Forest of Dean FHT Forum - Meredith family tree

Meredith family tree (reply)

Gizmo at — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 18:34:23 +0000

Thanks Jeff.
For taking the time to reply and having a sense of humour ,we are all proud to be great Britons ,welsh ,british ,Cornish ,we have all fought and worked hard for the u.k ,but you got to admit there was no better rugby team in the 70s than wales !i to was a teenager then ,and loved my rugby.living in shouting distance from the new parc y Scarlett's at present you can hear the matches !from the house! As I mentioned my sister lives and works in glouster and I would love to visit lydbrook next time I visit ,may visit the graves of my husbands relatives .
Thanks again ,Helen Meredith

Meredith family tree (reply)

Jefff — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 12:50:19 +0000

Hi Helen thanks for your reply and kind words.
Re teasing your husband and the rugby etc, my family's always considered ourselves English even though my dad was a W.EVAN JONES ! with clear Welsh Lydbrook roots on his father's side, thankfully I've managed to keep that aspect of my past quiet... ;-) except while living for 3 years at Treforest Poly that is, still have many good friends there.
It may be a "consolation" to your family that they are far from alone, I don't know the statistics but I believe a significant percentage of the understandably proud people of South Wales actually have some English roots, from the likes of Somerset, Dean, Cornwall where mining & metal-working preceded the relatively-recent South Wales valleys industry we all know of; I like to think we're all proud industrial Britons.
As a 70s kid I watched the rugby at my neighbours who were all sports-nuts, their dad was staunch valleys Welsh (Evans), mum staunch Cornish English, so their vocal rivalry was great fun even tho "we" invariably got hammered by the great Welsh side of which Llanelli Scarlets were key; Gravell, Gareth Jenkins, Phil Bennett, Derek Quinnell etc, wow !.

Any more queries etc, please ask. atb Jeff.

UPDATE

Another possible source for you is the excellent & recommended Old Welsh Newspapers website. http://welshnewspapers.llgc.org.uk/en/home
This site can be used free-of-charge and patient & carefull searching may well give good results, particularly if your ancestors were unfortunate to suffer accidental deaths or other "newsworthy" incidents.

Perhaps not one of your Merediths but this result came from searching "Meredith + Tin works + Llanelli", here's part of a lengthy obituary to novelist George Meredith from the Cardiff Times of 22 May 1909

"Mr Meredith paid several visits to Wales, and one of the most notable of these was about two decades ago, at which time his son, Mr William Maxse Meredith, was living at Llanelly as a partner of Mr J. C. Howell, electrical engineer...... During this sojourn in South Wales Mr Meredith, with his son, and Mr J. C. Howell, visited the South Wales Steel and Tin Plate Works, at Llanelly, then owned by Messrs E. Morewood and Co.,and subsequently described his impressions in vivid language."

http://welshnewspapers.llgc.org.uk/en/page/view/3434797/ART153/meredith%20tin%20works%2...

Meredith family tree (reply)

Gizmo at — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 12:19:34 +0000

Thankyou for you reply v.helpful
Mrs h meredith

Meredith family tree (reply)

Gizmo at — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 12:18:07 +0000

Thankyou for all you help it was really great ,you may be interested to know the family continued working in the tin plate industries in Llanelli ,Fred meredith my father in law worked in the bury tin works his brother John and Harold worked for Richard Thomas mills my husband John (William John meredith ) also worked there as a crane driver for a while,both bury works and r.t mills have long gone.but it has been fascinating researching my husbands family ,by coincident my sister lives in glouster and is a lecturer at redfern collage can't wait to tell her what we found out ,been teasing my husband and son that they are part English watching the rugby will never be the same ha ha many thanks
Helen meredith

Meredith family tree (reply)

m p griffiths — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 07:16:48 +0000

This family is well documented on Public Members Tree on Ancestry - with many anecdotes (assume the information on this tree is accurate)....

and goes back to the 1841 Census - Lydbrook

MEREDITH

John - 35
Eliza - 35
William - 10
Thomas - 8
Henry - 6 months
Mary - 8
Jane - 5
Ann - 2

Meredith family tree (reply)

Jefff — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 22:14:14 +0000

Hi and welcome to the forum, its great you've already got so far with your tree.

To help others reading your post, I think this is the marriage you mention, from this site's PRs:

Record_ID: 9986
Entry_Number: 210
Year: 1898
Month: Sep
Day: 24
Grooms_Surname: MEREDITH
Grooms_Forenames: John
Grooms_Age: 34
Groom_Condition: Bachelor
Grooms_Occupation: Tin Worker
Grooms_Residence: The New Road Lydbrook
Grooms_Fathers_Surname: MEREDITH
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames: Thomas
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation: Furnaceman
Brides_Surname: JORDAN
Brides_Forenames: Elizabeth
Brides_Age: 26
Brides_Condition: Spinster
Brides_Occupation:
Brides_Residence: Lydbrook
Brides_Fathers_Surname: JORDAN
Brides_Fathers_Forenames: Thomas
Brides_Fathers_Occupation: Collier
Licence_or_Banns: Banns
Date_of_Banns:
Signature_or_Mark: both sign
Witness_1: George Thomas Jordan
Witness_2: Alice May Lewis
Other_Witnesses: B Meredith Louisa Jordan
Officiating_Minister: H T Hoitt
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P208 IN 1/5
Page_Number: 105
Parish_Chapel: Lydbrook
Soundex_Groom: M633
Soundex_Bride: J635

I think this is your Elizabeth's baptism ?

Record_ID: 107065
Entry_Number: 389
Year: 1872
Month: Apr
Day: 3
Parents_Surname: JORDAN
Child_Forenames: Sarah Elizabeth
Fathers_Forenames: Thomas
Mothers_Forenames: [not stated]
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Lydbrook
Occupation: Collier
Officiating_Minister: Mr Causer
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: D2598 3/3
Page_Number: 49
Parish_Chapel: West Dean Methodist
Soundex: J635

And John, this age & mother's name fits the 1901 Census for Llanelli off Ancestry, I think his marriage PR has a slight transcription error.

Record_ID: 117490
Entry_Number: 451
Year: 1867
Month: Jul
Day: 14
Parents_Surname: MEREDITH
Child_Forenames: John
Fathers_Forenames: Thomas
Mothers_Forenames: Ann
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Lydbrook
Occupation: Labourer
Officiating_Minister: Henry T Hoitt
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: 20811
Page_Number: 57
Parish_Chapel: Lydbrook
Soundex: M633

The 1881 Census is free to view on Ancestry, or in this case from the free Family Search site:

"England and Wales Census, 1881"
Name: John Meredith
Age (Original): 13
Gender: Male
Birth Year: 1868
Birthplace: Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, England
Relationship to Head of Household: Son
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Scholar
Address: New Road Hangerberry
Event Place: West Dean (Gloucs), Monmouthshire, England
Disability:
Record Type: Household
GS Film number: 1342259
Affiliate Publication Number: RG11
Piece/Folio: 5225 / 97
Page Number: 10
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Thomas Meredith M 50 Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, England
Wife Ann Meredith F 42 Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, England
Daughter Mary Ann Meredith F 17 Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, England
Son John Meredith M 13 Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, England
Daughter Eliza Meredith F 9 Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, England
Son Benjamin Meredith M 6 Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, England
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XQ3Z-D8P

As you know the Ancestry free search page shows them in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire by the 1901 Census. Currently that website offers free access to the 1911 Census:

1911 Census for 6 roomed household at 43 Rope Walk Rd, Llanelly, Carmarthenshire

Name Relation to Head Birth Date Age Gender Marital Status Occupation Birth City Birth County Birth Country
John Meredith Head 1871 40 Male Married 13yrs Tin Plate Doubler Lydbrook Gloucester England
Elizabeth Meredith Wife 1872 39 Female Married 13yrs Lydbrook
George Roberts Boarder 1851 60 Male Married 40yrs Steel Marker Labourer Lydbrook Gloucester England
Alfred Roberts Boarder 1891 20 Male Single Steel Worker Labourer Lydbrook Gloucester England
John Meredith Son 1900 11 Male School Llanelly Carmarthenshire Wales
Fred Meredith Son 1902 9 Male School Llanelly Carmarthenshire Wales
Frances Meredith Daughter 1904 7 Female School Llanelly Carmarthenshire Wales
Olive Meredith Daughter 1906 5 Female School Llanelly Carmarthenshire Wales
Horold Meredith Son 1908 3 Male Llanelly Carmarthenshire Wales

I hope this link works for you ?.
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=0&msT=1&...

I hope this helps your researches, you've certainly found the right site.
atb Jeff

ps Altho we're not in any way related your post interested me as in the 1980s I was an engineering apprentice studying at Cinderford Technical College with David Meredith, son of Stan Meredith who owned the wellknown Lydbrook engineering firm, my brother-in-law served his apprentice with them a few years earlier. My father was from Lydbrook, his father etc were all local colliers. If you carefully search this forum you may find more links to your family and certainly the Lydbrook tin plate works. eg this prior thread has several links to related articles, photos etc
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=21314
I strongly recommend you read the "Tinplaters of Lydbrook" book that's mentioned in this thread, it has graphic accounts of the tremendously physical yet very skillfull work done by the tinplaters including the "doubler" as mentioned in the 1911 Census.

Good luck with your continued researches !

Meredith family tree

Gizmo at — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 20:32:26 +0000

I have been researching my husbands family ,and in just 1 day I have discovered that his grandfather ,was originally from lydbrook came to live in wales(Llanelli) in the 1900's to work in the tin works I,m assuming in RT mills wich I know had tin works in Llanelli and lydbrook.just found his marriage record ,he married Elizabeth jorden in 1898 any long lost relives out there ?would love to find out .thankyou