THE SHELVOKE FAMILY
SHELVOKE Industrial Heritage
Shelvoke & Drewry, innovative engineering
© Mark A S Grace, Updated October 2012
This update follows the transcription of the SHELVOKE part of the ONS to Ancestry.com. While decades of original work were done following family stories and physical paper trails, the compilation on a genealogical website with access to a multitude of cross-referenced records has allowed the verification and correction to the original story gracing these pages for so many years. This is the new and corrected version.
This update follows the transcription of the SHELVOKE part of the ONS to Ancestry.com. While decades of original work were done following family stories and physical paper trails, the compilation on a genealogical website with access to a multitude of cross-referenced records has allowed the verification and correction to the original story gracing these pages for so many years. This is the new and corrected version.
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How a Family Name Will Become Extinct in Modern Times
SHELVOKEs of Aston (Birmingham), Hitchin & Surrey
There are probably only a few family names that can be documented as becoming extinct in modern times - the SHELVOKE family name is one of them. The 2007 Electoral Roll showed the sole remaining name holder was Edythe Diana SHELVOKE in Kingsbridge, Devon. Conversation between Diana SHELVOKE and this webauthor in September 2008 confirmed that she is the widow of W. G. SHELVOKE, below.
The SHELVOKE name has also survived to a degree through three companies created by this branch: Accles & Shelvoke, Shelvoke Ltd (Shelvoke & Drewry, Dennis Shelvoke/Dennis Eagle) and Shelvoke Pickering & Janney. Records have now confirmed that the name SHELVOKE involved in the engineering companies in Birmingham, Letchworth and branches in Surrey have their origins as sons of Halesowen, themselves sons of Henry SHILVOCK and Ann SAUNDERS who moved to Aston, Birmingham in the early C19th. While the children (according to census) were generally born in Birmingham, church records have them being baptised in their traditional home of Halesowen.
How this name variant came about is probably that prior to the C18th the place of Shelvock was actually pronounced SHELVOAK - closer to the most likely Old English derivation of the name. The only early supporting evidence for this is the pirate and author George SHELVOCKE who, in his 1729 book on artillery, was referred to by phonetic aliases SCHELVOUKE or SHELVOKE. If this is correct, then the spelling of Shelvock as a name was kept remarkably consistent, however it was pronounced. Dialect may have also had a part to play and spellings are clearly interchangeable, connecting these families to the greater SHELVOCK family.
As far as family records are concerned the name SHELVOKE only starts to appears in the early C18th. The geographical limitation of the name to the Wolverhampton & Willenhall areas of Staffordshire, before spreading to the western parts of nearby Birmingham, and further afield, strongly suggests the family origins back in Shropshire as SHELVOCK (or as SHILVOCK, in Halesowen, originally an historic part of Shropshire) with the SHELV-OAK pronunciation. Exactly how, where, and when has yet to be determined, but other spelling variants are noted in the Kinnerley/Osbaston districts, one of the homes of the family. It could even be a variation started by one family line by pronouncing the name in the now forgotten, but traditional/original way.
The first family so far recorded with SHELVOKE was in 1722 at Eccleshall in Staffordshire, NW of Stafford. This group is most likely related to a Shropshire SHELVOCK family (see separate story). The family was probably there from the C17th since a Mary SHELVOKE married Joseph HODGETS in October 1722, the same year that a Thomas SHELVOKE married Jane WOOLRYCHE (baptised 1697). Thomas & Jane remained and had at least the following children: William SHELVOKE (c1723), Elizabeth SHELVOKE (c1726), Anne SHELVOKE (c1729), Thomas SHELVOKE (c1733-33), Jane SHELVOKE (c1735) and Mary SHELVOKE (c1738). While no other records are identified, possible descendants of this family were in the area for at least a further 60 years for a Mary d/o William & Sarah SHELVOKE was to be baptised there in 1798. There is no proven link between this and any other family so far.
In the C18th/C19th there are a small number of SHELVOKE & SHELVOCK references in the Wolverhampton area (including Tettenhall (c1843-72), north Wolverhampton). Although currently unconnected they have been shown to all be related. The main group is to be found in Willenhall, east of Wolverhampton, headed by Samuel SHELVOKE & Sarah ROBINSON (m. 1777 Wolverhampton). It is not clear when and how the family arrived, however they are recorded from 1778 to 1836 and further verified by census data. This is an area famous for small manufacturing and engineering workshops. Their Willenhall (baptisms at St. Giles) children were:
Elizabeth SHELVOKE (1778-?1812) = Thomas KERSHAW in 1797 Wolverhampton;
Fanny SHELVOKE (1780) = Joseph PERRY in 1800 Wolverhampton;
Prudence SHELVOKE (1782-1863) = Edward DUDLEY in 1801 Wolverhampton;
William SHELVOKE (1785-?1813) = Phebe TONKS in 1803 Wolverhampton:
daughters Sarah (1804-26) = 1825 as the the first wife of Richard KNOWLES, and Nancy (1807-81) = 1827 as the second wife of Richard KNOWLES & Mary (1809-83) then = 1832 George WEBSTER;
Samuel SHELVOKE (1790-1849 = 1811 Elizabeth HADLEY (1795-1834): children include Enoch SHELVOKE (1815-49) = 1837 Sarah JONES; Hannah SHELVOKE (1815-95); William SHELVOKE (1818); Mary SHELVOKE (1819) = 1836 Thomas BROSTON; Zipporah SHELVOKE (1823-49); Amelia SHELVOKE (1835-1930) by his 2nd wife widow Mary BUTLER nee HIPWOOD. Amelia had 3 children by Irishman Bartholomew GARVEY before marrying him just before his death in 1866 to legitimise the inheritance of their children. She then remarried to John JOHNSON in 1869;
Nancy / Ann SHELVOKE (1792) had an illegitimate daughter Fanny (c1810) before marrying John ASH in 1815;
Susanna SHELVOKE (1794-1805);
Martha SHELVOKE (1795);
Mary Ann SHELVOKE (1795);
Henry SHELVOKE (1796) = Sarah CRUTCHLEY in 1843 Wolverhampton;
Susanna SHELVOKE (1801);
Amelia SHELVOKE(1803-5);
There were no surviving male SHELVOKEs from the above Willenhall family, although abundant lines on the female side, so this SHELVOKE branch became extinct.
The SHELVOKE name has also survived to a degree through three companies created by this branch: Accles & Shelvoke, Shelvoke Ltd (Shelvoke & Drewry, Dennis Shelvoke/Dennis Eagle) and Shelvoke Pickering & Janney. Records have now confirmed that the name SHELVOKE involved in the engineering companies in Birmingham, Letchworth and branches in Surrey have their origins as sons of Halesowen, themselves sons of Henry SHILVOCK and Ann SAUNDERS who moved to Aston, Birmingham in the early C19th. While the children (according to census) were generally born in Birmingham, church records have them being baptised in their traditional home of Halesowen.
How this name variant came about is probably that prior to the C18th the place of Shelvock was actually pronounced SHELVOAK - closer to the most likely Old English derivation of the name. The only early supporting evidence for this is the pirate and author George SHELVOCKE who, in his 1729 book on artillery, was referred to by phonetic aliases SCHELVOUKE or SHELVOKE. If this is correct, then the spelling of Shelvock as a name was kept remarkably consistent, however it was pronounced. Dialect may have also had a part to play and spellings are clearly interchangeable, connecting these families to the greater SHELVOCK family.
As far as family records are concerned the name SHELVOKE only starts to appears in the early C18th. The geographical limitation of the name to the Wolverhampton & Willenhall areas of Staffordshire, before spreading to the western parts of nearby Birmingham, and further afield, strongly suggests the family origins back in Shropshire as SHELVOCK (or as SHILVOCK, in Halesowen, originally an historic part of Shropshire) with the SHELV-OAK pronunciation. Exactly how, where, and when has yet to be determined, but other spelling variants are noted in the Kinnerley/Osbaston districts, one of the homes of the family. It could even be a variation started by one family line by pronouncing the name in the now forgotten, but traditional/original way.
The first family so far recorded with SHELVOKE was in 1722 at Eccleshall in Staffordshire, NW of Stafford. This group is most likely related to a Shropshire SHELVOCK family (see separate story). The family was probably there from the C17th since a Mary SHELVOKE married Joseph HODGETS in October 1722, the same year that a Thomas SHELVOKE married Jane WOOLRYCHE (baptised 1697). Thomas & Jane remained and had at least the following children: William SHELVOKE (c1723), Elizabeth SHELVOKE (c1726), Anne SHELVOKE (c1729), Thomas SHELVOKE (c1733-33), Jane SHELVOKE (c1735) and Mary SHELVOKE (c1738). While no other records are identified, possible descendants of this family were in the area for at least a further 60 years for a Mary d/o William & Sarah SHELVOKE was to be baptised there in 1798. There is no proven link between this and any other family so far.
In the C18th/C19th there are a small number of SHELVOKE & SHELVOCK references in the Wolverhampton area (including Tettenhall (c1843-72), north Wolverhampton). Although currently unconnected they have been shown to all be related. The main group is to be found in Willenhall, east of Wolverhampton, headed by Samuel SHELVOKE & Sarah ROBINSON (m. 1777 Wolverhampton). It is not clear when and how the family arrived, however they are recorded from 1778 to 1836 and further verified by census data. This is an area famous for small manufacturing and engineering workshops. Their Willenhall (baptisms at St. Giles) children were:
Elizabeth SHELVOKE (1778-?1812) = Thomas KERSHAW in 1797 Wolverhampton;
Fanny SHELVOKE (1780) = Joseph PERRY in 1800 Wolverhampton;
Prudence SHELVOKE (1782-1863) = Edward DUDLEY in 1801 Wolverhampton;
William SHELVOKE (1785-?1813) = Phebe TONKS in 1803 Wolverhampton:
daughters Sarah (1804-26) = 1825 as the the first wife of Richard KNOWLES, and Nancy (1807-81) = 1827 as the second wife of Richard KNOWLES & Mary (1809-83) then = 1832 George WEBSTER;
Samuel SHELVOKE (1790-1849 = 1811 Elizabeth HADLEY (1795-1834): children include Enoch SHELVOKE (1815-49) = 1837 Sarah JONES; Hannah SHELVOKE (1815-95); William SHELVOKE (1818); Mary SHELVOKE (1819) = 1836 Thomas BROSTON; Zipporah SHELVOKE (1823-49); Amelia SHELVOKE (1835-1930) by his 2nd wife widow Mary BUTLER nee HIPWOOD. Amelia had 3 children by Irishman Bartholomew GARVEY before marrying him just before his death in 1866 to legitimise the inheritance of their children. She then remarried to John JOHNSON in 1869;
Nancy / Ann SHELVOKE (1792) had an illegitimate daughter Fanny (c1810) before marrying John ASH in 1815;
Susanna SHELVOKE (1794-1805);
Martha SHELVOKE (1795);
Mary Ann SHELVOKE (1795);
Henry SHELVOKE (1796) = Sarah CRUTCHLEY in 1843 Wolverhampton;
Susanna SHELVOKE (1801);
Amelia SHELVOKE(1803-5);
There were no surviving male SHELVOKEs from the above Willenhall family, although abundant lines on the female side, so this SHELVOKE branch became extinct.
Census records confirm that the SHELVOKEs in Birmingham are the family of Henry SHILVOCK & Ann (nee SAUNDERS) of Halesowen, and are therefore a branch of the SHILVOCK clan of that town.
After marrying in 1811 Clent, Henry (of Halesowen) & Ann moved to Aston, Birmingham. Although their children may have been born in Aston, they were baptised in Halesowen. Due to extreme transcription errors the family have been difficult to trace, but have now been located with the exception of a few census. Henry & Ann's 8 children of record are numbered and described below:
2. James SHELVOKE (1814-bef 1871) head one branch of the family centred in nearby West Bromwich (Handsworth) and Aston, parts of present-day Birmingham. James married Catherine HARPER in Aston in 1833. They had three children:
After marrying in 1811 Clent, Henry (of Halesowen) & Ann moved to Aston, Birmingham. Although their children may have been born in Aston, they were baptised in Halesowen. Due to extreme transcription errors the family have been difficult to trace, but have now been located with the exception of a few census. Henry & Ann's 8 children of record are numbered and described below:
- Mary Ann SHELVOCK (1812) = James Lewis BIDDULPH in 1831 Birmingham;
2. James SHELVOKE (1814-bef 1871) head one branch of the family centred in nearby West Bromwich (Handsworth) and Aston, parts of present-day Birmingham. James married Catherine HARPER in Aston in 1833. They had three children:
- James SHELVOKE (c1834-1923) = 1854 Sarah ROOKE and had 4 daughters: Mary Ann SHELVOKE (1857), Elizabeth SHELVOKE (c1859-1951) nurse & spinster, Florence SHELVOKE (c1867-1918) in 1906 = Alfred James NEVILLE, & Kate SHELVOKE (c1870-1940) spinster;
- George SHELVOKE (c1837-1907) in 1862 = Emma SHOWELL:
- Annie SHELVOKE (1868) in 1894 = John ASHFORD;
- Charles SHELVOKE (1870-1945) = Mildred Hamilton SMITH in 1898 and had one son Charles Hamilton SHELVOKE (1902-1955) = Evelyn Doris HARMAN in 1927;
- George Edwin SHELVOKE (1874-1962) – see below;
- Harry SHELVOKE (1877-1962) = Minnie SINIGAR (1877-1937) in 1901 then Gilberte Louise Delphine Josephine BEECKMAN (1903-70) in 1940. Harry worked for the Lacre Motor Company of London before co-founding Shelvoke & Drewry in Letchworth, Herts.
- Mary Ann SHELVOKE (1838);
- George Edwin SHELVOKE married Charlotte Theodora FEENEY (1873-1934) in 1898 (possibly in South Africa) and had Gwyneth Grace SHELVOKE (born in Cape Colony, South Africa c1900-1966) & William George SHELVOKE (1907-1985). Gwyneth died unmarried, while WG married Edythe Diana THORPE in 1968. In the Midlands, 1907 appears to be the last birth year of a SHELVOKE. Diana SHELVOKE reports that WG had a falling out with his father over the father's second marriage, and consequently would not talk about his family, even to his wife.
G E SHELVOKE 1941
W G SHELVOKE c1960
A Brief History of Accles & SHELVOKE Ltd.
(based on information kindly supplied by the Eley Limited archives and their website):
The firm Bennett's Successors Ltd., was formed on 1.10.1903 by J. G. ACCLES and 6 other persons, and was funded by 6000 individuals each owning a single 10 shilling share. At an Extraordinary General Meeting on 14.1.1914, at the company's registered office of the Talford Street Works, Aston, Birmingham, the company name was changed to Accles & SHELVOKE Ltd., (A&S). In 1993, Eley Limited, a subsidiary of IMI plc, acquired A&S and still resides at the above address. No one of the SHELVOKE family name is connected with the new company. Some archival material was transferred at the time of acquisition.
According to the firms own website Accles & SHELVOKE was formed in 1913 to commence the manufacture of cartridge-powered captive bolt stunning equipment (a world leader in humane animal killing). The Company is now the world's leading manufacturer of this type of product and exports to more than 60 countries. Within the Company's portfolio is a range of consumable products for the meat industry, and the recently launched Cash Electrical Stunner. Accles & SHELVOKE also manufacture a range of cartridge-operated tools for other industries, such as the Electricity Industry; Marine Salvage and Repair; and Law Enforcement (including the Warrior air pistol). They have also developed an underwater gun for divers.
It is unknown what the company produced in the early C20th. George Edwin SHELVOKE (s/o George SHELVOKE) in the notes he wrote after J. G. ACCLES death only refers to "experimental work". In the deeds of A&S a Mrs. Emma SHELVOKE (earlier historian assumed was George Edwin's mother - now confirmed by census records) leased houses in Phillip St., (nos. 49, 51 & 53) to Bennett's Successors Ltd. The deeds also mention a house in Mansfield Road, Birchfield that at one time belonged to the SHELVOKE family. The only known pictures of the family are above. GE is pictured lighting his pipe on a Works outing.
3. Thomas SHELVOKE (1816-1853) was in Ireland as he married Ann from Roscommon (1822-1854) before the the 1851 census in Ireland. A daughter Elizabeth (1849-83, who married Robert STAGG in 1871) and son Thomas (baptised 1851) with mother given a Bridget KELLY).
4. Two SHELVOKE-named families that settled in the Croydon area, south of London in the early C20th have been fully linked back to Henry SHELVOKE (c1819 Halesowen-1895 Aston) = Sarah SLINN (c1817-1861) in 1841. Census records support that Sarah had an unmarried sister, Esther SLINN (c1809), who is usually found living with various family members thereafter, once recorded as Henry's common-law wife. Henry & Sarah's children:
5. John SHELVOKE (1822-1894) married Caroline TINEY in 1840 Birmingham, then after her death widow Ellen ASH. No issue.
6. Daniel SHELVOKE (1823) was a hawker, for the last 2 census he can be found on was living at the home of his married niece (d/o of elder sister Mary Ann). In 1846 he married Elizabeth WOODWARD in Aston and she died a few months later. He never remarried. In 1855 he served a prison sentence for involvement with counterfeit coin.
7. Charles SHELVOKE (1827-1859) - unmarried.
8. George SHELVOKE (1830-34).
(based on information kindly supplied by the Eley Limited archives and their website):
The firm Bennett's Successors Ltd., was formed on 1.10.1903 by J. G. ACCLES and 6 other persons, and was funded by 6000 individuals each owning a single 10 shilling share. At an Extraordinary General Meeting on 14.1.1914, at the company's registered office of the Talford Street Works, Aston, Birmingham, the company name was changed to Accles & SHELVOKE Ltd., (A&S). In 1993, Eley Limited, a subsidiary of IMI plc, acquired A&S and still resides at the above address. No one of the SHELVOKE family name is connected with the new company. Some archival material was transferred at the time of acquisition.
According to the firms own website Accles & SHELVOKE was formed in 1913 to commence the manufacture of cartridge-powered captive bolt stunning equipment (a world leader in humane animal killing). The Company is now the world's leading manufacturer of this type of product and exports to more than 60 countries. Within the Company's portfolio is a range of consumable products for the meat industry, and the recently launched Cash Electrical Stunner. Accles & SHELVOKE also manufacture a range of cartridge-operated tools for other industries, such as the Electricity Industry; Marine Salvage and Repair; and Law Enforcement (including the Warrior air pistol). They have also developed an underwater gun for divers.
It is unknown what the company produced in the early C20th. George Edwin SHELVOKE (s/o George SHELVOKE) in the notes he wrote after J. G. ACCLES death only refers to "experimental work". In the deeds of A&S a Mrs. Emma SHELVOKE (earlier historian assumed was George Edwin's mother - now confirmed by census records) leased houses in Phillip St., (nos. 49, 51 & 53) to Bennett's Successors Ltd. The deeds also mention a house in Mansfield Road, Birchfield that at one time belonged to the SHELVOKE family. The only known pictures of the family are above. GE is pictured lighting his pipe on a Works outing.
3. Thomas SHELVOKE (1816-1853) was in Ireland as he married Ann from Roscommon (1822-1854) before the the 1851 census in Ireland. A daughter Elizabeth (1849-83, who married Robert STAGG in 1871) and son Thomas (baptised 1851) with mother given a Bridget KELLY).
4. Two SHELVOKE-named families that settled in the Croydon area, south of London in the early C20th have been fully linked back to Henry SHELVOKE (c1819 Halesowen-1895 Aston) = Sarah SLINN (c1817-1861) in 1841. Census records support that Sarah had an unmarried sister, Esther SLINN (c1809), who is usually found living with various family members thereafter, once recorded as Henry's common-law wife. Henry & Sarah's children:
- Emma Sarah SHELVOCK (1842-91) = Samuel RUTTER in 1868 and lived in Sutton Coldfield;
- Edwin SHELVOKE (1844-1918) unmarried;
- Harry SHELVOCK (1849-1929) and umbrella maker = Annie Eliza SUTER in Birmingham then moved to Surrey:
- an unknown child died before 1911 census;
- Harry Clifford SHELVOKE (1874-1927 Croydon) = Lilian Marks BRAY in 1902 Croydon and three daughters: were born (Dorothy Edna SHELVOKE (1903) = Arthur L MITCHELL, Lilian Brenda SHELVOKE (1906) = Harry L WOODHOUSE in 1931 & Eileen Norah SHELVOKE (1909) = Frank C ROSSITER in 1937 Surrey);
- Frank Howard SHELVOKE (1881-1950), umbrella maker = Rose JENNINGS in 1911 Croydon: - Barbara May SHELVOKE (1914-97) = Harold Keble TAYLOR in 1940;
- Edna Annie SHELVOKE (1885-1961) = Thomas Edward LACEY in Lambeth, Surrey in 1912;
5. John SHELVOKE (1822-1894) married Caroline TINEY in 1840 Birmingham, then after her death widow Ellen ASH. No issue.
6. Daniel SHELVOKE (1823) was a hawker, for the last 2 census he can be found on was living at the home of his married niece (d/o of elder sister Mary Ann). In 1846 he married Elizabeth WOODWARD in Aston and she died a few months later. He never remarried. In 1855 he served a prison sentence for involvement with counterfeit coin.
7. Charles SHELVOKE (1827-1859) - unmarried.
8. George SHELVOKE (1830-34).