“…although she goes by her married name Holmes and her second husband gets caught married to two women…”

~ Wilfred Gayleard

Not a lot is known about Henry Gayleard outside of his maritime records and the birth of his daughter Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard. I was actually contacted quite awhile ago by a lady in England who was doing research into Henry and Sarah Elizabeth and she had a great deal of information about Henry’s maritime activities and the life of Sarah Elizabeth and her family. There are no baptismal records that so far that I can find or any marriage certificate either. And also he never shows up in any of the census records of the time. He should have been in the 1841, 1851 and 1861 but he doesn’t as far as I can find. However since he was a mariner or in the navy they would have had records of him being there not at his place of residence. So the only only current family I can find of Henry is his daughter. But let’s put together what I can find.

Here are several of Henry Gayleard’s naval records, it is full of interesting facts…if they are correct. The first being that it states he is born in 1820, is 5 foot 1/2 inch tall, red hair, blue eyes, with tattoos on his right arm. And in all his records it states that he is born in Portsmouth. And in 1844 it states that he lives on 7 Crown st. It also shows what ships he served on. Henry was a sail maker by trade. It also shows that he joined the navy at age 14 in 1834.

“That all came to an end in 1865 when on the maiden voyage upon the ship In Te Spes the ship went down and disappeared. Henry was only 45 when he passed away.”

~ Wilfred Gayleard

In 1845 Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard is born in Portsmouth to Henry Gayleard and Amelia Savers

Although misspelled this is Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard. Although there has been no record so far of Henry and Amelia being married Sarah Elizabeth too Henry’s last name.

This is money being taken from the pay of sailor’s for whatever reason. You will notice that Henry Gayleard’s pay is being taken by Amelia Savor for Sarah E Gayleard his daughter. What it doesn’t mention is that he is on the HMS Grampus at the time from 1846 to 1848 over in Tahiti and the Hawaii islands. As for Amelia Savers she must not have married Henry as she keeps her maiden name. I have not found many records of Amelia Savers, it looks like she never does get married however she does have 2 more children with a Henry Goldsmith. Rosina Amelia Goldsmith Savers in 1847 and Henry Joseph Stephen Savers in 1849. So Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard had a half brother and half sister.

Henry Gayleard is still paying Amelia Savers in 1850 but you can see he marked an X for his signature.

Not much is known about Henry except for his naval record, he does go into becoming a merchant marine and can be found a few ships listed in Crew’s Lists. Often spelled Gaylard or Gaylord.

That all came to an end in 1865 when on the maiden voyage upon the ship In Te Spes the ship went down and disappeared. Henry was only 45 when he passed away and Sarah Elizabeth would be 20 years old.

There are few pieces of information I have found on Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard.

When ordering BMD records many years ago I found this, Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard gave birth to a boy and named him William Henry. Although it does not mention who the father is and Sarah would be about 15 years old at the time.

Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard marries Edward Ralph Holmes in 1862, this is the first of her marriages and they have a son named George born in 1867. However Edward dies in the next couple of years.

Sarah marries a John Brown, something I stumbled upon while researching. You will note that it lists her as being a widow by 1870 and that her father is Henry Gayleard, sailmaker. Although I have found Sarah on a couple of genealogy websites, this is the only time I find her mentioned being married to John Brown. Very little is known of John Brown or Sarah’s marriage to him, but she is listed as being a widow in her next marriage.

In 1876 Sarah gets married for a third time, this time to Robert Kilford, not much is known from my limited research on him. However taking a look at the record, it lists the witnesses as William and Hannah Barnes. Hannah is also another name for Ann, and Ann Gayleard married a William Barnes in 1870. Doing a search in the 1871 and 1881 census I could not find a Hannah Barnes but I do find several Ann and William Barnes. Could Sarah and Ann be related? This is something I will put on another post. But what also is interesting is that Sarah is going by the name Holmes still and also listed as a widow. The one thing that is clear is that she lists her father as Henry Gayleard.

This is the only record I have so far of Sarah Elizabeth’s marriage to John Shaw Haines. They were married until 1909 when both of them passed away.

Sarah and John had one son John Charles Shaw Haines born in 1878. The three moved to around Sussex. Sarah also had a half sister named Rosina Amelia Savers born in 1847 and a half brother Henry Joseph Stephen Goldsmith Savers born in 1848. Both list their father as Henry Goldsmith.

John Haines married a Annie Godden and they had two children but one died as an infant. The other was named Marjorie May Haines. John and his family lived in England until 1911 when they decided to move to Canada. They settled in the area of St Catherines in Ontario

So upon trying to find whatever happened to Edward Holmes and Sarah Elizabeth and her second husband John Brown I found these in the newspapers in Hampshire in archives.

I could never find any records of death for Edward Holmes in the Hampshire area and stumbled upon this in the newspapers. Edward was with the navy and dies in 1870 in Hong Kong. Is this the same Edward that Sarah Elizabeth married? I think the possibility is strong, the age is about right and it also explains why she also got married in 1870. A widow with one child. But what happened to her second marriage….

So this is Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard although she goes by her married name Holmes and her second husband gets caught married to two women. So extremely surprising. Sarah then marries Robert Kilford in 1876 and that doesn’t last long and she finally marries John Haines in 1877.

Continue Reading: 5. William Henry Gayleard 1857-1930