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Author Topic: John WOOLRICH  (Read 156 times)
roly
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John WOOLRICH
« on: Wednesday 12 August 09 16:39 UTC (UK) »
Details of life of John Woolrich needed.

Known to be alive in the Broadwidger area around 1890.  Does not figure in 1891 Devon census under the name 'Woolrich'.  There IS a John Wooldridge living in Lifton who does.  Is it possible that the two have been confused?

Any person (named as JW) born after 1850 is unlikely to have been this character.

If it's any help, 'my' JW was a singer who gave songs to Sabine Baring-Gould...but there is a complication in that JW also gave a song to Baring-Gopuld's colleague, Fleetwood-Sheppard, who called his informant 'James'.  The only James I can find in the 1891 census is not the man I want.

Thanks, 

roly
« Last Edit: Wednesday 12 August 09 22:34 UTC (UK) by krisesjoint » Logged
danuslave
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Posts: 955


My fashion sense isn't any better now!
Re: john woolrich
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday 12 August 09 20:15 UTC (UK) »
Hi Roly

I've had a look at 1861-1891 censuses for John Woolrich/Woolrick/Woodrich and there is no-one born or living in Devon.  In fact most of the people with these surnames seem to come from or live in the Midlands.

In 1891 there is

John Woolridge age 63  Beer Ferris Devon Class: RG12; Piece: 1748; Folio 40; Page 2

and several more John Wooldridge in Devon apart from the one in Lifton.

It's more than possible that the name has been altered slightly, either in the census or in whatever source you are using.

Do you have any more information about your John?  How strong is the Devon connection?  If you post everything you know, and how you know it, one of us might be able to follow it up.

Linda   Cheesy
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roly
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Posts: 94
Re: John WOOLRICH
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 13 August 09 07:07 UTC (UK) »
Thank you, Linda.  I thought that I'd made it clear enough that I'd 'done' the census trail as far as possible and had excluded certain persons named Wooldridge.  I don't either believe your man is mine though I appreciate your trouble in making thesuggestion.  The Broadwidger connection is the strongest clue.

I'm afraid that I don't have any further information.  The man was a labourer - in which case our Lifton Wooldridge 'fits' - but I have no idea of age only that Baring-Gould usually got his songs from those who were older rather than younger.

JW could even have been mildly peripatetic, shifting his job between censuses (not deliberately...).

It's all very frustrating, of course; though it is almost always the way with these singers, who were counted out of the equation of collector - song - singer.  BG was at least insistent on the spelling 'Woolrich' but, equally, was notorious for getting things wrong...and, maybe, just didn't hear the local accent.

None of this gets us very far, I'm afraid.  It's a long shot.

Thank you for trying.  I'm still hopeful.

roly
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roly
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Posts: 94
Re: John WOOLRICH
« Reply #3 on: Monday 17 August 09 13:16 UTC (UK) »
In respect of my previous enquiry it occurred to me that 'Broadwidger' could well be 'Broadwoodwidger'...I don't know how local usage works and I'm not sure what difference it truly makes.  It might help define the precise area that, as I now believe, is the one in view and can be circumscribed insofar as Baring-Gould was operating close to home at Lew Trenchard and visited Thrushelton, the area (parish?) next to Lifton - and, I think, Lifton parish included Broadwidger or Broadwoodwidger...please correct me if necessary - and but a short distance from Lew Trenchard. 

The John Wooldridge in question, an agricultural labourer, the favourite target of collectors, whose parish address is given in the census as 'Lifton'  does look more and more to be our man, Baring-Gould's singer(only 50, mind) .

If this is so, then the spelling 'Woolrich' can be put down to a BG aberration - as I intimated before: not the first one.

Given these guesses, if anybody can help with more information on the case or, more particularly, on the JW cited here, I'd be grateful.  To re-iterate, I do have a census entry for the man.

Thanks for your indulgence.

roly
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