Hello all,

First post here, so may I firstly say how much I've appreciated all the information contained on this website - it has all been of great assistance.

Now to business! Does anyone have access to the Memorial Inscriptions for English Bicknor, or might anyone be able to point me in the right direction as to any available transcriptions? I live some distance away, so a browse around the churchyard isn't an option...

My interest is in Thomas Ambury, who is shown on the parish records here as being buried at English Bicknor in 1854. Details as follows:

Record_ID: 16543
Entry_Number: 2363
Year: 1854
Month: Oct
Day: 11
Surname: AMBERY
Forenames: Thomas
Residence: Shortstanding
Age_at_death: 8
Officiating_Minister: R.Davies off.minister
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: from 1813
Page_No: 106
Parish_Chapel: English Bicknor
Soundex: A516

Specifically I'm hoping to find out what his parents' names were.

My interest is as follows (skip to the next paragraph if you get bored!)- my G-G-Grandfather was one Thomas Amberry, who first appears in Llantwit Major, Glamorgan in 1874, where he marries a lass from Bristol and starts a family. According to the 1881 and 1891 censuses he's an Agricultural Labourer from Taunton in Somerset, but no matter where I've looked I can't find any trace of Amberrys of any spelling in that part of Somerset. Not unusual for Ag Labs to be elusive, I hear you say, however his marriage certificate shows his father was called Thomas and was a farmer, which should mean he appears *somewhere* in the records, as occupation of land tends to leave more of a footprint than transient workers did. The Taunton problem is a tricky one, but I have seen links between the Ambury family and Staunton, near Coleford, which might give a convenient explanation.

Having searched the BMDs and censuses for elsewhere in the country, the only potential match I've found (ie Thomas Amberry or similar, son of Thomas the farmer and born 1843-49)is the one appearing on the 1851 census at Sparrow Hill, Newland, born c.1847 in Usk, Monmouthshire. This Thomas also had a cousin with the same name, born in 1848 at Goodrich (Record_ID: 176280) to his uncle James.

One of these Thomases died in 1854, and the other went on to appear in the 1871 Census living at Matherne, Monmouthshire, with his uncle William. If it's Thomas son of Thomas who lived, it might be the man I'm looking for.

Unfortunately the residence shown in the above record was Shortstanding, which leads me to think it might be Thomas son of Thomas who died, however I'm unwilling to give up my pet theory without trying to check who the parents shown on the gravestone were! That's the reason I'm looking for some help.

Sorry about the long rambling nature of that post, but I thought I'd give you the background, with this being a family history forum and everything! Who knows if I have family links to the Forest of Dean? It would be nice if I did...