Friday, 22 March 2019
Monday, 28 May 2018
Review of Dick Twisleton The Descendants of Ella & Harry Twisleton
The Descendants of Ella & Harry Twisleton Dick Twisleton
Dick Twisleton 2009 ISBN 978-0-473-15680-0 57pp
Twisletons spread across the globe well before the internet. Today they belong together not just by blood but by membership of the electronic global village. My first contact with the indefatigable 84 year old New Zealand author of this family history was by e mail. Dick Twisleton’s The Descendants of Ella & Harry Twisleton starts with his parents’ emigration from Yorkshire to Wellington a century ago. Dick tells their story and charts the genealogy of their ten children, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Henry Lea (Harry) Twisleton’s poems are published with those of his father Tom and namesake uncle Henry Lea, my grandfather’s cousins, in the 7th Edition of Poems in the Craven Dialect (1953). In them Harry writes of New Zealand and the bushland’s mystic call. The cover photograph of Dick’s volume shows their first ‘whare’ or Maori bush hut. Harry and Ella make a bid for a thousand acres of bush the first owner had abandoned. Dick reconstructs from memory the pioneering process. It is a vivid story enhanced by early pictures of the homestead and the family that grew up in Motu near Gisborne in New Zealand’s north island weathering the elements and two periods of economic depression.
Dick Twisleton is the ninth born of Ella and Harry’s ten children, five boys and five girls. His book, published on the exact centenary of his parents’ emigration from Yorkshire to Motu, has ten chapters. They chart the lives of three generations of New Zealand Twisletons deriving from the pioneering couple. Information provided by cousins and half cousins to one another lacks wider relevance but it is an accessible story of settlement, family expansion and the diversification of employment from rural origins. Dick writes well possessing like his father the Twisleton gift of letters. His own chapter is particularly interesting. By the age of 13 he can shear 100 sheep in a nine hour day. His life changes gear into Navy service with time on a mine sweeper and a visit to England connecting with his roots staying with aunts and cousins. On return to New Zealand he buys a two-man chain saw, supplies logs to sawmills and eventually builds a sawmill himself. This was opened by the Minister of Forests in 1985 but became victim of an economic down turn.
Family memories recorded are impressed by the courage of pioneers Ella and Harry and family life in the 1920s and 1930s at Motu farmstead. As a five year old Dick remembers sitting on the butter churn as older family members turn the handle. His sister Nell remembers sewing hand me downs, essential during the depression when no clothes could be wasted. Another sister Sheila remembers foraging for raspberries. There is excitement in 1933 when a second-hand seven seater car arrives. In 1937 radio comes and with it the broadcast of international rugby to the remote settlement.
Life in the bush is much on horseback as the early pictures indicate. Harry’s final illness derived from a fall in which his horse landed on top of him. Extricating himself and crawling 2 miles home he is left in bad shape to be nursed by the close family until his death in 1946. He is predeceased by one of his children, Tom who dies in the Second World War with brother Roly taking over his farm.
The more recent descendants of Ella and Harry serve information technology and web design rather than sheep shearing and sewing. It is this new world that brings Twisletons together. I write as host of www.twisleton.co.uk, part of the new connecting up of families as dispersed as ours.
Shall I belong but to the past muses Harry in one of his poems. His son’s fine volume would assure him of the immortality of print at least, print promoted by the electronic media that first brought me in touch with my distant cousin, author Dick Twisleton.
The Revd Dr John Fiennes Twisleton, Horsted Keynes, West Sussex, November 2009
Review of Frank Twisleton’s Letters from The Front
Letters from the Front is sequel to Francis Twisleton's Boer War diary and is another quality reprint from New Zealand. The Fronts in question were in Gallipoli, France and Palestine during the 1914-1918 global conflict.
The writer is Yorkshire born and part of a family that emigrated to New Zealand in the late nineteenth century. The family members established farms in the Waimata Valley, Gisborne. Twisleton matched that frontier spirit by organising a 'Legion of Frontiersmen' who were to offer military service with British Imperial Forces.
The New Zealand horsemen sail to Europe where their marksmanship makes valued contribution within the savage conflict. It is the last major conflict in which horses play a part. Twisleton notes the excitement of his men as they encounter hydroplanes and submarines in a new kind of warfare. They encounter giant guns and tear gas which at least does damage to the rats that share their trenches.
Light railways play a key role in the military strategy. Without these the equipping of thousands of trips with rations and ammunition would have been impossible. The author describes how the tramways in the French conflict were laid as fast as the infantry advanced. Along these railways thousands were conveyed back to camp hospitals or to their graves.
Captain Twisleton's accounts were sent home to serve the Legion which has been guardian of the inspiring diary that came to an end in Palestine. His third and last posting made full use of cavalry with horsemen in arrays that stretched for miles. The author fell in conflict with the Turks at the Battle of Ayun Kara in November 1917.
The book captures something of the leadership gifts that served an imperial age. Twisleton's enthusiasm established his homestead at the furthest reach of the British Empire. In defence of the prestige of that Empire he offers himself and his network of frontiersmen many of whom were to perish with him in that cause. We may question today the cause and the barbarity of the conflict. The integrity of the author seems much less open to question.
John Twisleton, Horsted Keynes, West Sussex UK April 2010
Review of Frank Twisleton’s With the New Zealander’s at The Front
With the New Zealanders at The Front Corporal F. Twisleton Te Rau Design & Print 2009 ISBN 978-0-473-16110-1 188pp
The turn of the nineteenth century saw Britain at war with Dutch colonists in South Africa. The Boer War set two colonial powers against each other in a theatre that made the native blacks spectators.
British forces were Imperial forces then. New Zealand was one of the most patriotic of colonies. The men from that colony who fought included first generation emigrants who had battled the elements to establish their own homesteads extending that Empire.
In this reprint of Corporal Frank Twisleton's war diary the reader is engaged by graphic accounts of life at the war front concluding with criticisms of military administration in the African campaign. The book is reprinted a century on by a New Zealand descendant of the author. It first appeared as a weekly column in the local newspaper read by Corporal Twisleton's Yorkshire kin, the Skipton published Craven Herald.
The writing is very good. Twisleton is of a Yorkshire family with literary gifts and tells the story engagingly. It is a story of discovery, young men from New Zealand's outback making the voyage of a life time to Cape Town with horses below deck. There in Africa they make first encounter with black people. Twisleton's account dismays the contemporary reader with its racism and imperial pride. The Dutch settlers are spoken of initially with respect but later on the author confesses to contempt for settlers who have made little headway in developing a country so rich in natural resources.
A blow by blow description of pillage is quite extraordinary. Twisleton helps arrest Dutch farmers, burn their fields and confiscate their livestock. He recounts the farmer's wife who never says a word when they take her husband but howls in anguish when the soldiers grab her turkeys!
There are graphic accounts of the harsh campaign. The soldiers camp on land soiled by thousands of horses. The heat is intense and disease is rampant. They can hardly touch their rifles without getting burned. Water is scarce. Casualties are heavy at times though feelings grow callous. Laughter abounds even as men fall in death all around.
With the New Zealanders at The Front is the chronicle of a tough man from a tougher age than ours. As military history it is accessible and engaging. It also captures something of the anguish and wonder of Africa.
John Twisleton, Horsted Keynes, West Sussex UK April 2010
The Twisletons of Settle - on the move Article for Settle & District Community News August 2011 by the Revd Dr John Twisleton
The Twisletons have once again left Settle. My mother, Elsie (89) is happily settled with us at The Rectory in Horsted Keynes, West Sussex where I am parish priest. She sends regards to her friends in town.
Five years ago I provided a Community News slot that helped make connections with local history buffs and led to my giving the 2008 North Craven Heritage Trust lecture. I said then I was a Dalesman in danger of becoming a Downsman – my parish is near the south coast – and this is even more the case now our Whitefriars property is being rented out.
The first Twisletons left the area when they left the Twisleton hamlet on Whernside where West Riding Victoria County History mentions William of Twyselton (1316) holding lands on what is now Twisleton Scar.
In the eighteenth century, after a long occupation, they left Sherwood House on the brow beyond Stainforth where you can still see the initials RAT 1703 over the porch referring to Robert and Alice Twisleton who were married ‘sexdecimo die Maii 1694’ (Giggleswick register), pretty certainly my great-great-great-great-great grandparents.
Their descendants included the acclaimed Craven dialect poet Tom Twisleton (1845-1917) and his poet brother Henry Lea (1847-1905) who lived up at Winskill. The Twisletons left there mid 19th century, Henry for New Zealand from where Settle has had Twisleton visitors reconnecting with their roots. I will soon be providing a reminder about our local poets for Community News.
When did Twisletons leave Twisleton’s Yard? One of the reasons I am writing is to gather any stories people have about the history of the yard. The 1871 and 1881 census returns show it as the residence of Mary Twisleton and her son, Attorney Clerk James whose grave (1902) is in the Churchyard. James’ nephew Gregory (1864-1937) ran a store in Settle Marketplace where his son, my own father Greg (1900-74) was born. Again any memories of that store, just up from ‘Car & Kitchen’ would be helpful in recovering local and family history. Greg left to work in Thorne but moved back to the town with us on his retirement in 1963.
My mother and I want to keep our Settle link as best we can. As part of this, I would be grateful for any feedback on what I have written – challenges, additions and memories renewed of Settle in times past. Please contact me at The Rectory, Station Road, Horsted Keynes, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH17 7ED 01825 790317 or john@twisleton.co.uk.
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