Forest of Dean FHT Forum - Brass bands; Oliver THOMAS of Yorkley Onward Band c1905.

Brass bands; Oliver THOMAS of Yorkley Onward Band c1905. (reply)

Jefff — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 19:07:01 +0000

Just browsing a well-known auction website and spotted a very ornate silver-plated teapot which is inscribed as presented to Oliver Thomas by Yorkley Onward Prize Band on the occasion of his marriage in July 1905.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372118331370?ul_noapp=true

I was thinking it would be lovely to maybe reunite this lovely piece with the Thomas family, but initially struggled to find much info about Oliver.
I've searched this site's forum and PRs, and then various BMD sites, this seems to be the Marriage record, from FreeBMD.

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page
Marriages Sep 1905 (>99%)
DASH Ida Harriet Monmouth 11a 67
Lewis Harriett Blanche Monmouth 11a 67
THOMAS Oliver Monmouth 11a 67
WATKINS Mark Monmouth 11a 67

Thankfully GlosBMD have tied it down further;

Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
THOMAS Oliver DASH Ida Harriet Forest of Dean Monmouth Register Office [Closed] 1905 22 22

Luckily there is an excellent photo of the band with all members clearly named, and from that exact same year !. Maybe the photo was taken on the wedding day ?.
https://www.sungreen.co.uk/Yorkley/yorkley-onward-band-1905.html

My guess is that Oliver was 30 - 40 years old on the photo, perhaps older ?. However I've been unable to find Oliver and Ida/Harriett in the 1911 Census anywhere in the UK

??.

Oliver Thomas is not a rare name, so instead searching Ida, this looks a good fit.

Surname First name(s) Mother/Spouse/Age District Vol Page
Deaths Sep 1966 (>99%)
THOMAS IDA H 88 F.OF DEAN 7B 352

Record_ID: 268809
Entry_Number: 473
Year: 1966
Month: Aug
Day: 25
Surname: THOMAS
Forenames: Ida Harriet
Residence: Woodville Pillowell Lydney
Age_at_death: 88
Officiating_Minister: Vicar of Parkend
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes: In this record unable to read ministers name
Register_Reference: P57 IN 1/19
Page_No: 60
Parish_Chapel: Bream
Soundex: T520

Hence born abt 1878 ?.
Surname First name(s) Age District Vol Page
Births Sep 1878 (>99%)
Dash Ida Harriet Monmouth 11a 19

Birth Details
Child Surname Child Forename Mother's Former Name Year District Office Register Entry
DASH Ida Harriet LONG 1878 Forest of Dean Monmouth, Coleford 36 199

Which leads to;

Record_ID: 268709
Entry_Number: 373
Year: 1962
Month: Nov
Day: 3
Surname: THOMAS
Forenames: Oliver
Residence: Woodville Upper Road Pillowell
Age_at_death: 85
Officiating_Minister: G.R.H. Smith Vicar of Parkend
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P57 IN 1/19
Page_No: 47
Parish_Chapel: Bream
Soundex: T520

So Oliver was indeed born abt 1877.

I think this is our man, from GlosBMD.

Birth Details
Child Surname Child Forename Mother's Former Name Year District Office Register Entry
THOMAS Oliver DAVIES 1877 Forest of Dean Monmouth, Coleford 35 383
THOMAS Oliver HANCOCK 1877 Forest of Dean Monmouth, Coleford 35 383

Trying the Census again, not sure why took so long, eventually found;

1911 West Dean, Monmouthshire, England
Household Role Sex Age Birthplace
Oliver Thomas Head M 33 COLLIERY LABOURER ABOVE GROUND. West Dean, Gloucestershire
Ida Thomas Wife F 32 West Dean, Gloucestershire
Edna Mary Thomas Daughter F 5 West Dean, Gloucestershire
Minnie Thomas Daughter F 3 West Dean, Gloucestershire

1901 St Pauls Parkend, West Dean (Gloucs), Monmouthshire, England
Household Role Sex Age Birthplace
Henry Thomas Head M 75 LIVING ON MEANS. West Dean, Gloucestershire
Esther Thomas Wife F 66 West Dean, Gloucestershire
William Thomas Son M 39 COALMINER (HEWER). West Dean, Gloucestershire
Albert Thomas Son M 27 COALMINER (HEWER). West Dean, Gloucestershire
Frederick Thomas Son M 25 COALMINER (HEWER). West Dean, Gloucestershire
Oliver Thomas Son M 23 COALMINER (HEWER). West Dean, Gloucestershire

1891 Cross Road, St Pauls Parkend, West Dean (Gloucs), Monmouthshire, England
Household Role Sex Age Birthplace
Henry Thomas Head M 65 Living On Own Means. Gloucestershire, England
Hester Thomas Wife F 55 Gloucestershire, England
William Thomas Son M 30 Coal Miner. Gloucestershire, England
Richard Thomas Son M 28 Coal Miner. Gloucestershire, England
Charles Thomas Son M 26 Coal Miner. Gloucestershire, England
Albert Thomas Son M 18 West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Fred Thomas Son M 16 Gloucestershire, England
Oliver Thomas Son M 14 Gloucestershire, England

1881 West Dean (Gloucs), Monmouthshire, England
Household Role Sex Age Birthplace
Henry Thomas Head M 52 Coal Miner. Newland Parish, Gloucestershire, England
Esther Thomas Wife F 45 West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Henry Thomas Son M 21 Coal Miner. Lydney Parish, Gloucestershire, England
William Thomas Son M 19 Coal Miner. West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Richard Thomas Son M 17 Coal Miner. West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Alice Thomas Daughter F 12 West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Charles Thomas Son M 11 West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Albert Thomas Son M 8 West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Frederick Thomas Son M 6 West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Oliver Thomas Son M 3 West Dean, Gloucestershire, England

The band photo from 1905 also includes a William and an Albert Thomas, they look like they are Oliver's brothers. Sungreen also carries other more recent photos of the band.

This recent article about local bands and their music was written by Lydney Councillor Alan Preest, who played with Yorkley in 1980. http://www.theforestreview.co.uk/article.cfm?id=106338&headline=Band%20music&se...

The Yorkley band was active until 1994, when it amalgamated with Coleford Town Band to form Forest of Dean Brass.
https://brassbandresults.co.uk/bands/yorkley-onward-band/
http://www.forestofdeanbrass.co.uk/

Brass bands photos (reply)

peteressex — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 08:42:51 +0000

Thanks for that. In particular, I infer from the photos and associated data that if East Slad and the Arthur & Edward each had a brass band, many more collieries did too. Those two collieries were so close to each other that in 1949 the Arthur & Edward broke into the flooded East Slad and numerous men had a fortunate escape. If two such adjoining collieries each had a brass band at one time, it wouldn't be surprising if quite a few other examples could be found.

Karen, if your brass-blowing grandfather and other relatives worked at Lydney Docks I expect they knew my uncle and great-uncle Bert and Art Sterrey who worked at the docks too. Just possibly, they also knew (or knew of) another great-uncle of mine, George Essex, who lived in Lydney around 1907-1911 and after distinguished service in the RAMC in WW1 conducted the prizewinning band of the Dorset County Asylum! I don't have any knowledge of his involvement in a Forest brass band but it would be fascinating to trace such a thing.

Brass bands photos (reply)

admin — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 10:50:48 +0000

If you go to the main Photo Gallery page and type brass band in the search box it will bring up numerous links to photos of brass bands.

http://www.forest-of-dean.net/joomla/photo-gallery

Brass bands (reply)

kdoc36 — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 07:27:34 +0000

My grandfather William Charles Legge was in the Lydney Band.I have pictures of them playing at the Docks .His family were all workers on the Docks historically my Gt grandfather included until he brought a Grocers shop on the High Street.
These pictures date in the early 1920s prob 1923-1924.
Karen

Brass bands (reply)

peteressex — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 17:02:38 +0000

The first post in this thread asked specifically about colliery brass bands in the Forest. I've found the following references from a spot of googling landing on http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=232708 and then going for specific words on a free text basis.

"As in other coalfields in the 19th century, working class culture flowered with the formation of brass bands..."

Relating to Lydbrook: "The Trafalgar brass band, the most notable colliery band in the Forest, was formed before 1866...It later became the Lydbrook silver band." (Source given: Glouc. Jnl 15/09/1866; W I History of Lydbrook, 23A.)

Relating to Cinderford/Ruspidge: "A silver band was formed in 1893 from the pipe and drum band of the New Fancy Colliery" (Source given: Phelps, Forest of Dean, 92.)

Relating to Berry Hill: "In the early 1880s there were two brass bands in the area, one made up of...employees of Speedwell colliery." (Source given: Nicholls, Forest of Dean, 151.)

I also saw that the websites of Cinderford Brass Band and Bream Silver Band were updated very recently. Further enquiry in those directions and others such as Berry Hill mentioned in the previous post might reveal further knowledge of these or other bands having had associations with those of collieries. I've also just quite by chance seen a reference to Lydney Brass Band in Harris's Forest of Dean Almanack & Directory of 1910 and wondered if that band was formed from employees of the tinplate works.

There is further evidence that brass in the Forest is alive and well this New Year, as I see that Forest of Dean Brass will assemble to lead the "HOOF" (Hands off our Forest) march on Monday 3 January 2011 at noon at the Speech House Field and will then, doubtless giving praise, perform in a heated marquee.

Brass bands (reply)

Llangrove — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:35:50 +0000

The tradition continues in, Berry Hill!
http://berryhillband.co.uk/

Brass bands (reply)

slowhands — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 16:58:32 +0000

The villages have a strong tradition of bands ........

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=5127

Bream's Silver band -
http://www.breamband.co.uk/

Brass bands

roy meek — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 16:18:20 +0000

Did any of the collieries ever have abrass band this question was asked by my
grandson who has just found out that his Great-Great grandfather was a free miner/