connections to Hebburn, there are some interesting sites. The Hebburn Website has many old school photos - there are more on Norman Dunn's Hebburn on Tyne site.

The Australian Gold Rush - a Daglish story

The Australian gold rush of the 1850s had a big impact on Australia, and in particular the newly formed state of Victoria.

In 1851 the Australian population was 437,655, of which 77,345, or just under 18%, were Victorians. A decade later the Australian population had grown to 1,151,947 and the Victorian population had increased to 538,628; just under 47% of the Australian total and a seven-fold increase from ten years earlier.

Many of those arriving in Australia at that time were from England, particulary from the mining communities - and the following account of the life of Matthew Storey Daglish has been kindly sent by Jenny Clark, who is his great, great granddaughter.

Matthew Storey Daglish, the son of James and Mary Daglish, was born on 30 December 1828 in North Shields, and christened at Christ Church, Tynemouth (pictured above).

He married Mary Chambers in 1851 in Easington, County Durham, and their two eldest children, James and Margaret, were born there. Some time between 1854 and 1857, the family emigrated to Australia. They went to Ballarat in Victoria where Matthew mined in the new Victorian goldfields.

Gold had been discovered in Ballarat in 1851. At first this was alluvial gold, found on the surface or in creeks and rivers; gold pans, puddling boxes and cradles were used to separate the gold from the dirt and water. When this ran out underground mining began; this was much more difficult and dangerous.

Six more children were born in Ballarat – but in 1867 Matthew was killed in a mining accident, leaving Mary with 7 children aged under 13 (the eldest son James had died in 1864, aged 12), and another on the way. The family moved to Chiltern where the last child, another James, was born. This last little James Storey died the following year aged 8 months.

Many Ballarat families moved to Chiltern in the late 1860s as a new goldfield opened up there. It may be that Mary had other family or close friends who were moving – otherwise why would she relocate 250 miles?

These are Matthew and Mary Daglish’s children -
James (1852), Margaret (1854), Mary (1857), Elizabeth (1859), Thomas Brown (1861), Matthew Clark (1863), Robert (1864), Ann (1866) and James Storey (1868).

Elizabeth married Thomas Arthur Robert Skerry in Chiltern in 1883. Thomas Skerry was also the child of an immigrant gold miner who had moved from Carngham near Ballarat to Chiltern in the 1860s. Elizabeth and Thomas had six children; after Elizabeth’s death in 1910, Thomas remarried and had three more children, the last born when Thomas was 62 years old! Mary Maud Skerry married Alfred (Dick) Lappin, the youngest in the large family of immigrant Irish farmers in 1906. Dick was a mining engineer who began his career in gold mining but moved on to earthworks associated with dams in Victoria’s irrigation schemes. They had 14 children between 1907 and 1930, 11 of whom survived to adulthood. The youngest, Norman Richard (Dick) Lappin was my father.

Jenny Clark, Hamilton, Victoria.

For reasons of space, this is an abbreviated account of the article that Jenny sent to me. If you are interested in more details of Matthew Storey Daglish and his family please e-mail me.

Some further research has found that Matthew had a sister Mary Ann and two brothers, James and Abner.

Sadly James also died in a mining accident, this time at Percy Main colliery, near North Shields (see watercolour above painted by Thomas Hair). An article in the Newcastle Journal of 15 September 1849 which reads:

The same coroner (J.G. Stoker) held another inquest on Thursday at Percy Main on the bodies of Thomas Pattison aged 29 and James Daglish aged 23. The deceased were pitmen at Percy Main Colliery and it appeared that after the had got into the corf to descend the pit the chain broke and they were precipitated to the bottom of the shaft and killed. The jury ... are of the opinion that the chain was not of good quality and recommend that in future the chains be properly tested to ascertain their strength before being put into use".

Matthew's other brother Abner married Elizabeth Kears and had 12 children. His eldest daughters married and emigrated to Australia and New Zealand, and there are descendents of Abner's family living today in the UK.

The National Archives of Australia has recently added a section to its web site entitled A Gift To The Nation which makes available WW1 services records online, with free access - an excellent resource. There are only two Daglish entries – Roydon (Roy) Oliver Clark Daglish and Henry William Daglish.
Roy was the grandson of Matthew Storey Daglish, and the son of Matthew Clark Daglish and Malinda Keat. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force to serve in WW1 as soon as he turned 18. There are twenty pages of Roy's service history available on the site, with high quality scans -see extract below. Roy returned from overseas service and married Mary Gertude Kavanagh in Albury, New South Wales. Their son Reginald James Daglish died in 1966.

There is also an interesting site for the Chiltern Athenaeum Museum, which records the births of the family after the move from Ballarat to Chiltern.
As a footnote, gold production ceased in Ballarat in 1918 – but the last few years has seen mining begin again, in deeper mines and using the latest technology.

Robert Findley Daglish

Here is a photograph which shows the name of Robert Findley Daglish, who served as Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force at the end of World War 1, and Flight Lietenant V.C. Cordingley. Also on the back of the photo are the words "The first machine to fly under the Hohenzollern Bridge Cologne New Years Day 1919".

Robert Findley Daglish, the son of James Daglish and Georgina Robinson, was born in Liverpool in May 1896 - although his family were from Newcastle. He died in March 1988.

Robert's brother, George Richard Gordon Daglish, a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Air Service, was killed in 1917 at the age of 27.

Is Daglish an endangered name?

This week I read an article about how some unusual surnames have died out. With low numbers a name can become unsustainable. My wife has an unusual maiden name where this could become a possibility, as the current population of her family surname is very low. So what about Daglish?

Since the start of civil registration in the UK in 1837 the number of registered births has consistently exceeded the number of registered deaths. From the start of civil registration in 1837 until 2005 there were 3,624 births and 2,219 deaths recorded.


Another measure is the UK census records. In the 1851 UK Census there is a total of 408 Daglishes listed, of which most were in Durham (198) and in Northumberland (150).

By the 1901 Census the total had increased to 764, with 364 in Durham and 257 in Northumberland. Other Daglish families were living in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumberland and, increasingly, in London.

After the First World War, the drift to other areas of the country increased, reflecting greater mobility.

There are some web sites which can searched for details of surname numbers and distribution.

One is Surname Profiler, which gives a comparison of the distribution of a particular surname in England, Wales and Scotland in 1881 and 1998. This is displayed in figures and on maps - the ones for Daglish are shown here.

The one shown above left is for 1881, showing the high concentration of the name in the counties of Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire. Purple is highest, followed by red and yellow. There were other Daglish families in Lancashire, Cumberland and in London - but these do not register on this particular map.

The second map, right, is for 1998. The highest numbers are still in the North East - but there is a much wider distribution throughout the country.

This spread can also be seen in libraries by looking at telephone directories - there are most entries in the directories for the North East, but there is usually at least one Daglish entry to be found in every directory.

Expressed in numbers, in 1881 there were 23 Daglishes per million names, which had risen to 25 per million in 1998. The ranking of the Daglish surname rose from 5592 in 1881 to 5472 in 1998.

The records also reflect a number of social trends.

One of the most striking is the decline in infant mortality. Comparing the 10 year period 1866-1875 with 100 years later (1966-1975), in 1866-75 39 infants died before their first birthday, and 10 more before the age of 2 (from a total of 141 deaths). One hundred years later there were only 2 deaths before the child's first birthday and no more before age 2 (total 137 deaths).

At the same time life expectancy has increased. In 1866-75, 18 people lived to be older than 70 (12.77%), with 5 of these reaching 80. 100 years later 83 people lived beyond 70 (60.59%), with 29 of these living beyond 80.

So it seems that, although unusual, the Daglish name is thriving - and there is no reason to be concerned for its continuing survival!

Extracts from the UK Daglish Births, Marriages and Deaths registers 1837 to 2005 can be searched in the Daglish Archive.

The Daglish Foundry, St. Helens

The picture shows the Robert Daglish & Company foundry in St. Helens, Lancashire in about 1870. The foundry started in the 1790s and Robert Daglish (senior) took an interest in 1818. By the 1840s, it was known as Watson, Daglish & Co., but from 1843 the Weston name was dropped.

The firm described itself in those days as "Brass & Iron Founders, Manufacturers of Steam Engines, Weighing Machines, Gas Apparatus, Mill Machinery, etc.". The company went on to build an international reputation for the casting and building of steam pumping and winding for the mining industry, and was particularly successful producing locomotives and bridges for the expanding railway network.

Visitors to Dublin today can find some evidence of the work of the foundry on the Rory O'More Bridge over the River Liffey, close to the Guinness brewery. The bridge was completed in 1859 as the Victoria Bridge and re-named in 1939 after Rory O'More, one of the key figures in the Irish Rebellion of 1641.

Inscribed on the arch of the bridge is: "Robert Daglish Junr. St. Helens Foundry Lancashire". Robert Daglish Junior was the son of Robert senior, and was well known for his work on bridges.

By the 1890s the St. Helens site had extended to cover 25,000 square yards and over 400 people were employed. However, by the beginning of the 19th century the peak had passed, and by the 1920s a decline in the local collieries had reduced demand and some said that the machinery built by the Daglishes was too well-built to need replacing. The foundry was in continuous production from 1798 until its closure and eventual demolition in 1939.

Photo of the foundry and details provided by Richard Daglish, who has spent many years researching his Daglish family from Lancashire. Richard has provided much support and encouragement to my own Daglish research and is a member of the Daglish DNA Project.

Photo of the rolling equipment from book "A Teatise on Manures" by A.B. Griffiths.

Uppies and Downies 2007

I took an extended Easter break to travel to Workington to see the Uppies and Downies on Tuesday evening.

At 6:30 pm Robert Daglish (pictured left) threw off the ball. During the next hour, there was plenty of action as play took the ball across and often into the beck. For much of the time the ball was lost from sight in the scrummage, emerging every so often and thrown – presumably to a team-mate, although to the untrained eye it is hard to tell who is on which side.

As darkness fell the ball began to move down the beck in the direction of Curwen Hall and at about 9:15 the Uppies won the game by hailing the ball. The ball was hailed by Jamie Beaumont, who also plays for Workington Town Rugby League team. This also gave the Uppies the 2007 series, as they had also won the Good Friday game giving a 2-0 lead in the three match series.

However there is a possible cloud on the horizon. The game begins on The Cloffocks, an open space used for sport and recreation - and most of the action takes place there. Some space has already been lost to a car park and to new Council offices – but now a large part of the Cloffocks has been sold to Tesco for a new supermarket. Tesco’s original plans were to divert or cover the beck – but the discovery of salmon and lampreys, an endangered species, in the beck may have caused a change of plan. But this is still a subject of local controversy, with some disputing whether Allerdale Council has the lrgal right to sell land that was apparently left to the people of Workington for recreational use.

As an outsider, the Uppies and Downies is a unique event like nothing I have seen before, with a long and proud history. The continued existence of the games seems to be inextricably linked to the future of The Cloffocks – and it is to be hoped that a solution can be found which will allow the games to continue for many more years to come.

I would like to thank Bob and Robert Daglish, Linda Carter and Aunt Amy for their very warm hospitality, which was very much appreciated.

Uppies and Downies - Easter in Workington

The Uppies and Downies games take place every Easter in Workington – and there is a long tradition of involvement of the local Daglish family.

Uppies and Downies is one of only three mass-football events that are still played in the UK, the other two being at Ashbourne in Derbyshire and at Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands.

The games are played each year on Good Friday, the following Tuesday and the next Saturday - but it is the Tuesday game that the Daglish family has been involved with.

In recent years this is Bob Daglish and his son Robert. Bob told me:

"We have been involved with the game as far back as records began. Basically it involves the Up side of town getting the ball to the Curwen Hall and the Down side getting it to the harbour. There are no rules, we simply throw the ball off at 18.30 on Easter Tuesday and watch the fun!

Anyone can play, it can last 30 mins or it can last 6 hours. it depends alot on the weather and how many people turn out, sometimes 5 or 6 hundred, sometimes a couple of thousand (especially if Easter is late, and the weather good with light nights). There is no team strip or colours, you wear old clothes, especially if you intend following the ball into the beck (a beck is a small stream or a river)."

Each game starts at The Cloffocks, an open area used for recreational purposes, and is won by the team that reaches its goal and "hails" the ball by raising it three times. The play can go anywhere - in the river, in the beck or into the town. It can be rough – but rarely violent, although injuries are common and death is not unknown. Four players are known to have drowned – most recently in 1983.

Bob's father Henry Daglish (1917-1977) and his great great-uncle Anthony Daglish (1850-1933) are the only men ever to have thrown the ball off and hailed it in the same game. Anthony Daglish also appears in the all-time list of top "hailers" with five successes between 1871 and 1890. The cutting shown dates from around 1928.

The ball, which is dated, is hand made to an existing pattern and takes thirty hours to make. Each ball weighs about two and a half pounds and is 21 inches round. No spares are made.

The Uppies and Downies series raises thousands of pounds each year for charity through ticket draws and ball money donations.

With thanks to Bob Daglish, Linda Carter and to the Times & Star for the information. The cutting appears in the book "Workington in old picture postcards, Volume 2" by Derek Woodruff.

Yellowley & Daglish - grocers from Newcastle

Shown here is the cover of a catalogue from October 1958 published by Yellowley & Daglish Ltd - wholesale grocers, provision merchants and confectioners from Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Company claims to be "The North's Leading Wholesalers", with "25 Fully Trained Representatives covering the Counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham, North Yorkshire & North Lancashire".

It also shows the business has been "Established over 200 Years" - but I don't think that it has traded under this name for all of this time.

On 6 May 1856, William Daglish and Henry Yellowley agreed to take over the existing grocer's business run by William Yellowley in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle - so possibly the business was previously run by the Yellowley family. Both William and Henry Yellowley were already involved in the grocery business.

William Daglish was born in Morpeth, and was married twice. He died in 1902, aged 81. His only son, William Anthony Daglish (1854-1923), worked in the business - and I believe that William Anthony's sons may also have carried on in the business. I do not know if any Daglishes were involved in running the business at the time that the October 1958 catalogue was published.

The catalogue has 52 pages of listings and makes interesting reading. In among the lists are some little "words of wisdom", such as "Silence is one of the great arts of conversation".



Looking at some old Trade Directories*, in 1890 the business was still at 125 Pilgrim Street; in 1898 the address is 37 High Bridge, and in 1910 at 5 Elswick Court, an address it appears to have occupied for many years. The 1958 catalogue shows the address of the Head Office is shown as "YanD House", 961-973 Scotswood Road - and there is an address of an office in Belfast. I do not know what happened to the business after this date.

Any information about this long established business, and the involvement of this particular Daglish family, would be much appreciated.

* Local Trade Directories can be found in libraries - and there is a useful online resource Historical Directories, a project run by the University of Leicester.

Richard Rothwell Daglish - New Romney, Kent

This week I took the opportunity to visit New Romney in Kent, the adopted home of Richard Rothwell Daglish. New Romney was one of the original Cinque Ports (with Hastings, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich), and has a long and interesting history.

Richard was born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1841, the son of Robert Daglish and Rebecca Rothwell. He studied medicine and in 1864 was admitted as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons.

In 1866 he married Laura Stringer, daugher of a lawyer from New Romney. They had one son, Harry Rothwell Daglish.

Richard retired in 1906 and died on 23 April 1908. His son Harry died in 1910 and his wife Laura died in 1915. The family are buried in the graveyard of the parish church, St. Nicholas.


Inside the church is a brass plate which reads:


To the glory of God and in loving memory of Richard Rothwell Daglish, the chamber was built and the machines for blowing the organ constructed at the expense of his widow Laura Daglish, July 15 1910. Also the glory of God and in fond remembrance of Harry Rothwell Daglish, son of the above, this Church was endowed in the sum of one thousand Pounds for the preservation of the organ under the Will of Laura Daglish, who passed away beloved by all January 25 1915.

Richard was mayor of New Romney four times (1885-87, 1888-89, 1894-96 and 1905-08) and was also Speaker of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports twice (1888-89 and 1895-96).

In West Street, there is an inscription on some cottages that were left by John Southland in 1610 as a hospital for the elderly.

This reads:
This Hospital being the gift of John Southland Gent: Anno 1610 was rebuilt at ye charge of Sr Robt. Austen and Sr Heny. Furneses Bar's Anno 1714
And was further endowed by Thomas Baker Gentleman Anno 1734 and by Richard Rothwell Daglish M.R.C.S. Anno 1908

The Daglish name is further commemorated in the town by a road named Daglish Close - unfortunately when we saw it the road sign was damaged.

The Wigan Daglish family, which had interests in coal mining and engineering, has been extensively researched over many years by Richard Daglish. The family moved to Lancashire from Northumberland at the beginning of the 19th century. Richard has provided me with much help, support and encouragement during the much shorter time that I have been researching into Daglish family history. Richard is a member of the Daglish DNA Study.

For King and Country

Few towns, villages or families were not touched by the wars of the 20th century, and in particular the two World Wars. Those who died are commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) web site.

There are 31 Daglish names listed and details given usually include name, rank, service number, regiment or unit, date of death, age, names of parents and the cemetery or memorial. Please see the names listed below - more details can be found by going to the CWGC web site.


The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was established in 1917 and pays tribute to the 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars. The commission has constructed 2,500 war cemeteries and plots; over one million casualties are commemorated in 150 countries.

The CWGC operates under the following principles:
- each of the dead should be commemorated by name on a headstone or memorial;
- headstones and memorials should be permanent;
- headstones should be uniform;
- there should be no distinction made on account of rank, race or creed.

Alexander Daglish, died 1916, age 20
Abner Daglish, died 1916, aged 20
Arthur Ernest Daglish, died 1917, age 27
Charles John Daglish, died 1915, age 31
Edward Daglish, died 1943, age 51
Edward Graham Daglish, died 1944, age 23
E.H. Daglish, died 1918
George Daglish, died 1942, age 22
George Richard Gordon Daglish, died 1917, age 27
Harry Jackson Daglish, died 1943
John Daglish, died 1915
John Daglish, died 1915, age 16
J. Daglish, died 1918
James Daglish, died 1940, age 20
Joseph Bucknall Daglish, died 1916
Joslyn Frederick Daglish, died 1941, age 23
J.H. Daglish, died 1919, age 18
John Pattison Daglish, died 1941, age 56
John Snowden Jackson Daglish, died 1941, age 37
John Thomas Daglish, died 1941, age 37
J.W. Daglish, died 1916
John William Daglish, died 1919, age 22
Robert Daglish, died 1941, age 59
R. Daglish, died 1915, age 20
R. Daglish, died 1916, age 27
R.A. Daglish, died 1915, age 27
Reuben Richard Daglish, died 1942, age 36
Thomas Reuben Daglish, died 1914
W. Daglish, died 1916, age 38
William Daglish, died 1916
W. Daglish, died 1917, age 29

Other sites which may be of interest are:
The British War Memorial Project
UK National Inventory of War Memorials
North East War Memorials Project
Imperial War Museum

Henry Daglish - premier of Western Australia

Henry Daglish was the first Labor premier of Western Australia from 10 August 1904 until 25 August 1905.

He was born in Ballarat West, Victoria, on 18 November 1866. His father was William Daglish, who had emigrated to Australia from Newcastle upon Tyne with his first wife Elizabeth Forster. After Elizabeth died in 1860, William married Henry's mother, Mary Ann James.

Henry married Edith Bishop in 1894 and in 1896 they joined many others moving to Western Australia, settling in the fast growing town of Subiaco.

Henry became involved in local politics, serving as mayor before being elected as Labor member for Subiaco. After the fall of his administration, he resigned from the Labor party in August 1905 and was elected as an independent in the October 1905 election; he served as minister for works under Frank Wilson from 1910 to 1911. Losing his seat at the 1911 election, he became an estate agent and from 1912 until his death in August 1920 he was employers' representative on the State Arbitration Court. He had a daughter Edith Rachel (b. 1896) and son Henry William (b. 1898).

Henry is remembered in the Perth suburb of Daglish which was named after him. Daglish railway station was built in 1924, and it is written:

Not every railway station has its name spelt out in greenery, but there is a trimmed hedge beside the Daglish station on the Railway Road frontage that leaves passengers in little doubt that this is indeed DAGLISH. To create a unique and attractive garden feature that also served a useful purpose was probably an English rural tradition, where railway station gardens were the source of much pride and a degree of competition.
Ken Spillman - Identity Prized : A History of Subiaco, UWA Press, 1985

The Methodist influence

During the last week two people have written to me about the strong Methodist influence in their Daglish family histories. This does seem to be common amongst many of the Daglish familes, including my own - and I think this would be an interesting subject for further research.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, spent much of his life touring Britain and Ireland preaching to crowds - often numbering many thousands - in the open air. It is estimated he covered over 250,000 miles and preached some 40,000 sermons, and until his death in 1791 he continued to campaign tirelessly on social issues and for universal education.

His journals hold a record of his travels and show that he visited the North-East of England on 48 occasions, visiting towns and villages sand giving birth to Methodism in the region.

Methodism appealed to the working people with a down-to-earth, more informal approach to religion. Wesley encouraged people to work hard and to save for their future; he also warned about the dangers of gambling and drinking.

Later during the nineteenth century the methodist movement split into groups, such as the Prmitive Methodists, which set up their own meeting places. These divisions ended in 1932 when most of the various strands of Methodism were reunited to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain.

Duncan & Daglish - Newcastle brewers

Duncan & Daglish Limited was a company in Newcastle upon Tyne involved in brewing, pubs and hotels and wine and spirit merchants. The company was formed in 1899 by John Duncan and Jacob Daglish, taking over an existing business J. Duncan & Company which had also been formed by Duncan and Daglish and which was involved in the same business.

The new company acquired the Westgate Hill Brewery and had 22 licensed premises, of which 15 were well established premises in Newcastle - others were in Gateshead, South Shields, Middlesbrough and Bishop Auckland. Additional houses were acquired in 1900 from local wine merchant D.A. Williamson & Co.

Pictured is the Black Bull Hotel in Wallsend; this shows "Duncan and Daglish" above the door and windows (although it is hard to see it here due to the small size of the picture).


The company continued to expand and in 1907 Bass, the brewer from Burton, acquired a substantial shareholding. By the Second World War Bass owned a majority shareholding and the company became a subsidiary of Bass - although the name of Duncan and Daglish continued to be used until 1967.

Jacob Daglish was born in 1852, the son of William Daglish, who in the 1861 census was a maltsman in Tynemouth. Jacob followed in his father's footsteps serving an apprenticeship as a maltster at Carr's Low Lights Brewery in North Shields before becoming North of England agent for Aitken & Co. of Falkirk. He also had interests in steamship and colliery companies and became mayor of Tynemouth in 1900.

There is a statue of Queen Victoria in Tynemouth which reads:

"Erected by public subscription to the memory of our late beloved Queen Victoria by the inhabitants of the Borough of Tynemouth during the Mayoralty of Alderman Daglish J.P. 1901-02 and unveiled by the Mayoress October 25th 1902". Jacob had three sons and two daughters and died in July 1904.


Information about Duncan and Daglish from the book Brewers and Bottlers, Newcastle upon Tyne by Brian Bennison, 1995

Update:


I recently received this photo of the grave of Jacob's parents William Daglish and Isabella (nee Coulson), in Preston Cemetery, North Shields. This shows William's death on 25 July 1865, aged 46, and Isabella's death on 18 Jun 1879, aged 62.
This was taken by Cindy Nunn and her husband Colin Nunn, to whom I am very grateful.