The Etherden Clan

Dear Peter. I am tracing my family history and believe you may be able to help. My Grandmother was Ada Louisa Etherden, the daughter of William Oliver Etherden a chief fire officer in London around 1900. His father was Charles Etherden who came from a long line of Thames Barge owners in Harwich. As it is such an unusual surname I wonder whether our families are connected in any way. I would be grateful for any information you are willing to give me about your ancestors. Many thanks.

Dear Jane. Yes they are indeed. I've got piles of stuff on this. But I'm in Llangolman in Pembrokeshire and all the stuff is on CDs on my boat in Rye on the other side of the country and I won't be back there until mid-February. I'll get back to you when I'm back in Rye. Yell at me in four weeks if you haven't heard. Meanwhile if curiosity is killing you contact my cousin Doreen Cook ne Etherden. Her father Jack and my father William Franklin were two of a family of eight that are in a direct line. Where are you emailing me from - Sydney, Toronto, Cardiff?

Dear Peter. Thanks for the reply. I am only in Nottingham. I have had a reply from William in Keswick as well and I am sure that between us we will have a lot on the Etherden family. I would love to see what information you have. I am back to the mid 1700's in Harwich. My Dad is the youngest son of Ada Louisa Etherden who married Sydney Victor Rogers in 1913. Her father was William Oliver Etherden, a chief fire officer in London. I have photos of their wedding, and also William's retirement from the fire brigade. There are so many Williams that I get confused as to which one is our first shared direct ancestor, but I have no doubt that when we get back to John and Elizabeth Etherden c 1770 we are on the same line. I will contact you again in about four weeks. Many thanks.

Dear Jane. William in Keswick is my younger brother David's son (my nephew). If you can cope with more Williams you might log in to a couple of weblogs written by probably the first Cambridge graduate (and political activist?) to come out of the Etherden clan at:

Benjamin is our most illustrious clan member. Nicked a pair of shoes in Lamberhurst in Kent, sentenced to death, commuted (as these sentences usually were) to transportation and now the patriarch of a large Australian Etherden clan who are the epitome of respectability as local mayors, members of chambers of commerce etc. Benjamin must be turning in his grave.

Dear Peter. Thanks. I think I am getting it sorted now. It is your nephew William who I have contacted and I have also written to your cousin as you suggested. In order to work out which William our line goes back through I need approximate dates of birth. I believe your Grandfather was William Franklin Etherden. His birth date would be very useful. If his father was also called William then he could have been either my father's uncle or Grandfather. I am so glad that my Grandmother had an unusual surname like Etherden. I would have no chance if I was trying to sort out generations of William Smiths! Regards.

Dear Jane. Here are some family reminiscences from a grey Welsh winter's morning...and from the top of my head. Hope you find them helpful. Attached are pictures of me too from 1980 and 2005.

William Franklin Etherden, my father was born on 22nd March 1906. The siblings we knew and met up with when we were growing up in the 1950s were Jack, Perce, Doris...the last surviving sibling who died in 1991 and who my cousin Doreen knew very well...and Betty who married Arthur Standen and had two children, Ron...who married Margaret and has three daughters and lives in Surrey...and Joan who now lives in the Isle of Wight and is married for the second time; to Leslie Attrill...Joan would just love to hear from you as she has always been really interested in family things.

Jack, Perce and my father William all worked together at the Royal Mint at some time in the 1920s and Jack rose pretty close to the top job and almost got a knighthood...Doreen has much more background. The Etherden Brothers seem to have been implicated in some nefarious but unproven goings-on which put a blot on my Uncle Jack's career prospects. This was apparently also the reason that my maternal grandfather...who was pretty high up in the London Docks and could find out things...was against my mother's second marriage - to my father...my mother's first husband Les Rash from Bow in East London was killed in the Hitler War in Churchill's suicidal attack on Greece in 1941.

My paternal grandfather was called William and was killed when a wall fell on him while working as a fireman in the First World War when my father was 13...and it is possible that my father was born in 1905 and not 1906.

There is a family name Norris that keeps cropping up that I adopted when taking on the pen name of William Norris Shepherd...Shepherd from the German ett herde meaning Shepherd although I no longer think this is the root of the name...the other theory being that all we East-therdens are related to the West-therdens, South-therdens (there are several in Rye Harbour in East Sussex) and North-therdens.

My elder brother is John Clive born 19th June 1944 and my younger brother is Clifford Roy born 24th September 1948. David James the youngest...he of Keswick and father of Douglas and William... was born on 8th May 1953 just in time for the Queen's coronation. I was born on 17th July 1946 and started up a Swedish branch of the family when I married Ingrid Lundell of Bromma born 28th March 1947 and was blessed with two children Linda Helena born 8th January 1973 and Nicholas John born 18th June 1975.

There is significant distortion in geneology research because of the obvious tendency to trace through the male surname. I would love to see more family trees set up as if we had a matriarchal tradition (like the Jews) where the woman is followed. How about it?

If you think you are getting close...think again. There is another branch of the Etherden clan maurading around in the Chichester area of Sussex under the name Eatherden. Rosemary is doing the research and is well worth contacting. She has changed her e-mail address as mailing to the one I have from a couple of years back get returned.

I now expect an e-greeting for my 60th birthday from my Nottingham relatives. But for the time being I'll be satisfied if you tell me everything about yourself.Your family can wait until next time. From Great (Great) Uncle Peter oka William of Salisbury...and then some...

Dear Peter. Thanks for all that information. I have lots to sort out now. I can tell you where the 'Norris' comes from though. Charles Etherden, born in Harwich c1819 married Sarah Norris in 1851 at Greenwich. Her father was Gregory Norris. Their 6th child was named Gregory Norris Etherden after him. He was born in Faversham Kent in 1870. I can't remember without checking my records, but I believe he also had a son who carried the name on. My Great Grandfather William Oliver Etherden was the older brother of Gregory Norris Etherden. It makes more sense when it is written out as a family tree. I should be working really (tax return due in!!!). I will reply in detail later. I am 53 yrs old so I think you and I are of the same generation but 3rd or 4th cousins or something. As you can tell I am really excited by all this. Hope I am not making a nuisance of myself. Will send more later.

Dear Jane. No nuisance. Don't be silly. Buzz me any time you have anything interesting. I got my tax returns in nine months early...they usually go in on 29th January - a day or so before the fines start clicking in. But I had an incentive for my 2004-5 returns as I wanted to get into the Working Tax Credit system...it worked as I had voted for Gordon Brown in May 2005. Maybe I'll get a knighthood too?

Here is the next generation of the William Franklin Etherden - Ethel Land of Eltham. We grew up in Eltham on the London-Kent border (now in Greenwich).

John married Sue Turner of Winchelsea: Louise, Katy & Thomas; Peter married Ingrid Lundell of Sweden: Linda Helena (b. 8.1.73) & Nicholas John (b.18.6.75); Clifford married a Nottingham girl Kath Fiddick: Andrew & Alison; David married Janet Buehay of Eltham: Douglas & William.

Dear Jane. I have created a weblog for The Etherden Clan so that our research can be made more readily available for others over the web. Do you have any worries about having this weblog in the public domain? I have put up our exchange as Posting Number One by way of an example for you to react to. You will find it at http://etherden.blog.co.uk. I can pull it, or edit it, or change the access rules...but I rather like it as it is...it has a nice feel about it.

Dear Peter. The weblog is a good idea, although I am a novice with this sort of thing so I am not sure how it works. I have discovered today that there were two William F. Etherdens, one born in the spring of 1906 and one a year later. I believe my Dad's Uncle would have been William Frederick who was born in 1907. If that is the case then we are not second cousins ie sharing the same Great Grandparents, but probably third or fourth cousins (apparently you add 1 to the amount of Greats). I am determined to work it all out. I agree with you that we should really follow the maternal line each time. I have always said that, but I am following each side of every generation. I am entering it all on a PDF file so I can keep track. Do you know which fire brigade your Grandfather belonged to and where he died? I will try to attach a photo of my Great Grandfather. I was not able to contact Rosemary, my e mail bounced back. I hope she sees the weblog.

Dear Jane. Doreen has quite a bit about the London Fire Brigade connections including several photographs which she showed me but I wasn't really paying attention as we were at an inn in Guildford having lunch after my Aunty Doris' funeral.

Dear Peter. I have made some more progress with my research. According to the GRO William Franklin Etherden b22nd March 1906 was the son of Charles James Norris Etherden a London Fireman. I am almost certain that this Charles is a brother of William Oliver Etherden b1860 (my Great Grandfather) who was a chief fire officer in London until 1913. Their parents were Charles Etherden and Sarah Norris who married in Greenwich in 1851. Charles was a mariner at Harwich. I am in contact with a Richard Norris who lives in new Zealand. He has a lot of information about Sarah Norris's ancestors many of whom were missionarys. I have also discovered that Charles Etherden's father was John Etherden b1791 in Harwich and his father was also John. If you look on the genesreunited site you should be able to view our family tree. You will see that your father must have been my Grandmothers cousin.

Dear Peter. I have been in contact with your cousin Doreen and she has kindly sent me the Etherden family tree prepared by Paul Digby. It is clear that we are both descendants of Charles Etherden and Sarah Norris. They had 9 children, one of which, William Oliver was my Great Grandfather. Another was Charles James Norris Etherden- your Grandfather. Although you and I are of similar age, my Grandmother Ada was your father's cousin. Therefore you are my fathers second cousin. So I am your second cousin once removed. I am now tracing the Norris line and have a lot of leads to follow. I will keep you informed of any developments.
Best wishes Jane