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Discovery at the National Archives

This month’s topic is “discovery” – so what better to write about than what I found on the Discovery section of the National Archives website?

Many years ago, when I first started exploring family history, my mother told me about a solicitor’s letter that she possessed amongst old family papers. This letter, addressed to Mr J W Holyland (JWH) of 186, Charnwood St, Leicester, and posted in 1911, referred to a claim against the estate of Thomas Bale, deceased. In short, the legal outcome was that JWH and Mrs Rawlings were “the persons entitled to the residue”.

John William Holyland was the older brother of my great grandmother Eveline Holyland; he seems to have been something of a reprobate and had spent his life in poverty. You can read his story (and see his photo!) in a separate post (1).

I knew the Bale surname as well; it was the maiden name of John William Holyland’s paternal grandmother.

As a newbie to family history research, I had no idea how to take this further. Imagine then my excitement when a rather aimless search on the National Archives site threw up this:


TS 33/63

William Bale (early 19th century). Pedigree (or family tree) of descendants, drawn up in 1910. Includes people with the following surnames: Holyland; Rawlings; Perkins; Bull; Neale; Sketchley; Dickson; Upton.

From my nascent genealogical studies, I knew some of these names – this was clearly my family! The record was not (and still is not) digitised but I was able to send away for a copy. (2)

What arrived through the post was an absolute treasure of a hand-drawn family tree which tied in neatly with the letter that my mother had kept. Dated 1908, it shows John William Holyland’s ancestral line back to his great-great-grandfather William Bale, who had died in 1812. The tree is incomplete; several of JWH’s siblings are not represented, and William Bale’s wife is wrongly named; however, other previously unidentified siblings of direct line ancestors were mentioned, allowing me to fill gaps in my tree.



Sadly the photocopy of the handwritten tree that I received from the National Archives is very faint, so this illustration has had to be “enhanced” (but not altered) with a biro!

It appears that Thomas Bale, the testator, had died in 1889. He had been married three times, but had no surviving direct descendants. When his widow Mary died in 1908, claims on the estate were submitted by descendants of two of Thomas Bales’ siblings. JWH and Mrs Rawlings (who turned out to have been born Emma Bale, the younger sister of JWH’s grandmother ) were descended from one line. The other claimant, Martha Barradale, was shown by the court to have descended via an illegitimate line , rendering her claim on the estate invalid.

As the estate had been worth only £51 when Thomas Bale had died 20 years earlier, I suspect that the main beneficiaries of this case were the solicitors. However, for one as poor as John William Holyland, I imagine that any extra money would have been welcome.

(1)   https://holylandons.blogspot.com/2020/01/john-william-holyland-1874-1918_31.html

(2)  https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3554854


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