Today I had lunch with my uncle and, as ever, the conversation ranged far and wide, including a catch-up on our last collaboration, his old school annual newsletter. From there we moved on to a former colleague of his, and to the expansion of the Trumpington part of Cambridge.
The unc, being a few years older than me, recalled that, as boys, he and his brothers used to cycle to the "separate village of Trumpington" with their mother to visit relatives. The family, by name of Gentle, consisted of two brothers and a sister who were all deaf and dumb. He couldn't recall, though, whether they were "real" uncles & aunt or just "family-friend-uncles & aunt".....
Being a bit of a nerd I had my iPad with me; it has the family tree stored thereupon (of course, I'm a genealogist!) and I was able to find a Mr Gentle in the index, married into the correct branch. I impressed even myself!!
Once home, and after a cuppa, I got stuck into finding this family; success was not too difficult to achieve as the above-mentioned Mr Gentle (Arthur to his friends) and his wife Susan did indeed live in Trumpington, complete with two sons and a daughter. The "youngsters" were all marked in the 1911 census as "deaf & dumb" and each was attending the "Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor" in Margate in 1901. Herbert, the eldest, trained as a tailor and Stanley, brother number two, as a cycle repair mechanic.
Most pleasing to be able to back up the story with facts; the family is not related to me but there is a distant link between them and my grandmother. Now to tell the unc!
More soon.
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