by John Slaughter  

A warm welcome this time around to four new members.

Magda Breadmore watched the BBC family history programme “Who do you think you are” and was inspired to find out more about her ancestors. He mother’s maiden name was Audrey Saul and who grew up in Barking, Essex together with her only surviving brother Robert. Their father was Albert Frank Saul who had died in 1947 when Audrey was only 17 years of age. Albert Frank had been born in 1892 at 4 Charles Street, Pancras and the birth certificate recorded that his father was Albert Saul, a portmanteau maker, and his mother Julia Emma formerly Wootten. The evidence suggested a connection with the Saul family being researched by Robert Hina and both Magda and Robert are now busy piecing the family tree together. Magda thinks she has a connection to the ex-Spurs footballer Frank Saul, another line of enquiry they are pursuing.

I received an enquiry from Jean Williams who had discovered that one of her ancestors was a Hannah Hartwell Saul who had married a Thomas Taylor at Horley, Oxon on 3 November 1817. Hannah was the daughter of Thomas Saul and Hannah Hartwell also of Horley and who in turn was the son of James Saul and Mary. I was able to inform Jean that James Saul and Mary headed the largest Oxfordshire chart we had containing nearly 400 individuals. Jean has now joined.

Maria Eaton’s family research had taken her back to a Charles Saul Rodrigues, a butcher in the east end of London. On joining the Society and reading my report in the December 2004 journal she was excited to read about the Saul families being researched by Judith Russell and Jane Hodge and felt that a connection was likely. Maria had located Charles Saul Rodrigues on the 1871 census at 13 Tredegar Place, Bow Road, Middlesex and which appeared to be next door to where Saul Saul was living when he made his Will some 15 years previous. I put Maria in touch with Judith and Jane to pursue the connection. Maria has since been very busy and is confident that all three are related. It looks as though the family are of Portuguese descent and that some members of the family may have used Saul rather than Saul Rodrigues as their surname. I am pleased to say that following the contact Jane Hodge has become a member.

Amongst the more recent enquiries received was one from Valerie Griffiths. She is descended from Isabella Saul who was born in Yealand Redmayne, Lancashire in 1812. Isabella’s parents were shown as James Saul and Elizabeth Coates with James’s occupation being given as an innkeeper and husbandman. We had some limited information on this family extracted from the parish registers of Warton, which includes Yealand Redmayne. James and Elizabeth were married there on 29 August 1805 and had six children baptised in the parish church between 1806 and 1813. Though the parish registers of Warton revealed a good number of other Saul’s, the majority of which have been linked and recorded on one of our charts, the connection, to James, if there is one, has not been established.

Travis Taylor found on our web site a reference to William and Elizabeth Saull of Wheatley, Oxfordshire. Travis’s 4 x great grandmother was William’s sister Sarah Saull and who had married William Brooks. We have a small tree for the Wheatley Saull’s but have not been able to link William to the Saulls in the surrounding area. Travis has kindly sent me his family tree but I have not yet checked if this contains any new information.

I received an e-mail from the owner of a portrait of John Harold Saul who had died in Liverpool in 1954. It appears the portrait had been part of a house clearance sale. I was able to establish that John Harold Saul was a distant relative of Peter Saul. The portrait is now in Peter’s possession and he is making further enquiries. Peter has promised to write an article for the journal of his findings.

There are only two Saul(l)s in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and we have previously published details of one of these, William Devonshire Saull (WDS). Adrian Desmond, who has written an updated account, recently contacted me. The new account considerably expands on the origin article and now includes genealogical information, which thankfully confirms our own research. Particularly useful is the information that WDS purchased unconsecrated ground at Kensal Green cemetery for his family and “fellow freethinkers”. WDS died in 1855 and was buried at Kensal Green. It is not known if a memorial exists. I am seeking permission to publish the updated article on WDS.

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