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Tours The Gilchrist Family Tour
Chapter 1: Summary
Chapter 2: Colin Gilchrist
Chapter 3: Jessie Gilchrist
Chapter 4: The Derrick Line
Chapter 5: Olive Wilson Gilchrist
Chapter 4: The Derrick Line
Jessie Gilchrist married John Henry Derrick in 1899. John Henry (JH) Derrick's grandfather, John Derrick, was born in Keynsham in the 1780's, grew up to be a blacksmith, to have a wife named Ann and three children: Mary, Sarah and John. Mary and Sarah never married, but John (JH's father) was married in 1860 at the age of 37 to Lavinia Chapman, the daughter of a farmer. John and Lavinia had 3 children of their own: Ada, John Henry (JH) and Ernest. John (JH's father) worked as a blacksmith at Finzel's Sugar Works, which at the time was the largest concern of its kind in the world. In 1871, feeling both nervousness and unable to follow his usual employment, JH's father hanged himself. The Daily Bristol Times and Mirror reported the event in chilling detail. JH was just 8 years old.
Finzel's Sugar Works, Bristol. This is where John Derrick was working (as a smith) at the time of his death in 1871.
John Henry Derrick, 1900's
As an adult JH first took work as a butler in Stapleton, but in the late 1890's through to his death in 1917 he worked as a 'Refreshment House Keeper' at 'Derek's Tea Rooms' situated at 1 Temple Street in Bristol. During the late 1890's he met a dressmaker named Jessie Gilchrist and they were married in 1899. When JH died he willed everything to his wife, and is buried with his brother in Canford Cemetery.