Salmon & Cockle Family Martin Joyce and Angela Robinson, July 2021
Annetta’s 80th Birthday at Byway, Chapel Lane in 1924: 1 Dorothy May Cockle (our Nana), 2 Muriel D Salmon (our mum), 3 Francis William Cockle (our uncle Frank), 4 Annetta Cockle (our great great grandmother), 5 Rose, 6 Rose’s daughter (courtesy Joyce & Salmon families)
Before Martin Joyce mentioned the words "Fishy Corner" in Chapel Lane, we had never heard the name for this area. His relatives were the Salmon and Cockle families and in November 2007 they held reunion which included a photograph of birthday celebrations for four generations at their family home in Box. All the photographs shown here are from the poster they produced for the event (courtesy the Joyce and Salmon families).
Early Salmon Family
The Salmon family were resident in Box for many generations. The first references are in the late 1600s when William Salmon and his wife (nee Yedith) had several children baptised as Anglicans including John Salmon (baptised in Box Church in 1684) and Edward (baptised 30 June 1686). The family appear to have been workers in the cloth industry and are some of the few residents that can definitely be attributed to a trade which once dominated the village. John may have been the same person who was apprenticed to John Harford of Bradford-on-Avon, a cloth worker, in 1694. Another family member, Mary Salmon, was apprenticed to John Stillman of Studley to learn the trade of broad-weaving in 1702. Thomas and Mary Salmon had a daughter Ann who died in 1735 and an unchristened daughter who died in 1743.
By the Georgian period we begin to see some of the troubling elements of local authority resettlement orders. Some of the family appear to have moved out of Box but drifted back into the village to live. It caused problems when they were out of work or needed social help from the local rates. Thomas Salmon, his wife and family were living in Box but, when they were without work, they had to appeal to the parish for a donation to support themselves. Because they weren’t born here, they were expelled to West Kington, the place of Thomas’ birth and had to appeal to that parish for assistance. Similarly, Frances Salmon, spinster, who was removed from Box to Freshford, her place of birth, by the parish authorities in 1722.
Our Family Line
Our ancestor on the Salmon side of the family was William Salmon, a tile digger in Box. He married Sarah Issack on 18 October 1752 and they had numerous children including: William (baptised 1765): Edward (baptised 1773); George (1797-1874); Ann (1779-4 July 1864) and Betsy (dates unknown). Edward Salmon (1773-) was a horse groom who married Susanna Cottle (born 1769 at Box-1855) in 1794. The family are recorded in the first census made in Box in 1801 and William was recorded in the
List of Militia of 1803 available to be called out if Napoleon should invade Box. He was said to be working as a tile digger but very ill. After his death, his widow, Susanna lived in Kingsdown House Asylum from at least 1841 until her death there in 1855 aged 86 years. She wasn’t a patient but a servant, a female nurse, who lived in the home. She was sufficiently wealthy to leave a will of her assets.
Our branch of the family came through Edward’s younger sibling George (1797-1874) who married Elizabeth Pillinger (1799-1871) on 15 April 1827. In 1851 they lived at Kingsdown, probably at Tyning Cottage, where George was a quarryman. Their children included: William (1837-), labourer; Edward (1840-); and Henry (baptised 28 January 1844-1907). Henry started work as a gardener in his teens, but later entered the stone industry as labourer and later as a quarryman. He advanced through the trade and described himself as a mason in 1901. He married Annie Prophet (1850-1917) in 1874. She wasn’t local but was a servant for the family of Henry Shebbeare, retired doctor, who lived at Mead Villa (now The Vicarage). When Henry’s father died, they appear to have taken over his four-room cottage in Kingsdown and brought up their family there, including our grandfather William George Salmon (25 December 1889-), about whom, more later.
In 1901 the family were still living in a cottage at Kingsdown, probably Tyning Cottage. After Henry’s death in 1907, Annie let out rooms to three teenage children, possibly paid for by the parish authorities. William George stayed in Kingsdown in 1911 looking after his mother as a 21-year-old. At this point we need to look at the maternal side of our ancestors, the Cockle family, before coming back to William George Salmon.
The Salmon family were resident in Box for many generations. The first references are in the late 1600s when William Salmon and his wife (nee Yedith) had several children baptised as Anglicans including John Salmon (baptised in Box Church in 1684) and Edward (baptised 30 June 1686). The family appear to have been workers in the cloth industry and are some of the few residents that can definitely be attributed to a trade which once dominated the village. John may have been the same person who was apprenticed to John Harford of Bradford-on-Avon, a cloth worker, in 1694. Another family member, Mary Salmon, was apprenticed to John Stillman of Studley to learn the trade of broad-weaving in 1702. Thomas and Mary Salmon had a daughter Ann who died in 1735 and an unchristened daughter who died in 1743.
By the Georgian period we begin to see some of the troubling elements of local authority resettlement orders. Some of the family appear to have moved out of Box but drifted back into the village to live. It caused problems when they were out of work or needed social help from the local rates. Thomas Salmon, his wife and family were living in Box but, when they were without work, they had to appeal to the parish for a donation to support themselves. Because they weren’t born here, they were expelled to West Kington, the place of Thomas’ birth and had to appeal to that parish for assistance. Similarly, Frances Salmon, spinster, who was removed from Box to Freshford, her place of birth, by the parish authorities in 1722.
Our Family Line
Our ancestor on the Salmon side of the family was William Salmon, a tile digger in Box. He married Sarah Issack on 18 October 1752 and they had numerous children including: William (baptised 1765): Edward (baptised 1773); George (1797-1874); Ann (1779-4 July 1864) and Betsy (dates unknown). Edward Salmon (1773-) was a horse groom who married Susanna Cottle (born 1769 at Box-1855) in 1794. The family are recorded in the first census made in Box in 1801 and William was recorded in the
List of Militia of 1803 available to be called out if Napoleon should invade Box. He was said to be working as a tile digger but very ill. After his death, his widow, Susanna lived in Kingsdown House Asylum from at least 1841 until her death there in 1855 aged 86 years. She wasn’t a patient but a servant, a female nurse, who lived in the home. She was sufficiently wealthy to leave a will of her assets.
Our branch of the family came through Edward’s younger sibling George (1797-1874) who married Elizabeth Pillinger (1799-1871) on 15 April 1827. In 1851 they lived at Kingsdown, probably at Tyning Cottage, where George was a quarryman. Their children included: William (1837-), labourer; Edward (1840-); and Henry (baptised 28 January 1844-1907). Henry started work as a gardener in his teens, but later entered the stone industry as labourer and later as a quarryman. He advanced through the trade and described himself as a mason in 1901. He married Annie Prophet (1850-1917) in 1874. She wasn’t local but was a servant for the family of Henry Shebbeare, retired doctor, who lived at Mead Villa (now The Vicarage). When Henry’s father died, they appear to have taken over his four-room cottage in Kingsdown and brought up their family there, including our grandfather William George Salmon (25 December 1889-), about whom, more later.
In 1901 the family were still living in a cottage at Kingsdown, probably Tyning Cottage. After Henry’s death in 1907, Annie let out rooms to three teenage children, possibly paid for by the parish authorities. William George stayed in Kingsdown in 1911 looking after his mother as a 21-year-old. At this point we need to look at the maternal side of our ancestors, the Cockle family, before coming back to William George Salmon.
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Left: Annetta Cockle, Dorothy May and Uncle Frank and Right: Annetta with our mum, Muriel D Salmon (courtesy Joyce & Salmon families)
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Cockle Family The Cockle family were newer to Box village, although there is a reference to John Cockles, shopkeeper of Box in 1607.[1] The Box family tree really starts with James Cockle (1844-1915), a farm labourer from Englishcombe, Somerset, who married Annetta Hancock (1844-1928) from Box. They set up home in the village where James tried his hand as a stone miner. They had at least ten children including James Adolphus Cockle, our great grandfather, and Frank Cockle (1885-). In 1891 and 1901 the family lived in one of the cottages at the middle of Chapel Lane, probably in rooms in part of Byway. In his prime, James was a typical quarryman and was fined for being drunk in the village in 1887 but by 1901 quarrying work was too strenuous for him to earn a living, then aged in the mid-50s, and he had to return to farm labouring.[2] James Adolphus Cockle outside Byway, Chapel Lane |
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James Adolphus Cockle (1878-1946) was a carter for the Radstock Coal Company who married Agnes Elizabeth Robbins (1883-1927) from Twerton on 13 February 1904, when she had just turned 21 years of age. By 1911 they moved to Pye Corner, Devizes Road, where they lived in the 3-roomed cottage with Agnes’ elderly uncle George Hancock. The family were related to Ernest Podge Hancock, tragically the last quarryman to die in a mining accident in the village in 1958 when a block of stone fell from a crane at Hartham Quarry and crushed him.
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Above Left: Francis William Cockle (our uncle Frank) at Chapel Lane and Right: William George Salmon (our grandfather), his daughter Dorothy May Salmon (nee Cockle, our Nana) and our mum (Muriel D Salmon) with uncle Frank on a day trip to Swansea (courtesy Joyce & Salmon families)
Fishy Corner
We can see how people married their neighbours in the centre of Box in the 1800s and 1900s. The distance between Pye Corner at the top of Chapel Lane and Byway in the middle of the Lane, is only a few yards. Where was Fishy Corner exactly? It is obviously a play on the words Salmon / Cockle / and Pye Corner and is the opposite corner of the Devizes Road to Pye Corner. From Byway, the corner stretched across open land up to the Devizes Road before Hillside and Hillview were built and before the Browning Garage was erected in the 1930s (now a residential site). The area was the family name to express how close the Salmon and Cockle families were in distance and in outlook.
But this isn’t the end of the story because on 11 April 1914 Dorothy May Cockle from Shockerwick married William George Salmon (Henry’s son and our grandfather). Dorothy May Cockle (sometimes known as Fairy was the granddaughter of James and Annetta (our great, great grandparents) and the daughter of John (3 December 1867-), a shepherd sometimes waggoner on farm who married Jane. This branch of the family lived in Shockerwick and Doncombe, near Colerne Airfield. Prior to her marriage, Dorothy had been working as a house and kitchen maid for Arthur Hamilton Unwin, a civil servant and Indian nabob, at Cavendish Place, Bath and later at Shockerwick House. It was here that she met a baker from Bathford, our grandfather William George Salmon who was delivering bread there.
William George Salmon volunteered for service in the First World War, joining up in 1914. But his record of active service was a catastrophe and a disaster for him personally. He was in hospital for 7 months in 1915 then sent to Salonika where he contracted malaria. It had severe repercussions mentally and physically. He was diagnosed with neurasthenia and melancholia (severe depression and anxiety) caused by the malaria and was hospitalised in September 1916. He developed a severe stammer and trauma of the fingers, caught measles and was transferred to the Army Service Corps. He was eventually discharged as unfit in July 1917 diagnosed as a non-combat casualty of the war. William George returned to his career as a baker at Kingsdown in a shop next door to the post office probably owned by John Brooke and a few doors up from Tynings Cottage.
After the war, the family connection with Fishy Corner was over and by 1939 William and Dorothy Salmon moved to Potley Lane, Corsham where William worked as an assistant storekeeper at Westinghouse, Chippenham. He was still unwell and Dorothy took the role of head of the household but grandfather still did all the baking, including making all the family’s Christening cakes. Their children included: Francis William (26 May 1916-1998), who was our uncle Frank, a carpenter who is seen in several photos, and Muriel Dorothy Salmon (20 August 1920-), our mother. She married Patrick Joseph Joyce who was born in Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne on 6 June 1913. Patrick's father was born in Ireland and his mother Sarah was born in Glasgow. Dad left the north of England looking for work and travelled south eventually reaching Bath, where he met mum at a dance (they were both very keen and very good ballroom dancers). They married in 1940 prior to dad being posted to India at the very start of WW2. They had nine children, including Martin and Angela.
Dorothy May Salmon (nee Cockle)
Remembered by Angela Robinson (nee Joyce)
Nana, as she was known to us all, was a very resilient and positive person. Her attitude to life was very inclusive and she had a very happy way about her. I remember very clearly the day of the Queen's Coronation. Nana invited as many people as she could to the house as she and William were the only people with a television; as you can imagine it was very crowded!! When she and our grandad were going on holiday one or two of the grandchildren were always taken with them. It was Nana who bought us our first bicycles and for me a wrist watch (an Oris from Dykes the Jeweller in Corsham High Street).
When I was young I spent most weekends at Nana's; it was a very happy house. Grandad worked at Westinghouse most of his civilian life and Nana had various part-time jobs which she loved. Grandad was very careful with money, but they were able to run a car (a Morris eight) and they always enjoyed b&b or a caravan holiday and frequently made coach trips to Blackpool to see the lights. I was the oldest of her nine grandchildren and, for religious reasons, four of us were sent to private convent in Chippenham. This was quite expensive but Nana was always helping mum out with bits and pieces and pocket money for us. When grandad died, Nana remained living alone in the bungalow they had moved to in Corsham some years previously. She still retained a good social life and mum (Muriel Dorothy) provided support to enable this. Eventually our mother's health deteriorated and Nana agreed (reluctantly) to move to a residential setting in Corsham called Hungerford House. Nana settled very well here and outlived her daughter and son-in-law.
Dorothy May Salmon was such a bright shining star amongst her friends (who knew her fondly as Fairy) she was generous and kind and really loved grandad and looked after him well. My fondest memory was her walking up our garden path on Christmas Day, wearing high heels and a fur coat and singing Johnny Ray's I never felt more like singing the blues. They were very joyful times!!
We can see how people married their neighbours in the centre of Box in the 1800s and 1900s. The distance between Pye Corner at the top of Chapel Lane and Byway in the middle of the Lane, is only a few yards. Where was Fishy Corner exactly? It is obviously a play on the words Salmon / Cockle / and Pye Corner and is the opposite corner of the Devizes Road to Pye Corner. From Byway, the corner stretched across open land up to the Devizes Road before Hillside and Hillview were built and before the Browning Garage was erected in the 1930s (now a residential site). The area was the family name to express how close the Salmon and Cockle families were in distance and in outlook.
But this isn’t the end of the story because on 11 April 1914 Dorothy May Cockle from Shockerwick married William George Salmon (Henry’s son and our grandfather). Dorothy May Cockle (sometimes known as Fairy was the granddaughter of James and Annetta (our great, great grandparents) and the daughter of John (3 December 1867-), a shepherd sometimes waggoner on farm who married Jane. This branch of the family lived in Shockerwick and Doncombe, near Colerne Airfield. Prior to her marriage, Dorothy had been working as a house and kitchen maid for Arthur Hamilton Unwin, a civil servant and Indian nabob, at Cavendish Place, Bath and later at Shockerwick House. It was here that she met a baker from Bathford, our grandfather William George Salmon who was delivering bread there.
William George Salmon volunteered for service in the First World War, joining up in 1914. But his record of active service was a catastrophe and a disaster for him personally. He was in hospital for 7 months in 1915 then sent to Salonika where he contracted malaria. It had severe repercussions mentally and physically. He was diagnosed with neurasthenia and melancholia (severe depression and anxiety) caused by the malaria and was hospitalised in September 1916. He developed a severe stammer and trauma of the fingers, caught measles and was transferred to the Army Service Corps. He was eventually discharged as unfit in July 1917 diagnosed as a non-combat casualty of the war. William George returned to his career as a baker at Kingsdown in a shop next door to the post office probably owned by John Brooke and a few doors up from Tynings Cottage.
After the war, the family connection with Fishy Corner was over and by 1939 William and Dorothy Salmon moved to Potley Lane, Corsham where William worked as an assistant storekeeper at Westinghouse, Chippenham. He was still unwell and Dorothy took the role of head of the household but grandfather still did all the baking, including making all the family’s Christening cakes. Their children included: Francis William (26 May 1916-1998), who was our uncle Frank, a carpenter who is seen in several photos, and Muriel Dorothy Salmon (20 August 1920-), our mother. She married Patrick Joseph Joyce who was born in Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne on 6 June 1913. Patrick's father was born in Ireland and his mother Sarah was born in Glasgow. Dad left the north of England looking for work and travelled south eventually reaching Bath, where he met mum at a dance (they were both very keen and very good ballroom dancers). They married in 1940 prior to dad being posted to India at the very start of WW2. They had nine children, including Martin and Angela.
Dorothy May Salmon (nee Cockle)
Remembered by Angela Robinson (nee Joyce)
Nana, as she was known to us all, was a very resilient and positive person. Her attitude to life was very inclusive and she had a very happy way about her. I remember very clearly the day of the Queen's Coronation. Nana invited as many people as she could to the house as she and William were the only people with a television; as you can imagine it was very crowded!! When she and our grandad were going on holiday one or two of the grandchildren were always taken with them. It was Nana who bought us our first bicycles and for me a wrist watch (an Oris from Dykes the Jeweller in Corsham High Street).
When I was young I spent most weekends at Nana's; it was a very happy house. Grandad worked at Westinghouse most of his civilian life and Nana had various part-time jobs which she loved. Grandad was very careful with money, but they were able to run a car (a Morris eight) and they always enjoyed b&b or a caravan holiday and frequently made coach trips to Blackpool to see the lights. I was the oldest of her nine grandchildren and, for religious reasons, four of us were sent to private convent in Chippenham. This was quite expensive but Nana was always helping mum out with bits and pieces and pocket money for us. When grandad died, Nana remained living alone in the bungalow they had moved to in Corsham some years previously. She still retained a good social life and mum (Muriel Dorothy) provided support to enable this. Eventually our mother's health deteriorated and Nana agreed (reluctantly) to move to a residential setting in Corsham called Hungerford House. Nana settled very well here and outlived her daughter and son-in-law.
Dorothy May Salmon was such a bright shining star amongst her friends (who knew her fondly as Fairy) she was generous and kind and really loved grandad and looked after him well. My fondest memory was her walking up our garden path on Christmas Day, wearing high heels and a fur coat and singing Johnny Ray's I never felt more like singing the blues. They were very joyful times!!
The story of these families is reminiscent of the lives of many Box residents. For many generations, the village was the focus of family life, which seemed to be eternal in the late Victorian period. The rural economy meant low incomes, inadequate housing conditions and poverty. This started to change dramatically in the First World War and was completely altered by immigration into the village in the Second World War. All of this we can see through the story of the Salmon, Cockle and Joyce families and their connection with Fishy Corner.
Cockle Family Tree
James (1844-14 September 1915) married Annetta Hancock (1844-7 May 1928). Children:
John (3 December 1867-), a shepherd sometimes waggoner on farm who married Jane and they lived in Shockerwick and Doncombe, near Colerne Airfield. John and Jane’s children:
Herbert (1890-);
Margaret (1891-);
Dorothy May Cockle (24 May 1892-1990), our maternal grandmother, who married William George Salmon; and
Elsie Anne (1911-);
Rosemary who married a market gardener and lived in Bromham.
Susan (1869-);
Frederick Isaac (1872-);
Jane (1873-1920) who married Albert Watts in 1908;
James Adolphus (1878-18 August 1946) who married Agnes Elizabeth Robbins (1883-1927) from Twerton on 13 February 1904;
Christiana (1880-) who married Samuel Mills in 1915;
Annetta (18 March 1882-) married Henry Thomas Howard Burbridge (14 December 1885-), a shepherd, on 24 February 1906;
Annie (1883-) who married Albert C Chapman in 1948;
Samuel Francis (1884-);
Frank (1885-).
James (1844-14 September 1915) married Annetta Hancock (1844-7 May 1928). Children:
John (3 December 1867-), a shepherd sometimes waggoner on farm who married Jane and they lived in Shockerwick and Doncombe, near Colerne Airfield. John and Jane’s children:
Herbert (1890-);
Margaret (1891-);
Dorothy May Cockle (24 May 1892-1990), our maternal grandmother, who married William George Salmon; and
Elsie Anne (1911-);
Rosemary who married a market gardener and lived in Bromham.
Susan (1869-);
Frederick Isaac (1872-);
Jane (1873-1920) who married Albert Watts in 1908;
James Adolphus (1878-18 August 1946) who married Agnes Elizabeth Robbins (1883-1927) from Twerton on 13 February 1904;
Christiana (1880-) who married Samuel Mills in 1915;
Annetta (18 March 1882-) married Henry Thomas Howard Burbridge (14 December 1885-), a shepherd, on 24 February 1906;
Annie (1883-) who married Albert C Chapman in 1948;
Samuel Francis (1884-);
Frank (1885-).
Salmon Family Tree
William Salmon, tile digger, married Sarah Issack on 18 October 1752. Children included: William (baptised 1765):
Edward (baptised 1773), horse groom, married Susanna Cottle (1769-1855) in 1794;
George (1797-14 May 1874);
Ann (1779-4 July 1864); and
Betsy (dates unknown).
George (1797-1874) married Elizabeth Pillinger (1799-26 December 1871) on 15 April 1827. Children: William (1837-), labourer;
Edward (1840-);
Henry (28 January 1844-14 March 1907) married Annie Prophet (1850-1917) in 1874. Children:
Ada Winifred (baptised 13 June 1875-1918) who married William Robert Ashley (1867-), widowed labourer, on 27 December 1904;
Ernest George (1877-4 April 1877)
Gilbert George (1878), gardener;
Ethel (1882);
Ernest Charlie (1886-18 December 1893);
William George (25 December 1889-) married Dorothy May Cockle (24 May 1892-1990), our maternal grandmother. Children:
Francis William (26 May 1916-1998), our uncle Frank who married Dorothy M Quick in 1948;
Muriel Dorothy Salmon (20 August 1920-), our mother, who married Patrick Joseph Joyce in 1940. Nine children:
Angela who married Graham Robinson; Phillip; Martin; Paul and Patrick (twins); Patrick, who died aged nine months; Michael; Julia Christine; Stephen Andrew.
William Salmon, tile digger, married Sarah Issack on 18 October 1752. Children included: William (baptised 1765):
Edward (baptised 1773), horse groom, married Susanna Cottle (1769-1855) in 1794;
George (1797-14 May 1874);
Ann (1779-4 July 1864); and
Betsy (dates unknown).
George (1797-1874) married Elizabeth Pillinger (1799-26 December 1871) on 15 April 1827. Children: William (1837-), labourer;
Edward (1840-);
Henry (28 January 1844-14 March 1907) married Annie Prophet (1850-1917) in 1874. Children:
Ada Winifred (baptised 13 June 1875-1918) who married William Robert Ashley (1867-), widowed labourer, on 27 December 1904;
Ernest George (1877-4 April 1877)
Gilbert George (1878), gardener;
Ethel (1882);
Ernest Charlie (1886-18 December 1893);
William George (25 December 1889-) married Dorothy May Cockle (24 May 1892-1990), our maternal grandmother. Children:
Francis William (26 May 1916-1998), our uncle Frank who married Dorothy M Quick in 1948;
Muriel Dorothy Salmon (20 August 1920-), our mother, who married Patrick Joseph Joyce in 1940. Nine children:
Angela who married Graham Robinson; Phillip; Martin; Paul and Patrick (twins); Patrick, who died aged nine months; Michael; Julia Christine; Stephen Andrew.
References
[1] Wiltshire Record Society, Vol XV, Early Stuart Tradesmen
[2] The Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Standard, 9 July 1887
[1] Wiltshire Record Society, Vol XV, Early Stuart Tradesmen
[2] The Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Standard, 9 July 1887