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Cowans Surname Ancestry Results

Our indexes 1000-1999 include entries for the spelling 'cowans'. In the period you have requested, we have the following 38 records (displaying 11 to 20): 

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Masters of British Merchantmen (1834)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping was established in 1834, following the demise of two earlier societies for registering shipping in Britain. The new register in 1834 was created from an alphabetical list of British ships with no more detail than name, master's name, tonnage, and port to which they belonged. Lloyd's insurance syndicate provided £1000 for the establishment of a new system of surveyors, and as the year progressed many of the entries in the register were then annotated with additional information - type of vessel (Bk, barque; Bg, brig; Cr, cutter; Dr, dogger; G, galliott; H, hoy; K, ketch; Lr, lugger; S, ship; Sk, smack; Sp, sloop; Sr, schooner; St, schoot; Sw, snow; Yt, yacht), place and year of build, owners, destined voyage, and classification of the vessel and its stores, with the month (indicated by the final number in the last column) of inspection. Underneath each of these amended entries details were given of construction and repair, with year - s., sheathed; d., doubled; C., coppered; I. B., iron bolts; s. M., sheathed with marine metal; s. Y. M., sheathed with yellow metal; F., felt; PH., patent hair; Cl., clincher; len., lengthened; lrp., large repairs; trp., thorough repairs; ND., new deck; M. TSds., new top-sides; W. C., wales cased; NW., new wales; Srprs, some repairs - and, in italics, the timber of the ship is described - B. B., black birch; Bh, beech; C., cedar; E., elm; F., fir; G., gum; Ght., greenheart; Hk., hackmatack; L., locust; L. O., live oak; P., pine; P. P., pitch pine; R. P., red pine; Y. P., yellow pine; S., spruce; T., teak; W. O., white oak. The sample scan is from the main list. The third column, reserved for masters' names, is not particularly wide; with short surnames, an initial will be given; but longer surnames omit the initials, and even longer surnames are abbreviated. This is the index to masters in the main list. Often new masters had been appointed by the time of survey, and their names are added in slightly smaller type under the original master's names in the third column. These new masters are also included in this index.

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Masters of British Merchantmen
 (1834)
Merchants, Bankers, Shipowners and Traders of London (1834)
The public prints of December 1834 carried this loyal address to king William IV of merchants, bankers, shipowners, traders and others connected with the city of London, requesting 'permission at the present juncture to address your Majesty for the purpose of renewing the expression of our dutiful and loyal attachment to your Majesty’s person and crown. Deeply sensible of the practical blessings we have hitherto enjoyed under our wisely mixed constitution of King, Lords, and Commons, and feeling that the free and legitimate exercise of the Royal prerogative forms an integral part of that constitution (as essential to the maintenance of our own liberties as to the power and dignity of the Throne), we beg humbly to assure your Majesty of our determination steadfastly to uphold the same by every means in our power. 'Feeling, in common with all classes of your Majesty’s subjects, the deep importance of applying to all real abuses, wherever they may be found, a wholesome and timely correction, and of effecting in our excellent institutions every improvement of which careful examination and experience may prove them to be susceptible, we desire further dutifully to express our entire confidence that these useful purposes will ever occupy your Majesty’s paternal care. Nor can we permit ourselves to believe that the importance of these objects will be less apparent to those to whom the powers of government have been recently intrusted.' Full names are given (or surname with initials), and address. Over 5000 subscribed.

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Merchants, Bankers, Shipowners and Traders of London
 (1834)
National ArchivesBritish merchant seamen (1835-1836)
At this period, the foreign trade of ships plying to and from the British isles involved about 150,000 men on 15,000 ships; and the coasting trade about a quarter as many more. A large proportion of the seamen on these ships were British subjects, and so liable to be pressed for service in the Royal Navy; but there was no general register by which to identify them, so in 1835 parliament passed a Merchant Seamen's Registration Bill. Under this act this large register of British seamen was compiled, based on ships' crew lists gathered in British and Irish ports, and passed up to the registry in London. Each seaman was assigned a number, and the names were arranged in the register by first two letters of the surname (our sample scan shows one of the pages for 'Sm'); in addition, an attempt was made to separate out namesakes by giving the first instance of a name (a), the second (b), and so on. But no effective method was devised to prevent the same man being registered twice as he appeared in a second crew list; moreover, the original crew lists were clearly difficult for the registry clerks to copy, and some of the surname spellings appear to be corrupted. A parliamentary committee decided that the system devised did not answer the original problem, and this register was abandoned after less than two years: but it is an apparently comprehensive source for British merchant seamen in 1835 to 1836. The register records the number assigned to each man; his name; age; birthplace; quality (master, captain, mate, 2nd mate, mariner, seaman, fisherman, cook, carpenter, boy &c.); and the name and home port of his ship, with the date of the crew list (usually at the end of a voyage). Most of the men recorded were born in the British Isles, but not all (for instance, Charleston and Stockholm appear in the sample scan). The final column 'How disposed of' is rarely used, and indicates those instances where a man died, was discharged, or deserted his ship during the voyage.

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British merchant seamen
 (1835-1836)
Scottish Bankrupts (1841)
Scotch Sequestrations: bankruptcy often caused people to restart their lives elsewhere, so these are an important source for lost links

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Scottish Bankrupts
 (1841)
Railway Subscription Contracts (1845)
£21,386,703 6s 4d was promised by about 10,000 subscribers of less than £2,000 per contract to the nearly 200 railway bills deposited in the Private Bill Office during the Session of Parliament for 1845. This alphabetical list gives the full names of the subscribers (surname first), description (i. e., occupation), place of abode, a numerical reference to the title of the railway, the amount subscribed to each, and total. There is a separate key to the titles of the railways.

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Railway Subscription Contracts
 (1845)
Inhabitants of Durham (1847)
Francis White's directory of the city and suburbs of Durham, published in March 1847

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Inhabitants of Durham (1847)
Church of Scotland Schoolmistresses (1850)
The Committee of Council on Education awarded certificates of merit to teachers throughout Britain, and published annual lists of those qualifying in the previous years. Masters and mistresses are listed separately, with surname and initials, and school at which teaching, post town or county, and grade of the certificate: each of the three classes of certificate being subdivided into three. There are five separate lists for masters and mistresses: 1. Teachers in schools in connexion with the Church of England; male students in the Training Schools of the National Society, and of the several Diocesan Boards of Education; and female students in the Training Schools of the National Society (Whitelands, Chelsea), the Home and Colonial School Society (Gray's Inn Road, Holborn), and the Salisbury and York and Ripon Diocesan Boards of Education. 2. Teachers, in England and Wales, of British, Wesleyan and other Protestant Schools, not in connexion with the Church of England; 3. Teachers, in England and Wales, of Roman Catholic Schools; 4. Teachers of schools in Scotland, in connexion with the Established Church; male students in the Edinburgh and Glasgow Training Colleges; and female students in training schools. 5. Teachers of schools in Scotland, not in connexion with the Established Church; male students in the Training Schools of the Free Church (at Edinburgh and Glasgow); and female students in training schools. This is the list, corrected to 1 January 1851, published in 1851.

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Church of Scotland Schoolmistresses
 (1850)
Masters of Merchantmen (1852-1853)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping was issued annually, listing ships that had been surveyed preparatory to being insured. This is the register issued 1 July 1852 and then annotated as ships were re-surveyed through to 30 June 1853. The ships were numbered by the first letter of their name, and then by number alphabetically through the ships' names and within ships of the same name alphabetically by surname of the master. After the name of the ship there is the type of vessel (Bk, barque; Bg, brig; Bn, brigantine; Cr, cutter; Dr, dogger; G, galliott; H, hoy; K, ketch; Lr, lugger; Pol, polacre; S, ship; Sk, smack; Sp, sloop; Sr, schooner; St, schoot; Stm, steamer; Sw, snow; Yt, yacht), master's name (as at the time of the last survey); tonnage; place and year of build; owners; port belonging to; destined voyage; number of years first assigned; and character for hull and stores (e. g., A 1), with the year or month (e. g., 50 for 1850, or 2 for February 1852) of inspection. Underneath some entries details were given of construction and repair, with year - s., sheathed; d., doubled; C., coppered; I. B., iron bolts; c. f., copper fastened; M., sheathed with marine metal; Y. M., sheathed with yellow metal; G., sheathed with galvanised iron; Z., sheathed with zinc; F., felt; C. lm., coppered to light water or ballast mark; C. T., copper bolts substituted for treenails; Cl., clincher; len., lengthened; lrp., large repairs; trp., thorough repairs; Drp., damage repaired; ND., new deck; N TSds., new top-sides; W. C., wales cased; NW., new wales; NB., new bottom; NK., new keel; plk, Plank; N Klsn, new kelson; alm. rb., almost rebuilt; pt O. M., part old materials (timbers or plank); Srprs, some repairs - and, in italics, the timber of the ship is described - A, ash; B B, black birch; Bh, beech; C, cedar; E, elm; F, fir; G, gum; Ght, greenheart; Hk, hackmatack; Hm, hemlock; L, locust; Lh, larch; L O, live oak; M, mahogany; P, pine; P P, pitch pine; R P, red pine; Y P, yellow pine; S, spruce; T, teak; Tam, tamarac; W H, witch hazel; W O, white oak. The sample scan is from the main list. The third column, reserved for masters' names, is not particularly wide; with short surnames, an initial will be given; but longer surnames omit the initials, and even longer surnames are abbreviated. This is the index to masters in the main list. Often new masters had been appointed by the time of re-survey, and their names are added in slightly smaller type under the original master's names in the third column. These new masters are also included in this index. It should be borne in mind that the masters in the main list are those at the time of the respective previous survey for each ship, not necessarily as of 1 July 1852.

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Masters of Merchantmen
 (1852-1853)
Schoolmistresses and trainees with Certificates of Merit (1856)
The Committee of Council on Education for England and Wales produced an annual report which included several lists of teachers and trainee teachers, including an Annual Calendar of Teachers who have Obtained Certificates of Merit (completed to 1 January 1856), from which this sample scan is taken. The teachers are listed alphabetically by surname and initial, with name of school, post town or county, and grade, as either certificate or class. Student teachers were classed at the end of each year of training, so the column for class shows a student's class (1, 2 or 3) at the end of their first or second year of training. The teacher may then be awarded a certificate of merit by Her Majesty's Inspector, in which case the class and division of the certificate awarded appears in the columns for Certificate. No certificate of merit was granted a student, as a teacher, until he or she had been for two years in charge of the same elementary school, and the certificate was granted on the basis of two reports of performance as a teacher in school. If the first report was favourable, the teacher was paid for the first year on the scale of the lowest class; if the second report was favourable, augmentation and class of certificate was fixed for the next five years, after which (and so on from time to time) the certificates were open to revision. The value of the certificate, in the first instance, was not fixed higher than the first division of the third class, for any student who had resided less than two years at a training school under inspection. This is the index to the schoolmistresses and female students in training schools.

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Schoolmistresses and trainees with Certificates of Merit
 (1856)
Masters and Mates of Merchantmen: Certificates of Competency (1857)
The Mercantile Navy List and Annual Appendage to the Commercial Code of Signals for All Nations, edited by J. H. Brown, was published By Authority in 1857. It includes this full list of 'Masters and Mates who have passed their examination and obtained Certificates of Competency', from number 1 to number 15816, except for those whose certificates had been cancelled. The first column gives the number of certificate; the second column full name, surname first (an asterisk before the name denotes those who are found qualified to act in fore and aft-rigged vessels only; two vertical lines denotes in North Wales fishery only; a double dagger, passed the examination in steam; and a dagger refers to honorary testimonials, details of which are printed at the end of the section. A B C D are the distinguishing letters for the four classes of Meteorological Observers); third column, class examined (1 ex, 1, 2 and 3 denote First Extra, First, Second and Third Class Master's Certificate, granted under the Voluntary Examination, by Order in Council dated August 1845; Ex C, Master Extra; O C, Master Ordinary; 1 M, First Mate; O M, Only Mate; 2 M, Second Mate; L. R. N., Lieutenant Royal Navy; M. R. N., Master Royal Navy; E. I. C., East India Company; M. I. N., Master Indian Navy.); fourth column, year of certificate (where there are two dots, this is to represent a 'ditto' to the year next above); fifth column, Examining Board (Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, Cork, Dublin, Dundee, Glasgow, Greenock, Hull, Leith, Liverpool, London, Newcastle, Plymouth, Shields or Sunderland).

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Masters and Mates of Merchantmen: Certificates of Competency
 (1857)
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