James Lanyon was arrested for stealing a horse rug on 11 May 1873 and stealing a horse (presumably to go with the rug!) on 26 May 1873. The horse belonged to William Uren of the Devon and Cornwall Artillery Militia. James appeared at the midsummer assizes at Bodmin and was tried by Sir Charles Brune Graves Sawle.
James appears to have been caught ‘red handed’ as he plead guilty and was sentenced to six months hard labour at the house of correction at Bodmin. That meant the dreaded treadmill.
I found a second conviction for James in 1873. he was found guilty of stealing Fras. Osborne’s trousers at Camborne. He was described as crippled in his right hand and having an ‘enlargement in right breast’. Again he was sentenced to the treadmill.
In 1874 he was convicted of trespassing on the land of Gustavus Lambart Basset esq, in Illogan, in search of game. His description is as follows: Roman nose, eyes rather small, right forefinger small and useless. Again he was sentenced to the treadmill.
British Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
James Lanyon was aged just 19 at his conviction in 1873 (born in 1854) and a labourer. James is quite a common name in the Lanyon family but it didn’t take long to find him on the tree.
James was the son of William Lanyon and Mary Maddern.
James’ grandfather, William Lanyon 1767-1836, was transported to Australia!
James’ parents married in 1841 at St Buryan and by 1861 they were living in Lelant. By 1871 James was no longer living at home but I can’t find him on the census. He may have been avoiding the authorities!
After jail we lose track of James but he may be the James Lanyon aged 21 who sailed to Australia in 1875 and was described as a copper miner. He may have died, prison wasn’t conducive to good health and a long life.
James and Mary had two sons and five grandsons to carry on the family name.
Thomas Lanyon 1750-1823
Thomas was baptised at Breage in 1750, he was a tinner at St Michael’s Mount and married Sibella Dusting/Disting at St Hilary in 1778. They had four children:
Catharine 1778-1779 died in infancy
Catharine 1781- in 1822 a Catherine Lanyon married Richard James at Breage could be this Catharine?
Thomas 1783-1859
William 1791-1871
Thomas senior was buried at St Hilary in 1823. Sibella was buried there in 1830.
Cornish Tin Mne – Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
James Lanyon 1758-bef. 1851
James was baptised at Breage in 1758, he too was a tinner and he married Ann Sirrell at Breage in 1789 (William Lenine was a witness). They had eight children:
Margaret 1790-1872 baptised at Germoe in 1790 and two possible marriages may be hers – William Pearce 1809 at Germoe and George Gregory 1838 at Uny Lelant – two children from the marriage to George
Ann 1791-1873 she married William Bosanko at Germoe in 1834 no children
Catherine 1793-1883 in 1818 she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter at Sithney (Catherine Lanyon of Rosladen, Breage). In 1822 she married Richard James a miner at Breage – three daughters. Catherine died at Germoe aged 90.
Florence 1796-1875 she married Joseph Thomas at Germoe in 1821 – six children
William 1799-1854 was a tin miner, he married Mary Curnow at Germoe in 1822 and they had four children: William 1824 no further trace, Maria 1827-aft. 1901 married John Thomas – six children and two daughters who died in infancy. He then married Ann Beckerleg in 1834 and they had one daughter.
Elizabeth 1805- had an illegitimate son William baptised at Germoe in 1826 no further trace of him. Elizabeth then married William Peters at Germoe in 1829
Mary 1807- no further trace
James 1810-1829 he died age 19 at Germoe
There is no one traceable to continue James’ line. He died before 1851, his widow is listed on the 1851 census as living with her widowed daughter Ann Bosanko and is described as a pauper aged 83.
1851 Census for Germoe
John Lanyon 1763-1835
John was baptised at Breage in 1763 and like his brothers he was a tinner. He married Florence Michell (a relative of his mother) in 1789 at Breage. Their only daughter Ann was baptised at Germoe in Sep 1790, her mother Florence was buried in Jan 1791 aged just 28. Ann married James Provis at St Hilary in 1815.
John married for a second time in Aug 1792 at Breage to Catherine Pope (Witnesses Richard Michell and Thomas Kitto). They had three children:
John 1793-1869
William 1795-1802 died young
Florence Michell 1797-1864 she married Michael Benny at Helston in 1818, they had six children and she died in London in 1864
John senior died at Germoe in 1835 age 77 which gives him a date of birth of 1758, he could have been baptised when he was age 5 or his family may have miscalculated his age when he died.
There were lots of mines in the Germoe/Breage/St Hilary area.
We don’t know which mines they worked in but this film will give you an idea of what it was like.
Richard Lanyon 1770-aft. 1841
Richard was baptised at Germoe in 1770, he was a blacksmith at Marazion. He married his cousin Jane Lanyon at St Hilary in 1794. They had eight children:
William 1794-1871
Richard 1796-1797 died in infancy
Jennifer Jane 1797-1877 married Charles Gundry, a farmer, three children
Richard 1799-1835 died age 35 at Marazion, unmarried
Catherine 1802- aft. 1881 married John Roberts, a miner, she was still alive in 1881 and according to the census her two daughters Eliza (tailoress) and Jane (dressmaker) were living with her and her grandson William, illegitimate son of one of the daughters.
John 1804-1806 died in infancy
Mary John 1806-she married Thomas Harris Roberts at St Hilary in 1841 no further trace
Julia 1809-1843 living with her father on the 1841 census and dead by 1843
Richard senior was still alive in 1841 and living with youngest daughter Julia but after that no trace of his death. He’s often confused with the Richard Lanyon who died at Lostwithiel in 1848.
Victorian Blacksmith – Summer A. Smith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
James Lanyon 1759-1848
James was the son of James and Catherine Brownfield. He was baptised at Breage in 1759 and married Grace Harry at Germoe in 1790. They had five children:
James 1790- he was a labourer and married Christian Arthur at Breage in 1812, one daughter Mary Anne baptised at Camborne in 1812. There is a Christian Lanyone on the 1841 census living at Helston but no sign of her husband. No further trace.
John 1794-bef. 1796 died in infancy
John 1796-bef. 1808 died in infancy
Jennifred 1799- no further trace
John 1808-1855
James’ wife Grace Harry died in 1815. In 1819 he married again in Mawgan in Meneage to Ann Rogers. They had one son:
Thomas 1819-1855
James died at Mullion in 1848 and Ann Rogers died in 1863 at Mullion.
Out of the five grandsons of James Lanyon and Mary Pearce there were only five great grandsons with children to follow.
The Lanyons 