Methodism and the Holmes family

The story of Methodism in our family runs through two very different worlds: the rural midlands of Ireland and the villages of the Black Forest in Baden. Yet these two traditions — one shaped by Irish Primitive Methodism and the other by German Lutheran Pietism — eventually converged in the marriage of my great-grandparents, John Holmes and Albertina Zimber. Their shared Methodist faith may well have been one of the strongest influences drawing them together.

My grandfather Tom came from a Methodist family, though the Holmes family itself had originally belonged to the Church of Ireland. The transition can be seen clearly in the Irish census returns of 1901. In it, his grandfather John Holmes is recorded as Church of Ireland, while John's wife Anna Maria Lee and their children are listed as Methodist. It seems likely that, through marriage and family life, the Methodist tradition of the Lees became the faith of the Holmes household.

Methodism itself originated as an evangelical revival movement within the Anglican churches of Britain and Ireland in the eighteenth century under the leadership of John Wesley and his brother Charles. It emphasised personal faith, disciplined Christian living, Bible study, and active involvement by ordinary lay people. Ireland played an important role in Wesley's ministry. He first visited in 1747 and returned on twenty-one subsequent occasions, travelling extensively throughout the country and establishing Methodist societies that would become a lasting feature of Irish religious life.

The Lee Family and Irish Primitive Methodism

The Methodist tradition in the family came primarily through Anna Maria Lee, whose family were deeply connected with the Primitive Methodist movement in the Midlands.

Anna Maria Holmes (née Lee)

Her father, George Lee, and his brother William were born in Rahugh, County Westmeath, into a family already steeped in early Methodism. George Lee's obituary records that his parents belonged to the Primitive Methodist Society. This specific Irish movement emerged from an 1818 schism, aiming to preserve loyalty to John Wesley's original ideals, including remaining within the Church of Ireland for sacramental purposes. During the nineteenth century, Rahugh and nearby Tyrrellspass formed a crucial geographic network for this Primitive Methodist activity. By the late 19th century, both branches of Methodism had reunited into the Methodist Church we know today.

The groundwork for this community was laid much earlier. During his April 1748 Midlands tour, John Wesley established a vital foothold for Irish Methodism in the region. In Tyrrellspass, his preaching sparked a rapid spiritual revival that eventually culminated in the building of the 1814 chapel on the village green. While Wesley found the wider Midlands crowds challenging—likening his early preaching in nearby Athlone to "striking hot iron upon an anvil"—he successfully secured Rahugh as a permanent base, linking it to his regional headquarters at the nearby Coolalough estate.

The Lees were a substantial local family, with several branches becoming pillars of this local Methodist network. Decades later, a distant relative, Edward Lee, became well known as an unusually progressive employer and philanthropist in early 20th-century Dublin. Notably, he took a principled stand against William Martin Murphy and other Dublin merchants by supporting his workers during the bitter 1913 Dublin Lockout.

Anna herself was also born in Westmeath, but at some point, George and William Lee moved south-east to Clonsast, County Offaly, where they established themselves as farmers and became central figures in the local Methodist community. Their importance was not merely as attendees at chapel services: according to family tradition and Methodist accounts, the brothers helped establish the Methodist meeting house at Clonsast on land associated with the family itself. In rural Ireland, where small dissenting congregations often lacked wealth or formal structures, this kind of contribution was essential to the survival of local Methodism.

Clonsast Methodist Church c1900

The obituaries of both brothers reveal the depth of their religious commitment and the role their homes played in Methodist life.

George Lee’s obituary, published after his death in 1881, describes the household in which he was raised as “a sanctuary for Methodism, and a home for its preachers.” Although deeply religious throughout his life, the obituary records that he underwent an especially profound spiritual experience only months before his death. The account reflects the strongly evangelical character of Primitive Methodism, with its emphasis on personal conversion, assurance of salvation, and heartfelt religious experience. During his final illness, George was described as bearing suffering patiently and finding comfort in Scripture and Wesleyan hymns read aloud by his wife.

William Lee, who lived until 1914, was remembered somewhat differently: less for dramatic conversion than for constancy of character. His obituary presents him as a pillar of the local Methodist community — hospitable, upright, cheerful, and deeply respected across denominational lines. Methodist itinerant preachers regularly stayed in his home, and he was praised for his generosity, reliability, and public spirit. Particularly striking is the obituary’s emphasis on his broad goodwill toward both Protestants and Catholics, suggesting a type of practical rural ecumenism that was often necessary in small Irish communities.

Together, the brothers embodied many of the defining characteristics of Irish Primitive Methodism: lay leadership, hospitality, disciplined personal religion, and strong local networks centred on home, chapel, and community. Their faith was not simply private belief, but something woven into everyday life and expressed through service to neighbours and fellow believers.

The influence of the Lee family appears to have carried into the next generation through Anna Maria Lee, whose Methodist identity remained strong enough that her children were raised within that tradition, even while their father retained his Church of Ireland affiliation.

Her daughter Pamela Anna Holmes (1876–1947), sister of my great-grandfather John Holmes, was highly likely (though not yet absolutely proven by a primary record naming her in full) the “Miss P. Holmes of Dublin” recorded in the 1910 Methodist Conference as one of the first women admitted to participation in the governing structures of Irish Methodism.

The Zimbers, the Hummels, and German Pietism

If the Lees brought Irish Methodism into the family, the Zimbers brought something remarkably similar from Germany.

Albertina Zimber was the daughter of a Black Forest clockmaker who settled in New Ross, County Wexford. The family originated in the Neukirch/Furtwangen region of Baden, an area famous for its clockmaking industry. Although this part of Germany was predominantly Catholic, the Zimbers belonged to the Lutheran tradition, apparently influenced by Albertina’s great-grandfather, Josef Hummel.

Family tradition holds that Josef Hummel encountered Protestant ideas during his clock-trading journeys to England and brought Lutheranism back with him to the Black Forest. He became an important figure in the evangelical community around Neukirch and Furtwangen and is remembered locally as a founder of the Lutheran congregation there. His son, also Josef, served as mayor of Neukirch before being removed from office in the political turmoil that followed the Baden revolution of 1848.

A Pietist prayer meeting

Josef Hummel’s religious outlook was likely shaped by nineteenth-century Lutheran Pietism, a movement that emphasised personal conversion, disciplined devotion, Bible reading, moral seriousness, and active participation by lay believers. Pietism placed less emphasis on formal theology and more on inward religious experience — what many Methodists would later describe as “heart religion.”

Because of this, the Zimber family’s eventual connection with Methodism in Ireland may have felt entirely natural. Methodism itself had been deeply influenced by German Pietism and by the Moravian movement that shaped John Wesley’s own spiritual development. Many of the practices and ideals of Methodism — small-group fellowship, practical holiness, personal testimony, and the expectation that faith should visibly shape daily conduct — would already have been familiar within a Pietist household.

In this sense, the Zimbers’ attraction to Methodism in Ireland may not have represented a major religious change so much as a continuation of an already existing spiritual culture in a new country.

After the death of her father, Albertina went to work as a draper’s assistant in Merrick & Ruddell’s department store in Dungarvan, County Waterford. Significantly, the Ruddell family were themselves Methodists. In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Ireland, Methodist communities often formed close social and commercial networks, creating connections that extended beyond worship into employment, friendship, and marriage.

Faith as a Family Connection

Seen together, the stories of the Lees and the Zimbers reveal two parallel religious traditions that ultimately converged in Ireland. Though separated by geography and culture, both families were shaped by forms of Protestantism that valued personal faith, moral discipline, hospitality, lay involvement, and close-knit religious community.

For John Holmes and Albertina Zimber, Methodism may therefore have provided not only a shared church affiliation but a common spiritual language and social world. Their marriage united two families whose religious traditions, though originating in very different places, had evolved in strikingly similar ways.

The result was a Methodist inheritance that would continue through later generations of the Holmes family — an inheritance rooted both in the meeting houses of rural Offaly and the Pietist traditions of the Black Forest.

Black Forest Clockmakers in Ireland and Cornwall: Migration, Industry, and the Zimber Family

 

In the nineteenth century, the small towns and villages of Germany’s Black Forest region sent skilled craftsmen across the world. Among them were members of the Zimber family, who established long-running clock and jewellery businesses in New Ross, County Wexford, and Bodmin in Cornwall. Their story reflects a broader history of migration, industrial change, and family enterprise that connected rural Germany with provincial Ireland and Britain during the age of industrialisation.

The history of the Zimber family can be understood not simply as a story of emigration, but as part of the wider transformation of the Black Forest clock industry itself. As traditional rural clockmaking came under pressure from industrialisation during the nineteenth century, many families adapted by creating international trading and retail networks that stretched far beyond Germany.

The Black Forest and the Origins of Clockmaking

The Black Forest (Schwarzwald), in southwestern Germany, became one of Europe’s great clockmaking regions from the eighteenth century onward. Unlike the large urban workshops of England or France, Black Forest production was overwhelmingly rural and domestic.

A clock-making workshop

The industry developed in isolated farming communities where:

• winters were long,
• agricultural income was limited,
• and families needed supplementary work during the colder months.

Clockmaking evolved as a decentralised “cottage industry.” Rather than large factories, production was spread across households:

• one family carved wooden plates,
• another produced gears,
• another painted dials,
• while itinerant traders carried clocks across Europe for sale.

  A traditional clock peddlar

This social structure created a highly cooperative local economy. Entire villages became dependent on clockmaking, and specialist skills were passed down through generations. The work was organised through networks of kinship, apprenticeship, and local merchants rather than industrial corporations.

Early Black Forest clocks were typically:

• wooden-framed,
• weight-driven,
• and relatively inexpensive compared with English or French clocks.

By the early nineteenth century, the region was exporting enormous numbers of clocks internationally.

The Crisis of the 1870s

By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the traditional Black Forest system was under increasing pressure.

Industrialisation transformed clock production:

• factory-made brass movements replaced handmade wooden mechanisms,
• mechanised manufacturing reduced prices dramatically,
• and large firms in Germany, America, and France outcompeted small rural workshops.

The old cottage system struggled to survive.

Zimberhausle and clock workshop

The 1870s were especially difficult:

• population growth increased pressure on already poor rural communities,
• profits collapsed,
• and many craftsmen fell into debt.

German unification in 1871 accelerated industrial concentration in urban centres, while remote artisanal regions like the Black Forest were left economically vulnerable.

For many clockmaking families, emigration became both an economic necessity and a business opportunity.

Migration Without Breaking Family Ties

Importantly, emigrants from the Black Forest rarely severed contact with home. Instead, many families created international trading networks.

A common pattern developed:

• some relatives remained in Germany to maintain supplier relationships and production,
• while others emigrated to establish retail and repair businesses abroad.

The Zimber family appears to have followed exactly this model.

Members of the family came from the Black Forest clockmaking tradition before establishing themselves in Ireland and Cornwall during the nineteenth century. Their businesses demonstrate how emigrant craftsmen often combined technical expertise with family-based commercial networks that stretched across borders.

The Zimbers were not unique in bringing Black Forest clockmaking traditions to Ireland. During the nineteenth century, several German clockmaking and jewellery families established businesses in Irish towns and cities, forming part of a small but significant network of emigrant craftsmen. For example the Dold family settled in Kilrush, County Clare, the Faller family became established in Galway, and the Hartmann family operated in Limerick. Like the Zimbers, these families combined clock and watch repair with jewellery retailing, importing German-made clocks while embedding themselves deeply within local commercial life. Their presence illustrates how Irish provincial towns became connected to continental European manufacturing networks through migration, trade, and family enterprise.

The Zimbers in New Ross

Aaron Zimber, my great-great-grandfather, and his brother Richard settled in New Ross, County Wexford, where they established a clock and jewellery business around 1870. The business continued trading until the 1930s, latterly being run by his daughter, Albertina and her husband, John Holmes. The business was sold to Brooks Jewellers, who are still trading in the Charles Street premises today.

Zimber Bros, Quay, New Ross

At the time, New Ross was still an important commercial port town with strong links to Britain and overseas trade. Nineteenth-century New Ross was closely connected to Liverpool and Bristol through shipping and mercantile networks.

The timing of the Zimber arrival was significant. During the 1870s and 1880s:

• Ireland imported large quantities of German-made clocks,
• Black Forest products dominated the affordable domestic market,
• and German-trained clockmakers enjoyed a reputation for technical skill and reliability.

The New Ross shop likely sold:

• Black Forest wall clocks,
• spring-driven domestic clocks,
• watches and jewellery,
• and later factory-made German clocks from major manufacturers.

Many imported clocks carried only the retailer’s name rather than the original manufacturer’s mark. As a result, clocks sold by the Zimbers may have appeared entirely local while containing German-made movements inside.

Like many emigrant craftsmen, the family probably maintained regular correspondence with relatives who remained in Germany. Such networks helped retailers abroad:

• source stock,
• monitor changing fashions,
• and obtain credit or supply connections.

The Bodmin Branch

Karl Friedrich Zimber, another brother, established a business in Bodmin, Cornwall. Remarkably, this shop survived in family hands until the 1970s.

Charles Zimber's shop in Bodmin

Its early decades likely resembled the New Ross operation:

• importing German clocks,
• repairing watches and timepieces,
• and serving a local market with specialist technical skills.

Cornwall’s maritime connections made imported continental goods readily available through Bristol and London wholesalers.

The longevity of the Bodmin business shows how successfully the family adapted across generations. By the twentieth century, the shop would almost certainly have diversified:

• selling British-made clocks and watches,
• expanding into jewellery,
• and relying increasingly on repair work rather than imported Black Forest stock alone.

Surviving through two world wars and into the late twentieth century required considerable flexibility, especially given the disruption to German imports during and after World War I.

Family Networks and the Black Forest Tradition

The Zimber story illustrates how Black Forest clockmaking families adapted to industrialisation not simply by abandoning their trade, but by internationalising it.

The traditional Black Forest industry had always depended upon networks:

• networks of labour,
• kinship,
• apprenticeship,
• and trade.

Migration extended those same networks internationally.

A brother in Germany might still source movements or maintain supplier relationships while brothers abroad operated retail businesses in Ireland or Britain. In effect, these families became informal international trading firms spanning multiple countries.

This combination of migration and continuing family cooperation helped many artisan families survive the collapse of the old cottage industry.

A Local Story Within a European Transformation

The history of the Zimber family is more than a genealogy of shopkeepers and clockmakers. It is part of a much larger European story.

Their journey reflects:

• the decline of rural artisanal economies,
• the rise of industrial mass production,
• the expansion of international migration,
• and the resilience of family enterprise during a period of immense economic change.

From isolated villages in the Black Forest to the commercial streets of New Ross and Bodmin, the Zimbers carried with them not only technical skills but an entire cultural tradition of craftsmanship and family cooperation.

Today, surviving clocks, shop signs, business records, and family memories preserve traces of that world — a world in which a Black Forest cottage industry became part of the commercial life of Ireland and Cornwall for more than a century.

My Zimber Bros pocket watch

For a full family chronology and documentary timeline, see: “Zimber Bros. – From Schwarzwald to New Ross (Family Record)”

Finding Albertina

I wrote a post a while back where I located all my ancestors who were alive at the time in the 1901 census. The only thing was I couldn't find my great-grandmother Albertina Zimber. I found her brothers, step-mother, uncles and an aunt but she was nowhere to be found.

Albertina Zimber

Well, I finally tracked her down to Dungarvan,  Co Waterford where she was living over a shop where she worked as a Drapers Assistant. The thing was her surname was significantly misspelt (I submitted a correction and it has now been changed) and her first name was given as Bertha so no wonder she proved elusive.

It might prove useful to note how I did locate her. I used the advanced search options and searched using her age and religion (Methodist) and tried a number of variations on her first name which finally came up trumps.

The Death of Joseph Zimber

I recently found out how Joseph Zimber my great-grand-uncle died. I knew he died in an accident in Montreal on 1st February 1905 only a few months after arriving in Canada (see here).
I have just found the reports below in the Montreal paper "Le Canada". The first report from the 2nd February edition does not name him but the second report from the following day's paper does.
For the benefit of those who cannot read French, he died in an explosion at the Gohier Tannery alongside a Russian Jewish immigrant named Lewis Schoff (or Schoss). The report also indicates that the explosion may have been caused by a barrel of gasoline left too close to the furnace.

Le Canada - 2nd February, 1905

Le Canada - 3rd February 1905

Fred Zimber Photo

I recently got a copy of this photo of Fred Zimber my great-grand-uncle from the National Library.

Fred Zimber (1887-1915)

Fred died in the First World War and you can read more of his story here.

Vitus Zimber

- "A True Original"

Vitus Zimber

My Great-3-Grandfather Vitus Zimber, who was the father of the Zimber Brothers who emigrated to Ireland, appears to have been something of a local character and appears in many folk tales and stories of the region of the Black Forest around Neukirch/Furtwangen. Some of these are detailed below.

The following is from "Löcher und Döbel um Dreistegen" (Furtwangen 1979) by Max Braun and was provided to me by Paul Dold :

In the lower Hexenloch, two houses still stand. In the rear one lived the Zimber-Vitt in 1851. This man was an original character. He liked to play pranks.

One day, he was just out fishing when a gendarme (police officer) came along the way. Vitt ran up the mountain on the other side, as if he wanted to flee, and the gendarme ran after him. A piece further up, Vitt stopped and showed the bewildered gendarme his regulation fishing permit.

Another time, he was reported for wood theft. But Vitt said, "I have been getting wood from this forest for over thirty years, and according to this law, I have a right to it."

He was also reported once for poaching because he had set snares for hares in his garden. Vitt said, "The hares always eat the greens in my garden. Now, if one is in the snare, I give his hide a proper beating with a stick and let him run. He won't come back then."

So that he would notice immediately when a hare was caught in the snare, he had stretched a cord from the garden into the living room with a bell attached to it, to prevent the little animal from hanging itself entirely.

Zimper-Vit

Zimper-Vit

He also appears as a character "Der Königenhof," a play performed by Jostäler Freilichtspiele. (The pictures above are of actors playing the part of "Zimper-Vit" in the play.)

A moving-eye clock by Vitus Zimber

The signed workings of the moving-eye clock

The pictures of the clocks above are of a clock that came up for sale recently, which he made.  The mechanism is signed by Vitus, apparently a mark of one of the better craftsmen.  The clock is a 'moving-eye' clock ie the eyes of the man in the picture move from side to side, and was for sale for over €2,500.

Joseph Zimber

For some time now I knew that my great-grandmother Albertina Zimber had two younger brothers. The youngest Fred was killed in the first world war but I was never able to find out what happened to Joseph.

However a few months back a search of the Irish Times archive turned up a death notice telling that he was killed in an accident in Montreal on 1st Feb 1905.

Death Notice from the Irish Times

Then last week I found not only his arrival in Canada from Liverpool on 4th August 1904 but that, 6 days after landing, he married Bridget Coady, who had accompanied him from New Ross, in St Patrick's Catholic church, Montreal. His death in a tannery fire, 6 months later, tragically cut short their married life.

Marriage Register entry (Montreal)

Bridget not surprisingly married again to Frank Moore and moved to Australia where their descendants still live. [I am not sure of the provenance of this fact - KH 2026]

Relatives in the 1901 Cenus

The following is a list of relatives appearing in the 1901 census of Ireland.

Dublin
My Great Grandfather John Thomas Holmes and his brother George
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Rotunda/Russell_Place/1331749/

Monasterevan, Co. Kildare
His parents John & Anna Maria and sister Pamela
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Kildare/Monasterevan/Monasterevan/1435461/

Clonsast, Co. Offaly
Anna Maria's brother Samuel Lee and family
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/King_s_Co_/Bracknagh/Clonsast_Lower/1465749/

New Ross, Co. Wexford
My Great Grandmother Albertina Zimber's two brothers and stepmother are here
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Wexford/New_Ross_Urban/Cross_Lane/1798745/
and her uncle Richard Zimber and wife Jane
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Wexford/New_Ross_Urban/Wexford_Street/1799501/
another uncle Lambert and aunt Rufina
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Wexford/New_Ross_Urban/The_Quay/1799452/

Co. Waterford
My Great-Grandmother Albertina Zimber was working in Dungarvan http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Waterford/Dungarvan_No__1/Parnell_Street/1770767/
Albertina's grandfather John Daniel Ashmore and second wife
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Waterford/Kilmeadan/Knocknacrohy/1768231/
his son James and family
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Waterford/Portlaw/Curraghmore/1768313/

Waterford City
My Great Grandfather William O'Flaherty and his mother Mary
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Waterford/Waterford_Urban_No__5/Gracedieu_Road/1762993/
His future wife Margaret Reale living with her brothers and sisters
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Waterford/Waterford_Urban_No__3/Morrissons_Road/1765102/

Dublin
My grandfather Edward Kirwan with his parents and brothers and sisters
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Fitzwilliam/Camden_Row__South_Side_/1305619/

Nenagh, Co. Tipperary
My Great Grandfather Michael Nagle, wife Mary and family
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tipperary/Nenagh_West_Urban/Graces_Street/1697939/
his mother Mary Nagle and sons and daughter
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tipperary/Nenagh_East_Urban/Lisbunny/1697800/
My great-great-grandmother Catherine Larkin and her son
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tipperary/Nenagh_Rural/Gortlandroe__Part_of_/1697332/

This is as comprehensive a list as I can work out at the moment and shows the spread of ancestors across the country at the turn of the century.

Clock made by Vitus Zimber

A moving-eye clock by Vitus Zimber

Corina Zimber from Freiburg sent me a link to these photos. The first of the the two pictures is of a clock made by my great-3-grandfather Vitus Zimber.  The clock has automated eye movement which was a popular type of clock made in the Black Forest area.

The signed workings of the moving-eye clock

The second picture shows his name on the back of the clock. Apparently only the better clockmakers signed their clocks in this way.  The clock was for sale for c€2,500 having been imported from the USA where it was originally sold.

Zimber Update

Updated some of the facts on the Zimber page.

Rifleman Fred Zimber

Richard Frederick (Fred) Zimber (my great grand-uncle) was born in New Ross, Co Wexford and enlisted as Rifleman (R/10201) in 4th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps. Probably due his German name he served under the name Frederick Richard Cairns. He died on 8th May 1915 at Frezenberg Ridge during the Second Battle of Ypres. His name is among those remembered on The Menin Gate Memorial in Ieper (formerly Ypres), Belgium. He was posthumously awarded the British & Victory Medals and the 1914/15 Star. His next-of-kin was given as Miss Kate Cairns of Co. Wexford who may have been his fiancé.  He is listed among those who died on the Fiji War Memorial Hospital Board of Remembrance and in the Fiji Times Roll of Honour.

Fred Zimber (1887-1915)

Fred was born on 28th August 1887 in New Ross, Co. Wexford, Ireland. He was the son of Aaron and Elizabeth Zimber. Aaron his father was a native of Neukirch, near Furtwangen in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) region of Baden, Germany.

Emigrant to Canada

Following the death of his mother in 1894 and father in 1901 Fred lived for a time with his step-mother and older brother Joseph. In July 1904 he went on the Ionian to Canada. His brother Joseph followed him out there a month later. We lose track of him for a few years here as his brother both married and was killed within a year of his arrival (see here) we don't know if they ever linked up in Canada. We do know that in April 1907 Fred crossed into the USA from Canada possibly on his way back to this side of the world because the next thing we know is that he traveled on the Orotava to Australia from London.

'Deserter' in Australia?

Fred arrived in Australia in April 1909 and sometime following that he must have joined the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery because in August 1914 there is an entry in the New South Wales Police Gazette listing him as a deserter. We don't know why he deserted but we do know that between March and November 1914 he served in the Australian Navy. This may have been how he got to Fiji because in December of the same year he enlisted in the Fiji Defence Force and left to fight in France.

Fiji Platoon, King's Royal Rifle Corps

Fred joined up in the Rewa district of Fiji as part of the 1st Contingent of volunteers from the Fiji Defence Force.  This group left Fiji for Britain on 1st January 1915 aboard the RMS Makura to Vancouver, from there by Canadian Pacific Railroad to Halifax and from there to Liverpool on the Scandanavia. The journey to Vancouver was calm, but the crossing of the Rockies was cold for the Fijians who were not equipped with suitable clothing and the Atlantic crossing was rough.  The 11,177 mile trip they completed to enlist was the longest undertaken by any group coming to join the war from British colonies.

Fred Zimber (serving as Fred Cairns)

On arrival in Liverpool all but six of the Fijians enlisted in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and formed a platoon in B Company.  Fred enlisted on 1st February.

They underwent training at Winchester and Sheerness in Kent and were sent to Flanders in April 1915.

4th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps in WW1

The 4th Battalion of the KRRC had been stationed in India at the outbreak of the war but was ordered back to Britain arriving in Plymouth on November 18 and sailing to France before Christmas 1914. They were deployed to trenches in the Ypres area on January 6th 1915.

On 1st March 1915 the 4th Battalion were ordered to attack a section of German trenches an attack which "never had any chance of succeeding"*. Casulties ran to 113 out of the 300 who took part. (I don't know if the Fijians took part in this attack).

(* from: "The Annals of The King's Royal Rifle Corps, Volume V: The Great War" by Major-General Sir Steuart Hare)

The Second Battle of Ypres

The Second Battle of Ypres was fought between 8 Allied Divisions and Seven German Divisions and resulted in 70,000 dead wounded or missing on Allied side and another 35,000 on the German side.

The battle is normally divided into the separate battles of Gravenstafel Ridge (22 - 23 April), St Julien (24 April - 4 May), Frezenberg Ridge (8 - 13 May) & Bellewaarde Ridge (24 - 25 May)

"The Second Battle of Ypres commenced in April 1915 when the Germans released poison gas against the Allied lines north of the city, this being the first time that the deadly weapon had been used in the war. The fleeing battle-weary troops were replaced by the fresh 1st Canadian Division who steadfastly resisted a second gas attack and stood their ground. However the force of the first attack had seriously indented the Allied-held Ypres Salient and it was necessary for the British to shorten their lines of defence by withdrawing."

("The Battle and Memorials of the Ypres Salient" - Commonwealth War Graves Commission Information Sheet)

During the Second Battle of Ypres the 4th Battalion were forced to withdraw initially without casuaties on 3rd/4th May but their new positions came under heavy bombardment on 8th May and some positions were "almost annihalated"*. This was the day that Fred Zimber was killed and the fact that there is no grave suggests that it was as a result of shelling.

(* from: "The Annals of The King's Royal Rifle Corps, Volume V: The Great War" by Major-General Sir Steuart Hare)

Battle of Frezenberg Ridge (8th - 13th May)

"During this phase of the battle of Ypres the Germans tried to smash through the front held by the 27th and 28th divisions by using their superiority in guns and ammunition. The front line trenches were obliterated, but despite this and the release of a further gas cloud on the 10th May they made little headway. By the end of the six day battle the Germans had advanced about a thousand yards."

("Overview of the Second Battle of Ypres" - Chris Morton, 2000)

9 Fijians were killed and 31 wounded in this battle which marked the end of the Fiji Platton.

Extract From the War Diary 4th Battalion, The Kings Royal Rifle Corps for 8th May 1915 (the day of Fred Zimber's death)

"5.00 a.m. Heavy Howitzers opened up on the front trenches - These continued steadily until 7 a.m. when a furious continued bombardment of field guns and howitzers commenced. This heavy fire was maintained until almost 8 a.m. fuses were lengthened.

8.05 a.m. The bombardment slackened considerably. Communication by wire to the trenches had been out since 7.15 a.m. and almost immediately the brigade line also went. The line to R.B. in support held until about 7.45 a.m.

8.20 a.m. The bombardment increased - especially about the centre of BELLEWAARDE WOOD where part of C Coy. were in support and Battalion headquarters were situated.

8.30 a.m. Heavy rifle fire opened on the front and left - The front line which had suffered very heavily during the bombardment was reinforced by LTS. POOLE, ANTROBUS and HODGKINSON taking up the remainder of C Coy. - The whole battalion was now in the firing line - This party took up a supply of ammunition.

8.40 a.m. LT. POOLE returned with information that infantry attack did not seem to be on our front.

8.45 a.m. German artillery re-opened making BELLEWAARDE WOOD a perfect inferno. Shelling with every sort of shell. Three orderlies from R.B. arrived to ask if help required.

8.50 a.m. These returned with request for one company.

9.00 a.m. A lull in the artillery bombardment - A little rifle fire was opened but was heavier further north.

9.17 a.m. A message received stated that enemy appeared to be massing in front of right of 28th Div. i.e. left of 80th Bds.

9.45 a.m. Capt. Dalby came in and reported that the Salient at Hill 50 had been shelled until the men holding it had been annihilated and that the Germans had walked unto it. Whilst explaining the situation Captain DALBY was wounded. This hill was a weak spot in the line and was the junction of ourselves and P.P.C.L.I. (Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry - KH)

10.15 a.m. A company of 4th R.B. arrived and moved up to the firing line to fill up the gaps.

10.20 a.m. The situation so far as known. A and B Coys. in front line right and centre respectively. D Coy. almost annihilated but a few still left in left of front line. Extreme left on Hill 50 held by enemy. A and B Coys. had also been extremely severely punished. One company of the R.B. was moving up to reinforce the front line and another company was in support in 'Cavalry' line just west of BELLEWAARDE WOOD.

11.00 a.m. All seemed quiet again.

12.15 p.m. Communication with the Brigade was re-established.

1.30 p.m. Shelling recommenced but not with its former vehemence.

2.45 p.m. Increased again and continued until 5.00 p.m. About dusk several small parties were assembled from different parts of the wood and returned to the firing line. So far as could be ascertained the battalion had suffered about three hundred casualties together with three officers killed and three wounded."

Zimber Bros. – From Schwarzwald to New Ross (Family Chronology and Records)

Zimber Bros shop on the Quay in New Ross

This article is an attempt to give shape to the movements of the Zimber family around the time they settled in Cornwall and South-East Ireland. For historical context on the Black Forest clockmaking industry and migration patterns, see: “Black Forest Clockmakers in Ireland and Cornwall”

Vitus Zimber (of whom more elsewhere) was born in 1820 in the village of Siegelau in the then Grand-Duchy of Baden. His future wife, Salome Hummel, was born in 1817, a few years earlier (we presume in the village of Neukirch). Salome's father, Joseph Hummel (who came from Rohrbach), was, like Vitus, a clockmaker. He was also a Tax-collector and sometime Mayor of Neukirch. He also held Bible hours at his house 'Zinkhausle' in Brennersloch and is given as the founder of the protestant parish in Neukirch-Furtwangen-Gütenbach in the predominantly Catholic Black Forest area. It is also recorded that in the upheaval around the 1848 revolution in Baden, he was forced from his position as mayor, presumably because of his religion.

Their first children, Albertina (1845) and Lambert (1848) were born in Neukirch. Their marriage in Neukirch Catholic Church on 31st July 1848 post-dates the birth of both these children. This was not unusual in the area at that time, as the cost of marriage was prohibitive. It is also interesting to speculate as to the impact the turmoil of the 1848 revolution, which affected Baden, had on the family. There is also the story of the Königenhof accident and an apparent part Vitus may have played in the events of the time (see elsewhere).

Zimberhausle in Hexenloch

In 1851, Vitus purchased the Zimberhausle in Hexenloch near Neukirch.

The other children, Adolph (1849), Aaron (1851), Richard (1852), Rufina (1853), Karl Friedrich (1857), German (1860), Roman (1861) and Rebekka (1863) were all baptised Catholics. The church register of the time does have a derogatory note by the parish priest to the note that the entire family "apostatised" or converted to the protestant religion (apparently sometime after 1863). The family tradition is that the faith was "brought back from England by someone in the clock trade" - most probably Joseph Hummel (see above).

From 1868, we find records of Zimbers leaving Neukirch / Furtwangen and Siegelau (I've included Siegelau because of the family connection and the names that occur being the same, though it is possible that some of these are cousins) for England or the USA.

• In 1868, Adolf leaves Siegelau for England. In 1871, Aron and Richard also left Siegelau for England.
• In 1874, Richard married Jane Binnions in Waterford.
• In 1875, Adolf and Karl Friedrich left Furtwangen for England. It is possible that Adolf returned from his first trip to England. 1875 is also the year that their eldest brother Lambert takes over ownership of the Zimberhausle Clock Workshop. This may indicate the beginning of a Zimber Bros clock business trading clocks between Ireland, Britain and the Black Forest.
• 1875 is the year of the Franco-Prussian War, German Unification and the establishment of the German Empire. It is tempting to see these changes as part of the background to the Zimbers' leaving Baden.
• In 1876, we have Aron leaving Neukirch for England. [Note: all this coming and going to "England" may have in fact been to Ireland, as Ireland was part of the UK at that time and the German record takers may not have differentiated between the two].
• In 1877, Salome Zimber died.
• In 1880, Aaron Zimber married Elizabeth Ashmore in Waterford. The shop at Quay, New Ross has been established as this is given as his address. Also in 1880, the Zimber Bros. firm in New Ross subscribed 2s 6d to the Parnell Defence Fund.
• In 1881, Albertina Zimber, my great-grandmother is born in New Ross. Karl Friedrich (later known as Charles Frederick) was in Liskeard, Cornwall, living and working with Francis Joseph & Bridget Kaupp, clockmakers.
• In 1883, Joseph Henry Zimber was born in New Ross.



Zimber Bros, New Ross, Co. Wexford

• In 1887, Richard Frederick Zimber (of whom more here) was born in New Ross.

• 1891 sees Adolf Zimber working as a lumberman in Coalmine, Alberta, Canada.
• In 1893, Vitus Zimber died in Gütenbach.
• The following year, 1894, Aaron's wife, Elizabeth, died in New Ross. Her gravestone reads:
• "Zimber - Erected by Aron Zimber in memory of his beloved wife Elisabeth, who fell asleep in Jesus, Jan 8th 1894. Also, above Aron died Jan 17th 1901. for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."
• In 1895, Aaron married Isabella Crowley.
• In 1900, Lambert sells Zimberhausle to the state.
• In 1901, Aaron Zimber died in New Ross. His brother Richard, now living in Wexford St., New Ross, was present at his death.
• The 1901 census shows Lambert and Rufina Zimber living at the shop on The Quay. I'm not sure whether they had moved there on a permanent basis or simply in the aftermath of Aaron's funeral. Richard and Jane Zimber are living at 14 Wexford Street, and Aaron's widow, Isabella and his two sons, Joseph and Fred, are living at 30 Cross Lane.
• The 1901 census shows Charles Frederick and his family living in Fore St., Bodmin, Cornwall. His brother Roman is living there with them.
• Aaron's second wife, Isabella dies around 1904 in Waterford.  Also in that year, Joseph Zimber emigrated via Liverpool to Montreal, Canada, where, within a few weeks of arriving in August, he married Bridget Coady, who had travelled with him from New Ross.
• In February 1905, Joseph Zimber is killed in an accident in Montreal, Canada. In October of that year, his sister, Albertina, married John Holmes in Dun Laoghaire (or Kingstown as it was then called).
• In 1908, Charles Frederick, along with his son Rudolph, visited New Ross and met with Lambert, Rufina, Richard & Jane and Albertina Holmes. They are most likely on their way to the wedding of his son Charles Vitus, who married Margaret Molony in Bandon, Co Cork.
• The 1911 Census has Albertina Holmes and family living at the shop, which is now at 2 Charles Street, and Richard Zimber, whose wife died a few years previously, lodging at a hotel at 1 Cross Lane.
• Richard died in Germany in 1911.
• The outbreak of war in 1914 sees Aaron's son Richard Frederick (known as Fred) killed at the Second Battle of Ypres (see here).
• In 1917, Adolf died in Montana, USA.
• The 1926 register of electors shows Charles Vitus living in Killarney, where he has a shop. The following year, his son Douglas Thomas was born.
• That same year, 1927, Albertina Holmes died.
• The Zimber Bros business in New Ross was still in existence up to 1938. The Bodmin shop was in family hands up until relatively recently.

Fred Zimber Pictures

These are pictures relating to my Great-Granduncle Fred Zimber who died in World War 1 at the Second Battle of Ypres.

Fiji Platoon

The first is a group of Volunteers from Fiji who enlisted together and became the Fiji Platoon of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. Fred is second from the right in the third row from the front (ie the first standing row).

Postcard signed by Fijians on RMS Makura

The second is a postcard of the ship, the RMS Makura, they sailed on signed by all the members of the platoon. Fred signed as "F.R. Cairns" (he enlisted under an assumed name) at the top of the right hand column above the picture.

Fred Zimber (serving as Fred Cairns)

The final photo is a close up of Fred taken from the first photo hence the poor resolution.

Zimberhaüsle

Hexenloch, Neukirch, Baden

View Larger Map

The house in the centre of this map (partly hidden by trees) is the Zimberhaüsle as shown in the picture below.

Zimberhaüsle in Hexenloch

Kate Cairns

A query I posted on Ancestry

Kate Cairns - General - Family History & Genealogy Message Board - Ancestry.co.uk:

"Kate Cairns - KevinHolmes40 - Posted: 16 Jan 2008

I am looking to trace a Kate Cairns who was given as the next-of-kin of my great-grand uncle Richard Frederick (Fred) Zimber who died in 1915 at Ypres in WW1. He enlisted in Fiji but gave her as n.o.k. and address as Wexford, Ireland. I assume (but don't know) that she was his fiancé. As his surname was German in origin he served under her name of Cairns"

Wanted Men from Baden

This might help explain one of the reasons why the Zimbers left Baden at the particular time they did.

From 1854 Wanted Men from Baden "The last revolution was quashed with the help of the Prussians, and the Prussians have remained very unpopular in Baden ever since.

Once Germany was united under Prussia, many from Baden didn't want their sons to go into the German/Prussian army and encouraged them to go abroad to escape conscription. These were the main causes of the two waves.

As far as I understand, before 1871, boys were registered at the age of 16 for possible military service. Potential recruits were drawn by lot. They had to report in December or January before their 21st birthday, for a medical. (In other words when they were 20 years old.)"

Fred Zimber and Fiji

I've just made an extraordinary discovery that my great-granduncle Fred Zimber is listed as being part of a contingent from Fiji who volunteered and enlisted with the King's Royal Rifle Corps (4th Batt) all of which tallies. I'll have to follow up on this and see if I can find out how or why he ended up there.

From FIJI IN WORLD WAR 1: The soldiers from Fiji in the Great War "A force of 57 was formed, spent some time in training, and left for Britain on January 1, 1915. Most of these enlisted in Britain with the King’s Royal Rifles, an artillery (sic) regiment famous for its past exploits, particularly in the American Wars. After preliminary training in Britain, the Fiji platoon of the KRRC was sent into action in the battlefields of Flanders. During May 1915, of the 43 strong Fiji platoon of the KRRC, 9 lost their lives and 31 were wounded in the battles of the Somme region.'Of the forty-three men who have served at the Front as members of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, there are now ten left. Originally the Fiji men composed a whole platoon, now owing to their limited numbers, they form the main part of a section……'"