Ancestor of the week - Henry Rhodes Hindle

The following posting started life as a posting and article made back in 2007 to the now defunct Yahoo group "Preserving our Heritage" (POH). There were also four post scripts to the article through the course of 2007 - 2008. Therefore I have tweaked the structure of the initial post and the additional research for the point of this blog posting. I don't exactly know when the POH group folded, but it did and that was a huge shame. The group was friendly and very often the discussions were very thought provoking and informative.

About 15 years ago, my father in law, Derek Goucher gave me a pencil. There was nothing particularly special except that it lead to a part of my husband’s ancestry that I find intriguing, because it is harboured by geography.

“My grandmother divorced her husband, moved to America and remarried”, said my father in law and this pencil is the advertising his business.

Well, not quite, but let me explain.

Annie RHODES was born in Bradford Yorkshire in 1869 she married Charles WORSHIP in Bradford in August of 1899 and they had three daughters:

- Emily born Bradford 1890
– married June Q 1915 to Sydney NEWBOULD in Bradford
- Lillian born Bradford 1893 (my husband’s paternal grandmother)
- Florence, born Bradford 1901.

The 1901 UK Census shows the three children living with both their parents in Bradford.

The 1911 UK Census was not available for general searching at the point of the initial start of the research.

The story of Annie WORSHIP (nee RHODES) going to America was confirmed when I was greeted with a photograph, bearing on the back an address in PA in 1943.
I can not be specific on the address and my father in law was not happy to let me copy the photo, so I let the matter drop, at least for now!

Meanwhile, Ancestry had put online lots of Passenger lists, so a search was done to be able to see if I could establish a date when Annie went to America.

Passenger Lists

1905 Passenger List
Mrs Annie WARSHIP, aged 36 years arrived in Philadelphia on 13th December 1905, having travelled under her own carriage on board The Noordland from Liverpool. Annie declares that she has more than the requisite $50. With her is Master Harry, aged 10 months. The address given is in Philadelphia is 113 Lambert Street, and last abode in England is Bradford. It also indicates that Annie had been to Philadelphia before, again in 1905.

1921 Passenger List
Annie Hindle aged 51 years sailed from Liverpool on board the SS Haverford on 7th January 1921 and arrived at Philadelphia Port, United States on 23rd January 1921, under State Dept PP 180721, Naturalised date 1917, living at the address of 3625 Fairmont Ave, Philadelphia. Travelling with Annie was Henry Rhodes Hindle, aged 16 years, son.

1931 Passenger List
Annie Hindle along with husband Harry Hindle were due to sail from Liverpool on board the SS Laconia on 31st October 1931, which docked 10th November 1931 at New York. According to the list of passengers, neither, Annie or Harry embarked on the journey.

Instead, they waited and are to be found on the passenger lists for a month later. The SS Laconia left Liverpool on 28th November 1931 and arrived in New York on 9th December 1931. Their address is recorded as 3725 Haverford Ave, Philadelphia.

Passenger List 1932
There is a Harry Hindle aged 28 years who is a discharged deck hand, having signed on in New York on 10th Sep. Nationality is recorded as British.

Passenger List 1933
There is a Henry Hindle aged 27 years who is a deck hand. He sailed on board SS President Pierce arriving at the post of New York 26 Oct 1933 from the port of San Fransisco. Ship consigned SS Lines Inc Ltd

1933 Passenger List.
Annie Hindle, aged 64 years once again making the journey from Liverpool on board SS Laconia on 11th November 1933 and arriving back in the US at New York on 21st November 1933, under passport number 272342, and the address recorded as 4117, Hallaran Street, Maffair, Philadelphia.

1935 New York Passenger List
Annie Hindle aged 66 years, sailed from Liverpool on board SS Laconia on 28th September 1935 and arrived in New York on 8th October 1935. She is travelling alone, under passport number 191565. Her address is recorded as 4117, Hallaran Street, Philadelphia

1938 New York passenger list
Annie Hindle aged 69 years sailed from Liverpool on board SS Franconia on 16th September 1938 & arrived in New York on 26th September 1938 with her husband Harry Hindle aged 68 years. The passport number is listed as 191565 and under Harry in the details that he was naturalised in the Supreme Court in PA in September 1917. Their address is recorded as 3004, Fanshawe Street Philadelphia.

1944 - 1945 Passenger List (Aliens employed on vessel as crew members)
Harry Hindle, aged 40 years, sailed on board the vessel British Courage on 19th Dec 1944 from Greenock Scotland to New York, where it docked on 5th Jan 1945.According the passenger list he had 1 year as a length of service at sea and was a deck hand

1945 Passenger List (Aliens employed on vessel as crew members)
Harry Hindle, aged 41 years, sailed on board the vessel British Courage on 1st Feb 1945 from Portsmouth to New York, where it docked on 20th Feb 1945. According the passenger list he had 1.25 years as a length of service at sea and was a deck hand

1946 Passenger List
Annie Hindle, now aged 77 years sailed from Southampton on board SS Queen Elizabeth on 22nd November 1946, docking in New York on 27th November 1946, under passport number 54184 and her address reported as 14, North Belfield Av, Havertown, Pennsylvania.

1948 Passenger List
Annie Hindle departs Southampton 30 July 1948 on board The Washington, arriving New York 6th August 1948. Annie is recorded as a British Subject with passport number V71666. Her luggage is recorded as 3 bags and her address is 593 La Foret Ave Windsor, She is aged 64 years and recorded as married. She is travelling alone.

1950 Passenger List
Henry Hindle travelled on board air craft N 6012 C from London to New York, arriving in New York on 26th October 1950 under passport number 293797, and his address recorded as 3004, Fanshawe Street, Philadelphia. (I believe this to be Henry Junior, as Henry would have been 80 years old)

1953 Passenger List
Harry Hindle arrives on 2nd Oct 1953 at Halifax Nova Scotia Canada on board Britannia, The port of departure was Liverpool, on 5th September. Passport number is recorded as V-386612 which is the same as the passenger list for 1956. The address recorded is 18, East 41st Street, New York, 17 NY

1954 Passenger List
British Overseas Airways Corporation – Aircraft - G-ALSD - BA607/256 Departed London and arrived at Montreal, Quebec, Canada 1st Oct 1954. Passengers in Transit to the US. The Offical Use column indicates – B-1 T 2987687

1956 Passenger List
Harry Hindle travelled with Belgian World Air Lines 18th June 1956. Harry flew 1st Class flight number SH545. In remarks column – V-386612 (passport no?) From Manchester UK to New York USA

From those details I now have confirmed addresses plus a year of birth for Henry Rhodes Hindle.

A quick search in April 2007 FreeBMD for an update on the entries for the surname of WORSHIP. I was totally surprised to see the following:

Dec Q 1904 Henry Rhodes WORSHIP Birth Bradford 9b,43

So, it would appear that whilst still married to Charles Worship, Annie gave birth to son Henry Rhodes who was given the surname of WORSHIP. Certainly by the time the family are in the US both Annie and Henry Rhodes are using the surname of HINDLE and this is confirmed by the 1905 passenger list.

A further search recently revealed two further references to the Hindle’s, named on a Passenger record in 1922 for a Herbert George PITCHFORD & his wife Ida Mary Pitchford. According to the shipping manifest for SS Pittsburgh which sailed from Liverpool on 28th October 1922, and arrived in Philadelphia Port 4th November 1922 Ida Mary’s nearest relative in England is her brother William Rhodes. With this data, this now set me on the trail in Yorkshire for the surname Rhodes, and to trace the ancestry of Annie herself.

A quick search of the 1881 Census for the UK revealed the birth of Annie Rhodes the daughter of Joseph and Sarah Rhodes. The family were living in 1, Oakroyd Terrace in Manningham, which is a small village outside of Bradford. Also listed, born in 1879 is William Rhodes brother.

Another curious thing, was that Annie did make regular trips back home to see her three daughters, they were all left here in England. Out of interest I did a quick search for the surname of WORSHIP, and was surprised to see that Emily Worship, Annie’s Eldest daughter had, in April 1914 gone to Philadelphia on board SS Haverford, which sailed from Liverpool on 16th April 1914, to visit Annie Worship. Recorded on the shipping manifest, Emily’s relative in England was a Chas A Worship residing at 212 Philip Street Newcastle upon Tyne, and address that my father in law recognises for correspondence that he has inherited from his parent’s courtship.

In October 2007 I turned once again to the birth of Henry Rhodes Hindle or was it Worship and ordered the copy of Henry Rhodes Worship’s birth certificate from Bradford It confirms what I’d believed, that Henry was registered with the surname Worship as that was his mother’s husband, making the assumption that Charles Worship was the father. The address given is Eastbrook House, Chapel Street, in Bradford. Occupation Curate. Having just checked the 1901 census to confirm what Charles and Annie were doing there, it appears that Charles was the “Chapel Keeper”.



Turning to the US, A search of the website http://www.germangenealogygroup.com/otherdb.stm, on the off chance to see if a marriage could be located. I struck lucky, as there in New York City was the marriage of Annie WORSHIP & Harry HINDLE on 6th September 1922. Certificate number 31122, in the county of Manhattan. I had already located a second marriage for Charles Worship, Annie’s first husband in Edinburgh Scotland in 1922, so it looks as though the divorce became final in 1921-1922. The divorce records have been tracked down and is in the National Archives and was finalised in 1922.

I ordered the marriage certificate only for it to be due to arrive here in the UK as were about to head into a load of postal strikes, needless to say I was irritating and grumpy until the certificate arrived!



I next looked for a Naturalisation record. On every passenger list and the census Henry is recorded as being Naturalised (except 1910 US Census) with the year as 1917. There are variations to the month and court it was done in. I located a copy of the Naturalisation record for September 1917 in the Eastern Court of PA, which ties in with various other documents and a further check of the passenger records confirms September 1917 as the date for naturalisation, so bingo!





I now wanted to see if I could find any records for the deaths of Annie and Harry Hindle. A search of the SSDI for Henry and Annie proved fruitless, but I did check again to see what the index said for Henry Rhodes. There was the death of a Henry in November 1962 with the SSDI number of 159-09-3752 and issued in Pennsylvania with the birth date as 4th October 1904, the same date as the birth certificate from Bradford. A later search of the FamilySearch revealed the following death certificate.



I went through the census and passenger lists and looked at the addresses the family were living in. The latest date I had at the time was 1946 for 14 North Belfield Havertown PA. Havertown is in Haverford township, 7 miles from the centre of Philadelphia & is in Delaware County with zip code 19083. I searched Google maps to get an idea of the area and to see if I could in a roundabout way locate the cemetery records for both Annie and Henry bearing in mind I had no dates of death for either of them.

There are three cemeteries in the area – Har Jehuda, Arlington (PA) & Montrose.

A search online for the cemetery records in Arlington revealed two likely suspects!

Harry Hindle 19th Feb 1871-19th Feb 1952 buried in Avon section and
Annie R Hindle 14th May 1869-14th May 1953 buried in Avon section.

The years of birth are right, and Annie appears to have a middle initial of R possibly for Rhodes? The actual dates for birth and death look a bit suspicious, but it does give me a starting point. The address for the cemetery is in Delaware County – 2900 State Road, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026. Then by chance I made contact with someone who connected to Henry Rhodes Hindle and was sent the Cemetery details which confirmed those details.



I do feel that I have, in someway completed a circle, but the story is full of more questions and I guess that is the appeal of genealogy. I have made contact with someone who connected to the family of Henry Rhodes Hindle. They very kindly sent me some bits electronically and some of those things have given more questions. One of the things I was sent was a lovely photo of Henry Rhodes Hindle and his parents, my husband's Great Grandparents.



Oh, the details on the pencil –

Henry R HINDLE
Fruit & Produce Commission Merchant
Market 2414
200 Dock Street
Phila
PA

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Wk 2 - Winter

Week 2: Winter. What was winter like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.

I grew up in the South East of England and the winters were very cold with some snow. When it would start to snow and there was a decent depth of snow we would wrap up warm and go out for a walk in the snow, while it was still fresh. It was lovely, no fear at all of falling. We lived in a town so the lovely thick snow soon became slushy and horrid. I love, even now to walk in the thick snow, wrapped all warm and snug. There is always a eerie silence when it snows, I have never understood why.

As a child at senior school I was a very keen hockey player, we would, even in the coldest of winters don our PE kits and head off to the pitch. Our PE kit consisted of a navy blue skirt and a red shirt. We also had to wear red knee high socks and hockey shoes. We would stand on the pitch with the warmth of our breath blowing onto the cold air, our hands and knees with a red tinge from the cold. Those were happy days, we would long to get playing so we could get warm.

Winter food were typically stews and soups. I do the same now. My Mum's casserole is always a favourite, even now when Mum visits I ask her to make me a casserole. A mix of suede, carrots, onion, mushrooms with a lovely gravy with braising steak, complete with mash potato. We may have to have one tomorrow!

Other foods we had during the winter were stuffed hearts, liver in gravy and shepherds pie. We still have those foods of course, although I am not so restrictive to have them just in the depth of winter. Although we don't tend to have them when it is warmer. As a child I remember a treat on a Saturday night was a really big baked potato cooked in the oven in tin foil. My Grandmother would stand and grate lots of mature cheddar cheese for us to have over the potato. It was a real treat and now we can of course buy baked potato's for a few pounds ready done in the microwave, nothing can beat the smell of a oven baked one and I am always plunged back to my childhood and those happy memories.

Memorial Log

I recently commented on someones blog that writing helps us to grieve for our departed loved ones. In that post I mentioned a Memorial Log and I promised that I would explain a bit more about the log and what it did for me.

My Grandmother passed away suddenly on 21st April 1995 and had recently spent six weeks with us, starting just before the Christmas period of 1994. During that time my husband spent some time videoing and recording conversations with my Grandmother, now, 15 years on I still can not watch those video's, but I am deeply grateful that Stuart had the foresight to record those conversations. We still hold the original camcorder tapes and the VCR tape that the data was transferred to. Sometime this year Stuart will transfer the VCR tapes to DVD, a task he will do when I am out.

My Grandmother, and I were very close. I was overcome, not just with grief and the need to give her the send off she deserved, but I suddenly became aware of all the things and questions I had never asked and all the snippets of information that she had shared with me. Not just genealogical information, but the sayings she would suddenly come out with, things she would do, places and people that she held an association with.

The bottom line was that I missed her dreadfully, her passing had left a huge void in my world and even though the period of time between the death and funeral is fairly busy with the domestics of it all, I felt that I needed to keep my Grandmother with me. I did not want to forget a simple thing. Looking back now, many of the comments and notes I made were one liners, a simple remark that acts as a prompt for more thinking and adding to a journal at a future date, and occasionally I still add to the log. The 18th December 2012 would have been my Grandmother's 100th birthday. I shall commemorate that in some way, perhaps linked to the Memorial Log.

The Memorial log was for me a simple Filofax that I had and was not using. I used whatever paper I had to hand and my log contains a mix of lined and plain paper. Each entry dated. In the early days I would write and jot down notes for hours, later as time progressed I wrote less, and as I adapted to a world without my Grandmother the entries became fewer in number and less in content. That said, it does not mean that I miss her less. When someone we love passes away we find a way of coping and adapting without them, but they always retain a place in our heart.

History of Cardigan........

Thanks to the BBCHistoryMag Twitter feed I became aware of the following post - a fascinating task of knitting with history.

"History of Cardigan told through a cardigan" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12123866

Reading and The Spectator.....

Yesterday I read a post on a friend's blog over at wordpress - Laura was commenting on reading The Spectator online using her Kindle, and it jogged memories of her high school teacher.

My response was:

"I think that many of us are influenced by teachers when we are in our later teens. Likewise, I was influenced by a teacher, who was senior master called Mr Tanner. He loved reading all the Orwell texts and got me to really think about what the characters really represented. Between Mr T and the help of Miss Russell who taught me history and greatly influenced my love of history, I flew through my O level Eng Lit and History. Also I think now our reading is influenced by the people we each become, which is a result of the people who help us on the way to adulthood.

Incidentally, when we first moved here there was a huge rambling antique shop on the site of a former hotel. On a rummaging visit I found a lovely, but not undamaged edition of the Spectator for 1715. It is a beauty, and does have damage to the front cover."

Having written the above post, I went to the display cabinet in our kitchen/breakfast room as that is where The Spectator lives, nestled into the bottom shelf. There is more damage that I recalled yesterday, and I got the dates slightly wrong. The book is actually a collection of The Spectator and this is the 5th Volume which dates from 1711 - 1713. The front cover is completely detached and when I purcashed the book there had been some water damage. Actually for a book that is effectively 300 years old it is not too bad.

Here are a few snaps shots of it...

Crematorium considers dissolving bodies .....

I read yesterday in the paper of a Crematorium considers dissolving bodies here is the link to the UK newspaper - The Telegraph telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopic

Maybe I am getting old, but I do believe that Crematoriums and Cemeteries are sacred places and should not be disturbed. What is being suggested in this news article somehow, does not seem right, it seems disrespectful. What say you?.....

Cross posted to Grave Encounters

Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley

Publisher: Avon (28 Oct 2010)
ISBN-10: 1847561152

The prologue to the book sets the scene. Holly Brown is a young widow whose husband was killed in a tragic accident just before Christmas. Holly's parents died when she was young and she was raised by her Grandparents. Holly's Grandmother had been ill and as she passed away she mentioned a name of Ned Marland. A name completely unfamiliar to Holly.....

Holly housesits for a living during the winter and works as a chef during the rest of the year. Due to her upbringing and her deepset grief at Christmas Holly doesn't really celebrate Christmas and accepts a house sitting booking in country, where her tasks are to housesit and look after a dog and a horse. Accepting the booking Holly packs her car and heads off taking with her a trunk of her Grandmother's notebooks in which Holly might just find out who the mysterious Ned is.

The notebooks reveal that Holly's Grandmother met and nursed a young soldier back to health. After he was discharged from hospital and returned home he continued to meet with Holly's Grandmother and they embarked upon a brief romatic relationship. As Holly housesits she gets to know the home owner who is abroad, his elderly nearby family, the pets and the local residents, who keep asking if she is a Marland, something which Holly denies. Holly also continues to discover her Grandmother through her note books and makes some fascinating discoveries along the way.

Cross posted to Book Reviews

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Wk 1 - New Year

Week #1 – New Year’s Memories
Week 1: Did your family have any New Year’s traditions? How was the New Year celebrated during your childhood? Have you kept these traditions in the present day?!
This challenge runs from Saturday, January 1, 2011 through Friday, January 7, 2011.

As a child we really didn't celebrate the New Year. I was usually allowed to stay up to see the New Year in , but we didn't really do anything special that I remember.

We have now created our own traditions but again we don't really celebrate much. We still though, stay up and see the New Year in and Stuart, growing up in Scotland always does the First foot. He usually goes outside with a bit of coal, meaning we'll always be warm, some cash, meaning we will always have money and some food, we'll always be fed. I guess that is more of a Scottish tradition, certainly coming from the Southern Counties we didn't do the First foot.

For New Years Day we always have a roast dinner and eat at lunchtime, as usually we eat in the evenings. We usually make some plans for the coming year - holidays, or things we want to do etc. This New Year has started with the focus on my very recently deceased Aunt and her funeral and somehow 2010 has ended rather how it was in the middle of the year for us. We are hoping for a happier 2011.

What I have always disliked is that we start a new year with the Christmas tree still up and the decorations. If we had felt less ill this year we would probably have taken the tree and cards down before the New Year, but we always do before 12th Night (6th January).

Ancestor of the Week - Edith Jelley nee Matthews

My grandmother, Lillian Edith MATTHEWS inherited her middle name from her Aunt, the sister of her father, Edith Annie Matthews born 1877 in Rugby Warwickshire. Despite this my Grandmother knew very little about Edith other than she was a nurse. My Grandmother never remembers seeing her. Research shows that the miles between my Grandmother's family and that of Edith were not great, yet there appears to have been little communication between Edith and her brother.

What brought the family from the Midlands down to Guildford, where they lived in Merrow parish is unclear, but Edith did share one thing with her mother, they both died young.

I had inherited a few photographs of Edith, one of her in a type of military uniform, and another two photos of Edith with her children, the first with an older boy and girl and the second photo of the same two children with a young baby. That confirmed that Edith did indeed marry and have a family.

Figure 1 - Edith Matthews with her children identified as Charles & Edith Mabel

I turned at first to the military style photograph. Edith would have been too old to have been especially active during the Great War 1914-1918, so I pondered on the Boer War. Family history indicated that Edith was a nurse, so I researched the various avenues available. Edith Matthews had never been a nurse, but perhaps was a VAD?


Figure 2 Edith in her military style uniform


I put the nurse aspect on the backburner for a while and instead sought Edith’s marriage certificate. I eventually found it at Holy Trinity Guildford in 1902 where Edith married a Charles JELLEY. I was delighted, what a fun surname! It was not going to be too difficult to research Edith’s new family….or was it?

Figure 3 - Marriage Certificate for Edith Matthews to Charles Jelley 8th April 1902

Over the Christmas period of 2008 Findmypast opened up the search facility to the 1911 census. I could barely control myself! On Christmas Day, whilst the turkey was in the oven I nipped into my study for a quick search for Edith. There she was, in Redhill Surrey with her husband, two children Charles and a daughter Edith Mabel and her father, John Matthews who was recorded as a boarder.


Figure 4 - 1911 Census

I did a search of a death certificate for John Matthews. I found him in the Redhill registration district for 1927 residing at St Johns, Redhill although his place of residence was at 114 Walnut Tree Close, in Guildford. This was an address I was very familiar with as my Grandmother had been born there in 1912. The informant was a Read, occupier. Why was the death no recorded by Edith?


Figure 5 - Death certificate of John Matthews December Quarter of 1927 Reigate Surrey

So, it would appear that Edith and my Grandmother's father, also called John must have had some communication in regard to their father. John senior did according to my Grandmother live with them in Guildford, and like many families my Great Grandmother had in law problems and referred to her father in law as a dirty old man. I guess that he suffered from various conditions that affect elderly gentlemen!

While searching the Great War Service Records on Ancestry for another relative I did an off the wall search for Charles Jelley. I did not really expect to find that he would have been active. Much to my surprise he was, aged 41 years, called up as a reservist for the duration of the war. Having served during the Boer War with the 6th Dragoon Guards, he was discharged medically unfit in 1916. As I read through the record I spotted that another child had been born to the family, a baby girl Olive Kathleen in 1916. She sadly died aged 7 months and a copy of the death certificate was in the Great War Service Record for Charles Jelley. That confirmed the photographs of the children with Edith.

Figure 6 - Edith Jelley (nee Matthews) with children identified as Charles, Edith Mabel, Olive Kathleen.

There is still no picture of Charles Jelley. The Service Record revealed something else of interest, and that I had been unaware of. The family had moved to Paddington London. As always, as one question is answered so another few arise.

I searched the online facility of FreeBMD to see if there had been other children born to Edith and Charles. None were found, but I found a death for Edith Jelley in the June Quarter of 1921 just aged 40 years. I felt such a wave of emotion. Here was Edith's death . I sent off for the certificate hoping that I had found another Edith Jelley, alas no, the certificate arrived. Edith Annie Jelley aged 40 years, wife of Charles Jelley a restaurant manager of 13 Malbern Road Kilburn. The death recorded by E. HARRISON sister in law who had been present at her death.

I knew that the surname of Harrison did not appear on the Matthews side of the family, therefore I assumed that E Harrison must be the sister of Charles Jelley. Using the search facility on FreeBMD I searched for the marriage of a Jelley to a Harrison. My luck was in and it revealed the marriage of Eliza Jelley to George Ernest Harrison in the December quarter of 1895. Then I spotted when I had another look at the marriage certificate that the marriage Charles to Edith had in fact been witnessed by Eliza Harrison. Which just shows that you should often look back at previously located information, sometimes we forget what we already know!

I may never know anymore about Edith, although there are lots more questions about their time in London, what happened to their children, How did Charles become a restaurant manager, just to name a few. I suspect that Edith was a VAD and helped to nurse Charles back to health. They lived next door to one another, a fact gleaned from their wedding certificate and were friendly faces to each other and I would like to think that potentially a romance blossomed as they married in April 1902 and Charles was discharged in June of the same year.

Dorothy Lilian May nee Butcher 1915 - 2010

Today has not been a good day. The last link with my Grandfather's family passed away this morning and has left a void that will be quite impossible to fill.

Born Lilian Dorothy Butcher in February 1915, the second youngest of a family of 12. Aunt was always known to us as Doll, the nick name given to her by her brothers because of her petite size. Whilst she was never a large lady in size she had both character and depth far great than anyone I have ever known.

Aunt married Richard May at St Nicholas Church Guildford in 1936.



Widowed in 1958 Aunt never remarried, but devoted her life to her son, nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.

Whilst this posting may seem rather morbid, I didn't want to let Aunt's passing be unmentioned. I have some wonderful memories and in time, when I feel stronger, they will appear in this blog in remembrance of a true lady.

I was indeed very lucky to have had such a wonderful relationship with her, both as Great Aunt and as my Godmother. I will truly miss her. She is now reunited with her beloved husband,son and her siblings.


Photo taken May 2008.

Snippets from the the news......

BBC News - Life goes online after death with 'memory boxes'
Published 3rd December 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11900774

The Independent - Identified at last: faces of the Somme - Europe, World
Published 28th December 2010
http://ind.pn/dRYl4n

Advent Calendar 2010 - In review

I have simply loved writing the advent calendar posts. These have been huge journalling prompts and have encouraged me to write and think about times past. They have also highlighted to me the questions that I wish I had asked.

I have though not managed to keep to schedule, which is personally irritating to me and what subjects I have not posted on as yet will be posted on during the next few days. Alas, work has been the culprit this year and I have certainly lost my work - home life balence which will be recovered for 2011.

Christmas Broadcast or 'Queen's Speech'

View the Christmas Broadcast or 'Queen's Speech' in full on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWwVoCVCEZo

Advent Calendar 2010 - Christmas and Deceased Relatives

Christmas always has its sad moments, in that we miss our deceased relatives, and yet remember with fondness and love those who have passed away.

My Grandmother, always comes to my mind because her birthday, on 18th December was a week before Christmas and this has appeared elsewhere during the Advent Calender postings. The last Christmas my Grandmother was alive she came to stay with us. Stuart did lots of recordings of her, asking her questions and listening to her remembering past times. Even now, some 14 years on I can not listen to those tapes or watch the video. When Stuart transfers it to DVD which he will do next year he'll do it when I am out as I still miss her dreadfully.

Then in the late 1990s my Nephew, then aged 16 years died on 18th December as a result of a tragic accident involving another school boy. His funeral was on Christmas Eve and although I was not especially close to my Nephew, my husband was and my thoughts always turn to him and the fact that his young life was wasted.

This year we lost my Father in Law and this is the first Christmas without him. Likewise, I was not especially close to him, but his death, was unexpected and this year will of course bring sadness to our Christmas. Amongst that sadness is of course joy, as each of those individuals has a special place in our hearts and we have some wonderful memories, which, when the time is right will probably appear in this blog.

May they rest in peace, in the knowledge that they are missed everyday.

Lunar Eclipse to coincide with Winter Solstice

The first full lunar eclipse to coincide with a winter solstice since 1554. UK & Europe will be able to watch from 0741 GMT on Tuesday 21st Dec.

I was up in anticipation of seeing something wonderful. Sadly it was cloudy where I was and that was rather disappointing. There have been some great photos posted on the web. Here is the photograph posted to the local BBC radio station on Face Book - Good Morning Devon and here is the details from Sky News.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Christmas Shopping

I often do my Christmas grocery shopping in the middle of the night, or at the very earliest just as the day turns midnight. Due to our domestics we planned to go to the supermarket just after midnight on Saturday 18th, which would have been my Grandmother's birthday (see yesterday's post).

Over the last three or four weeks we have had very cold weather, heavy frosts and the odd sprinkle of snow, so I was not overly surprised to find a heavy frost as we left the house at midnight on Saturday. We live half way on a hill in a cul-de-sac and the car was pointing the wrong way. Which meant that we had to drive down and turn. There is always a horrid bit in the middle of the turning area which has a tendancy to get very icy and Saturday morning was no exception. So there I was at midnight trying to push the car. Just when it seemed hopeless we managed it and set off. I spent the next hour or so pushing the trolley round gathering groceries. We made it home and I collapsed into bed at abou 2am, planning on sleeping until 7am when I needed to be up and away for work. Imagine my horror when I saw this at 7.00am

About 8am this was the real picture.

I went to leave and we tried to move the car and made it to the turning point, then..... Lots of wheel spins and Anglo Saxon. We managed with the help of a neighbour, some carpet under the wheels and sand to get the car back outside the house which is halfway up the hill. I have worked muscles that perhaps are new or have not been used in the last 20 years! Anyway, I didn't make it to work.
Monday faired no better. We had no more snow here, but we had dreadful icy conditions. Driving was not an option and actually neither was walking.
We did make it out today (21st Dec 2010) and this was the view across Haldon - lovely on a Christmas card, but lethal to drive and walk on.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Christmas Stockings

I don't recall ever having a stocking as a child, just this pillowcase into which my presents were placed. Since I have been married to what can only be described as the biggest Christmas baby of all time! Stuart's birthday is on the 21st and he simply LOVES Christmas, I have always prepared a stocking for everyone.

Traditionally, I know that stockings always contain fruits and nuts and perhaps a small toy, or at least that is what my Grandmother always said was in her stocking. This year I went to fill the stockings to struggle to find them. I sorted through the Christmas decorations box several times to no avail, and resorted to having the wrap the stocking gifts on Christmas Eve. Note to self to buy some nice new ones for 2011.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Grab Bag!

Today's posting is a free for all. Tomorrow, 18th December 2010 would have been my beloved Grandmother's birthday.

Born in 18th December 1912 Lilian Edith Matthews to John Matthews and Elizabeth Mary nee Elstone at Guildford Surrey England. Gran was one of 11 children and the second child to be both in 1912, although she was not a twin.

My Uncle had been born in the January of the same year! She married my Grandfather George Butcher in November 1939 and ironically made her marital home in the same road that she was born in, just at the opposite end of the road!

No photographs of the wedding have ever been located, but here are two from my collection. The first one (above) of my Grandmother aged 12 years and the second taken (below) at her 21st Birthday.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Fruit Cake

Mum has used the following recipe since the early 1980s, actually my Grandmother spotted it in a copy of Woman Magazine, and since then we have used this one, albeit, the copy does look in rather a sorry state! The actual date is gleened from a book review on the reverse of the recipe - 1983!




Here is the cake for the Christmas of 2006, icing was not brilliant as I recall, probably too much wine! See the original post from 2006

Advent Calendar 2010 - Other Traditions

Although I now live in the West Country of England, I was born and brought up in Guildford Surrey, and still consider that home. There was always a magical feel about Guildford, the cobbled historical High Street with the Rotary Club playing music, usually outside W H Smiths and collecting for local charities, The shops full of Christmas decorations and music and the temperature fresh and cold, but not like the weather of late, where the temperature has been well below freezing, not typical for the UK.

In the last 10 years or so the world of retail therapy has changed beyond recognition. I am pondering back to the days when shops closed at 5 or 6pm apart from perhaps local deli's and corner shops and the only other shops open into the evening were DIY stores and supermarkets and those were open late until 7 or 8pm. In the run up to Christmas the shops would open on Sundays and even the post was delivered on a Sunday too for the few sundays preceding Christmas. Now we live in a world when you can do your grocery shopping in the early hours and shop online. I wonder what previous generations would make of that? The shops being open on a Sunday back then had a magical feel to it, and somehow in this world of technology we have lost some of the Christmas magic.

On Christmas Eve we always attended Midnight Mass at Holy Trinity Church, an impressive church situated at the top of the High Street. We did not live in Holy Trinity parish, but in St Nicholas, but always attended at Holy Trinity. It wasn't until I started researching my own family history that I established that we had links to the parish that start with my Several times Great Grandfather George Ellis born in 1811 in Holy Trinity parish.

Having now moved to the South West I do not feel that same enthusiasm to go to the local church for the midnight mass and very often we are well in bed before the magical hour.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Christmas Gifts

Oh my, I was doing some Christmas shopping today and pondering on some small bits to go into a couple of Christmas stockings. I was overwhelmed with the incredible amount of expensive nothing presents, and wonder just how we got to be such a society.

My Grandmother always said that she and her siblings had a Christmas stocking. In it was a sugar mouse, a tangerine and some nuts. The boys had a small car or soldier and the girls a small dolly. The money value for the early 20th Century to a working class family preparing stockings for a family of 11 children would have meant cuts in other areas of expenditure to provide those meagre gifts. In comparison to the stockings of today when we spend so much more and I wonder if we really enjoy the gifts we receive and give? Or are we simply swept away in the retail commercial hyper.

On my bookcase are several books given to me by family members, in some cases relatives that are no longer here. I was surprised to see that I had kept the gift card in one book dated 1985. The book rarely looked at now, holds many special memories and now sits as one of my treasured possessions.

One gift that I love dearly was bought for me by my husband two or three years ago. I would never have purchased it myself, not due to the expense, or the thought that I would hardly wear it, but simply because I just wouldn't. So I treasure it not only because Stuart bought it for me, but because it is a beautiful simple gift that says more than many words, and one that is a treat for me, and only me.

Of course, no matter how big the gift or how expensive the gift, the ones that we treasure the most are those that create such wonderful memories.

Planned Reading Challenges for 2011

As the end of 2010 approaches I have signed up to the following Reading Challenges

Click here to join the Immigrant Stories Challenge

Click here to join the Historical Fiction Challenge



Click here to join up to the Italy in books challenge



Click here to join up for the Victorian Literature Challenge

AVG - Anti-Virus Programme

I have used AVG for anti-virus for about 10 years and always upgraded at the point of when the upgrades are released. This year was no exception for attempting the upgrade, the issue was the success of the upgrade.

I have spent a huge amount of the last 3 days removing the last version and installing the new version. Each time, as usual the machine needs to shut down and reboot. The problem occurred when each time the reboot happened that there was no evidence of the new version. I trawled through the online AVG forums and there were references that others had had this issue of remove old, install new, reboot and then repeat, with no success of actually loading the new program.

I was simply grateful that I was trying to update my desktop PC running XP rather than my laptop on Vista.

I finally had success - Hooray!

1. Read http://www.avg.com/ww-en/faq?num=3262#faq_3262
and check that you have administrator facilities on your computer

2. Install the 2011 programme via
http://free.avg.com/gb-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free

3. Make sure that the files are not still lingering on your PC - check Program files AND in documents and settings deleting any references to AVG 7, AVG 8, AVG 9 and Grisoft. (I had some as Grisoft and almost missed it)

4. Then ensure that ALL evidence of previous versions is removed from the computer registry by visiting http://www.avg.com/ww-en/download-tools (use 32 bit if your not sure of 32 or 64.)

5. You MIGHT need to re do point 2 and that is fine!

I completed the above steps for my XP desktop and my Vista laptop.

Disclaimer: I am not a shareholder in AVG, just a satisfied (and temporarily frustrated AVG user!). I am no computer expert, if I had been it would not have taken me 3 days! so follow the above advice with caution and please do not email me with hate emails if it goes wrong, but I successfully managed it!

Good luck!

Advent Calender 2010 - Holiday Parties

I think one of the most memorable Christmas Parties has to be Australia 1996.

We had only been in our current home for about 4 weeks, we were still knee deep in packing boxes in some rooms - my study especially. We left England on 19th December and arrived in Sydney on 21st December. I will never forget the flight. We flew with a Greek airline because we had had to change our travel plans at short notice as my Cousin who was getting married between Christmas & New Year had, had a change of plans. We had a direct flight, well as direct as 10,000 miles can be, with a stop over in Bangkok for a refuel. Every time the plane landed and took off there was an eruption of clapping and cheering. I put it down to Christmas spirit rather cheering successful flying! I don't recall it being exceptionally cold here that year before Christmas, but we spent 50 hours traveling door to door and left temperatures of approximately 10 degrees centigrade and arrived to about 28 degrees centigrade, and definitely over dressed! We arrived on Stuart's birthday, therefore everyone had gathered at my cousin's house for our arrival which was fantastic.

That year Christmas started on the 19th December and lasted through the arrival party, Christmas, my cousin's wedding, New Year up until we left on 19th January. Very happy memories.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Santa Claus

I can't remember going to Santa, but I guess I did. I asked Mum if she could remember and she said she took me when I was between the ages of 3-5 to see the Santa at the Debenhams department store in Guildford. I was apparently not keen to go and was unimpressed and she didn't take me again. Mum went onto say with a bit of a smirk that I was fairly antisocial!

Me, antisocial, surely not! Anyway, I went onto explain to Mum why I was probably unimpressed with Santa. I can't recall exactly when, but I recall waking up one year in the early hours of Christmas morning to Mum in her red dressing gown putting my stocking come pillowcase at the bottom of the bed. I guess then, my thoughts of a man with a red gown and white, bushy beard were shattered. I can though still remember this red dressing gown with small flowers on with green leafy bits and yellow petals. It was the early 1970s and I am sure Mum is delighted that there is no photograph of the said dressing gown! What is amazing is that I had never actually confessed to seeing Mum that Christmas morning until we discussed it for me to write this blog post.

Sorting Saturday - Keys.....but much more?

This random gathering of keys represents bits of our lives, both as single individuals and as a couple. I came across the pot of miscellaneous keys at the back of one of the cupboards in the breakfast room this morning. When we married we put all the keys together in a pot, not current keys, but ones we thought we perhaps should keep just incase. We have lived in this house 14 years and over the years have added to the box, but do we know what the keys belong to? It is anyone's guess., although I have a few ideas for some of the keys.

It made me think though, as individuals or couples we accumulate and gather a whole host of stuff, things we keep because they mean something to us, but perhaps not to other people. Our ancestors did it and perhaps we have inherited their collection of "stuff" and we now wonder just what that pile of bits meant to them. Perhaps we will leave a collection of things to our descendants or inheritants that are a total mystery. Every little thing our lives touch means something. Food for though.......

Advent Calender 2010- Outdoor Decorations

I am not a fan of outside decorations, but Stuart is. He loves the whole Christmas thing - music on the radio, CDs, decorations, foods and I guess cards, as long as he isn't is writing them! Last year was the first year we had an outside decoration. Even I have to say it, they were some subtle while ice lights that dripped down from the second floor windows. Alas they did not survive the untypical harsh winter and returned to the shop for a refund. We have since then replaced them with a more sturdy set ready for this Christmas but they are not up yet, but I know Stuart is getting itchy to get the tree and decorations up.

As I said in an earlier post we have a small outside tree with some suitable lights they are not up yet either, but as soon as I do there will be photos!

Back in 1996 we spent Christmas in far warmer climes; in NSW Australia with family. The street lights and decorations put on by residents in one street, Athol Street in Wagga Wagga was very impressive. I am not sure if I took photos, but I will see if there are any, there were certainly LOTS of photos of the trip and if I find one of all the Christmas lights & decorations I'll upload it.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Christmas Cards

I remember both my Mum and Grandmother sending cards, but not how many or what happened to them. I have a few old cards, perhaps the last one received from a particular relative, or those with a photograph or letter. Any that my Grandmother received I now have. Currently they are in a box packed away in a box awaiting scanning and archiving. I can't really remember where they were displayed, I suspect the mantlepiece as that is where I have mine and on the dresser and other furniture in our lounge.

I probably started sending cards when I as about 12 or 13. Mainly to school friends, but when I left home and then subsequently married to family members. In many cases a Christmas card is the only contact we have, which is a shame.

When we first set up home together and started sending cards as a couple I asked for Stuart's card list. He looked at me blankly and said he only sent about 6 cards, I was amazed, that meant the other 60 odd were mine! Since then I have written all the cards and letters and Stuart's list has not really got any bigger. My list has reduced a little bit, but not by much. Even people that I communicate with online these days still get a card in the post and they get an additional email.
I keep the email letters and file these with letters I recieve, along with any letters and cards that arrive in the mail.

I usually aim to send my cards out early December, but each year I seem to get later and later. The overseas ones always go first. I can always predict which card I receive first and sure enough my cousin and her husband's card arrived on Wednesday as predicited!

At the end of the 1980s I bought a card booklet, with the details of card and present and address. The book was set up for about 10 years. At the end of the 10 years I looked around for another book similar but no one seems to sell them anymore, so I have a bit of paper in my Christmas card box and each year tick or highlight in a pen to say that I sent the card. I really should find a better way of recording it, but somehow the scrappy bit of paper is likeable. I usually buy Charity cards apart from ones that I send to close relatives. I tend to go for the Charities whose good cause has touched our family life, mainly Cancer Research as many of my family have suffered in this way.

This following is a photograph of my Great Grandmother, Annie Prudience Butcher nee Harris,which was sent as her Christmas Card in 1955.The picture was taken in Guildford Surrey England in the prefab house the family lived in after the War.

I already had the photo scanned but not the card, which I must do and will reload the picture then. The photo was certainly sent to her children, I have my Grandfather's copy George Butcher (1908-1974) and I know of at least one cousin who has his father's copy. Do you have a copy in your photo collection? If so please get in touch.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Christmas Tree Ornaments

The collection of tree ornaments we have are ones that we bought from our first Christmas together. There are others that were given to us by my Mum and each year Stuart and I buy at least one ornament to keep the tradition going. We tend to go for the reds and golds but there are some others that have special meanings to us, such as a Spode china Millenium bauble which always has pride of place, and a gold bell which has a picture of a Border Terrier on the side,which we bought the first Christmas we lost our lovely Monty in 2008.

We also have a lovely set of the Lilliput Lane tree decorations as Stuart collections the lovely houses, and especially the snowy and wintery ones.

The decorations that we had as when I was a child are still with my Mum. The original fairy which I mentioned earlier this week is still in the family. I think Mum has it and she thinks I have it, and we won't know until we both put our trees up and find it! - Photos though as soon as I do. As a child we used to have chocolate ornaments on the tree which I was never allowed to have until Christmas Eve, and even then, only one. Now I don't have them as we have our current Border Terrier, Alfie just incase he is tempted by the chocolate.

Advent Calendar 2010 - Holiday Foods

My Grandmother always used to buy hamper coupons from the Unigate milkman, I don't know if she received any special discount as my Grandfather had worked for them up until he retired, but she always had the coupons and then exchanged them a week or so before Christmas for a hamper. There was always lovely boxes of chocolates, biscuits, tins of ham and deserts and a shop made Christmas pudding. I am sure that there may have been a bottle of Sherry in the hamper, even though my Grandmother was not able to drink alcohol. There was also some lemonade and dilutable juices - like Robinsons, and some fruit.

Even though we had the hamper there was also other bits bought or made. The Christmas cake, and Christmas Puddings were both home made, a delicious joint of gammon that was cooked on the stove on Christmas Eve to be consumed for Christmas Day teatime, a tin of Victoria biscuits made by McVitie's

We always had Turkey for Christmas Day along with the trimmings. On Boxing Day the usual lunch meal was bubble and Squeak with either the Turkey cold or made into Rissoles. I still have the mincer that my Grandmother used and I still do some of things that we did when I was a child, and those special moments live on for another generation.

Mum makes the most lovely rum truffles, with the proper stuff, not the cheap essence.

Every year, this rather tatty extract from a Woman's Realm Mag appears. I had chance to have a proper glance at it. The receipe is from The Archer's Country Cookbook by Martha Woodford published in 1977.

I can certainly vouch for the truffles!

4oz dark cooking chocolate
4oz icing sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons ground almonds
2 tablespoons double cream
2 tablespoons rum
chocolate vermicelli

Melt the chocolate over a basin of hot water. Beat in the icing sugar,egg yolk,almonds,cream and rum and pound altogether until mixture is smooth, and form into little balls. Roll each truffle in a little vermicelli and coat it.

Advent Calendar 2010 - The Christmas Tree

As a child we always had an artificial Christmas tree I think, usually a traditional styled green one with pretty coloured fairy lights and the fairy that my Grandparents used to put on their tree.

When I married we purchased a lovely and different artifical white tree which we got from the department store here in the UK called Alders, they have since gone under, but the tree lives on, albeit, in the loft.

Our current tree is also artificial, a beautiful green one, with a hit of snow and built in lights, nice and tall, well taller than me! - Its about six foot. My hubby is the usual tree decorator in this house, I find it a bit of a performance; I am not known for lots of patience! I would really love a real tree, but we don't mainly because of mess and because they are not terribly pet friendly!

BUT, outside, on the edge of our path leading to the house we have a medium size planter situated on the end pillar. There did use to be a leaping salmon until it disappeared, despite us not living in a dubious area, anyway after spending over a year looking for a replacement fish, and failing we decided on the planter. That spent a few months empty then last Christmas we saw in the local garden centre a miniture Blue Spruz and thought why not? It sat in the planter, undecorated last year as we were not able to find suitable lights for it, but this year, well wait and see (photo as soon as the lights on and the indoor tree is up).

Uploaded 21st Dec photo of the indoor tree, once again decorated by hubby!

Start of the Advent Calendar of Christmas

Starting tomorrow I shall be keeping an online Advent Calendar of Christmas as "advertised" on Geneabloggers - here are the prompts:

December 1 - The Christmas Tree

December 2 - Holiday Foods

December 3 - Christmas Tree Ornaments

December 4 - Christmas Cards

December 5 - Outdoor Decorations

December 6 - Santa Claus

December 7 - Holiday Parties

December 8 - Christmas Cookies

December 9 - Grab Bag

December 10 - Christmas Gifts

December 11 - Other Traditions

December 12 - Charitable/Volunteer Work

December 13 - Holiday Travel

December 14 - Fruitcake – Friend or Foe?

December 15 - The Holiday Happenings!

December 16 - Christmas at School

December 17 - Grab Bag

December 18 - Christmas Stockings

December 19 - Christmas Shopping

December 20 - Religious Services

December 21 - Christmas Music

December 22 - Christmas and Deceased Relatives

December 23 - Christmas Sweetheart Memories

December 24 - Christmas Eve

Swans on the Wey

I periodically do a Google search with the words Swans on the Wey to see what it displays. Usually I get a whole pile of entrys which reflect each of the words individually, even with the phrase in quotes, but today, I stuck almost lucky.

I stumbled across a lovely painting at a Blog called Don's Adventures
and I simply has to post a comment on that Blog.

The painting,of two graceful swans on the River Wey in Surrey England reminds me of a painting that I saw in an art gallary in the shopping centre in Sutton (Surrey). My Grandmother died in April 1995 and it was just after this that I saw the painting. I was enthralled with it. I had the feeling in the pit of my stomach that I "wanted that painting". The shop was closing so I was unable to go in. Thinking that I was "safe" I left it to the next day.

I went back the next day to find the painting had left the window, I hoped it has been moved, but alas sold and taken by the new owners. I felt almost distraught for a paining that I could never own. I wish I knew who the artist was, but alas all I can remember was the title Swans on the Wey, which was perfect as I have lots of memories of my beloved Grandmother feeding the Swans on the River Wey which was at the end of her garden.

Thanks go to Don for sharing such a lovely picture and bringing to life some lovely and treasured memories.

Who was Rani Maharaj Singh?

As I said in an earlier post I managed to photograph some images that were originally camcordered back in 1993. This is two of those images.

These photo shows my later Father in Law, Derek Goucher's first cousin Florence Ramage nee Worship along with someone called Rani Maharaj Singh. I had known from stories told to me that Florence and her husband John had spent some time in India, and there are photos to confirm that. They clearly moved in the Indian Society circles of the times - which would have been the early to mid 1950s, so just after Independence from the "British Empire"

So who was Rani Maharaj Singh? The photographs were taken to commemorate the YMCA Carnival in 1953





Rani Maharaj Singh was the wife of the first Indian Governor of Bombay (1948 - 1952), the Honorable Raja Maharaj Singh. In 1949 She led Bombay's City Council for child welfare with funds that had been pledged by UNESCO.

In 1952 Rani Maharaj Singh is mentioned in the Day books of Eleanor Roosevelt. With the entry for 11th March 1952 reading ".....We returned on time for a luncheon given by the Governor and Her Excellency, Rani Maharaj Singh. It has been a great joy to have Mrs. Pandit here, for she is the most thoughtful hostess imaginable........."

So it would appear that Rani Maharah Singh held quite a place in the history of India and it really is quite interesting how she came to meet Florence Ramage, perhaps at a fund raising event.

Goucher Video / DVD

Back in 1993 we had the opportunity to video a selection of material that my father in law had of his family.

We recorded the material initially on a camcorder tape then transfered it to Video and more recently to DVD. I have now managed to photograph the photographic images using my iPhone. Now the images are OK, not brilliant, but OK and at least I can work with them. It was a nice couple of hours having a look at the material. There was information that I had forgotten we had. Which just shows it is good to go back to basics once in a while.

Recipe - Wheat Wine

Recipe written by my Great Grandmother- Annie Prudience Butcher nee Harris. Written circa 1965

Recipe - Wheat Wine
Originally uploaded by AnglersRest

A glimpse from the Antiques Roadshow

I was catching up with my viewing of the BBC Antiques Roadshow from last week (14th November 2010) when a rather interesting item came upon the screen.

The item was described as a ham stand, and of slickware and contained a genealogical mystery. The photo is not terribly good, although I am rather impressed with the result from a iPhone via a pause replay of a TV program!

The details on the stand are as follows:

M representing the surname and both the bride and groom had the initial of J for their respective forenames. The fish symbol implies that the groom was either associated with the fishing industry or a keen fisherman. The name of Clapham refers to the location of the wedding and the date if September 3rd, 1787.

So who were J & J M and where is the Clapham refered to on the plate?

It does stand to reason that anyone who could afford a plate that would house a ham that size would come from a household of some income and thus could be an angler, rather than a fisherman living on a tiny income, but at this stage in the research I must not jump to any concluions.

Oh, the estimate given to this rather fascinating antique was between £2,500 and £3,500.

A Genealogical Wonder ......

Last week I heard once again from a contact in Canada with whom I share a distant connection, through the KING & EASTWICK lines of my family.

The KING daughters, there were seven of them are alike to the daughters of Mr & Mr Bennett in Jane Austin novel. All the daughters and their brother had a connection to India & the East India Company. More on that side of the family later.

The contact wrote that she had a picture of a painting that depicted three of the sisters. The painting was painted by the artist Thompson and was painted in 1795. The painting is mentioned in two books that connect to the family, An Honourable Company by Margaret Bellaisis and A Master Mariner by Captain R. W. Eastwick and has a lovely romantic story attached to it.

Thompson took a fancy to the younger of the sisters in the painting - Lucy King and proposed marriage. When Lucy declined he refused the finish the painting and retained it. Twenty five years later Lucy who by then was known as Mrs Eastwick was walking through London and noticed Thompson, she asked her son to go after him and when he saw who it was asked Lucy and her son to accompany him back to his home where he revealed the painting which had he said been completed from memory. Thompson then gave the painting to Lucy. The painting is in the hands of the family, sadly not this part of the family!

But isn't the painting a beauty?

Lucy Eastwick nee King is the lady on the far right of the painting. As I said the painting was done in 1795, and for me to now see a copy of it is simply wonderful. Thanks to my contact PP for sharing this with me.

A quick catch up....

For just over the last two weeks I have had a dreadful cold, which has developed into a chest infection and I have felt rubbish for days. I didn't therefore do much I what I planned to do during my recent annual leave, which is very frustrating. That said I have caught up on some reading, watch this space for a review of another three James Paterson books. I have also caught up on some rest.

Last Friday there was a burst water main near us, and we were without water for about 3 hours. As we have been poorly we have had heating on a bit and the pressure on our heating boiler dropped and then ceased working. The boiler refused to work until the pressure in the system was increased and that could not be increased because of the burst water main and then the subsequent reroute of the water supply. I phoned the water company - South West Water and was told I could apply for compensation and I would receive a call within 2 days.

On Monday a chap phoned me. He was deeply sorry but we were not inconvienced enough to qualify for the compensation of, drum roll please, are your ready? £20. Yes that is right the most expensive water company in the UK can not give us compensation of £20. When I asked why the chap was simply not prepared to do the right thing, he simply said "What is the right thing" my response was if he had to ask a customer then perhaps he should reflect on his manager role.....well I assume that he was a manager he did not introduce himself at the start of the conversation nor did he state his role at the water company. For all I know he was the guy digging the hole at the burst main last Friday. Anyway, it is not about the money, I've been known to spend more than £20 on books, for me it was about the principle of the whole event.

As I was already in a grumpy mood, I then made a telephone call to the warrenty company with whom we have a package with for our car. At the end of October we took the car for an MOT and service and a few bits needed to be done, of course! - so we had a bit of a debate with the warrenty company on the deliberate vagueness of the coverage of the package we have. We agreed on a price and I sent off the paperwork as requested on 27th Oct with a note requesting "prompt re-embursement would be appreciated", so there I was realising that 3 weeks on I still had not had the cheque. I telephoned them and was advised that it takes 4 weeks to raise a cheque, when I challenged and said that we had received the warrenty book back after 10 days and that I didn't understand why a cheque could simply have not been included, I was given the complex answer of "it couldn't" I give up, in sad comprehension that for these appauling bouts of poor service I have actually paid for them.

On Monday afternoon I came across at the back of the filing cabinet in my study a pile of floppy discs, when I say pile there was about 300 of them that represent the period of 1999 - 2002 online. Copies of letters, research notes, emails and various work and professional work documents, plus all the material from my degree course. My laptop doesn't have a floppy drive and neither does hubbys. Our desktop does and might be replaced over the next few months, so I sat on Tuesday afternoon with 300 floppy disc, a cup of tea and a pile of tissues and dropped and dragged all the data from all the discs into a folder on our external hard drive. A very boring job and I probably won't even look at the data that was on those discs, but I can if I want to. I did come across a few bits of real interest, that I thought I had lost so perhaps it wasn't time wasted afterall?

A pension surprise

Over the last year or so I have looked at the Financial Times online, mainly with a view to us doing some preparation for the future. This morning I spotted an article "Pensions: a long and a happy one - but not for trustees"

This article can be found at:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6353fcca-eace-11df-b28d-00144feab49a,_i_email=y.html

The article mentioned the company that I work for, but what was especially interesting was that a barrister had ploughed through old cases to provide examples to illustrate the risk of pension scheme members living longer than expected.

The fascinating example provided was of a widow from the US called Alberta Martin who died in 2004 who had been in receipt of a war pension from her late husband who had fought in the American Civil War of 1861-1865.

Graves, Tombs & Memorials by Trevor Yorke

Graves, Tombs & Memorials by Trevor Yorke and published by Countryside Books, 2010, £5.99. ISBN - 978 1 84674 202 6

Published as part of the Britain’s Living History Series, this slim volume, for the book contains just 64 pages, yet contains a wealth of information. Written in a clear easy to read format with photographic illustrations and broken down into chapters complete with a concluding index.

This book encourages us to delve beyond the name and dates on the headstone, and to look further at the style of the Memorial, the graphics upon it and the even the types of stone used to make it. Readers are encouraged to get out and about and explore their local churchyard using the knowledge within the book to gain further information about those commemorated upon the stones.

The book further explores the how the churchyard and cemetery evolved within our Society, the styles of stones over the ages and how burial practices have changed with a the later section of the book dedicated to understanding the various carvings and what they mean, giving further information of the person they are dedicated to.

This book is a welcome addition to any genealogist and family historian bookshelf and really does encourage us to get out their and explore.

Book Review for Federation of Family History Societies book club November 2010.

4th of July by James Patterson

An arrest goes horribly wrong and Lindsay is being sued for not only killing a suspect who shot her but seriously hurting another suspect. While Lindsay is suspended awaiting her trial she stumbles into the crime scene of another police force and can not help herself and soon enlists the help of the Women's Murder Club, which is now reduced in numbers following the murder of one of the members in the last book.......

3rd Degree by James Patterson

Out for a morning jog Lindsay rescues a child from a burning building. The house contains 3 dead bodies, a missing baby and a missing au pair. A mystery message left at the scene of the fire leads Lindsay and the Women's Murder club members hot on the trail of a killer or two.

2nd Chance by James Patterson

The second book in the addictive series of the Women's Murder Club, Lindsay and her friends are hot on the trail of the latest killer. What looks to be a random shooting is actually a vendetta against the police, again with twist at the end of the book.

BBC - A life without work

** A life without work **

A century after a ground-breaking investigation into unemployment, the remarkable journey of one British family has been traced.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/magazine-11584487 >

This was a fascinating account of the population and work study by Rowntree in York in 1910.

Ist to Die by James Patterson

I have had the start of this series on my pile of books to read for about 3 years. I have just started to read the series and I am already hooked.

This is starting to follow the life and detections of Lindsay Boxer, a police detective based in the US, who together with the help of a journalist,a district attorney, and a coroner they form the "Women's Murder Club"

With twists and turns Lindsay gets those responsible for the murders of a series of newlywed couples or does she?

BBC News - National census in 2011 could be last of its kind

BBC News - National census in 2011 could be last of its kind

From the BBC website:

The national census due to take place in 2011 could be the last of its kind.

The BBC understands that the government is examining other ways of measuring population and other statistics than the survey of all homes every 10 years.

In future, data could be gathered from records held by the Post Office, local government and credit checking agencies - thought to be more effective.

The government said it was "examining" whether changes could be made but no decision had been reached.

A census has been carried out every decade since 1801, apart from during World War II.

Next year's census, sent to every household, will cost an estimated £482m. It asks for detailed information including nationality, religious faith and marital status.

There will be separate censuses across the UK on the same day, 27 March 2011, organised by the Office for National Statistics in England and Wales, the General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

'Accurate data'

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude believes the process is inefficient and its results quickly become out of date.

He told the Daily Telegraph: "There are, I believe, ways of doing this which will provide better, quicker information, more frequently and cheaper."

Mr Maude said population counts could be done more often using various databases.

"This would give you more accurate, much more timely data in real time. There is a load of data out there in loads of different places," he said.

The BBC's Adam Fleming at Westminster says that, although work on the 2011 census is too far advanced to make major changes, it is hoped savings can still be made.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "Work began some time ago to explore alternatives to the conventional census model after 2011, and that work is continuing.

"We are committed to making a success of the 2011 Census, while endeavouring to cut its costs, currently expected to be around £460 million.

"The expenditure already committed to the census means that the scope to make changes is limited."

Mmm, food for thought. Data becomes out of date.....yes, it does but so does an MOT which are not worth the paper they are written on, but we still have to have them!

Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky

This, my first Delinsky book was devoured in three days! For me it was a page turner and thought provoking.

Dana & Hugh who are both white, are looking forward to the birth of their first child. When the baby arrives the complete family are surprised as the baby who is to be called Lizzie is black. This starts a whole host of emotions and questions. The questions are how could this have happened? Had Dana been unfaithful? What was Dana's background?, as she had never known her father. Hugh struggles to cope between the obvious love for his wife, the questions and his family who would rather believe that Dana was unfaithful than this as a twist of genetics.

Of course, there are the twists and turns to this storyline, some of which are predictable, but nonetheless, this is an enjoyable read.

Wee Beastie!

Cook Haggis and break into bits with a fork.

Serve on a bed of mashed potato and mashed suede (neep)

cover with cheese sauce and a light dusting of black pepper to taste.