Stanley Beauchamp MARGRETT
Ancestral line as currently established: Stanley 1890, John 1854, William 1829, William 1801, Stephen 1765, Stephen 1719, Thomas 1682, Thomas 1658, ?.................Family Tree number 1.
Born: 25APR1890, Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales
Seventh of eight children of -
Father: John William Margrett
Mother: Emily Jane Robertson
Marriage: seems to have remained single
Died: not yet traced, probably in Canada
Stanley has one of those difficult names that were fashionable for a time. Beauchamp is pronounced 'Beecham' we are told, and have no idea why his parents chose it for him. His Birth Certificate says he was born at home, 36 Clare Street, St Mary's parish, Cardiff and the birth was registered six weeks later by his father. Perhaps he was forgetful. He might have had a very busy life as a self-employed corn and hay merchant. In 1890 horses were the major motive force for transport in cities and towns, and the provisions for them were a large part of any towns trade.
Stanley is aged 9 when he is mentioned on Saturday 3 February 1900 in the Western Mail, Cardiff. Stanley is recorded as one of the contestants of a 'South Africa' puzzle in a Children's Corner feature. The answer to the puzzle was "Pretoria" and we might guess the question. A book was the prize "promised by Uncle" for the first boy and girl out of the postbag with the correct answer. Stanley was not a winner, but is mentioned in the newspaper amongst a list of others, probably as a way of filling the pages and exciting the readers to see their children mentioned. There is no doubt it is him because there cannot be another "Beauchamp Margrett".
By the time Stanley is ten years old, the family have moved to 11 Connaught Road, Roath, Cardiff. They may have moved to get a larger home. All Stanley's seven siblings are still at home with Emilie aged 24, the eldest. Stanley's parents are now 46 and 45 respectively. Also living-in are William Robertson, very likely the wife's brother who is a traveller for John William's (Stanley's father's) corn business, and also Phyllis Bushen a domestic servant who "speaks English". Plainly there is a need for ample accommodation in this new house.
By the time Stanley is aged 20, his eldest sister is still unmarried and living at home, and his father remains in his business. But they have moved two doors down the road to number 13 and the census return says there are 8 rooms apart from "scullery, landing, lobby, closet, bathroom, warehouse, office or shop" as the census return classes 'number of rooms'. Five siblings have left home leaving Stanley working for his father and his youngest brother aged 19 working as a sign painter. Emilie now 34, is not employed and might help run the house, but they still have a live-in servant aged 17 as a domestic.
In February 1917, Stanley enlists with the Canadian Over-seas Expeditionary Force aged 27. He might have served in France or another area of action. This links to a passenger list in May 1927 recording him arriving at London on the Cunard S.S. Tuscania from Montreal. He is aged 37, a clerk, and going to visit his mother and father at Pensarn House, Romney, Cardiff before returning to Canada. His parents are 73 and 71 and remain in the house until they die. Stanley makes another trip home tourist class, in 1932, ten days after his mother died in July. He is now a 'railroad clerk'. He does not seem to have returned a year later when his father died in 1933.
But he does make two further trips to the UK. In October of 1948, now aged 58 and still a clerk he says he is going to visit 18 Pembury Road, Gloucester which is probably a sibling's address. Then in 1959 he arrives at Liverpool from Montreal to spend 2 months visiting 28 Pembroke Road, Bristol, aged 69 and helpfully confirms that he is single and a retired citizen of Canada.
None of the life of Stanley Beauchamp appears to have been published previously before the above record was created.
None of the Margrett Magazines from 1986 to 2012 included any of his experiences and therefore those experiences were not previously recorded in the public domain through the magazines deposited at the British Library under the I.S.S.N. 0269-0284 in those years.