Are you celebrating Burns Night?

Submitted as a guest post to Geneabloggers.

Across the world, thousands of people with Scottish Heritage celebrate the birth of the Scottish Poet Robbie Burns on 25 January. Traditionally there is a Burns Supper of Haggis, Neep and Tatties to celebrate the event.

The formal supper starts with a welcome and announcements then the Selkirk Grace.

Selkirk is one of the oldest towns in the Borders of Scotland. The Grace itself is a prayer and said before a meal. Here is the prayer in both Scottish and English translation:

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it,

But we hae meat and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Some have food and cannot eat,

And some would eat that lack it,

But we have food and we can eat,

So let God be thanked.

After the Grace everyone stands as the Haggis is carried into the room to the sound of bagpipes. The Haggis is laid at the hosts table and then there is the cutting of the Haggis and the famous poem "Address to a Haggis" is read.

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o' need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dicht,
An' cut you up wi' ready slicht,
Trenching your gushing entrails bricht,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sicht,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmaist! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve,
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
"Bethankit" hums.

Is there that o're his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi' perfect scunner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him ower his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his wallie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whistle;
An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thristle.

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinkin ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!

At the end of the poem there is a whisky toast to the Haggis. Then the meal is consumed.

The meal itself is Haggis served with mashed potato known as tatties and mashed neep which are turnip if you are in Scotland or Suede if you are south of the border!

When the meal reaches the coffee stage there is a toast to the Monarch . After the meal an "Immortal Memory" takes place. This is usually a speech on the life and poetry works of Robert Burns and the evening concludes with the singing of Auld Lang Syne.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne* ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp !
and surely I’ll be mine !
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae run about the braes,
and pu’d the gowans fine ;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae paidl’d i' the burn,
frae morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
and gie's a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

Haggis is available in most supermarkets in the UK as either fresh or in some cases in tinned form In the US it is available, certainly a few examples of companies that have a US outlets or ship to the US are http://www.scottishhaggis.com/index.aspx or http://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/ or http://www.britishdelights.com/

I have no financial gain from the companies mentioned.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Wk 4 - Home

Week #4 – Home
Week 4: Describe the house in which you grew up. Was it big or small? What made it unique? Is it still there today?. This challenge runs from Saturday, January 22, 2011 through Friday, January 28, 2011.

My Grandparents rented a house in fairly central Guildford in 1940. The road was called Walnut Tree Close as at one time it had really been a close. My Grandmother was well acquainted with the road, as she was born in the same road just further down at 114, and the house my Grandparents were renting was number 17. My Grandparents rented from a private landlord who I am afraid to say was very keen to receive their rent, but was not willing to protect their investment. As I said their tenancy started in 1940 and when my Grandfather passed away in 1974 it transferred to my Grandmother. When she became unwell and went into nursing care it transferred to my Mother, who finally left the property in 1996. That is an association of some 56 years. During that time the property saw three generations of our family live there, and I have a real fondness for the house. At some point my Grandfather had been given the chance to but the property for the sum of £3,000. He declined as he didn't, like many of his generation believe in loans and mortgages. Ironically we were in Guildford a year or so ago and saw the same property for sale. I could not resist looking in the agents window and seeing the property on the market for £325,000. I wonder what my Grandfather would make of that now?

The house is Victorian, built along the banks of the River Wey, which flows eventually to meet The Thames in London. The house was built on the site that had originally housed barns for the horses that carried goods up and down the river. On the opposite side of the road was another row of houses and beyond them the railway line. I am guessing that it was the railway coming to Guildford that made the horses redundant and the barns were knocked down to make way for housing.

The houses themselves were fairly small and simple. Literally, two up and two down, with each room being 12 foot square. To the left of the front door was the Kitchen / Dining Room and to the right of the front door the Lounge. Upstairs was two bedrooms. Originally there was no bathroom and a tin bath hung in the shed. Just off from the shed was the toilet. Sounds primitive doesn't it and yet it was home.

There was an amount of industrial usage for Walnut Tree Close, which at some point had been opened up as a link road to the A3 the main road to London. There is still a fair amount of industrial usage and some of the houses were demolished in the early 1990s and a couple of tasteful sets of apartments and flats were built and some new houses.

Graveyard Rabbits

I am very proud to have been approached to be the seventy fourth in a series, which features members of the Graveyard Rabbit Association.

As a child I had routinely visited my Great Aunts, the sisters of my Grandfather. I would sit and play all the while listening to the conversations as they talked and reminisced about times past. It was those early conversations that sparked my love of genealogy and history.

I was in my early twenties and still visited my Aunts on a regular basis. By this time they were elderly and presumably looked forward to visits from younger members of the family. I started asking questions of my Aunts and jotting down the answers and suddenly realized that I wanted to plug the gaps in their knowledge and learn more about the family that I was part of.

My maternal family is from Surrey England. Indeed it is the County where I was born. As I started to research it was evident that for about 300 years my maternal family had moved no more than a 40 mile radius across the Counties of Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire. It was only after both my Grandparents had deceased that I established that they themselves were 6th cousins. I wonder what they would have made of that?

The day I spotted my Great Grandmother on the England Census for 1881 was truly amazing. This was the Great Grandmother that I had visited and sat with aged about 3 years old. Quite remarkable and I knew then, I simply had to know and read all I could about the ancestors and family members that I had helped me to be come the person that I am today.

I like cemeteries and memorials, they are the link from the present to the past and deserve to be treasured in whatever form that takes. I am always saddened when I see a grave, neglected because time has passed and now there is no one to care for the grave and as time passes it will become unreadable and perhaps unloved.

This is the case for one set of my Maternal Great Grandparents.They are buried in a Cemetery in Guildford Surrey. My Great Grandfather buried in 1931 and my Great Grandmother in 1937. About ten years ago I was emailed by a fellow genealogist, we share several surnames the same, but can not find any connection. Anyway, had I seen the notice about The Mount Cemetery? I replied that I had not and in due course a photo of the sign was emailed across to me. On my next visit to Surrey a few weeks later I went to the Cemetery, located the plot and photographed the grave. The plot had been purchased by my Great Grandmother on a lease for 75 years. That had been what the notice was about. I pondered and upon my return home I contacted the cemetery office and laid claim to the grave and asked that the grave now be placed in my ownership. In doing so, the plot can not be disturbed without my consent and I am responsible for any repairs necessary.

On the same visit, I attend the grave of my other set of Maternal Great Grandparents. The grave was purchased in 1943 when my Great Grandfather was interned and then in 1971 by Great Grandmother passed away. At the time, one of my Great Aunts visited the grave weekly and created a little garden on the plot. There was no headstone. Since then my Great Aunt has passed away and although there are family members who care, and remember my Great Grandparents they are removed from thinking about the grave. I wandered around the cemetery looking for the plot, tricky with no headstone, just by vague remembering. Eventually I phoned my Mum who likewise could not really recall the plot anymore than I could, but asked had the little block of wood with a number on, made by my cousin been removed. I remembered the little block with the number on it. But could I see it, yes, but the grave didn't look the same. I enlisted the help of the Cemeteries department who confirmed with me the grave number and directed me to the plot. The plot was not where the block of wood was. It was the row in front. I had a horrid sinking feeling had we been visiting the wrong grave all these years? When I got home I had a chat with my Mum and we established that while my Great Grandmother and Aunt had been alive we had been visiting the correct plot. However, once my Aunt had been too infirm to visit it was the task of the next generation to visit and tender the grave. Mum recalls being directed to the plot by another of her cousins a lovely man, who had the family tendency to be slightly vague and I suspect that this was the root of the problem. So with some amusement and sadness the wrong grave has been tended for more the 30 years. Ironic that the very grave in front should not have a headstone either. The question for me is what is worse to be loved and remembered with no headstone so that errors like that one happen or to have a headstone that no one visits?

Over the last 20 years I have taken lots of photos of churches, memorials and graves, simply because it was a lovely church, or a family grave or maybe just because the surname was one of my family surnames and perhaps might fit into the genealogical puzzle. By taking the photos it is recorded in time, as it deserves to be. I spotted a link to Graveyard Rabbits on someone's blog and was intrigued. Over the festive period I had chance to have a further read of the website and thought it was a fantastic way of utilizing the digital photos that I had currently on Flickr. So I decided to enlist the help of my husband. I showed him the website and asked him to help me think of a nice suitable name. He did and Grave Encounters was created. The plan is now to go through the piles of developed photos and upload them to the blog site, a rather large task for 2011.

What better way than to spend a lovely sunny day, not too much sun or it will affect the photos! and wander around your local cemetery. Take photographs and upload them to an online blog and become a Graveyard Rabbit. I recommend it! I have not had any formal photographic training, I have a camera that is nice - the point and shoot variety, but I have been known to use my iphone for taking photos if I have seen something that I want to record. Work at your own pace and record for future genealogists what maybe lost over time. Why not stop by Grave Encounters and see how we are progressing.

Tuesday's Tip - Twitter

I love Twitter. When I first joined back in March 2010 I could not really see the point of it and I didn't use the account until just before Christmas when the first of the bad weather here in the UK set in. Since then I have explored Twitter further and now follow other users and indeed some even follow me!

I have an iPhone, another great invention and like many others I read Twitter using an application on my phone. Some of the tweets I read, I want to explore further using my computer and this is my Tuesday Tip, I mark them as favourites on Twitter, so I can easily find them again and explore to my hearts content! As soon as I have finished exploring or perhaps written a blog post I remove the favourite mark. It is not especially a genealogical or technological breakthrough but a useful tip that works for me and perhaps it might work for you?

Sunday Obituary - Greyfriars Bobby

Not quite an obituary for the Geneabloggers Sunday's Obituary theme, but I thought I would share something that I spotted while catching up on my newspaper reading.

This is a newspaper article from the Western Morning News which is the regional newspaper for Devon & Cornwall England for Saturday 15 January 2011.

The caption which hasn't really come out that well in the photo reads:

"To celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the One O' Clock Gun which fires daily from Edinburgh Castle. Here Brian McKenzie and dog Blue lay a wreath in Edinburgh at the grave of Greyfriars Bobby, the dog which walked the streets of Edinburgh in the 1850s."

One Month before Heartbreak - a personal note

One Month Before Heartbreak

A Broken of Britain

Blogswarm

14^th – 16^th January 2011

I am not personally affected by the proposed and likely to take place changes that the current Government are looking to adopt. The point of this post and like many others is to express absolute disbelief that we live in a Society where we are prepared to give thousands to other Countries in the world despite being in a recession and yet not provide safety and financial security for those entitled to claim it and those who need it. It truly begs belief. Please understand, I am not against helping other nations, it is quite right that we as a nation help others in a worse situation than ours, but not at the cost of ourselves.

My interest in this is that in 1952 my mother contracted Polio. From the age of 5 until she was 17 she attended hospital for various tests and check ups to establish how her muscles were affected by this disease. When my mother left school she established her working life and eventually had me and raised me.

When she was about in her early 50s Mum was plagued by periods of exhaustion and pain to name a few. Her GP signed her off work and after much form filling Mum eventually saw a Doctor who confirmed that Mum was entitled to claim incapacity benefit. After a period of time this was reviewed and Mum was advised that she was fit to work, although clearly she was not. I launched an appeal to the panel, which consisted of a lay person, a representative from the Benefit Agency and a Doctor. The Doctor at the panel agreed with my argument and stated that Post Polio Syndrome which my Mum has will get worse and not better and the Incapacity Benefit was reinstated.

Mum turned 60 and was advised that she should now claim Disability Living Allowance due to her increasing mobility issues. The Post Polio Syndrome is of course, as predicted getting worse. The form which no doubt many of you have seen is nearly 50 pages long and comprises of a set of questions, many repeated so that you might make yourself illegible for the benefit. Having completed the form two or three times and each time being refused. I consulted a local "volunteer expert" who assisted Mum and I with the form. The deadline was before Christmas and the form has been acknowledged and finally a report from the "medical expert" has been requested. By medical expert they have asked the physiotherapist for their views. No request has been made to the GP or to an expert in the field of Post Polio Syndrome. I did include some details about Post Polio along with the form.

My concern is this. The decision to allow or disallow is made on the basis that an expert has been asked. It of course does need to be the right expert in order for the decision made to be a robust and the right one. At the end of the day everyone seeking to claim or retain their allowance is an individual, each with an individual set of issues and concerns. Is it right that someone at 63, who was looking forward to retirement has a poor quality of life? Is any of the conditions that are being experienced right? Of course they are not, and as a society we have the power to give a little bit of help in order that it makes the life of that individual easier. We should not be making lives harder, so that exhaustion of living day to day is placed on top of the exhaustion felt by the conditions itself.

I have read somewhere that the Government believes that the amounts paid out in DLA is unsustainable. This benefit is in fact one of the hardest to claim. Given that it is so hard to actually be awarded the benefit, does the Government really believe that by removing the benefit will miraculously cure all those who currently claim and those who should be claiming but are not strong enough to plough through the red tape? If they do then the Government is not only deluded but seriously mistaken.

In 1942 the British Government asked Sir William Beveridge to write a report on the best ways to help people on low incomes. In December of the same year the Beveridge report was published and proposed that all people of working age should pay a weekly contribution. In return, benefits would be paid to people who were sick, unemployed, retired or widowed. Beveridge argued that this system would provide a minimum standard of living "below which no one should be allowed to fall". When the Labour Party were elected in 1945 this policy was adopted. Somewhere since 1942 we have gone wrong. The current proposal confirms just that.

I don't know what the answer is. What I do know, is that we need to find away to protect those who for whatever reason are not able to fight this battle alone.

Disclaimer. The post above is written based upon known family history and my personal opinion. It is not written as a political post. I am happy for this post to be freely shared, however, please acknowledged me as the author.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Wk 3 - Cars

Week #3 – Cars
Week 3: What was your first car? What was the make, model, colour, but also any memories you have of the vehicle.This challenge runs from Saturday, January 15, 2011 through Friday, January 21, 2011.

The first car we owned together was a rather aged Maestro. We bought it for the small sum of £250 just after we moved here just to get us from A to B, which it did. There is a hill not far from here called Telegraph Hill and we always used to de-accelerate whilst travelling up the hill.

The next car we had was Stuart's choice, a Cavalier that I hated. We replaced that with a Peugeot Estate and that was followed by a Peugeot 406 which we loved. We then made the move to BMW where we still are, three cars later. They are sturdy cars and the car we had before our current one most certainly saved Stuart's life when he hit a patch of black ice in the January

of 2009. The car had £10,000 worth of damage, and as we looked at it on the ramps at the body shop of BMW we could see that every suspension part had snapped, like twigs. We were missing part of an alloy wheel and a chunck from the door handle. Stuart walked away thankfully with a few bruises. We have remained with a BMW because they are sturdy and we always go for the estate because we have a dog, a rather larger than life Border Terrier called Alfie.

Ancestor of the week - Henry Budd

My Ancestor this week has always been a bit of a challenge. Just when I think I have "got" him something happens that changes any hypothesis that I might have.

I started researching my ancestry the way most of us do, researching from what is known to the unknown. My Great Great Great Grandmother was a lady called Prudience Budd and it was this fact that got me on the trail to Henry and my obsession with the rural village in Surrey the family lived in called Puttenham.

As I trawled through the Parish Records and archives I became aware of one of the Curates of the parish called Charles Kerry. Kerry kept during his time in Puttenham a series of manuscripts written at the time and it was this manuscripts that brought the Budd family to life.

This pedigree, which appears in Volume 8 of the Kerry Manuscripts confirms all the details that I had already established from the Parish Records and very faintly, just above the name of Henry it reads "First of the Budds". I can still remember, 20 years on, the fascination that I felt when I stumbled across this pedigree, also the "what do you mean?" response that I echoed to the papers in a room full of archives and fellow researchers, much to everyone's amusement!.

I went back to the parish records and retraced my steps. All the children of Henry and his wife Martha were baptised in Puttenham. Another look in the Marriage records did not reveal a marriage for Henry to Martha. I spent more than 10 years looking for their marriage, searching each parish methodically from Puttenham and then each village and parish within a 10 mile radius. Success happened with the Church of the Later Day Saints released the Vital Records on CD.

Bingo! I had located the marriage of Henry Budd to Martha Ottaway in 1723 in the parish of Chertsey. I should say that given the proximity of Puttenham to both the border with Sussex and Hampshire I checked the strays indexes held in those two Counties by the Family History Societies in addition to the one held in Surrey and there was no other marriage for a Henry to a Martha in the right time frame. What I did know was that Henry had certainly been in the neighbourhood as in 1720 he was witness to a marriage in the parish of Elstead, about a mile or so from Puttenham.

Next I set about trying to unravel the details of Henry's birth. I headed to the IGI first of all to see if that could give me a clue. The index revealed a Henry born in 1699 in Binstead Hampshire. Not all that far from Puttenham, certainly walking distance by 18th Century standards. I wasn't convinced I had the right man. I shelved the Henry Budd mystery for a while.

Then I was following a discussion on the Surrey Rootsweb list when someone suggested that perhaps my Henry came from Shackleford, a rural parish some 2 miles from Puttenham as there was a mention of a Henry Budd being a tenant of a house called Cobblers. Alas no parish records for Peperharrow, which would be the most likely parish for any births to be recorded in, have survived. I am now still looking in the neighbouring parishes for the birth of Henry.

What is a coincidence is that I had a Great Aunt and Uncle who lived in Shackleford for many years, the distance by road is about 2 miles and across the fields to Puttenham the distance is shorter and unachievable now or certainly in the 18th Century. My gut feeling tells me that this is the Henry I am seeking, I just need to have some proof and undertake some additional research on this elusive ancestor of mine.

Family Recipe Friday - Wheat Wine

Recipe written by my Great Grandmother- Annie Prudience Butcher nee Harris to my Grandparents George and Lilian. Written circa 1965.

Rec

My Great Grandmother by this time was living with various family members, her husband Charles had passed away in 1943.The address of Vine Cottages is believed to have been the address of My Grandfather's sister Margery and her husband Ernest, who was actually my Grandmother's brother. I have not tried the recipe, but might have a little experiment! I asked my Mum if she recalled what it tasted like, to which the response was lethal!

The photo (right) is of my Great Grandmother walking rather briskly along Bridge Street in Guildford circa 1955.

Copied from an earlier post and submitted to the Geneabloggers blog prompts.

Wisdom Wednesday - Afterglow

As readers of my Blog and Facebook page will know, I recently experienced the loss of my Aunt. Her funeral was yesterday, Tuesday 11th January 2011. The last reading from the service was the following and it is this I submit for "Wisdom Wednesday"

AFTERGLOW

I'd like the memory of me

To be a happy one.

I'd like to leave an afterglow

Of smiles when life is done.

I'd like to leave an echo#

Whispering softly down the ways

Of happy times and laughing times

And bright and sunny days.

I'd like the tears of those who grieve

To dry before the sun

Of happy memories that I leave

When life is done.

Anon

Dorothy Lilian May nee Butcher 1915 - 2010

Dear Aunt,

The final link with the generation of either our parents or grandparents has passed away and along with the sadness there is joy. Joy of how lucky we were to have experienced the love and friendship from you. All of us, friends and family will have memories of you, for many of us there will be far too many to mention. I will share with you all one of mine.

I was about three years old and with my Grandfather. We had selected a bunch of flowers, all pretty colours, pinks and yellows. Later we were walking to your house, up Bright Hill which to a three year old that hill seemed like a mountain. At the door I was presented with the flowers and told that I was to given them to you. The door opened and I thrust the flowers at you, in true 3 year old style! That was the first bunch of Freesia's I gave to you and for the next 38 years I never visited you unless I had the customary bunch of Freesia's, because to arrive empty handed was not the "correct way" and you loved the flowers.

Yesterday we arrived into Surrey and I headed off to the florist, to collect the very final bunch of Freesia's. Having collected them I went to the Chapel of Rest where I laid that final bunch with you. As I stood with you yesterday I was overcome with such emotion, not just the sadness that you were gone, but many of those memories came flooding into my mind, the afternoons we spent together, the walks we took if the weather was nice, even down to you telling me to write clearer and sending my letter's back, so I could do just that. I was incredibly lucky to have experienced all those moments and memories with you, my Great Aunt.

I will truly miss you, and although you are gone, I know you still walk with me.

Love, as always

Julie xx

Sunday Obituary - Dorothy Lilian May nee Butcher 1915 - 2011

It somehow seems appropriate that I participate in this week's Sunday Obituary for Geneabloggers with the obituary of my Great Aunt.

From the Surrey Advertiser (Guildford Surrey Edition) 7th January 2011. This is the Announcement placed in the paper by my Cousin and her family.

"MAY, Dorothy formerly of Longore, Farncombe sadly passed away on 29th December 2010. Will be sadly missed by June, Ian, Kim, Lea, Dean, Nicky and family. Funeral service at Guildford Crematorium on 11th January at 11.00am."

To read more about My Great Aunt see an earlier posting & a further posting.

Blogger in Draft - Mobile Monday & Tech Tuesday

I read somewhere, perhaps someone's blog or the official Blog that it is possible to have access to a mobile version of your blog, when hosted by Blogger.

Visit http://draft.blogger.com/home and log in as usual. There,under settings and then Email & Mobile you can turn on the facility for your blog to be viewed in a different format via smart phone.

I have an iPhone and turned on the facility and it does in deed look different to that you view via a laptop or PC. From your smart phone it is still possible to access the web version, but why would you want to?.....

Bowring Family at Torquay

Through various bits of research I established the Bellasis family connected to a fairly well know Devonian family called Bowring. As I live in the County it was relatively easy to access the archives and cemeteries. I don't want to write more of the Bellasis & Bowring families at the moment as they are going to be the subject of a couple of "Ancestor of the week" posts over the next few months, but I wanted to load the photos up the Grave Encounters site and I couldn't do that without a small write up.

Having established that Lewin Bentham Bowring was buried in Torquay I telephoned to see if I could arrange for the grave to be marked so that I could find it it easier. When I met up with the groundsman he said that there were two graves and asked if I had known that. I said no. He then arranged for me to see the burial books, which indicated that in addition to the grave of Lewin Bentham Bowring and his wife Katherine there was also the grave of Lewin's son Captain Vincent Bowring, but the plot also contained the son Edward Lewis who had died in 1885 aged 15 years.

It is a purely a guess that the grave had been initially been marked with a headstone for Edward by his father, but by the time Captain Vincent Bowring had passed away in 1951 both Lewin and Katherine themselves were deceased and as the family already owned the plot someone made the decision that Captain Vincent could be interned there and placed the headstone accordingly, which means that the burial of Edward is no longer recorded at the site, and only in the burial register.

Buried in section C, Un-consecrated ground

Pray for the souls of

LEWIN BENTHAM BOWRING CSI

Chief Commissioner of Mysore and Goore

J P for Devon

Who died Jan 14^th 1910 aged 85

And KATHERINE his wife

Née BELLASIS

Who died March 18^th 1915 aged 74

Requiescant in Page

Pray for the soul of

Captain VINCENT LEWIN BOWRING

Royal Navy

Died Feb 23^rd 1951

RIP

Section C line 18 Grave

From the Cemetery records we can establish that also buried in this grave is

EDWARD LEWIS LLANISLAS BOWRING

Who died 3^rd July 1885 aged 15.

The plot was purchased by Lewin B BOWRING.

Katherine purchased the grave of Lewin Bentham BOWRING at the time of his death. She purchased a double plot and they lay side by side.

At the time of her death Katherine was residing at 90 Hagley Road, Edgebaston Birmingham.

Graves Transcribed March 2000, Photographed June 2002

Graveyard Rabbits

When I first saw this I had a wonderful vision of a cute bunny foraging through the grasses in a cemetery! It is though a great site prompt for getting all those photos of gravestones up and on line.

Earlier this week we created Grave Encounters and have loaded up various photos that are on our Flickr album.

Devon

Torquay Cemetery

Surrey

Guildford Mount Cemetery

Guildford Stoughton Road Cemetery

Shackleford Churchyard

Cambridgeshire

Abbotsley Churchyard

Herefordshire

Bredwardine & Bromyard Churches

Scotland

Irongray Churchyard & War Memorial

Isle of Bute

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.