Alfred Vingoe 1869

Alfred VINGOE was born 19th of December 1869 at Newlyn, West Cornwall, a son of Thomas Ellis VINGOE [1816-1879] & his 2nd wife Mary Ann Payne nee Wills 1828-1905.

He was the youngest member of a very large family with two half brothers & two half sisters from his father's first marriage; a half brother and sister from his mother's first marriage as well as his three full sisters and 2 full brothers. This eldest of this family of eleven children was 29 years older than Alfred and consequently the first family were married with children of their own at the time of his birth. Many of their children were closer to Alfred in age. My grandfather, son of Thomas Ellis Vingoe II, was a nephew of Alfred but only 4 years his junior.

Alfred's mother, Mary Ann was the widow of a Samuel PAYNE and had been a WILLS before her first marriage.

Alfred's father, Thomas Ellis VINGOE had first married Margaret Pollard GILBERT but she died after giving birth to their fifth child Margaret Gilbert VINGOE on 12 Sept 1851. Mother and child died within days of each other, leaving Thomas Ellis a widower with a young family to look after. For full information on the family go to the tree.

The family lived at Prospect Place, Trewarveneth St, Newlyn Town & although the house was small, a total of 5 adults and 6 children occupied the premises on the night of the 1871 census. These were as follows:- Thomas E VINGOE: his wife Mary Ann plus their 6 children : Margaret + Sarah Ann + John + Francis James + Martha Louise & Alfred. Also present; Sam Payne: 21, fisherman + Mary Payne : 19, dressmaker: James Wills: 75, shipwright, father-in-law. Thomas's children by his first wife had by now left home: three having married and the fourth, Elizabeth Gilbert VINGOE living with her married sister, Grace HARVEY in Dist. 4 Schedule. 168

As young Alfred grew up he would have been taken to the Wesleyan Day School by his sister Martha Louise [known as Cissie] who was three years older than him. The headmaster was a Mr Champion and a slipway leading down from the school was named after him. The school was going through a hard time in the 1870's and Ben Batten a Newlyn historian wrote an excellent piece on the school which you can read by going here.

Disease was an ever present threat to life in the Newlyn of the 1800's. On the 23rd of January 1877 Alfred lost an elder sister Sarah Ann age 18, to polio. This was possibly the first of many sad and tragic moments in Alfred's life: worse was to come some two years later.

On the 23rd of September 1879 Alfred's father was drowned whilst fishing off the coast of Whitby. Although the obituary can be read HERE it can never describe the depth of the loss that would have been felt by his wife and young family. Mary Ann was now a widow for the second time with a young family to bring up. Alfred's older brothers, John and Francis James, were with the fleet in Whitby, Francis James being on the boat with his father. The death was hardly mentioned in the Cornish press. The "Cornishman" newspaper carried a small piece whilst the "West Briton" did not carry any report. This was probably because two Cornish boats had been run down by steamers off Whitby in the same week, with the loss of both crews. These boats were the "Malakoff" of St Ives and the "Providence" of Newlyn. Both boats were carrying Newlyn crews of three men each.

Thomas's remains were not found until a week or so later and there was a coroners inquest. In those days there was little hope of bringing the body back to Newlyn for burial so Thomas Ellis VINGOE was laid to rest in the cemetery at Whitby, the grave marked by a headstone. This was later damaged in a storm and has been recently replaced.

Two years after his fathers death the 1881 census shows Alfred living with his mother brothers John and Francis and his sister Martha Louise at number 11 Chapel Street, Newlyn. It is still there with it cobbled surface almost just as it was then. The family home at Prospect Place was now occupied by his half brother, Thomas Ellis VINGOE and his family. Alfred was by now eleven years old and may have transferred to the new Board School on Paul Hill, opened in 1880 and free of charge, a big help to a widowed mother bringing up a young family.

We next hear of him in 1885 when he was a trainee on the " Mount Edgecumbe" off Saltash. This was the former wooden walled warship "Winchester" built in 1822. In 1876 she had been renamed and converted into a naval training school. Alfred was on board her as Royal Navy cadet.

His father's death by

drowning must have initiated his desire to learn to swim, unlike many seamen of the time who considered it pointless to try and survive any sinking far out to sea. They considered it far better to die quickly than to fight against the elements with little hope of rescue. Alfred's strength and ability in life- saving was to lead to two dramatic rescues.

Whilst serving on the "Mount Edgecumbe" in 1885 he rescued someone from drowning in the Tamar River and was awarded a medal by the Royal Humane Society. 2263 . This heroic act was followed in 1887 by another when he was serving as a Boy Sailor, 1st Class aboard "HMS Skylark" .The Skylark was a sailing ship and whilst at sea a member of the crew fell overboard. Alfred saw him fall and dived straight into the sea from the lower yard arm, where he was working. He manage to hold the man afloat until a boat was lowered to rescue them both. Once again his rescue was recognised by the Royal Humane Society and he was awarded a bar to attach to the medal ribbon of his first award. 23660*

In 1892 Alfred came home on leave to marry Annie Rowe of Madron Parish. The wedding took place on the 20th of August at the Wesley Rock Methodist Chapel, Heamoor. This, as the name suggests, was built over a rock on which the Charles Wesley had preached in the 1700's. Alfred and Annie set up home in Penzance and a daughter Ann Marion was born on Boxing Day 1894. Alfred was at sea at the time and missed the birth.

In January 1895 Alfred was serving on board "HMS St George" in West Africa when the Royal Niger Company under George Taubman Goldie unilaterally changed the rules of the then flourishing palm oil trade. This had sprung up in the early 19th century to replace the illegitimate trans-Atlantic slave trade. Goldie wanted the best of both worlds. He stopped the Ijaw middlemen from shipping oil directly to firms in Britain, whilst at the same time insisting on an unhindered access for himself into the hinterlands where the oil was produced.

This did not go well with king Frederick William Koko of the Nembe kingdom and on January 29, 1895, he assembled a naval fleet of well over 20 war canoes bearing cannons and headed for Akasa where the Royal Niger company had its operational base. The place was raided and about 67 white men taken hostage. The king asked as a condition for releasing the hostages, a return to their former trade agreement instead of this new oppressive policy. Instead of negotiating the colonial authorities replied with a full-scale war using the full force of British military might, of which Alfred was a part. On February 26, 1895 the kingdom was ruthlessly sacked and more than 2000 people including many women and children were killed. This operation became known as the "Brass River Campaign" and like the others who took part in it Alfred was awarded the East & West Africa Medal with the Brass River Clasp.

In September 1896 another tragedy struck Alfred when his wife Annie died in an outbreak of typhoid in Penzance. Alfred whose baby daughter was just 22 months old left the navy and returned home to Penzance where he joined Trinity House as a Mounts Bay pilot.

The pilot boats were kept outside the harbour at Battery Quay. This is the site of the open air swimming pool today. The pilots would go out from there to meet vessels arriving at the ports of

Penzance or Newlyn and bring them safely into port. They would also take vessels leaving port a safe distance out to sea before transferring to the little pilot boat to return to the Battery Quay. The photo above is one of the quay showing houses on the Barbican, now demolished, with the Mount in the background and the one on the right is of pilot boats off Battery Quay. These photos date from the time Alfred was a pilot at the port.

In October 1897 Alfred married his second wife at the Penzance Registry Office. The bride was Mary Ellen James whose parents were George and Mary James of Newlyn Road, Paul. The couple were to have a total of eight children between 1898 and 1919. (full details)

Alfred had also become a member of the crew of the Penzance lifeboat "Elizabeth and Blanch" and was coxswain between 1907-1909 when it was based in Penzance. Some records show that Thomas Ellis VINGOE, my grandfather, was also a member of the Penzance crew. When it was moved to Newlyn sometime in 1909 he took over from his uncle as coxswain. Thomas's brother, Robert, [1875] was his Bowman & a cousin, Arthur VINGOE [b1886] his assistant cox. Thomas's brother-in-law Robert SAMPSON was also a crew member. I remember my Dad saying mostly "cousins" and "family" made up the crew of that lifeboat "one way and another" by which he meant those that married into the family as well. Between the years 1908 and 1914 Alfred and Thomas saved 72 lives between them including 20 men from the "Clan McPherson of Glasgow. But, according to his obituary, Alfred was remembered for a rescue undertaken from his pilot boat and not from the lifeboat.

On the 18th of June1909 Alfred was returning to Penzance in his pilot boat when he noticed that a large sailing ship was low in the water and flying distress flags. He and his two crew members sailed over to the craft which was the "Leon Burau" to find that the ship had been holed on a rock off the Scilly Isles and was fast taking in water. Climbing aboard Alfred told the captain to put on full sail, and when this was done Alfred piloted the ship into Penzance where he beached her just outside the harbour. The next day was a Sunday and people were amazed to see this fully rigged sailing ship ashore just outside the harbour entrance. Alfred arranged for most of the cargo to be discharged into small ships and then at high tide the ship was towed into the harbour to be repaired. A full account of the rescue is given in the "Cornishman" newspaper.

In November1913 Alfred sailed aboard the "Seguranca" for New York en route to take up an appointment as pilot and harbour master at the Island of Curacao. The emigration records at New York's Ellis Island show him as an alien & that he had been to USA before, namely Portland and San Diego. This was probably whilst serving in the Royal Navy.

In 1914 we find an Alfredo Vingoe arriving in New York from Venezuela. This turns out to be Alfred who gave his ethnicity as Cornish and his place of residence as Newport, Curacao, W. Indies. He also gave his home as being at 10 Morrab Place, Penzance. This house had been built and lived in by a Henry Vingoe [1780-`1858] and afterwards his son William Henry Vingoe [1807-1888 ] and then his granddaughter Emily QUANCE [neeVingoe]

How, why or when Alfred Vingoe came to live in the property previously occupied by Richard and Emily Quance I have been unable to discover. I had always understood Alfred was left a house in Clifton Terrace, Newlyn, by his father's brother, Richard Mann Vingoe but he appears to have never lived in it.

Alfred was a member of the Royal Navy Reserve and he returned to Britain to take up a position in the Royal Navy in the first World War. His obituary published in the "Cornishman" newspaper on the 18th July,1954 tells us that he was appointed King's Harbour Master at Penzance and then served as skipper on one of Britain's top secret "Q" boats. These were Britain's answer to the German's U-boat. The fighting vessels were a great trick of disguise and cunning - they were actually ordinary ships built as decoys. In the ports of the South West, ships of every shape and size - trawlers, steamers, schooners and cargo ships were all transformed secretly into men-of -war. The ships nickname was after the original 'Q' numbers given to some of these special service decoy vessels. Alfred's ship was Q9. Alfred's grandson, Syd Vingoe, says he was told this was a "Brigantine square rigged on the foremast and fore and aft on the mizzen" Whether this was the same vessel as H.M. Trawler "Yokohama" we are not sure. There is an account on record at the Public Records Office (ADM 156/123) of an incident which resulted in Alfred being summoned before a "Court of Enquiry into the possible sinking of one of his Majesty's submarines by HM Trawler YOKOHAMA. Chief Skipper A. Vingoe RNR. Admiralty 23 June 1917."

This "Yokohama" was some 291 tons and had been built in 1909. The Royal Navy hired her from 1915 to 1919 and she was fitted with a twelve inch gun. On April the 8th 1919 Alfred is listed in the Royal London Gazette as being "Mentioned in Dispatches", yet another award for bravery and he was able to wear the bronze oak leaf with his other medals.

Alfred was now aged fifty and you may think he would have been ready to put his feet up and take life a little easier. This was not the case, however, and in January 1921 he with Mary Ellen and seven of the children boarded the White Star Liner "Adriatic" in Southampton and set sail for the United States of America.

The ships manifest tells us that he was sailing to join an American minesweeper and that the tickets of the whole family had been paid for by the British Government. He gave his occupation as a master mariner and the other members of the family were listed as follows

Name	Age	Relationship	Occupation
Mary Ellen	47	Wife	Wife
Ruby Winifred	21	Daughter	Typist
Cecil George	20	Son	Seaman
Roma Violet	16	Daughter	Typist
Mary Louise	15	Daughter	-
Lauretta	14	Daughter	-
Francis Warwick	10	Son	-
Bertha Margaret	9	Daughter	-

All the family had there final destination down as the home of W R James at E. William Street, Pittsburgh, Kansas.

William JAMES was the brother of Alfred's second wife and the husband of Ann Marion Vingoe b. 1894, Alfred's daughter by his first wife. William had left Cornwall to work in a coal mine in Wales and he and Marion had then emigrated from Wales with their daughter Marie to Pittsburgh, Kansas in June 1920. Pittsburgh was "a small, rough, coal mining town" and I don't think that Alfred and his family stayed there very long before moving with his family to Coronado, California. His grandson Syd tells me that they" travelled with all the children part of the way by car with a barrel of water tied on the bonnet....must have caused a few remarks during prohibition"

In Coronado they were once again living by the sea and Alfred became a member of the Yacht Club but he also sailed in merchant ships.1927 finds him working as the "Master at Arms" on the liner "Kroonland" bound for San Francisco via Havana and Los Angeles. His son Cecil is also a crew member sailing as a mess boy. Both are listed as being American citizens.

14 years Alfred and and Mary Ellen returned to Newlyn in 1935 where they lived in retirement together in his mother's old house at 11, Chapel Street. He died on the 13th of July 1954 some twenty years after returning from the States and is buried in the Municipal Cemetery, Sheffield Road, in the village of Paul. Below is a photo of his grave with details. Two years later Mary Ellen also died aged 82 years having also lived a full and interesting life alongside her husband. There children grew and some had families and below I give some information on them.

Alfred and Mary Ellen had eight children:

One of Alfred's grandchildren Syd Vingoe wrote from his home in New Zealand to tell me about his father, Sydney Gordon Vingoe, who was born 15th May 1898.

Sydney Gordon first left his home in Newlyn in 1911, age13. He walked some 18 miles to St Ives where he signed on as crew with the local firm of Haines Shipping. His first ship was the "Trevose" a steam tramp ship built on the Tyne in 1896 by Readhead.. His first voyage took him eventually to South America where he and another youth jumped ship. They got jobs on board a small trader working up and down the Amazon but eventually they contacted the Salvation Army and asked for help to return home. Sometime later the "Trevose", after completing her trip to the Baltic, was once again in a South America port and the hapless pair had again to join her as crew to work their passage home. I expect that was a hard journey! Shortly after his return to the UKin 1913 he joined the Royal Navy as a boy sailor and served on the Devonport Training Ship H.M.S. Impregnable.

In 1914 he was a member of the Cameroon Expeditionary Force which took German West Africa. As a result of this action he was a warded £1 1s 7d in prize money in 1932!

At the time that he received this reward he was serving on board HMS Exeter, a York class cruiser on a courtesy visit to the east and west coasts of USA. He met up with his father in California. He had boxed at bantam weight for the Navy and probably represented the service in a number of bouts during this tour. He had served for 23 years and in 1937 joined his last ship, the newly commissioned H.M.S. Newcastle, a Southampton class light cruiser.

In 1938 he left the Royal Navy joined the Coastguard service moving with his family to Peterhead, in Aberdeenshire. However, in 1940 he was back in the navy for the duration of the second world war. He spent some time on R.N. ships protecting the Russian Merchant Convoys and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal on the11 Jun 1943.

In September 1945 he was de-mobilised and returned to live, first in St Ives and then Penzance where he worked as a postman.He had married Vera Spencer sometime in the 1920's and had two sons but Vera died in May1958 and was buried in Sheffield Road Cemetery, Paul. Sydney Gordon VINGOE retired in 1959 and visited his son Sydney who was living in New Zealand, and worked for a while at the Naval Dockyard in Devonport, Auckland. In 1960 he went back to sea for a couple of years as an AB [age 62!] on the liner "Southern Cross" He returned to the UK and 1966/8 married in Carrick-on- Shannon, Ireland. He and his second wife had three children before he passed on at the grand old age of 98.

2. Ruby Winifred Vingoe, who was born 30th August 1899 in Newlyn was always known as Winnie. She went to America with her father and most of her brothers and sisters in 1921 and eventually married Alexander Rutherford in Philadelphia. They had a son called Kenneth Alexander Vingoe Rutherford, who was born 13th August 1923, but unfortunately he died aged 19 from kidney disease. Winnie died in California in 1964.

3. Cecil George Vingoe, was born on the 13th December 1901 in Drift, Sancreed. As recorded above, he sailed with his father on board the "Kroonland" in 1927 and the next we know is that he married Dorothy Winifred Harris (born 28th October 1900) in 1950. They had
no children and he died in Mousehole, Cornwall in January 1967 and was buried in Paul cemetery. Dorothy died on the1st January 1978 in Penzance.

4. Roma Violet Vingoe, born 28th April 1904 in Penzance was known as Violet. She married John Thomas Rutherford (b 2 Jan 1894 IRE) on the 19th of October 1924 in Los Angeles, California, USA. John was the brother of her sister Ruby Winifred's husband, Alexander

Unfortunately the marriage did not last and on the 24th of March 1927 they were divorced in Chicago. After divorcing him, she married Fernand Auguste Chevillard (who was born on the 18th March 1900 in Ciel, near Chalon-sur-Saone, France, the son of Leon Chevillard and Marie-Louise Stephanie Thevenin) on 26th April 1927 in Santa Barbara, California. They had one daughter, who in turn also had one daughter. Violet died 18th August 1999 in San Diego, California, but she rests at Paul cemetery in Cornwall..

5. Mary Louisa Vingoe, born 8th January 1906 in Penzance was always known as Cissie. She also went with her father and mother to America. On the 5th of June 1923 she also married into the Rutherford family. Her husband was Richard Alexander. Rutherford b1890 in Ireland.

Cissie and Richard had two children, who were both born 13th April, but 22 years apart! The eldest, Richard Malcolm RUTHERFORD died on the 18th of September 2003, he was 79 years old and is survived by two sons, and some grandchildren and at least one great-grandchild
(all in California?). His sister, Maureen, lives in Las Vegas and has two sons, as well as
a few grandchildren.

6. Lauretta Vingoe, was born on the 6th March 1907 in Penzance. She had a son,
Francis, who in turn has three daughters followed by one son. The third daughter is
married with a son.

7. Francis Warwick Vingoe, was born on the 14th September 1910 in Penzance. He was always known as Frank by his family and friends. He had three children, son & dau [twins] & another daughter. The son is married with four children, a boy followed by a girl, followed by a boy, followed by a girl! One daughter, Dorothy, passed away a few years ago but she had at least one daughter. As far as we know they all live in California.

8. Bertha Margaret Vingoe, born 11th September 1911 in Penzance Always known as
Peggy she married a Mr Oleson and had one daughter, who in turn has two
daughters. The first of these is married with two sons and the second is
married with two sons and daughter. They all live in California.

This then is just part of the story of Alfred VINGOE and his family. I have no doubt we may have made some mistakes but we have tried to tell his story has accurately as possible.

We thank all those family researchers who have given information and photos to help put flesh on the bones. Please let us know if you spot any mistakes & also if you have any information to add. We refrain from publishing up to the web personal information on living relatives, unless given permission to do so. However, I do keep these records on my own files for reference.

We are now off to work on another branch of the tree: the search for Vingoe bloodlines goes on goes on.

Father in Law to Alfred Vingoe and also Father-in-law to his daughter Marion Vingoe.

Contents Family Tree

Sandra and George Pritchard are the authors of original work on this site. They give permission to copy and use this information on the following conditions.

1 It will not be used for profit.

2. The source will be credited

Copyright © 2001. 2002. 2003 All rights reserved.
Revised: October 22, 2006 .

Contents Family Tree

Sandra and George Pritchard are the authors of original work on this site. They give permission to copy and use this information on the following conditions.

1 It will not be used for profit.

2. The source will be credited

Copyright © 2001. 2002. 2003 All rights reserved. Revised: October 22, 2006 .

Copyright © 2001. 2002. 2003 All rights reserved.
Revised: October 22, 2006 .