Catherine Spilsbury's Family

Photos from the Family Meet-Up on 29 June 2013

The List of Contemporary Second-Cousins

This directory contains information and documents about the children of Catherine Spilsbury-Cheeper ( (c.1836-1906) and Anthony (Jacques) Clarke/Cheeper (1837-1918).

For details of Catherine, see her own page.

For further details of Catherine’s very interesting husband Anthony, including his families with other wives, see the AJCheeper/Clarke directory.

Catherine and Anthony had 10 children. We know 3 died as infants, and that 1 had no children. We're fairly confident that 5 others had no children. The third, Albert Jacques, was the only one who appears to have sustained the Cheeper name. It lasted until 1965, when the last Cheeper, Ruth, married and changed her name. (A stepson of Albert's son Hunter adopted it, and is still alive; but he carries only the name, not the blood or genes, and he had three daughters but no sons).

In the case of children 2 and 3 and 6, we have enough information to warrant a separate file, which is linked to below. The limited amount of information that we have about the other 7 children is recorded within this page:

1. Anthony George Cheeper (1859-1859)
   Anthony (already the fourth in the line to carry that name) was baptised on 19 Aug 1859, at St James in Gravesend, Kent.
   His father Anthony is shown as Gentleman (which is rather different from 'merchant's clerk' on their marriage certificate 10 months earlier, and a change in an unusual direction).
   Anthony junior died the same week, and was buried 27 August 1859, at the same church
2. Catherine Lisabel Cheeper (1860-1938)
   Catherine was also born at Gravesend.
   She became a nun, Sister Janet Mary, lived most of her life in London, and had no children
3. ALBERT JACQUES CHEEPER (1862-1937), the first of only two extant lines
   Albert was born in Islington (North London).
   He had 8 children by 2 wives, in Scotland, Northumberland, and again Scotland.
   His was one of only two lines that gave rise to Cheeper children (the other being in Canada).
   But in the next generation there was only one who produced a child.
   And Ruth, being female, ceded the name on her marriage in 1965.
4. Charles Spilsbury Cheeper (1863-1911)
   His birth certificate shows that he was born on 24 Dec 1863.
   The registration was on 8 January 1864, at Crawley, East Grinstead, Sussex (south of Gatwick, even now just beyond the south-western outskirts of London).
   He wasn't in the household in the April 1871 census (when his parents were in York).
   Although he was only 7 at the time, in the 1871 Census, he and Albert were at school in Gravesend in Kent – with his surname spelt as Cheaper, and his birthplace wrongly shown as Suffolk. (He may well have been uncertain!).
   We haven't found him in the censuses of April 1881 (at 17, by which time he was very likely at sea), or 1891 (at 27).
   In the 1901 census (at 37), he was a boarder at 340 Dumbarton Rd, Sandyford, Glasgow, occupation 'Marmid' – ED: 16, Household schedule number: 8, Line: 20, Roll: CSSCT1901_298. He is again shown as Cheaper. ('Mar...' could be Mariner?)
   Anne surmised that he was a seaman all of his adult life, and in 2009 and 2016 found this evidence:
   • 1882 – Chas Cheeper, AB, aged 19, arrived in Sydney, New South Wales from the Port of London, 20 Apr 1882, in the 'Bargany' of Greenwich, Robert Milne, Master, Burthen, 1232 Tons. So he was probably the second of the family to pay a visit Australia, after Anthony Jacques in the mid-1850s
   • 1884 – C.S.Cheeper, AB, age 1862 (i.e. 22), of Kent, arrived Sydney, New South Wales from the port of London, 18 Nov 1884, in the 'City of Corinth' of Glasgow, Jas McDonald, Master, Burthen, 1276/1219 Tons
   • 1891/93/95 – aged 27/29/31, qualified as Second Mate, First Mate, and then Master
   • 1901 – in Glasgow (perhaps briefly), at the time of the Census
   • 1904 – was eligible for a company medal with Allan Bros & Co., serving around 25 Feb 1904 as 2nd Officer on the 5000-ton SS Mongolian – a vessel active 1891-1918, sunk late in WWI, with heavy loss of life, in Filey Bay, Scarborough.
     (Would you believe this?! Two days after typing those words, I tripped over a photo of SS Mongolian. I was on a page that displayed a photo of the Lake Manitoba, on which a nephew of Charles' – probably unknown to him – sailed from St John, Newfoundland to Liverpool in 1910)
   • 1906-07 – engaged on the 'Yoruba', London-New York-Cardiff, discharged 2 Mar 1907 (line 4). Shown as born in Crawley, and Home Address 26 Crofton Rd, London, which is 3 miles south of Southwark
   • 1908 – Charles Cheeper, aged 43 (actually 45), "1. Off." on the ship 'Ben Dearg', ex Santa Rosalia, Mexico (halfway along the Baja California) on 24 March 1908, arrived Port Townsend WA on 29 Apr 1908 (although 2,200 nautical miles in 36 days would be under 3 knots) – Alien Crew List
   • 1909 – Chas.S.Cheeper, Age: 43 (actually 46), Town or Country where Born: British, arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, from Delgoa Bay, 27 March, 1909, as Mate on the 'Ben Dearg' of Glasgow, Burthen 2193 Tons, William Thom, master
   • 1911 – C.S.Cheeper arrived back in the UK, as a passenger, and by inference from the markings as a patient, on 20 Jun 1911 (aged 48), on the 2154 ton 'Homayun', from Bombay to Cardiff
   
   Anne had found a death certificate early on, showing that he died on 26 Sep 1911, at 47, in the Seamens Hospital in Gravesend, from Sprue exhaustion. (This seems to have something to do with a celiac condition, an intolerance to some foods). He was shown as a seaman on the 'Bendin' of Bombay. The registration date was 9 Oct 1911, and the informant was E.D.Hawthorn, Steward of the Seamens Hospital.
   We've found no evidence that he ever married, and he appears to have had no issue (although, being a sailor, one needs to append 'to speak of').
5. Ellen Florence Cheeper (1865-1959)
   Her birth certificate shows that she was born on 10 October 1865.
   Her father was shown as a Commercial Traveller.
   The family's address was shown as 20 Wyndham St, West Plymouth (now a highly congested area).
   She was baptised on 18 Aug 1870, but by this time the family was in St Helen York. This is the old district immediatelty south of the Minster.
   She is with the family in the 1871 census, aged 5, at 44 Annaken’s Court, Blake Street, St Wilfred, York. This is in, or adjacent to, the St Helen's area.
   We haven't found her in the 1881 census, when she would have been 15.
   m. William UNDERWOOD, on 19 November 1890 at the Register Office, Leeds.
   She was 24, a spinster, milliner, of 12 Ellen Tce Leeds.
   H e was 40, the divorced husband of Ruth formerly Groves, father Joseph Underwood (deceased), farmer.
   In the 1891 census, she's with William, with her 17-year-old sister Daisy also in the household
   In the 1901 census, they're in King's Lynn, and 31 yo cousin Edith Richardson is visiting.
   This is the only knowledge we have of contact between Anthony's and Ellen's children
   William died in 1936 at 86 (Dec Qtr 1936, Yarmouth 4ab 24).
   Ellen died in Jun Qtr 1959 (Acle 4b 352), at 93.
   We've found no evidence of any children
6. ANTHONY SIDNEY CHEEPER (1867-1902), the second of only two extant lines.
   Anthony was born in Aston.
   He migrated to Montreal in 1883 at the age of 16, married and had 6 children.
7. Arthur Patrick Cheeper (1869->1891)
   He was born on 21 Sep 1869, in Dublin.
   The family's address shown as 16 Upper Gloucester St, North Dublin.
   He was later baptised at St Helen's York.
   He is with the family in the 1871 census, aged 1, at 44 Annaken’s Court, Blake Street, St Wilfred, York.
   He was admitted to Gt Yarmouth Grammar School in 1877 (so aged 7), address given as 28 Crown Rd (courtesy of the National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870-1914).
   But that was shortlived, because the card bears the forlorn mark "Mr Cheeper left the town Christmas 1878".
   We haven't found him in the 1881 census, when he would have been 11.
   The family was briefly in Ireland when he was a child, so possibly he returned there as an adolescent or adult?
   However, in Feb 2017, Anne found an entry in the UK, Naval and Military Courts Martial Registers 1806-1930 for Disciplinary Actions, indicating a Court and Trial in Malta, and giving this reference:
   Arthur P CHEEPER Military Regiment- R.W.Surrey, Ref No. WO 86/43
   If he was, say, 20 at the time, this would have been c. 1889.
   If his serial number can be found, his enlistment-date could be interpolated from this page.
   Anne had considered that possibility that he might be the Arthur George Cheeper, who is in the 1891 census in Aldershot, in the Army, and claiming to have been born in Devon.
   (This person is the right age to be Arthur Patrick (21), and no Arthur George is visible in the public record, even as a birth. If you were denying that you were born in Ireland, you might well also deny that your second name was Patrick. Alternatively, might he have gone to sea, or migrated?).
   Anne later decided that the entry is our Arthur, at the time a sergeant in the 19th Hussars, a cavalry regiment. It saw action in the Sudan in 1885 and South Africa in 1899. If he was actually 21, and with a misbehaviour warranting a court-martial on his record, he was doing very well to already be a sergeant.
   Anne's found no evidence of a wife or children.
8. Ernest Teakle Cheeper (1871-1871)
   His birth certificate shows that he was born on 19 Jun 1871, when the family was at Blake Street, St Wilfred, York.
   The father was shown as a commercial traveller. (Teakle was Anthony's step-father's surname).
   His death certificate shows that Ernest Teakle died on 5 Aug 1871, at 6 weeks, of diarrhoea, at 30 St Paul's Square, Bishophill Jnr, Micklegate in the City, York, with Jane Simpson in attendance.
   York Cemetery advised Anne in 2005 that "Ernest was buried in second class grave 2885. A second class grave is one stage better than a public grave in that the number of occupants is limited to 8 and the executors are entitled to 6 lines of inscription on the slab that eventually closes it".
   The apparent penury is bemusing because, in the April 1871 census, Anthony's household included two servants (one of whom is known to have existed, because shortly afterwards she started mothering children to him) – although he did enter into an arrangement with creditors a year later in April 1872.
9. Alice Daisy Cheeper (1873-1962)
   Her birth certificate shows that Alice was born on 2 November 1873.
   The family was at 30 St Paul's Sq., St Mary Bishophill Junior, York.
   His father was shown as a commercial traveller.
   In the 1881 census, at 7, she appears to be the Alice H. Cheeper at 82 Downham Rd, Islington (literally just around the corner from where her family had lived in 1862).
   The error in the second initial appears to be only one of a large number of errors in the entry for that household that evening.
   Alice is visible in the 1891 census, at 17, living with her elder sister, Ellen, then 26, who had been recently married to William Underwood.
   In the 1913 Kelly’s Directory of Kent, on p. 662, she appears as Alice Daisy Cheeper, Miss, Milliner, and p. 664 at Page & Cheeper, Milliners, 53 High St, Sittingbourne, Kent.
   We haven't found any evidence of children, and it appears unlikely that she had any.
   Her death certificate shows that she died on 25 December 1962 (Dec Qtr 1962 Fakenham 4b 493).
   She was shown as a spinster, and retired shopkeeper, aged 86 (actually 89).
   Her address was shown as Gordon Road, Melton Constable, Walsingham in Norfolk, 50 miles from Yarmouth where she'd lived as a child, and presumably a popular place for retirement, given that it's only 2 miles from Great Snoring).
   But the informant was someone from the Loo Water Nursing Home, Heacham, King's Lynn
10. Eva Rose Cheeper (1877-1877)
    Her birth certificate shows that she was born on 16 March 1877.
    The father was shown as a commercial traveller, by that time almost 40 years old.
    Catherine was 40 or 41.
    The family's address is shown as 28 Crown Rd, Yarmouth, Norfolk.
    Eva died in the same year.

We're missing a lot of information; and we'd love to know more!

Most of the information on this page came from Anne's research, with a little from Albert's grand-daughter Ruth. A breakthrough lead on Anthony Sidney in Montreal came from George, an unrelated researcher who contacted Anne via the Genesreunited site and drew her attention to Anthony Cheeper's migration to Quebec on 'The Polynesian' in 1883.

This a page within Roger Clarke's Family Web-Site

Contact: Roger Clarke and/or Anne Kratzmann

Created: 14 October 2005; Last Amended: 1 Sep 2006, 19 Aug 2008, 31 Dec 2008 (link to the new Anthony Sidney Cheeper page), 16 Aug, 24 Sep and 1 Oct 2009 (Charles Spilsbury updates), 20 Jul 2013 (ditto), 24 Feb 2016 (ditto), 8 Mar 2016 (refinement to Ellen Underwood), 25 Feb 2017 (Anne's new info on Charles' 1904 medal, Arthur's 1877 school and his c.1889? court-martial entry), 1 Mar 2017 (a photo of SS Mongolian)