In my Jarrett family Blacksmiths seem to prevail. I can trace the profession back to three brothers in the Limpsfield/Oxted part of Surrey: John J (1794) Robert (1797) and Stephen (1807). Seeing as they were all blacksmiths it's probably not a stretch to assume that their father was -- but no proof as yet. Stephen had a son who carried on the business, but it was John who really boosted the numbers -- SIX of his sons went on to become blacksmiths in Limpsfield, Oxted, Caterham, Westerham, Merle Common and Titsey! Arthur (the middle son) had a son Alfred Amos (my great grandfather) who carried on the tradition. Many others were whitesmiths, iron mongers and engine fitters. What's *really* interesting is that just recently I have been contacted by someone who is living in the cottage Alfred Amos and family used to live in, and I was able to supply old photos of the place as it was then. Coincidentally, I had mentioned that our Jarrett family were connected at one point to another old area family -- the Tidy's. The strange part is that a Mrs. Tidy (aged 90) now resides next door to him in what used to be The Forge. And sure enough, there's her husband on our family chart!! And it gets even weirder. A week before this fellow contacted me about The Forge and Cherry Cottage, he and his wife had been visiting British Columbia . . . and even Vancouver Island ,with a view to emigrating!!! How's that for coincidental connections? Jennifer Trivvie wrote: > And this one as well ... We could extend this to - Family Jobs - i.e. Those > passed down from generation to generation ... > > Sue > > > What about our grandfather's jobs ? > > Pat.xxx :o)) > A Maid of Kentnd the body of the message > > >

My Irish gg-grandfather, Robert Irwin, was a Sapper and Miner. As was his son, Frederick George Irwin. The occupation ran in the family, for so also was my other paternal gg-grandfather, George Fuller. (The Sappers & Miners, an Army Corps, later became the Royal Engineers.) By all accounts, Robert Irwin was a bit of a tearaway. He was born in Limerick in southwest Ireland in 1806. Nothing is known of his earlier years, but he must have learned to read and write, for he was recorded as 'literate'; he certainly signed all his important documents. In August 1826 he married Ellen McAuliffe in Limerick Cathedral. He joined the Sappers & Miners in Dublin in March 1827. He was 21, and his attestation papers describe him as "5ft 7in tall, with fresh complexion, dark brown hair and hazel eyes". [That would have described me very well when his age!] By trade he was a painter, plumber and glazier. After a brief period of training in surveying at the headquarters of the Corps in Chatham, he was posted to Armagh in Ulster as a lowly sapper in a small detachment carrying out the land-tax survey of Ireland. And his first son, Francis George Irwin, was baptised there in 1828. However, perhaps as an early indication that his behaviour was not entirely satisfactory even in his lowly role, in 1829 he returned to his Company and was posted to Gibraltar for 7 years. Here son Thomas and daughter Mary were born. By 1838 he was back in Chatham, in preparation for a posting to the new colony of South Australia. A detachment of 11 Sappers under Capt. E C Froome - who was destined for much higher office - sailed from Plymouth and arrived at the tented encampment by the coast in September 1839. Their job was to survey and lay out a new town, Adelaide, on a better site inland. Although the men "travelled with their wives and families", Robert had only his wife Ellen with him, apparently leaving behind their 3 other children. A daughter, Catherine - my future g-grandmother - was born in April 1841 and baptised in Holy Trinity Church in the growing new town of Adelaide. Alas, Sapper Robert Irwin proved less than satisfactory and Capt. Froome lost no time in sending him back to England. He arrived just in time to see his son Frederick George attested as a Sapper at Woolwich in November 1842, before being sent off again in June 1843, this time to Hong Kong - along with his wife Ellen. He was soon in trouble again. Some years earlier he had been before a Court Martial for forcing the door of an oil and paint store. Now in 1844 it was for habitual drunkenness: "28 days in solitary". And again in 1848: "drunk on guard duty, and habitual drunkenness: 84 days hard labour". This was the last straw. He was discharged the service on a modified pension at Hong Kong on 27 December 1849. His discharge papers state that he retired on medical grounds - "intermittent fever" - and, remarkably, his conduct for the past 12 months was described as "Good"! I then lose track of Robert Irwin. The line in his discharge papers showing 'Next Destination' is blank. His Company had returned to England while he was serving his last sentence. So I have to assume he stayed in Hong Kong - with the long-suffering Ellen - and that both died there, quite probably before 1855... In the meantime, son Francis George had done quite well in his own career as a sapper. He was awarded a bronze medal for being part of the guard detachment at the 1851 Great Exhibition. He was also married that year. In 1856 his company was sent to the Crimea, fortunately after the fighting had ended. But it was from here that he sent home a pair of ornately-carved paperweights with 'F.G.IRWIN, Scutari 1856' on a brass plate on the side. These eventually graced the sideboard at my childhood home, leading to my mother making the earliest remark I can recall about my family history: "Francis George Irwin was a sort of great uncle and that explains your Irish origins". However, FG's stay in Scutari must have been brief, for in August 1856 he was in Gibraltar. His wife joined him and his only son was born there in 1857. He stayed in Gibraltar until 1866, when he returned to Chatham and took honorable discharge from the Corps as Colour Sergeant in July 1867. He retired to Bristol where he died in 1893, having risen to the rank of Major Adjutant with the Gloster Engineer Volunteer Corps. Back to Catherine Irwin. She did not go to Hong Kong when her parents were sent there; presumably she stayed with relatives in England. But when news arrived that her parents had died, it seems she accepted an invitation to join her brother Francis George in Gibraltar. For here she met - and married - Sapper George Fuller. A record of the marriage has not been found, but a son, Ernest Irwin Fuller, my future grandfather, was baptised in Gibraltar on 18 October 1862. George Fuller was from Newport in the Isle of Wight. Born in 1833, he joined the Sappers & Miners as a carpenter in 1855 an after a spell in Bermuda, he too arrived in Gibraltar in 1858. The Fuller family - George, Catherine, Ernest and a new daughter Ellen (named after Catherine's mother?) - returned to Chatham in 1866, where George left the Corps and returned to civilian life as a carpenter. So that was the end of my links with the Sappers & Miners. But I enjoy working with wood...! Howard