Kerfies, Cleggies and all that.
The Ebullient Jack
In 1877 a 14 year old girl who joined the circus and did just what we all dream of: became the first human cannon ball in the history of the world. Zazel - aka Rossa Matilda Richter - was 'fired' (with some accompanying pyrotechnics, no doubt) from a spring-loaded gun in the Royal Aquarium, London.
I'm not clear on whether she was fired from the aquarium or into it... but my research continues.
Zazal achieved a flight of over 6.1m, only a couple of metres less than the current world long jump record of just short of 9m. Not bad, but cannons are illegal in IAAF regulations I expect.
In the intervening 150 years of development, the record for human cannonballs has been broken many times and is now 59m. Come on long jumpers - keep up!
Now, John Kerfoot Roberts, known as Jack to friends and family was, coincidentally, born at the very moment (citation needed) that Zazal emerged from that cannon on 10 April 1877: Though at less velocity I expect....and not into an aquarium. The metaphorical cannon for Jack's entry into this world was Sarah Kerfoot, a quite late-in-the-day 12th child of James Kerfoot and Elizabeth Jones. James was an immigrant from Lancashire to Wales and, although quite a well-to-do farmer, was probably ridiculed both for his Lancashire accent and his attempts at speaking Welsh. Liz was a local girl so she was ok.
Anyway, they had a farm called Faenol Bach near Boddelwyddan, which is between Abergele and Saint Asaph. Lots of their extended family had other farms around and about the area - typical farmers!
The well-to-do farmer’s daughter, Sarah, married Edward Roberts, a prominent local solicitor. He was 41 by the time they married so, being a lawyer, must have stashed quite a bit away by then. With a bit of further help from his father-in-law, they moved into the rather grand sounding Towyn Hall and started a family.
By the time Jack came along his parents, Sarah and Edward, had 3 children Elizabeth Evangeline, Lilian Mary, and Edward James Blackburn. Sadly, Edward died when Jack was 1 so he would have never known that brother. But, as Jack grew up he got 3 more, younger siblings: Edward Ferdinand Norman (Known as Norman), Hilda, and Medi Cecilia, although Hilda died as a new-born baby.
Sister Evangeline married late in life and her claim to fame is having (allegedly) the first motor car in Holywell. More on motor cars in a moment. Lilian never married but worked as a nurse under Florence Nightingale at Saint Thomas’s in London for a time. E. F. Norman volunteered in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, went to fight in the Boer War and died of illness in Krugersdorp. Medi was the stereotypical Victorian maiden aunt and lived to a ripe old age. I remember her, just.
Now back to Jack! I’m not sure of his schooling or his early life but he won 3rd prize for his pony at a local show in Conway when he was 17 so he was moving in the right circles. In 1899 he was living in Liverpool when he was married to Jean Ann Tough Petrie (this was a couple of years after Karl Benz patented the world’s first motor car: this motor car thread will develop). He was a solicitor’s clerk and they got married by licence rather than banns, which was quite a posh way to do it, but also a way to get married quicky… without fuss. Jean was the daughter of John Petrie from near Aberdeen. He was a manager at Abbey Paper Mill in in Greenfield on the North Wales coast – the biggest paper mill in Wales for some time (yes, indeed!) – Jack and Jean lived there at Abbey House when they were first married but soon moved to Rose Villa in Holywell.
Relatively recently I discovered a fact that, surprisingly, none of my family knew about. I didn’t so much discover this, as it was revealed to me by a contact, a very welcome contact, I might say, out of the blue. A little while before Jack and Jean were married, Jean had given birth to a daughter, Charlotte Anne. She was born in March 1898 and John and Jean were married in November 1899. Charlotte Anne went on to have a family and the contact I mentioned is one of her descendants. During the period of her birth Jack and Jean were two young people from the same area, both of similar social standing, both living in Liverpool. When they did marry, it was in the Register Office, by licence. No big church wedding.
Jack qualified as a solicitor and the family moved to The Grove, Holywell. By this time, the family consisted of: Lilian Mary – Auntie Lil; Jean Eileen – Auntie Eileen; Norman Kerfoot (our ancestor); Hilda Bronwen; Stuart Kerfoot; Evangeline, who died young; and a late arrival Wendy.
Three great aunts: Auntie Lil, Auntie Eileen and Auntie Wendy, died within a time I would remember, right up to my early teens, so I’m sad I don’t remember them… Maybe I never met them? If so, why?
I went to Auntie Eileen’s house with my father in Ruthin after she died; I remember that clearly. He and another nephew, William Hughes (Auntie Wendy’s son), were beneficiaries of her estate. I remember he expressed some animosity towards William, I don’t remember why, but I can imagine: my father would argue and fall out with anyone about anything at anytime, anywhere.
I remember there was the most fantastic view up a fell from the window of the house. One day I might find that hill and walk up it. There was a nest of tables in Auntie Eileen’s house, not antique or anything, but lovely. They ended up at my parent’s and now sit in our drawing room. I don’t remember her, but I have a link with her and think of her when I use or polish those tables.
Of the others, Auntie Lil and Auntie Wray were both very clever women and solicitor’s clerks. Today, they would be lawyers in their own right, I’m sure. Hilda died at age 15. Stuart, a promising lawyer, was killed by friendly fire in Italy in WW2. The story I heard was that he left his tank one morning and ventured into the woods to perform his ablutions whereupon he was shot by a Ghurkha patrol.
Wendy, again, I know little about, but I understand her family were farmers on Anglesey. I imagine my father caused upset, which is a shame.
Back to Jack once again: he became a very successful lawyer, well known in North Wales, Liverpool and Cheshire. He turns up on a passenger list sailing to Naples in 1925: why, I don’t know. His name litters the North Wales, Cheshire and Lancashire papers of the period in legal notices and the like.
Now back to the motor car thread… One of the more unusual newspaper entry reports, in 1928, John Kerfoot Roberts (solicitor) being found drunk-in-charge of a motor car having collided with another, parked car, in Flint on his journey back from Chester (Court) one evening. The constable reported him, but when the case came to court the police surgeon testified against the police and gave evidence that “Mr Roberts was perfectly sober and passed a test very satisfactorily.” The judge awarded costs against the police!
John Kerfoot Roberts and his family were also very active in the local Masonic Lodge.
By 1939 Jack was Solicitor and Clerk to Holywell Town Council. The family moved to Woodside on Fron Park Road in Holywell. In 1956 he was elected President of the North Wales and Cheshire Law Society. In his book, Child of Another Century: Recollections of a High Court Judge, Sir Ronald Waterhouse says “… I was shown great kindness from the beginning by Holywell solicitors, especially the ebullient Kerfoot-Roberts, and a host of North Wales solicitors…”. Ebullient? You’d settle for that as an epitaph!
Later in his book while talking about his time as a barrister and working on the fraught licensing issues in North Wales, Sir Ronald goes on to say: "Kerfoot Roberts, who had a well developed sense of humour and a distaste for teetotallers, introduced me to this field of activity early on by instructing me to apply for a licence for a new hotel in a residential area of Flint, knowing that this would stir up a hornets' nest. The chairman of the local magistrates' bench, Alderman H.R. Thomas, was a long standing Liberal and friend of my father strongly opposed to any extension of drinking facilities. Kerfoot Roberts' plan, therefore, was that I should make the application annually for a modest fee at the licensing sessions in February until the chairman had to retire from the bench on age grounds or miraculously had a change of heart. In the event we did have to continue applying until February 1960, by which time Thomas had retired; he had managed to carry the bench with him in refusing the licence throughout the interviening years."
My sister is lucky enough to remember Jack and Jean. Her memories are: "She always wore black, long skirts, shoes with a button fastener and had her hair in a bun. He would pinch our cheeks and press half a crown into our hands. I remember his library and how he used to use snuff. Also there were usually game birds hanging in a room off their kitchen. They had a cook/housekeeper. Wendy was frequently there with Stuart and William, but her husband always stayed in Anglesey to look after the farm. Visits were formal, no fun and games."
Jack died on 5 January 1964. It’s a shame we overlapped by just a month, but at least he would have been aware of me.