James Jepson Binns - The Binns Family

Men of The Cloth
Unsurprisingly many of our
families have several generations
who earned a living from textiles
in one form or another, whether
they were wool combers, shalloon
or worsted weavers, mill
hands, bobbin winders, tailors,
or drapers. I’m sure the list could
be added to but how many were
in the ecclesiastical line?
Peter A Clark of Sidmouth
Devon sends us some extracts
form Crockford's Clerical Directories
1916-17 with the suggestion
that the listed “four Binns
may be the answer to someone’s
prayer”.
Rev. Gordon Henry Binns, B. A.
priest, 1912, Eastwood, Ripon.
Rev. Harry Kerr Binns, Deacon,
1875, Archdeacon of Mombassa
1910-14
Rev. Percy Edward Augustus
Binns, B. A. (Oxon) 1899, Odiham,
Hants.
Rev. Joseph Binns, B. Sc. Priest
1914, Bolton.
A Girl Called Alice - by David Robert Binns
Whenever I identify a new
"twig" for my family tree, the
first thing I try to do is to try to
obtain copies of the birth, death
and marriage certificates. I know
that not everyone works in this
way, but it seems to be more official
if its actually recorded on a
government document. On marriage
certificates in particular
there is a lot of useful information
to be gained. You can usually
identify the father, (and if
there isn't one, well that's inte r-
esting as well) and if you already
have information on the father
you can see what he has been
getting up to by looking at his
current occupation. You can
identify the name of their partner
and see what sort of family they
have come from. And you can
view the witnesses to the event.
One certificate which I received
was for my Great Grandfathers
step-sister Maria. She married
John William Atkinson on 24th
of December 1906, (why are
they always around Christmas?)
and this fact was witnessed
b y W i l l i a m
CROWTHER (don't know him)
and Alice BINNS (Who on earth
is Alice BINNS, I haven't "got
her"). So the search was on for
Alice. Obviously an Aunt or
Great Aunt or someone of that
description who was reliable,
probably a pillar of society and
probably lived fairly local? Records
were searched, microfiche
were viewed, but I didn't have
much to go on except my good
old reliable gut feeling, (and
have I got a gut). This lasted
several months, until the realisation
that I didn't have enough to
go on and that I would have to
wait until my research had developed
further. Then a few
weeks ago my wife and I went to
the local FHC, (no its not a pub)
and were looking at the fiche for
the 1991 census in Hunslet, in
particular for my G.G.
Grandfather Albert and his family.
We were lucky and found
their address quite quickly.
There was Albert and his second
wife Ann, my great grandfather
William Henry was not there so
had probably left home, (he
would marry in a years time) and
there was Maria now ten years
old. Also there was Arnold, (that
was his mothers maiden name)
and ALICE as a two year old.
FOUND HER, she turned out to
be Maria's LITTLE SISTER,
who would have been seventeen
at the time of Maria's marriage. I
felt so excited it was as if I had
won the lottery. So now I had to
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