A link between two branches

I was recently contacted through the Gidley One Name website with the news that not only was my contact a Gidley himself, but his wife's great grandfather was also a Gidley, and they were not related, being from different branches: South Devon and Winkleigh. His son has therefore merged the two.

There is some evidence that members of another branch used the services in the 19th century of Gidley and Co., the solicitors in Plymouth of the Winkleigh branch, but, barring inhabitants of large towns and cities, I've only seen one census entry where the occupants may have wondered about a possible relationship.  For, in 1871, in numbers 3 and 5 New Street in Withycombe Raleigh, near Exmouth, Devon, there are two unrelated Gidley families. Their wives may possibly have been related, but the males were not.

In number 3 lived John Gidley, a mariner aged 30, born in Dean Prior, with his wife Elizabeth nee Teed, a lace maker. Livng with them was Elizabeth's illegitimate daughter born before her marriage, Mary Jane Teed, then aged 12. I hadn't researched Mary Jane as her father was evidently not John Gidley. I have now discovered that she met a tragic end, only in her twenties, as one of the victims of the terrrible fire at the Theatre Royal in Exeter in 1887, the worst ever UK theatre disaster. 186 people perished in the theatre, only opened the previous year, but beset with design faults that led to people suffocating or crushed in the panic to get to far too few exits, particularly from the gallery. Mary Jane Teed, then living in Summerland Street in Exeter, was buried with other victims in a mass grave in Exeter.

John Gidley had vounteered for the Royal Navy in 1859 aged 19 (although he added a year to his age). He signed on for 10 years and was presumably at sea in the 1861 census when he couldn't be found. His naval record only records that he was a 2nd Class Ordinary Seaman on HMS Impregnable (from 1862 a training ship). He possibly suffered with poor health, as he died in 1874, aged only 34, leaving no descendants. 

In number 5 New Street in 1871 lived Jane Maria Gidley nee Star, with her three daughters, Isabella, Eliza and Alice. Her husband Richard was absent from the household and I found him boarding in Okehampton, working as a labourer, They were back together from at least 1881 onwards, so I wondered if he couldn't find work in 1871 (his previous census entries recorded him as a spring maker and a coachsmith) as a metal worker of some sort in the Exmouth area and had moved to where there was more work. Unfortunately, I have now discovered that in 1864 he was charged with deserting his wife and family, leaving them to be relieved by the parish, as proved by the assistant parish overseer. Richard was sentenced to a month's imprisonment. He was born in Ipplepen in 1830, the son of Richard Gidley and Susanna nee Clinnick. According to my family history program he was my 1st cousin 3 times removed. His death was announced in the local paper in Exmouth 1890, aged 60. His two older daughters moved away to the Bristol area. but the youngest, Alice, married and remained in the Exmouth area.

Henry Gidley in the Goldminers' Database, New Zealand, 1861-1886

 Kae Lewis in New Zealand has produced a useful database of gold miners in the Thames goldrush on North Island, New Zealand:  the Goldminers' Database.

Henry Gidley has three mentions: 3 Nov 1868 in Karaka, Thames; 6 May 1869 in Karaka Creek, Thames Claim Register; and 9 Dec 1869 in Karaka.

On p.697 of Kae Lewis's book Goldrush to the Thames, N.Z. 1867-69 quoted on her website, she details conditions in the mines there: 

A specimen rock (from Kae Lewis' website) 

"It took grit and determination to decide to dig the shaft down 100 feet... using only the flickering light of a candle the digger chipped away at the rock with his pick, examining each chunk of quartz.... lost beneath the earth with tons of rock over his head and knowing it could all come down on him any moment."

Could Henry have struck lucky? In 1875 he is recorded as a miner owning 1200 shares (one of the largest shareholders) in the Effort Gold Mine and that same year as a hotelkeeper who owned 275 shares in the Ajax Mining Company. He held licences for three hotels in the Thames district at various times - the Melbourne, the Criterion and the Wynyard Arms.

Henry was a veteran of the 65th Foot Regiment, awarded the New Zealand Medal and granted land there in 1870 by the Crown Lands Office.  His funeral notice in the Auckland Star on 10th May 1921 mentioned his former regiment and he was invited to an At Home of veterans at Government House in 1900.

In 1874 he married Hannah Green but I haven't traced any children. I have provisionally allocated him as the son of William Gidley of Dartington, Devon, and Lucy Partridge but there is one problem: Henry's funeral notice descibed him as "of Devon" and William's son Henry was born in Chelsea, London in 1833 and moved with his whole family to Liverpool by 1846. However, the 65th Foot was a North Country regiment.

The Gidley coat of arms

 I know many of you are interested in the Gidley coat of arms and some have requested permission to use it. This is usually denied, as conditions of its inheritance are strictly applied by the College of Arms. But I thought you may be interested in how it was re-registered in the 19th century, as reported by Bartholomew Courtenay Gidley [1835-1918, born in Ilminster, Somerset, sometime wine merchant in London], and reproduced in the Gidley Record Notebook which was kindly transcribed by Chris Lassam when it was put up for auction in 2023.

Following the story of re-registering there is a very long description of the arms, using heraldic terms, attempting to work out the reasons for what was included on the device.

"But for a curious incident which happened about the year 1876, the grant of arms would never have been registered, nor the pedigree constructed. My cousin Bartholomew Charles Gidley [1839-1888] of Exeter, solicitor and Town Clerk of Exeter, had, when at Oxford University, had a friend called Harrison, who after they left college, became the Windsor Herald. Bartholomew Charles Gidley, being on business in London and having a little time on his hands, went to the College of Arms and asked Harrison if he would allow him to see the entries of the Gidley family. He said certainly and he would go and look them up. After a short time he returned and said that the name of Gidley was not in the index. Bartholomew Charles Gidley said that this was very strange, as he had seen the grant itself: it was in the possession of Mr Gustavus Gidley [1821-1910] of Plymouth, the oldest living representative of the senior branch of the family. Harrison asked if he could tell him who signed it and he said Bysshe Clarenceaux. At which Harrison said that, no doubt owing to the troubles of that year (1666 when the house occupied by the Heralds was burnt in the Fire of London), many of Bysshe's grants were unregistered.My cousin asked what could be done to remedy the defect and Harrison said that if we could produce a reliable pedigree from the time of the grant up to date he would register it. My cousin Bartholomew Charles Gidley therefore wrote to me say he would look after the Devon part of the pedigree. After some months we both accomplished our respective shares of the work to the satisfaction of the College and the grant and pedigree were officially registered."