Yelf Wills (1865 - 1916)

Day one I say that this is not the best format for posting information in lists and then a week later I start posting lists!

The old Index Yearbooks held at Somerset House provide a certain amount of information even without actually obtaining a copy of the will itself. The following is a transcript of all the entries relating to Yelfs and associated names. It’s also a reminder of the fragility of recording methods as I found the document on an old floppy disc. Sadly there was some difficulty reading the document and it came over with large amounts of strange pagination text that I’ve been manually cleaning up for a good few hours.

As a result I can’t guarantee that the information below is word perfect to the original, so be warned!

For ease of reference I will be posting it in three chronological sections containing the basic information as listed below.

YEAR NAME DETAILS PROBATE AREA EFFECTS

1865 JANE YELF Nov (Wife of William Yelf). Granted to Robert Yelf, son. Winchester Under £800

1875 EMILY HARRIETT YELF 28 Jan: Late of 'Uplands' nr. Ryde IOW County of Southampton, spinster who died 24 October 1874 at Uplands was granted to the Principal Registrary to ROBERT YELF of Uplands, Gentleman, the Father and next of kin. £1,500

1876 JOHN WILLIAM YEALFE 13 Nov. of 6 Union St., Pimlico Rd Pimlico
Mdsx. Grocers assistant d. 11 Feb 1876.Granted to Harriet Yealfe, widow. £100

1877 MARY YELF 28 Nov (Wife of Robert Yelf the Younger) of Kinderton House, Ryde, IOW d.30 May 1877 at Kinderton House. Granted to Robert Yelf the Younger, Kinderton House, Gentleman £300

1880 JAMES YELF 2 March: of Newport IOW d. 13 Dec 1879 at Newport. Granted to George Newman Henton of Newport the brother by the half blood and George Henry Henton of Loverstone Farm in the parish of Carrisbroke in the said Isle yeoman, the Executors £450

1883 ROBERT YELF 20 March: Late of 'Uplands' nr. Ryde IOW in the county of Southampton, Gentleman who died 21 Nov 1882 at Little Compton in the County of Warwick. Proved by Leonard Keatley Yelf of Moreton in the Marsh county Gloucester MD and Frederick Steane Yelf of Keith House Queens Road Wimbledon in the County of Surrey, Gentlemen, the sons the executors. £16,100 7/10d
(Resworn Mar 1892 £17,146 12/d)

1888 EMMA YELF 24 May: Wife of Joshua Yelf, late of 66 Pyle St. Newport IOW d. 1 August 1883. Granted to William Walter Wapshott of 2 Mary St. West Cowes (The brother a legatee) £30

1895 HARRY FLEMMING YELF of 111 Dereham Rd, Heigham, Norwich,
Architect d.28 SEPT 1895. Granted 17 Oct to Ann Yelf Widow, Thomas Harry Yelf, builders manager and Cecil William Yelf architects clerk £358 6/-

1895 WILLIAM THOMAS of Middlesex County Lunatic Asylum near London Tooting, Surrey d.23 JUNE 1895. Probate to Annie Charlotte Yelf widow £165

1896 ROBERT YELF Of Paxford near Chiping Campden Worcestershire London Gentleman d. 10 March 1896. Probate 15 June to Eliza Mary Holme Yelf spinster £4589

1897 JOSEPH YELF Of Hunnyhill Carisbrooke IOW gentleman d. London 29 April 1897 Probate to Frances Hind Yelf spinster and John Hind Yelf carpenter £41 3/11d

1897 WILLIAM RICHARD YELF OF Newport IOW printer d. 28 Sept 1896. Probate London to Edward Hopkins Fox Payn draper and Frederick Kilner bottle manufacturer £683 10/9d

1898 JOSHUA YELF Of 8 Lower St, James St, Newport IOW dyer d.19 Feb 1898. Probate 12 March to Ellen Denton spinster Winchester £240 17/5d

1900 ANN YELF Of 231 Dereham Rd, Heigham Norwich (widow) d.19 Nov Norwich 1900 at 151 Earlham Rd, Heigham. Probate 19 Dec to Thomas Harry Yelf builder/contractor, Ernest George Yelf electrician, Cecil William Yelf surveyor £924

1906 EMMA YEALFE Of 17 St James St Portsea Hants (Wife of Francis David Yealfe Licensed victuallar) £211

1906 HELEN YELF Of Newbury House, Newbury Road Shirley Hants spinster d.6 July 1906. Probate to Robert Yelf insurance agent
Winchester £191 4/10d

1906 JACK ROBERT YELF Of 81 Exeter St Salisbury Retired bank cashier d.23 July 1906 at Shanklin IOW Probate 25 August to Catherine Fenwick Yelf widow Salisbury £2897

1911 FREDERICK STEANE YELF Of 21c Palmeira Mansions Hove Sussex d.27 June 1911 Probate 2 August to Florence Steane Yelf spinster London £3038

1912 LEONARD KEATLEY YELF Of The Chestnuts Bransgrove Hampshire d.3 October 1911 Probate 12 Jan to Jane Adam Yelf widow
London £4103
(re-sworn Robert Edward Burnett Yelf surgeon and Leonard Lane Yelf gentleman £4404)

1916 ANNIE CHARLOTTE YELF Of 4 Camden Av. Peckham Surrey widow d.28 March 1916 at 3 Camden House Camden Av. Probate to Annie Brookes Yelf spinster London £101

1916 LEONARD LANE YELF Of Little Compton Warwickshire Gentleman d.6 Dec 1915 at Cottage Hospital Moreton in the Marsh Gloucestershire Probate 22 March to Alice May Yelf widow Birmingham £5276

Private Robert Henry Yelf - Killed in Action

My pillaging of old newsletters continues with this account of my research into the unfortunate death of my Great Uncle Robert who died during the First World War. Robert was one of only two Yelfs to die in that conflict and it was believed by the family that he had been killed by a sniper. The photograph below is of Robert and his new bride Catherine shortly before the outbreak of War and this is the account that I originally wrote in 1997.

A recent trip to the Public Records Office at Kew has provided some more information.

Robert’s death certificate gave his regiment as the 12th Battalion, York & Lancaster Regiment (an odd choice for someone born and bred in South London) and his date of death as 28th October 1916, killed in action. A check in the library put this within the period of the battle of the Somme, which ran from July to November of that year. But was Robert killed at the Somme or somewhere else? I was able to confirm that the war diaries of the 12th battalion were stored at Kew and I was able to visit to have a look through them. Each unit of battalion size or above kept such a diary, often hand-written at speed with entries only a line or two long. They often also include operational maps, divisional orders, raiding party reports, artillery maps and many other bits and pieces, but most importantly from my point of view, notes of any casualties. Officers names are sometimes mentioned, but other ranks hardly at all, so I was really interested in finding where the battalion was and what it was up to when Robert met his end. In fact I think I may have found the actual circumstances of his death, something of an unexpected bonus.

Most of the reports were written in pencil, but those around this period for this particular battalion were typed, which made reading them a lot clearer. The unit was based south-east of Arras in northern France and was in the front line. The reports for a few days each side of Robert's given date of death were as follows - (Italics are mine)

Courcelles Oct 27th
In the morning A & B Companies proceeded to relieve C & D Companies at Courcelles. C & D Companies returned to Warnimont Wood. Capt. D.C. Allen remained at Courcelles in charge of detachment.

O.C. [Officers Commanding] coys. were A Company Lieut. V.S. Simpson B Company Capt. E.L. Moxey

[Turning the page for the entry for the 28th, the day of Roberts death I was disappointed to see that an entry had not been made, However, the next entry was as follows]

Warnimont Wood Oct 29th In the morning companies were at the disposal of their commanders.

Notice having been received from Brigade Headquarters that a working party would have to be provided in the evening, afternoon parades were suspended. At night a working party of 2 officers and 100 other ranks was provided for work in the trenches. A HE (High explosive] shell bursting near the crossroads, HEBUTERNE [Name of village], caused 8 casualties in this party - 1 o.r. [other ranks] killed, 5 wounded and 2 shell-shock.

For the next few days the diary notes the lack of any casualties, despite heavy rifle fire. Although it’s impossible to be sure, I feel that this unfortunate soldier killed at night by a shell burst was almost certainly Robert as this is the only note of a casualty for several days either side of the date given for his death.

Looking at a Michelin map of the area, the region is covered in British war cemeteries and I hope that a letter to the War Graves Commission might provide information as to Robert’s final resting place, if it’s known. Hebuterne only looks an hour or so from Calais so I may be able to visit at some point in the future.

Background reading in the library also revealed that the 12th battalion was originally a ‘Pals’ battalion made up of friends and comrades from the same are. In their case the 12th was known as ‘The Bradford Pals’ who had spent early months of the war in Egypt. Many had purchased scarabs as lucky charms and carried them over to France. After some of the early, bloody battles, concern was expressed that casualty lists were having a disastrous effect on local morale. Whole villages or small towns might have their young men wiped out in a single day and from that point on regional regiments tended to be mixed (including putting cockney’s into kilted highland regiments) and Pals battalions broken up to spread the death toll. It seems Robert was transferred to the York and Lancaster regiment as part of these moves.

This year we finally did make it to visit Robert's grave in Hebuterne where my daughter took the photo of Robert's grave at the beginning of this article, but not before Robert had a visit from the band of the Metropolitan Police (but the circumstances around that are surely worth a separate blog entry of their own.

Who's the Daddy? Louisa Yelf and George Rendall

Looking back through my old notes and records (as I now find myself doing) I came across an intriguing encounter I had in 1994 whilst waiting for a copy of a Yelf will in Somerset House. It led to some interesting and intriguing information being passed on that I was, unfortunately, unable to bring to a satisfactory conclusion at the time. I offer all the information I have to any budding Sherlock out there who might wish to take up the challenge...

After hearing the name Yelf called out when my will arrived, I was approached by a professional genealogist cum journalist who was there researching background information on Lady Bienvenuda Buck (remember her?). It turned out that he had an ancestor called Louisa Yelf who had married James Henderson some time in the 1830's. However Louisa had always maintained that she was, in fact, the daughter of George Rendall, a wealthy and prominent Isle of Wight businessman. George was apparently a stalwart of the local church, a Mason and an investor in the Ryde Pier Company who, it was claimed, had conducted a steamy and tempestuous affair with the wife of his friend and business partner, Mr Yelf (this would have been Robert Yelf Jnr. of Ryde, Isle of Wight)

This seemed to be too good a story to pass by so I went to see what I could unearth to flesh out the story.

Looking first at the IOW births between 1759-1832 I could find no mention of a Louisa Yelf. Nor could I in the Catherine’s House records. However a Louisa was baptised in 1835, but she was certainly not getting married at the time, as this Louisa seems to have been. There was a baptism for a Louisa in London in 1827 but I couldn't find any more information on her at the time.

Then an extract from the IOW Family History Journal caught my eye which read -

‘In that year (1859) the town commissioners elected by the rate payers were: Geo. Rendall, Robt. Yelf (and 25 other names)’ It then went on to describe the formation of the Pier Company, 2,500 shares at £50 each and construction began on 31st June 1813.

This certainly confirms some of the details in the story, confirming that there was indeed a George Rendall who would have known Robert Yelf but whether the child might have been born 'off the Island' and not recognised by Robert Yelf Jnr., I could not say. Nevertheless with these details and the greater accessibility to records it just might be the time to start looking again.

Yelf Bros. Printers - The last days...

1997 saw the final closure of Yelf Bros. Printers at Newport on the Isle of Wight when it was sold by its then owners to the County Press. This business was one of the most prominent of Yelf enterprises and had a long and distinguished history, much of it recorded in the history of the company 'Printers Pride'. By a slice of good luck the final closure coincided with a visit by Betty Richardson who was on a short holiday chasing up her Yelf relatives. Betty kindly wrote what happened for a Yelf newsletter that I published the same year but I think it's worth repeating as it seems Betty has a good foundation for her own Yelf museum...

"On our first day there we went to Newport and found Holyrood Street and the old Yelf House at No. 15 - I recognised it from the pictures in ‘Printer’s Pride’! John took photos of the outside but it looked so unpainted and neglected we felt that the business must have closed as there was no name-plate outside as there had been in 1984 when my friend Mary had photographed it for me. But we went down a little passage at the side of the house and we found the old printing house. The present owners told us that it had been built as a single-storey, purpose-built building in the huge garden of the house.

We went inside and the folk who were there were the ones who had bought the business from Ella Yelf-Gustar sixteen years ago! They greeted us with great warmth when we said who we were and said ‘How strange you should come this week - we have sold out to the County Press and are closing on the 25th April’. This was the day that John and I were leaving the Island.

They told us a lot about the business and what they knew of the family. There was one employee who had worked there for 40 years, so he knew the last two Yelfs. They gave me photos of three generations of the Yelf family - one of William Richard Yelf as a very old man (he was the son on William Wheeler who died in prison in London). Then there is a photo of each of the brothers George Henry (Yelf) and Francis Alford (Yelf) and finally one of the son of Francis Alford who was George Alford Frank Yelf who died in 1958. He was a brother of Ella Yelf-Gustar who I knew and who was the last Yelf owner of the business. She has died now.

Mr & Mrs Smith, who own the business, also gave me the Articles of Association of Yelf Brothers Limited, incorporated 19th day of April 1915, with a list of the seven directors. They also gave me a photo of the printing press which was set up at Osborne House on the night that Queen Victoria died by order of the new King Edward VII to do all the printing for the funeral. It was set up overnight and the picture shows the press, two printers and the two Yelf brothers standing either side of it looking very business-like. The picture is in ‘Printers Pride’.

It was all most extraordinary that we should be there that very week and I think that they were glad to give these things to a member of the family. The other thing that they wanted me to have was a top hat in its original box. This had belonged to one of the family and had been in the firm for a very long while - it was a sort of talisman. Wendy Smith told us that there was a tradition in the firm that the hat would stay in the firm as long as it was trading and that had happened. Now she wanted me to have it as I was a Yelf and the business was closing. Isn’t it all very strange?

We spent some time in the Newport Records Office and found hundreds of Yelfs dating back to Robert in 1694, the original one on the top of my family tree who married Elizabeth Booker and lived at Spicer’s Farm, Arreton.

We followed up the connection at Arreton Church and found the headstone of Elizabeth Waldridge (whose mother was a Yelf), the original ’Dairyman’s Daughter)!

Incidentally, I found a copy of ‘The Dairyman’s Daughter’ and other stories by a Rev. Leigh Richmond, but I couldn’t find a copy of Dyson’s ‘Methodism on the Isle of Wight’ but I do have people looking for it!"

The Top Ten Non-Yelf Yelf Sites

One of the interesting aspects of researching such an unusual name is that you tend to get very proprietorial about its use. Any genuine hit on a search engine that doesn’t relate to a family member in some way is viewed with an almost ‘Hey, don’t they know that someone’s name they’re playing about with there?’ attitude. I can’t imagine that this is an issue with names like Smith or Miller or suchlike but I thought I’d take you on a quick spin of all those non-Yelf Yelfs that seem to crop up from time to time. Lets start with the daddy of them all which is starting to appear quite frequently.

1. The Yelf Spiral
Sounds fun but is actually a way of prioritising jobs and not even named after a proper Yelf

“Educators, corporate executives, and everyday computer users probably agree that the Internet has made it easier and faster to complete projects. However; as technology evolves, so does the demand from a fickle consuming public. We want better, faster, smaller products.

ASU researchers are helping with the “better” and “faster” parts. They’ve developed a technique that helps reduce the inconsistency of waiting time that Internet users experience when working online.

As is the case with many other inventions, there is always room for improvement, says Nong Ye, director of ASU’s Information & Systems Assurance Laboratory (ISAL). Ye and ASU colleagues Xueping Li and Toni Farley created what they call the Yelf Spiral. Named for its three researcher/inventors (Ye, Li and Farley), the Yelf Spiral is a technique for determining the order of jobs to be serviced on-line.

It works to reduce the inconsistency of waiting time. Ye says that the technique involves scheduling jobs in a spiral fashion based on their processing times.”

2. Young Eritrean Liberation Front (YELF)
Not a website as such, but a Blog, and the reason that I had to use Yelf-family-digest as my address rather than just Yelf. There's just the one entry and the YELF -Master (!) says that

"As president of YELF I decided that it would be time to introduce YELF to the world....YELF was made so that people could meet the needs of a country called Eritrea."

Which is very laudable but I would have preferred a slightly different acronym, to be honest (Yelf sites for the Yelfs!)

3. Yelf Yelf
You can download your very own copy of this pop song from the Gulf of Arabia region (obviously like New York, so good he named us twice…). It lasts a whopping 4 minutes 21 seconds and would cost you a mere 79p. The artist is Abdul Aziz Al Arooj and you can listen to a short sample, although if you can make out the sound of Yelf in there you’ve far better hearing than I have…

4. Frankfurt Branch Office (YELF)
This Yelf seems to be a code to identify the Frankfurt Branch Office of Yazaki North America. What is Yazaki North America? Well, in a nutshell, it’s a company with a vision.

Yazaki North America's Vision
Yazaki North America will be the world's leading provider of easily configurable automotive network solutions and associated products that enable connectivity.

That’s pretty much gone over my head too, but I think they want to be big in the world of joining things up.

5. “yelf”
A quote from an article on Angels, fairies and elves, this one takes a little thinking about and probably best done after reading the article itself. Put crudely this particular Yelf is apparently a speech defect in those elves who
“…aspire to the sincerity that they see shining on the brows of the real selves, the ones who can say "my-self" and "your-self," not merely "melt" and "yelf," which is what the elves can say.”

6. "Yelf" My favourite of those listed, at number 6 we have Yelf the dog. As you can see Yelf is a very patient dog used for training on animal first aid injuries. Anyone who looks at his gallery and cannot empathise with the ‘dog with head bandage’ shot has a stony heart indeed.

“The Pet First Aid was a fun and informative course- attendees learned how to handle injured animals, bandaging, resuscitation and much more in this one day course. Huge thanks to Heather Ferguson and her dog "Yelf" for a great course.”

Well done Yelf - a patient and long-suffering dog.

7. WIKI –YELF
YELF also has an ex-page on Wikipedia. It has ceased to be. Bereft of life it sits there pushing up the digital daisies. You can read all about the discussion and its vote for deletion although not view the actual page itself. My interest was well and truly tickled as it looks as thought the article claims that the name of Yelf is somehow connected with Dane law! I should liked to have had a look at that, but its too late now…

8. Youth Environmental Leadership Forum III (YELF)
This is quite an interesting one as it seems to be a forum seeking grant funding from the North Shore Tribal Council, part of Indian and Northern Affairs in Canada. Their contract was due to expire in 2005 so I hope in the name of Yelf solidarity that it was renewed.

9. Natalie the Yelf
Beware of Yelf! A bit of a fantasy beast this one, but less swords and muscles more gingham and floral prints. A touch cat-like and altogether inoffensive. No doubt she has some incredible powers that only appear on a full moon …

10. YELF the poet I don’t know why but I find it slightly odd that someone would spend some considerable time searching about for an interesting pen-name and then end up calling themselves ‘Yelf’. No reason why not, of course, but its not one that I’d of picked, although you can see where it came from as her real name is Yvelle Fleury from Worcester, Massachusetts and some of her poems are available online

(A few didn't make the final list, including Yelf Aderlink a company accused of taking oil bribes from Saddam Hussain and type of raspberry trialled in Montanna. Both were excluded on grounds that they might well be typing errors. Better luck next time!)

The Yelf Collection - Isle of Wight Archive

I've transcribed the archive document mentioned in yesterdays entry and you can read it below. However as it's an awful lot of text I thought I'd include a photograph that my brother took some years ago in the foyer of Yelf's Hotel in Ryde. Although not particularly clear it shows some cheques written by Robert Yelf. My brother was later able to buy a number of other of Roberts cheques on ebay and it might be interesting to post up the details if I can get hold of them. As is apparent from the transcript below he wasn't short of a bob or two!

_______________________________________

"THE YELF ARCHIVE - This collection was deposited in 1982 by William V. Pearce, 53A Union Street, Ryde.

Robert Yelf was born in 1761, the second son of John Yelf. Robert married first Ann Goodall (d.1812) and secondly Jane Wavell, widow. He died 15 April 1834.

Robert first came to Ryde in 1794, when upon the death of Miss Margaret Collier, he took over her cottage in Upper Ryde. He was an executor of Miss Collier’s will and there was a connection with the Goodall family. In 1800 he took a lease upon some property on the west side of Union Street. He opened a business selling wines, spirits and tobacco in 1801 (YEL/A/1). At the same time he rented the hotel next door for £75 per annum from John Cooper, brewer, of Ryde. In 1804 Robert purchased the hotel and outbuildings for £2,200. (YEL/A/1)

In 1805 Robert had a Tap Room built at the hotel at a cost of £468, and in the following year had new stables and coach houses built. Mrs Jacob’s dwelling house (George Street) was purchased in 1807 for £345 and in 1809 it was rebuilt using stone taken from Puckpool Cliffs.

After a rest of some eleven years, Robert Yelf continued his expansion by purchasing in 1820 for £123, the carriage house, cottage and land of Thomas Bush, Cross Street. In 1827 new coach houses and stables were built on the site. Clifton Cottage, Upper Ryde was purchased in 1821 for £203, and became the house of Robert Yelf. In 1824 a cottage in West Street was purchased for 215 and £350 was spent on it. A house called ‘Shattons’ was purchased in 1830 for £800(?) and in the following year Robert had a house built on Union Street, adjoining (?)detts, for a post office, at a cost of £435. (YEL/A/1)

In addition to his town property, Robert had considerable farming interests. At one time he held Mumhouse Bargain, including West Field, which he later disposed of to Earl Spencer in 1810. Little Haylands came into Robert’s hands in 1801 and by the time of his death in 1834 he farmed Whitefield, Millhouse, Haylands and Play Street farms. (Yel/B/1)

The business and farming interests passed to his eldest son, Robert Yelf, junior, who in 1822 married Sarah Mew, and died 21 November 1882 aged 85 years.

The main series of cashbooks (YEL/C/- and YEL/D/-) were introduced when Robert Yelf, junior took over. The son had been taken into the business prior to his father’s death and had in 1832 reached an agreement with the Postmaster-General to carry the Royal Mail between Ryde and Newport. In 1836 this slide of his interests expanded further with him starting a stage-coach service from Ryde to Ventnor. The stage-coach was called “Felicity” and ran daily, Sundays excepted, until the coming of the railway in August 1864. The coach was sold to Thomas Vanner, who ran a stage-coach service from Ryde to Newport, for a total of £40. The Bought ledger (YEL/K/4) shows the stage-coach receipts for 1861-64 and the Letter book (YEL/M/1) gives details of the stage-coach duty payable under Act 2 & 3 Victoria, CAP. 66, 6 Oct 1839. Most of the receipts and expenditure concerning posting and stage-coach working were accounted for under “Hay and Crops”.

Sturbridge House was built for Robert Yelf, junior, from 1861 to designs by Thomas Hellyer, architect. (YEL/K/4)

No accounts for the hotel appear to have survived but about 1862 the hotel was disposed of to John Wavell. In 1874 Robert sold Sturbridge House to Sir William (?)utt and moved to Uplands, Bullen Cross, near Ryde, which remained his home until his death.

The accounts have been listed in the collection to try to show the various sections of the Yelf’s business. The bulk of the collection deals with the selling of wines and spirits. (YEL/C/- and YEL/D/-). In an effort to deal with wine and spirit deliveries to houses let on very short leases, Robert Yelf, junior, introduced ledgers headed and indexed under the address (YEL/G/1-3). At the same time he had another ledger headed and indexed under the surname, for customers who were thought to be resident in the town (YEL/F/4-10)

The farming and property interests of Robert Yelf, senior, are to be found in YEL/A/1 and YEL/B/1, those of his son are contained in YEL/D, YEL/J and YEL/K. The Farming Record and Account Books (YEL/?/1-4) give details of cropping, labourers and wages on the farm.

The letter books (YEL/M/1-10) are a near unbroken run from 1832 to 1877 and give a good insight into the wine and spirit business of the 19^th century.

The Account of the Receipts etc., by the executors of the late R. Yelf (YEL/L/1) are very helpful when trying to sort out the various interests of Robert Yelf, senior.

The odd item in the collection is YEL/N/1, which is the valuation of the property in the parish of St. Helens. It is thought to be in the collection as Robert Yelf, junior, was a Guardian of the Poor.

After the death of (Robert Yelf, junior?) in 1882 it would appear that the business was disposed of and toward the end of the 19^th century came into the hands of W. Pearce (YEL/K/2), a decendant (of whom posited?) the collection."

The Robert Yelfs of Ryde

Robert Yelf (1761-1834) is widely viewed as one of the most significant of the eighteenth & nineteenth century Yelfs. Living on the Isle of Wight as a resident of Ryde he seems to have made his fortune through property, his Hotel, Wine Business and a range of canny investments and along with William Wheeler Yelf in Carisbrooke, (who founded the Yelf printing business) provides a great deal of the wealth and political influence that made the Yelfs such a significant Island family. After his death his son, Robert Yelf Jnr took over the running of the business and continued in much the same vein as his father

I was particularly fortunate then to come across two pieces of information about this father and son that might be of interest to anyone looking to investigate them further. The first was the ‘So Near Yet So Far’ experience of finding a painting listed on the Denhams auction house website. ‘So Near’ was an oil of Robert Yelf Jnr that wouldn’t, I hoped, go for too much. I was just working out how much I could put on the credit card when, sadly, the ‘Yet So Far’ let-down kicked in with the realisation that the auction had taken place a month or so previously! Still, a photograph is better than nothing and I’ll just have to keep my eyes peeled in case it comes up again some time.

The second item is more for the active researcher and consists of two, faint and photocopied A4 sheets of paper I have tucked away in a folder. On the top is written ‘This was sent to me by Yelf’s Hotel in Ryde’ but sadly I didn’t think to write the name of the kindly donor beside it, so apologies for not crediting whoever sent it to me. The document is a summary of the Yelf Archive held, presumably, at the Isle of Wight Record Office and detailing all the documentation of the Yelf’s Hotel, Wine & Spirit business, farming and land interests. W. Pearce, who is described as ‘a descendant’, deposited the records ‘towards the end of the 19^th century’. I will be transcribing what I can of this fascinating document before posting it up over the next few days. Sadly there are some blank patches on the photocopy, but even without referring to the archived documents themselves the summary gives a real insight to the range and scope of the Yelf business interests over many years.