William Darius MEREDITH, 1869-1956, Cinderford. (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, April 12, 2014, 21:37 (3687 days ago)

As mentioned in a recent thread abt Cinderford St John's Cricket Club and it's Crawshay's mining links.
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=43763

GlosBMD has just one W.D. Meredith on their database;

Birth Details
Child Surname Child Forename Father Surname Mother Surname Mother's Former Name Year District Office Register Entry
MEREDITH William Darius MEREDITH MEREDITH BARNARD 1869 Forest of Dean Westbury on Severn, Newnham 30 63

So;

Record_ID: 75003
Entry_Number: 621
Year: 1869
Month: Mar
Day: 14
Parents_Surname: MEREDITH
Child_Forenames: William Darius
Fathers_Forenames: Darius
Mothers_Forenames: Eliza
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Cinderford
Occupation: Engine Fitter
Officiating_Minister: Newton C. Bennett
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P85/1 IN 1/2
Page_Number: 78
Parish_Chapel: Cinderford St John
Soundex: M633

Record_ID: 108227
Entry_Number: 758
Year: 1956
Month: Jun
Day: 20
Surname: MEREDITH
Forenames: William Darius
Residence: Hill Rise Littledean Hill Cinderford
Age_at_death: 87 years
Officiating_Minister: Eric G Pritchard Vicar
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes: 46/56 written in margin
Register_Reference: P85/1 IN 1/16
Page_No: 95
Parish_Chapel: Cinderford St John
Soundex: M633

-------------

From LDS/Familysearch;

"England and Wales Census, 1871"
Name: William Meredith
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1871
Gender: Male
Age: 2
Relationship to Head of Household: Son
Birthplace: East Dean, Gloucestershire
Schedule Type: Household
Registration District: Westbury On Severn
Sub-District: Newnham
Parish: East Dean
County: Gloucestershire
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Self Darius Meredith M 41 Little Dean, Gloucestershire
Wife Eliza Meredith F 40 East Dean, Gloucestershire
Daughter Jane Meredith F 12 Little Dean, Gloucestershire
Son William Meredith M 2 East Dean, Gloucestershire
Daughter Mary Ann Meredith F 0 East Dean, Gloucestershire

"England and Wales Census, 1881"
Name: Willie Meredith
Age (Original): 12
Gender: Male
Birth Year: 1869
Birthplace: Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Relationship to Head of Household: Son
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Scholar
Address: St Whites
Event Place: East Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Disability:
Record Type: Household
GS Film number: 1341609
Affiliate Publication Number: RG11
Piece/Folio: 2523 / 8
Page Number: 10
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Darius Meredith M 57, Engine Fitter, Littledean Parish, Gloucestershire, England
Wife Eliza Meredith F 49 Drybrook, Gloucestershire, England
Daughter Jane Meredith F 22 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Son Willie Meredith M 12 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Daughter Mary A Meredith F 10 Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England

--------------

His Marriage, from FreeBMD;

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page
-----------------------------------------------
Marriages Mar 1898 (>99%)
-----------------------------------------------
Bateman Hannah Louisa Barton R. 6a 155
Long Mary Kate Barton Regis 6a 155
Meredith William Darius Barton R. 6a 155

Supported by LDS;

"England Marriages, 1538–1973 "
Name: William Darius Meredith
Birth Date: 1869
Birthplace:
Age: 29
Spouse's Name: Mary Kate Long
Spouse's Birth Date: 1873
Spouse's Birthplace:
Spouse's Age: 25
Event Date: 20 Jan 1898
Event Place: St. John The Evangelist, Clifton, Gloucester, England
Father's Name: Darius Meredith
Mother's Name:
Spouse's Father's Name: Henry Long
Spouse's Mother's Name:
Race:
Marital Status: Single
Previous Wife's Name:
Spouse's Race:
Spouse's Marital Status: Single
Spouse's Previous Husband's Name:
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M01973-1
System Origin: England-EASy
GS Film number: 1596545
Reference ID: 161

My immediate thought on reading this was an error had been made by LDS, and "Clifton" is incorrect - I know the Clifton in Bristol but not in Gloucester. HOWEVER I'm ashamed to have just learnt that Barton Regis district is not in Gloucester as I'd thought (re Barton Street etc) but is indeed in Clifton, Bristol !. Considerable detail about Clifton's St John Evangelist Church is here, not to be confused with Cinderford's St Johns church, or even the St John Evangelist Church in Clifton LANCASHIRE....!
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/GLS/Clifton/Gaz1868.html

Later Census's c/o LDS prove this is definitely our family, eg;

"England and Wales Census, 1911"
Name: Mary Kate Meredith
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1911
Gender: Female
Age: 40
Birthplace: Cinderford, Gloucestershire
Schedule Type: Household
Registration District: Westbury On Severn
Sub-District: East Dean
Parish: East Dean
County: Gloucestershire

"England and Wales Census, 1911"
Name: William Darius Meredith
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1911
Gender: Male
Age: 41
Birthplace: Cinderford, Gloucestershire
Schedule Type: Household
Registration District: Westbury On Severn
Sub-District: East Dean
Parish: East Dean
County: Gloucestershire

This site shows that W.D. Meredith eventually rose to become Manager of Lightmoor & Speech House Main collieries during the 1930s. It also shows Abbotswood House was then home to his Managing Director Arthur J. Morgan, JP.
http://www.dmm.org.uk/company/c1005.htm

The Gloucestershire Echo of 2nd January 1933 reported that "William Meredith of Forest Lodge Ruspidge was a new Justice of the Peace for Gloucestershire".

This detailed history of Henry Crawshay's Eastern United Colliery at Ruspidge contains several mentions to William's managerial work. He's not mentioned in the Lightmoor history altho his boss Arthur Morgan is.
http://lightmoor.co.uk/forestcoal/CoalEasternUtd.html
http://lightmoor.co.uk/forestcoal/CoalLightmoor.html

Intriguingly an earlier William Meredith, also of Littledean Hill, owned a small local colliery abt 1855. A relation ??
http://lightmoor.co.uk/forestcoal/CoalRichardW.html

William also became President of Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union, eg
http://www.gloucesterrugbyheritage.org.uk/documents/Press_Report_GRFC_Other;_1924_All_B...