Craig Page

Nancy Saunders, born about Christmas time 1796, was the eldest daughter of John and Elizabeth (Warne) Saunders . She, with her three brothers and sister, were all born in St.Breock, Wadebridge, Cornwall.

Nancy, a milliner, married Philip CRAIG, a gardener, in St. Breock on the 9th November 1826. It seems that she had a shop possibly in Molesworth Street, Wadebridge at this time.
There is an advertisement in Kelly's Directory of 1897 for "Craig and Co (First Established by the Late Mrs. Craig 1814) Wadebridge" "General Drapers & Milliners, Dress & Mantle Makers"

Philip was the son of John and Elizabeth CRAIG and was born in Sithney, Cornwall about February 1798. He was the youngest of a family of seven children - two boys and five girls. Sithney lies about 3 miles north west of Helston.

John and Elizabeth CRAIG appear to have moved to Wadebridge at some time and subsequently died there. In St.Breock churchyard there is a gravestone which shows;

Sacred to the Memory of John Craig,
late of Wadebridge, Gardener,
who died on the 9th day of December 1840
aged LXXV years.
also in Memory of Betty,
wife of the above
who departed this life October 22nd 1820
aged LI years.
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1. John Saunders CRAIG born about 1827
2. William Henry CRAIG born about 1830
3. Elizabeth CRAIG born about 1832
4. Charles Edward CRAIG born about 1833
5. Eveline CRAIG born about December 1841

1. John Saunders CRAIG, a carpenter, married Anne (Annie) Pike, said to be from Bath, in East London about September 1859. In 1881 they were living in 1, Gloucester Villas, Danby Street, Camberwell, London with their daughter, Elizabeth, aged 20.
The 1892 Post Office Commercial Directory shows that he was a 'Packing Case Maker' carrying on business at 45 Great Tower Street and 6 Tower Dock. They were living at neither address in the 1891 census.
By 1900 the business was still at 6, Tower Dock and also 95, Minories and appears to have been at this last address up to about 1918. The business was no longer listed in the 1919 Directory.
There is no further information on John or his family.

2. William Henry CRAIG, a Draper in Molesworth Street, Wadebridge, firstly married Emma ENGLISH (Born 1836 in Exeter, Devon) in 1858. They had one daughter, Ethel English CRAIG, born in 1872.

Emma died in 1879 and William Henry CRAIG married a second time in 1881 to Hannah CRAZE, a widow born in Callington, Cornwall.

William became the first chairman of the Wadebridge Urban District Council when it was set up in 1898.

William died on the 17th August 1911 and his wife, Hannah, on the 3rd June 1930.

They had one son, Alfred PHILLIPS, born in 1857. The 1861 Census shows him as a 3 year old living with his grandparents, Philip and Nancy Craig, in Wadebridge. By 1881 he was 23 still living with his grandparents and described as a 'Draper's Assistant' no doubt working for his uncle, William.

Nancy Craig died in St. Breock on the 6th April 1884 and Philip Craig on the 13th August 1886.

Cecil Craig married Elfreida Gwendoline Johns in Plymouth, Devon in about August 1911. They had a son, Donald Craig, who was born in Cornwall on the 24th May 1913.

Donald Craig married Emily Yates (or Vevers) in about September 1935. They had three daughters.

It appears that Donald was in the army prior to World War II. About 1935 he was with the British Army in Palestine. At the start of the war he was in the Royal Engineers and later attached to the Commandos.

Some of his wartime exploits are described in the book ‘Above Us The Waves - The Story of Midget Submarines and Human Torpedoes’ written by C.E.T. Warren and James Benson and first published in 1953. This book told of the unsuccessful attempt to sink the German Pocket Battleship "Tirpitz" in Trondhjemsfjord, Norway in November 1942. It is a fascinating and hair raising story.

According to one of his daughters, subsequently, during 1943, he was ‘Mentioned in Despatches for Distinguished Service’. Apparently he transferred to the Royal Navy and reached the rank of Lt. Commander by the end of the war.

Donald and his wife were divorced in the early 1950’s. He was married for a second time to Helen Mary Hitchmen a few years later in 1956. Donald died in Exeter in 1979 and Helen in 1981.