One of the earliest mysteries in Andrew’s KIndred was The Pub Dennises. This concerned a number of descendants of second great grandfather Henry Dennis, about whom my folks new next to nothing. Well, there is a parallel with the Shinglers, some of whom married Dennises. I asked a Shingler if she knew anything about her publican relatives and she knew not. This follows the most recent (John I Chapter V) in my sequence on my old house and surroundings, as Dad’s uncle Jack sold on the lease to Wallace John Shingler; 14 July 1948, below.
Wallace John Shingler
Wallace Shingler was related to Fred and Ethel Shingler, nee Hassall, who lived on Watling Street. The common ancestor is at least 4 generations back. Wallace was Ethel’s first cousin, though 20 years older.
Chase Inn
Wallace was born at Brownhills in 1890. His father, George, came from Wrockwardine Wood, Shropshire, where he had been a coachman. Like many others he came to Brownhills to find work at the collieries. In 1891 the family lived at Watling Street, Ogley Hay (George, 33, coal miner). In 1901 they were at Fox’s Row on the south side of Watling Street (possibly the same house). In 1911 Wallace had become a labourer at a coal mine (undergound) and George a publican at the Chase Inn, which he had taken over in 1906 (Lichfield Mercury 29 Jun 1906).
My cousin told me that Wallace married Kitty Yates and they lived at [H Twist] cottages, at the northern end of the four and that her sister lived next door. The marriage to Selina Catherine Yates was in 1915. She had three sisters, Annie, Elsie and Sarah.
George Shingler is listed as the publican in Kelly’s Directory 1912, but I have not discovered when the license moved on. George died in 1937, but the licensee in 1935 was Robert Caleb Smith (Lichfield Mercury).
Anglesey Arms
Kitty Yates’ father, Thomas Yates, was licensee of the Anglesey Arms, also on Watling Street, standing opposite the end of Howdles Lane until the late 1960s.
According to the Lichfield Mercury of 8 July 1910 the Anglesey Inn was run by Mr and Mrs William Teece (he had been the licensee from at least the 1891 census), but by the 1911 census the licensee was Thomas Yates. He retained the license until 22 June 1921, when Wallace John Shingler was granted a temporary license (Lichfield Mercury 24 Jun 1921, p4 col5).
A search of the newspaper archive via Findmypast finds further articles, Lichfield Mercury 22 Sep 1933 and 29 May 1936. These were about meetings of the Sick and Dividend Society, of which Wallace Shingler was treasurer. Previously, the treasurer had been Thomas Yates, and it was commonplace for the licensee, as a man used to handling money, to hold such a role, so it seems likely that Wallace Shingler was the licensee at these times.
Wallace died in 1976.
The last landlord of the Anglesey Arms was, apparently, Jack Gerry. From childhood memory, the pub closed in the late 1960s. The site remains vacant to this day.
Andrew's Kindred 