Family links of the Sedgwicks
Thomas Shemeld and Sarah Burton
Thomas Readman and Mary Shemelds
Thomas Ward and Ann Thompson
Thomas Readman and Mary Ward
James Sedgwick and Ann Readman (No previous records on the Sedgwick side)
James Henry Sedgwick and Ellen Durmergue Jennings
This line of the Family lived in different villages in Yorkshire.
There is not a lot of information that I have been able to find Rev James Henry Sedgwick’s family.
Certainly there were no members of the clergy with his ancestors. His father was a painter, his brother Thomas was a house painter, and his brother Robert was a
mining engineer.
His sister Elizabeth was a school teacher.
He was not recorded in the 1871 English census, which indicates that he may already have been involved with the Church Missionary.
The Sedgwick line commences with 2nd great grandfather, James Sedgwick b 1823 in Hilton Yorkshire. James was a painter and in 1841 he was living in
Guisborough, and apprenticed to John Bulmer.
James married Ann Readman c 1844. They had several children:
Thomas R. Sedgwick b 1845;
Teresa Sedgweck b 1846 d 1919M Thomas Lodge
James Henry Sedgwick b 1850 m Ellen Durmergue Jennings 1881
Elizabeth Sedgwick b 1853. Elizabeth was a school teacher in 1881 was living with her father , and his grandson Harry.
Robert Wrightson Sedgwick b 1854 m Elizabeth Dunnin 1881 James was living with his daughter Elizabeth (unmarried) school mistress and his grandson
Harry, at 13 Vyner Terrace Stockton on Tees, Durham.
1891 James and Elizabeth were living at 13 Vyner Terrace Stockton on Tees. Her son was not residing with them at that time.
Ann Readman
Ann was born in 1824 in Upleatham, Yorkshire. Her parents were Thomas Readman 1799 - 1874 born Skelton, Yorkshire died 1874 in Stokesley Yorkshire, and Mary
Ward. B 1800 in Stainton in Cleveland, Yorkshire and died in 1850 in Nunthorpe Yorkshire.
Her parents married in 1821 in Great Ayton, Yorkshire.
Ann must have left the marriage because in 1871 she was living with her father Thomas in 12 Nunthorpe St
Mary Ward
Mary was born 1800 in Stainton in Cleveland Yorkshire and married Thomas Readman in 1821. She died in 1850 in Nunthorpe, Yorkshire. She was the daughter of Thomas Ward
born 1780 and Ann Thompson born 1780.
Mary Shemelds
Mary was born in 1770 in Skelton Yorkshire, the daughter of Thomas Shemelds and Sarah Burton.
She married Thomas in 1798, and died in 1836 in Skelton Yorkshire.
Thomas Shemelds
Thomas was born in 1737 in Marton, Yorkshire and married Sarah in 1758. He died in 1798. He was the son of William Shemelds born
1677.
from the internet - descended from a Thomas Shemeld born 1738 in Skelton North Yorkshire, married Sarah Burton 30 April 1758.
Thomas we believe was a Tailor by trade..
James Henry Sedgwick
James Henry Sedgwick was born in 1850, and he married Ellen Dumergue Jennings in Hanchow China in 1881.
They had a son born in 1882. His name was Harold Jennings Sedgwick
James Henry Sedgweck was a missionary who arrived in China in 1874. He is recorded in an interview regarding a Mr Manhood,
Fuh-Chow. Building up the Church. 55
Our missions in China. Another young labourer, the Rev. J. H. Sedgwick, who arrived at the end of 1874 (but who was afterwards transferred to Hang-Chow,
in the Cheh-Kiang province), thus spoke respecting Mr. Mahood, on receiving the news of his death :
My teacher told me that Chinamen in the city greatly respected him, and every one had a good word for him, as he always had for every one. No one hears of his
death without the manifestation of the deepest regret, and a kindly commiseration for Mrs. Mahood, and for her children, born in China and speaking the
language as well as natives. The students at Mr. Wolfe s sang, on the evening they were told of Mr. Mahood s death, even during Mr. Wolfe s absence, the
hymn, " For ever with the Lord," thus manifesting not only their realisation of what death was to him, but also their own faith. One of the merchants here, too, on
hearing of his death, remarked, " Ah ! yes ; he was a good man ; he once spent about an hour in speaking to me on religious matters."
Thus, once more, the Fuh-Chow Mission was in the hands of a single missionary.
In 1891 he was the Curate at St Martins on the Fields Church in London
In the 1891 census James Henry Sedgwick was living at the Church Premises in London, with his son Harold aged 8.
Katherine Bessie Jennings, his sister-in-law was residing at the same address.
It would be presumed that Katherine was taking care of James and Harold.
Katherine died in 1905 and was unmarried.
James Henry Sedgwick ordained at St Pauls Cathedral in 1874 Church Missionary College Islington In 1890 appointed to St Martins in
the Fields as cleric 1888 to Emmanuel’s West DulwichWMJ Mariners school Corpus Christi College
The following information has been provided by the Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections, University of Birmingham.
Dear Kris Herron,
Thank you for your email enquiry relating to the Church Missionary Society missionary, Rev James Sedgwick and his wife, Ellen. The CMS archive is
held here at the Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections at the University of Birmingham and this archive contains papers of and relating to
Rev James Sedgwick when he worked in China 1874-1880. The printed CMS Register of Missionaries 1804-1904 gives brief details of his career and it
appears that after his missionary training he first went to Fuh-chow in 1874, then to Hong Kong and in 1877 to Hang-chow before retiring in 1883
and returning to England. In 1893 he rejoined the CMS and was sent out to Palestine Mission. He returned to England in 1900 and retired in 1901.
He died at Tunbridge Wells 25 February 1927. In 1881 he married Ellen Dumergue Jennings, sister of another CMS missionary, Harnett Ellison
Jennings of Richmond Surrey. Ellen died in China in 1883. Sedgwick married a second time sometime before 1909 and that lady died in 1944.
You can search our archive catalogue online for references to James Sedgwick: http://calmview.bham.ac.uk/ If you choose ‘advanced search’ and
search for Sedgwick in ‘Anytext ‘field and type CMS in the ‘AltRefNo’ field you should find the catalogue records relating to the relevant CMS papers
eg Sedgwick’s own papers for the period 1874-11880 (Ref: C CH O74).
These papers and the CMS Register of Missionaries have been published as microfilms by Adam Matthew Publications but all the original papers
are held here. When you are in England next year you would be welcome to visit the Cadbury Research Library and consult the papers. Please see
our website for details of access, reader registration and information for planning your visit:
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/cadbury/index.aspx
I hope this helps with your family research.
Kind regards
Anne Clarke
Rev James Sedgwick retired in 1883. Ellen Sedgwick died in 1883. That suggests that he resigned from the missionary when she died,
and he was left with a small baby. Did she die in childbirth? Her death records are not available.
He rejoined the CMS missionary in 1883 and went to Palestine. Did he take Harold with him? Or was he left in the care of his aunt or
another of his family?
It is not known where his son was living while he was in Palestine. As he had taught in Pembroke College, it may be that his son was a
boarder there.
From Crockfords Clerical Directory the following outlines where Rev James Sedgwick was stationed during his Church life.
SEDGWICK, James Henry, Marsworth Vicarage, Tring - C.M. Coll Isl 1874 Pembroke . College. Oxford. University Chinese School 1885, Bachelor of
Arts 1887, Master of Arts 1891.
1874 London for Col. 1877 Vic. Vicar of Marsworth Diocese Oxford
1918 (Trinity Collegy Cambridge G1.91 a val. 120l Eccles. Comm. 60l; Fees 2l. ox. 1il Gross Inc 21ol, Net 21ol and Ho; Pop 336)
Church Mission Society Missionary at Fuh-Chow and Hong Kong 1874 - 1877; Hangchow and Shao-hing 1877 - 1883;
Church of Holton, Oxon 1885 - 1888. Emmanuel Churhc. West Dulwich 1888 - 89;
St Martin in the Fields 1889 - 93; CMS Mission at Jerusalem 1893 - 1902;
Curate of St Werburgh, Bristol, 1902 - 1903; Acting Chaplin at Peking 1903 - 04; Chaplain at Tientsin 1904 - 1916
Vicar at Marsworth Church 1915 - 1925
All Saints Church - Tientsin - 1903
Cnr Meadows Rd & Race Course Rd, British Concession.
This was the Anglican church in Tientsin, located just a short walk from the centre of the British Concession. The China Times' Guide to Tientsin
(1908) by Mrs Burton St John listed 3 Sunday services (8am Holy Communion, 10:45 Matins (Parade Service) and 6pm (Evensong)) in addition to twice
daily services. Can you imagine now the British garrison at Tientsin parading outside the church before attending a service?
Following the exodus of British expatriates from Tientsin after WWII and the Communists seizing power in China, the congregation of the church
dwindled before disappearing. The church building would have presented a symbol of the hated foreign presence to the communist powers. It is
surprising to see that the church was not destroyed and it seems to have been empty for seven decades. I note, however, that the roof and the
fleche have been recently repaired and the brick and stone work repointed.
From the information, Rev James Sedgwick spent his life dedicated to the Anglican Church. He was in China during the time of the
Boxer Rebellion, and must have faced extreme difficulties in the far flung areas of the world.
James returned to England in 1900. He remarried in 1902, to Sybil Gerard. They lived in Kent before his death in 1927.
He died at Tunbridge Wells and was buried at the Royal Tunbridge Wells Borough Cemetery.
Section A9 Consecrated, grave no 278 2nd row up, 5 graves in from the RHS if viewing from the position of the office.
Sybil died on 20th September 1944 and is buried at Royal Tunbridge Cemetery.
Her address at the time was The Myrtles High Street Cranbrook, Kent. When she died he left £700 to the State. Her property is now
one of three heritage listed properties
