Clarification Will Spriggs 1898 Family

by | Oct 13, 2019 | Text Only, Content Type, Family

Hi All,
As one of the family genealogists and a self appointed historian I think I should correct a few items in the discourse between brother Bill and cousin Peter.

Our Grandparents certainly were opposed to the marriage of their son Bob to Hazel Warneford however it was not because of Hazel’s family but rather the Quaker belief that one should be established prior to getting married (This why our Grandmother’s first love was rejected by her father as her suitor was a teacher with few prospects – (Google Ursula Hick’s letter on her early life). Bob at the time was enrolled at McGill University as a civil engineering student prior to his graduation the following year (1924) and employment with Bell Telephone. He remained with the ‘Bell’ until his retirement. Hazel and Bob had known each other from Acadia University prior to the Spriggs’ move to Baie d’Urfé. Hazel’s father was one Canon Warneford of Johnson Parish New Brunswick and his father was also a man of the cloth.

I believe our Grandparents never lost their Quaker identity when they came to Canada but as there were no Meetings locally available to them either in rural Nova Scotia or in Baie d’Urfé they practised their faith together themselves for the most part. I did see them on occasion in the local St Georges Church sitting quietly at the back of the church.

Regarding our fathers enlistment in the armed forces, Nova Scotia was raising a new battalion in 1916 (219th Battalion Nova Scotia Highlander Regiment) and recruiters came around to Acadia where Dad was studying and a lot of his classmates joined up. His Quaker cousin Eric had already joined the Royal Artillery in England and Dad was a new Canadian not a year from arrival so it must have been difficult not to join to fight for England (and Canada) when others around him were joining. In an interview between sister Hilary and our Dad his response to her question why did he join the fight he replied “they were the Anti-Christ” The only comment I know of made by our Grandfather at the time to the recruiter was “You realise he is underage?” and that was acknowledged which meant that he was eligible for free education after hostilities ended of which he took advantage.

Bill’s recollection of the events during the war were not quite correct. The dog fight he remembered did take place and I recall when, as lads, David and I were being tucked into bed by Dad, we sometimes asked for a story from his war days. Regarding this encounter, he said that his wings were full of holes as one of the scouts attacking came in from one side and then the other while other scout attacked from behind and in front. They were fortunate to escape that day.

Regarding the sortie which led to the awarding of the DFC to both Dad and his observer, Oscar Berridge, Dad said there was a big push on in the latter days of October 1918 and a pocket of German resistance was holding up the advance up in their sector. Either there were no other aircraft available or he was with a flight of which the others returned to base due to very bad weather conditions, but in any event he and his observer continued alone, found the pocket of resistance and attacked it with bombs and machine gun fire which allowed the advance to continue. On returning to base they encountered a German observer aircraft which they engaged and shot down. Dad said as they were firing at each other, he could see the German’s tracers beading in on his plane. Eventually, they shot off the propeller driven fuel pump located on the upper wing just above his head at which time he broke off. As he did his observer pounded on his back and pointed to the German aircraft which was then plunging down in flames. (In case you are wondering, the plane had an auxiliary hand operated fuel pump which came in handy). You can Google “London Gazette” and then do a search for “William Spriggs” 1918-1919 which shows the notice and some detail of the award.

Our mother’s Dad, Jack Lickfold, was not involved in the aircraft industry as it was essentially before his day. Mom’s brother ‘ERL’ however was. ERL went overseas from Trinidad with the 1st Caribbean Contingent in 1915. Later he trained as a pilot joining the Royal Flying Corps after being posted to the Middle East. He was an instructor on fighter aircraft. In 1931 he joined with a Mikey Cipriani, who bought a de Haviland Moth, to bring the first Trinidadian owned airplane to Trinidad. ERL came to Montreal to check the plane out, then it was packed up and shipped to Trinidad where ERL re-assembled it and flew it for the first time. ERL and Mikey parted ways shortly after and that was extent of ERL’s flying days. He held the first license as an aircraft mechanic on the island.

I would like to thank Peter for sharing with us the discourse between him and brother Bill. It is really a treasure

love to all
John

 

Spriggs Will WWI

by | Oct 28, 2020 | Text-emails, 1900-1999, Spriggs

Hi Peter,
A few observances on Part III
The aircraft:
    The FK8 AW160 had double Lewis machine guns for the observer and a Vickers rigid mounted machine gun for the pilot.
    The pilot did all the photography and the observer was to make sure the pilot could do his job and keep Hun aircraft at bay.  If any strafing was to     be done it would have been by the pilot.
The mission:
    Dad’s log book show him on “Line Patrol and going to a new airdrome at Malincourt” on the 17th of October.  Later that day his log book shows
    him on “Counter Attack” so I would think the mission was an afternoon sortie.  The first Sortie was for two hours and the second was two and a
    quarter hours.  From Dad’s description in his letter to Arthur Wright, his aircraft was the only one on the mission.
Dad’s Military life:
    He signed up on 22 Feb 1916 and spent that summer in training before sailing in September for England.  Between arrival in the UK and and August
    (or so) in 1917 he completed his basic training and joined a signal corps where he learned his morse code.  He applied for officer training and
    aircraft schooling which was granted.  He was successful and discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces and joined the Imperial Army on 20 Feb     1918.  On April 1 1918 the RAF was formed with 2nd Lieutenant William Spriggs a part of it.  He then continued his flight training, photgraphy
    courses, gunnery school, ground signals, cross country, formation flying, bombing, buzzing and a few others until 20 July 1918.  He then went
    Winchester for Artillery and Infantry CO-OP school until the 10th of August 1918  He then was transferred to France and joined 8th Squadron on
    18th of August.  I remember Dad telling me his observer, Oscar Berridge as a ‘crack shot’.  Good thing, they may not have made it with a lesser
    man.
Miscellaneous:
    During the summer of 1915 Dad got home on weekends occasionally while on military training and photos seem to indicate this judging by his
    army uniform, kilt and all.
    To answer Randi’s question, Mum & Dab travelled at least once to check out farming in Canada.  Land was very cheap in Canada so their ‘bang for
    the buck’ would go much further in Canada.  The farm and house had been empty for sometime when they bought it which might also have meant     a lower price and it was out of the way which would mean a possible further price reduction as well.  Schooling was not a problem.  Wolfeville had
    Acadia University, where Dad was enrolled, Kings College School (private) where Bob was enrolled (and where he met Hazel Warneford, his wife to
    be, and Edgehill School for Girls (private) where Alison and Hester went (and also met a young lass known as Agnes Elizabeth Mary Lickfold) who
    as eventually introduced to a youngish RAF veteran.  The rest is, as they say, history.  So you can see that moving to Nova Scotia was a place             offering possibilities.
    Eleanor might be right about other reasons for leaving good old blighty but we will never know for sure.
    The pictures of Dad in his uniform were all taken in 1919 after his return to Canada as noted by the uniform itself but also the ‘wings’.   I guess
    he didn’t have any clothes that would fit him (I know that I grew until I was 21) or they had been thrown out earlier.
 
I hope you don’t mind all the knitpicking Peter, but there you are.  This project is really a large task and you are doing a great job.  Good on ya!
 
love to you and Randi and the rest of the family
John
 
Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2020 10:18 PM
Subject: Your thoughts on England: Tales of a Time Traveler
 

Hi folks,

Attached is Part 3 of a 6 part digital book on the extended Spriggs family. Part 3 has a piece on William Spriggs b. 1898. In a spare moment, I would much appreciate any feedback (errors, omissions, over the top silliness, you name it) that you come across in the Spriggs piece or throughout. If time does not permit, not a problem. I shall feed it to the cat and seek a real life.
 
The plan is to put the end result on my website as an easy way for all to access and if for those who wish, download it. Remaining parts should not be far behind. Note: Because of the 2 column layout this will likely not display well on personal devices.
 
Much love, Peter
 
 

Peter Brucepkbruce@gmail.com

AttachmentsSun, Oct 18, 10:51 AM (10 days ago)

  
to David, John, Hilary, me
 
Hi John,
This is brilliant. Many thanks for digging it up. Very helpful to know the model of plane, details of signalling skills, the one-way technology and the photography techniques. Re. Morse code, I’m reminded of his interest in this back at the farm when we built a morse signalling station. I recall mum saying he’d erected an antenna on a high pole with much effort, only to have it come done in a blow. But back up it went. So he was well-versed in Morse before he joined up. That would have made him a valuable asset indeed. Particularly interesting is this: “Counter Attack.  Hun down in flames at Le Cateau” That confirms what I yesterday surmised:
  • Per the DFC certificate, Will was under the command of General Rawlinson who led the fourth army of the British Expeditionary Force
  • They were one part of 10 battles fought during the Hundred Days Offensive from Aug 8 to Nov 11 (Armistice)
  • The battles occurred sequentially along the Hindenberg Line, the German defensive position of fortified villages, trenches  and artillery emplacements across central France
  • Will under Rawlinson was in the Battle of the Selle (River)which had proved a topographic challenge to cross, for on the opposite bank the Germans were well dug in amid a steep high embankment
  • Rawlinson took 6 days to organize the assault then at dawn on 17 Oct advanced across the river
  • Will must have been in the air at the same time as it could not have been earlier because of darkness. The Morse feedback on artillery positions and German responses to the attack would have been key to the assault’s success
  • Le Cateau was the nearby village just beyond the River Selle
Back to typing. I will send on the result for corrections by family when finished. Thanks again John. Peter
 
 

Hey Peter,

 
I have a few things for you.
 
1) The audio recording of my mum interviewing Will about his WWI flying experiences was from 1986. I once started to type up the transcript from it, and while it is only 34min in length, the task of transcribing is much longer. I will send it on should I tackle that again. The recording is in MP3 format and is 50mb in size. I will zip it up and wetransfer.com it to you.
 
2) Many years ago, when I was studying at the UofA I volunteered at the student paper there and became the photo editor, giving me access to the rather well-equipped studio cove there. I took my grandfather into the studio during one of his visits to us over Christmas time (1985) and photographed him. Unfortunately, I used and already-shot roll of film and so double-exposed every frame. First mortified, but then delighted with the results at the time, I scanned them in and made a mini site of them here: http://hellum.ca/Will.html. I hope you find the photos interesting.
 
3) I have my uncle Bill reciting three poems from a visit I made out your way in 2012. I will wetransfer those to you as well. I split them up into three MP3s.
 
Hope all is well. I am self-isolating here as well, purely as a good measure.
 
love,
 
/timothy
 
 
Hi Peter,
I have a couple of notes about Dad which I shall pass along shortly.  You can see by checking the 1919 London Gazette and Googleing William Spriggs, the notification of the award of the DFC to him and to his observer, Oscar  Berridge.  The planes Dad flew were not fighters.  Quite probably it was a Armstrong Whitworth AW90 a two seater observer plane.  I shall confirm that when I find his log book.  These aircraft were certainly not meant to get into dog fights as they were rather cumbersome.  They happened upon a German observer plane while returning to home base and two started shooting at one another. When the German fire hit the fuel pump (run by a prop on the wing above Dad’s head) he broke off the fight but then his obserer pounded him on the back to show the enemy plane going down with smoke trailing behind.  The DFC was more about the mission they were on.  I shall give more on that later.
John
 
Sent: Saturday, October 17, 2020 1:13 AM
Subject: Will and the DFC
 

Hi John, David and Hilary,

I trust all are well at your end. We are just fine. While I’m staying close to home these days I thought I’d get started on my long-held intention to do a write-up on the family. The original intention was a modest affair: Our multiple families through the ages against the backdrop of the rise and fall of the British Empire. By the end of the first half hour it was pared down to ‘a selection of events in the Spriggs extended family from the late 1500s.’
 
That brought me to Will’s dogfight. How would you (and the family) feel if I included a write-up on Will in the ‘book.’ It will be an e-book placed on my public website as 5 pdf files which folks can download or link to. It’s not intended to be a family history, per se, rather an attempt to interest, particularly the younger generation, in the remarkable individuals we have in the family tree and in a small way, bring the tree to life.
 
Let me know what you think.  John, do you recall the model of aircraft that Will flew in that dogfight? A Sopwith or Bristol per chance?
 
Much love, Peter (and Randi)
 
 
 
 
 
 

Fisher: earliest known

by | Nov 23, 2019 | Text-emails, Fisher

Apr 28, 2019

From John Spriggs

Regarding the Fishers; the earliest in my tree is Reuben who was a surgeon of Southwark in London and married a Joan Howe. They had at least two children named Martha and Reuben. Martha went to Youghal Ireland and Reuben followed on a visit and was very taken by a Quaker lass named Margaret Shute. Her father was not impressed by this non Quaker and so Reuben returned to London, joined a Quaker meeting there, and returned to Youghal, his foppish manners and dress discarded, and convinced Margaret’s father that he might make a suitable match. They had a large family, two branches of which joined later when Samuel Alexander married Isabella Fisher (Alexander’s father Edward married a Jenepher Fisher). I have nothing earlier that the surgeon of Southwark.

When Phyllis and I visited Cork a few years ago we went to the Cork Meeting house and purchased a history that one of their members had put together called Merchants, Mystics and Philanthropists (350 Years of Cork Quakers) which is quite interesting and has a lot of info about the Quakers of Cork and by extension some of our relatives. (Youghal, Cork and Limerick are relatively close and there was a lot of Quaker traffic between them over the centuries). Another source of information can be found in the “Fishers of Pilltown” which you can Google. You should also be able to look at my tree on Ancestry to see where my research has led me. I hope to see yours sometime to see where we diverge.

Well I’ll close this for now. Great to connect our families once more.

Warm regards
John

Haddon Fishers

by | Nov 23, 2019 | Pre 1600, Text-emails, Fisher

Apr 30 2019

Hi Peter,

Don’t give up on your Haddon Hall Fishers.  Check out Kinsalebeg.com and you’ll find lots of Fishers which may well give you a path to the pot of gold.
Another interesting trail to follow is a note that our Grandfather mentioned in his genealogy.  It is the match between Reuben Fisher and Mary O’Callaghan.  Follow Mary’s lineage which will take to an amazing path to the past.  Check out my tree to see if your findings confirm mine.
Good hunting.
John

Grandfather Clock

by | Nov 13, 2020 | 1700-1799, Text & Images, Family

The Old Grandfather Clock inherited by William Spriggs 6th

This clock belonged to William and Martha Knight and is believed to have been bought by them in about 1782 when they moved to Worcester from London. Martha’s maiden name was Tessyman. The clock descended to their daughter Martha who married William Spriggs, then to their son  William Spriggs of Worcester, then to their son William Spriggs who married Elizabeth Sarah Manser of Hoddesdon; then to their son William Manser Spriggs of Ackock’s Green, who married Alice Josephine Hayward of Torquay in 1896; then  to their son William Spriggs of Baie d’Urfe, Quebec Canada who married Agnes Elisabeth Lickfold of Trinidad, British West Indies in 1926.

My brother David Spriggs has the clock, still in place in our home on 32 Oxford Road. It used to work well, But is now not working at all, and would need some repairs to get it going again.

Here is a note also that I found on the inside of the door:

Long case clock of 20 Bradeleyes listed in vol. 1 on G.H. Baillies “watch makers and clock makers of the world” The notation is as follows:

Joseph Bradley, Worchester “an 1744 -9 w.”
The “an” signifies “ante” and the “w” signifiers “watchmaker”
The dates indicate the earliest and latest available records; and those called “watchmakers” often made clocks.
The date 1782 found inside the case is probably a purchase (or repair date as suspected).

It seems very probable that this is the Joseph Bradley that is mentioned in the write up.