Funnell’s Wood

At a time when climate change is becoming ever more preoccupying, researching family history once again allows to put things into perspective. An article in an 1853 edition of satirical magazine “Punch” relates a fictive “Thames steamer Captain Funnell’s” arguments during a meeting called to oppose Home Secretary, Lord Palmerston’s London smoke abatement act. An early insight into continuing public ignorance supported by industrial propaganda. For researchers, this site gives a very interesting environmental timeline.

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Ronald Spencer Funnell was born in 1894 in Totnes, Devon. After World War One, he married a Newquay lass, Phyllis Maud Cock, and after a spell in Croydon, they settled in her home town with their 3 children, the fourth being born at St Columb.
Ronald, who for many years ran the Post Office at Newquay, was also an author of local touring guides and notably, surfing manuels.
The British Surfing Musuem is urgently looking to contact his descendants.

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[UPDATED] The 1830s were a period of economic, political and religious tensions in rural Sussex. Thomas Funnell got in with the bad boys who decided to help themselves. “Grassed up” by the gang leader who was having an affaire with his wife, Thomas was convicted to 10 years transportation. But the plot backfired. His accomplices were sent to Australia never to come back.

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Born in the tiny Sussex village of West Firle, Robert Funnell found work on merchant ships at the age of just 16. He later joined the Royal Navy only to find himself, in the late 1850s, on a contreversed mission in which his commodore was accused of avoiding combat with Russian warships at De Castries Bay, discovered an island and fought piracy on the China Seas. In the early 1860s, Robert was in Western Africa, defending her Majesty’s interests on the Congo River…

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Before 1754, marriages in the “Union of Crowns” which became the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 were regulated by ecclesiastical law which required that banns be pronounced on three separate Sundays or a special licence obtained. However, many couples sought a quick marriage with no questions asked. In the Fleet area of London, or [...]

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This is the story of four generations of Funnells and their contribution to the building of the “American way of life”. Henry Funnell and his wife, Mary Sargent, left Chiddingly against the wishes of their family and settled in Huntington on Long Island, New York where daily chores continued throughout the Civil War, World War [...]

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As mentioned in this article, in the 1830′s, like many others, the parish of Chiddingly was having a hard time feeding it’s poor. Someone came up with the idea of financing settlers to the “new world”. Thomas, his wife, Ann and their 9 children settled in Ontario, Canada, a land which offered them many more opportunities than the parish ever could.

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In his book « My Own Brand » published in 1980 (1), the Canadian politician Jack Horner (1927-2004) writes of his wife Leola (née Funnell) and her father, Arthur, who was shipped to Canada, to further the economic interests of the British Empire by working in a pioneer family. This was not an isolated case, [...]

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James was born in 1822 in Barcombe (near Lewes, East Sussex), son of William Funnell and Catherine “Kitty” Locke. The seventh of nine children. Like six of his brothers and sisters, he was christened at the local church, St Mary the Virgin, on the 24th of March 1822. No doubt, he cried before his godparents [...]

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Whilst researching, I stumbled on this Internet book which describes rural Sussex life in Chiddingly in the early 1800s. Not surprisingly, Funnells are mentionned several times as in this passage I’ve extracted to whet your appetite. I found the book captivating and read it from end to end. Thomas Funnell can be found in the [...]

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In the first half of the 19th century, the railways were pushing the industrial revolution into the farthest reaches of the country. Until then, timekeeping had been left to the skies. The necessity for trains to run on time forced England into the modern age and a unique time zone. The whole country became punctual [...]

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Mildred Clarice Funnell was born in Honeyeye Falls, New York in 1901, daughter of Alfred Jennings Funnell and Louella Yates. Her father was born in East Varick soon after his parents arrived in New York from England. He was a Presbyterian Minister ordained in 1898. Chaplain with Ohio’s National Guard in 1916, he served in [...]

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