Well, who'd'a thunk it......?

Next week I'm going to Bedford to meet Cynthia who got in touch after discovering that we share a 3xgreat grandfather, Benjamin Langford who married Martha Hatch in 1806.  So I'm going a bit more research.....

And I've got as far as Charlotte Haylock, my 2nd cousin twice removed, who was born in Grimsby in 1867, and married Ernest Frederick Kempton in Leicester in 1894.  So far, so very ordinary.

Except for one thing: Ernest Frederick Kempton is distantly related to my oldest friend Sally.  About the same relationship as mine to Charlotte.

That makes us practically sisters........

More soon.

I remember when......

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.

Bad news travelled fast......

Forming an inadvertent link to Andrew Martin's excellent blog at http://historyrepeating.org.uk/, I too will be talking about a family of Harrisons.....  Andrew's are in Cambridgeshire and I suppose mine are too...now, although at the time, St Ives was part of Huntingdonshire.  

My attention was drawn, by my friend Sue Anderson, to an article in The Times on 5th July 1927, entitled "Three People shot at St Ives".  Now, I should make it clear that this particular family of Harrisons are not related to me but are the in-laws of my 2xgt aunt May Culpin; but, honestly now, would you not want to follow it up?

So a quick delve into the British Newspaper Archive (no hardship, I promise) and I was able to fill in some more details:  Frederick Harrison, age 46, shot his wife Florence and his elder son Geoffrey and then himself.  His younger son Robert was out on an errand and found the results of this tragedy when he returned.  The subsequent inquest brought forth the information that Frederick had contracted malaria during War service and was unable to return to civilian life for for a year after the war ...."and it preyed on his mind."  

What I found fascinating was the number of newspapers which reported this, and their diverse geographical spread - the Aberdeen Journal, the Nottingham Evening Post and the Exmouth & Plymouth Gazette, to name but a few.  I guess that this, being linked with the Great War, was what caught the editors' eyes.

I now need to complete the story by finding the local Hunts Post reports - a trip to the Cambridgeshire Collection awaits!

As do more pressing domestic tasks, so ....

More soon.

Where there's a Will......?

....... there will, inevitably, be an entry in the Probate Index (but not always).  And also where there's an Administration.......

Thus it was that I came upon a puzzle.  When George Bentley died in 1907 he didn't leave a Will so his wife applied for an Administration and probate was duly approved, leave a decent sum.  Then I found another probate entry in August 1930, same person.  Applied for, this time, by George junior; this time also a decent sum but a few pounds less that the 1907 version.

Much confusion at Rambling Genes Towers.

A bit more poking about and I discovered that Mrs George, the aforementioned wife, died in 1930 and junior applied, in April, for an Administration of her estate, the total being a few pounds less than her husband left in 1907.  The plot thickened when this probate was resworn and the effects were reduced to a paltry £10.

After much thought, and consulting my accountant friends, I think this was probably to do with his property/estate being left to her, for her lifetime, and then to junior.  But how would this be conveyed without a Will being left - Administrations all round, remember?

I still don't quite understand......

More soon.

Mind the Gap (again).....

I've just realised how long it is since I last wrote something on here......  Sorry for the lapse but a lot of the stuff I've been working on has involved real, live people and, obviously, I'm not going to blog about that!

One collection of live people, however, did all meet up a couple of weeks ago.  My cousins in Oz are in the UK at present and suggested that we all get together...... so I helped to arrange a gathering in Ely.  And how much fun was that!!

About twenty-five of us had an afternoon together and I met people who had previously only been names in the tree!  Plenty of photos and a lot of laughing.  I had no recollection of meeting Jean, one of the Oz branch, but suggested to her that maybe I was a child when we last set eyes on each other.  It transpires that we met when I was 18...... I've nearly got over the embarrassment!

I've also made significant progress on a brickwall involving living people - and I actually finally managed to make contact and speak to the (previously) missing family.  Much chuffed with that and arranging to meet later in the year.  Definite "result"!

More soon.

ITIKWIA (I think I know who I am.......)

Last night BBC1 showed the first episode of the new series of WDYTYA (Who Do You Think You Are) and featured Una Stubbs whose grandfather, it turned out, was Ebenezer Howard, the founder of the Garden City movement.  I can now add to that information, and they didn’t mention this in the programme, that I am distantly related to a member of the movement.

Ewart Gladstone Culpin, my second cousin three times removed, was born on 3 December 1877 in Stevenage, Herts, the son of Benjamin, a currier, and Eliza (nee Matthews).  In 1881 the family was in Stevenage and moved to Hitchin by 1891.  Having been schooled at Alleyns School & Hitchin Grammar, Ewart next appears on the 1901 census in Newport, Monmouthshire, aged 23, a journalist/author.  In 1903 he married Nora Driver in Royston, Herts.  Living in Letchworth Garden City in 1909, they had moved to Ilford by 1911 – where they gave their house the name “Letchworth".  After the Great War he founded The Culpin Partnership, an architectural company.  He died on 1 December 1946 in London. 

“Who’s Who” filled in a few more details:  JP, FRIBA; Officier de l'Ordre de la Couronne de la Belgique; Grand Officer of the Crown of Roumania; Commander of Order of the Black Star of Benin; Trustee, Official Czech Refugee Trust Fund.  Work: Sec. Garden City Association 1905; Founded International Garden Cities and Town Planning Association 1907; President Societe Belge pour la reconstruction de la Belgique; Chairman, Standing Conference on London Regional Planning, 1926 -1946.  Labour candidate North Islington, 1924; Alderman, LCC,; Vice-Chm, LCC, 1934-1937; Chairman, 1938-1939; Pres. Incorporated Assoc of Architects and Surveyors, 1930; Pres. TPI, 1937-1938.  Publications: A number of booklets on Housing and Town Planning. 

And, finally, Ewart wrote the following letter which appeared in The Times on 7 August 1908: 

The Town Planning Bill

Sir,

I should be obliged if you would give publicity to the fact that the Garden City Association is prepared to arrange for speakers at meetings and conferences on the subject of town planning during the autumn and winter months.

The entire services of Mr Ebenezer Howard, well known throughout the country as the founder of the premier example of town planning, Letchworth Garden City, have been secured for this purpose and I shall be glad to receive applications from any societies, institutions or individuals interested in the matter.

It is felt that it is urgently necessary to educate the public of the country as to the importance of town planning, and so prepare the way for useful work being undertaken when the present Bill becomes law.

Yours faithfully

Ewart G Culpin

Secretary, Garden City Planning Assocation

602 Birkbeck Bank Chambers, Holborn, WC”

Looking forward to next week’s episode…….

More soon.

Double trouble

So it's Sunday and the washing's on - yes, I'm hoping for that rare thing in this British summer....a day without rain!

And in the meantime I've been going back over some old research which I did for friends a few years ago.  Many more records have come online since I last looked at this family and there should be some rich pickings ahead....hopefully.

As is my wont I went off down a random branch - much liking the idea of "flying a Kite".  Because that was their name (a small joke, sorry) and I also liked the name Gabriel.  And because the action here takes place in Dorset I was imagining a "French Lieutenant's Woman" type scenario.

And I found father and son named Gabriel; Gabriel senior served in the Dorsetshire Regiment in the Great War and died in 1915 at the age of 43.  His son died 30 years later, serving with the Royal Artillery during the Second World War.  

I know it probably happened to a lot of families but it's a first for me so I'm feeling a bit more sober now.

More soon.