Herlingshaw Family Website

The Herlingshaw family

Back from the Army

In 1913 William Herlingshaw (probably still using the name William Shaw) returned to Teesside after his seven year army enlistment. As was the norm he was assigned to the reserves.

He then lived with the Wilkinson family at 102 Stapylton Street, Grangetown and later in 1913 he married their daughter Sarah Ann, just 21 years old, at the nearby South Bank Wesleyan Chapel in the High Street. Isabella Moody and William Lang were witnesses to the ceremony. Isabella was probably Sarah Ann's aunt (her father's sister) who married George Moody in 1876. Or she could have been Isabella and George's daughter who was also called Isabella, aged 21 at the time, about the same as Sarah.

An odd thing in the official wedding record is that William declared that his father was Joseph Herlingshaw, deceased, a former engineer. This is clearly wrong and was obviously a reference to Joseph Shaw, William's uncle (his mother's brother) who became his surrogate father. It is not clear whether Joseph, or his wife Mary actually attended the wedding, although they were alive at the time and living nearby in South Bank. Both died only a few years later, in 1916. William was actually 28, not 27 as stated.

Sarah Ann's father was declared as George Wilkinson, deceased, an electrician. Her mother was Sarah née Ward and it appears from the certificate below that she was illiterate.

William and Sarah's first child Olive was born on June 27th 1914. Marriage and the child's upbringing were soon to be interrupted by WW1 and as a reservist William was one of the first to be recalled, on August 4th 1914 only a week after war had started and two or three days later he was sent to Guernsey to rejoin the second battalion of The Yorkshire Regiment. He fought in the Battle of Loos towards the end of 1915 receiving bullet wounds including one to his neck via a hand and as a result was discharged in February 1916 as "no longer suitable for active service".

Part of one bullet remained in his body for the rest of his life, another pictured below was kept as a souvenir and is still in possession of the family. William was awarded the WW1 war badge in April 1917 to mark his honourable discharge.

Below are Sarah Ann and baby Olive in a photograph from the end of 1915 or early 1916. This photograph was probably taken to send to husband William in the army, perhaps for Christmas. Unfortunately Olive died in 1917 when only 3½ years old, their second child to die that year.

This was William Herlingshaw's pocket watch. It has a Swiss-made Revue-Thommen model 31 movement but no brand name on the dial nor inside - not uncommon at the time. This particular movement was made primarily for the UK market. The British-made 9ct gold case was hallmarked in London in 1920 and the hallmark "sponsor" was the City Watch Case Company Ltd., run by Louis Arnould in Cox's Court, London EC1, hence the LA punch marks (although it looks as though it might in fact have been made by Dennison in the Midlands). The case has the serial number 65823 in two places and the movement uses an interesting snail cam regulator and a temperature compensated balance wheel - so was fairly up market for the time. It is close to being 100 years old and is still going strong to within 5 seconds a day, excellent amplitude of 260° and low beat error. However, that is in the face-up position - with the winder up (common for a pocket watch) the daily gain is about 2 minutes.

How and when William came to own the watch is unknown as it is was fairly expensive - although apparently it spent regular periods in the local pawn shop. There used to be a gold chain attached, known as an "Albert" (after Queen Victoria's husband) but it has disappeared.

George Wilkinson, Sarah Ann's father was George W Wilkinson and he was born in York about 1856. Sarah Ann's mother, Sarah Ward was born in Tipton, Staffordshire in about 1857.