November
2011
Members’
Evening
Seven
members took up the opportunity to talk to us
on “Who would you most like to speak to?”
Martin
Pollard chose his grandfather, Bertram Price
Gough, who was born in Aylesbury in 1876 and died in 1960. After
leaving Aylesbury
Grammar School Bertram started work in a solicitor’s office
before joining the
Metropolitan Railway in 1892 as a Junior Booking Clerk earning
£60 per year.
After Martin’s mother passed away he found newspapers in her
possessions from
which he was able to learn more about his grandfather’s 48
year career with the
railway rising to the heights of Station Master, firstly at Great
Missenden in
1911, Rickmansworth in 1923 and then both stations in Aylesbury and
earning
£350 per year. He was the winner of a Best Kept Station
award. Martin had a
number of old photos of Aylesbury to show us.
Jeremy
Green told us of his search for more
information on his wife’s great grandfather, William Curtin
and his parents.
William shows up at age 4 on the 1881 census as a visitor with a couple
living
in Soho. Jeremy
believes William’s mother died
at age 32 suffering from cancer and his father cut his own throat. They
were
married in 1865 in Covent Garden
and the name
has been transcribed as Curtis in the 1871 census. So far, Jeremy has
been
unable to find them on any other censuses. It was suggested that Curtin
may be
an Irish name.
Linda
Smith told us about her research on the name
Press, which was her maiden name, and the massive database she has
built up. In
2004 she was contacted by a Peter Press in Vancouver, Canada,
who sent her a copy of his parent’s wedding photograph and
asked her if she
might know why his grandfather wasn’t on it! Thomas Crisp
Press (1814-1895) was
a harbour master at Great Yarmouth. His youngest son, another Thomas
Crisp
Press, was the person missing from the photo. This Thomas had been a
marine
engineer and had been badly injured in WW1. Linda told us about the
error made
by the War Office in dealing with his belongings and of the files she
was able
to research in the Army records. She showed us a number of charming
photos and
finished by telling us that Thomas had died alone in Greenwich
Hospital
in 1949 and that she had discovered that he had had a daughter with his
housekeeper. This daughter was the second one that he had named Juanita
and,
consequently, was the previously unknown half sister of
Peter’s father. Linda
finished by telling us that Peter had visited from Vancouver
and they had met up with Juanita.
Kay
Ely told us about her Samuel who had been sent
to Van Deimens Land in 1846 for receiving a bale of leather. She had
carried
out a lot of research about Saltwater River, Tasmania, where Samuel had
lived
and had a long, long list of questions for him, not least about his 21
other
convictions including some for being drunk!
David
Cook would like to meet his maternal
grandfather, Sidney Thomas Farren who was born in the mid 1880s and
died in
1949. He suffered facial injuries at Gallipoli and needed a skin graft,
the
skin being taken from his bottom. For the sake of politeness I will
leave to
your imagination the phrase Sidney
used when someone kissed him! David spoke of a child, George, who was
given
away due to his birth before grandma was married and searches he had
tried.
David’s grandfather eventually left his grandmother for
another lady, Gladys
Glasscock…he’d like to know why.
Peter
Jolly showed us a number of photos and
documents relating to his paternal grandfather, Thomas Jolly who was an
apprentice to a cabinet maker but joined the 17th Lancers as soon as he
was
able. Thomas was in Northern
Ireland
when he discovered that the 9th Lancers were going to India
so he got
transferred. He went to Meerut
as a riding
master and later shipped to South Africa
in 1899 during the second Boer War.
According to the CO’s diary records Thomas was struck by
lightening in a
terrible storm; he then went to Mafeking
and
later returned to England,
unfit for service. Thomas married in 1902 and had 5 children; at the
outbreak
of WW1 he wanted to enlist. He wasn’t suitable due to his
injuries but he
managed to get a job as a foreman groom at the Remount Depot, Lathom
House, in
Ormskirk. In February 1915 Thomas and a colleague went to Skelmersdale,
walking
along the railway line, as was customary, but sadly they were knocked
down by
an engine and Thomas was killed. Accidental death was recorded at the
Inquest.
Peter showed us his ancestors’ knobkerrie, a South African
hunting club made
from a tree root, which had been beautifully carved with all the
battles.
Graham
Youngman spoke about his great grandfather,
William Youngman, born in 1846 in Stanton,
Suffolk.
He was the
second generation of butcher in the family and his question for William
was
“What should our family surname really have been?”
William’s father, Benjamin,
was born out of wedlock to Elizabeth Youngman. The father’s
name had been
written in the register but erased by the rector, Rev. George Bidwell.
George
was rector at Stanton
for over 50 years and during that time had lost his wife and 5 of his
children.
A surviving son, named George, also became a vicar, his first parish
being in Dorset.
In his household staff in Dorset
were Ellen Ashton Tootell and Elizabeth Bishop who were cousins.
Following the
death of Rev. George in Stanton, George junior returned to that parish
to take
over. He brought Ellen and Elizabeth with him and they both married
into the
Youngman family. Ellen married William Youngman, and became
Graham’s great
grandmother and Elizabeth married William’s brother John
Youngman. Family
legend has it that the Youngmans should really have been named
Stebbings but,
so far, no documented proof has been established. The Bidwells
certainly had an
effect on the Youngman family! As a matter of interest Rev George
Bidwell junior
later became the vicar at Simpson.
It
was an interesting meeting and many members were
able to put forth recommendations for further research.
Angela
Evans
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