Hanky Panky in the Sproule Family?

[Sue Mackay]

I've been having a quick scan through Esdel's many postings on this site in his endeavour to find a connection between himself and Sir Thomas Bouch.
Having searched into the Sir Thomas line myself, on a similar quest, I dug out much of this information that has been provided on Sir Thomas and his line back to his grandfather Richard Bouch from the Cumbria Archives. However, I have no record of William Bouch, the father of Sir Thomas, having brought any additional offspring, being products of his voyages abroad, back to Thursby, as mentioned by Edsel in one of his earlier postings.
Can Esdel let us know the names of these children and the source of this information, and I'll try to follow this up, when time permits?

The confirmstion of WHERE and WHEN the sons born in Valparaiso, the China Sea, etc were born (but not how) was confirmed by the splendid researches done by Sue Mackay and the other wonderful B-G folk as on the pages previous to this post. It seems they were stashed away at posh boarding schools and not hidden with wives in other ports.
See also the knotty problem of Brother-in-law and sister-in-law and the Sproule shipowner intermarriages and the import/export partnership..
esdel

I think esdel has got a little confused here, but then he's not the only one to get confused with this thread I don't think it was ever suggested that additional offspring were a product of William BOUCH the sea captain. The reason the word Hanky Panky is in the title of this thread is because esdel first came across the children of Benjamin SPROULE in the 1861 census, two of whom were born abroad, and suspected strange goings on. It was shown that these children were the legitimate offspring of Benjamin SPROULE and his wife Ann Frances, nee BOUCH. In 1851 the eldest two sons were at boarding school and Benjamin and Ann Frances, together with the younger children, were living with William and Jane BOUCH in Shildon (the railway engineer, and brother of Sir Thomas BOUCH). Benjamin and Ann Frances were described as 'brother-in-law' and 'sister-in-law' in relation to William BOUCH. Esdel has not got the marriage certificate of Benjamin and Ann Frances yet (and he should!) but the newspaper notice from the Liverpool Mercury dated 5th July 1839 stated: "27th June:Wallasey church, Captain Benjamin Sproule, of the barque Mala, of this port, to Ann Frances, youngest daughter of the late J Bouch, Esq., of Snow-Hill Cumberland.". This would tie in with the IGI baptism giving Ann Frances BOUCH as the daughter of Joseph BOUCH and Jane BELL, baptised 14 June 1809 in Caldbeck. Ann Frances was therefore probably related to William BOUCH the railway engineer, but was not his sister. The 'sister-in-law' bit is more likely to be because Benjamin SPROULE was the brother of William's wife Jane, but this has yet to be proved.

Russ, if your local knowledge of the BOUCH family through the Cumbria parish registers can help esdel sort out what relation Benjamin and Ann Frances SPROULE were to William and Sir Thomas BOUCH, and also if Joseph BOUCH of Snow Hill was related to William BOUCH the sea captain, then I am sure we would all be grateful

[Greg_Sproule]

I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this thread but I found it by accident in a random Google search....I'm from the part of the family that ended up (transported) to Australia. Here we are a large and colourful tribe.....it is good to see we don't have a mortgage on this sort of thing. It was a great read thank you to everyone who contributed

Greg Sproule
Adelaide, South Australia