By Christine Swan
My late parents visited the United States of America on several occasions. Every time they did, my father would continue in his quest to locate our American cousins. He would scour telephone directories and yearbooks, but to no avail. At one point, I enlisted the help of a local mayor but, unfortunately, without a current location, even with the best of intentions and enthusiasm, we couldn’t make progress.
When I began researching our family history using internet searches and genealogy sites, this opened a wealth of sources that my father had not been able to access. I asked Dad to give me as much information as he had, and promised that I would do everything in my power to find them.
I had a copy of a letter, some photographs, addresses and a family tree, sketched out on paper, drawn one of my father’s cousins. During World War II, one American relative realising that luxuries were hard to obtain in England, sent regular food parcels along with detailed letters. In the letters, they offered to send anything that was needed and gave updates from their side of the pond. My paternal grandmother had also mentioned our American relatives, as she was a regular correspondent. At that time, I think that I was too young to take very much notice, which is something that I now regret. Oh to be able to go back in time and have those conversations over again! Many years had passed since I was that child, sipping orange squash and eating fruit cake in my grandmother’s house. Even though some people remain at the same address for decades, the USA is a huge country, and there was no certainty that my quest would be successful.
By the miracle of the internet, I did find my cousins eight years ago, and we have corresponded regularly ever since. It is immensely satisfying to find relatives that my father was so keen to find again, and to express sincere thanks for their generosity during years of hardship during World War II. Life was difficult in London during the Blitz and my grandparents’ house was destroyed by a V2 rocket strike. I am sure that they were grateful to receive treats and news to cheer them during such dark times.
To begin at the very start, I pondered on what had prompted one of my forebears to leave everything that was familiar behind him, to step on board a ship bound for the United States of America, as a young man, alone. There are still gaps in William Henry Bull’s story, but, nevertheless, it reflects the hopeful journey that so many British citizens undertook, looking for a better life in the USA at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth.
Baptism record of William Henry Bull at St Philip and St Jacob, Bristol in 1871
William Henry Bull junior, was born in July 1871, in Bristol, seven months after his parents married. He was not the eldest child as Rebecca, my great grandmother, had been born one year previously, while her mother, Eliza Rosina Mayes, was still single. Rebecca was baptised in her mother’s name only, which, I would have considered a bold move in 1870. In my mind, Eliza Rosina was a headstrong, independent woman, although I imagine that reality may not have been like that. She chose not to name the father of her child when she registered the birth, and, as she remained living with her parents, did not have the added trauma of her baby being born in the workhouse, with “the Union” named as the co-parent. I have no way of determining who the baby’s father was, William Henry junior and Rebecca could, therefore, have been half, rather than full, siblings.
The Norman font in the church of St Philip and St Jacob
When William Henry junior was baptised, the family were living in the delightfully named, Hampton Court, in the Redland district of Bristol. By 1881, the family had left Bristol for good and moved to Charles Street, Shoreditch, East London. This road no longer exists but is now subsumed into Luke Street. I can imagine that the tall warehouses and workshops contained a variety of small businesses, such as William Henry Bull senior’s chairmaking enterprise. In this particular census, the younger William Henry was ten years old, and the eldest boy of a brood of seven children.
The Bull family in Shoreditch in 1881
At some point between 1888 and 1890, William Henry Bull junior left London, bound for Liverpool, and boarded the White Star Line RMS Britannic, bound for New York. In an account written by his granddaughter, he claimed to have arrived aged seventeen or eighteen, which would make his arrival between 1888 to 1889. However, the most promising record of the Britannic’s crossings gives an arrival of 1890. Young William is listed as being accommodated in forward steerage and his occupation as being a labourer.
Manifest of the RMS Britannic arriving at New York in 1890
Upon arrival, William was employed as an engineer maintaining Cunard’s fleet. At this time, the transatlantic route was served by the RMS Umbria and RMS Etruria, although the fleet increased in 1892 with the addition of RMS Campania and in 1893, RMS Lucania. These ships were luxurious floating hotels for those with the budget to experience it. Transatlantic crossings took about a week and there was much prestige to be gained by offering the quickest journey time.
RMS Britannic of the White Star Line – By John S. Johnston – Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5108993
On 11th November 1893, William married Emily Louise Brice Pardy in Harrison, Hudson, New Jersey. Emily was also a Bristolian emigrant. Although her surname was unfamiliar, as it was a concoction of her grandparents’ surnames, to my surprise, her mother’s maiden name was strikingly familiar – Mayes. Emily’s mother was in fact, Martha Mayes, the younger sister of my great, great, grandmother, Eliza Rosina.
Martha Mayes and her children, arrived in New York in 1885, four or five years before William. It may be possible that he remembered his aunt and although today first cousin marriage is unusual, in the nineteenth century, it was far more frequent. Wealthy, titled people wished to keep their money, land, and property within the family. Although the Bull family did not fall into this category, it was probably familiarity that bought the two young people closer together.
Martha Pardy (nee Mayes) arrives in New York in the RMS Warwick in 1885
William Henry did not stay in New Jersey for long. The Panic of 1893 led to a financial depression and, although I have no proof of this, William Henry may have lost his regular work so chose a more reliable occupation. He signed up to serve with the American military and was posted to Fort Sheridan, Chicago, Illinois. This was not his first experience of the military. His granddaughter recounted how he served in the British army as a young man, including during the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. William Henry would have been sixteen years old. This is the minimum recruitment age for young men in modern times, but in William Henry’s youth, he could have joined age fourteen as a boy soldier. He recounted his experience of being part of Queen Victoria’s parade, and remembered that: “She was a stout, heavily set lady, who was very kind and gracious. She travelled with her grandson, then Grand Emperor of Germany.” This would have been the twenty-eight year old Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and King of Prussia.
Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee parade leaving Buckingham Palace – By Reigate : Francis Frith & Co Ltd – http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/2915900/queen-victoria-leaving-buckingham-palace-for-westminster-abbey-the-sailors-guard, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32231508
In 1894, a strike was carried out by railway workers against the Pullman company. They were protesting against wage reductions in response to economic conditions, and this led to trains being halted, mail being disrupted, violence against strike breakers, sabotage and an horrific train crash. Fort Sheridan is approximately forty miles from Pullman, Chicago, so it wasn’t without some logistic issues to get troops where they were needed to ensure that services ran. The deployment of 12,000 troops nationally, and 2000 to Chicago alone, was not without controversy as they were not deployed with local permission. There were violent clashes, with strikers killed and injured, along with extensive damage to property and financial loss.
Violence erupted between the strikers and the military charged with keeping the railway functioning – By Frederic Remington – Art done for Harpers’ Weekly, vol. 38, whole no. 1961 (July 21, 1894), pg. 680.; Additional digital editing by Tim Davenport (“Carrite”) for Wikipedia, no copyright claimed for the work, file released to the public domain without restriction., Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52867290
William Henry was almost twenty-three years old when he was deployed to Fort Sheridan. Newly married, and presumably away from his new wife, this cannot have been the start of the new life that he would have hoped for.
On the 16th of July 1894, Battery F, Second US Artillery were moving along Grand Boulevard, Chicago. Having only been deployed to the strike district a week previously. According to his granddaughter’s account, William Henry was carrying a dispatch for General Miles, and needed to ride along the same route as the Artillery battalion. Four horses were pulling a caisson, or artillery carriage, when one of the shells unexpectedly exploded. This caused a chain reaction of detonation that resulted in a scene of utter devastation. Four horses that were pulling the carriage, two cannoneers, who were sitting atop, and two officers riding alongside, were killed instantly. The shells, designed by General Shrapnel, deliberately fragmented into sharp shards, capable of causing maximum destruction. William Henry was a witness to all this. He had not been deployed to a war zone, and yet this was the scene that he faced.
Cross section of two Shrapnel shell designs – By War Office, UK – “Treatise on Ammunition” 4th Edition 1887, Page 217., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7370735
Sources that I have researched provide the names of four dead servicemen but, William Henry’s granddaughter, Eleanor, described eight men and horses being killed. One, a blacksmith, was hit in the skull. Whether he was employed by the military or a civilian, is unknown. A fragment narrowly missed a lieutenant, and then hit a sergeant in the side of the head, taking off his ear and half of his hat. A bugler was hit in the shoulder and his horse killed. It would have been a truly terrible scene and dreadful shock to William Henry. Whether his memory was accurate or not, and whether the retelling by young Eleanor was, I have no way of knowing. However, it does seem likely that such an event would be recorded in such detail , as it would doubtless have had a profound impact on William Henry’s life. It is rare to come across material that records so personally, an horrific tragedy from so long ago. Newspapers, and other historical documents report what happened, but William Henry, via Eleanor’s writing, conveys the personal impact too – the bugler’s devastation at losing his beloved horse, for example.
This was not to be the last accident involving Shrapnel shells, Eleanor recounts a second explosion in early August 1894, involving the fourth division. This was not as serious an explosion and it appears that only a single shell was involved and that there were no injuries, which appears to be miraculous. An investigation was held and Eleanor’s grandfather, who was an engineer by trade, was summoned by his captain. William Henry, his captain and the first sergeant, then proceeded to separate the nose from the shell. Eleanor quotes the sergeant as saying: “Well, if anything happens, up goes me, up goes the first sergeant, and up goes you Bull, by gosh!” I found these echoes of the past incredibly profound – a conversation had some one hundred and thirty years ago, passed on to a granddaughter, shared with me, and now, with you.
By great fortune, the captain, sergeant and William Henry, completed their investigation without incident. The plug had been dislodged, they suspected, due to vibration during transport. However, a shell designed to cause maximum carnage feels a hideous prospect on all levels, and its devastating impact borne out by this story.
William Henry and Emily had three daughters, Emily, Rose and Ada, before boarding a ship and returning to England around 1900, after completing his period of military service. With his young family, he travelled to London once again. Was he homesick? Did he want to see his parents one last time? Maybe, like me, he missed London? Whatever his motivation, he came back and in the next episode, I will recount what happened next.
More information
Fascinating government document allocating compensation to residents of Grand Boulevard – https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/SERIALSET-04025_00_00-103-1183-0000/pdf/SERIALSET-04025_00_00-103-1183-0000.pdf
The Pullman Strike – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike
The explosion on Grand Boulevard – http://www.connectingthewindycity.com/2016/07/july-16-1894-explosion-on-grand.html
History of the Cunard transatlantic fleet – https://www.titanicandco.com/cunard/cunard1880.html
Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Jubilee_of_Queen_Victoria
Awful Rigours and Wretched Pay 