William and Elizabeth Clemo's grave at Phillack

William was a master mariner and according to the 1891 census, had servants look after him and his family. Here's the entry:
19,Commercial Rd,
William J Clemo, Head, M ,47,,Master Seas Mariner, Employed, Newquay Cornwall,,
Elizabeth R Clemo,Wife,M,,49,,,Hayle Cornwall,,
Mary Clemo,Dau,S,,25,Draper's Assistant, Employed, Hayle Cornwall,,
Bessie Clemo,Dau,S,,19,Draper's Assistant, Employed, Hayle Cornwall,,
Julia Clemo,Dau,S,,17,Milliner's Assistant, Employed, Hayle Cornwall,,
Richard Clemo,Son,S,15,,Engineer Apprentice, Employed, Hayle Cornwall,,
Clarice Clemo,Dau,,,11,Scholar,,Hayle Cornwall,,
Stanley Clemo,Son,,10,,Scholar,,Hayle Cornwall,,
Elizabeth J Mitchell,Servnt,S,,42,General Servant, Employed, Hayle Cornwall,,

(Elizabeth (Bessie) Clemo was born on 23rd Nov 1871 and baptised at Phillack on the 8th Feb 1872)

After Elizabeth died he moved back to Newquay. Here he is in 1901:
1901 Census Newquay
RG 13 /2207 folio 21 page 34

Newquay, parish St. Columb minor.
Bank Street.
William CLEMO head/wid/57/retired master mariner/Newquay
Mary G CLEMO dau/single/35/Hayle
Bessie CLEMO dau/single/29/Hayle
Julia CLEMO dau/single/26/Hayle
Clarissa CLEMO dau/single/21/Hayle
Jane MITCHELL servant/single/50/gen. domestic/Hayle
Annie CARHARRICK? servant/single/27/housemaid/Crantock
Richard STEPHENS boarder/34/auctioneer manager/St. columb minor
Frederick H GEACH boarder/wid/65/living on own means/Bodmin

None of his daughters had found husbands- and neither had his servant Elizabeth Jane Mitchell. The records show that they died as follows
Burial at Phillack
CLEMO Elizabeth Richards 51 Penpol Terrace Hayle 14-Jul 1893
CLEMO William John 73 Treglyn Higher Town Road Newquay 8-Feb 1917 (Born 1844)

After a quick check on Google maps and streetview, it's clear that this entry should read Higher Tower Street, which is a shortish street of Victorian/Edwardian houses, now mostly B&Bs.

The grave is a pretty high status memorial but 100 years of exposure to the sea air is taking its toll

Charles and Annie Clemo's grave

After searching Phillack churchyard for almost an hour I managed to find the grave of my great great granfather Charles and of his wife Annie. Phillack is perched on the landward side of Hayle Towans a huge range of dunes that line St Ives bay in Cornwall. This may account for the unevenness of the ground.

John Clemo of St Columb Minor

I decided it was time to search for my ancestors on the Clemo side of the family.

After much searching I found this entry in the St Columb Minor Registry for 1841

1841 Census St Columb Minor

Newquay, 1, Josias Sleeman, 35, Mariner, In county,

Johanna Sleeman, 30, In county,

Agness Sleeman, 5, In county,

Robert Sleeman, 3, In county,

John Clemow, 25, Mason, in county,

Thomas Jane, 70, Navy Half Pay, In county,

John Clemow was Charles’ grandfather. He was a stone mason, single and boarding with a family in Newquay. There was a lot of work for a mason in those days. The work was hard and he would have apprenticed for seven years before setting out on his own. Many of the towns and all the industrial buildings in Cornwall were built of stone. Who knows which buildings were constructed from stones shaped by his hands?

After more searching I found him again in the 1851 census, still in St Columb Minor

1851 Census St Columb Minor

 Jno. Clemow, Head, M, 40, Journeyman Mason, Newlyn East Cornwall, (John)

Elizth. Clemow, Wife, M, 31, St Columb Minor Cornwall, (Elizabeth)

William Clemow, Son, 7, Scholar, St Columb Minor Cornwall,

Chs. Clemow, Son, 6, Scholar, St Columb Minor Cornwall, (Charles)

Jno. Clemow, Son, 3, Scholar, St Columb Minor Cornwall, (John)

Hy. Clemow, Son, 1, St Columb Minor Cornwall, (Henry)

He was by now married to Elizabeth and already had 4 children. I couldn’t find an entry for his marriage so enlisted the help on the Online Parish Clerk by email. Within a couple of hours he very kindly sent me the missing link

John Clemo [mason] of Church Town, Father John [a joiner] married Elizabeth Glanville of Church Town father William [a labourer] on 14 January 1843 at St Columb Minor

John’s eldest two sons William and Charles both went to sea. Perhaps it was the changing fortunes of the mining industry that brought that about. John himself lodged with a sailor’s family in 1841, so that may be how they started. The next we hear is when the oldest son William got married in St Erth

Wedding on 22-Aug 1865 

William John Clemo aged 23 bachelor occupation mariner of Hayle in St Erth; father John, occupation mason,

Married

Elizabeth Richards Champion aged 24spinster of Carnisers, St Erth, father Thomas occupation labourer. Witnesses R H Champion, Ann Champion

Not to be outdone, Charles married Elizabeth’s sister five years later.

Wedding on 21-Nov 1871 

Charles Clemo full bachelor sailor St Erth (father) John Clemo mason

Married

Ann Champion full spinster St Erth (father) Thomas Champion porter

Witnesses Elizabeth Clemo Thomas Champion

Both brothers settled in Hayle. William became a master mariner, probably skippering one of Harvey’s fleet of ships.

Triumph and tragedy

I've spent the last few weeks going through the information that I've discovered, writing the story up to the turn of the century and filling in the gaps in my knowledge. Along the way I found Charles Reginald Clemo's name on the Naval Memorial in Plymouth (it was there all along), and traced the Clemo side of the family back to John Clemo, a mason who lived in Newquay in 1841. I doubt if I'll go back earlier than that.

Over Christmas I learned that my uncle Peter had been diagnosed with cancer of the throat. He was the last link with the past and I contacted my cousin to ask various questions so that I could piece together the various fragments of knowledge with some certainty.
Last weekend I resolved to go and see him. I'd heard that he'd lost some weight but was in good spirits. My son Chris drove me down to Cornwall and we stayed at the White Hart Hotel in Hayle, which was my father's local back in the 1950s. We visited and photographed many sites that are central to my story and we were lucky to spend a couple of hours with my uncle on the Saturday. The following day I visited St Erth and took some pictures before spending some time searching for a grave in Phillack churchyard.
Having found what I was looking for, I decided to call in to see my uncle before the long drive home. We called in and spent a few minutes looking at the photos I'd taken.
We were just about to say goodbye when he collapsed. My son and I performed CPR on him while the ambulance and a motor cycle medic made their way to the house. They spent some time trying to revive him but to no avail. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

My son was very shaken by the experience and it was a long drive home for us both.

Square eyes

I've spent much of the last week gazing at my computer and scrolling through lists on names for traces of the Clemo side of the family. After a lot of searching and a little help from the online parish clerk I managed to trace back to 1841.
In 1841 a John Clemow was a 25 year old stone mason, boarding with a mariner's family in Newquay. In 1843 he married Elizabeth Glanville and had four children. The oldest was William and he became a Master mariner based in Hayle. His younger brother Charles was also a sailor and lived in Hayle. The brothers both married- to Elizabeth and Annie Champion who were sisters. Charles and Annie's eldest son was Charles, and he married Elizabeth H T Hayes in 1895. Elizabeth told the church registrar she was 24, but was in fact 28, 5 years older than her husband.
Harveys was the main employer in Hayle and they were in trouble with falling orders and the beginnings of union power. The manufacturing side of the company was put up for sale in 1894 but there were no takers. It finally closed for good in 1904, putting 500 men out of work.

Charles and Elizabeth had already left for Devonport, where Charles enlisted in the Royal Navy

The Hayes family graves at St Erth

My uncle and cousin very kindly drove over to St Erth and took these photos of the Hayes Family grave.

My great great grandparent's grave

Their daughters Wilhelmina & Julia

Their son Richard Hayes, also my great uncle Leonard and his wife Ethel.

My great grandmother Elizabeth Henrietta Trevaskis Clemo (nee Hayes)Died in Bodmin Lunatic Asylum. Buried in St Erth

My great grandfather Charles Clemo. Died in Plymouth. Buried in St Erth.

Still studying

I'm still studying and trying to piece it all together. Oh, and I've written ten thousand words with a view to trying to get a book out.

I'm hoping it'll be a mix of history and philosophy and gossip. A bit like me really

The story so far

The last week or so has been spent consolidating what I know and sorting the facts into order. Writing a blog is good, but the narrative lacks the kind of thread that you get with a book. I'm now rewriting what I've discovered in a book form. Will I ever finish it? Will I publish it?
I don't know. I do know that i'm having a great deal of fun researching and discovering facts about the family and the time and place they lived in.

As I write this, I'm researching the Hayes family for a chapter in the book.
I know some facts, but I expect to be trawling through lists of entries in search or more.

Nicholas Harvey was a gifted and successful engineer and well respected among his peers. He was a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers and on his death in 1861 a glowing obituary was published. You can read it here
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Nicholas_Oliver_Harvey

There's enough information to assume that he met his wife Juliana while on one of his many trips to Prussia. It records that
"His death occurred in the year 1861, in his sixty-first year, leaving a widow and a family of young children to mourn his loss."

Fredericka was the upper nurse at the time, yet within two years she had left Juliana's employment and married one of the workers at the Harvey Foundry.
I wonder why?

I knwo that Juliana ended her days in Madron, just outside Penzance. Did she stay in London or move back to Cornwall straight away? The Harveys were a close knit family. As far as I can tell Nicholas and Juliana lived with his younger brother William in a large house a few yards from the works and overlooking the millpool. It's a nursing home now.

Seek and you will find

Well, it's taken an age and a lot of poring over internet records, joining different forums and family history sites, and sending emails to all points of the compass, but I finally made the breakthrough tonight.
I now have the evidence that links my great great grandmother to the Harvey family.

One of the problems in internet research is that you rely on other people reading 150 year old handwriting correctly, plus the non-standard spelling of family names. Many of our ancestors were illiterate, and there was no standard spelling of names and places, so sometimes you just rely on luck.

I have been lucky because I have a copy of the family bible, and so have exact dates. I've also been helped by the online parish clerks responsible for updating the records. I've been able to send them information to correct the online entries, so aiding the next searcher.

To be honest, I was stumped. I could find no trace of the Nicholas Harvey family in 1861. I had them in 1851, in Hayle, but my ancestor would have been 11 at the time.
I did find this entry
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sterth/1851_ed1a6.htm

Hayle Foundry 55
Harvey Nicholas Head M47 Manufacturing engineer Helston
Harvey Julia Wife M 30 Prussia [sic]
Harvey Sophia Dau 11 mos St. Erth
Richards Mary Servant U 27 Cook Germoe
Rowe Ann Servant U 21 Childsmaid Perranuthnoe
Simions Elizabeth Servant U26 House maid St. Austle

You will note a daughter Sophia aged 11 months.

I found these entries from 1852

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~phillack/strays/st_erth_bur.htm

Harvey Juliana Henrietta Hayle Foundry 9-Jul 1852 8 m
Harvey Nancy Sophia Hayle Foundry 22-Jul 1852 2

So Nicholas and Julia Harvey lost two daughters within a few weeks of each other. Sophia was 2 and her younger sister was just 8 months old. We forget just how many children failed to live beyond the age of five until quite recently. Infant mortality was a major problem. My father had an older brother named David who didn't make his first birthday. That was in the 1920s.

So, did the fact that they lost their first two children influence their appointing my great great grandmother as nurse/governess?

I looked everywhere but could not find a trace of Nicholas and Julia Harvey in the 1861 census, so I emailed the Online Parish Clerk for Phillack, one John Smith who lives in Australia.
He replied within a day to say that "I have found Nicholas HARVEY and his family at the time of the 1861 census. Nicholas and his family were living at 13 Ladbroke Terrace in Kensington (London). "
Unfortunately the pdf he attached did not list the servants, so I had to dig around a bit more.
Once again, a search of the names yielded nothing, but a search of the address hit paydirt. The surname had been copied incorrectly and read "Hawey", but the details were enough to establish that this was the family I'd spent hours searching for.

1861 Census
224 HARVEY, Nicholas B Head Married M 57 1804 Engineer Helston Cornwall
224 HARVEY, Julia Wife Married F 40 1821 Prussia
224 HARVEY, ... Daughter F 5 1856 St Erth Cornwall
224 HARVEY, Henry N Son M 3 1858 St Erth Cornwall
224 HARVEY, William L Son M 2 1859 St Erth Cornwall
224 HARVEY, Fransis H Son M 1 1860 Kensington Middlesex
224 HARVEY Son M 0 1861 Kensington Cornwall
224 HARVEY, William Visitor Widower M 56 1805 Merchant Helston Cornwall
224 HARVEY, Charlott F Visitor Widow F 61 1800 Lady Helston Cornwall
224 MARSHALL, Elizabeth Nurse Widow F 59 1802 Monthly Nurse Cambridge...
224 WILLIAMS, Mary B Servant Unmarried F 25 1836 Cook Mawgan Cornwall
224 ROW, Angeline Servant Unmarried F 29 1832 Housemaid St Hilary Cornwall
224 VALMER, Fredericka Servant Unmarried F 22 1839 Upper Nurse Prussia
224 MARLAM, Margaret Servant Unmarried F 18 1843 Under Nurse Liverpool

At last!

Now for the spooky part.
The Harveys moved to London from Hayle and were living there in 1861.
In 1962 my family relocated from Hayle to North Kensington.

The Harveys lived in Ladbroke Terrace in what is now a very desirable part of Notting Hill. It's just around the corner from Ladbroke Grove. If you travel north along Ladbroke Grove for a mile or so and turn left by the railway bridge, there's a small cul de sac of houses called Barlby Gardens, where we lived for many years.

That's spooky.

More about HMS Prize.

The Mystery deepens. I checked this website
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=150876

And it gives the names of the crew who were lost when the Prize went down.
Here’s the full list

BRYANT, Sydney D, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 10534, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
CARPENTER, David J, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 2766, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
CHUDLEY, John C, Officer's Steward 2c, L 1943 (Dev), Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
CLEMO, Charles R, Shipwright 2c, M 16543 (Dev), Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
COLLINS, Thomas, Deck Hand, RNR, SD 2677, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
FERGUSON, James, Deck Hand, RNR, SD 1482, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
FISHER, Albert, Able Seaman, 232272 (Dev), Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
HENSHALL, Henry T, Ordinary Telegraphist, J 48097 (Ch), Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
INCH, John Lumsden Temp/Skipper RNR HMS Prize killed 14.8.17
JARRETT, George J, Petty Officer, 222863 (Dev), Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
KING, Nicholas, Seaman, RNR, A 6829, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
LAKE, Frederick, Ty/Skipper, RNR, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
MANTHORPE, John J, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 2967, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
McDONALD, Kenneth N, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 14514, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
MILLER, Albert E, Telegraphist, J 25820 (Po), Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
MORGAN, Benjamin L, Cook, RNR, TC 1003, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
PORTCH, Henry H, Ty/Lieutenant, RNVR, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
RAVEY, Thomas, Deck Hand, RNR, SD 2513, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
REVELL, Henry J, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 8061, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
SANDERS, William Edward (VC, DSO) Temp/Lt Cmdr RNR HMS Prize killed 14.8.17
STOBART, Walter P, Motor Mechanic, MB 1991, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
TARRAWAY, Robert, Petty Officer, 153498 (Dev), Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
THACKER, Tom, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 8060, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
VINCENT, William H, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 681, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
WATSON, Harold L, Motor Mechanic, MB 1904, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
WILLIAMSON, Alexander, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 4819, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost
WILSON, Gilbert J, Deck Hand, RNR, DA 15235, Prize (ex-German Else), 13 August 1917, ship lost

The post goes on to say that the men of HMS PRIZE are remembered on Panel 23 of the Plymouth War Memorial. The church at Milford Haven also preserves a memorial tablet to Lt Sanders VC and his crew. This is because many of the crew of the Prize were drawn from reservists from the Milford Haven area.

I’ve checked the on-line photos of Panels 20-27 on the Plymouth War Memorial and while it’s true that temp Lt/Commander Sanders’ name is there. I can’t find any record of the others.

However I was successful in finding the entry for Stoker 2c R Clemo, who as you recall, went down with the Tornado in December 1917.

As far as I can make out there were two Clemos lost in WW1, but only one entry on the War memorial.

HMS Prize and Reginald Charles Clemo

So my great uncle (my granddad’s older brother) was killed in the first world war when his ship HMS Prize was sunk by German U-Boat U-48 on August 14th 1917.

What can we find out about this event? First of all, is it usual to know so many facts? To actually know which ship sank the Prize? Time to get searching.

Google is a good place to start. I typed in “HMS Prize” and Wikipedia tells me that HMS Prize was a “Q” Ship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Prize

On to find out what a “Q” Ship is/was.
This site is useful
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship

“A typical Q-ship might resemble a tramp steamer sailing alone in an area where a U-boat was reported to be operating. By seeming to be a suitable target for the U-boat's deck gun, a Q-ship might encourage the U-boat captain to make a surface attack rather than use one of his limited number of torpedoes. The Q-ships' cargoes were light wood (balsa or cork) or wooden caskets, and even if torpedoed they would remain afloat, encouraging the U-boat to surface and sink them with a deck gun. The crew might even pretend to "abandon ship". Once the U-boat was vulnerable, the Q-ship's panels would drop to reveal the deck guns, which would immediately open fire. At the same time, the White Ensign (Royal Navy flag) would be raised. With the element of surprise, a U-boat could be quickly overwhelmed.”

It mentions HMS Prize
“Lieutenant-Commander William Edward Sanders VC, DSO, a New Zealander commanding HMS Prize, was awarded the Victoria Cross for an action on 30 April 1917 with U-93, which was severely damaged. Sanders waited, while his ship sustained heavy shellfire, until the submarine was within 80 yards, whereupon he hoisted the White Ensign and the Prize opened fire. The submarine appeared to sink and he claimed a victory. However, the badly damaged submarine managed to struggle back to port. With his ship accurately described by the survivors of U-93, Sanders and his crewmen were all killed in action when they attempted a surprise attack on U-43 on 14 August 1917.”

This site has even more information plus some pictures
http://qships.freeservers.com/U93meetsPrize.htm

And this site tells us a bit about the commanding officer
http://warart.archives.govt.nz/node/282

What is certain is that the German U-boats had been alerted to HMS Prize and her tactics, and were not to be fooled a second time. On August 14th 1917 she was sunk by U-48 and my great-uncle was killed.

My great-grandmother Elizabeth Henrietta Trevaskis Clemo died a few months later in the County Asylum in Bodmin. Did the death of her eldest son cause her to die of a broken heart? Her own mother was a Prussian. Did she have divided loyalties? Both the King of England (George the Fifth) and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany could claim Queen Victoria as their grandmother, so links between the countries were very strong.

I doubt if I’ll ever find out the truth. But it may explain why Elizabeth H T Clemo died in an Asylum all those years ago.

PS. Another thought occurred to me. I've not been able to find any record of Reginald Charles's baptism. There are plenty of reasons why it isn't recorded- for instance, they may have been Methodists rather than Anglicans. The article I found that put me on to his death on HMS Prize said that he was 22 in August 1917. His parents were married in May 1895. Was she pregnant when they were married? Could this be the reason they moved away? Because of the shame brought on the family?
Remember that these were Victorians, and morality and acceptable behaviour were far different back then. Just a thought....

Reginald Charles Clemo 1895?-1917

I’ve spent the last couple of days chasing down leads, scanning old photographs and trying to find out as much as possible about the family link between Wilhelmina Vollmer and her descendants which include me, her great great grandson.

As I’ve discovered, she married James Henry Hayes, who worked at Harveys foundry in Hayle, in 1863. They had seven children, and I am descended through the fourth child, Elizabeth Henrietta Trevaskis Hayes, who was born in 1868, and who married Charles Clemo at St Erth on the 1st May 1895. He too was an engineer, though his father was a seaman.

I was unable to trace them after that, so I started looking for their children, who include my grandfather Richard James (Jim) Clemo.

According to the family Bible, the eldest son was Reginald Charles Clemo and he was killed in action in 1917, so I decided to see if I could find any trace of him.

I found two records. The first is of a Reginald Clemo, a stoker 2nd Class , ID K38321 (Dev) who was killed when his ship HMS Tornado was sunk with the loss of 75 lives in an action that also saw HMS Surprise sunk with a loss of 48 crew, and also HMS Torrent, sunk with a loss of 69 men. This occurred on Sunday 23rd December 1917 and the details can be found here.

http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?10768#128267

One of the worst days the Royal Navy had during WW1, with three brand new destroyers and 252 lives lost, when they flotilla strayed into a minefield protecting the port of Rotterdam.

That was it, or so I thought. However I continued my search and found this entry

http://www.pembrokeshire-war-memorial.co.uk/page42.htm

Charles Reginald Clemo, Shipwright 2nd Class, M/16543, Royal Navy. Charles was one of the few Royal Naval regulars serving aboard HMS Prize. He was the Son of Charles and Elizabeth H. T. Clemo, of Duke Street Inn, Duke Street, Devonport, and was a native of Hayles, Cornwall. Charles was killed when Prize was sunk by U-48 in the Atlantic on 14 August 1917. He was 22 years old, and is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Paydirt! At last we can pick up the trail of my great grandparents. I knew that my father grew up in Devonport and this locates the family there.
Sometimes it pays to keep digging. It seems that there were two Clemos killed in action in 1917, and both called Reginald. Time to get searching again.