Two Welsh-speaking children born illegitimate in rural Denbighshire, only twelve miles apart. Did they meet in the countryside or later in Wrexham? The story of Francis Owens Hughes and Mary Elizabeth Roberts spans farms, collieries, Canada, tragedy at Gresford, and a pocket watch that survived when its owner did not.
Britain’s first lager was brewed in Wrexham. From Victorian German founders and North Wales water to the Titanic, Khartoum, football chants and modern revival, this is the remarkable story of Wrexham Lager.
What began as a short piece about my great-great-grandfather Thomas Edwards, a cabinet maker in Wrexham, soon became something much more. First mentioned in the newspapers in connection with keeping animals in unsanitary conditions, the story took an unexpected turn as I followed the records.
Tracing the family through the streets of Wrexham revealed a picture of everyday life in the Victorian and Edwardian years, a hardworking family raising children and building their lives. Along the way, it became clear that Thomas wasn’t the man responsible for those animals after all.
But the research uncovered far more than I expected, including a family secret that had remained hidden for a generation.
Something a little different this week as Frederick Purslow isn't from my own family tree. My friend Christine had asked me to research her own family, and this was her Uncle Fred. It was such a lovely story to uncover I wanted to add it to my blog. Frederick Volance Purslow was born on 6 […]
With November 11th approaching and the anniversary of the Gresford disaster just passed, I would like to remember and pay respects to three of my ancestors who were all born in the late 1800s. Arthur Parry, my dad’s uncle, was born in 1889, the son of George and Mary. He grew up in Bronington with […]
The actor and singer Russell Crowe has roots in North Wales. His Grandad was born in Wrexham, he later emigrated to New Zealand
While researching a family tree, I stumbled on “Panton Place” in Wrexham—a name hiding the harsh truth of workhouse births. What I found next was a surprising tale of rural morality and Victorian euphemisms.
