Welcome to my website. I have been researching my Caffyn family history for over 30 years now and have put this website together for any other Caffyns or Caffins who are interested in where their family originates. Please contact me if you can’t find the information you need here, I am happy to help.

Spotlight on James Caffyn

As family historians one of our aims is to get the vital dates of our ancestors; when they were born, when and who they married and finally when they died. When we can find these dates we often don’t get much detail with them. James Caffyn was christened on the 24^th May 1840, the eldest son of John Caffyn and Mary Ann (nee Russell). He was born in Nutfield, Surrey where he seems to have spent most of his life. He married Ellen Riggs in 1865 and their daughter Clara was born in 1867, Ellen died in 1876 and James remarried to Matilda Busby in 1877. James and Matilda had five children – Ethel, Charles, John, Evelyn and Thomas. Two of James children died young – Clara at the age of 16 years and Charles when he was 3 years old. James himself died in 1898 at the age of 58 years.

In 1901 the average life expectancy of a man was 45 years so I had always assumed that James had died of ‘old age’ but whilst searching through newspapers for another event I came across James. He had always worked as a wheelwright and carpenter as did his father and several of his brothers. On Thursday 24^th February 1898 he was working at the Fullers Earth pits repairing some machinery when it collapsed. James attempted to get away but tripped on a pile of logs (H&S would probably have had a field day!) and his leg was crushed. He was taken to the local cottage hospital where he was found to have a bad compound fracture, he had lost a lot of blood and “was almost pulseless” His leg was set and he appeared to be recovering well so it was hoped that they would not have to amputate. However the next day it became clear that James’s survival depended on amputation and they operated on Saturday. Again he seemed to be recovering well but complications set in and he died on Sunday morning from blood poisoning and shock.

His funeral was well attended and illustrates the closeness of the community as the shops were closed and “blinds of the private houses were drawn”. His four surviving children attended his funeral, his youngest son Thomas was just 10 years old. Also there were two of his brothers, John and Ernest and his sisters Eliza Wood and Mary Ann Putnam.