Many researchers have discovered that one of the joys of being a blogger is the revision you may need to do while in the writing process, due to having researched the person prior to the age of online genealogy sites. There is a vast difference between scrolling a microfilm through a particular parish in a county and doing a wide search on the various sites. Gosh, these days we can even add wild-cards, extended periods to search and various counties or countries to search. Having decided that I need to tackle writing about my Neville ancestors, thus begun three weeks of intense research recently.

One of the stories my Grandma Irvine told me involved a royal connection to the House of Neville. However, I was sceptical, but the story floated around in different, often distant branches, so more research was required, and I set out to prove or disprove the story of how a Neville ancestor had married the stable boy against the family wishes and been cut off from her relatives.

From White to Nevil

My previous research took me back to Berkshire with the baptism of my 3rd great-grandmother, named Mary Nevil who was baptised at St Laurence Church, Reading, in Berkshire on 24 October 1783, the daughter of James Nevil and Elisabeth.^[1]  Next born Thomas was baptised at the same church on 24 Oct 1786. The parents and their two young children moved to Henley-on-Thames shortly after this where they had the following children: Betsy (1789), Amy (1792), James (1794), Joseph (1796) and lastly, Charles who was born in 1799.

Baptism entry for Mary Nevil on 24 October 1783 at St Laurence, Reading, Berkshire. Image from author’s collection. Original at The Royal Berkshire Archives 2008.

The parents, James Nevill and Elizabeth Onien had been married after banns in St Mary’s, Reading, on 14 April 1783, with neither signing their name.^[2] Witnesses were Joseph Onien and William Abery. Readers may have realised that Mary was a ‘6-month baby’, so it appears to have been a marriage arranged in haste. I did wonder if this was ‘the scandal’. So far, my research was sound and cross checked with other information on the family.

Marriage entry of James Nevill and Elizabeth Onion at St. Mary’s Reading, Berkshire. Author’s collection. Original at Berkshire Records Office 2008.

When I received a certified copy of the burial entry for James Neville from a distant cousin, I saw that he was aged 47 years when buried on 8 May 1806 at Great Marlow, Bucks. I understood that this copy was obtained by a family member in 1864 in connection with a legal claim. Additionally, the same family member had received a certified copy of James Neville & Elizabeth Onien’s marriage entry from the Rector of St Mary’s, Reading in Berkshire. However, when visiting the Berkshire Records Office in 2008 I ordered the above scan of the original marriage register with signatures, as that was more detailed and I noted neither the bride nor groom could sign their name. At this stage I felt the myth was loosing traction, as surely a person of noble birth could read and write by adulthood?

Having found that Neville connection at last, James was certainly not of noble birth, but the fourth child of Thomas and Mary (maiden name Ward) who were married in Hambleden in 1756. James, born in October 1859, was one of eight babies with many dying shortly after birth. The couple and their surviving children continued to live in Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, which lies about half-way between Great Marlow, (Bucks) and Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. Looking at parish maps, I could see that from now on, I would have to concentrate my research in the counties of Buckinghamshire (Bucks), Oxfordshire (Oxford) Berkshire (Berks) and also Hampshire (Hants) as the places the family lived in at various times were relatively close to each other.

From early correspondence with my cousin, I learned that James had been working for the Royal Military College, so my quest turned to Google to find more information about that establishment, as it’s always good to get more context into a person’s life.  I found an out of copyright book online ‘Annals of Sandhurst’ by Major A. F. Mockler-Ferryman, published in 1900. 

I was particularly interested in Chapter Two ‘The Early History of the Royal Military College 1802 – 1812′ as this involved the period of James’ death. It began:
‘The Royal Military College for future officers of the Army was inaugurated by Royal Warrant in March 1802 at High Wycombe and was known as the Senior Department. Before that date no such establishment had existed, and what was known as the Royal Military College was maintained solely for the improvement of the military education of officers of the Army.’

It went on to explain that the newly structured college was for the growth of the Junior Department, or educational establishment for cadets. The new site chosen was in Sandhurst in Berkshire and would be for both the Junior and the Senior Departments.

Royal Military College at Great Marlow, 1810 where James Nevill was a gardener from 1802 to his death in 1806. Image from Annals of Sandhurst 1900, written by Major A. F. Mockler-Ferryman in 1900

Realising that the new establishment would take some time to be built, temporary accommodation was sought at Great Marlow which opened just two months later with 16 cadets increasing to 42 by the end of the year and gradually reaching the desired maximum of 400 cadets divided into four companies of 100 each.

Having established why he died in Buckinghamshire, rather than at Sandhurst in Berkshire where the college was later established, I once more turned to my trusty friend, Google which revealed ‘The Sandhurst Collection’, an extensive site with many online records available for purchase. At the time it cost me just £3 (now £5.99 ea) for each single page I ordered, which happily I found contained excellent information.

It seems that both James and Elizabeth Neville joined the establishment on 25 April 1802, James as a gardener, noting in the ‘retiring age’ column as having died on 5 May 1806. In family notations cc 1850s it was noted that James Neville ‘Died suddenly after drinking cold water after haymaking on a hot summers day’.

Elizabeth was also employed at the College as a servant until 10 August 1810. One of their sons, Charles, later worked there from 12 November 1817 until 10 May 1819, also as a servant. From the Annals of Sandhurst book, I noted that the 16 men and 16 women’s role as servants included:

‘Duties: to make three hundred and twenty beds, to clean three hundred and twenty pairs of shoes, three hundred and twenty silver spoons, and six hundred and forty knives and forks, as well as candle- sticks and beer cans, to wait at meals, clean dormitories, halls of study, fireplaces, to fill coal scuttles, and keep public buildings swept.’

Gosh, if the college was at full strength, that equated to each servant coping with making 10 beds, cleaning 10prs of shoes as well as being part of a team responsible for the remaining duties each day.

Getting back to James’s parents; Thomas and Mary (ms Ward) were married at St Mary, Henley on Thames on 25 August 1756 after Banns from 8 August that year. Throughout research into this early period, I noted that many with the family name were notated with different spelling, including Newell, Nevil, Nevill, Neville and Novell (possibly an incorrect transcription of an ‘e’) which continued in family notations into the 1830s, even within military records.

Having got back to the mid 1700s and finding no link to any titled family, with Thomas Nevil born about 1730-1734, I had reached my brick wall. How to get around it, to prove or disprove the myth was still the challenge, although I admitted it was looking decidedly dicey. It was from this point on that my intense research focussed, but that’s a story for another time.

I am grateful to my 4th cousin, Alister Neville of Cumbria for his generous sharing of Neville family papers and letters.

[1]  Baptisms: St Laurence, Reading, Berkshire. Original viewed by author at Berkshire Records Office 8 Oct 2008.
[2] Marriages: St Laurence, Reading, Berkshire. Original viewed by author at Berkshire Records Office 8 Oct 2008.