Henry Snary

Shortly after Henry’s birth, the family must have moved to London, as according to the 1861 census, Joseph and Eliza had two sons born in London in 1851 and 1854, followed by two more children born in Bristol.  The family had then returned to London by the time of the 1861 census.

In the 1871 census, Henry was an ordinary seaman, aboard HMS Hercules, docked at Portsmouth [RG10/1137 f63] (source J&JS)

Henry married Eliza Olpin on 15 june 1874 at St Matthias Parish Church, Bristol.  At the time of the marriage, Henry was aged 25 years, a labourer of Penn Street and his father was Joseph Snary a gas fitter.  Eliza was aged 20, also of Penn Street and her father was William Olpin, labourer.  The Witnesses were John Parnell (Burnell?)and Sarah Ellis. (source Marriage Certificate)

After his short spell ashore, Henry returned to the Navy, where he appears in both the 1881 and 1901 census.  He was a Warrant Officer Cook on board HMS Daedalus which was a Royal Naval Drill ship moored at Bristol.  Henry Snary was known to his grandchildren as ‘the captain’.

HMS Daedalus (pictured above) was launched on 2 May 1826 - she was a frigate: a sailing ship with a wooden hull and originally was equipped with 46 guns.  These were reduced to 20 guns in 1843 before she served in the East Indies and Pacific. In 1862 she became a Royal Naval Drill Ship. In 1848, the Captain of the Royal Navy frigate HMS DAEDALUS sent a detailed report of sighting a strange creature at sea: "With head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above the sea and at the very least sixty feet of the animal a fleur d’eau (just above)… It passed rapidly, but so close under our lee quarter that, had it been a man of my acquaintance, I should have recognized his features with the naked eye… The diameter of the serpent was about 15 or 16 inches behind the head, which was without a doubt that of a snake." Almost immediately after the release of the report to the public, eminent scientists began to pour scorn on the sighting, declaring it to be a large seal or a whale. But the Captain of HMS DAEDALUS stuck to his guns, declaring forthrightly "I adhere to the statements… in my official report to the Admiralty". A few months later he was supported in his sighting by the captain of an American brig, the DAPHNE. In nearly the same location of the Royal Navy ship, the crew of DAPHNE spotted a sea serpent nearly 100 feet long that bore some resemblance to the DAEDALUS sighting. When the brig fired cannon at the creature, it was said to have escaped at the rate of 15 or 16 knots. Still doubts persisted, even more after two vessels declared they came upon a mass of floating seaweed in the location of the sighting, which they at first thought to be a sea monster. To this day the existence of sea serpents has yet to be confirmed, though encounters continue unabated. Up until the DAEDALUS account there had never been such a detailed report from so official source as a Royal Navy officer. (source 'What the Daedalus Saw' by Mike Burleson in buzzle.com) The Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers, formed in 1873, conducted drills on board HMS Daedalus, which had arrived in the Floating Harbour in Bristol in June 1861 as a training ship (source Royal Navy: Flying Fox History)

Henry Snary died on 17 March 1902 at Bedminster (source KC) [1902 mar Bristol 6a, 21]

Eliza Olpin

Born 25 feb 1855  at 11 Walters Place, Bedminster.  Father William Olpin, warehouse man.  Mother Elizabeth Olpin formerly Brooks. (source birth Certificate) Eliza married Henry Snary in 1874 In the 1861 census, Eliza was aged 6 and living with her father William (her mother Elizabeth had died in 1858) and her sisters and brother in Bedminster (see next generation) [RG9/1705 f6] In the 1871 census, Eliza Olpin was a visitor at her sister’s house ( David and Sarah Selway) at 20 New Queen St, Bedminster.  Eliza was aged 17, unmarried, occupation servant, born Bristol.  (RG10/2507 ED12 f49)

After Henry died in 1902, Eliza went to London to stay with her daughter Rhoda and husband Frank, where she worked for a while as a matron at the Police Station in Hampstead.

Eliza Snary died on 17 aug 1920 in Bedminster (source KC)

In 1881 census, the Snary family were living at 8 Langton Terrace, Bedminster [RG11/2454 f122]:

• Henry Snary, head, mar, 32, Warrant Officer RN, born Bristol St Philip

• Eliza Snary, wife, mar 26, born Bristol St John

• Alice E Snary, dau, 5, scholar, born Bristol St Philip

• William Snary, son, 3, scholar, born Bristol St John

• Ellen Snary, dau, 1, born Bristol St John

Henry Snary also appeared in the 1881 census on board the Dadalus as Henry Suary, married, 32, Warrant Officer Cook (RG11/2469 f4) (source J&JS)

In the 1891 census, the Snary family were living at 62 Percy Street, all members of the household were born in Bedminster [RG12/1949 f34]:

• Henry Snary, head, m, 43, cook

• Eliza, wife, m, 36

• Alice, d, 2, 15

• William H, s, 14, printer

• Ellen, d, 11, scholar

• Rhoda, d, 10, scholar

• Frederick, s, 2

• Emma Olpin, boarder, unmarried, 38, tobacco stripper

In 1901 Census, the Snary family lived at 99 Whitehouse Lane, Bedminster, Bristol.  [RG13/2361 f67]:

• Henry Snary, domestic cook, age 53, born Bristol St Phillips

• Eliza Snary, age 46, born Bristol Bedminster

• Alice Snary, tobacco packer, age 25, born Bristol Eastville

• Ellen Snary, tobacco packer, age 21, born Bristol Bedminster

• Rhoda Snary, tobacco packer, age 19, born Bristol Bedminster

• Elsie Snary, age 9, born Bristol Bedminster

• Arthur Snary, age 7, born Bristol Bedminster

• Reggie Snary, age 3, born Bristol Bedminster

• Emma Olptrin, boarder, tobacco striper, age 48, born Bristol Bedminster

• Harvey Shellard, boarder, chocolate moulder, age 22, born Bristol St Georges

Also in the 1901 census, Henry Snary appeared on the list of officers and crew of the HMS Daedalus being on shore on the night of March 31st [RG13/2377 f188] (source J&JS)

Henry and Eliza Snary’s children,  (all born in Bristol) this list gives 11 of the 13 children, known as ‘the baker’s dozen') (source KC)

Henry Joseph Snary (bapt. 19 dec 1874-died 1875 Clifton)
Alice Eliza Snary (bapt. 1 dec 1875-  ) married Harry Shellard  in 1901 in Bristol [1901 dec Bristol 6 187]  (photo right shows Eliza, Harry and Alice) When Harry worked in Fry’s chocolate factory he used to fill his apron pockets with mile chocolate and let it harden – then bring the apron home to be ‘cleaned’ by the kids!
William Henry Snary (bapt. 6 sep 1877 – died 21 jun 1943 in St Petersburg, Florida, USA).  In the 1901 census, William was a tobacco packer, boarding at 4 Cotswold Road, Bedminster [RG13/2362 f115] . William married Lizzie Maria Spratt 6 sep 1902 in Bristol.  They had two children, both born in Bristol.  The family emigrated to Canada, eventually ending up in Chicago around 1915.  They all played the banjo and performed together in music halls.  The two sons were swimmers and divers, doing stunts in Chicago – they swam with Johnny Weismuller (of Tarzan fame!) (photo near right shows William Snary in Chicago in the 1930, far right is  a promotional photo for William & Lizzie’s vaudeville act.)
Ellen (Nell) Snary (born 1880 - ) married Frank Taylor in 1901 in Bristol [1901 jun Bristol 6a 192].  Frank Taylor was a fireman at Wills Tobacco Factory at Redcliff – they lived in a big house in the factory grounds overlooking Redcliff Church.  He was an amateur carpenter and had a wonderful collection of carpenters tools. Frank and Nell had six children Photo right taken outside Nell’s home in Bristol shows Len, Harry …, Elsie, Rhoda, Alice, Nell in Len’s Austin 7 in about 1936.
Rhoda Emma Snary (born 23 jun 1881 – died March 1961 in Hampstead, London) married to Frank Ward in Bristol 1903 – see Ward family notes
Alfred Edmund Snary (born 1883 – died March 1884 in Bedminster)
Edith Florence Snary (born 1886 – died Sep 1887 in Bedminster)
Frederick Albert Snary (born 1889 – died 1893 in Bedminster)
Elizabeth Elsie Snary (bapt. 15 sep 1881 - ) married to Walter Monks
Arthur Isaac Snary (born 1894 – died 1947 ) married May E Gregory on 15 apr 1916 at RO in Bristol.  Mary E Snary died 1950 in Bristol. (source J&JS)
Reginald Snary (bapt. 4 nov 1897 – died 26 jan 1971) married to Beatrice French 29 nov 1919.  They had two children

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