The Farndale Story

A group of people posing for a photo

Description automatically generated

 

Home Page

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Return to the Home Page of the Farndale Family Website

The Farndale Story

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The story of one family’s journey through two thousand years of British History

The Farndale Lineages

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The 84 family lines into which the family is divided. Meet the whole family and how the wider family is related

The Farndale Directory

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Members of the historical family ordered by date of birth

Themes

Links to other pages with historical research and related material

Related Family Stories

The story of the Bakers of Highfields, the Chapmans, and other related families

 

The Farndale Story is now largely complete as a first draft, though some remaining sections are still to be written.

 

A Journey through time, following in the footsteps of one family

When Nicholas de Farndale started to clear the forested valley of Farndale in the early thirteenth century, he brought the agricultural skills of his ancestors, who were almost certainly the families of the relatively stable lands around Kirkdale, a few miles to the south. As his ancestors worked on those lands for a millennium through Roman, Anglo Saxon and Scandinavian influences, they witnessed momentous events in the shaping of a national history, occurring in the immediate vicinity of their home.

Nicholas’ descendants were often unruly, and many were outlawed and excommunicated for poaching in the Royal Forest of Pickering. Those who took the Farndale name to define themselves left Farndale and found new homes in the North York Moors and across the Vale of York. A merchant family settled in York. Another family settled in the heart of the Neville lands at Sheriff Hutton and fought with the armies of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, before witnessing the Wars of the Roses from the epicentre of influence. After the Black Death, William Farndale became a chaplain in Doncaster, where he became the parish vicar by the end of the fourteenth century. His descendants and the ancestors of the modern family were focused at Campsall and Barnsdale forest by the end of the sixteenth century, the place where the legends of Robin Hood were written, inspired by ancestral outlaws of the forest.

In the mid sixteenth century, the family moved north into the Bruce lands around Skelton and the family became settled across Cleveland. The lovely rural village of Kilton became the home for generations of the family, and others settled in the bustling port of Whitby, from where Giles Farndale was press ganged to fight in the Spanish Main, while John Farndale sailed in colliers on which James Cook, explorer of new worlds, was mate. Another Whitby family were merchant mariners who experienced many epic adventures at sea.

As the industrial age hit Cleveland the family were drawn into new opportunities and struggles and John Farndale write extensively about the transition into scientific and industrial innovation. The family worked in the ironstone mines and in new heavy industries, and moved to the dark satanic mills of the textile industry in South Yorkshire. Experiencing the trials of new urban lives, John William Farndale was the youngest member of the Jarrow March of 1936.

Two Joseph Farndales each became influential Chief Constables of Birmingham and Bradford, between them unearthing Fenian dynamite plots and inventing the police box.

Meantime the family spread across a new empire to Australia, Ontario, Newfoundland, Alberta and New Zealand, and took the family pioneering genes across the world.

The family experienced the excitements and the horrors of wars. John George Farndale wrote letters home from the heights of Sebastopol, through the Crimean War. Those male members of the family born at the end of the nineteenth century were nearly all destined for their places in the trenches of the First World War and many served in the Second World War.

The Farndale Story is a unique history of a single family and its path through two thousand years of British History. It is also a shared story with countless other ordinary folk who trod the path of British history. It is both the particular story of one family, and an everyman story of many.

 

The Time Traveller’s Handbook

When you first visit the Farndale Story, please read the Time Traveller’s Handbook before using the Matrix for the first time.

 

Quick Key

I suggest that you start by reading the Prologue, at the top of the matrix. The Numbered Stories in thirty three Acts take you on the main journey into the past. You’re best to read them in the numbered order, starting with the Prologue and then the first Act. However more rebellious readers can travel through time in a more random order if that is what you prefer.

The Explainers tell of historical factors, events, and places which influenced our family’s story. They provide a little more depth as you visit different eras of time. The Thirty Objects and Places take you on a geographical tour, and provide directions if you have the chance to visit the lands where the Farndale Story played out. You will come into contact with places and objects that will put you in direct contact with the family through time. You might find the geographical guide helpful, which will enable you to plan a route. The Farndale Folk are a few of our ancestors waiting to be introduced to you, to further enhance your journey through time. All these pages are full of hyperlinks. These will take you to the underlying research if you would like to explore in more depth, or check the source material. Every member of the Farndale family has his or her own webpage. The hyperlinks will take you to individual family members’ records; to family trees; to further information within the wider website; and sometimes to links outside the website or source material.

A recent technical innovation is a tool available through Google called Notebook LM. The tool uses artificial intelligence to make complex information quickly accessible. One of its tools is to turn complex research into very listenable podcasts. The AI is pretty good, though does not always pick up the precise nuances, and it does not replace the underlying research. Nevertheless, it provides a useful introduction to each Act of the Farndale history. These podcasts are AI generated from the research of this website. They are not external sources of information. They provide quickly digestible summaries of each stage of this research. Please don’t rely on the podcasts, which are intended to help with the ways to access the underlying research, but use them as introductions before you read the detail which is provided in the Farndale Story itself. The real story is to be found in the written text through the various webpages of the Farndale Family Website.

After reading the Prologue, scroll down to the early thirteenth century to find the first Act of the story.

 

The Time Traveller’s Matrix

 

The Time Traveller’s Handbook

The Guide to getting the best use of this matrix for future reference

 

 

 

Prologue – Moors, Dales and Vales

An overview guide and introduction to the three distinct landscapes which defined our history

 

After reading the Prologue, scroll down seven rows to Act 1 – The Cradle

 

Glossary

An alphabetical list of words and terms which you might come across during your travels, which are explained here

A Journey through the ancestral lands

Some preliminary orientation if you visit the area

 

Everyman

A story shared with countless other families who travelled the path of British history.

 

 

 

Kirkdale Cave

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

A Time Machine to a different era of geological time in the heart of our ancestral home

Kirkdale Cave

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The start of the Victorian discovery of modern scientific method

 

 

 

 

Star Carr

The richest Mesolithic suite in Britain, a few miles south of Scarborough, on the edge of the ancient Lake Pickering, only 30 km from Farndale

The Ryedale Windy Pits

Underground caves, only 15 km from Farndale, which were the home of the Bronze Age Beaker Folk

Roulston Scar

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

A massive Iron Age promontory Hill Fort only 20 km from Farndale

2 – The Primeval Swamp

A thatched roof house in the woods

Description automatically generated

The Iron Age, Bronze Age, Neolithic, and Mesolithic evidence of the people of the immediate vicinity to Farndale

 

 

Introduction to Kirkdale and its Minster

For those particularly interested in Kirkdale, this introductory page is the place to start

 

Isurium Brigantum (Aldborough)

The Roman Regional Capital of the lands around Kirkdale

Hovingham

A Roman Villa on palatial scale just south of Kirkdale

3 – Roman Kirkdale

A group of men in armor

Description automatically generated

71 CE to 580 CE

The lands which would become the lands of Kirkdale and Chirchebi in Roman and Pagan times

Beadlam

A Roman Villa only 2km from Kirkdale in the heart of our ancestral lands

Eboracum (York)

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The Roman Capital of northern England where Constantine was proclaimed Emperor

The Roman Arm Purse

A Roman arm purse which can be seen in the British Museum in London today, found in about the second century CE by a cairn overlooking Farndale, which will transport you back 2,000 years

 

 

 

A place of wild beasts and men who lived like wild beasts

Bede’s description of the wilderness of Farndale as a place of dragons and wild beasts

The village and church of Lastingham, with its Norman crypt

Lastingham 653 CE

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The founding of a Celtic Christian monastery by Cedd, 2 km from the entrance to Farndale

Synod of Whitby 664 CE

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The momentous agreement at Whitby, 30 km northeast of Farndale, which resolved incompatibilities between Roman and Celtic Christian traditions, and placed Britain onto the European stage

4 – Anglo Saxon Kirkdale

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

560 CE to 793 CE

Kirkdale and the Chirchebi Estate in the Anglo Saxon Period

Anglo Saxon Kirkdale

Kirkdale from its founding in about 685 CE to the beginning of the Scandinavian period in about 800 CE

Eoforwic (York)

A helmet on a display

Description automatically generated

Deirian and Northumbrian York, a political, cultural and educational Hub on the European stage

 

The Deira

The people who dominated our ancestral lands

Alcuin and the birth of modern education

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The world of Ecgbert and Aethelbert, successors to Bede, and their pupil Alcuin, who took York’s powerhouse of knowledge to the court of Charlemagne to pioneer the European educational system

Carlin How and Saxon Witches

A person lying in a glass case

Description automatically generated

The burial ground of a Saxon princess who lay for thirteenth centuries overlooking the Hill of Witches where the Craggs line of Farndales would later make their home

The Kirkdale Saxon Artefacts

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Ornate sarcophagus lids and Saxon artefacts to be found in Kirkdale Minster and embedded into its walls which will transport you to the Eighth century CE

 

 

Jorvik Museum York

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

A reconstructed journey into Scandinavian Yorkshire and a glimpse of Scandinavian objects which tells its story

Orm Gamalson

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The powerful figure at the heart of the aristocracy, who rebuilt Kirkdale and put our ancestral lands firmly onto the national political stage

5 – Scandinavian Kirkdale

A stone church with a cemetery

Description automatically generated

793 CE to 1066

Kirkdale and the Chirchebi Estate in the Scandinavian Period

Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian Kirkdale

Kirkdale in the Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian period from about 800 CE to 1066, with a brief summary of its history through to 1500

Jorvik (York)

The Scandinavian centre of northern England

The Kirkdale Sundial

A stone wall with a door

Description automatically generated

A unique treasure whose secrets transport us into the world of the eleventh century upon which you can stare today, imagining direct ancestors who did the same a thousand years ago

Beowulf

The poem which takes us into the Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian mindset

 

 

Norman Domination

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generatedRegime Change

House Mowbray

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The descendants of Nigel D’Aubigny to whom our ancestors owed their allegiance in the twelfth century

 

 

‘Bending the knee’

House Stuteville

The descendants of Robert de Stuteville to whom our ancestors owed their allegiance in the eleventh and then from the late twelfth century

6 – Game of Thrones

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

1066 to 1200

The People of the Kirkbymoorside (“Chirchebi”) Estate after the Norman Conquest

Rievaulx Abbey

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

This history of the Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx, in whose Chartulary the name Farndale was first recorded in 1154

Rievaulx Abbey

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The breathtaking abbey ruins that must have been held in astonished awe by our forebears when the abbey broke through the soil of Ryedale, adjacent to Farndale, in only a couple of decades before it started to take control of swathes of those lands

House Brus

The baronial Yorkshire family from whom later Scottish Kings would derive and who dominated the early history of our later Cleveland home

The Royal Line and the Noble Houses

The relationship between the Royal Dynasties of England and the Noble Houses who directly influenced our family history

 

 

Medieval Farming

Sheep and Shepherds by MINIATURIST, English

Rural lifestyles from the Norman Conquest

A Drive through Farndale

A journey to places in Farndale which featured in a 1301 tax register, marking out the geography of the place our ancestors settled

The Farndale Rim

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

A look down into Farndale to take in its scale and landscape, from the place where the Roman Purse was dropped

If you have the energy, a hike to Middle Head, the Lord of the Rings land of Midelhovet, where Edmund the Hermit once dwelled

 

 

1 – The Cradle

Thirteenth Century Farndale

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Clearing the dale to build our new home

After the Prologue, Start Here

Nicholas de Farndale

c1230 to c1310

Perhaps the earliest identifiable individual of the ancestral story, who cleared and then settled in Farndale

Simon The Miller of Farndale

c1264 to c1335

The wealthiest tenant in Farndale in 1301

The Story of Farndale to 1500

The story of the dale of Farndale to 1500, to accompany the family story

The First Family Tree

A model which relies on extensive medieval evidence, to suggest the most probable family tree of the earliest ancestors of the Farndales

 

 

Pickering Parish Church

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generatedGlance up at a remarkable medieval mural, which includes archers who might remind us of our poacher ancestors

Pickering Castle

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generatedThe sombre Norman castle of Pickering, where you will be taken to the law court where our ancestors were fined, imprisoned, outlawed and excommunicated

The Great Yorkshire Forest Drive

A drive through Dalby Forest, the modern Pickering Forest, where our forebears took game in contravention of forest laws, or were caught and punished by the verderers and regarders of the forest

Poaching in Pickering Forest

A study of the nature of poaching in Pickering Forest

7 –  Poachers of Pickering Forest

Tales of a surprisingly large number of our forebears who were poachers in Pickering Forest. Their archery skills would foretell the legends of Robin Hood and the English army at Agincourt

Richard and Thomas of Farndale

Two brothers who were excommunicated for poaching and contempt of the authority of the church in 1316

Roger Milne of Farndale

c1265 to c1340

Roger slew a soar in Pickering Forest in 1293

Robert de Farndale

c1266 to c1340

Robert was fined for poaching in Pickering Forest in 1293 and 1332

William Smyth of Farndale

c1295 to c1370

William was the poacher of a hind and a calf in 1330 and repeat offender in 1336

John Farndale

c1365 to c1450

John took poaching to a new scale when he was involved in a significant cattle and horse rustling expedition in 1384

 

 

Danby

Danby at the turn of the fourteenth century

De Willelmo de Farndale

c1265 to c1335

A relatively wealthy tenant who had left Farndale for Danby in the North York Moors but adopted its name

 

8 – The Pathfinders

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Our Pioneer ancestors who left Farndale but took its name to settle in new places

De Johanne de Farndale

c1273 to c1345

John left Farndale for Egton and Rosedale and was probably the ancestor of those who settled in York

 

 

 

 

The Shambles

The street of the Medieval Butchers

9 –The Merchants of York

The Merchants of York

 

 

 

York 1066 to 1500

A History of York after the Norman Conquest

Johannes de Farendale

c1303 to c1372

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

A Saddler made freeman of York in 1363

Johannes de Farndall

c1334 to c1405

A freeman of York in 1397 through patrimony from his father

Johannes Fernedill

c1352 to c1425

Image result for butcher 1780s

John Farndale, and his brothers Henry and William, were archers and men at arms called to fight in Scotland in 1389

John was later a butcher made freeman of York in 1408

Sheriff Hutton Church

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The Church of St Helen and the Holy Cross and the Chapel of St Nicholas, the heart of the Neville lands, and place of the alabaster effigy of the young son of Richard III

House Neville

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

This history of the family who influenced the Wars of the Roses in whose seat our ancestors lived

The History of Sheriff Hutton to 1500

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

A history of Sheriff Hutton which will take you to the lands of the Nevilles and Richard III during the Wars of the Roses

Plantagenet rivalry

The dynastic struggles of the Plantagenets, leading to the Wars of the Roses, the events of which our ancestors were direct witnesses

10 – Medieval Warfare

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Tales of archers and men at arms who fought with Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V and an observation post in the home of the Nevilles and Richard III from which to view the Wars of the Roses

Richard Farndale

c 1357 to 20 December 1435

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

A veteran soldier of the armies of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V who fought in the French and Scottish Wars

William Farndale

c 1332 to 1397

A chaplain, who was pardoned for killing John of Spaldington and later established his family in Sheriff Hutton, where he was a person of some wealth

 

St Mary Magdalene Church, Campsall

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The church in Barnsdale forest of which the literary character of the Middle Ages, Robin Hood, wrote I made a chapel in Bernysdale, That seemly is to se, It is of Mary Magdaleyne, And therto would I be.

Nearby sites associated with Robin Hood including Robin Hood’s Well at the side of the A1

Medieval Doncaster and its minster

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The Victorian Parish church (later Minster) of Doncaster rebuilt in 1853, but on the site of the earlier Parish church of which William Farndale was chaplain and later vicar in the years after the Black Death

Nicholaus de ffarnedale

1332 To 1400

Nicholas paid the 4d Poll Tax of 1379 which led to the Peasant’s Revolt

Sir William Farndale

C1330 to c1415

The Chaplain and Vicar of Doncaster, who held lands at Loversall, of whom we have significant records

11 – The Vicar of Doncaster

The Family of William Farndale, the Fourteenth Century Vicar of Doncaster

The History of Doncaster to 1500

The History of pre industrial Doncaster from its Roman inception as Danum to the end of the sixteenth century

Loversall

The history of a small village and church just south of Doncaster, where William Farndale held land

Campsall and Barnsdale Forest

The history of the village of Campsall north of Doncaster, where we find our ancestors in the sixteenth century

Robin Hood

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The legend of Robin Hood explored for its Yorkshire roots, and the Farndale connection with the legends, first as the class of poachers who gave rise to the inspiration, and later their fifteenth century descendants who lived in the place where the stories emerged

 

 

 

Nicholas and Agnes Farndale

The most likely paternal and maternal ancestors of modern Farndales, who died in Kirkleatham having probably emigrated with their family into Cleveland

 

12 – Arrival in the old Bruce lands around Skelton Castle

The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Families of Kirkleatham, Skelton, Moorsholm and Liverton in Cleveland

William and Margaret (nee Atkinson) Farndale

The couple who married at St Mary Magdalene Church in Campsall north of Doncaster, and who emigrated to Cleveland and were buried in Skelton.

 

Kirkleatham

A history of Kirkleatham and Wilton, the place where our family first settled in Cleveland

Skelton

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

A history of Skelton and its old church. The Farndales arrived in Moorsholm in the Parish of Skelton in about 1588 and lived there through the tumultuous years of the Civil War

 

 

Charles Farndale

1838 to 1914

A person looking at the camera

Description automatically generated

Charles took over the farming of Kilton Hall Farm where he farmed 577 acres

George Farndale

1876 to 1970

George was the last of the Kilton Farmers

William Farndale

1760 to 1846

William was a farmer of Kilton and a merchant of wood, rods, coals, salting bacon.

 

Martin Farndale

1798 to 1885

Martin was a farmer at Kilton Hall Farm of 600 acres

 

 

Brotton Old Graveyard

Three generations of Kilton Farndales in one place.

A side trip to nearby Boosbeck and Skelton take you to the gravestones two later generations. Take in Wensley and you’ll find two more recent generations.

Seven generations of the family in one short drive

Johnny Farndale

1724 to 1807

Old Farndale of Kilton, the patriarch of the Kilton Farndales, regaler of smuggler tales, alum merchant and farmer, of whom the Squire once said “When you are gone, there will never be such another Johnny Farndale

 

13 – The Farmers of Kilton

The First Hub

The story of the Kilton Farndales, a family who dominated a village, since lost to time, over two centuries

Kilton, the Lost Village

The story of the lost village of Kilton and its sylvan landscape

Kilton

A journey around modern Kilton, of farms, a ruined castle and a small village of Kilton Thorpe to capture the essence of the two century home of Farndales

The Smugglers of Old Saltburn

Stories of smugglers, led by my great x3 grandfather known as the King of the Smugglers, and the undoubted involvement of our forebears

John Andrew

1757 to 1835

The Smuggler Chief

The grandfather of Martin Farndale’s wife Elizabeth Taylor, no doubt in league with the c17th Farndales. When the local folk whispered Andrew’s Cow has calved, everyone knew the goods had arrived. The wealthy John Andrew later became master of the Cleveland Hunt

Cats Nab, Old Saltburn

Have fish and chips in the Ship Inn, and you will be in the home of John Andrew’s smuggling trade, once connected by an underground passage to the white house on the hill where my great x3 grandfather lived

14 – Spreading out from Brotton and Loftus

The Second Hub

The story of a substantial division of the family who spread widely across Cleveland and beyond from Kilton, Brotton and Loftus

Giles Farndale

1713 to 1742

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Press ganged into the Royal Navy, Giles served on HMS Experiment in the Spanish Main during the War of Jenkins Ear where he died and was buried at sea

 

John Farndale

1709 to 1790

A drawing of a ship

Description automatically generated

John Farndale served alongside James Cook, discoverer of the Southern Continent, on colliers out of Whitby

 

James Cook

1728 to 1779

A close up of a tree

Description automatically generated

The association of James Cook with Cleveland, Whitby,  Great Ayton, the Farndale ancestral lands, and individuals of the Farndale Story

The History of Whitby to 1850

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

A history of Whitby at the height of its maritime power in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, home to several large Farndale families.

A look back to the Anglo Saxon history of Whitby in the time of Celtic and Roman Christianity

15 – The Mariners of Whitby

The Third Hub

The story of the Whitby Farndales who settled in the bustling port of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

A Perspective of Whitby

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The place of Dracula inspiration where many Farndales have been buried, provides a vantage point over Whitby, and its maritime activity

John Chistopher Farndale

1802 to 1837

A picture containing watercraft, transport, outdoor, sailing vessel

Description automatically generated

The story of the merchant master mariners, John Christopher Farndale Senior and his sons William and John and their epic maritime adventures around the English coast, to the Baltic, Russia and Scandinavia and to Biscay, the site of a tragic disaster

Yearsley

The home from the early eighteenth century of a large section of our family

 

16 – Return to the Vale of York

The Fourth Hub

The Ampleforth Farndales who returned south of the North York Moors to Yearsley near Ampleforth

 

Victorian Education

The education of our forebears

 

Children

The life of children in seventeenth century to Victorian Yorkshire

Agricultural change

Several metal containers on a stand

Description automatically generated

How agricultural practices changed over time

Poverty

Our family history includes experiences of high infant mortality in Victorian times, often extreme poverty, and struggle

 

Health

The evolution of medical care

Ambition

A story of aspiration and achievement

 

 

 

17 – Transition to the Industrial Revolution

John Farndale, my great x2 uncle, was a prolific writer who captured the essence of the late eighteenth century and its transition into the Industrial Revolution. The family’s history provides a direct pathway to experience these years of momentous change

John Farndale

1791 to 1878

A picture containing photo

Description automatically generated

The Author

A man of sphinxian complexity who wrote extensively and has passed down stories of the family and of change in early Victorian Yorkshire

 

Saltburn by the Sea, Victorian new town

John Farndale focused much of his writing on the new seaside town of Saltburn by the Sea, built beside the Old Saltburn of smuggling repute. It was a place of Victorian optimism and inspiration, driven by the arrival of the railways and the richness of Cleveland’s ironstone deposits

Alum

The alum trade in Cleveland

Service

Opportunities for work as servants in households

 

Huntcliff, Saltburn by the Sea

Find a vantage point on the towering Hunt Cliffs to look down over Saltburn and Cat Nab, and the alum mines. It was here, John tells us, that when a French Napoleonic ship threatened out to sea, a band of local women dressed in red along the cliffs to make the French believe that an army of redcoats was ready to welcome any attack

Ironstone Mining

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The engine of Cleveland’s Victorian development was its mineral supply, particularly its ironstone. Individuals in the Farndale Story worked in an extensive network of mines throughout the area

 

18 – The Miners

The family story of mining, mainly for ironstone, the primary resource behind the industrial development of Cleveland

 

Kilton Mine

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The ruined site of the Kilton mine

 

19 – Dark Satanic Mills

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The many families who lived in Leeds, Bradford, Coatham, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Stockton through the period of industrial transition

 

 

20 – The Southerners

The story of the folk who left Yorkshire and travelled to London and elsewhere in the south of Britain

 

 

 

 

Joseph Farndale CBE KPM

1864 to 1954

A person wearing a uniform

Description automatically generated

The Chief Constable of Bradford who pioneered the use of fingerprints, invented the police box, and played a key role in Bradford’s evolution at the start of the twentieth century

Joseph Farndale

1842 to 1901

Graphical user interface, application

Description automatically generated

The Chief Victorian Constable of Birmingham who foiled a Jack the Ripper Hoax and played a key role in uncovering the Ledsam Dynamite Conspiracy

21 – The Victorian Policemen

To contrast with the medieval outlaw poachers of Pickering Forest, the story of the law makers including two influential Chief Constables and the real Inspector Foyle 

 

Thomas Henry Farndale

1899 to 1964

An inspector of crime during the Second World War

The real Inspector Foyle

 

 

 

22 – Great Ayton

The story of the multiple generations of Farndales who made Great Ayton their home

 

Joseph Farndale

1795 to 1877

The father of a large Great Ayton family, who was a cartwright

Great Ayton

An old brick building

Description automatically generated

A visit to Great Ayton where many members of the family lived, and a side trip to the James Cook Monument

Matthew Farndale

1793 to 1884

A close up of text on a black background

Description automatically generated

Matthew and Hannah Farndale and their daughters Mary and Elizabeth embarked on a 14 week voyage to Melbourne to establish a new lineage in Australia

23 – The Australians

The story of Matthew Farndale and his two daughters who emigrated to Melbourne during the Australian Gold Rush and settled at Birregurra, who have left a wealth of descendants, though none still bearing the Farndale name.

The story of another Australian family of the 1960s

 

24 – The Ontarians

A group of people posing for a photo

Description automatically generated

Upon his return from the Crimean War, John George Farndale took his family to Ontario in 1870.

At about the same time Samuel Kirk Farndale took his family to Ontario

Pioneers

The pioneering spirit that dominated the family’s story from the mid nineteenth century

 

 

The Lindsays

The story of the Scottish Lindsays, Catherine Lindsay’s family

Martin and Catherine Farndale

A black and white photo of a person

Description automatically generated

The parents of a family of twelve born on a moorland farm, who soon spread across Britain and North America

25 – The Farndales of Tidkinhow

The story of the Farndales of Tidkinhow and the adventures of twelve siblings who lived in a house that wasn’t big enough for them all

Tidkinhow

A group of people standing in front of a house

Description automatically generated

The moorland farm where a family of twelve grew up

The Craggs Hall Farndales

An old photo of a person

Description automatically generated

The story of Matthew Farndale and his family of Craggs Hall Farm

The Railwayman

A person with a beard

Description automatically generated

The story of John Farndale and his family who moved to Loftus

 

 

 

John Martin Farndale

1886 to 1966

A group of people posing for a photo

Description automatically generated

The grocer who emigrated to Newfoundland

26 – The Newfoundlanders

In 1910 John Martin and Bessie Farndale emigrated to Newfoundland and established a grocery business in St John’s. His son joined the Artillery in World War 2 and lived to be the oldest Farndale

 

 

 

The Bakers of Highfields

The Story of the Baker Family of Highfields

A portal into another family, the ancestors of Peggy Baker, who married Alfred Farndale

Alfred Farndale and Peggy Baker

The World War 1 veteran, Alfred Farndale married the independently minded Peggy Baker in 1929 and embarked immediately for the Prairie of Alberta. Defeated by the Great Depression the family returned to Yorkshire where they built a new life from the 1930s

Atlantic crossings at the time of Titanic

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The story of five brothers and two sisters who crossed the Atlantic in the age of Titanic to emigrate to Canada

27 – The Albertans

The story of the Farndales of Tidkinhow who left Yorkshire for a new life on the Prairies

 

Jim Farndale

1885 to 1967

A person with a mustache

Description automatically generated with medium confidence

A pioneer who played an important role in the construction of the Hoover Dam in Nevada and later became a US Senator

The Hoover Dam

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The story of the Hoover Dam, with which Jim Farndale was associated

 

28 – The Americans

A picture containing photo

Description automatically generated

The family of Jim Farndale, US Senator, who settled in Nevada and California.

The descendants of George William Farndale who settled in Illinois and Wisconsin.

The family of John Alan Farndale, of California

29 – The New Zealanders

The New Zealand pioneers, descendants of Ronald Martin Farndale of Masterton, and of Wilf Farndale, of Gisborne

 

Ronald Martin Farndale

1919 to 1974

A group of people posing for a photo

Description automatically generated

Captured at the Battle of Sidi Rezegh in North Africa, Ronald emigrated to New Zealand where his descendants still live

Wilf Farndale

1911 to 1985

A group of men in suits holding a trophy

Description automatically generated

An aircraft engineer in Bristol, Wilf emigrated to New Zealand

 

30 - Newcastle and South Shields

The many members of the family who settled in South Shields and Jarrow

John William Farndale (“Newcastle Johnny”)

1919 to 1986

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The Youngest Jarrow Marcher in 1936

The Jarrow March 1936

Re-enactment of Jarrow March fizzles out after just a quarter of the journey

The story of the Jarrow March of 1936, of which Johnny Farndale, was the youngest member

31 – The Methodists

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

William Farndale was a railway porter who became a presbyterian missionary and his son, William became President of the Methodist Conference in 1947, leading a ‘back to the soil’ campaign

Religion and ideas

Exploring the role of religions of various denominations and the evolution of intellectual ideas on the Farndale Story

Rev Dr William Edward Farndale

1881 to 1966

Farndale, William Edward D.D. (1881-1966)

The influential Primitive Methodist who became head of the Methodist Church and Moderator of the Free Church Council shortly after the Second World War

 

 

 

 

The Crimean War

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The Crimean War through the perspective of John Farndale, who took part in the long campaign

The First World War Soldiers

A person wearing a hat

Description automatically generated

The story of the many soldiers from the family who took up arms in the First World War

The First World War

D0BAC620

The context of the First World War to the Farndale Story

The Second World War soldiers, sailors and airmen

A couple of men in military uniforms

Description automatically generated

The story of the Farndales who took up arms in the Second World War

The Second World War Soldiers

Image result for second world war

The context of the Second World War

32 – The Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen

A close up of a logo

Description automatically generated

An exploration of the many military members of the family, and their stories

John George Farndale

1836 to 1909

A group of people posing for a photo

Description automatically generated

A Victorian infantryman who provided us with an eye witness account of the Crimean War before taking his family to a new life in Ontario

 

Bernard Farndale

1912 to 1944

A person in uniform with a red flower

Description automatically generated

An airman shot down over Denmark after a bombing raid, and secretly buried by the Danish resistance

A picture containing outdoor, sky, plane, aircraft

Description automatically generated

The story of the shooting down of Lancaster ME 718

General Sir Martin Farndale KCB

1929 to 2000

A vintage photo of a person in a suit and tie

Description automatically generated

The original author of this genealogy who led the British Army and Northern Command of NATO in the crucial years of the Cold War

 

The Farndale Cocktail

Image result for cocktails

An explosive blend of Farndale firepower

 

 

 

 

William Leng Farndale

1876 to 1932

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Brewer and Northumberland Hussar of Rothbury, Northumberland

33 – The Modern Family

A final chapter which explores the twentieth century family and reflects on how the family has spread its wings in the more recent years of the twenty first century

John Thomas Farndale

1854 to 1930

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The Bank Manager of Thirsk

Wilfred Farndale

1910 to 1965

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Wilfred was brought up in the community of Sir Titus Salt’s Saltaire Mills. He was an accomplished Cricketer who played with some Yorkshire greats and a social influencer in his work as a Sanitary Officer

 

George William Farndale

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated with medium confidence

A Comic Actor who joined the Yorkshire Mummers

 

 

 

The Known Unknowns

The family history is remarkably complete. We explore here where it has been necessary to rely on the most probable narrative where certainty has been impossible

Epilogue - inspiration from our back story

What we can take from our journey through two thousand years of history

 

Finish Here

Perspective

Laying our Ancestors Back in the sun

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

The genealogist’s ambition

 

Perspective

Exploring the Cave

A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Peering through chambers to our ghostly beginnings

 

 

 

The 84 Family Lines of the Farndale Family

Meet the whole family.

A matrix of the 84 family lines which make up the extended family will introduce you to every individual member of this family who can trace their origins to Anglo-Saxon-Scandinavian England.

 

Telling the story of Our Female Ancestors

A group of people posing for a photo

Description automatically generated

The historical record is not properly representative of our female ancestors. As a historian it is important to found our narrative on the evidence which exists. However by reflecting on the existing evidence, and applying a fresh analysis, we can recover the story of the Farndale women, even though the underlying evidence has not recorded everything they did

The Story of the Farndale Story

Building the story over two generations

Time Travel

Some reflections on new approaches to genealogy and historical research to allow families to come into contact with their deep ancestral history

Genealogy

Some notes on the sources and methods used to compile and bring alive the lineage of a family

 

 

Medieval Genealogy

A recognition of some restrictions to genealogical research before 1500, but some ideas to help overcome the constraints

How to turn BMD into stories

A reflection of the importance of records of births, deaths and marriages, and census records, but some ideas about how to build on that framework to create stories and pathways through regional and national history

Genealogy and History

Some thoughts on the relationship between genealogical methods with historical research, to uncover the full picture

 

The Farndale Directory

The original index of our family, in alphabetical order by date of birth, which will enable you to find an individual person if you know when they were born

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return to the Farndale Family Website