Ian Churchward’s Blog 26th July 2026
Edna Coles sent me some very interesting photos after I shared my recent blog which mentioned the battle of Jutland. She told me that her father had written a diary about his time on HMS Tiger at the battle of Jutland and it is now on display in the naval museum in Devonport. Edna sent me two photos of the pages of the diary, a newspaper article about her father and of his invitation to attend the commissioning of a new HMS Tiger in 1972.
This is the link to my second song about the battle of Jutland:-
I have also recently received a very interesting email from Ian Waugh about the middle names of Christopher Marks Churchward and his younger brother, my Grandfather Gordon Langdon Churchward:-
Hi Ian,
I did some research on this aspect of our family … I hope it makes sense.
When Christopher Marks Churchward was born at Newton Abbot on 8 November 1891, the middle name Marks connected him with a Devon family whose history can be traced back more than 250 years. It was not simply an ornamental middle name. It represented Christopher's descent from the Marks family of South Tawton and, in particular, from Richard Marks, who was baptised there on 25 March 1640 and buried in the parish on 6 August 1696.
Richard married Elizabeth Brock, and together they established a family whose descendants would remain in Devon for generations. Among their children was Polinare Marks, baptised at South Tawton on 3 April 1671. Through her, the line leading to Christopher continued. Polinare gave birth to a son in 1697 who was baptised Richard Marks. In my GEDCOM records Richard Cursons as the reputed father, but the child retained his mother's surname, ensuring that the Marks name survived into future generations. It is a fascinating example of how a family name could continue through the female line at a time when this was relatively uncommon.
The younger Richard Marks married Mary Drew, and they became the parents of Simon Marks, who was baptised at South Tawton in 1722. Simon spent virtually his entire life in the parish. He first married Jane Symms in 1743 and, following her death, married Frances May in 1781. Simon died at South Tawton in 1796, having witnessed enormous changes during the eighteenth century.
Simon and Frances were the parents of William Marks, born at South Tawton about 1786. William's life marked the beginning of the family's gradual movement away from their ancestral parish. On 10 February 1812 he married Elizabeth Gale at Alphington, near Exeter. The couple raised a large family, and census records later place them at Ashton, a rural parish on the eastern side of Dartmoor overlooking the Teign Valley.
Among William and Elizabeth's children was Matilda Marks, born at Ashton about 1828. She married William Langdon in 1850 in the St Thomas Registration District. Their marriage united two long-established Devon families, and they settled at Trusham.
Although Matilda adopted the surname Langdon on her marriage, the family clearly remained proud of its Marks heritage. One of her sons was named Charles Marks Langdon, while the surname also survived in later generations as a cherished family middle name. This practice, common among many Victorian families, ensured that important maternal surnames were preserved even when they disappeared from the direct male line.
The line continued through Matilda's daughter Mary Langdon, who was born at Ashton about 1854. Mary spent her childhood in Trusham before moving to the Newton Abbot area. Census records describe her as a cheesemaker, reflecting the agricultural economy of rural Devon during the nineteenth century.
On 24 December 1872, Mary married Charles Churchward. Their marriage brought together the Langdon and Churchward families and laid the foundations for the next generation. They had several children, including Laura, George, Bessie Bryant, Alice, Edith, Christopher Marks Churchward, and Gordon Langdon Churchward.
The names chosen for the two boys demonstrate how carefully Mary preserved her family heritage. Gordon Langdon Churchward carried his mother's maiden surname, while Christopher Marks Churchward carried the surname of his maternal grandmother, Matilda Marks. Their names therefore commemorated successive generations of the maternal family and ensured that neither surname was forgotten.
Christopher was born at Newton Abbot on 8 November 1891. By then, more than two and a half centuries had passed since the birth of Richard Marks in South Tawton. Although the family had gradually moved from South Tawton to Ashton, Trusham and finally Newton Abbot, they had remained firmly rooted.
The family line connecting Richard Marks to Christopher can be traced through eight generations:
Richard Marks (1640–1696)→ Polinare Marks→ Richard Marks (1697–1765)→ Simon Marks (1722–1796)→ William Marks (c.1786–1857)→ Matilda Marks (c.1828–1908)→ Mary Langdon (c.1854–1937)→ Christopher Marks Churchward (1891–1916)
Christopher was therefore Richard Marks's fifth-great-grandson.
This ancestry is remarkable because the Marks identity survived despite passing through the female line on more than one occasion. It continued through Polinare Marks, whose son retained the Marks surname despite his reputed paternity. More than a century later, it passed through Matilda Marks into the Langdon family before finally being preserved in the middle name of her grandson, Christopher Marks Churchward.
Christopher's full name therefore tells a story extending across nearly three centuries of Devon history. Churchward honoured his father's family, while Marks commemorated a maternal lineage reaching back to Richard Marks of South Tawton in the seventeenth century. When Christopher was killed during the Battle of Jutland in 1916, he carried with him a name that preserved the memory of generations of Devon ancestors stretching back to the early Stuart period.
It’s a long and interesting story!
Best regards,
Ian Waugh
