Philip Scarrold

Page 3. Introduction
Page 4. Scarrold
Page 12. Workhouses
Page 14. London Locations
Page 16. Dickensian London
Page 18. Military Service
Page 22. Kruse
Page 26. Spangenberg
Page 29. Cape Town

I, like most people, have always wondered where I came from. Growing up in Rhodesia in the middle of Africa in the 1950s -1970s I was the only kid in school with the name “Scarrold” which set me on my journey of discovery. All the boys in my class were called either Smith or Jones and I wondered where my surname came from.
All I knew about my heritage was that my father John James Scarrold was born in Shoeburyness, Essex, England in 1919 and that my mother Johanna Magdalena Spangenberg was of Afrikaner origin born in Vereeniging, South Africa in 1913.
My parents met in Pietersburg, Transvaal, South Africa in 1945 when my father was in the Royal Airforce with the Empire Training Scheme stationed in South Africa during WW2. My mother was an orange packer in Tzaneen and Zebadeela Orange Estate, near Pietersburg, Northern Transvaal when they met.

During the 1960s our family went on road trips to South Africa and visited my mother’s relatives in the Transvaal and Orange Free State where I picked up a bit of my mother’s Afrikaner history. My father’s English history was a total mystery to me as he rarely spoke about it. I found out later that he had a row with his sister Evelyn in Shoeburyness when he decided to emigrate to South Africa after he had been demobbed from the RAF after the war had ended in 1945. Evelyn sent a “looking for John Scarrold request” to Fair Lady, a South African woman’s Magazine in 1985 and one of our family friends in Durban recognised my father’s name and sent the article to my mother in Zimbabwe. She sent it to me in Australia and I wrote to Evelyn in England telling her that my father had passed away in Durban, South Africa in 1981 so she had missed him by four years but it was a serendipitous moment connecting up with her. I had met my father’s older brother,William, in Shoeburyness, Essex in 1981 when I was living in UK and had gone to visit him and have a chat about the Scarrold family before I left to live in Australia. He was a stroke victim and was walking with the help of a zimmer frame and as a consequense hadn’t been upstairs for years
Scarrold Family Tree
John Skerrell (1751-1831) Islington, London
William John Skerrell (1784 -1838) Islington, London
Sophia Skerrell (1808 -1886) Kings Cross London
William Henry Skerrell (1838-1900)
Clerkenwell Workhouse London father unknown
married 1778 Islington, London
Elizabeth Weaver (1750 -1820?) Islington, London
married 1807 Islington, London
John Samuel Skerrell (1811-?)
Elizabeth Perfect (1779-1842) Islington, London
Elizabeth Skerrell (1813-1816)
William and Sarah had 5 sons out of wedlock between 1877-1886 in Woolwich and then married in 1890, Hackney, London, England.
William’s first marriage was to Mary Ann Peck in 1858. The marriage didn’t last long and they had no children.
The name “Skerrell” was changed to “Scarrold” on the 1871 census by Sarah Daives and Sophia Skerrell for an unknown reason.
Alfred Charles Scarrold (1879 -1955)
William Arthur Scarrold (1877-1942) Woolwich, London
John James Scarrold (1919-1981) Shoeburyness, England
William Scarrold (1917-1983)
Vera Scarrold (b.1947)
George Henry Scarrold (1881-KIA1916)
married 1915 Orsett Essex
Sarah Elizabeth Skerrell (1816-1865) London
Sarah Jemima Daives/Davis (1850-1936) Holborn London father Isaac Daives.
Walter Scarrold (1883 - 1956)
Evelyn Scarrold (1924-1998)
married 1945 Pietersburg, South Africa.
and it was like walking into a time warp as I went upstairs where the family photos were kept in an old chest of draws. He let me take a few and explained to me who the people in the photos were before I left to go back to London. I did notice some letters that he had written from Egypt to his mother during WW2 when he was stationed there. Apparently he had suffered shell shock. I kept in touch with him for a few years when I moved back to Australia. He died in 1983 so in retrospect I wish I had taken more of the family photos and documents as he didn’t have any family (apart from his sister Evelyn) to leave them to and I never knew I would ever write a family history.
I did phone up my Dad’s sister Evelyn in 1987 when I had moved back to London for a few years and wanted to visit her in Ascot, Berkshire for a chat but she was very offish toward me so I didn’t, unfortunately. Her husband was an invalid so I suspect that’s the reason she didn’t want me to visit. Maybe she still held a grudge against her brother from way back in 1945???? Who knows? Families are strange institutions especially when it comes to grudges!!!! Evelyn passed away a year later in 1988.
I had first started looking into the Scarrold family genealogy when I was in London in 1992 and it turned out to be a real roller coaster ride with many twists and turns which are still ongoing 30 years later!!!!
Philip Scarrold (b.1952)
Evelyn Scarrold (b.1954)
Henry Scarrold (1886 -1955)
Emma Mary Kruse (1884-1962) Poplar, London
Johanna Magdalena Spangenberg (1913-1996) Vereeniging, South Africa

The marriage of William Arthur Scarrold (my grandfather) to Emma Mary Kruse (my grandmother) at Orsett, Essex in October 1915.
A photo I got from my uncle William Scarrold when I went to visit him in 1981.

My grandfather, William Arthur Scarrold with his wife Emma in their back garden in Shoeburyness, Essex circa 1940 during WW2. William was in the Home Guard and died in 1942. Emma died in 1962 aged 80.

My father’s mother (my grandmother) Emma Mary Kruse circa 1930s.



My father John Scarrold circa 1930 aged ~10. My father’s sister Evelyn Scarrold circa 1940.

My first search started off at the records office of the Church of Latter Day Saints in Kensington, London when I was living near Hyde Park in 1992. This was pre computer days when records were kept on microfilm. I couldn’t find any “Scarrold” in their records, only a few variations of the spelling like Scarrall, Scarrell, Skarle etc. It turns out my surname “Scarrold” was originally spelt “Skerrell” prior to 1877 which I only found out in 2018 when I met a professional genealogist on London History Forum on Facebook who was interested in my story. He agreed to research my Scarrold history for free in exchange for my story so I jumped at the offer as I had hit a brick wall and wasn’t able to find out much in my initial computer searches since 2000.

Document from the Church of Latter Day Saints, London
The marriage of my parents in Pietersburg, South Africa 1945.
The second part of my search started off straight forwardly when I went to the BMD records office on Kingsway, London just down from Holborn tube station. I walked into the search room filled with huge vellum books and took a wild guess as to my grandfather William Arthur Scarrold’s date of birth. I remember my father telling me that his father got married late in life. I hit the jackpot with the first book I opened which was 1877! I applied for the certificate which arrived by post a week later. It had his father’s (William Henry Scarrold) and mother’s (Sarah Davis) name on it and they lived in Woolwich Dockyard and his occupation was listed as a General Dealer. So now my aim was to find William Henry Scarrold’s birth certificate and then go further back in time. It sounded like a straightforward task but turned out to be a lot more complicated until I met the professional geneaologist on Facebook who discovered the change in the spelling of Scarrold.
William Arthur Scarrold’s (my grandfather) birth certificate 1877.
The first census I found of William Henry Scarrold and his family was 1891 in which his occupation is listed as Fishmonger and his place of birth as Oxton (?) and someone had written Cheshire in pencil next to it which ended up confusing me and sending me on a ten year wild goose chase. I later found out that the enumerator must have misunderstood “Hoxton” for “Oxton”. The Cockneys drop their “H“s.

I found out that Oxton is on the Wirrel, Cheshire opposite Liverpool so I joined a Wirrel Geneaology group on Facebook in the hope of finding out more info. I found a few “Scarrolds” in the Cheshire area but nothing definitive until a member of the group sent me the 1881 census which mentioned that William Henry Scarrold was born in St Lukes (London) and not Oxton, Cheshire as the 1891 census wrongfully states. His occupation is listed as a Hawker. William and Sarah had 3 children by 1881 (William, Walter and George). Sophia is William’s mother and was living with them and is listed as a washerwoman. Her surname name was Skerrell and as William was illegitimate he took her surname. There is no record of the father’s name but his Y (paternal) dna haplogroup was I1a (Scandinavian) which I inherited. Y dna is passed down from father to son.


If you look carefully at the above close up from the 1881 census you will see that the census enumerator started writing “Skerrell” then it was changed to “Scarrold” (or “Seawold”?). Sarah’s middle name was Jemima (Emma) which she sometimes used as her first name.

I found the above 1871 census on the internet in about 2016 and I was confused by the names Jamima Scarrold and Sophia Sherrell (Skerrell) listed as aunt and niece living in Hackney, East London. I thought there must be a connection to my family but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until years later. I had an inkling that Sophia was William Henry Skerrell’s mother and thought that Jamima (Sarah) might be his cousin which actually turned out to be correct in the end!!!!
Jemima (Sarah, Emma) had changed her surname from Davis/Daives to Scarrold for an unknown reason on this census. William is strangely absent from the records after he married Mary Anne Peck in 1858 until 1877 when his first son William Arthur Scarrold (my grandfather) was born in Woolwich. Apparently the marriage to Mary Anne didn’t last long and they had no children (?) nor did they get divorced (divorce was expensive). William Henry then had 5 sons out of wedlock from 1877-1886 with his cousin Jemima
Sarah Davis (ie: William Arthur, Alfred, George, Walter, Henry). They officially got married in 1890 in Hackney to make it legal and it is thought that they waited for Mary Anne to pass away before they tied the knot so as not to commit bigamy.

William Henry Skerrell’s (my gt grandfather) first marriage to Mary Anne Peck 1858. William lied about his father who was unknown although his mother Sophia knew.

William Henry Scarrold’s (my gt grandfather) second marriage to Jemima Sarah Davis 1890.
This is a letter I received from the professional genealogist I met on Facebook in 2018 outlining his discovery of the Skerrell family history in London. It is VERY complicated!!!!!

William disappears from the records from 1858 - 1877 and there is no record of him in prison or the army so it is a total mystery as to his whereabouts. I did find a record of a William Skerrell travelling from England to New York in 1868 on the steamer Tarifa but it might not be him???? He might have gone to America in 1868 until 1877 for work but I don’t really know. The age is wrong as William would have been 30 in 1868 but this is not a problem as many people back then didn’t really know their ages as I have discovered.

1851 Census. Sophia Parfoot (Skerrell) is the eldest sister aged 42. She used her mother’s name Perfect (Parfait) for an unknown reason. William is her son aged 14 listed as an errand boy. Sarah Sherrall (Skerrell) is the younger sister of Sophia aged 30 and Emma (Jemima) Davies is her daughter aged 10 months. The enumerator mixed the sisters’ names up.

1841 Census. Elizabeth Skerrell the mother aged 60, laundress. Her daughters, Sophia Skerrell aged 30, brace (corset) maker, Sarah aged 25, needle woman and William (Sophia’s son) aged 3 years old.
Workhouses



William Henry Scarrold’s (Skerrell) death certificate in Rochford Union Workhouse dated 2nd January 1900. Some of the information is wrong like his age and occupation. He would have been 62. He might have been a farm labourer although his occupation was a fishmonger. I suspect he had a stroke in the family home in Shoeburyness, Essex and was rushed to the Rochford Union Infirmary where he died. The whole irony of this is that William Skerrell was born in a workhouse and died in a workhouse as well. It was a real stigma to be born in a workhouse during Victorian times and it followed the person around all their life
1861 Census. Sarah Skerrell aged 49, charwoman living in Hackney with her daughter, Jemima Davis aged




Dickensian London
“A dirtier or more wretched place he had never seen. The street was very narrow and muddy, and the air was impregnated with filthy odours. There were a good many small shops, but the only stock in trade appeared to be heaps of children, who, even at that time of night, were crawling in and out at the doors, or screaming from the inside. The sole places that seemed to prosper amid the general blight of the place, were the public-houses; and in them, the lowest orders of Irish were wrangling might and main. Covered ways and yards, which here and there diverged from the main street, disclosed little knots of houses, where drunken men and women were positively wallowing in the filth; and from several of the door-ways, great ill-looking fellows were cautiously emerging, bound, to all appearance, on no very well disposed harmless errands.”
Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens - 1837
Incidentally Dickens wrote Oliver Twist between 1837-1839 while he was living in Bloomsbury, London which is near Clerkenwell where my gt grandfather William Skerrell was born in 1838 so William would have known Dickens’ world. Coincidentally, when I arrived in Sydney, Australia in 1981 my first job was working on an animated version of Oliver Twist.




WW1 MILITARY SERVICE





Thank you for your message relating to your great uncle Henry Scarrold and the Machine Gun Corps. Sadly, I have very little information to pass on to you. It would appear that he volunteered in September 1914, but was discharged, for unknown reasons in February 1915 - my guess is that he did not, at that time, measure up medically to the requirements for an active service soldier in the Highland Light Infantry. However, we know that he subsequently served in the Machine Gun Corps. His number (114498) indicates that he joined in August 1917. My guess is that although he had been discharged back in 1915, he was still subject to conscription, if he could then be accepted as physically fit. The requirements, in 1917, were much less than in 1914.
Unfortunately none of his service papers relating to his time with the MGC have survived - almost certainly among the 4-million sets lost to fire during the blitz on London in 1940. All that is known is that he survived the war, to be discharged on 28/3/1919, going into Class “Z” Reserve, which implies that the army then regarded him as fit, and liable for recall in emergency. He earned the silver British War medal and bronze Allied Victory medal, but I have absolutely no idea where he served during his overseas service.
Very sorry to be unable to help any further in this case.
Scarrold Family Tree 18






Battle of the Somme July-November 1916. George Henry Scarrold was KIA at the Somme 27 July 1916.
Kruse Family Tree
George Kruse (aka. German George) (1792 - 1855) Hamburg Germany
George James Kruse 1 (1832 -1916) Poplar
London, England
George James Kruse 2 (1856 -1915) Poplar
London, England
Emma Mary Kruse (1884 -1962) Poplar
London, England
married 1828 St Pancras, London married 1853 Bethnal Green, London married 1879 Battersea, London married 1915 Orsett, Essex
Mary Margaret Green (1799 -1885) Southwark
London, England
Maria Mary Ann Taylor (1834 -1900) Sheerness
Kent, England
Emma Mary Smale (1855 -1928) Paddington
London, England
William Arthur Scarrold (1877-1942) Woolwich
Kent, England

John James Scarrold (1919 -1981) Shoeburyness, Essex, England
Vera Scarrold (b.1947)
Evelyn Scarrold (b.1954) married 1945 Pietersburg, South Africa
Philip Scarrold (b.1952)
Johanna Spangenberg (1913 -1996)
Vereeniging South Africa
As I had previously mentioned, my father said very little about his parents and English family while I was growing up in Rhodesia. Strangely enough, one thing I do remember him saying is that his mother, Emma Mary Kruse was of German origin and she had to hush it up during WW1 and WW2 due to anti German sentiment in England. during those years . Every time I asked him anything about his family he would say, “ So you want to dig up the family skeletons, do you!!!!!”. I do remember asking him how WW2 started while we were sitting in the beer garden of the Stamford Hill Hotel in Durban in 1964ish when I was 12 years old and he told me it “started as a brawl in a public bar” and I believed that for a long time!!!!! We had a strange relationship, my dad and I!!!!!! The earliest Kruse record I have is that of George Kruse born in 1792 in Hamburg, Germany. He came to England from Hamburg sometime before 1828 where he married Mary Margaret Green at St Pancras, London.
I started tracing the Kruse family tree backwards from my father’s mother (Emma Mary Kruse) who was born in Poplar, London in 1884. Her parents George James Kruse2 and Emma Mary Smale had moved from Battersea to Poplar where Emma Mary was born in 1884. Her three elder siblings, George Abraham, Alfred Alexander and Alice were born in Battersea before the family moved to Poplar.
I gleaned a lot of background info on the Kruse family from Mary Sage in England. She is a descendant of Emma’s older brother Alfred Alexander Kruse. She wrote an interesting book on the Kruse family history which is full of interesting history.
Spangenberg Family Tree
Hans Michael Spangenberg (1670 -1721), Sangerhausen, Germany
Johannes Marthinus
Spangenberg (1708 -1774?)
Sangerhausen, Germany
Johannes Lodewyk
Spangenberg (1741-1779) Cape, South Africa
David Frederik Spangenberg (1769 -1816), Stellenbosch, Cape,
Marthinus Hendrik
Spangenberg (1813 -1906) Paarl, Cape, South Africa
David Frederik Spangenberg (1841-1901) Winburg, OFS, South Africa
Herculas Petrus Spangenberg (1871-1948?), Kroonstad, OFS, South Africa
Johanna Spangenberg (1913-1996)
Vereeniging Tvl, South Africa
Vera Scarrold (1947)
married 1694 Sangerhausen
married 1740 Paarl, Cape
Maria Heydenbluths (1670 -1721) Sangerhausen, Germany
Cornelia Mouton (1715-1762) Cape, South Africa
married 1769 Tulbagh, Cape
married 1796 Stellenbosch, Cape
Martha Francina Mouton (1746 -1818) Paarl, Cape, South Africa
Maria Margaretha Ras (1746 -1818) Cape, South Africa
married 1836? Stellenbosch, Cape
Anna Magdalena van Zyl (1819 -1889) Cape, South Africa

The Spangenberg Family Crest.
The Spangenberg Family Tree has a very interesting history starting with my 5X gt grandfather, Johannes Marthinus Spangenberg. He was born in Sangerhausen, Germany in 1708 and arrived at the Cape of Good Hope with the VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie/Dutch East India Company) as a soldier in 1736. He became a Burger (Citizen) at the Cape in 1740 and married Cornelia Mouton (1715-1762) the same year. He is listed as a builder’s helper. The record I have from the Cape Archives states he was exiled from Cape Town in 1774 for “killing a slave” but I have no more information on the matter. I suspect he was exiled to Thien River in the Oliphant’s River Valley, NW Cape. He is listed as working on Plaas Van Alewijn which I think was a wine estate which grew vines. A record I have states he died February 28 1762 and is buried in Citusdal north of Cape Town. This information is vague and I can’t confirm it. Cornelia is also listed as dying in 1762 which is a strange coincidence.
Johannes Marthinus Spangenberg had 2 children with Cornelia Mouton (Johannes Lodewyk Spangenberg (1741-1779) and Suzanna Jacoba Spangenberg (1743-1779)). Cornelia had an affair with Jurgen Keyser and they had an illegitimate son (Jacobus 1757-1842) whom Johannes Marthinus adopted.
I did write to the VOC Huygens archives website in the Netherlands for more information on Johannes Marthinus Spangenberg but they stated his documents were either lost or destroyed. They did however have the enlistment papers of his older brother Jan Godfried Spangenberg (born 1699) who enlisted as a cook on board the VOC ship Diemermeer in 1737. He is listed as in dying in Asia in 1741 (probably in Batavia (now called Jakarta). Jan Godfried arrived at the Cape on 15-03-1737 a year after his brother Johannes Marthinus had arrived so I suspect they met up for a reunion at a local tavern. For more info on the VOC voyages check out the Huygens website.
married 1868 Winburg, OFS
Johanna Maria Venter (1851-1921)
Potchefstroom, Tvl, South Africa
married 1902 Kroonstad, OFS
Johanna Hendrica Coetzer (1882-1915), Reddersburg, OFS, SA
https://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/das/EnglishIntro
married 1945 Pietersburg, South Africa
John James Scarrold (1919-1981)
Shoeburyness, Essex, England
Philip Scarrold (1952)
Evelyn Scarrold (1954)

Jan Godfried Spangenberg sailed from Holland on the VOC ship Diemermier in 1737 as a cook and probably continued on to Batavia. He died in Asia in 1740 so he only served for 3 years with the VOC. There was a high attrition rate amongst the seafarers as can be seen on the above chart.


CAPE TOWN
Vasco Da Gama, the Portuguese mariner, was the first to round the Cape in 1497 and reached Calicut in India in 1498. The Dutch VOC first started rounding the Cape of Good Hope in 1596 then started stopping off for fresh water and supplies in 1606. Eventually it developed into a half way station to Java (Batavia) where they sought spices for the European market. The Cape eventually developed into Cape Town and became an official Dutch Colony in 1652 under Governor Jan Van Riebeck.

Cape Town harbour where my Afrikaner ancestors arrived in the 1600-1700s. Of course, it wasn’t as built up as above photo depicts. I worked at the docks in 1975 but never realised my ancestors had arrived there.

Coetzer Family Tree
Jacob Coetzer (1682-1742)
Zakupy, Bohemia (Czek Republic)
Johannes Jacobus
Coetzer (1716 -1787) Paarl, Cape
Jacobus Johannes Coetzer (1765 -1845), Cape, South Africa
Pieter Willem Coetzer (1799 -1836), Cape, South Africa
Lourens Erasmus
Coetzer (1822 -1894), Cradock, Cape, South Africa
Lourens Jacobus Coetzer (1845 -1924), Klas Smits River, South Africa
Johanna Hendrica Coetzer (1882 -1915), Reddersburg, OFS,
John James Scarrold (1919 -1981) Shoeburyness England
Vera Scarrold (1947)
married 1714 Stellenbosch, Cape
married 1746 Paarl, Cape
married 1789 Drakenstein, Cape
Cornelia Helms (1673 -1720)
Cape of Good Hope
Johanna Nel (1730 -1772)
Stellenbosch, Cape
Magdalena Elizabeth Jordaan (1772 -1847), Paarl, Cape, South Africa
married 1821 Cradock, Cape
Margaretha Johanna Smit (1781 -1856), Cape, South Africa
married 1841 Cradock Cape
married 1866 Reddersburg, OFS
Helena Dorothea van Heerden (1823 -1898), Cradock, Cape, South Africa
Johanna Hendrica Buys (1849 - 1922), Bethlehem, OFS,
married 1902 Kroonstad, OFS
married 1945 Pietersburg, South Africa
Herculas Petrus Spangenberg (1871-1948) Kroonstad, OFS, South Africa
Johanna Spangenberg (1913 -1996)
Vereeniging South Africa
Philip Scarrold (1952)
Evelyn Scarrold (1954)

Mouton Family Tree
Hans Michael
Spangenberg (1670 -1721), Sangerhausen, Germany
Johannes Marthinus
Spangenberg (1708 -1774?)
Sangerhausen, Germany
Johannes Lodewyk
Spangenberg (1741- 1779) Cape, South Africa
David Frederik
Spangenberg (1769 - 1816), Stellenbosch, Cape, South Africa
Marthinus Hendrik
Spangenberg (1813 - 1906) Paarl, Cape, South Africa
David Frederik
Spangenberg (1841 - 1901) Winburg, OFS, South Africa
Herculas Petrus
Spangenberg (1871 - 1948?), Kroonstad, OFS, South Africa
John James
Scarrold (1919-1981)
Shoeburyness, Essex, England
Vera Scarrold (b.1947)
married 1694 Sangerhausen
married 1740 Paarl, Cape
Maria Heydenbluths (1670 - 1721) Sangerhausen, Germany
Cornelia Mouton (1715 - 1762) Cape, South Africa
married 1769 Tulbagh, Cape
married 1796 Stellenbosch, Cape
married 1836? Stellenbosch, Cape
married 1868 Winburg, OFS
Martha Francina
Mouton (1746 - 1818) Paarl, Cape, South Africa
Maria Margaretha Ras (1746 - 1818) Cape, South Africa
Anna Magdalena
van Zyl (1819 - 1889) Cape, South Africa
Johanna Maria
Venter (1851 - 1921) Potchefstroom, Tvl, South Africa
Johanna Hendrica
married 1902 Kroonstad, OFS
Coetzer (1882 - 1915), Reddersburg, OFS, SA
Johanna
married 1945 Pietersburg, South Africa
Spangenberg (1913-1996)
Vereeniging Tvl, South Africa
Philip Scarrold (b.1952)
Evelyn Scarrold (b.1954)
