NOTE: ** denotes a direct relative of mine in this text
**Osmond Barker born on the 13th of February 1852 in Wolviston, Durham, England and was Christened on the 15th of February in Billingham, Durham. He was the son of **Joseph Barker (born in Sedgefield 28.3.1809 – 11.5.1884) and **Eleanor Sharp (born in Wolviston 6.11.1814 – 31.3. 1888). (England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I03906-5, England-EASy, GS Film number: 1514526, Reference ID: p1 no5).
According to the Bessie McDougall’s tree (see above), Osmond was the 13th of 16 children born to Joseph Barker and Eleanor Sharp, of whom several before him had died at a young age. The sixteen children were; Ann Elizabeth, John, Robert, John Joseph, Thomas, Eleanor, Alice Jane, Samuel, John Joseph, Alfred, Dorothy Elizabeth, Joseph William, Osmond, Mary Emma, Alice Jane and a stillborn baby. According to my mother **Denise Clur nee Barker, Osmond was a small man who loved his dog. I guess my short genes came partly from him. His brother Samuel’s family emigrated to America.
Osmond married **Elizabeth Robinson (21.10.1854 – 7.11.1929) of Baldersby and later of Stockton-on-Tees. They were married on the 23.5.1874. Elizabeth was the daughter of **William Robinson (1831 – 1910) of Topcliffe Yorkshire and **Hannah Daniel (1832 – 1908) of Whixley, Yorkshire and later of Stockton-on-Tees.
A cyclostyled booklet “St. Peters [Wolviston] Centenary, 1876-1976“, mentions the presence of of a blacksmith’s forge in Wolviston in 1838, owned by Joseph Barker, which was still there in 1989. Both Joseph Barker and his son Osmond worked in the forge. On the site of the old smithy the Free Methodist Chapel was later erected. Osmond Barker occasionally preached there, and the pulpit was erected where his anvil had been. There is also a brief annotation mentioning the arrival of **Mr. John Sharp in the village to run the National School in 1812. His daughter, Eleanor, married Joseph Barker who is said to have also run the village Post Office in 1879, however it was his wife Eleanor Sharp who ran it. Osmond Barker often helped, taking letters to the Wynyard Hall, seat of the Londonderry family, which is now an hotel.
According to Nancie Brown nee McDougall, Osmond then moved his family from Wolviston to Seaham Harbour to take up employment at the colliery there. He wanted to finish with the smithy as people wouldn’t pay their bills. The expansion of the Seaham Colliery came when new technology allowed seams to be mined under the sea, opening reserves that had been hitherto inaccessible. Osmond was the smith for the horses working underground. The colliery was owned by the family of Lord Londonderry, who are not much appreciated in the area, due to events connected with the Seaham Colliery Disaster of 1880. See https://durhamrecordsonline.com/library/seaham-colliery-disaster-of-1880/.
Exerts from the St Peter’s Centenary booklet with annotations by Alice “Nancie” Brown nee McDougall.
The family of Osmond Barker is recorded in the census of 1891 as living at 52 Australia St, New Seaham, Seaham, Durham, England. It consisted of Osmond (39 years old), his wife **Elizabeth Robinson (37 years old and born in Yorkshire Baldersby), his sons **William Joseph (15 and born in Wolviston), Osmond Henry (13) and Lawrence (1) and his daughters Margaret (13), Sarah Emma (11) and Alice Mary Emma (9). (1891 England & Wales Census, Registration district Easington, Easington Family 307, Line 28, Image 59.)
Osmond Barker, then 49 years old, is also recorded in the 1901 census of England and Wales as having lived at 28 Cooke St, New Seaham, Seaham, Durham, England in a four roomed dwelling. He lived there with his wife Elizabeth (47) and 4 children (all born in New Seaham Durham); Sarah Eleanor (21), Alice Mary Emma (19), Osmond Henry (15) and Lawrence Daniel (11). Osmond ‘s occupation is listed as colliery blacksmith and horse shoer, ‘surface and underground’ while that of his son Osmond Henry is listed as a joiner’s apprentice. Sarah was mentioned as an elementary school girls teacher while Alice was an elementary school pupil teacher. (1901 England & Wales Census, line 24)
By 1911 only Sarah Eleanor was still living at 28 Cooke Street with Osmond and Elizabeth. Osmond describes himself as a “Colliery Shoeing Smith” working above ground for Lord Londonderry. Osmond died on the 5th of November 1935 and was buried with his place of abode recorded in the Parish records as 14 Nelson Street.
Record: England & Wales, Death Index, 1837-2005 https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10444-60605987/osmond-barker-in-england-wales-death-index. Osmond Barker. Country: England; County: Durham; District: Easington; Volume: 10A; Page: 439 Citation: Osmond Barker Death date: Oct-Nov-Dec 1935. Death place: Easington, Durham, England. Birth date: Circa 1852
- Children to Osmond Barker and Elizabeth Robinson
- 1) **William (“Will”) Joseph Barker (31.7.1875 – 28.5.1948 aged 72 years) married **Beatrice (“Tix”/”Trissie”) Cusens
- 2) Margaret (“Maggie”) Hannah Barker (8.8.1877 – 23.1.1938) married Arthur Ogilvie c. 1901
- 3) Sarah (“Sally”) Eleanor Barker (25.1.1880 – 5.11.1959 aged 79 years) married William McDougall (Engineer)
- 4) Alice Mary Emma Barker (7.2.1882 – c. 1969) married Ambrose Patterson
- 5) Osmond Henry (“Harry”) Barker (12.2.1886 – 13.8.1925 aged 39 years) married Ethel
- 6) Lawrence Daniel Barker (26.9.1889 – 24.9.1973) married Ada Hall
William Barker and Beatrice had four children see page**William Joseph Barker (1875-1948) and **Beatrice Emily Jane Cusens (1874-1957)
Margaret Barker and Arthur Ogilvie married in c. 1901. According to the 1901 census they lived at 2 Sibostopol Terr, Seaham Harbour, Durham, England. Margaret was then 23 and Arthur 27 years old. Arthur was a bricklayer for Sunderland Water Company.
Margaret and Arthur Ogilvie had two children Eva (8.8.1901 – 14.9.1973) and Beatrice Hannah (16.1.1904 – c.1991). According to the 1911 census (2nd April) they lived at 11 Duke Street, New Seaham, Durham, England. Margaret was then 33 years old and had been married to Arthur for 10 years. Arthur was then 37 and Eva and Beatie Hannah 9 and 7 years old. Their house had 4 rooms according to the census form shown below.
Right: as a nurse in the first world war.
While very pregnant with Eva, Maggie fell through a sash window (while cleaning it if I am correct). Eva was born with physical problems that may have been secondary to that fall. She was dependent on care throughout her life. This was a task that Beattie dedicated her life to, and as a consequence she never married. Eva did not appear to have any intellectual handicaps according to David Brown, other than having missed out on education, as was the misfortune of anyone with a disability at the time she grew up.
I was very young, maybe four or five years old, when Eva and Beattie came to visit the South African family. My mother prepared a fantastic dinner with all the trimmings. She even bought caviar! Unfortunately she later dropped the glass caviar bottle on the kitchen floor during her hectic dinner preparations. So we had no caviar. Nonetheless, I remember it as a wonderful evening.
Sarah, “Sally” Barker and William McDougall had Elizabeth Eleanor, “Bessie”(26.1.1913 – August 1983), Sunderland England, Deaths, GRO Indexes, 1969 – 2007 Vol 2, pg 1526) and Alice Margaret Hannah, “Nancie” (16.7.1915 – 2003). Sally and her two children all had assistant school mistress certificates.
Alice (Nancie) McDougall married William Alastair Brown and they had three children: Elizabeth Alison (31.3.1943 – 22.8.1943) died young at age of 5 months, Hilary Elizabeth (13.10.1944 – 7.2018), David William (8.5.1946 – ).
David Brown contributed significantly in the accumulation of family information and photographs mentioned in this website, as did his aunt Bessie. Bessie researched old church records and meticulously recorded the family tree. Nancie collated the research Bessie had done and labeled the family photographs so that we would know who was who. Both Bessie and Nancie wrote me letters when I was little and occasionally I received British stamps from them, which was always very exciting.
I visited David and his wife Eluned Ann Jones in October 2021. He had found me via this website! It was a fantastic visit to Abingdon-on-Thames and Oxford. Wilfried and I were treated to cordon bleu coq au vin prepared by Ann and a delicious soup made by David.
Alice Barker and Ambrose Pattison had one son Osmond John (29.9.1908- ). Osmond John married Eileen and they had three children; Michael, Andrew and Alexandra. In a letter David Brown recorded; “I adored Uncle Ambrose, he was a really wonderful man; he was a butcher and also dealt in livestock for some of his family who were farmers (on the ‘other side’), which he continued to do until he was 88; I remember seeing two of his Pattison nephews lifting him up into the cab of a cattle transporter when he was in his late 80s, on their way to a livestock market in the Blyth area of the North East; he died at the age of 89 in 1970“
Henry Barker and Ethel had one child Louvain.
Lawrence Barker and Ada had two children: Raymond Hall (4.5.1938 – 21.6.1968) and Maureen. Raymond married Lilian MacKenzie and they had three children; Rosemary (13.5.44 – ), Bevan (7.12.1948 – ), and Ian (31.10.1953 – ).
To the right: Lawrence with son Raymond
The three brothers emigrated to South Africa and they wrote home diligently every week. The family looked forward to the weekly delivery, albeit delayed by a considerable period. Sally’s grandson David Brown remembers having a conversation with a visiting South African academic at a lunch at Reading University, where he used to teach in the 1990s:
David Brown: 'I was looking at a copy of an interesting newspaper article the other day written by one of my relatives describing his experience of the siege of Jamestown'. HE: 'You don't mean Jamestown, you mean Mafeking'. David Brown: 'I mean Jamestown'. HE: 'Well in that case my grandfather was on the other side'....
The copy of the letter from my grandfather Willian Joseph Baker telling his family in England about the happenings in Jamestown on June 2nd, 1901 has been published in The Star Newspaper on 24.5.1977 and later in New Contrast.
