William Capurnicus Harold

William Capurnicus Harold is the earliest Harold known definitely to be related to our family. He was born in Liverpool on 26th November 1827. His parents are not known with certainty but see below for a conjecture about this. It is known that he was educated at the Blue Coat School in Liverpool. This makes it probable that he was either orphaned or else his parents fell on hard times and could not support his schooling.

At the age of 17, on completing his studies he was sent to St. Vincent in the West Indies, as an indentured immigrant, to work as an apprentice store keeper for the Hopley firm. After his apprentice ship, of approximately five years was served, he received a lump sum payment of £15 and was able to continue on his own. The picture here is believed to be of William, on the left, with two of his sons. The photograph was taken beside the famous Carib rock painting at Layou in western St. Vincent and the photographer was another son, Robert Harold. It was kindly sent to me by Lucio Araujo, a great grandson of William and Sarah, living on Trinidad.

After completing his apprenticeship, William remained in St. Vincent as a store keeper in his own right and on March 31st 1856 he was married to Sarah Cunningham, in the Anglican Cathedral on the island. Sarah was born around 1834 and it is believed she that she was of English descent though her parentage is not known. She was adopted as an infant, having been found abandoned on a doorstep, if family legend is to be believed.


Copyright © Alan Simpson 2001 Back to genealogy home page. Last Updated 2001-02-10