SHELVOCK ONS - Survival of the SHELVOCK Family Name

[Other webpages on this website cover the occurrence of the SHELVOCK family name in more detail, however apart from some SHILVOCKs who occasionally used the name SHELVOCK, and those C19th emigrants to the US who left England as SHILVOCK and as a result of immigration processes founded a whole new branch of SHELVOCKs, this story applies to those families still in Shropshire in the C19th.]

This is mainly the story of John SHELVOCK & Susannah DAVIES whose destiny was to find each other, and through their resultant family unknowingly helped to preserve a family name from extinction in the UK.

Based on available records, the Shropshire SHELVOCKs seemed in decline through the centuries to the C19th. The records from the start of General Registration still see the family name hanging on in that county and the area immediately adjacent in Staffordshire. Earlier records suggest a small cluster of apparently related family groups, especially in the Oswestry Hundred, which included the traditional family area between Oswestry and Shrewsbury towns. These families, except that of John & Susannah, became extinct as the C19th progressed, so that all C20th records, with one exception, can be traced back to the family of John & Susannah.
[The exception may be a SHELVOKE or a SHILVOCK, but is yet to be confirmed.]

John SHELVOCK & Susannah Davies SHELVOCK, his wife, of Shropshire.

Research so far has identified two possible brothers born in the 1790's to unidentified parents. Candidates for parents who may have been married by 1794 are sought, unless a common-law marriage.

The "younger brother", James SHELVICK or SHELVOCK, a Labourer, was born about 1795 and probably died in Oswestry aged 83 in 1878. He married Mary FURBUR in 1818 at Whittington, near Oswestry. There were at least 7 children from the marriage, but only two boys: John (c1818), Maria (c1818), James, Sarah & Jane (in the period around 1830), Mary (c1835) & Ann (c1837). No further records have been found for John & Maria. James, a Farmer's Servant, died of Encephalitis in 1855 aged 24; he was unmarried. Sarah died aged 19 of Consumption. In 1850, Jane married Thomas FURBUR (possibly a cousin) and the FURBUR family including 3 children were still in Whittington in 1861. Mary died aged 4 months and Ann died aged 8 months. Without known issue from John, this line became extinct.

Strangely, a child of Jane SHELVOCK, also named John, was born in 1860 and appears to have been adopted by John & Susannah and had the name SHELVOCK. Why this is occurred is unclear as Jane should have been married to Thomas FURBUR as evidenced in 1861. No other Jane is known. There are family stories of a hunchback named John, and perhaps John & Susannah were better placed to look after him. It is unclear why no father was mentioned. John & Susannah were suffering from the SHELVOCK genetic propensity for girls as they had six girls and no boys by that time. Perhaps it was a family gesture through adoption to provide a male heir for that side of the family?

The "older brother", John SHELVOCK, a pumpmaker, was born about 1794 at Asbaston/Osbaston. He died aged 61 at Llanymynech in 1855. In 1826 he married Sarah BAGLEY (sometimes recorded as Mary) at Prees; they had at least 6 children, but again only two boys - John (c1827), Martha (c1828), Thomas (c1830), Elizabeth (1832), Sarah (c1838) & Ann (c1843). Sarah, the wife, died in 1847 as a result of labour (no child recorded). Of the girls, no history has been found for Martha & Elizabeth. Sarah, the daughter, died in 1847 around the same time as her mother, and Ann was found as an unmarried servant in London in 1881. Thomas died of a diseased shoulder and infection at the age of 14, leaving John to carry on the line.

John, the sole SHELVOCK survivor of his generation, married Susannah DAVIES at Llanmynech in March 1852. There were no family witnesses, although one, a John CLEMSON, may have been related to the Mary CLEMSON who witnessed the marriage of Jane SHELVOCK & Thomas FURBUR at Oswestry. We can only speculate how they met, but Susannah was a daughter of Labourer John DAVIES, and this is perhaps how the young John SHELVOCK met his future partner. Susannah was heavily pregnant with their first child, Elizabeth, at the time of marriage. The girl was born a few months later (Llanfyllin RD), but did not survive the year.

Shortly after New Year 1853 Susannah became pregnant with their second child, Sarah, who was born in September of that year, also at Llanfyllin RD. At the time of the baby's registration John was working as an Ostler (with horses) and Susannah was working as a help at a Toll Gate at the village of Llansaintffraid-ym-Mechain on the Welsh borders. In April 1855 their third daughter, also named Elizabeth, was born at the farm of Llwyntidmon near Llanmynech. John was registered as a husbandman, no doubt working on the farm. Susannah had, by this time, become a full-time mother (no occupation) but no doubt helped at the farm.

By 1856 John had taken up a completely new occupation, retail brewing, and the family were to be found in the village of Blakenhall, part of south Wolverhampton. In August of that year twin girls Martha Jane & Mary Ann were born. Mary Ann did not survive. In 1858 a son, John, was born in Green Lane, Wolverhampton, but died shortly afterwards. After the brief venture into brewing another change of direction occurred by 1868. The family were to be found in the hamlet of Brockton near Worthen, where they settled for the next couple of decades. John established his long term career in the local lead mines, a feature of the hills overlooking the Severn flood plain in that part of the county. Mining in Shropshire goes back to Romans times, and there are signs that Bronze Age man may have mined copper at Llanymynech, while the Romans mined lead in the Shropshire hills more than 1,500 years ago. Surprisingly, this hard industry (including the risks of lead poisoning, lung diseases and mine accidents) did not take too much of a toll on John's health as he survived until nearly 80. He died in 1907.

John & Susannah continued to be a productive pairing producing many more children. Susannah was also made of stern stuff as she survived until 1904, not only taking care of her own brood, but also the many illegitimate children of her daughters too. Pregnancy seemed to be an everyday part of the SHELVOCK household, although the environment seemed to take it's toll on the newborns with many premature deaths. Mining communities worldwide are notorious for their lawlessness and "work hard - play hard" mentality, and it seems the SHELVOCK girls were well caught up in it, either by accident or by design. What is clear is that the girls pregnancies were handled within the family, and seemed to be an accepted part of life in Brocton.

[Social & Historical Note: Until the law was changed in 1885 raising it to16 years, the age of consent in England was only 13 years. Due to conditions of the times it is unlikely that puberty started as early as it does today.]

The couples seventh child, also a daughter, Susannah was born in 1859. With four surviving daughters and two deceased, they must have wondered whether they were ever going to have a boy, which maybe where adopted nephew John (s/o Jane SHELVOCK/FURBUR, described above) came in.

For unknown reasons there was a gap of 6 years before the couple's next child. However, their first son, Jonathan, born in November 1866, must have been a cause for celebration. Within the next four years the couple had Charles (1868), then William (1870, died after a few months). The remaining children were Margaret Jane (1872), Alfred (1873, also died after a few months) and finally Catherine Ann (1876). So far, all that is known about Jonathan is that he married 38 year-old widow Mary E. KING formerly ROTHLY in 1910 Merriton, Ontario. Charles, who married Sarah VAUGHAN, became the sole head of the modern Shropshire family as a result.

By the time of Susannah's last child in 1876, three illegitimate children had been born to her daughters. Sarah had daughter Elizabeth (1874) and Ruth (1875), but both had died young. Elizabeth had Henry (1875), who became the head of the modern Canadian family. Sarah, who remained at Brocton, went on to have two more illegitimate children, Alfred William (1880) & Mabel (1882), none of whom survived more than a few weeks. She then married Henry ROWE in 1883 and went on to have more children who survived.


SHELVOCK Family Graves, Lakeview Cemetery, Thorold, Ontario

Elizabeth, who was a Domestic Servant in Brocton, had a daughter Edith Ethel in 1879 (who married in 1904), who was also raised by her grandmother. Daughter Susannah, who in 1881 was a Cook & Dairy Maid for farmer William SMITH in Baschurch village, had Annie in 1885 (Susannah later married MULLINEX/MOLYNEAUX). Margaret (who married DELVES) had Rose Ellen in 1893 (who married HARRIS in 1927). Both these granddaughters were also raised by Susannah. Of all the daughters of the couple, only Martha Jane (who married PERRY) and Catherine (who married PERKINS) reached their marriage without apparently having borne pre-nuptial children.

Shortly after the death of John SHELVOCK senior in 1908, Henry & Sarah ROWE, and their four children travelled to Canada to join Henry SHELVOCK who had settled there in 1898. They had planned to homestead together, but later land became available in Alberta. According to family stories adopted John may have gone to Canada for a time, joining the other family members, but then returned. It appears John, then an Agricultural Labourer, married Susan PALMER in 1887 and had four children. John, Gladys (1888), Albert (1889) & George (1894). John was born around the time of their marriage, perhaps before, and is believed to have had a family in the C20th, but this has not been confirmed. A John SHELVOCK married in Pontypridd, South Wales, in 1903 & 1918 (possibly father remarrying in 1903 and then son marrying in 1918). Gladys married there in 1911, as did Albert in 1914. Albert seemed to have the SHELVOCK genetic propensity for girls and had three: Phyllis M (1917, married JAYNES), Joan C (1923, married DAVIES) and Joyce W (1925), all at Pontypridd. Youngest son George, who was born at the Lunatic Asylum at Brocton, remained in the Shrewsbury area, married in 1920 and had one daughter Martha (1921), seemingly to ensure that this line also died out.

The survival of the modern family, through Charles & Sarah, benefited from the rare occurrence of four boys in the first five children, all of whom survived to provide offspring of their own. The remainder of the eleven were girls! The children were Charles Baden (1902), William Henry (1903), Cyril Jonathan (1905), Susannah (1907), Edward Arthur (1910), Katherine (1912), Margaret (1913), Violet (1915), Rhoda (1916), Alice (1918) & Eva (1921).

After three children, Charles Baden appeared to have abandoned his family in England and went to Australia where he settled. His second marriage there founded today's small Australian SHELVOCK family. William also went to Canada, while the remainder of the family remained in the C20th Shrewsbury area.

[Social Observations (source "The English - A Social History 1066-1945", by Christopher Hibbert): Parts of the above story are in many ways unremarkable when considering the relatively low legal age of sexual consent for the times. By the time of 1881 census the Registrar-General noted that one in three girls aged 15-20 were domestic servants. Such girls were subject to both welcome and unwelcome attentions of males in households in which they served. It was also noted in the middle of the C19th that those young people working hardest in the mines, etc. often had the onset of puberty delayed until their 17th or 18th year. In certain trades a quarter of working girls had illegitimate children by the age of 20.

Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861) was recommending wages for domestic servants between £7 10s & £11 per year. This had increased to £16 in the 1888 edition. Servants in poorer rural areas would receive less. Men earning more than £500 per year were reckoned as being able to afford three servants.]

How a English Family Name Almost Became Extinct