16/10/2024

Ancestors – II

1865–1944 George Curnow Millett

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George Curnow Millett was born on 22nd September 1865 at Heston, the son of Charles Dewan and Frances Millett, in the borough of Hounslow, London. In 1871, Age 5, George was living with his family at No. 5 Princes Villas, Twickenham. By age 15 in 1881 he had moved a short distance to 1, The Poplars, Hampton Road Twickenham. George’s education was by the Rev. L.M. D’Orsay, Twickenham; the Rev. S. Martin, Twickenham; College Communal de Bologne (Universite de France); King’s College London; and private tutors 1888 – 90.” 1 As a 17-year-old in 1883, George started a 5-year apprenticeship working for his uncle, Henry Michell Millett.  He first worked as a clerk on the Lynn and Fakenham Railway’s Norwich extension (to Norwich City Station) and later worked on the Swedish–Norwegian Railway as a surveyor and in the workshops and drawing office. 1 The annual UK census shows George as living at his family home of 89 to 91 Westminster Bridge Road, London. Having completed his apprenticeship, he worked between 1890 and 1892 as a Railway Contractors Clerk for William Eckersley, the engineer who had been in partnership with George’s uncle, Henry.  During this time he was involved with the Pirzus-Larissa Railway in Greece.  Between 1892 and March 1906 George worked for Messrs. B. Cooke and Co. and was in sole charge of several works, machinery, etc.: 1 On 11 April 1906, George stated in his application for the UK Institute of Mechanical Engineers that: “He is at present carrying on his business at 19 Victoria Mansions, Queens Club Gardens, West Kensington.” Membership in other Societies.Major (2nd in command), 2nd London Rifles. The City of London Rifles (CLR) was a volunteer regiment of the British Army, originally raised as the ‘Printers’ Battalion’. Between 1887 and 1909, George was a member of the United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons, Earl Roberts Lodge. 3 Married: In Marylebone 27 Dec 1899 (Saint Thomas, Saint Marylebone: Portman Square, Westminster, England) to Mary Eveline Geoghegan b. 1873 Saugor, Bombay, India, d. 22 Aug 1933 Nairobi. 3 Children: War Service:  The East African Mounted Rifles was a regiment of mounted infantry raised in the British Colony of Kenya for service in the East African Campaign of the First World War. Formed at the start of the war from volunteers, it was entirely white and drawn primarily from Boer settlers and members of the Legion of Frontiersmen. With horses in short supply, some men were mounted on polo ponies or mules. The East African Mounted Rifles, around 400 strong, deployed to support the recapture of Kisii, Kenya, in September 1914. They also served in an attack on Longido in German Tanganyika in November. Further action on the frontier followed until April 1915, when the unit was posted on guard duty on the Uganda Railway. 4 Time Line & Residences: George spent many years in East Africa, a place he loved and had close connections with.

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1815 – 1897 Dr Richard Oke Millett

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Dr Richard Oke Millett was the grandson of Richard Oke Millett (1749 – 1832). He was born on 18 Nov 1815 at Penpol, Hayle, the son of Revd. John Curnow Millett (1771-1848) and Mary Honey (1788 – 1859. However, in the census records he records his birthplace as Lansallos, some 55 miles from Hayle. Although not directly in our line, I have added details of Dr. Richard Oke as he has quite a story to tell. Dr Richard Oke became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1839 gaining the following qualifications: In 1837 Richard Oke patented “Millett’s Improvements in Instruments for Extracting Teeth”. It is described as an instrument which “consists of a handle, shaft, lever, bolster claws and screws.” On 26 March 1850, Richard Oke Millett was charged by George Vawdrey, a fellow surgeon of Hayle, Cornwall, of publishing “a scandalous libel upon him”.  On 29 October 1849, under the pseudonym H. E. Edwards, Richard Oke Millett had written to the Board of Health in London concerning medical practitioners’ behaviour during the cholera epidemic in Hayle in the second half of 1849 and stating that “The medical men are the scorn of the neighbourhood”.  While the Court found for the plaintiff (Vawdrey), he was awarded damages of just one shilling, and on the recommendation of the jury each party was required to pay his own expenses.  An account of the case is given in the West Briton newspaper for 29 March 1850, with the following  update in the issue for 5 April 1850: “VAWDREY v. MILLETT  A correspondent states that on the return of the defendant in this action from the Assizes, he was met about three miles on the road by a large number of the inhabitants of Hayle and the neighbourhood, with bands and banners.  After a hearty cheering, his phaeton was unhorsed, and he was drawn into Hayle by the people.  The precession drew up in front of the White Hart, Hayle Foundry; and afterwards he was accompanied to Penpol, where he briefly addressed the multitude, thanking them for their generous sympathy, which would cheer him onwards in unceasing efforts for the public good.” Another dramatic event in Richard Oke’s life took place early in 1864.  On Friday 1st January at Crotch’s White Hart Hotel, Hayle, a coroner’s inquest was held into the death of Jacob Curnow Millett. Royal Cornwall Gazette 29 January 1864: On Saturday, Mr. Richard Oke Millett, a surgeon of considerable means, living at Hayle, was brought before a full bench of magistrates, charged with having administered poison to his brother, Jacob Curnow Millett, with intent to cause his death. It appears that on the 30th of December, deceased, after partaking of a hearty dinner, was taken ill. He gradually became worse and died on the following morning. An inquest was held on the body, and a verdict of “Died from natural causes” returned. After the interment, suspicions of foul play were entertained, and the Home Secretary complied with a request to give an order for the exhumation of the body, certain portions of which were sent to the eminent Dr. Taylor, for analysis. Mr. Millett was arrested at his residence on Friday evening. The inquiry was commenced on Saturday. Mr. Roscorla, of Penzance, prosecuted; and Mr. Downing, of Redruth, defended the prisoner. We cannot find anything in the evidence given during the day inculpating the accused, nor any hint as to the particular poison supposed to have been administered. However, bail was refused, and Mr. Millett was consequently kept a prisoner until yesterday, the day appointed for a further hearing. Up to the time our parcel left, the case against the accused remained very weak.  Richard Oke Millett married Elizabeth Ann Davy (1824 – 1899) on 14 August 1866 at Truro. It is this R.O. Millett who we have to thank for drawing up the family tree in 1899, and even if there are a few discrepancies, his work of research is greatly appreciated. On 20th September 1893, Richard Oke became a trustee of the Passmore Edwards Institute, a technical institute in the town of Hayle. (Pictured above) The Institute’s benefactor was John Passmore Edwards, a Victorian journalist and philanthropist, and a life-long champion of the working classes. He was a generous benefactor with dozens of community buildings being established as a direct result of his bequests. Richard Oke died 1 March 1897 at 4, Penpol Terrace leaving his widow, Ann, £6,102 3s. 4d. Today, that is worth £978,056.00.  He was buried 4 March 1897, Phillack.

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1845 – 1901 Henry Michell Millett

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Henry Michell Millett was born in Liverpool on 31 December 1845 to Honey and Mary Millett. He was baptised at St. Peter’s Church, Liverpool on 28 May 1946. At the age of 3, Henry’s father died of Typhus in Liverpool.  On 30th May 1850, his mother Mary remarried. At the age of 5, Henry is recorded as living in the town of Conchan on the Isle of Man with his mother and stepfather, Thomas W. Allpress, together with siblings Helen E. Millett, age 11, Walter H. Millett, age 7, and Honey Millett Jnr. age 3. His older brother Charles Dewen Millett is recorded as living with his grandfather, Richard Oke Millett, at Penpol, in Hayle, Cornwall. On the 19th of May 1866, Henry married Catherine Elizabeth Stansbury at St. Mary’s Spring Grove, London. Their son, Henry Stansbury Millett, was born on the 22nd of February 1867. Henry worked for the civil engineering company, Wilkinson and Jarvis, of Westminster, London. This company was responsible for constructing some of the railway lines in Norfolk, including the Yarmouth and North Norfolk Railway, the Lynn and Fakenham Railway and the Yarmouth Union.  In the 1881 census, Henry, aged 35, is recorded as living in Walsingham, Norfolk, with his wife and is recorded as a civil engineer. This village is a short distance north of Fakenham.  It lay on the Wells and Fakenham Railway railway line between Fakenham and Wells-on Sea. In 1883 Henry was living in The Grove, Holt, Norfolk, as the Eastern and Midlands Railway resident engineer. [1] In 1884 Wilkinson and Jarvis advertised for investment in a new line, part of the Eastern and Midlands Railway, for which they were the contractors. He later became an engineer during the construction of the Luleå – Ofoten line in Sweden. [6] He took on his nephew, George Curnow Millett, as an apprentice, working on both these projects. In 1884 the Swedish and Norwegian Railway Co. entered a contract with a firm of contractors to build the line. However, behind the contractors were Messrs Wilkinson and Jarvis, described as honorary engineers to the company but who were largely interested in the contract. In the Business Directory of London in 1884, Pinn & Millett are recorded as contractors at 3 Victoria Street, SW (London), and in 1888, the electoral register showed his ‘chambers’ as 3, Victoria Street in Westminster, London. The contractors for constructing the line between Luleå and Ofotenbanan in Northern Sweden were the company, Pinn and Millett. The London Gazette on 26th December 1893 reported that Pinn and Millett formerly carrying on business at 16 (late 3), Victoria-street, Westminster, in the county of Middlesex, England, as Engineers, under the style of Pinn and Millett, under the partnership formerly existing between them, were calling for creditors to come forward. [4] On 21st September 1897, Henry joined the Freemason’s Union Lodge, in Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana.  It is unclear what took him there but the Freemason’s records show he resigned in 1899, presumably to return home to England. [3] 1901 he was living in Fulham with his wife Katherine and Henry S Millett. Henry died on 18th January 1903 at 30 Lexham Gardens, Middlesex leaving effects of £983.00 (£147,394 in today’s money). He was buried in Kensington and Chelsea, London. William White’s History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1883. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Henry_Michell_Millett * The Homeward Mail from India, China, and the East was first published on 1 January 1857 by Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co. It is a compendium of political, military, and economic news from the East. A predominant part of the paper is related to news about India, the jewel of the British imperial crown. In the early years, it was published every two weeks, but this steadily increased until 1876 when it was published weekly. https://gbggs.org/ The London Gazette 26/9/1893

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