Mells | Stanwell

My sister and I both have a memory of a story of our great grandfather, Albert Edward Hyman being a ‘foundling’ brought up by a jewish family.  However, it would appear that this is totally erroneous.  Whilst Hyman obviously sounds jewish, it is most likely that, for this lot of Hyman’s, the name is a derivation of Hayman - well, they were ag. labs. from the west-country.

There are no famous (or infamous) individuals in this particular line (although the extended family were somewhat notorious in Stanwell during the bulk of the 1900's).  The earliest I've been able to trace this line is my 5x gt. grandfather, John Hyman.

John was born c.1738 in Shaftesbury, Dorset.  He was an illegitmate son of one Elizabeth Hyman (about whom I know nothing).  In 1764 he married a Mary Barley.  John & Mary had five children, the first of which was Emanuel Hyman.  I've not been able to indentify a convincing record of John’s death.

Emanuel Hyman, my 4x gt. grandfather, was born c.1771 - at least, he was baptised 09 Nov 1771 in Shepton Mallet.  Emanuel married Sarah Drew in 1803 and as far as I can ascertain, they only had one child, John Hyman.  Emanuel died 1849 aged 78.

And on to my 3x gt. grandfather, John Hyman.  John was born c.1805 in Shepton Mallet.  In 1825 he married Mary Young and together they had four children.  Their second child and first son was William Hyman.  John died 1837 aged 32.

My 2x gt. grandfather, William Hyman was born c.1828/9 in Mells, Somerset.  The 1841 census returns for the parish of Mells are 'missing' from the PRO which makes it difficult to confirm when he was born, but there is a baptism record from 24 January 1829, so he may have been born late 1828.  In the 1851 census, William is to be found, with his mother, in the workhouse in Frome.  By 1859, William has made his way east to Stanwell, Middlesex where he marries Elizabeth Grooves/Wooderson who is 12 years younger than him .  William was either very unlucky or perhaps, 'not the brightest spark' as on the 1881 census he is in Staines Union Workhouse and he dies in the same workhouse in 1902.  Anyway, William & Elizabeth had eight children.  Their youngest was my gt. grandfather, Albert Edward Hyman.

Well, you've already been introduced to Albert.  He was born 17 Dec 1873 in Stanwell.  (You may want to read my 'Middlesex' page).  Albert married Phoebe Knight and they had 17 children!  On top of that, they also unofficially adopted/brought up a young man (no one knows the exact circumstances) and also raised an illegitimate child (born to my grandmother), as one of their own children.  Three died in infancy, one son was killed in WWI and another in WWII.  Their first born, John Knight, fought in both world wars in the Australian Infantry.  Albert & Phoebe's 7th child was my grandmother, Mary Elizabeth “Polly” Hyman.

Mary Elizabeth “Polly” Hyman was born 22 June 1903.  Rumour has it that in her ‘teens’, Polly was a maid at ‘the big house’ [Stanwell Place].  While there, she became pregnant and had an illegitimate child in 1924 - I'll not give the name as the person in question is only recently deceased.  The child was brought-up as one of Albert & Phoebe's.  In 1928, Polly married Richard Joseph Cecil Andrews and they had 4 children, the 1st being my mother, Nancy Andrews.  Well, not quite - her birth was first registered as Nancy Hyman in 1926 with no father's name and re-registered as Nancy Andrews in 1941 with Richard as father (all legal under Legitimacy Act 1926).