There is a well used but nevertheless very apt saying in family history research, that it raises more questions than it answers.
And that is so true of the story of two brothers, three women and seventeen children.
With Courage, Nothing is Impossible
Those words are inscribed on the RNLI memorial in Poole Dorset.
The memorial contains a list of over 800 lifeboat crew and others who have lost their lives whilst endeavouring to save others at sea, together with the places and dates. The names include two members of the Emptage family.
Pure Luck
We normally trace our ancestors by following the names and details on the birth, marriage and death certificates and confirming the details with reference to the censuses and it is generally fairly easy.
Well, it is as long as our ancestors behave normally, appear where you expect them to be, and have normal family relationships. However, if their lives were complicated, the research becomes rather more difficult.
Herbert George Robins
Herbert George Robins, the son of George Robins and Martha Ann Emptage, arrived in South Africa in 1892, aged 25. With a keen interest in science, he became a prospector and a surveyor. As a farmer, Herbert stopped the hunting, shooting and poaching of game on his land. His 26,000 acres were bequeathed to the Southern Rhodesian Government to be maintained as a game sanctuary for all time.
Respect is due
When I researched the events which triggered the actions of Thomas Hepburn and other agricultural labourers during the Swing Riots, and the impact those actions had, both socially and politically, I was truly amazed.
It seems to me that we owe our ancestors rather more respect than is normally accorded to the agricultural labourers who feature in our family history.
Swing Riots of 1830
Thomas Hepburn married Elizabeth Emptage and they had two young children. He was 30, a ploughman and a wheel wright and yet, he risked everything, including jail, execution or transportation to a penal colony on the other side of the world if he were caught carrying out the action which he and others were planning on the night of 21st November 1830.