Thursday 22 January 2015

Catholics and Salvationists.....our very own Broad Church.


Leopold  Frederick Murch was one of my great grandmother ( Florence) s’ brothers. He was just over one year older than her, born in Devonport, Plymouth, in 1857.
At one time, all I knew about him was that he was one of the witnesses at Florence’s marriage to my great grandfather William Whelen, who was in the Navy. They married at a Roman Catholic Naval Chapel in Devonport.

The chapel where my great grandmother Florence married her sailor husband William Whelen. It has been demolished now, but the stone wall remains....and I have sat on it, pondering about Florence, her husband William and her brother Leopold who witnessed the wedding.

Not being aware of any Roman Catholic connections in the family, I had been surprised to see that great grandmother Florence had married in the Royal Navy’s RC chapel. I have since found baptism and confirmation records for some of her children, and indeed have traced some of them to orphanages run by the Roman Catholic Church for destitute children of Catholic sailors. ( Florence died at 39, leaving 6 children aged between 9 and 18. )
So...the Catholic connection was made.

Information I have discovered more recently has shown that the Murch family were indeed religiously “ interesting”.

Census information told me that Leopold and his family became part of the Salvation Army.

I spent some time in Devonport and Plymouth a couple of years ago, researching this part of the family. It is clear that mid to late 19th century Plymouth was a pretty unpleasant place to live. Pubs and beer halls were on every street corner. Drunkeness, gambling and violence, prostitution and extreme poverty were rife. It is little wonder that the Temperance Movement, and the Salvation Army, dedicated to getting rid of the evils caused by the misuse of alcohol thrived in this part of the country. The town centre has been redeveloped, mainly due to having been flattened during WW2 bombing, but in parts of the city, some of the old Victorian pubs remain.

There were literally hundreds of pubs and beer houses like this in Plymouth .....alcohol was available on every street corner !
Even now, it is not hard to imagine what some of those Victorian streets would have been like when Leopold was a boy.

Leopold’s 1922 obituary, in War Cry, the Salvation Army’s publication, explained that  his wife, Rosina had attended a meeting in Devonport, in 1882 and had spent the next few days persuading her dock labourer husband to join the Army, with her.

Rosina Lavis, who married Uncle Leopold in 1878 and persuaded him to join the Salvation Army in 1882
The obituary said:

“This meant disconnection from many old and dear associations – a hand bell band in which he had played since childhood, an orchestral band, and the Volunteers’ band. “

It continued:

“ In those days, of course, The Army was widely misunderstood even by good people, and his friends and relatives declared that he had gone mad to become associated with it. “

I have since discovered that Leopold was involved in anti Salvation Army riots in Barnstaple and Eastbourne. He campaigned with “the Founder” ( William Booth ) in Cornwall. and that he played the solo euphonium in the Salvation Army International Staff band.

I have no photos of Leopold...but just maybe, he is in this band ! He moved from Devonport to London, and then Essex, living in Hackney, Leyton and Walthamstow at various times....so it is just possible.
There are so many questions I would love to ask Leopold. My bigamist grandfather was his nephew. At least 4 of my grandfather’s siblings found themselves in orphanages after their mother’s death......I wonder why Leopold and his family were not able to help in some way....but maybe, if Leopold’s parents and siblings had cut him off when he joined the Salvation Army...if they had thought he was mad.....maybe the wider family had lost contact by the time that Florence’s family needed support.

Maybe, if my grandfather had been able to seek support from his Uncle Leopold, when he came back from the trenches, he would not have abandoned his first family, and gone on to abandon a second family, before he finally settled with my grandmother. Of course, if that had happened...I wouldn’t be here researching it all.

Catherine Bramwell Booth
Leopold’s daughter Miriam became a Brigadier in the SalvationArmy, and for many years was secretary to Catherine Bramwell Booth, one of William Booth’s granddaughters. A search on e-bay...for Salvation Army related material ( when I was researching Leopold) led me to find some  Salvation Army medals which had been sold....inscribed for Leopold and his daughter Miriam ( mistakenly referred to as Leopold’s wife, in the ebay listing ! )

Miriam Murch
The medals inscribed to Leopold and Miriam Murch....sold on ebay for £200 !

It is amazing how the internet has enabled so much information to be discovered by family history researchers. Just yesterday I received a reply to a message I left on face book 3 years ago, from the ex husband of someone I think is my cousin.....a woman who I suspect is, like me ,one of Florence’s great grandchildren. I do hope so......

15 comments:

  1. Lovely to read this post Janice.This morning I received from the Staffordshire record office a marriage certificate which I had requested for my great/great/grandfather.Two hours later spent on the internet I was able to build up an exact picture of life for that family.Like you so many questions I would like to have asked of the family.Your photographic record on this post hooked me into their story.

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    1. My problem is there never seems to be enough time to follow up all the leads I want to check out....aswell as work in the shop, and blog, and see people and spend time with the grandchildren...let alone go to Francs...how on earth I ever worked i have no idea !

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  2. Fascinating stuff, Janice! I wish you'd been able to buy those medals. Our Devon Murch family were staunch Non-conformists, but there might be a link somewhere in the distant past as they lived in the Plymouth area in the 18th century - and Murch is an uncommon name.

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    1. Maybe we will discover we are cousins Nilly.

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  3. Your family research has certainly unearthed some interesting stories and connections Janice. All fascinating, especially the role the two religions play in this family saga. Happy weekend xx

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    1. I'm not sure how fascinating it is for others, but I am hooked !

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  4. I love hearing about your fascinating family.

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    1. I just wish all this information had been so easily available 10 years ago.....or 20 years ago, well, maybe 30 years ago really,...the questions I could have asked people that are now dead.....oh well. Jx

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  5. Fascinating, Janice, and I am so impressed by your dedication in exploring your family's history.

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    1. I love the idea that there are all these connections out there...someone must know some of the answers I need to sort out what happened in my grandfather's head !

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  6. Wonderful that you have been able to unearth so much information about your family, I enjoyed reading all about it, thank you for sharing. I recently found a family photo dating back to 1850's and luckily information was written on the back which helped fill in some of the gaps xcx

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    1. Its so important, to label photos..whether they're hard copy, or digital.....it helps so much.

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  7. This is truly fascinating stuff, Janice. I too couldn't help asking myself why Florence's children had sadly ended up in orphanages, but perhaps the whole family was so poor they couldn't help.

    As Nilly says, having an unusual surname helps with family history research as my younger sister has discovered. She has found out that one of our Yorkshire ancestors was a member of the Moravian Brethren at Fulneck and even traced his own account of his life as a member in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

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    1. That sounds fascinating P. I am completely hooked...there just aren't enough hours in the day. I find myself going weeks without having time to check up on various strands.....and then, there are just so many strands.....Oh well, I'm never going to get bored, that's for sure.

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  8. Janice , much enjoy reading the blog. Thought you might be interested in this BBC radio programme about walking in Caunes http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qqsl2
    John

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