Foiled by a proliferation of Foyles

QThe proliferation of persons having Foyle as their surname in the Portsmouth area throughout the 19th century has on occasion caused me some difficulty in trying to identify individuals that might be related to my own family. In the case of my great uncle William Foyle, I know that he was born in 1839 at Landport and that he was the first child of William Foyle a seaman serving on HMS Ganges and his wife Susannah, formerly Phipps. The 1841 Census shows that at the age of two he was living with his mother at Sun Street, Portsmouth. His father at that time was still serving as a seaman, this time on HM Steamer Colombia.

By 1871, the Foyle family had increased. There were now five children, William himself, Olive, Cecilia, (my paternal grandmother), Maria Louisa and Edward. For some time, great uncle William had been employed as a warehouseman in a stay factory. Their father, William Foyle senior had died in 1857; he was forty three and at the time of his death he had been employed as a dock labourer. At the time however, William junior was a lodger residing at Number 1 Bedford Street, the home of Sara(h) Merritt, a widow. Within a few days of the census, on 10 April 1871, he married Emma Jenkins the daughter of a furniture broker, at St Mary’s Church, Portsea. He was still working as a warehouseman in a stay factory.

One of the details shown on the marriage certificate seems to be unusual in that the bridegroom’s father, although having died in 1857, is not shown as deceased. What is more, his occupation is given as blacksmith. This seems rather odd seeing that his employment had always appeared to have been connected with the sea. Is it unusual to find anomalies of this kind on documents of this period? Still on the subject of employment, it seems that great uncle William at some time during the following years had changed his occupation and had now become a showcard ticket writer. On the death of his wife Emma, William is now shown as a refreshment house keeper. Yet again another change of occupation.

I have been unable to trace any children of this marriage; the names William John Foyle and Percy Edward Foyle appear on some family trees but their dates of birth, 1887 and 1891, show this not to be the case, but could these two in some way be related to the family?

Finally, there is a record of a William Foyle, a ticket writer, found as a patient at Portsmouth and District Lunatic Asylum in 1901. This record is followed up by the report of a death in 1908 of an “inmate at the Asylum, Milton Portsmouth”. A former ticket writer William Foyle had, after an inquest, been adjudged to have died as a result of “inflammation of the lungs through lying in bed in consequence of a broken leg brought about by his having been accidentally pushed down on September last.” Was this my great uncle? I had assumed that he had died in 1914. However, the only death of a William Foyle occurring in Portsmouth during that year was of William Foyle a retired cab driver aged 74. Could this man be a relative?

I am anxious to write the history of my Foyle ancestors and in doing so I would need to have confirmation of facts, together with suggestions that might give me some understanding of the occupations that featured in those times, particularly in the Portsmouth area.

Andrew Collins

ALet’s start with the simpler questions you raise. In 1806 the Royal Navy had 48 different categories of rating and by 1853 this had swollen to 79, reflecting the increased technology found in warships as they evolved from sail to steam and wood to iron. Amongst them was the blacksmith who was a Petty Officer. In 1890 blacksmiths acquired their own distinguishing badge which remained in use until 1948 when the specialisation was phased out. It is quite possible that William Foyle senior could have served in the Royal Navy as a blacksmith. Putting this as his occupation on the marriage certificate was probably seen as more prestigious than being a dock labourer.

If you have not already done so you should search TNA’S records of naval ratings to find out more about William senior and the ships in which he served. There are various records, some going back to 1667, which have details of a rating’s service and pension if he had one. Until 1853 ratings joined the Navy for a commission aboard a particular ship. After that they joined for a period of continuous service, the length of which varied over the years but for most was limited to a maximum of 22 years followed by a pension. TNA has research guides at https://familytr.ee/narchresearchwhich you should consult to get started.

Marriage certificates are useful in revealing the name of the father of both bride and groom. Sadly it is only recently that they will include the mother’s name as well. In theory if the father was dead this should show on the certificate but in practice it often does not. Conversely the father may be shown as dead when he was still alive but either the children were estranged or had some reason for concealing the existence of their father.

Some old employments seem quite amusing to us today. A stay factory was where corsets (not much worn nowadays!) were made and whilst the sewing would likely have been done by women the warehousing and heavy lifting was more likely a man’s job. At the time a showcard ticket writer was probably someone who produced advertising style cards and notices for display in shops. It required some artistic talent which William evidently had.

Project Foyle

A quick search on Ancestry for Foyle in Portsmouth censuses revealed around 150 relevant possible entries. That’s a lot but not an impossible number given that most households will contain more than one Foyle. When I started my Frost family research in pre internet days I had little to go on other than the name of the village whence they hailed. I went through each available census for the village and extracted every Frost family. It was remarkable how effective this was and with some further research in the parish records I was quickly able to establish that all the seafaring Frosts in the village descended from one individual.

If you were to do something similar with Foyle in Portsmouth it should reveal whether the other Foyles you mention are relatives. I always treat online family trees with some scepticism. They can be very helpful and you should always contact the author whilst remembering that other folk’s research standards may not match your own. On the other hand they may have come upon some information which has eluded you or even have old family documents. DF

See David Annal’s article on family reconstruction

Family Tree, March 2021