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BAYES' IN THE UK Page 5

My BAYES Ancestry

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BAYES Family Tree

Thomas BAYES (Farmer and Publican)

My Great Great Great Grandfather was living at Morton, near Gainsborough, Lincs. when James (below) and his sisters Charlotte and Jane were born. His wife was called Elizabeth, and there was an older child Ann (born 1809). I now suspect that Thomas and Elizabeth originally came from Whitby and that Anne was born there with elder siblings, sister Mary (b.1808) and brother Richard (b.1806).
(Thomas was a Farmer at Morton, in the time between 1813 and 1817, but in the period 1832 to 1840 he was the publican at the Bridge Inn at Dunham on Trent, Nottinghamshire).

James BAYES (Sawyer)

As stated above, my Great Great Grandfather was born 30 December 1813 at Morton, near Gainsborough, Lincs.
(He was a Labourer at Dunham on Trent in 1836, a Sawyer at Newton-on-Trent, Lincs in 1843 and Machinist in 1876, and by 1891 he was the owner of a Threshing Machine).
The village of Newton-on-Trent is 10 miles West of the City of Lincoln, and on the other side of the River Trent, a couple of miles East of Dunham, (see above).
There was a James Bayes died in the Gainsborough Registry District aged 79 in 1893.
Burials Index shows a James Bayes buried at Newton on 4th April 1893.

James Bayes married Frances WHATMOOR, on 31st January 1836 at Dunham-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire.
As stated above, Dunham is 2 miles west of Newton, on the other side of the River Trent. Frances was christened at Fledborough (she was born there or possibly, at nearby Dunham) c.1816 and died, (presumably at Newton) on 28th May 1878.
(See an interesting artical on Fledborough here).

On a visit to Newton-on-Trent in June 2002, my wife and I had the moving experience of finding the grave of Frances Bayes, my Great-Great-Grandmother, (her gravestone is pictured right).

James and Frances had at least four children:
     John Whatmore b.c.1836, (died Holborn, London 1876)
     Thomas (1838-1840)
     Another Thomas, b.c.May 1841, (see below),
     George b.24.9.1843 (see below) and
     James b.c.1846, (died Newton on Trent, 1899).

It appears that John went to London and eventually became a Publican there.

The second Thomas Bayes, born about May 1841, trained in the retail trade. He looked like he did rather well in life. He was running Bayes & Co., with a Fried Fish Business and a Restaraunt in Seedley, Manchester in 1911. He died in Salford in 1917.

The younger James (b. Newton-on-Trent) was a Threshing Machine Feeder in 1881 and a Threshing Machine Driver in 1891, (presumably his Father's machine). He owned a Threshing Machine in 1896, (the same one?). His wife was called Elizabeth, (nee Stackdale or Stockdale?), born.c.1857, at East Markham, Notts. she died in 1940.

James and Elizabeth had five children:
     Mary b.c.1877 Sheffield,
     Jane b.c.1878 Dunham-on-Trent,
     John b.c.1880 Newton-on-Trent,
     George b.c.1882 Newton-on-Trent (d.1960) and
     James b.c.1884 Newton-on-Trent.

(I am in contact with one of the younger George's descendants, who still lives in the Lincoln area. I am also now in contact with descendants of John, who went to work in Sheffield).

A fascinating and informative book called "Footprints from the Past" was written and published by Chris Medley in 2004, which he sub-titles "A walk through time in Newton on Trent and its neighbourhood". From my already well-thumbed copy, (purchased via Newton on Trent Post Office), I found out that the Threshing Machine and it's associated Steam Engine were in use by the Bayes Family until as late as 1951.

George BAYES (Joiner)

As stated above, my Great Grandfather was born 24th September 1843 at Newton-on-Trent, Lincolnshire.
(On George's Birth certificate, his mother's surname is spelt WATMAUGH. There are a few variations of the spelling of Watmaugh, as can expected).

Sometime after 1871, George Bayes moved to the then rapidly expanding town of Worksop in Nottinghamshire, and there in the Weslyan Chapel in Newcastle Street, on 19th February 1876, he married Mary Jane BATES.

Mary Jane Bates was born 14th December 1850 at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
Sarah Bates, (Mary Jane's Mother), had married Thomas Dodgson on 26th December 1854 at the Parish Church, Worksop, (now known as Worksop Priory).
(Sarah and Mary Jane must have (somehow!) moved the sixty or so miles from Wisbech to Worksop between April 1851 and December 1854). Sarah Bates, daughter of Joseph and Susanah Bates, was born in 1827 at the hamlet of Guyhirn, six miles south-west of Wisbech. Sarah died in 1904 and Mary Jane died in Worksop in November 1907.

George BAYES died at home, 18 Sandhill, Worksop on 10th July 1886, aged 42.
Virtually all of the old buildings in Sandhill have been demolished and most of the street has been lost when the area was re-developed. With the kind help from a member of Bassettlaw Council staff, I recently located the grave of George Bayes in Worksop Priory Cemetary. When Mary Jane Bayes died in 1907, 21 years after her husband, I was comforted to note that she was laid to rest with him. I was able to make the small gesture of planting some Snowdrops at their otherwise unmarked grave.

George and Mary Jane had at least two children:
James Whatmoor BAYES born c.1879, Worksop, (who died, aged 2, at the end of 1881) and

Percy Frederick George BAYES.

Percy Frederick George BAYES. (Builder and Joiner)

My Grandfather was born on 4th September 1883, at 18 Sandhill, Worksop in Nottinghamshire. His Father died when he was only 3. In the 1901 Census he is still at Worksop (see next page) and described as an Apprentice Wheelwright. I guess that after his Mum died in 1907, he moved to Sheffield.
In 1912, he married Sheffield born, Ada WOODHALL (1891-1972). [See my Woodhall tree]
They lived at Laughton le Morthen and then Eccleshall, both near Sheffield, then Salisbury in Wiltshire and then at the village of Churchdown, between Gloucester and Cheltenham, where their house would have had an idyllic view over the Severn Vale towards the Cotswold Hills, somewhat different from his origins in Worksop. In 1916 he describes himself as a Journeyman Carpenter.

He became a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry in the First World War, but died on 6th June 1918, and is buried in the British Military Cemetary at Premont, South-East of Cambrai, in France, (see below).
(My daughter, Caroline, found me the Somerset Light Infantry badge, illustrated).
Percy and Ada had three children, George, Mary and Leonard, (sadly, now all deceased).

My daughter and son-in-law, Caroline and Lee, went to Premont Cemetary in August 2002.
At this lonely and peaceful place, they visited the grave of my Grandfather:

Percy Frederick George Bayes, (1883-1918).

I can think of nothing better to add than to quote the message that Caroline left in the Visitor's Book at Premont:

"Visiting G-Grandfather, P.F.G.Bayes, on behalf of my family.
Thank you from us all for keeping his grave so well."

Caroline and Lee took my wife and I to Premont Cemetary on 11th July 2004.
At long last, I was able to pay my respects to my Grandfather.
I'm finding out so much about him, yet I sadly realise, I will never know enough.

Rest in Peace, Grandad.

Leonard Whatmore BAYES.
My Father was born on 16th March 1916 at a house on The Green, Churchdown in Gloucestershire.
Two years after his Father's death, the family moved a few miles south-east to Great Witcombe, where Dad first went to school. Then from 1922-29, they lived across the county in the picturesque riverside town of Newnham-on-Severn.
In around 1929 they moved 30 miles north, upstream of the River Severn, to the City of Worcester. Dad achieved a long held ambition by joining the Royal Air Force in 1935.

In the early hours of the 21st of January, 1936, he was a member of the duty crew at RAF Bircham Newton in Norfolk when, following the death of King George V at nearby Sandringham, the ill-fated new King, Edward VIII, left by a De Havilland Rapide aircraft for London.

He therefore witnessed the first ever flight by a reigning Monarch.

Dad served with 18 Squadron at Upper Heyford, Oxon., (Hawker Hart light bombers). At the time the Second World War began in 1939, he was stationed in Seletar, Singapore with 100 Squadron, (equipped with Vickers Vildebeests), see link to Seletar Incident.
He then moved on to Egypt, (where he re-assembled the long range flight Vickers Wellesley light bombers from crates) and then on to Crete. Here, he was captured following the German invasion in June 1941 and became a Prisoner of War in Germany, (including being kept in the Stalag Luft III PoW camp of Wooden Horse and Great Escape fame), until he and his colleagues were liberated in May 1945.

In 1948 he married war widow Joan FROST (nee PLATT).

My Mother was born in 1918 at Waterfoot, part of the old parish of Newchurch in Rossendale, Lancashire, the daughter of John (Jack) Platt and Bertha (nee Stansfield). She grew up in the South Shore district of the famous seaside resort of Blackpool in Lancashire. She was a professional singer for a time, treading the boards in the Variety Theatre circuit with the stage name of Joan Amber.
Her first husband, Charles Frost, was in the RAF, a rear gunner in a Vickers Wellington when he died in North Africa in 1942. They had a son, my big brother, Tony Frost.

Dad died in Worcester in 1989 and Mum died there in the following year.

Leonard and Joan BAYES had two children, both proud to have been born in the historic City of Worcester.

John Frederick BAYES, born in 1949, (that's me, known as Jack and pictured right),
My sister, Sylvia Jennifer BAYES was born in 1950.

I married London born Sylvia WEBB, (see Webb site), over 3 decades ago in 1973, and we have two children:

Our darling daughter, Caroline BAYES (b.1976), married Yorkshireman, Lee PENNO in 2000.
In 2004, our first grandchild was born - young Morgan Penno.
Our super little Grandson is pictured on the right.

Our beloved son is Michael BAYES (b.1978), who is carrying on THE name, (see below), on behalf of all the folks listed above.

Mike ran in (and completed!) the London Marathons of 2002 and 2003.

Here he is, (right), a weary No.50319, after finishing the 2003 race.

However, Mike's real sport was Board Diving.....

He was part of the British team who competed in the 2004 FINA World Masters Championships at Riccioni, in Italy.

He dived in the 25-29 age group and won GOLD medals in all three events, 1 metre, 3 metre and Platform. The medals he won are pictured, (right).

Yorkshire girl, Claire married Mike on a beautiful sunny day in July 2006.

    Easter 2007:
                 Mike and Claire's beautiful new daughter, Alice Bayes, is born, weighing in at 6lbs. 4 oz.

     Here she is being looked after by her cousin, Morgan, when she was a few days old (left) and recently, (right).


       Alice and Morgan's Great Great Great Great Great Grand-Father is Thomas Bayes, who we met at the top of the page.

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Last amended: 24th May 2008