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The Wardells are a decorated military family but what connection do they have with a cottage in St Aubin?
‘Your Home, Your Story’ is a series of free talks at Jersey Archive that focuses on individual properties nominated by islanders wanting to know more about their home and the area in which they live.
As part of the next talk at Jersey Archive this weekend, Records Manager Natalie Saturnia has shared part of her research on 2 Springvale Cottage and one of its owners, who was related by marriage to the Wardells.
At the Maynooth University Library in Ireland, there is an archive dedicated to the Wardells, a family with an long military history. But what is their connection to the village of St Aubin in Jersey?
Pictured: Springvale House is visible on the 1795 Richmond Map, but the structure shown on this map looks too small to include 2 Springvale Cottage.
The answer lies with Florence Eileen Hungerford Hamilton, née Morgan, who owned 2 Springfield Cottage in the 1970s – and whose husband had married into the Wardell family with his first wife, Eva.
The property is on Le Chemin des Pietons, Les Mont Les Vaux. The original building of the adjacent Springvale House dates to the Georgian period, with a date stone from 1784, and Springvale House includes a number of historical features, including an 18th-century staircase.
However, it is likely that 2 Springvale Cottage was a later addition. Springvale House is visible on the 1795 Richmond Map, but the structure shown on this map looks too small to include 2 Springvale Cottage.
The Piton family owned the cottage for a number of decades from the mid-19th century until 1926, when Mabel Hilda Piton, who inherited the property from her father, John Philip Piton, sold it to Elias Poingdestre. Elias passed on the property to his children, Amelia Gertrude, Ethel Maud and Lilian Violet Poingdestre, who sold it to George Romeril in the mid-20th century.
Shortly after, George sold the property to Ernest James Betts. The property then changed hands several times until the 1970s, when Alfred Flint-Hartle and Gladys Smith sold it to Florence. She remained at the property until her death in 1977.
Florence had married her husband, Archibald Francis Hamilton, in India in 1919 when she was about 20 years old and he was 16 years her senior. Archibald was a military veteran. He served in the Indian Army and was a Regional Officer in the Number 9 (Midland) Region.
The couple lived in Jersey prior to the Second World War, although they left in 1940, returning once more after the war. Records show that they came back with two of their children; Joan Eileen, who was born in 1920, and Colin Victor, who was born in 1930.
Pictured: Archibald's application to return to the island after the Occupation.
The 1921 census records Archibald and Florence living in England with their daughter, Joan, and a servant called Jane Emma Baldwin. The census also confirms that Florence and Joan were both born in India. Archibald’s place of birth is listed as Nelson, New Zealand, which means he had travelled across the globe in a relatively short span of time.
His will confirms that at the time of his death, he was a St Brelade resident. It also reveals that he owned 5.5% Funding Stock in Wright Stevenson and Company, which was a stock and station agency based in Wellington, New Zealand.
The business was very lucrative due to a number of factors, including the gold rush, cattle increases, and the profitability of grain and seed. The ownership of the shares points towards him being a man of means.
His will also shows that he had four children in total, not just the two he arrived in Jersey with after the war. Children Joan Eileen, Ruth Nancy and Colin Victor were all born during Archibald’s marriage to Florence, to whom he bequeathed £1,000 each. However, his will also refers to a recently deceased son, Archibald Claude Hamilton.
Archibald Junior, according to his father’s will, was a Major of the South Wales Borderers Regiment. He died on 26 October 1944 at the age of only 36 years old. A newspaper article shows that he was killed in action in the Netherlands. It also reveals that he left behind a wife named Betty Gerrard, and that he was father to Jane and Nicholas Hamilton.
However, Florence was not Archibald Junior’s mother. He was born to Archibald Senior and his previous wife, Eva Gertrude Wardell. The Wardells were a family with longstanding links to the Island. Eva was born in 1872 in Portsea, England. She married Archibald Senior in 1908 in India.
She died in 1918, only ten years after their marriage and was buried in Kent. Eva’s parents were George Vaughan Wardell and Lucy Ann Charlotte. The Wardells lived in many places across the globe, including Jersey, and created a military legacy. It was through Archibald’s Senior’s marriage into the Wardell family that he developed a tie to the Island.
Eva’s father, George, was born in Canada in 1840, and died in 1879 in South Africa. He was killed in the battle of Isandlwana during the Zulu War at only 38 years old. His correspondence is included in the Wardell Archive in Ireland, along with that of William Henry Wardell Senior, who was born in 1799 and who also had a connection with Jersey.
Pictured: Records show William Wardell is buried in St Helier.
William Senior was a military veteran, like many of his descendants. Though he was not born in Jersey, he begins to appear on Jersey census records in 1861 when he was living in St Helier with his wife, Eliza, and their children, John and Mary, both of whom were born in Canada.
William Senior died in Jersey in 1881 at the age of 82 years old, although members of the Wardell family continue to appear on Jersey census records until at least 1901.
No Wardells are recorded in Jersey at the time of the 1911 census and the next mention of the family is Archibald Senior, widower of Eva Wardell, returning to the Island with his second wife, Florence, and continuing the family’s link to the Island.
LEARN MORE...
This article only touches on some of the research into ‘Your Home, Your Story’ series, sponsored by Antony Gibb Historic Buildings Consultants.
If you would like to hear more stories, Jersey Archive is hosting a free talk this Saturday (19 October). To book a place for the talk, call 833300 or email archives@jerseyheritage.org.
The Archive will also be open from 09:00 to 13:00 for general research.
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