Keeping watch

The tall and proud lighthouses that frame the coast of Great Britain are familiar landmarks, a warning system for those approaching the dangers of unsafe water. Mixed in with the lighthouses on the coast of North Wales were another essential tool our ancestors relied upon. Liverpool’s docks, operated by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, formed one of the busiest ports in the world and the efficiency of its operation was crucial to its success. The docks depended on physical sightings and messages passed along the coast. Once alerted to the imminent arrival of a ship, its owner’s agents could arrange the manpower needed to offload and transport cargo.

Little remains of the semaphore stations – where men looked out for ships and then signalled the neighbouring station, first using flags and then later a system similar to that used on railways. The introduction of telegraphic technology brought a simpler and more efficient method of conveying the messages. Often the telegraph stations were neighbours to the lighthouses operated by either the Board or Trinity House. The chain of stations began at Holyhead and stretched along the coast and across the border to Bidston and, ultimately, Liverpool.

Through census returns and other documents it is possible to learn about the families who lived and worked in the Board’s stations before the First World War, and to discover how they connect to other stations either by marriage or birth.

South Stack’s lighthouse and telegraph station was home to James Stanford who was born in Amlwch in 1890. Although he lived there alone, he undoubtedly benefited from the company of his neighbour, lighthouse keeper James Dodd, who lived with his wife and seven children. Annie Dodd was familiar with the role of a keeper – her father, Thomas Eccles, worked at Hoylake and was also employed by the Board. James Stanford would eventually move to Point Lynas lighthouse with his wife, Edith.

When Henry Knott married Ellen Hall in 1877, the marriage register recorded that he was a lighthouse keeper in Holyhead – and that both his father and father-in-law were also keepers. Henry was born in Kent and after working as a carpenter in Devon, moved to North Wales. Over a career that spanned 35 years, he worked at several lighthouses, including twice at Skerries and a short spell at South Stack. Those 35 years contributed to the longest continuous service for a family of lighthouse keepers, beginning in 1730 with William Knott through to Henry’s retirement in 1908.

Maurice Beynon was born in 1853 and worked at the Point Lynas station for almost 30 years, for some of that time he worked with William Slade and Robert Eccles. William’s father-in-law was a messenger in the Liverpool docks.

Like some of the other stations, Llandudno’s moved location – the first made way for the Telegraph Hotel. At the newer location at Great Orme, John Thomas from Liverpool worked as lighthouse keeper, living there with his wife, Eleanor, and their son. In his own accommodation, James Askew (also from Liverpool) was the lighthouse and marine telegraph keeper and had previously worked at Bidston, where his future father-in-law, James Adams, had been keeper.

Lewis Jones was born in Llaneilian in 1859 and was working at Point Lynas when he married in 1879. By 1891 he had moved to Hilbre where he worked with John Stanford –brother of James who was at South Stack. When John married Jane Owen in 1920, he was the keeper at Holyhead.

Alfred Morgan was a lighthouse keeper at Bidston when he married Margaret Allanson in 1885. By 1901, Margaret had died and he had moved to Llandudno. Later, he married his second wife, Jane, and returned to Bidston as assistant lighthouse keeper. Alfred’s father, Joseph, had been a mariner, but later worked as a keeper in Great Meols.

The Stanford family appear in the records for several locations along the coast of Wales, and they’re also found at Bidston where James and John’s father Charles was keeper. He was born in Sussex in 1853 but had moved to Liverpool by the time he married at the age of 22. After his first wife’s death he married again and by 1891 had become a keeper at Point Lynas. Eventually the family moved to Bidston and their neighbour was another son, Charles junior, who –unsurprisingly – was also a keeper and lived there with his wife and children. The Stanfords’ neighbour was astronomer William Plummer. Also employed by the Board, William appears in records at the observatory from before 1901 through to his death in 1928.

This brief look at the stations and the families who called them home is only part of the story. As well as being paid by the Board, they had a home and, eventually, a pension. But they didn’t avoid the hardships that were an accepted part of the times. Infant mortality affected at least seven of the families mentioned and several of the men were widowed at too young an age. We might be drawn to the stunning locations, the views that became familiar to the families, but the harsh environment wouldn’t suit everyone. Those who made it their life’s work did so with the support of their families who formed a network equally as strong as the stations in which they lived. n

As funeral directors in Llandudno, North Wales Chris Lord-Brown and Jonathen Harty have over fifty years of combined experience. Serving both local and neighbouring communities, their expertise and knowledge combined with their extensive contacts have led to numerous families entrusting them to arrange and conduct the funeral services of their loved ones.

Together they run Lord-Brown & Harty Ltd. This independent, privately owned and professionally qualified funeral directors and monumental masons is situated in the heart of Llandudno on the North Wales coast.

They are proud member of The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD), undergo regular inspections of premises and paperwork to ensure compliance, and abide by the NAFD's Code of Practice.

CHRIS LORD-BROWN

B.Ed(Hons) DipFD chris@lbandh.co.uk

JONATHEN HARTY

B.Ed(Hons) DipHE FRAS jonathen@lbandh.co.uk www.lbandh.co.uk

12 Trinity Square, Llandudno, Conwy, LL30 2RA