John Ganniclifft (1665)

Born 20 Jun 1665 in Trusham

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Tony Varey [send private message]

Biography

John was born in 1665. He is the son of Steven Ganniclifft and Elizabeth Francis.

Sources

• http://www.trusham.com/trusham%20fanilyhistory/

See Ganniclifft -139 profile for detail

BIRTH

• Record Transcription:

Devon Baptisms First name(s) John Last name Gannicliffe Birth year - Baptism year 1665 Baptism date 29 Jun 1665 Denomination Anglican Baptism place Trusham Father's first name(s) Stephen County Devon Archive South West Heritage Trust Archive reference 2014A/PR/1/1 Record set Devon Baptisms Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records Subcategory Parish Baptisms Collections from England, Great Britain

STEWARD OF THE RESTORATION?

In 2021 found a reference to a “John Gannicliff, steward of the Restoration”:

• DECLARED ACCOUNTS: ARMY: TRANSPORT SERVICE.

AUDIT OFFICE: BUNDLE 2309, ROLL 22 [A.O.1/2309/22]. John Hill, Receiver and Paymaster of the Transport Service. 8 July 1715 to 29 September 1716. cxxi-clxviii

(Extract):

“ditto from Commanders and Pursers and others for deals, cabin stuff and other stores, detailed: …  ; John Gannicliff, steward of the Restoration; … “

What about the Restoration?

Wikipedia:

1. Restoration was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands in the Great Storm of 1703. All 387 men were lost, including her captain, named Emms. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. The Great Storm of 1703 was a destructive extratropical cyclone that struck central and southern England on 26 November 1703 (7 December 1703 in the Gregorian calendar in use today). High winds caused 2,000 chimney stacks to collapse in London and damaged the New Forest, which lost 4,000 oaks. Ships were blown hundreds of miles off-course, and over 1,000 seamen died on the Goodwin Sands alone…

2. HMS Restoration was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard and launched on 1 August 1706,[1] after the previous Restoration had been lost in the Great Storm of 1703. This ship also had a premature end when she was wrecked off Livorno on 9 November 1711.

Now it seems that these accounting records actually cover quite an extended period, so the dates in the headings are not indicative of when the transactions took place. This would explain why there is a mention of the Restoration in the Army Accounts dated 1715-16.

Richard Varey wrote:

John the Steward would be chief cook and in charge of victualling, thus accountable for purchases, and the kitchen, so probably not under 25, but possibly into his fifties, so I would not exclude candidates born 1650-1680 on age alone. In theory the basic ability to cook was a requirement, the under cook being an ordinary seaman who learned on the job. Restoration probably refers to the most recent one of that name, and might suggest the steward survived the shipwreck, unless the accounts are pro-forma but how long before they wrote off losses and wreck I don’t know. Some ships’ muster rolls and pay books survive, so it may be possible to find him.

So who was he?

G-117 b 1692 Exeter: He was a school master who married in 1719, and before that he would have been too young. Not him then.

G-257 b abt1652: We know little of him but he married in Little Hempston and had three children there, so he was probably a land lubber. Also he is a “Ganacle” on his marriage AND on his children’s birth records. Probably not him then.

G-285 b 1663 Exeter: We currently have him as having met with death by drowning in 1704-5 in Exeter, which could exclude him. However, first, he could have been the Restoration steward before it sank, and, second, this drowning may actually not be him, making it possible for him to have been the steward on the Restoration (built 1706, sunk 1711). So he is a possible. (The fact that the accounts document is dated a lot later does not rule him out.)

G-187 b 1665 Trusham: He looks very plausible. We know little of him. Trusham is near Exeter.

Finally, there is a probate record dated 1708 which is currently allocated to John Ganniclifft-134 who died in 1701. Perhaps it does not belong to him but to one of the two possible Johns above…the steward on the Restoration (built 1706, sunk 1711).