JOHN TRAVERS

CHRONOMETER MAKER

of st. Albans, london and ramsgate

 

john Travers and his family

    John Travers was born August 4, 1849. He was the youngest in the family of his parents Samuel Holt and Beatrice Travers. John went to work for Thomas Mercer and Sons, the well known chronometer maker on Goswell Road, Clerkenwell, London when he was fourteen years old. John and Thomas were cousins. Beatrice (Walker) Travers was John's mother and her sister Sarah (Walker) Mercer was Thomas Mercer's mother. Sarah Walker married Richard Mercer, a carpenter, on December 27, 1821 at Rainford Chapel, Lancashire.

    John Travers married Susan Gray of Hertfordshire on December 27, 1871 at St. Peters Church, St. Albans, Hertfordshire and they had fourteen children including ten boys and four girls. John Travers died on October 31, 1937 in Ramsgate, Kent. John Travers and his wife Susan are buried in Ramsgate, Kent along with their daughter, Susan (Travers) Walker and grandaughter Kathleen Suzanne Walker. His obituary appeared in the Horological Journal, February 1939 on page 28. It was probably written by Dr. David Smyth Torrens (1897-1967) who was a professor of medicine at Trinity College, Dublin and amateur horologist.

    In 2003, a very rare Lancashire pattern chronometer fusee engine with the bill of sale from John’s brother Robert was auctioned in the U.K. by David Penney. We would be very interested to learn the whereabouts of this fusee engine and to confirm that it was in the possession of Dr. Torrens and then later Charles Allix. Also, described in the obituary for Dr. D.S. Torrens in 1967 is the following, “Some equipment he took home, such as the heavy Lancashire wheel engine that he carried “on his back” from Ramsgate.” We believe that this wheel cutting engine was sold at the time of Dr. Torrens’ death and would be very interested to learn anything further on it.

John and Susan had fourteen children:

  1. 1.Alfred Travers (18 Mar 1873 - 14 Aug 1951)
            Alfred was born at College Street, St. Albans, Hertfordshire. In 1898 Alfred was with the 2nd Battalion West Riding Regiment. He and his brother Charles emigrated to Canada at the same time. They departed Liverpool onboard the SS Lake Ontario on February 25, 1903 and arrived March 12, 1903 at St. John, New Brunswick destined for Wetaskiwin, Alberta. Alfred later emigrated to New Zealand and has many descendants there.

  2. 2.Ruth Violet Travers  (8 Aug 1874 - 13 Nov 1954)
            Ruth was born at Notley Cottage, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. She married Philip Tibbetts Melvill. Ruth, Philip, her children Ailsa and Bessie, her brother Frank departed Liverpool on April 23, 1909 onboard the CPR Empress of Ireland and arrived in Québec (probably Montreal) on May 1, 1909 destined for Edmonton, Alberta. Ruth first lived in the Lesser Slave Lake area where her brother Oliver was farming. She later emigrated to the United States where her descendants live.

  3. 3.Oliver Travers (1 Apr 1876 - 29 Oct 1917)



    Oliver was born at Notley Cottage, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. He departed Liverpool onboard the RMS Parisian on March 22, 1894 and arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on his eighteenth birthday April 1, 1894. He stated that he was headed for the railway and border town of Emerson, Manitoba. Oliver and his younger brother Sidney were hired by a group of adventurers from England and Ireland known as the Helpman O’Brien Party in the winter of 1897/98 in their attempt to reach the Klondike overland via Edmonton.
    Private Oliver Travers (Regimental No. 313) enlisted on December 29, 1899 with the 2nd Battalion of the Canadian Mounted Rifles and served for a year in South Africa during the Boer War. The Second Contingent sailed from Halifax on the S.S. Pomeranian on January 27, 1900 and arrived at Cape Town on February 26, 1900. He returned onboard the S.S. Roslin Castle departing from Cape Town on December 13, 1900 and reached Halifax on January 8, 1901. Oliver was discharged on January 14, 1901. Oliver initially homesteaded near Wetaskiwin where he met and married Anna Anderson whose mother was descended from the Dumont family of Québec. Later, they sold their property there and purchased land near the west end of Lesser Slave Lake in northern Alberta. Oliver was taken on strength in Grouard with the 49th Battalion as Lieutenant Travers on January 28, 1915.
    Honourary Captain and Quartermaster Oliver Travers was killed in action at Passchendale on October 29, 1917 while serving with the 49th Edmonton Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was a recipient of the Military Cross for his actions at Courcellette.
     He and his wife had six sons, one of whom was Flying Officer Charles Travers of the R.C.A.F. who was lost in Lancaster R5895 EM-B over Magdeburg on the night of January 21/22, 1944.

  1. 4.Sidney Travers (7 Nov 1877 - 25 Jul 1960)



    Sidney was born at Notley Cottage, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. He arrived in Canada two years after his brother Oliver and was also hired by the Helpman Klondike Party. Sidney and his wife Clara are buried in the Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia. (Block F, Plot 18, East 15).

  1. 5.David Travers (6 Nov 1879 - 6 Aug 1899)
            David was born at Notley Cottage, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire and was living with his parents in the 1881 and 1891 Census. He joined the West Riding Regiment (Regimental No. 5840) on 6 Sep 1898 and died from pneumonia on 6 Aug 1899. He was buried 8 Aug 1899 in an unmarked grave, plot AM871 at the Aldershot Military Cemetery on Gallwey Road in Hampshire.

  2. 6.Charles Batson Travers (5 Feb 1882 - 30 Dec 1952)



    Charles was born at Notley Cottage, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. Charles emigrated to Canada in 1903 with his brother Alfred. Along with his brother Oliver, he served in Transport with the 49th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (Regimental No. 432973) from 1915-1919. Charles married his brother Oliver’s widow Anna on June 28, 1926. He died in North Vancouver, British Columbia.

  1. 7.Susan Travers (10 Jan 1884 - 3 Mar 1953)
            Susan was born at Notley Cottage, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. She married Fred Walker in St. Pancras, London in 1914. She is buried in the Ramsgate cemetery in the same grave as her parents along with their daughter Kathleen Suzanne Walker.

  2. 8.Daisy Travers (25 Mar 1885 - 30 Aug 1962)
            Daisy was born at Notley Cottage, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. She inherited her father’s residence at 7 Spencer Square, Ramsgate and lived there until her death.

  3. 9.John Travers (8 Jan 1887 - 19 Jan 1942)



    John was born at Notley Cottage, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. He followed in his father’s footsteps and was probably one of the last remaining marine chronometer makers in the world. He served with the British Army during the first world war. He and his wife Janet Mary are buried in the same grave at the Hatfield Road Cemetery, St. Albans, Hertfordshire. They had one son Oliver John Frederick Travers (1922-1992).

  1. 10.Percy Travers (25 Apr 1889 - 20 Jan 1890)
        Percy was born at 15 Witley Road, Islington, London. He died when he was less than one year old. Oliver named one of his six sons Percy.

  2. 11.Mabel Travers (11 Dec 1891 - 16 Apr 1975)
            Mabel was born at 15 Witley Road, Islington, London. She married Arthur Eric Lenton in 1930 at Hammersmith, London. Later in life she lived at Richmond Hill, west of London. Arthur was a bank clerk who had worked for some years in Brazil.

  3. 12.Frank Travers (9 Aug 1893 - 2 May 1970)
            Frank was born at 15 Witley Road, Islington, London. He also emigrated to Canada. He served with the Canadian Army during the first world war and is buried at Victory Memorial Park White Rock, Surrey, British Columbia.

  4. 13.Frederick Travers (10 Feb 1896 - 7 Feb 1977)
            Frederick was born at 15 Witley Road, Islington, London. He also lived for a time in Canada. We believe he came to Canada in 1912 and is recorded as returning to England in 1920. Frederick married Harriet Maud Hall on 23 Aug 1925 at St Mary Magdalene Church in Holloway, London. She died 21 Sep 1962 at the age of 67.

  5. 14.Ernest Wilson Travers (9 Apr 1899 - 2 Nov 1969)
            Ernest was born at 15 Witley Road, Islington, London. He married his first wife Irene Lottie Mary Berryman in 1922. They had two children Robert Frederick Edward Travers and Betty H I Travers. Ernest and Lottie divorced about 1927 and then he later married Catherine Johnson on 19 Aug1929 at the Register’s Office in Fulham, west of London. Robert died during the bombing of London on 10 Nov 1940. Ernest and Catherine had two children John Travers (1930-1995) and Robert Francis Travers (1932-2002).

If you have information that may assist in this research or any question or comments about the website please email: mike@traverslancashire.net.