The furthest back I can trace my Dyer ancestry is to my great-great-great-grandfather a Henry Dyer who was probably baptised on 28th February 1773 in Stogursey Parish, the son of Henry Dyer and Betsy Jenkins. Henry Dyer and Betsy Jenkins were married on 4th April 1768 also in Stogursey Parish.

Henry Dyer married an Elisheba Winter on 13 October 1814 in Otterhampton parish. Elisheba was probably baptised on 15th March 1788, in Wellington, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Winter,.

Henry and Elisheba had at least five children – Samuel baptised on 27th August 1815 (great-great-grandfather), Harriet baptised 10th August 1817, Betty Winter 27th June 1819, Caroline Elizabeth baptised 22nd August 1821, and Mary baptised 4th August 1823. All their baptisms were recorded in the parish register of Otterhampton. (For additional possible details of Henry Dyer - See Appendix A.)

Henry Dyer and Elisheba Winter were recorded in the census of 7th June 1841 resident in Otterhampton, at what seems to be Merhampton, next door to the Parsonage, with their daughter named Caroline living with them.

1841 Census (7th. June) Otterhampton, Bridgewater ( ) Book 7 Page 1

Merhampton, Otterhampton. (next door to parsonage)

Henry Dyer was recorded for the census of 31st March 1851 as living at 10 Captains, Otterhampton. As well as two lodgers, Henry had his younger sister Elizabeth, born in Stogursey circa 1779, staying with him. As she is recorded with the surname "Tucker" and with the status of "widow", one can assume she was married to a Mr. Tucker, who had died pre April 1851. As Henry himself is also recorded as a widow one can assume that Elisheba Dyer, nee Winter died sometime between the 1841 census and the 1851.

1851 Census (31st March) Otterhampton HO107/1924 Folio 85 Book 1 Page 3

10 Captains, Otterhampton.

Henry Dyer died on 28^th February 1853, aged 83, in Otterhampton.

Samuel, Henry’s son (my great-great-grandfather) married a Sarah Buller on 21st. February 1841 in Lowton, Pitminster parish. Sarah was born in Guernsey, the daughter of James Buller, who was serving as a soldier with the 13th (1st Somersetshire) regiment of Foot at the time, and Henrietta Lewis. Her birth, on 5th October 1817, and baptism, on 25th March 1818, were both recorded in the records of the Town Church, St Peter Port, Guernsey, and in the regimental register. (For additional details of James Buller and Henrietta Lewis - See Appendix B.)

Immediately after their wedding Samuel and Sarah settled in Wellington, which is where we find the newly-weds for the census of 7th. June 1841, although Samuel is recorded as a "woollen weaver".

1841 Census (7th. June) Wellington ( ) Book 3 Page 5

Wellington Village.

The family were still in Wellington for the census of 1851, but Samuel seems to have reverted at least in part to being a carpenter, being recorded as a "joiner/grocer". By this time Samuel and Sarah had produced at least four children, Frederick, born in 1841, Elishba Ann, born in 1843, Maria born on 30th March 1846 (my great-grandmother), Henry born 1850, Samuel, born in 1851, Amelia Jane, born in 1854, and Mary, born in 1859.

1851 Census (31st March) Wellington Book 1. Page 1

Wellington Village.

For the census of 1861 the family were still living in Wellington. Samuel seems to have dropped being a grocer and was sticking to carpentry being recorded simply as a "joiner". The family had grown again with the addition of Samuel, born in 1851, Amelia Jane, born in 1854, and Mary, born in 1859. (For further details of Samuel Dyer and Sarah Buller’s children - See Appendix C)

1861 Census (8th April) Wellington RG9/1611 Folio 18 Book 7 Page 30

Wellington Village

Maria, my great-grandmother, was working in South Street, Wellington for the Fox family as a nursemaid. The Ann Dyer working as a housemaid I would imagine is her older sister Elisheba Ann.

1861 Census (8th April) Wellington RG9/1610 Folio 48 Book 4 Page 8

25 South Street, Wellington Village

For the census of 1871 the family had moved to Newport. Samuel is now working as an "Engine Driver" and in this census is a Maud Dyer – granddaughter. Maud was the daughter of Maria Dyer and was born on 8th October 1869 in Jones Street, Newport. The certificate gives no father’s name and as there is no record of a marriage one must assume Maud was a "natural" daughter. (For further details of Maud Dyer - See Appendix I)  The Maria Chester, aged 6 months and identifid as "nurse child" is actually the daughter of Elisheba Ann (Ann in this census) and T. Morris Chester, an American Attorney, journalist and civil rights activist of some standing. The baby was born in 1870 in Shooters Hill, London.  

1871 Census (3rd April) Newport RG10/5348 Folio 41 Book 25 Page 31

48 Jones Street, St Wollos, Newport

For the census of 1881 Samuel and Sarah were living in Chepstow Road, Newport. Their daughters Amelia and Mary are als recorded in the household. Mary had married an Albert Thomas Kelson on 1st September 1875 in Newport and although he is not included in this census their two children, Alfred J., born 1876/77, and Thomas born 1879/80, both born in Christchurch, Newport, are. Maria Chester, daughter of their daughter Elisheba Ann is again included in the household. She is identified as "visitor" rather than the more accurate "granddaughter".

1881 Census (4th April) Newport RG11/5258 Folio 112 Book 6 Page 54

Chepstow Road, Newport, Monmouthshire

Samuel Dyer died aged 70, 0n 24th March 1886. At the time of his death he was recorded as a milkman, and the death itself was recorded as having occured at 7 Pages Place, Maindee, Christchurch, Newport, although this was actually the same as the Chepstow Road location.. Sarah lived on and was recorded as living with her married daughter Mary Kelson at 60 Chepstow Road, Newport, Monmouthshire, (also known as 7 Pages Place), for the census of April 1891.

1891 Census (6th April) Newport RG12/4368 Folio 10 Book 7 Page 11

60 Chepstow Road (Pages Place), Newport, Monmouthshire

Sarah Dyer, nee Buller, died on 17th Sept 1893, aged 75. The death itself was recorded as having occured at 37 Glebe Street, Christchurch, Newport, and as the person who registered the death and was "in attendance" at the time was Mary Kelson, I would suspect that the Kelson’s had moved from Chepstow Road / Pages Place to Glebe Street sometime between April 1891 and Sept 1893.

I have been unable to find any record of a marriage of Maria Dyer, my great grandmother, to my great grandfather, Daniel Madge Dart. The first record of them together is on the birth certificate of their son, (my grandfather), Herbert Dart, born at 28 Palmer Street, Weston-super-Mare on 2nd July 1877. Herbert’s father, Daniel Madge Dart had definitely married a Myra Sibley, a seventeen year old spinster, the daughter of Samuel Sibley, deceased, back in Newport on 29th May 1872. However the fact that he was having a child with Maria four years later, and with no record of either the death of Myra or his marriage to Maria makes me suspect that he had deserted Myra Sibley and "run off" with Maria sometime in the previous four years.

Between October and December 1879 Daniel Madge Dart and Maria Dyer had a second child, a daughter Ella, born in Weston-super-Mare, and just under two years later, on 4th April 1881, they and their two children are recorded living at 2 Hill Road, Weston-super-Mare, in the census of that year.

1881 Census (4th April) Christchurch B RG11/2421 Folio 121 Book 14 Page 92

2 Hill Road, Weston-super-Mare.

That this is the family there is no doubt, however Herbert would have been aged 3, NOT 8, and Ella 1, NOT 6. Daniel Madge Dart would have been aged 30 NOT 42, and Maria Dyer would have been aged 35, NOT 38. Why there should be all this confusion about their ages is a mystery!?

In the next five and a half years following the census, Daniel and Maria had two further children, Laura Ann, (Annie), born between October and December 1882, and Emily born between July and September 1886, both born in Weston-super-Mare. Sadly, on 1st November 1886, just after the birth of Emily, her father, Daniel Madge Dart, died. The death occurred at 29 Palmer Street, Weston-super-Mare, with the death certificate recording Daniel's age as 32, (actually aged 36) and his occupation as "Insurance Agent".

For the census of April 1891, the family had moved to 22 New Street, Weston-super-Mare, and Maria is recorded as a charwoman, although the reference to parish pay suggests she is in receipt of some form of poor relief, not unsurprisingly, as, as a widow with four children, times must have been hard. The three younger children, Ella Francis Annie and Emmily are at school, but her eldest, Herbert, now aged 13, is at least supplementing the family income, working as an errand boy. (Possibly with Mr. Harse the butcher, to whom he was later apprenticed?). This census also gives the correct ages for Ella and Herbert.

1891 Census (6th April) Emmanuel RG12/1920 Folio 74 Book 12 Page 33

22 New Street, Weston-super-Mare.

On 6th November 1896, after a brief apprenticeship as a butcher with a Mr. Harse, Herbert Dart joined the Coldstream Guards, and on 9th March 1899 he set sail with his regiment for South Africa and the Boer War. After a sojourn of seven months in Gibraltar the regiment arrived in South Africa on 28 October 1899, where he saw active service with his regiment at Belmont, the Modder River, Dreifontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill and Belfast, sometimes as a mounted scout. Herbert Dart returned to England with the regiment on 20th July 1902, and five months later, on 16th December 1902, he was demobbed from active service and embarked on a career as a nurse.

A year previous, at the time of the census of 1901, Herbert's mother Maria was still living in Weston-super-Mare working as a charwoman. It would seem that only her youngest daughter Emmily was still living with her.

1901 Census (1st April) Weston-super-Mare RG13/2325 Folio 80 Book 17 Page27

33 Alma Street, Weston-super-Mare.

On 11th August 1911, Herbert Dart, a nurse, married Elizabeth Young Rutherford Mathieson, also a nurse, the eldest daughter of James Mathieson and Rachel Grieve. The marriage took place at Christ Church Stapleton, Fishponds, Bristol, and the witnesses were Mr. William & Mrs. Emma Creagh, and Alexander Mathieson, the bride's younger brother. Elizabeth Young Rutherford Mathieson had moved south to England also to work as a nurse, and tradition has it that she and Herbert Dart met on a railway platform and it was "love at first sight", although it is also believed that the size of Elizabeth Young Rutherford Mathieson’s chest formed a large part of that initial attraction!!

In 1914 three years after his marriage, Herbert Dart re-enlisted in the Coldstreams (knocking a year of his age in the process!) to play his part in the Great War, and on 7th October 1914 went with the British Expeditionary Force to the front in France. Fifty days later he was "back in blighty" having received a gun shot wound to the head, the result of which he was invalided out of the Army, 11 months later, on 1st October 1915.*

On 14th March 1917, Maria Dart, Herbert's mother, died, aged 70, whilst resident at 9 Sidmouth Cottages, Weston-super-Mare. She was buried alongside her husband Daniel Madge Dart in Weston-super-Mare graveyard, (plots 737 & 2436 respectively). There have been further burials in those plots, and the headstones on the plots refer to the later burials. It is likely that as a relatively poor family, they never had proper headstones, more likely wooden grave markers, long since gone.

The birth, two months later, of his one and only child, Dorothy Phyllis, must have alleviated some of the sadness felt by Herbert on the death of his mother. Their daughter, my mother, was born on 2nd May 1917, at the family home, 88 Hallam Street, West Bromwich, in the West Midlands. At the time Herbert Dart was still working as a male nurse, presumably at Hallam Hospital, just down the road from this address.