There are some Shiner details listed in the Dorset parish registers, but it’s not always easy to tell which Shiner belongs to whom. Certainly, a Mary Shiner was buried in Beaminster on 11 April, 1858, aged 82. I think that’s my Mary Shiner. However, there’s no record of the birth of sons James or Henry, or of her marriage. So, it’s not immediately clear.

The Shiners don’t really appear in the Beaminster parish records until around 1837 or so, with the birth of James’ son, Job Dozell. It was her son James, born in North Poorton, married in Corscombe, that finally moved to Beaminster after the birth of his first child, Sarah. The Shiners then begin appearing in the Beaminster records.