During the 1960s my father's cousin Arthur Shobbrook and his wife Anne of Newton Abbot researched our family history and drew up a detailed family tree. Without the wonders of the internet this must have been a real labour of love and they spent many years visiting country churches around the villages of Coleridge, Exbourne, North Tawton, Down St Mary,Exminster and Ide to find parish records containing details of all the births, deaths and marriages and to locate family graves. Their years of painstaking research culminated in a tree dating back to 1581.
I have always been fascinated by our family history and during the past
2 years I have found much pleasure in putting together some more pieces of the giant jigsaw, particularly when they have led to the discoveryof the existence of new family, both here and abroad.
When my father died in 2008 at the great age of 93 I was of the
opinion that our branch of the family was a dying breed. I thought it
might be interesting to see if I could trace the descendants of his
7 cousins. After some research I was delighted to find a second cousin here whom I never knew existed and a whole new clan in Australia with a total of 21 offspring in the latest generation!
My particular branch of the Shobbrook tree stems from Thomas Shobbrook of Ide, Devon (born 1818). He married Susan Lammacraft in 1841 and had 3 children. Emmanuel ( born in 1842) Thomas (born 1845) who was my great grandfather and Susie (born 1852). Emmanuel emigrated to Australia in 1895, just one year before his death. Little is known about him and he remains somewhat of an enigma, so any further information would be most welcome.
Thomas married Emily Gough at Newton Abbot in 1870 and he ran the
family foundry there at Hopkins Lane. They lived in a house in Queen's Street which I am sure in it's day was quite grand, but it is now the home of a branch of Spec Savers. Following up on some information given to me by my father I managed to locate a lamp post in Courtney Park which bears the inscription Shobbrook, Newton. If any one has or knows of any other ironwork bearing the family name I should be most interested to hear about it.
Thomas and Emily had 8 children between 1871 and 1886. Horace ,
Reginald , Tom, Frank, Susan, Harry, Emily (died in infancy) and Lewis
Ralph who was my grandfather.
Lewis married Edith Westcott in 1912 and went to live at Bovey Tracey,
where my father Ralph and his sister were born. Around 1923 the family moved to Dawlish where the children went to the local schools and my father became an apprentice barber, eventually having his own barber shop in Brook Street.
Ralph married my mother Lillian Thompson (of Birmingham)on Christmas Day 1937 and they lived in Dawlish. When the 2nd world war began he was posted to India with the army and upon his return 6 years later they went to live in Surrey, so the Devon connection for him ended there. His sister Hazel never married and remained in Dawlish until her death in 2005.
Arthur Shobbrook, my father's cousin, remained in Newton Abbot
and continued to run the foundry. He was a JP, chairman of
the local council and was involved in many local events and projects.
He was instrumental in raising funds for the renovation work on the
St Leonard's Tower which stands at the end of the High Street,
and after his death in 1970 a plaque was erected in his memory.
I believe there is also a 'Shobbrook Hill' but must confess I have only
recently heard of its existence and have not yet made the pilgrimage!
An Unexpected Scottish Connection
When I married my Scottish husband in 2005 we went off up to the Black Isle near Inverness to begin researching his family. Beginning our search in the little fishing village of Avoch we first found the war
memorial as we hoped it would bear the name of his great uncle who died in the Great War. We were successful, but whilst my husband began to photograph the inscription I was amazed to find a W.Shobbrook on the other side of the memorial. This seemed to be an amazing coincidence -a Shobbrook so far from Devon! Further investigation has resulted in my finding that the soldier (Walter Shobbrook) was from the branch who were descendants of Thomas Shobbrook's brother Samuel (born 1824). Samuel's son William (1858) married and moved to Scotland, eventually working as a coachman at the Rosehaugh Estate at Avoch.
They are listed on the 1901 census as having 5 children. Walter was in the Seaforth Highlanders and was killed in action in 1917, but I have yet to discover whether any of his siblings remained in Scotland.
As a matter of interest I have entered a photograph of some of the
staff at Rosehaugh which was produced as a Christmas/New Year card probably during the 1920s. My husband's great grandfather was a gardener there which is why we came by it, but I would be intrigued to know whether or not any of the Shobbrook family feature on it. I have therefore included it in the unlikely event that anyone else in the family has a copy of the same photo and can enlighten me.
Shobbrook Family | sitemap | log in
