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Sunday, 29 August 2021
Cornelius Walter Jones
Friday, 13 August 2021
Arthur Cecil Ronald Edmond and Mildred Hettie Dunn
Dunkeswell Bridleway cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Derek Harper - geograph.org.uk/p/2785192 |
CLAYHIDON WEDDINGThe wedding took place at the Blackdown Mission Room, Clayhidon, of Miss Mildred Hettie Dunn (eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs H J Dunn of Ashill, Craddock) and Mr Arthur Cecil Ronald Edmond of Stentwood Farm, Dunkeswell (youngest son of the late Sergeant-Major James Edmond, Scots Guards, and the late Mrs Edmond). Mr D W Brealey officiated. The organist was Mrs Venn of London. The bride, given away by her father, wore a navy striped costume and pink blouse, with a navy hat, shoes and gloves en suite. She carried a bouquet of shaded pink chrysanthemums and fern. There were no bridesmaids. The best man was Mr Ivor Colman, friend of the bridegroom. Mr Escott was usher. There was no reception. Later in the day Mr and Mrs Cecil Edmond went to their future home at Stentwood Farm, Dunkeswell. There were many presents.
James Edmond and Sarah Ann Wood
British Cemetery Graves, St Sever Cemetery Extension Photo: Giogo, Some rights reserved |
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Ponchydown House, formerly Ponchydown Inn cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Maigheach-gheal - geograph.org.uk/p/2856863 |
- James Roland George Edmond b. 24 Jul 1912, bap. 29 Dec 1912 at Blackborough, Devon, although the family's address on the baptism record was given as 2 New St, Prestonpans.
- Arthur Cecil Ronald Edmond born 23 Dec 1914
- Constance Mary Helen Edmond born 11 May 1917
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Devington Park, Exminster cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Sarah Charlesworth - geograph.org.uk/p/990195 A huge complex of apartments, housed in what was once the Devon Mental Hospital. |
Monday, 14 June 2021
Con Colleano and Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail
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Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail and Con Colleano |
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Con Colleano on a slack-wire, circa 1920 |
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The former Albion Hotel (pub) at Forbes, New South Wales, Sheba, CC BY-SA 2.0 |
- Con Colleano From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- “The Australian Wizard of the Wire”
- AUSTRALIAN VARIETY THEATRE ARCHIVE
- Inducted into the Ring of Fame: 1992
- Meet the true circus wonders
- Con Colleano: Australia's 'Wizard of the Wire'
- Con Colleano: Wizard of the Wire
- Colleano, Con (Cornelius) (1899–1973)
- Circus pays homage to wire wizard
- Interview with Eric Trevail, brother of Winnie Colleano
- The Aboriginal tightrope walker who duped Hitler & Mussolini
Further reading: The wizard of the wire : the story of Con Colleano
Wednesday, 2 June 2021
David Jones Naval Pensioner
The stern gallery of HMS Implacable, formerly the Duguay-Trouin, on display at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Geni, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
My great-grandfather, David Jones, made much of the fact that he was a Naval Pensioner, especially when filling out official forms, and it seems certain that it was 'useful' in obtaining him the position of Sexton at the Christ Church, Church of Ireland, Rushbrooke, Cobh (Queenstown, as it was then), Ireland.
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David Jones' Naval Record |
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Former Royal Naval Hospital, High Street, Plymouth cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Stephen Richards - geograph.org.uk/p/6083123 The Royal Naval Hospital, East Stonehouse |
Saturday, 24 April 2021
Dan Tompson and Sarah Jane Baker
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House on the left 131 Morrison Avenue, Toronto, Canada |
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Grave of Dan Tompson at Prospect Cemetery in Toronto |
Saturday, 17 April 2021
David Jones and Laura Elizabeth White
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Christ Church Rushbrooke Cobh |
- Thomas Jones born 19 Oct 1881, bap. 19 Nov 1881. (Died 8 Jan 1891.)
- Marcella Jones born 10 May 1883, bap. 2 Jun 1883
- Helena Jones born 4 Mar 1885, bap. 14 Mar 1885 [1]
- Anna Jones born 14 Feb 1887, bap. 19 Mar 1887. (Died in 1902.)
- Marion Jones born 27 Aug 1889, bap. 21 Sep 1889 (Died 8 Mar 1891.)
Erected by David Jones In memory of his beloved father Thos. Jones Who died Jan. 8th 1873 aged 56 years Also his beloved son Thomas Who died Jan. 8th 1891 Aged 9 years and 3 months And his beloved wife Johanna Who died Feb 18th 1891 Aged 35 years.
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Interior of the Sanctuary at Christ Church Rushbrooke Cobh |
- Cornelius Walter Jones (Con) born 2 Jan 1893, bap. 22 Jan 1893
- Ellen Jones (Nell) born 23 Apr 1894, bap. 13 May 1894
- Laura Mary Jones (Queenie) born 2 Aug 1896, bap 28 Aug 1896 [2]
- David Jones (Young Dave) born 10 Nov 1898, bap. 9 Dec 1898
- Alice Jones born 26 Jul 1903, bap. 14 Aug 1903 [3]
- Agnes Jones (Daisy) born 27 Feb 1907, bap. 15 Mar 1907
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The Jones Family Church Lodge Rushbrooke at Rest, Section D, Row 6, Position 50 Old Church Cemetery (Cobh). Resting place of David Jones (1850-1935), Laura Elizabeth Jones (1870-1917), Cornelius Walter Jones (1893-1926) and David Jones (1898-1966). |
Wednesday, 30 December 2020
Champion & Wilton Saddlers and Harness Makers
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Oxford Street at Selfridges the most famous street of shops on the planet cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Ben Brooksbank - geograph.org.uk/p/4661642 |
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St. Giles Church, near Mountnessing cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Malc McDonald geograph.org.uk/p/4514320 |
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Bridge Street, Bishop's Stortford cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Bill Boaden - geograph.org.uk/p/6410237 |
- William Palmer Wilton was born 19 Sep 1869, and baptised 28 Nov 1869 at St Michael's, Bishop's Stortford
- Mary Henrietta Wilton, was baptised 30 Apr 1871 in Bishop's Stortford
- Olive Martha Wilton born 25 Dec 1872, baptised 28 Feb 1873 in Bishop's Stortford. (Olive Martha Wilton, artist, died, aged 45, on 14 Apr 1918 in Ringwood, Hampshire. She is not buried with the family.)
- John Staines Wilton, baptised 24 Apr 1874 in Bishop's Stortford. (John Staines Wilton didn't marry either. He died on 6 May 1936.)
- Margaret Staines Wilton born 1877 in the district of St. George Hanover Square. (Margaret also remained single. She was buried, on 31 Dec 1957, in Hampstead Cemetery, with her parents and brothers.)
"Champion and Wilton were founded in 1780 and had premises in Oxford Street, opposite Selfridges, in London’s West End. At one time they employed over one hundred saddlers making saddles, harness and other saddlery items and became, as holders of the Royal Warrant, the most highly respected firm in the country and I don’t doubt that many a stately home will still have a Champion and Wilton saddle tucked away somewhere in their tack room." - Keith Jenkin, SMSQF of Minster Saddlery
In their time, it is said that Champion & Wilton held Royal Warrants to Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II, and the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as to the German Emperor, Queen Maud of Norway and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.
A neighbouring firm of saddlers, Samuel Blackwell, also long-established, was taken over by Champion & Wilton in the 1880s.
Thursday, 5 November 2020
Press Gangs and the King’s Shilling
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Colindale Hospital around 1920 |
As family stories go, this has to be one of the best (as in the myth is about as far away from the truth as it's possible to get), but also one of the saddest.
Throughout her life, my mother recounted this story so many times it would be impossible to count: The story went that her grandfather, Job Sweeney, had been "press ganged" into the navy no less than three times. Once would be unlucky, you'd have thought. Anyway, this account, undoubtedly passed down to her by her grandmother, Eliza Louisa Sweeney (née Tompson), was embellished with the assertion that Job liked his drink rather too much, hence was always in the pub and the worse for wear and, therefore, had been tricked, in serial fashion, into taking the King's Shilling. All absolute poppycock, of course.
As I say, I'd heard and nodded along to the retelling of this story umpteen times, but had never really considered or questioned it. It wasn't until I met the current 'him indoors' who knows his military history, who immediately said "wrong century", that it became obvious that the whole thing was invention.
With hindsight, I can see where it will have come from. Job's father was a dock labourer (sometimes listed as a stevedore); his great-grandfather a mariner and many of their ancestors had been sailors, ship's carpenters and shipwrights. Eliza Louisa's family had run pubs around the London docks area. They will have grown up with 'press gang' stories and other seafaring folklore.
My great-grandfather, Job Sweeney, son of John Henry Charles Sweeney and Susannah Harvey, was born on 6 Feb 1870 and baptised, on 11 May 1871, at the church of St John, Limehouse Fields (which was bombed on 19 Sep 1940 and subsequently demolished). He'd married Eliza Louisa Tompson at St Anthony, Stepney on On 5 Jan 1893.
My mother won't have known her grandfather, as he had died on 6 December 1924, aged 54, when she would have been only a few months old.
Having spent his entire life in the East End, it was finding that his death had been registered in Hendon that made me dig further in order to solve the mystery. It even crossed my mind that holidays 'At His Majesty's Pleasure' might well have explained these absences that we were all led to believe were when he was 'at sea', but it was not so. Having ordered his death certificate, this confirmed that the actual place of death was Colindale Hospital.
Built originally as the The Central London District Sick Asylum in 1898-1900 - to provide care for the sick poor in London, separate from the workhouse - in 1919, it was taken over by The Metropolitan Asylums Board and used as male TB sanatorium. The cause of Job Sweeney's death was given as 'Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Certified by Marcus Patterson MD.'
Dr. Marcus Sinclair Paterson (1870–1932) was the medical superintendent of the Colindale Hospital for Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Hendon. "Here Paterson made valuable innovations in the symptomatic treatment of advanced cases", says his obituary in the BMJ. He developed a system of treatment called 'graduated labour'. "He has described how his observations on out-patients led him to the idea of introducing manual work, as well as walking, into the sanatorium regime, with the hope of fitting his patients for immediate return to their work, and of successfully meeting the charge that sanatoriums turned out work-shy loafers." (Not unlike the attitude to the sick today.)
(Looks like we can see who was originally responsible for ideas that led to the much maligned, ineffective and unsafe Graded exercise therapy (GET) too.)
So, I think we can deduce that the "press gang" story was made up to explain a series of absences, which were probably stays for 'treatment' - forced work when you're already too ill to do your normal work - at the sanatorium. And the saddest part of all is that this tells us that, so strong was the social stigma attached to TB that families preferred to paint their nearest and dearest as 'feckless, drunken, work-shy', etc., rather than admit they had an infectious, then incurable, disease undoubtedly contracted through no fault of their own.
These pages are notes on work in progress, so please expect additions and changes as further research is done. You may like to use Follow That Page to monitor changes.