International Genealogical Institute (IGI)
A database of information about births, marriages and deaths, kept by the Mormon Church.
Dates before 1752
In 1752 the change from one year to the next was moved from 25 March to 1 January. So before then, any date between 1 January and 24 March needs the following year appended, thus: 23 February 1732/33. This helps resolve the apparent inconsistency of a birth on 13 October 1655 and the death of the same person on 13 January 1655; three months actually separated the two events.
Registration before 1874
Before 1874 it was not compulsory to register births, marriages and deaths, so official sources may be incomplete.
Speed Skating with the SMARTs of the English Fenlands
In Fitz-Steven’s Description of London, published in 1180, the following words occur:
When the great fenne or moore (which watereth the walls of the citie on the North side) is frozen, many young men play on the yce asome tye bones to their leete and under their heeles, and shoving themselves with a little picked staffe do slide as swiftlie as a birde flyeth in the aire or an arrow out of a cross-bow.
At what period the use of metal runners was introduced is unknown, but it was possibly not long after the introduction into northern Europe in the 3rd century AD of the art of working in iron. By the time of Charles II, skating had become popular, with the aristocracy as well as the people, as is proved by entries in the diaries of Pepys and Evelyn.
As in ancient times, skating is most practised by the Scandinavians, Finns, Dutch and British, to whom in modern days have been added the Germans, Swiss, Austrians, Canadians and Americans. All these nations have central organizations which control skating, the British, founded in 1879, being the National Skating Association.
‘Gutta Percha’ See and ‘Turkey’ Smart (right) in 1895, two famous fenskaters
Of the earliest skating races no records have been kept. That racing was a popular pastime in Holland two centuries and longer ago is proved by the numerous paintings of the time depicting racing scenes. In England the first skating match recorded was that in which Youngs of Mepal beat Thomson of Wimblingdon, both men of the Fens, in the year 1814. The Fen country has remained the chief English home of skating, owing to the abundance of ice in that district, and most British champions have been Fensmen, notably the Smarts of Welney. In January 1823 the Sporting Magazine recorded the first amateur match, which was between teams of six gentlemen from March and Chatteris, Mr Drake of Chatteris finishing first. In the same year a match took place for a silver bowl on the Maze Lake, Herts, over a course 5 miles long, the winner being Mr Blenkinsop. Racing, more or less intermittent, continued annually, the Fen skaters generally triumphing. In 1854 appeared the celebrated William ‘Turkey’ SMART, who, after defeating Larmen Register in that year, remained champion for more than a decade. His nephew George ‘Fish’ SMART won the championship in 1878 and held it until 1889, only to relinquish it to his younger brother James SMART. The first amateur championship of England was held in 1880 at Hendon, and was won by Mr F. Norman, a Fen skater.
Owing to the great area of Canada and the northern United States, and the long and cold winter, the sport of skating is indulged in to a greater extent in North America than anywhere else, and local matches have been held for years in many places. Owing to the reputation of Charles June, who was considered to be the best American skater from 1838 for many years, his place of residence, Newburgh, N.Y., on the Hudson river, became the headquarters of American speed skating. This city also is the birthplace of the Donoghue family, who may be called the Smarts of America. The most noted members of this family were Mr T. Donoghue and his two sons, Tim and J. F. Donoghue, each in his day the fastest skater in the world, Joseph Donoghue winning every event at the international championship meeting at Amsterdam in 1891. There is practically no professional skating in America.
Skating received a great impetus during the last decade of the 19th century, profiting both by the growing devotion of athletics and by increased facilities of communication, which led to international competitions and the institutions of skating clubs in Switzerland and elsewhere, especially those of Davos, St Moritz and Grindelwald, where ice is available every winter. Although skating instruments are so simple, the evolution of the skate has advanced considerably, contributing to marked improvement in the skater’s skill. In speed-skating an epoch was marked, first, by the almost universal adoption of the Norwegian type of racing skate; and, secondly, by the institution in 1892, at an international congress held in Holland, of annual races for the championships of Europe and of the world.
The Norwegian skate, introduced and perfected (1887 to 1902) by Axel Paulsen and Harald Hagen, is constructed with a view to lightness, strength, and diminution of friction. The blade, of specially hardened steel, is set in a hollow horizontal tube of aluminium, and connected by similar vertical tubes with footplates riveted to a closely-fitting boot with thin leather sole. It is 16 to 17¾ in. long and ¾ to 2 millimetres thick (i.e. 0.029 to 0.078 in.), the average employed for hard ice being ¾ mm., often thinner towards the heel. This thickness is suitable for hard ice, but for softer ice 2 mm or 0.078 in. is preferable. The blade is flat on the ice throughout, except for an inch in front; this flatness distributes the weight, and with the extreme thinness of blade reduces friction to a minimum. The edges are right-angled and sharp.
The skater’s style has been modified. The blade, when planted on the ice with weight upon it, describes a nearly straight line, the last few feet only curving slightly outwards as the skate leaves the ice. Hence the stroke of the best modern skaters is almost, if not entirely, on the inside edge, a gain in directness and speed, the outside edge being used for curves only. The length of stroke has tended to diminish. Contrasted with the 12 to 18 yards stroke attributed to the old English champion, William ‘Turkey’ SMART, which was partly on the outside edge, the modern racing stroke rarely exceeds 10 yds., and is usually nearer 6 or 7. Particular instances vary with conditions of ice, etc, but at St Petersburg, in 1896, Eden’s stroke in the 10,000 metre race averaged about 7.4 yds., that of P. Oestlund at Davos, in 1900, the same (for one lap, 8 yds.). J. F. Donoghue’s stride in 1891 was computed at about 6 yds. The general effect has been vastly increased speed, and a conjoint cause is the stricter training undergone before important races.
The races held annually since 1892/1893 for the championships of Europe and of the world, under the auspices of the International Skating Union, have assembled representatives from the skating countries of Europe and from America.
In England races are still skated, with rare exceptions, on straight courses, with a sharp turn round a post or barrel, the distance prescribed for N.S.A. championships being 14 m. with three turns. The Continental and international system involves a course with straight sides and curved ends of such a radius that no slackening of speed is necessary.
The curves are skated with a step-over-step action, and the direction is always from right to left. Hence, on entering the curve the right foot is brought across in front and set down on the inside edge, the left passing behind on the outside edge, and being in its turn set down on an outside edge in front. The strokes thus form a series of tangents to the curve, and are little shorter than in the straight. With a radius of 25 and 30 metres, as at Davos, the curves can be skated with safety at full speed.
See contemporary records in the Field, Outing, and other sporting journals, as well as the annual almanacs; A Bibliography of Skating by F. W. Foster (London, 1898); Skating, in the Badminton Library (1892); Skating, in the Oval Series (1897); ‘Skating’ article in the Encyclopaedia of Sport (1899); Skating, in the Isthmian Library (1901); Skating, by W. T. Richardson (New York, 1903).
About George Robert William SMART
George Smart, after starting his life in William ‘Turkey’ Smart’s large family of agricultural labourers, became a self-made man training in the new trade of Steam Engineer he became resident engineer for ‘The Manea Drainage Board’ at The Colony Steam Pumping station and then started a business as Steam trashing Contractor employing his sons Herbert and John, running a number of traction engines at the time of his death. Amy Hankins, granddaughter of George Smart, remembers his Steam Traction Engines when she was a tot, as a fearsome machine hissing and steaming whistling when they sounded the steam whistle she used to be taken to the bridge by her grandmother to see great-grandfather filling up with water from the Bedford River after 10 days Thrashing.
About George ‘Fish’ SMART
These days Elstree might seem an unlikely venue for winter sports, but in the late 19th Century it was chosen to host one of the first national ice skating competitions. More than 500 people gathered at Elstree Reservoir in January 1881 to watch a professional and amateur contest hosted by the newly-formed National Skating Association.
The speed skating event involved a professional tournament, with cash prizes, and the London Amateur Championship, both of which were run over a distance of one mile. The professional contest was dominated by G. ‘Fish’ Smart, from Welney, the national champion of the time, who beat H. Carter, from the same club, in the final. A report about the competition in The Sporting Life newspaper recorded that skating fans were ‘looking to Fish Smart to give them a sample of his powers’ on the day.
The races were run over a track 410 yards long, with three turns to the mile, and many of the spectators took to the ice on skates to get close to the action.
However, another contemporary newspaper report noted that the venue, off Watford Road, had proved controversial, because it was inconvenient to get to. There were very few train services from London to Elstree at the time, and people who did arrive at the station were faced with a two-mile uphill walk to the reservoir. Although the report continued: ‘Once at the course nothing could have been better for the racing and the weather, the scene and the amusement were all that could be desired.’ ‘Fish’ Smart breezed through the professional contest, easily defeating opponents in the three rounds before the final, and his best time of the day was 3mins 17secs.
There was some drama in the first round of the amateur championship, when T. Jones, racing the former London champion W. A. Smith, collapsed due to exhaustion. In the final a well-known bicyclist, C. Crute, was too quick for J. Goodliffe, from Huntingdon, who pulled up at three-quarters of a mile and did not finish.
The National Skating Association had been established two years before the competition at Elstree Reservoir, in order to regulate ice skating events on the fens.
About James SMART
James Charles Aveling, born at Elm, Cambs, in 1869, the fourth son of James Thomas Aveling of March, Cambs, JP and Deputy Lieutenant of Cambs and Hunts was a descendant of the line of Stephen (1712-1774). He grew up sharing the pleasures of cricketing and skating, born into the ‘Golden Age of Fen Skaters’ he sought to emulate his idol, friend, and compatriot the legendary Professional Champion James Smart.
James Smart rounds the barrel turn; fen skaters go around the barrel during the fen skating competition
In 1890 at the age of 21 he had his first success, finishing fourth in the National Championships, and followed it up by beating the champion in a race at Wisbech. In December 1891 the National Skating Association decided to send him to the World Championships in Norway, he created a good impression on the Norwegians who taught him to ski, and on his return to England introduced the speed skate as we know it today, his own personal skates being made by ‘Heinie’ father of Sonia the greatest figure skater of her time, becoming one of Hollywood’s legendary film stars. He arrived back from Norway too late to participate in the British Championships and at the first opportunity soundly defeated the new champion.
The next championship to be held in 1892/1893, at the age of 23, was to be his finest year, three world records, the quarter mile, the mile and the mile and a half, whilst his brother Bob collected the world 200-yards record. So many firsts, he was the first winner of the Duddlestone Cup, he defeated leading continental skaters in winning the Prince of Orange Vase, he became the first skater to win the National Skating Association’s Gold Badge, and he became the British Champion at all the distances from the quarter-mile up to three miles. His record time for the quarter-mile stood until 1938 a period of 45 years. Above all he was always remembered for his grace and beauty of style on skates. In 1894 he represented his country in the World Championships in Sweden where he acquitted himself with a fifth placing, being at a considerable disadvantage on the oval courses, in direct contrast to the straight up and down English courses, the continentals being able to generate greater speed on the bends with their foot over foot cornering.
In Wikipedia, see Turkey Smart and Fen Skating.
