Son of Joseph Swindell and Elizabeth(West?), born on the 15th of October 1842, baptised on the 30th of October in St John the Baptist, Shoreditch.
Married Elizabeth Weston (1844 - 1863) on the 29th of June 1862 in St James' Church, Shoreditch
Married Sarah Ann Pullen (c1844 - ?) on the 12th of December 1864 in St Peter's Church, Bethnal Green
Children
?George, born 1861/2 in
Shoreditch (not found in BMD) - stepson
?James, born 1865 in
Shoreditch - grew up and married in London
Married Mary Ann Thompson (widow of Arthur Buckland) on the 30th of November 1869 3 in the Weslyan Chapel, Durham Street, Christchurch, New Zealand (died 1921)
Children
Joseph, born 1870 in Christchurch
Clara, born on the 20th of January 1874 in Christchurch
Alice, born 1875
Ada, born 1876 in Greymouth
Albert, born 1877 in Christchurch
Mildred, born 1881
Violet, born 1883
Ruby, born 1886 in Wellington
Ernest, born 1889
Died on the 1st of January 1890 in Wellington Hospital, Wellington, New Zealand, buried on the 11th of January 1890, Bolton Street Memorial, Wellington, New Zealand 3
Emigrated to New Zealand in 1867 aboard the Lancashire Witch to join his father and younger brother and sisters. Bankrupt March 1870 3 . Changed the spelling of his name to Swindale at some point. He was, like his father, a watchmaker by trade. He earned £4 a week and his son earned 35/- a week. He continued his father's watchmaking/jewellery business from 1880 till his own death in 1890.
James Lived in Brougham Street, near the Basin Reserve when they first arrived in Wellington. After James' death Mary Ann went to Little Pipitea Street in Thorndon where Ernest Grew up. 3
1 Information from from family page for Sophia Roberts and Joseph Thompson published by Cheryl Berquist and 'Swindale formerly Swindell' homepage published by Anthony Swindale
2 The birth of James Swindell was registered in the fourth quarter of 1842 in Shoreditch (FreeBMD 2 416)
3 Information from Cheryl Berquist
4 Consideration of the baptisms at St John the Baptist, Shoreditch presented an anomaly. A James is baptised in October 1842, son of James and Elizabeth. However there is only one birth of a James registered in Shoreditch in that period. The same anomaly exists for James' sister Elizabeth, born 27th December 1840. It would therefore seem that James and Elizabeth are not Joseph's children at all though he lists James as his son in both the 1851 and 1861 censuses. They could well the children of James Swindell by an earlier unrecorded marriage.
If this is the case then Joseph Swindell could be younger than previously argued and be James' brother looking after his brother's son after James' first wife had died.
An e-mail from Tina Potter has clarified the issue. She has found an annotation in the parish register identifying Joseph, not James, as the father of James. This would also apply to James sister Elizabeth, baptised on the same day.
5 Information on James's first two marriages from
'Mac' via Lynn McLennan.
At his first
marriage he gives his age as 20 and his father as Joseph
Swindell, Watchmaker.
At his second
marriage he is a widower 'of full age' and his father is
Joseph Swindell, Watchfinisher.
The signature is the same in both entries.
The death of an Elizabeth Swindell was registered in the second quarter of 1863 in the district of Shoreditch (FreeBMD 1c 139).
6 "Re the Swindell/Swindale issue, Ernest, the youngest of James and Mary Ann’s children was the only one born Swindale, that is, his birth was registered in that name. The other surviving children were given the choice of changing their names. Some did, some did not. The name change was urged upon the family by Joseph the first-born of James and Mary Ann’s kids, and related to a row between James and his older brother Joseph." Information from Les Swindale.
7 Picture courtesy of Les Swindale
