Generation 6

John Surl - Very little is known except that he was a brazier and seems to have married twice. For more details of John and his first wife , see Tree 2 Notes, para 6.1 and for a fuller discussion on the two family branches, please see the Introduction.

John's second marriage was to 40 year old Frances HERRING on 3rd November 1810 at St Mary De Lode, Glos. Unless this was a 2nd marriage for her too (so a Herring by marriage), this is believed to be the Frances Herring who was christened in the same church on 16th July 1770, daughter of Thomas Herring and Elizabeth. Red herrings aside, the Christian name of Frances was perpetuated in following generations.

John and Frances had three children - James 7.1, Samuel  7.2  and Mary 7.3 below

Generation 7

James Surl - b1811, d 25th Sep 1855. As mentioned in the Introduction, originally the only clue to his year of birth was his age at death quoted on the death certificate as 35 yrs, making him born 1820 and therefore unlikely to be a sibling of 1791 John of Newent. However, this would have made him only 14 when he first married so about 1811, a year or so after his parents' wedding, was considered more likely ... and this was then confirmed thanks to the 1841 census which quotes his age as 30 (so actually 30-34 due to rounding). A non-conformist baptism has just been found which finally confirms his birth as 1811. 

In the 1841 census he is shown as a Tin Plate Worker living with a Mary Surl aged 20 (see 7.3 below) at what looks like Lemon Place in Tewkesbury. On his death certificate ('informant' = 'Mary Cox' of 'High Street, Tewkesbury', "present at the death"), he is also described as a Tin Plate Worker - by then of High Street, Tewkesbury - but elsewhere he is shown as a Brazier and when daughter Frances (8.5) married in 1892, she described her father as an Ironmonger.

On 17th May 1834 he married Sarah STEPHENS (b1806). They had two children, both of whom were short-lived: James born 1834/5 and christened the day he died (14th June 1835) and Mary Ann born 11th April 1838. Sadly she survived only 14 days, dying on 25th April 1838 of convulsions. Sarah herself died less than two years after that - of a hemorrhage in Quakers Meeting Yard, Tewkesbury on 1st March 1840. (Half brother John Surl had been apprenticed to a Wm Stephens and his wife Mary Ann. Could this be their daughter ?)

On 27th December 1841 in Tewkesbury Parish Church he married Ellen MEW (1822 to 11th April 1845). She was the daughter of Thomas MEW, a waterman. Though she called herself 'Ellen' when reporting the births of her sons, she was called 'Eleanor' by her sister Ann who reported her death in 1845. During the course of their marriage - which again was truncated to just four years due to the death of the wife - James and Ellen had two children. Both were boys (James and John) and although both were successful in their careers and between them had seven children, neither lived to reach 50 years of age - see 8.2 & 8.3 below for more details.

At the time of James junior's birth in 1843, the family were living at Barton Street in Tewkesbury (Barton Street was one of the three streets which met at 'The Cross' in the centre of the town, High Street and Church Street being the other two). It is understood that the family business of Braziers and Tinsmiths was somewhere near The Cross, and that a major source of custom was the fabrication and repair of kettles and other utensils.

On 11th May 1846 again in Tewkesbury Parish Church, James married Mary DREW (b c 1819) who was described at the time as a Spinster, Servant of Tewkesbury, daughter of Thomas Drew, Labourer. She already had a son, also called Thomas DREW (8.7), who was born in 1842 (so aged 4 at the time of the marriage to James) and, like the other boys, pursued a career in the fledgling gas supply industry. James and Mary produced 3 children of their own during their 9 years together - Mary, Frances and William - see 8.4 to 8.6 for more details. 

In the 1861 census - 6 yrs after James's death - Mary is the head of the family and shown as an 'Ironmonger' living in High St, Tewkesbury together with son Thomas Drew (19) and stepson John (17) - both described as Tin Plate Workers - plus Frances & William (scholars).

It had been thought that Mary Surl nee Drew then switched vocation to domestic service and died on 7th Jan 1870 as a death certificate had been obtained some time ago for a Mary Surl, aged 50, Domestic Servant, who died at High Street, Tewkesbury.  However, it now transpires that in 1870 there were TWO Mary Surls in central Tewkesbury - either living together or just yards away from one another - and both of exactly the same age but it has now been proven that the one who died was James's sister Mary (7.3 below). 

On the contrary, Mary Surl - nee Drew - remained in the Iron Mongery business until retirement and was rather long-lived. In fact she outlived all her children by a margin, dying in Tewkesbury at the age of 94 in 1912 (!). 

In both 1871 and 1881 she is still in High St and both censuses show her as born in Donnington, Herefordshire. In 1871 she employed "one man and a boy" whilst in 1881 she is shown as "Tin Plate Worker Master Employing One Man". Also living with her in 1881 are one Ann DREW, 'mother' aged 89, shown as having been born in Dymock, Herefs, and William Surl shown as 'son', a Gas Stoker aged 26. By 1901 she had moved to Cotteswold Road, Tewkesbury, where she is living with her 52yr old widowed daughter Frances Pinchin.

No more known - nothing yet found about him.

As noted under James above, she is shown in the 1841 census living with him in Tewkesbury. In 1851 she is shown as Mary SURLE, age 31, unmarried and a servant (cook) in the household of the Rev James Bearcroft, the Rector of Hadsor, at Trench Lane, Oddingly, Droitwich. (Hadzor and Oddingly seems to be a joint parish, 1 mile SE of Droitwich)

She has at last been traced in the 1861 census transcribed as "Maria Serce" but clearly SERLE in the original manuscript entry. As guessed, she was again in service - still as a cook and still unmarried - but this time, aged 41, at the Parsonage, Abbotts [sic] Court in the village of Deerhurst (near Odda's Chapel, approx 5 miles SW of Tewkesbury). 

When she died  in 1870, her death record again quotes her as being a domestic servant, this time in High Street, Tewkesbury. The informant of the death was a Mary Pittman, a stocking-maker, of Malvern's Ct, Tewkesbury, "present at the death". Malvern's Court is literally next on the census listing to the Ironmongery business of Mary Surl nee Drew in the High St - so those two Marys had been close neighbours for decades and Mary Pittman, like Mary Surl nee Drew, had been widowed relatively young. It is pluasible that Mary Surl became ill and was no longer able to continue in service so went to live with one or other of the two widow Marys.  Oh yes, and Mary Pittman was the same age as the other two Mary's too. How contrary.   

Generation 8 

Mary Ann Surl -  b 11th April1838 in Tewkesbury. Survived only 14 days, dying on 25th April 1838.

James Surl - born at Barton Street, Tewkesbury on 10th Jan 1843, died June quarter of 1887 in Stow-on-the-Wold, Glos.

SJS writes - "His mother died when he was only 2 years and 3 months old, his father remarried (Mary DREW) when he was 3 years and 4 months, and his father died when he was 12½. It appears that the family moved to High Street (Tewkesbury) before he was 10, otherwise nothing is known about his childhood." 

"He appears to have followed the family's trade for, at the age of 22 when he married in London, he described himself as a "Tinplate Worker, Journeyman". The dictionary definitions of 'Tinplate Worker' and 'Tinsmith' are virtually synonymous whereas 'Tinman' may be a dealer in tinware as well as a worker in tin. 'Journeyman' means 'one who works by the day : any hired workman : one whose apprenticeship is completed', ie works for someone else rather than on their own account. Obviously it it possible that the terms had subtly separate or conjoint significations within the mid-19th century tin working trade". To whom he was apprenticed and whether or not he received the freedom of the town upon completion are not known, nor are when and why he left Tewkesbury for London. 

In London in Dec qtr 1865 he married Sarah Ellen Elizabeth EGAN, a milliner, also aged 22 (so b c1843). It is believed that she hailed from Tipperary, Ireland; her Catholic faith, father's name of Patrick and father's occupation of 'plasterer' certainly support at least the country of origin of the family but the 1871 census quotes her birthplace as Shoreditch, London while in 1901 it's Finsbury, London. An unusual feature was that two wedding ceremonies were held - one Protestant and the other Roman Catholic - the latter on 1st Oct 1865 at St Monica's Roman Catholic Chapel, Hoxton Square, Hoxton Old Town, at which the witnesses were Joseph O'Brien and Catherine Burke. The address quoted  for both bride and groom on the certificate is 19, Upper John Street : this may be due to the Catholic ceremony having taken place somewhat after the Protestant or the address relating to a rooming house.

Between 1866 and 1872, James and Sarah produced five children (Polly, Sarah Alice, James, William and Ellen - see 9-8.2 below). Polly's Birth Certificate of 1866 suggests that the family home had by this time moved to 4, York Row, Pearson Street, Haggerstone whilst that for James Joseph in 1869 indicates a return to Upper John Street in Hoxton but this time to No 20 and they also appear there in the 1871 census. However, an alternative explanation is that Polly, being the 1st child, was born whilst her mother Sarah was staying with her own mother (as was often the custom). 

The exact location of Upper John Street is not known as many streets in the area have been redeveloped or renamed, but Hoxton is that locality immediately to the west of Kingsland Road (the A10) south of Dalston Junction whereas Haggerstone (now Haggerston) is that immediately to the east. Hoxton, Haggerstone and parts of Hackney form the northern part of the Shoreditch registration district - hence Shoreditch appearing as the birthplace or residence on some censuses - and it borders with Finsbury and Islington immediately to the west. Incidentally, Pearson Street is very close to the almshouses which now form the Geffrye Museum that houses several products of the 19th century tinsmith's art.

James, like his brother John and step-brother Thomas, sought his fortune in the rapidly expanding gas manufacture and supply industry. In the 1871 census he is listed as a 'Gas Meter Maker' but  he later emigrated to Iquiqui in Northern Chile - a new town in a recently independent former Spanish colony - to take up the post of Gas Manager. 

SJS adds - "Many Britons settled permanently in South America during this era but James returned to England in the mid-1880's to assume the position of Gas Manager at Stow-on-the-Wold, a small Gloucestershire town high on the Cotswold Hills. In retrospect this was not a wise move as there is a local saying "Stow-on-the-Wold, where the wind blows cold" and it is understood that the sudden change of climate was the cause of his death in 1887 at the age of 44."

It is not known whether or not Sarah and the 3 surviving children accompanied James during all or part of his time in Chile, but it is assumed that they did as they have not yet been located anywhere in the UK in the 1881 census. 

Sarah obviously returned to London after James's death as she is shown in 1891 with her two daughters and 7 yr old niece Beatrice Brien (probably O'Brien, as per marriage witnesses) at 4, Bushberry Road, Homerton (near Hackney Wick / Hackney Marsh) but by 1901 she and the two daughters had moved up to 334A, Essex Road, Islington, London. However she died  in the March quarter of 1905 at the age of 62 in Billericay in Essex. 

Although he, like James and half-brother Thomas, also pursued a career in the gas supply industry, John resisted the lure of foreign climes and South America in particular, preferring instead to stay in England and reside at such exotic locations as Crewe, Nantwich, Rugby and then (as gas manager) Hinckley, Leicestershire, where he was responsible for the considerable expansion of the plant. His final move in 1878/9 was back to Tewkesbury to become manager of the gasworks there but he still maintained contact with Hinckley as a consultant for several years. 

In Jun qtr 1866  he married Harriet BRADLEY (b 17th June 1845 in Tewkesbury, died after 1901) and they had two children - Emily & Alfred - see 9-8.3 for more details.

The 1881 census shows the family at 'The Gasworks, Oldbury Road, Tewkesbury' with Emily aged 13 born in Crewe and Alfred, 3, born in Hinckley. Also in the household is Samuel James Osborne, aged 16 and born in Tewkesbury, listed as Nephew and Railway Clerk. He was a nephew of Harriet's (son of her sister Emma who had married James Osborne) and SJS reports "he had the first motor car in the area in 1899". He married a Mary Brown and their daughter, Rose Anne Osborne married John & Harriet Surl's son Alfred so Alfred was both Samuel's first cousin and his son-in-law. 

Click here to view the Obituary to John in the Tewkesbury Register of May 1892

In the 1901 census, Harriet is listed (with son Alfred) in Union Place, Tewkesbury, aged "53" and "living on own means".

Death certificate quotes her as the daughter of James Surl, Tin Plate Worker (deceased) and cause of death as Inflammation of Bowels. Informant was Mary Cox of High St, Tewkesbury.

On 5th December 1892 (= at age 43) she married one William PINCHIN (also aged 43) in St Mary's Church, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham. On the marriage certificate, he is shown as a Labourer (son of Charles Pinchin, shepherd, deceased), she as a Domestic Servant (daughter of James Surl, Ironmonger, deceased). 

After little more than four years marriage, William died aged 48 in Cheltenham in Mar qtr 1897. Frances then moved to Tewkesbury to live with her similarly widowed mother and is shown with her in Cotteswold Road in 1901. Frances Pinchin died in Tewkesbury in 1909 aged 60, three years before her mother.

Although it is theoretically possible that they could have had offspring - indeed  the birth of a Winifred Mary PINCHIN was recorded in Cheltenham during the 1st quarter of 1893 - there were other Pinchin families in the area at the time. Had there been any offspring, they would have been under seven years of age in 1901 so ought to have been living at home with their mother but none is mentioned so the balance of probability is 'no issue'.

No marriage record has yet been found for him. 

He died in the Sep quarter of 1892 in Tewkesbury at the quoted age of 39

Thomas Drew - b 1842. A year or two older than half-brothers James and John, he seems to have been the one who started the move away from tin into gas. Little is known other than that he became gas manager at Pernambuco in Brazil and, according to the death notice in the local paper for John in 1892, he died there 'a few years ago'. 

In the 1851 census he is shown with the Surname of Surl and birthplace of Bremerton, Worcs. SJS comments "I cannot locate this. It could be Kemerton a few miles east of Tewkesbury which has been variously in Glos & Worcs as the boundaries have moved." In the 1861 census his birthplace is definitely 'Glouc' but the place currently cannot be deciphered (looks a bit like Painswick). At age 19 in 1861, he was still at home in Tewkesbury as a 'Tin Plate Worker'. 

 Generation 9

Shown as an "artist" in 1891 (as per her sister Alice below) when the family was at No 4, Bushberry Road, Homerton (Hackney Wick) but her occupation has been crossed out (so is impossible to decipher) in the 1901 census when they had moved to 334A Essex Road, Islington. 

Hence in 1901 there was a Mary Ann aka 'Polly' from both the Newent & Tewkesbury Surl family braches living in the same London borough at the same time ! Did they know of each other?

SJS believed that, like sister Sarah Alice, she married a German photographer but no evidence of this has yet been found ... and what became of her is not known. 

Although shown in censuses as 'Sarah A' when very young, she seems later to have been known as 'Alice' to avoid confusion with her mother; indeed she appears in both the 1891 & 1901 censuses simply as Alice Surl. In 1901 she is listed as 'Artist photographer' at 334a Essex Road living with her widowed mother and sister Mary (above). Also with them was Eugine Frounhauser (sic) as a 'photographer' with relationship 'partner' (in view of events later that year, presumably to Alice rather than her mother as head of the household). His was age 29,  'working on own account' and from what looks like 'Cologne, Germany' but with 'British Subject' appended. To complete the household, there was a 34yr old boarder John Furze, a Draper's Clerk from Kilkhampton in Cornwall. 

On 3rd October 1901 she married 'Eugine' at 'Our Lady of the Good Counsel' Roman Catholic Church, Bouverie Road, Stoke Newington, his full name appearing as Julius August Eugen FROHNHAEUSER with his occupation now also 'artist and photographer' and son of Carl Frohnhaeuser, "Manager of a Powder Factory". Just as at Alice's parents' wedding, the address quoted for both bride & groom is the same - 334, Essex Road, Islington - but this time both witnesses were O'Briens : Joseph John and Lillian Annie (the same Joseph ?).

334/A Essex Road in April 2007 (Red section is 334A)

334 Essex Road lies approximately half way between Essex Road station and the Balls Pond Road. It is interesting to note that Marc Surl now lives a couple of minutes walk from here and that Bouverie Road, Stoke Newington, is a matter of yards from the birthplace of both Geoffrey (1899) and Arthur (1902) Surl but it is doubtful if each family knew of the other's existence.

Sadly, Eugine and Alice's married life was little more than a year as he died in early 1903 at the age of 30, his death being reported as 'Julius Frohnhaeuser' but curiously at Steyning in Sussex. The only FROHNHAEUSER birth recorded during the 1901-3 period is for one MARIE in the third quarter of 1902 at Islington (the district applicable to Essex Road) so it is pretty safe to assume her parentage. See 10-9.22

A photographic trade directory for 1901/2 lists 'Surl, Miss Alice, 334A Essex Road' whereas in the 1903 edition the entry becomes 'Surl, A & Co' reflecting her partnership/marriage but from the 1904 directory edition onwards, the business at that address becomes that of one Sidney Bell. Given that such directories are based on the previous' year's data, this does suggest that Alice gave up the business around the time of the birth of their daughter and, given Eugine/Julius's place of death, that the family moved to Steyning. No more known.

9-8.3

Children of Harriet Bradley & John Surl (8.3)

9.31

On 26th October 1897, married Albert Henry HULBERT (1868-19??) of Cheltenham. No issue. Local paper, the "Tewkesbury Weekly Record", for 30/10/1897 reports under marriages:

"Hulbert-Surl - 26th Inst., at the Wesleyan Chapel by the Rev F Haliday, Albert Henry, second son of George Hulbert, of Cheltenham, to Emily Blanche (Minnie), only daughter of the late Mr Councillor John Surl of Tewkesbury."

9.32

Alfred John Surl - b 23rd Sep 1877 (in Hinckley, Leics), died 5th May 1954.

In the 1901 census he is shown aged 23 living with his widowed mother in Union (?) Place, Tewkesbury and working as a 'Builder's Clerk'

On 19th Oct 1925, at age 48 he married Rose Anne OSBORNE (b 6th Jan 1891, died 1st Sep 1967.)

They had two children - Samuel John and Emily Joyce (John & Joy) - see 10-9.32 for details. In the late 40's and early 50's the family home was in the village of Woolstone and, as mentioned on the Intro page, it was as a result of Alfred's farming activities being featured in the Lady magazine that led Arthur Surl to re-establish contact with this family branch.

Alfred and son John at Woolstone

 Generation 10

10-9.32 

Children of Rose Anne Osborne & Alfred John Surl (9.32)

Samuel John Surl  ("John") - b 18th July 1926, died 14th May 2007. John became a company accountant. After his retirement, John was an immense help with this family history and, just six weeks before he died, he came up with the evidence to prove the nature of the link between the Newent and Tewkesbury branches. It is a complete coincidence that while he was christened Samuel but known as John, Stephen Edwin Surl was known as "Sam" 

On 14th June 1954, he married Margaret Beryl WAKEFIELD ("Beryl", b 17th Feb 1919, died 28th August 2007) and they had two children, Robert & Martin (see 11-10.31). After almost 50 years living in Cheltenham, they moved to Birdlip c 2001. 

John & Beryl

Emily Joyce Surl ("Joy") - born 7th September 1928. 

Since she and her mother left Woolstone after the death of her father in 1954, Joy has spent all her life in Cheltenham. After her mother's death in 1967, this was on her own in a succession of apartments in the Pittville area but in more recent times she has moved into sheltered housing.

 Generation 11

On 16th August 1980, he married Jennifer Naomi CORNWELL (b 24th Jan 1955) in Barcombe, Sussex, and they have two children, Hannah and Luke - see 12-11.31

On 5th June 1982, he married Elizabeth LAWLEY-WAKELIN (b 8th March 1958) in Cheltenham, and they have two children, Joanna and Oliver - see 12-11.32

 Generation 12