James Barrett; Barratt, Barnet. INFORMATION PLEASE

Swan and Cygnet - Topsham Museum

 Topsham Museum

The Cygnet - star exhibit at Topsham Museum

Hello – To Whom It May Concern

I was advised by the Churchwarden, Tim Miles to contact the Starcross Local History Group in order to see if anyone there can offer any advice or help me in my quest to locate the last resting places of my Great great grandparents, particularly, James Barratt.

James and Susanna Barratt [name variations can include Barrett, Barnet etc] were married in Starcross in 1837 and proceeded to have a typical large family. They lived for a half century in various cottages in Church Street and New Road. James identified himself as a waterman or boatman in various census returns across the years.

While a number of their children remained in the area due to work or marriage, my Great grandmother, Elizabeth Gibbin[g]s went to London when her Exmouth husband joined the Guards in Exeter in the late 1870s [although you may be interested that I did find her returning to reside at No 7 New Road with a sister and her family in the 1939 ‘war’ census which you celebrate on your web site].

However, as a consequence of my researches at the Exeter Heritage Centre last week,  I discovered that both James and Susanna had sad and tragic ends to their lives. Susanna was the subject of a Devon Coroner inquest in 1895 when it was reported that she fell down the stairs of No. 9 New Road and broke her neck [she had been a lace maker and had lost her sight]. James, who family folklore claimed he sailed the boat that was in the form of a ‘cygnet’, was admitted to the Exminster Asylum and died within a few days in 1904 aged 89 years.

James bequeathed his name to three successive generations of our family and in view of his residence and work in the village for so many years I believe he must have been well known while alive. Despite help and advice from the Devon Archivist, the Starcross Churchwarden and various Parish Burial Records [Starcross, Kenton, Powerham and the Exminster Asylum burial records], contact with Teignbridge Council regarding the Dawlish and Teignmouth Civic Cemeteries, I am still finding James last resting place elusive [I know Susanna is buried somewhere in St. Paul’s in an unmarked grave].

Is there any advice or help that your group may give me to enable me to achieve my goal? Similarly, I did wonder if amongst any photos of ‘Old Starcross’ it might b possible to identify James on the river etc or his family in the village as no such picture is in the family’s possession.

Best Regards,

Les Gibbings

n.b.

I have been a member of the Devon Family History Society since the 1980s. My maternal Aunt & Uncle lived in Venn Bridge Farm until the early part of this century.
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Hi

I've put your request on the Starcross History web

Topsham Museum might have some info. They have all sorts of papers about Starcross.

Then of course there's the wonderful British Newspaper Archive

which is free to access at lots of public libraries and at the Devon Heritage Centre

- another place well worth a visit

regards

Monica Lang

Swan Design at the Strawberry Fair

It was the Starcross Strawberry Fair on Saturday, 27th June, at St Paul's Church. As well as the traditional cream tea (jam on top) there were scrumptious strawberry cakes and strawberry flans.

Everyone was intrigued to see Starcross artist Vicky Jocher's sketches of her innovative design for the sculpture of The Swan of the Exe.  These sketches won't be published online yet, but the sculpture is no longer just a static reproduction of a boat with a swan's head. Vicky's concept of this sculpture is dramatic, with incredible movement and life. 

If you want to know more about it, and how you can help, please comment below or come to our meeting on Wednesday July 8th, 7:30pm in the new pavilion on Starcross Sportsfield. Afterwards, we'll walk across the sportsfield to  see the almost completed sculpture, which is to be installed on the sculpture trail on Teignmouth seafront the following week.

Meanwhile, here's last week's random swan doodle from Vicky.

And here's Vicky's photograph of the model of  The Swan of the Exe and the Cygnet in the window of  Topsham Museum

Please make loadsafeathers

Our project to recreate The Swan of the Exe

Image from http://www.archive.org/stream/devoncornwallnot111amer#page/166/mode/2up

  for the 2015  Teignmouth Trail Recycled Art in the Landscape needs more feathers

Here's 2 of them

How to make a feather

1. Take a plastic milkbottle and cut out long leafshapes as big as possible. Probably get 2 out of 1 milkbottle
2. cut 2cm slits all along the edges

The feathers will be attached to a wire netting swan. If we get loadsafeathers, the whole of the old rowing boat could be covered with them as well. We have until July to complete our sculpture.

Here's allabout  The Swan of the Exe
by Tony Dunlop on Devon Perspectives
This Victorian 10-berth folly  was designed by Captain George Peacock of Regent's House, Starcross, launched from Dixons yard at Exmouth in 1860 and moored by Starcross pier. It caught fire and perished between the World Wars. Her iconic tender, The Cygnet, is the prize exhibit in nearby Topsham Museum

Captain George Peacock 1805 - 1883

Captain George Peacock 1805 - 1883

If you have more information about Captain George Peacock, or you offer help with this research, please add your comment below. Thankyou

George Peacock was born at Regent's House in Starcross, in 1805.

The following is a précis of the short biography on the National Archives website

"

He served on his father's ships in the Mediterranean... and became a ship's master. He joined the Royal Navy in 1828. He was 2nd master of H.M. Steamship Echo. In 1840, he left the Navy and was appointed as the first Commander of the newly constituted Pacific Steam Navigation Company.

Shortly after leaving the PSNC in 1848, he formed a company to manufacture anti-fouling paint which he had invented.

He became Superintendant of Docks at Southampton. In 1858 he retired to Starcross. "

He commissioned Dixons of Exmouth to build a nautical Victorian folly The Swan of the Exe which was launched in 1860. 4 Cygnets were built. Just one cygnet was used as a tender to the Swan of the Exe. The other 3 were sold. 2 went to Paignton, and 1 to Bournemouth. (Dunlop,T internet, accessed Feb 20th 2015) Only the Exe cygnet remains, (unless anyone knows differently) and she was rescued and preserved by, and is the pride of, nearby Topsham Museum

The Swan of the Exe burnt out inbetween the 2 World Wars.

The story of   The Swan of the Exe has been written by Tony Dunlop on his website Devon Perspectives. The images and the content have generously been made available to all under a creative commons license

The Swan of the Exe Image courtesy of Tony Dunlop, http://www.devonperspectives.co.uk/swan_of_the_exe.html

Further biographical notes, details of his explorations and surveys, papers relating to Captain Peacock's inventions and ideas, papers relating to The Swan of the Exe, papers relating to the Exmouth Warren, printed works, photographs and papers relating to the Cookson family are held in the Liverpool Record Office

Biography of George Peacock by Peta Rée

This is available online by subscription to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Most UK public libraries subscribe to this online, which means that all you need is your library card to access this biography. How to access the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Topsham Museum

have kindly sent us a wonderful diagram of  The Swan of the Exe, to help us with our project, Recreating The Swan of the Exe and invited us to see the documents they hold about our Captain Peacock. The museum opens again on April 1st.