I was looking through Findmypast newspapers to see if there is anything new for me – the newspapers are free access here this week. A little random entry caught my eye in Saunders' News-Letter, Dublin, of 31 December 1807. It looked like a small advertisement, but it was, in fact, a letter that had been written on a ship called the Solebay and the ship was at sea at the time the letter was written;
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| Saunder's News-Letter, Dublin, 31 Dec 1807, Findmypast |
Now if that were an Irish reference, it would be years
before I would locate this A. Sproule. But this letter was all about the English navy and A. Sproule was from an English family, and two hours later I had A. Sproule’s entire
Navy record, and his family history back to the 1600s! (With a little help from a friend!)
This letter of 1807 tells us that A. Sproule was on the ship, the Solebay, when he chased and captured the privateer lugger, the Estrella del Noste, of Vigo. So this was a good place to start, with the names of these two ships. Up it popped straight away. Captain Andrew Sproule, for that was his name, had taken over command of the Solebay in 1807. The Estrella del Noste was a Spanish ship, which puzzled me a bit since the British were at war with the French at the time, not the Spanish. However, then I saw a nice little entry that explains all. Captain Sproule's frigate, the Solebay, met the Elstrella del Noste off the Leeward Islands, in the Caribbean. Here the Spanish and the British always had difficulty.
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| The Naval Gazetter, Biographer and Chronologist, J.W. Norie, 1842 |
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| From the excellent site Three Decks Forum |
Both
of Captain Sproule's last two ships, the Dorset and the William and Mary, were Royal Yachts,
and Captain Sproule seems to have spent most of his time on these Yachts sailing between Ireland
and England.
Who,
then, was this Captain Andrew Sproule? His Will was in the UK National Archives,
written on 5 Jun 1820, and proved in 1822. (PROB
11/1664/131) The Will gives us everything that we need to begin tracing his family. We learn that Andrew was married
to Harriet Letitia, and that his eldest daughter had the same name, Harriet Letitia
Sproule. The Will tells us that the next daughter, Catherine Elizabeth, was
married to a Rev. George Bisshopp, and that there was another daughter, Anna.
So with that information over to Ancestry.com and there we can find Harriet Letitia, the eldest daughter, who was baptised on 3 Dec 1788 in Clifton, near Bristol, in England. (Bristol Church of England Parish Register, Reference: P/AL/R/3/a Ancestry.com)
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| Baptism of Harriet Letitia Sproule |
I found the daughter Anna in the same Bristol Parish Records, but she was not christened in Clifton. Anna was baptised in Abbots Leigh, Holy Trinity, Somerset, and this Somerset reference became important.[1] We find in total 5 children in this family, all girls. They were Harriet, Anna, Catherine Elizabeth, Louisa and Mary. Only 3 of the girls are in the Will of Andrew Sproule, the last two, Louisa and Mary, are not there.
There are a couple of family trees on Ancestry for this family, which makes life easier. However, two had linked our Captain Andrew Sproule to an Andrew Sproule born in Somerset in 1763. I was very sceptical about this until I saw Anna's baptism record above, perhaps Andrew is also linked to Somerset. His death record clinched it - no ambiguity or mysteries in England! [2]
There is our Captain Andrew Sproule, who died on 8 Nov 1822 in Clifton, near Bristol, However, Andrew was buried in Bathford, Somerset. So Captain Sproule had lived round Bristol, but he had kept his family home in Bathford, Somerset. The 1763 baptism record that was on Ancestry.com was also from Bathford, Somerset, so this was definitely the baptism of our Captain Andrew Sproule.
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| Baptism of Andrew Sproule of Bathford, Somerset, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, Ancestry.com |
We now know that Andrew Sproule was christened on 15 Jan
1763, in Bathford, his father was Andrew Sproule and his mother was Catharine Sproule.
A quick search on Ancestry and this was the first up;
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| Marriage Andrew Sproule Esq. and Catharine Mocher 12 Apr 1753 |
This is a marriage on 12 Apr 1753 in St George's Chapel, Mayfair, London, of an Andrew Sproule Esq. and a lady called Catharine Mocher. [3] Could this be the father and mother of our Captain Andrew Sproule? Possibly, there aren’t that many Andrew Sproule’s about in southern England.
Another entry for the same marriage, on the same date, was from ‘London,
England, Clandestine Marriage and Baptism Registers’! [4] A ‘clandestine marriage’? That sounded like a
bit of scandal, but no, this is England! According to the UK National Archives, clandestine marriages in this case were;
“Marriages by a form of ceremony conducted by an ordained clergyman, but without banns or licence, and generally not in a church or chapel, usually away from the parish of the bride or groom were termed clandestine marriages. The main appeal of clandestine marriages was seemingly for reasons of cost.” [5]
But here is something rather strange! There was another marriage for the same couple – they got married a second time, one month after the ‘clandestine marriage’. On 15 May 1753 in St Giles, Camberwell, Southwark, Surrey, England, we have the second marriage. [6] And would you look here...
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| 2nd Marriage of Andrew Sproue Esq and Catharine Mocher 15 May 1753 |
And of course it did!
Andrew Sproule esq. was the son of Joseph Sproule, who was the second son of
Captain John Sproule of Longfield, Westmeath, who died in 1730. Joseph Sproule’s
line of this Athlone Sproule family are Quakers, so I wonder if that had something to do with the ‘clandestine’
first marriage of Joseph’s son Andrew and his wife Catharine Mocher? Or was it simply money after all.
James Sproule tells us in his book that the brother of Catharine
Mocher is Flower Mocher. Well nobody’s going to forget that name, and I
certainly didn’t! A few months ago I came across a Major General Flower M.
Sproule, Colonel in the British Royal Artillery.
This officer was appointed 1st Lieutenant in the
Royal Artillery 21st July 1779 and rose to Major General the 1st
of January 1812. So Major General Flower Mocher Sproule was a younger brother of
our Captain Andrew Sproule of the Solebay. Flower Sproule had no children, so this interesting name died out!
So now we know that our Captain Andrew Sproule of the Solebay was born in January 1763, probably in Bathford House, Bathford, Somerset. He died 8 Nov 1822 in Clifton, near Bristol. He married Harriet Letitia, who was born about 1761 and who died in Cheltenham, on 30 Aug 1832.
The father of Captain Andrew Sproule was Andrew Sproule Esq. of Bathford, who died on the 13 June 1794 in Kemerton, Wychavon District, Worcestershire. His grave inscription reads:
Sacred
to the Memory of
Andrew Sproule Esq.
of Bath in the County of Somerset,
who departed this Life
to the inexpressible regret of his family
and friends at his House in this Parish
June 13, 1794 Aged 74 [7]
Andrew Sproule Esq. was born 1720 in Athlone, Ireland. He married Catharine Mocher in 1753 and they had 3 sons and 3 daughters. [8]
Andrew Sproule Esq. was the son of Joseph Sproule of Athlone, the second son of Capt. John Sproule of Longfield. For further information on this family see Eight Centuries of the Spreull and Sproule Families by James R. Sproule.
UPDATE
James Sproule, from Eight Centuries of the Spreull and Sproule Families, has very kindly forwarded a picture of a real treasure that James has been given. This spoon belonged to Captain Andrew Sproule. It has his initials, the date 1790 and RN engraved on it. Thank you James!
References:
[1] Bristol Archives; Bristol, England; Bristol Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: P/AL/R/3/a, Ancestry.com
[2] Somerset, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1914, Ancestry.com.
[3] City of Westminster Archives Centre; London, England; Westminster Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: SGCM/PR/1/3 Ancestry.com
[4] London, England, Clandestine Marriage and Baptism Registers, 1667-1754, Ancestry.com
[5] General Register Office: Registers of Clandestine Marriages and of Baptisms in the Fleet Prison, King's Bench Prison, the Mint and the May Fair Chapel, National Archives.
[6] London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P73/GIS/001, Ancestry.com
[7] St. Nicholas Churchyard, Kemerton, Wychavon District, Worcestershire, England, Findagrave.com
[8] Eight Centuries of the Spreull and Sproule Families by James R. Sproule.
And I have an engraved silver table spoon that belonged to Capt Andrew!
ReplyDeleteTerrific James, can we see it?
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