Research Forum

William Andres b. 1881
published by on Sat, 01/12/2012 - 0:31

I have a copy of the marriage between William Andres & Olive Amelia Fear in Sept 1902, however it gives his age as 30, birth in Blagdon & occupation as a Warehouseman. His father's occupation is given as 'Fly proprietor'. Does anyone know what that means??? Olive's age is given as 25, birth in Blagdon. Although Olive's age is correct with her birth record it would make William's birth in 1872 which does not match any other William Andres which has been discussed as yet. Can anyone help with this query?

Valerie

Comments ..

Submitted by on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 14:54

Well, a "fly" was a lightweight carriage. The term eventually encompassed any one horse carriage such as a hansom. So, he was probably the proprietor of a hansom cab or a fleet of them - in other words a taxi cab owner. That's what I think, anyway. Jenny

Submitted by jdp147 on Sun, 02/12/2012 - 15:21

Hi Valerie,

I had a quick look on the British Newspaper Archive website and found an article from the Western Daily Press on 12th Feb 1903 that refers to William Andres and his wife Olive Andres - both aged 24 - charged with stealing provisions from the house where she worked as a cook in Clifton, Bristol (no.18 the Avenue, in the employ of Mr Walter John Crawhall). William was sent to prison for six weeks, but Olive escaped imprisonment because the judge felt she was under the influence of her husband. With this unusual surname I'd guess it's probably the right couple, especially as the article also says that she'd left work in August 1902 to be married, but returned soon after because her husband could not support her. (If you'd like me to transcribe the full article, I'm happy to do so - just let me know!)

On a related note, in my family tree I have a Charles Fear, a fly proprietor in Weston-super-Mare, marrying my great-great-grandfather's half-sister, Annie Dean, at Emmanuel on 5th October 1891. He was born c.1865 in Dewsberry and died in Weston on 23rd December 1904 (buried at Uphill) - was he any relation to Olive? Interesting that he has the same job as William's father ...

Jenni