Members' Stories from the four❋Janets

We had talks scheduled by four "Janets",
but unfortunately the bitterly cold snap caused one to fall over that day,
and another was unable to drive in on the slippery roads.
However, we hope that both will be able to present their talks early in the New Year.

Our first talk of the afternoon was by member Janette Robinson …

THE DOWNFALL OF JOHN CHARLES TAPNER (1823-1854)

Janette began researching her family history 40 years ago, and eventually settled on a one-name study of TAPNER – that being the maiden name of her maternal great-grandmother.

There are only about 125 TAPNERs in any census, and her research eventually established that three quite unrelated TAPNER families originated from the small village of Boxgrove in Sussex.  The surname TAPNER is 'very likely' a derivative of "tapinier", which in French means 'a specialised tapestry worker'. Before the Dissolution, Boxgrove had a thriving Priory, that could support the production of tapestries, using French migrant specialists.

Janette researched one interesting story before both the internet and Ancestry were available.

On the bright, breezy morning of 10th February 1854, John Charles TAPNER (JCT) stepped out onto the scaffold, following Lord Palmerston's refusal for clemency.  John's crime was the murder on 18th October 1853 of Mrs Elizabeth SAUJON (74), widow of André, a mantua maker.

The 1851 Census had him living in St Peter Port, Guernsey with his wife Mary and two sons — and Margaret GAHAGAN, listed as a servant.  He had been born in Woolwich in 1823, and had three younger sisters.  Like his father, JCT worked as a Clerk at the Royal Arsenal, but had then transferred, in about 1843, to the Royal Engineers Dept, Fort George, St Peter Port.  His father was still working for the Royal Arsenal (but at Devonport), but his mother, Catherine, also moved to Guernsey in 1843 with her daughters, so Janette assumes a marital separation.  Did Catherine follow JCT to Guernsey, or did he follow her?  There are always more questions.

Records reveal that a natural child had been born within a year of his arrival in Guernsey — Eliza TAPNER MOLLETT — and TAPNER was a new name in the Channel Islands, so presumably the child was his.  Also, the "servant" Margaret was actually his sister-in-law, and left Guernsey to live in Southampton in June 1852, returning in December – with her newborn son.  They were met off the steam packet by JCT, who took them to lodge with Mrs Elizabeth Saujon, but later Margaret moved on to new lodgings in Vale Road.  JCT visited her several times a week, and in her statement she admitted that her sister didn't know she'd returned to Guernsey, and also she and JCT used the pseudonym SIMMER.  So JCT now had two families to support — his wife's and his sister-in-law's. 

He had more than once been suspected of petty theft, had several debts, and even tried to borrow two pounds the night before the murder, yet he then paid off several large debts.  JCT visited Elizabeth Saujon on the evening of 18th October 1853 for a loan.  After hitting her head with a stick, he ransacked the house for valuables, even removing her wedding ring, then doused her and the bedroom in turpentine, and set it alight.  He then left through the front door, locking it behind him.

Next day, the police found Elizabeth's partly burnt body, and the autopsy established that she wasn't dead when the fire was started.  An eye-witness had seen Mr SIMMER near the house, but the island's records revealed nobody of that name.  It was eventually established as a pseudonym for JCT, who was arrested at his desk in Fort George.

While he was in prison his sister Elizabeth wrote on several occasions.  Janette handled one of these letters, whilst researching in the Guernsey Record Office, realising that it had actually contained grains of opium in an attempt for him to consume it.  Elizabeth had denied any knowledge of this, but interestingly had used the pseudonym of Mrs HODGSON – it seems every player in this story had an alternative name, which often caused difficulties.

John Charles TAPNER was charged with murder, and a 12-day trial began on 20th December 1854 at the Royal Court, Guernsey.  Entry was by ticket, and for the first time there was a bench for the local press.  He was found guilty of murder, robbery and arson, his conviction solely based on circumstantial evidence, though he always maintained his innocence.  Following conviction, he appealed to Queen Victoria, and Victor Hugo also campaigned on his behalf.  He spent his last ten days in solitary confinement, attended by two chaplains to whom he eventually admitted his guilt.

There were few official observers at the execution, but St Peter Port is hilly, and Elizabeth College gardens, packed mostly with women, overlooked the prison yard.  It had been 21 years since the previous execution in Guernsey and so the hangman, Jean ROOKE, had little practice, and it became a long process, as luridly described in The Times.  The islanders were extremely agitated, and the local newspaper, The Comet, argued against capital punishment.  A 600-signature petition was sent to London, with the response that Newgate would send an executioner in future.  VICTOR HUGO denounced capital punishment in a long, open letter, printed around the world, and which led to many commutations of the death penalty.

Janette applied for JCT's death certificate but, though none could be found, several official normally unpublished papers in French were made available to her.

The sisters, Margaret and Mary, were reunited.  The island Governor's fund collected a substantial amount for them, and then arranged for them and their children to start afresh in a Commonwealth country with new surnames.  Janette could establish nothing further about this.

A few years later, Victor Hugo moved to Guernsey, and soon visited the prison, where he paid three francs for John's death mask, still tied to the railings of his cell.  It now resides in the Victor Hugo Museum on the island.  Amazing stories can be revealed in our ancestry, and museums can be a valuable source of information in that search.

Our second talk was by member Jan Lovell …
She is also our Vice-Chairman and
our Family History Federation Members' Surname Interests Co-ordinator

COINCIDENCE:  ERNEST CHANEY (1893-1955)

Whilst visiting Topcroft church, some 14 miles south of Norwich, to find the grave of her great-great-great-grandfather Edmund CHENEY, Jan found a WWI Roll of Honour entry for "E H CHANEY", who had served with the Argyll & Sutherlands.  The spelling of course was different, but in tracing her family tree for a possible link, she discovered that the grandfather of Ernest (as he was) was her great-grandfather's brother.  Knowing that Edmund had come from Carleton Rode, a village some 16 miles south-west of Norwich, Jan was able to establish a connection with her own family. 

Ernest Harry Chaney was the only child of Robert and Mary Chaney (née BRIGGS) who were both from Carleton Rode families, and married in 1892.  He was born the following year on 15th May 1893 and, after leaving school around 1905/6, worked for his father.  The family had moved to Poplar Farm on Rode Lane only a year or so before.  Around this time Ernest (Ernie) was courting a girl who had moved into the village around 1920.  Kate HOLDER was a live-in servant working for Walter Brown, his wife and grandson at White Lodge Farm on Fen Road.

Kate had been born in 1895 in the village of Scoulton, the other side of nearby Attleborough, although her parents met and married whilst working in domestic service in London — and the family moved frequently.  After working variously as a butler, valet and coachman, Kate's father had tried his hand at running a pub, the White Hart Inn in Thurlton, near Loddon, but found that he could not control the drunken behaviour of his customers.  He forfeited his licence in 1887, and returned to working in service as a coachman, groom and gardener.

By 1911, only Kate and her year-older sister remained in Norfolk — Gladys worked as a live-in servant in Norwich.  Her older siblings were either in the Navy, or married to a career soldier, or in the Metropolitan Police, and her parents were working at the Coldstream Guards Windsor barracks where their son-in law was a colour sergeant.

Kate and Ernie were married on the 18th November 1915, when Kate was already expecting their first child and the couple lived on the Chaney family farm.  Ernie had not volunteered for war service at this point — as an only child he would have been essential to ensuring the farm's economic viability.  Conscription came into force in January 1916 for single men, by May this included married men as well.

On 1st March 1916, Kate gave birth to a boy they named Robert Harry.  Tragically, the baby lived for only eleven days and was buried in the church cemetery.  Despite such heartbreak, Ernie went to war.  He was serving with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) Regiment, and within a couple of months he was sent to the Front.  Later in the war, he was transferred into the 9th Seaforth Highlanders.  This was a pioneer battalion — they dug trenches, laid tracks and tramways as well as roadworks, pipes for water, etc.  Almost all their work, even when not in or near the frontline trenches, was well within range of the enemy.

header image: Jan giving her presentation
with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders		with the 9th Seaforth Highlanders		at Fen Farm

At home, a daughter was born to Kate on 31st January 1917, and was baptised Mary Margaret Chaney in All Saints Church on 25th March.

Ernie was at the battles of the Somme and Passchendaele, and later at the Ypres Salient during the Spring of 1918.  He returned home early in 1919, and began to pick up the threads of his former life, working with his father on the farm.  He was a founding member of the area's British Legion in 1921.  Two more children were born — Thomas Harry on 11th July 1922 and Maurice Robert on 31st March 1924.  In 1928 Ernie, Kate and their children moved to Fen Farm, where they stayed for 20 years.  He died in 1955, followed by Kate in 1969.

Maurice had a daughter, Liz CHANEY, who is still alive and is a "new relative" for Jan, found from the coincidence of visiting Edmund's distant grave and then happening to see the Roll of Honour.

❋⚭+ ❋⚭+ ❋⚭+ ❋⚭+ ❋⚭+ ❋⚭+ ❋⚭+ 

This will be our third "hybrid" talk — so over Zoom AND physical — at our new venue, Saxmundham's Fromus Centre, behind the Library, but on the SECOND Monday this time.  Attendees over Zoom book in the normal way, but please before 5:00pm on Friday, 9th December, free to Members and at £3.00 for visitors — acknowledgement comprises outline instructions, with detailed information following around an hour before the talk.  In-person attendees can just turn up! — at £1.00 for Members, £3.00 for visitors, and with free tea/biscuits.

For our pre-Christmas talk, four❋Janets — all Group members — share intriguing tales from their own family history researches.

Janet B
"A Scottish mystery":  How one thing, being a Scottish wedding photograph dated October 1908, leads to another.  It must have been in the cupboard, but turned up during the pandemic.

Janet H
"What happened to Grandad?"

Janette R
"The Downfall of John Charles Tapner":  Forty years of family history research led to settling on a one-name study of the surname TAPNER, and uncovering many, many stories.  Amongst them was John Charles, the last person to be executed in Guernsey, in 1854.

Jan L
"Coincidences":  Whilst looking for the grave of a great-great-great-grandfather, I found another lead to take me to another branch of the family.

… and talking of coincidences,
❋ apologies for the slight misrepresenting of names, but it was too good an opportunity to miss!