Gardener’s daughter Clara married widower William Inskip between 1835 and 1837: she was in her late 20’s, he was a few years older.  William , a baker and pastry chef, had originally hailed from Hitchen, Hertfordshire,  the son of John Inskip, a wheelwright ,and Jane Mason.  He had been sent to Guildford in1817 as an apprentice to baker and confectioner John Drewett.    His first wife, Ann Green, whom he’d married in Lambeth in 1824, had sadly died in 1835, and he’d been left with two boys to care for -  9 year old John William, and 6 year old Thomas: third son, William Green Inskip having died as a baby in 1828.

Then,  in early 1837, tragedy knocked for the second time:  William stole a keg of butter from a Mr Austen.  Apprehended for this misdeed, he was sentenced at Guilford in 3rd April 1837 to 7 years transportation in Australia.  One can hardly imagine how newly married Clara felt.

Two weeks later, William found himself in London on the prison hulk Justitia,  moored in the Thames at Woolwich.  These stinking, ex warships,  were unpleasant, unhygienic  places, where shaven headed prisoners were stripped of their individuality and frequently chained.  One wonders if Clara ever managed to visit William before he was loaded on to the convict ship Neptune and taken to Tasmania in October 1837.  

The Neptune landed it’s cargo of prisoners in January 1838 and 5 foot  5 inch William was ‘appropriated’ by a Captain: perhaps his skills as a pastry chef were noted.  For the first eighteen months,  ‘neglect of duty’ on several occasions finds him in ‘hard labour’ in a chain gang.  Thereafter, his record, now lodged in Tasmania’s Archives Office,  is clean.

Meanwhile, Clara went back to live with her father, earning her keep as a dressmaker: by 1841,  15 year old John is working as a servant with Anna Pink in  Worplesden, Surrey.  Twelve year old Thomas  goes to Essendon, Hertfordshire, to live with his paternal grandparents.

It is the raw emotions of this story, that really reach down through the years, for in October 1845 young John William  joins the 65th Regiment of Foot at Tunbridge Wells: at that time the regiment were serving as guards on convict ships to Australia.  One can only wonder if the purpose of the 18year old was to go and find his father, for William had received a conditional pardon in 1843 and was freed in 1844.   However, the 65th stayed in Australia for only a short while before being diverted to  New Zealand in 1846, where the first Maroi Wars were raging.  So,  did John see his father again, we can only speculate?

In 1856 there is a death of a William Inskip in Tasmania,  it is likely this is ‘our’ William: so  the story now passes to John, and the research done by Lisa Truttman.

John’s regiment stayed in New Zealand until 1865 and were “known for having an unusually good rapport with their Maori opponents”*.  During those years John learnt to be a well-digger, as the British troops needed fresh water at their camp.  When the regiment sailed back to England in 1865, John was discharged with a gratuity and ‘stayed on’;  after all,  he really had nothing to return too the ‘Old Country’ for.

By 1886 he was married, had a large family and lived on the Avondale-Manukau Road, near Auckland, North Island; well digging being his trade.  Interestingly, on leaving the army,  John William  had changed his name around to William John , a fatal mistake perhaps, as on the 25th January 1886, tragedy sought out a William Inskip once more.

That summer morning, William was up  bright and early, cleaning out the mud at the bottom of a well.  Suddenly his alarmed assistant called down to ‘be careful’; the mud and brick walls were slipping.  The assistant threw down a rope, but the well collapsed in on poor William.  Lisa’s story tells of the valiant efforts by the local populace to rescue William,  at great risk to themselves.   They worked all day, as William’s devastated wife was comforted by neighbours,  but to no avail.  At 10pm they found an arm sticking out of the bricks (as the bricks fell he had covered his head), and knew for sure he was dead, he had suffocated, poor man.

Back  in England,  83 year old Clara,  a lodger with charwoman Hannah Mansfield in her old age,  had passed away only a few years earlier at the end of 1883, still living in Guildford.  To the end,  she kept the name Inskip and described herself as a widow – how many times in her 46years alone did she dream of what could have been?   The fate of son and brother Thomas Inskip,  or John William’s wife and children is not known – yet.  But, it seems highly possible that one grandson may have died in Europe in the First World War.

* Truttman Lisa. ‘Get me out if you can’ William John Inskip, c1827-1886 (Avondale Historical Journal, Vol 7, Issue 37 sept-oct 2007)

# Picture -  The Founding of Australia. By Capt. Arthur Phillip R.N. Sydney Cove, Jan. 26th 1788 / Original [oil] sketch [1937] by Algernon Talmage R.A.
(Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales)

His great, great, great grandfather , who was called Doc Inskip, had a stage coach stop outside Jordan Valley, in a remote corner of Oregon’s, in the mid 19th century.  The area has rough volcanic lands of high Oregon desert and snow capped mountains, and was settled by cattle ranchers and miners in the 1860s.

In May 1866, the stone, fortified Inskip Station played host to Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (known as Pomp) the son of Sacagawea, a Native American woman who was crucial to the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  So famous was she, that her image with baby Charbonneau is now on the one-dollar coin.

At the age of 61 Charbonneau was on his way to Montana when he crossed the icy Owyhee River, and died of pneumonia at Inskip Station.  He was buried by the roadside; along with others who ended their travels prematurely there.

A few years ago the grave was rediscovered after a long hunt,  and has been renovated as part of the Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail.

Major also told me that his gggrandfather travelled to California, and two buttes (small hills?) were named after him – big and little Inskip.

How this line of Inskip/Inskeeps is linked to the UK branches of the Inskip family will hopefully become clearer with the Inskip DNA Study.

The gentleman concerned is Charles Inskipp#, born in Battle in 1807, who married the sensibly named Sarah Ann Baker in Westfield, near Battle in 1835.

Charles was a portrait painter, and by the 1841 census had moved to Lambeth, London, to practice his trade.  This was the age when photography was starting to challenge portraiture.

In 1836 the, again sensibly named, Emily was born in Sussex.  Followed by Harold in 1837 – possibly of Hastings fame.  But, then the fun started, in

1839 Napoleon Tristram Shandy Inskipp^ was born in Battle, then

1841Correggio Quinton Inskipp* was born in Lambeth, followed by

1844 Rembrandt Claude Inskipp  and last but not least

1848 Boadicea Mary Inskipp

Sadly, Napoleon and Rembrandt died as children.  Harold and Correggio became potters: Correggio was imprisoned in 1868 for stealing fixtures, married in 1872 and named one of his sons Freeland John Inskipp.   Boadicea was a housemaid before she married blacksmith, George Charles Weston.  Emily was an artist before her wedding to pianoforte maker, Thomas Beeching.

^ Tristram Shandy ,the novel by Sterne, was built around the thinking of people such as Swift and Locke – in the novel he ponders the effect of a name.

* Antonio di Pellegrino Allegri, who is known by “Correggio”, the name of his native Italian  town, was a High Renaissance master of illusion.  Picture is his Jupiter and Io 1532

# It is possible that Charles Inskipp was the ex metropolitan policeman who was arrested in Battle in December 1830, for inciting the populace to riot in support of Universal Suffrage.  A fellow convict was John Freeland.  I have only scant evidence and guessing is a dangerous game in family history; so it is a theory needing more investigation.

I have noticed that an incorrect transcription on the 1841 census on Ancestry has been copied through into several family trees on the site.  There also seems to be confusion about Henry John Inskip’s parents.  All of which means that people have not been able to go back further.

Henry John Inskip senior was a Carman in St Pancras from around the mid 1850’s.  His partner,  was Rachel Emery (no evidence of a marriage has turned up yet), born Eaton Socon, Bedfordshire about 1827, the daughter of Henry Emery and Ann King .  The surname of Meeks has been suggested for Rachel, but this is incorrect: on two of her children’s birth certificates she gives her maiden name as Emery; on that of her eldest child Henry John Inskip junior, she is also named as Emery, but strangely says she was formerly King – her mothers maiden name – although it is unlikely Rachel was illigitimate.

Henry John Inskip senior was the son of Thomas Inskip born around 1772 in Bedfordshire, and Elizabeth Ginn.  Thomas  married Elizabeth  in Great Barford in October 1805.   Together they set up home in Potton,  but Thomas died in 1829.  This is where things get messy.

Elizabeth does not seem to have kept the family together and on the 1841 census she is not obviously recorded.  However, Henry John (sen) is listed with brother James, only James’ age has been transcribed as 48, when it should be 18.  That has meant many people thinking James was Henry’s father (the 1841 census did not give relationships).  In fact, a look at the actual page will show that James and Henry live next door to married brother George.

On the 1851 census,  Henry Inskip (sen) is living with his mother and stepfather George Meeks,  who married in Biggleswade Register Office on 5 May 1847.  George is a Woodman living in Potton Woods.   This also seems to have been the source of confusion.

It is always wise to go and look at the original source when looking at your family history – it is so very, very easy to make a mistake.   If you copy from someone else make a note that it is copied and needs checking, or ask them for the source.  Also,  if you hit a brick wall,  start looking at the rest of the family and neighbours.  It is surprising how often you can confirm relationships because of the names of cousins,  or visitors with brother and sisters,  or the names of spouses, or middle names,  or even young servants.   People moved in ‘support’ networks before the advent of the welfare state,  and understanding that network can tell you so much more.

(Updated details on the Inskip Y-DNA Study page . )

A wonderful opportunity has arisen to include the Inskip One-Name Study in the University of Leicester’s ground breaking project Roots of the British. We are therefore looking for men to take part in the study, whose ‘natural’ father had the surname Inskip, Inskeep, or Inskipp.  We need 90 volunteers who are no closer than second cousins to each other ie not father and son , brothers,  first cousins or first nephews.

Professor Mark Jobling, and Dr Turi King at Leicester University, have set out to use genetics as a basis for establishing the population history of the British Isles.  To date they have worked on questions such as the Viking ancestry in the North West England, and the link between surnames and a common ancestor: their work is published on the Roots of the British website.

The objective of the Inskip One-Name project will be to feed into the Roots of the British study, and to see if men with the surname Inskip share a common paternal ancestor or not.  Also to see what links might show up between the different geographical clusters eg are the Bedfordshire Inskips the same family as the Staffordshire Inskips?  Do the Leicester Inskips share a common ancestor with any other groups?

Taking part in the study will mean the University of Leicester sending you the simple equipment and instructions to take a brushing from the inside of the cheek – in layman’s terms it is the quick wipe of a cotton wool bud and takes no more than 10 minuites.  This is then put in a sealed test tube and returned to Leicester in a pre-paid envelope.  The tests are then carried out in the much respected  Departments of Genetics at Leicester.  We will keep everyone who takes part notified of when the results can be expected.  The purpose of this study is historical academic research and there will be no charges made for tests to participants.

The final analysis will be given in papers by the Roots of the British team, and will help in the overall understanding of the ancestry of the British.

If you would like to take part  or discuss taking part then please contact me at inskip@one-name.org.

*  The Roots of the British Project is sponsored by The Wellcome Trust and has been reviewed by the Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Rutland Research Ethics Committee.

All I knew of Leonard was that he was Editor of The Cripples Journal in the 1920′s. This later became the National Cripples Journal, which changed its name in 1969 to ‘The Voice of the Disabled’.   The aim of the journal was given as “Only when public interest is awakened and the ordinary man sees that there is a large preventive as well as a curative side of orthopaedics will the need for proper aftercare facilities be realized. Then the laity will demand these facilities-and they will be provide.”

Leonard was possibly a cripple from birth.  He was born in Leicester in 1885, married Alice Lovely in the summer of 1911 and in 1925, he had a daughter, Betty Alison Inskip, who obtained a Geography Degree from Liverpool University and jointly translated “This Restless Earth: geology for everyman”.

Leonard it seems was a private man, and details about his life are hard to come by.  However,  I was fascinated to establish that another notable Leicester Inskip,  William Inskip, General Secretary of the  Boot and Shoe Workers Union, was Leonard’s father.

William was born in Leicester in 1852, the 8th child of Thomas Inskip, a poor bricklayer,  and his wife Martha Taylor.  William became a shoemaker, at a time “when hand sown boots were changing to pegged or sprigged work” and at the age of 17 married Jane Smith – Leonard was their 7th child.  William’s obituary states* that he “played a very remarkable part in the development of trade unionism in the shoe trade”.

His first role was to assist in the formation of the first Cordwainers Union;  he then went on to become General Secretary of the Boot and Shoe Workers Union in 1886, increasing membership from 10,000 to 45,000 during his time with them. He was very popular with the members and was nominated for Parliament – at that time it was the aim of the ‘young’ Labour Party to support the nomination of candidates popular with working men.  However, William opposed the Boot and Shoe Union’s aim to nationalise ‘the means of production’, and withdrew his candidacy, becoming a member of the Liberal rather than the Labour Party.

He was, however, elected to the parliamentary committee of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) as Treasurer, and also became a member of Leicester Town Council and later an Alderman.  He died in May 1899 at the age of 46.

When I told Mr Bowman of the link from Leonard to William he said it all made perfect sense,  specialist shoes where, or course, very important to cripples!!

* Obituary in the Leeds Mercury, 12 May 1899 – British Library Newspapers Catalogue

Bloomfield and Clare are also known as ‘peasant or pastoral poets’ and are currently enjoying a revival: I recently met Jonathan Bate, author of a new biography on Clare which has used Thomas’ correspondence with Clare as a source.  (Unfortunately,  the correspondence of Clare to Inskip is lost.)

It seems Thomas befriended Robert Bloomfield when Robert, down on his luck, moved to Shefford in 1812. Thomas met Clare in London around 1820 “amongst the Cockneys, whom we both equally admire!”.  Clare related to Bloomfield as a kindred spirit, and Thomas tried to organize a meeting between them, as he regarded them as “the nation’s great poets of humble life”; but Bloomfield died “in pain and poverty” in 1821 before the wished for meeting could take place; much to John Clare’s regret.

Described in a poem by John Dalby as “kind Inskip”, Thomas  promoted John Clare’s work in the Northampton Mercury.  When Clare was  in the Northampton General Lunatic Asylum “the elderly” Thomas became his outside advisor and confident.  They shared discussions about poetry and sexual desire, “the days when we were young! And the arms-full of Petticoats we rumpled!”. Thomas was also instrumental in the publication of Clare’s poetry in the Bedford Times between 1847 and 1849.  “Inskip offered what Clare always craved from his editors: a mixture of practical advice and confidence-building encouragement.”

Thomas Inskip was born in Kimbolten, Northamptonshire in 1780, the son of Edward Inskip a Farmer from Old Warden, and Mary Handscombe from Clifton. He married twice, the last to Isabella Wright in 1815, and died in 1849 in Brighton of Cholera.  His watchmaking business was taken on by son Hampden Inskip, and eventually grandson Alfred Inskip.

Book – John Clare, A Biography by Jonathan Bate ISBN 978-0-330-37112-4

Correspondence from Inskip to Clare is in Northampton Central Library.

However, thanks to a collaboration between Dr Adrian Bell of the ICMA Centre and Professor Anne Curry of the University of Southampton, who have been building a database of medieval soldiers to challenge assumptions about the emergence of professional soldiery between 1369 and 1453, I now have confirmation that an Inskip archer did go to France with Henry V in 1415.

His name was Roger de Inskyp, and he served as an archer under a captain called Sir James Harrington, and commander Henry V.  In 1422 he is listed as a foot archer under captain John Harpeley at a garrison – where is not given.

In the Normandy garrison database for the years 1415 – 1453 there is listed two archers,  Roger and Richard Inskip,  both serving in 1429 and 1430 at the Rouen town plus bridge garrison,  under Lieutenant Richard Curson and Captain Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.

So was Roger one of the bowmen at Agincourt who raised the two fingered salute?  That and the background to both men is still to be established

(Information on soldiers has been taken from from the AHRC-funded ‘The Soldier in Later Medieval England Online Database’, www.medievalsoldier.org, August 2009)

Port Sunlight was built by William Lever for his workers at the turn of the twentieth century, it’s a lovely garden village enhanced by the founder’s love of art.  Unfortunately Lever Brothers Ltd lost 4,000 of their staff during the First World War, and erected a beautiful memorial to their memory in the middle of a rose garden – underneath is a book with all their names in.  (The memorial for the Hillsborough Disaster victims is at the end of the garden.)  I started to read the names just out of interest and was most surprised to find an Inskip G. F.  I had not known we had Inskips on the Wirral.

I was even more fascinated when, on looking young George Fredrick Inskip up, I found out that he is related to Terry.  George was born in 1895 and was a private in the 13th Battalion Cheshire Regiment (No 282) – he died of wounds and is listed at the Bertrancourt Military Cemetery near the Somme.  His date of death was even more strange – 3rd August 1916 (my birthday,  which the trip to Port Sunlight was celebrating.)

George was the son of William Inskip from Seabridge, Staffordshire a joiners labourer in 1891, and Martha Baxter from Rock Ferry, Wirral,  he had siblings Annie, Jessie, William, Samuel and Gertrude Hannah.  The family had arrived on the Wirral in the 1860’s when William’s father, also William Inskip (born 1829 at Forsbrook), and mother Hannah had moved there.  Father William died in 1868 leaving Hannah, a Laundress, to bring up the three children.

Anyway, I know Terry has the rest of the family history,  so just to say Terry,  George says hi!!

The couple had 8 children, one every two-three years, from Robert (1585) to Dorothy (1604), with no recorded child burials – given the difficult times they were living in in the 1590’s (plague broke out in nearby London in 1592/3, whilst 1596 and 1597 saw the worst harvests for a century, followed nationally by malnutrition)  this is an unusual achievement.  Interestingly conception was usually around December or August, suggesting they were not involved in tiring harvesting work, but enjoyed a rest and feasting at Christmas.

Margaret died in March 1614; she was born around 1558, at a dip in the national population, entered the menopause around age 47, and died age 56, a reasonable lifespan. With death from childbirth, illness and economic conditions around every corner Margaret’s classic female sixteenth century life shows good management.

John Inskip married second, wife, Alice Goodine from Warden Street in April 1615, he was aged around 59 and she was possibly in her late 30’s. Coming a year after Margaret’s death this was fairly late, many men married within months of a wife’s death as the family had to be supported.  However, John’s youngest child was aged 10, five others were likely servants elsewhere, and the two elder girls, who both married in Warden, may have lived at home. In September 1615 John was involved in the court case over enclosure. John had two further children with Alice,  Mary in 1616, who died at birth,  and Henry in 1617.

John Inskip died in late October 1626,  he was probably a committed Protestant who explored Puritan ways along with other Warden townspeople in the years from the 1570’s.  The Old Warden area was part of the cradle for Bedfordshire non-conformist belief that took hold in the mid-seventeenth century.  Evidence for John’s beliefs comes from the christening of his eldest daughter Elizabeth in Southill in 1595 at a time when the village had charismatic Puritan preachers;  and the naming of his second daughter Rebecca in 1598, one of the new biblical names beloved of Puritans and given to around 10% children instead of their godparents names.   The majority of children in Old Warden, as elsewhere in southern England, where given one of the popular names of  Elizabeth, Mary, Ann or John, Thomas, William and Richard.

Picture source:  A summer rural scene showing a sheep being dipped and in the background a maid milking a cow. © Folger library