Newyear Rowlin ( 1829 – 1914 ), the father of Baron Rowlin was featured in the local press over a particularly bad incident involving one of his wives two half brothers. You did read that correctly, one of his wives!

Fortunately for the brothers, Newyear Rowlin survived, and they got a 6 month jail sentence each. They would both end up leaving England and died in Illinois in the United States

However, our story really begins with Baron Rowlin ( 1857 – 1926 ). At age 22 when he gets married he is a butcher and his father is a farmer. Later he would change his profession to that of a coachman. The family history of the Rowlins has not been extensively covered but our own branch lived in Rudston, a village situated between Driffield and Bridlington. The Rudston Monolith, from which the village gets its name, is the tallest standing stone in England at over 25 feet ( 7.5 m ) tall.

In 1901 we find the family running a post office in Rudston where Beatrice, who is now married to Emmanuel Butcher, is the assistant post mistress at her fathers shop.

Walter Staveley ( 1921 – 2005 ) remembered Baron Rowlin proudly showing off his horse whip, which he once took to the children’s school after one of the girls ( possibly Ruby ) came home crying after being roughly punished. Baron Rowlin told the teacher that if it happened again he would be back with the whip and he would use it! As he got older he began to see strange faces and creatures crawling around, probably because of heavy drinking.

In hindsight, if I had paid more attention to who was who back in the days when my grandfather was alive, I might have been able to offer more information about them. Ruby Millicent Rowlin was born in Rudston on 20th February 1894. This would have been shortly after her mother and father returned to England from a three year stay in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. Baron Rowlin’s brother, Francis ( Frank ) Rowlin ( 1843 – 1912 ) is our connection with Canada. He emigrated to Canada, initially Quebec, before settling in Hamilton, Ontario. Baron Rowlin would have been staying with his family. There are quite a few Staveleys in and around the Hamilton area in Canada, and this line and connection is worth further study.

Walter Boynton Staveley ( 1862 – 1927 ) in our family tree was married to Ruby Millicent Rowlin in 1917 when she was 23 years old. Ruby is the youngest of seven children by Baron Rowlin & Sarah Rowlin ( nee Harrison ). Of her two brothers, Sidney Baron Rowlin died in WWI and Frederick Charles Rowlin would marry a Mary Jane Dawson. Of her four sisters, Isabella Frances died as an infant and is buried in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

She remained close to Beatrice who married Emmanuel Butcher and also to her sister Francis Maud who would go on to marry George Pudsey. They lived in at Eastgate Cottage in Rudston and details of their family can be found on our family tree. The Rowlins, Butcher family, and their relatives, would all have known each other at a time when families were more closely knit than they are today.

When Ruby Millicent Rowlin married Walter Boynton Staveley on 24th October 1917 in Burley, Leeds, the marriage certificate is witnessed by Emmanuel Butcher and Jessie Monkman. Baron Rowlin at this point is listed as a munitions worker. Both Walter Boynton Staveley and Ruby Millicent Staveley are listed at the address 47 Cardigan Crescent.

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