Wordless Wednesday - Great Aunt Joy's Albums.

Another handful of photos from Great Aunt Joy's albums. These date from around 1938-1939.

Baby Joy & Chummy

Derek (aged 6) & Margaret (aged 4)

Bubbles at Lulworth Cove 1939

Two Joys at Lulworth

Little Moira Holland aged 2

Margaret & Mrs Tatham

Thankful Thursday

I'm very thankful for a large parcel that arrived one day last week. 

I've posted before about my Great Aunt Joy who emigrated to Australia - she gave me a Nottingham lace bedspread some years ago, which was designed by her Grandfather William Bucknall.

 
Sadly Auntie Joy passed away in July last year at the grand age of 90. She and her husband, Don, my grandmother's brother, had enjoyed a fantastic life in Australia, making many new friends along the way. 

It was one of these friends that was kind enough to send me today's parcel which contains Joy & Don's photo albums. 

I'm over the moon to receive them, especially as they all seem to be dated and labelled with both names and places.

 
I'm intending to scan the most relevant ones and share them with the rest of the family (whether they like it or not!) via Dropbox.

Workday Wednesday - Nottingham Lace Part II

Following on from my last post which mentioned my heirloom Nottingham lace bedspread, I have managed to find out a little more about William Bucknall, the man who designed it.

The son of William Bucknall and Henrietta Litchfield, William Jnr was born in Radford, Nottingham in 1861. Both his father William Snr and his paternal grandfather George were lacemakers from Beeston.

William Jnr's early years were spent in Radford, first on Fairfield Street, then Highhurst Street and then on to Denman Street.

On the 18th September 1884 William Jnr married Ann Elizabeth Gell at the Tennyson Street Methodist Chapel in Nottingham and they began their married life at 24 Radford Boulevard later moving to no. 114. By this time William was employed as a lace draughtsman.



They had two children, Clarence William born 4th June 1885 and Annie Louisa Lillian born 19th July 1887. Both children were baptised at the Deligne (or De Ligne) Street Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, which was quite close to Canning Circus in Nottingham.

Over the following years the family lived at Berridge Road, Lenton Boulevard and Gregory Avenue; all in Nottingham.

According to my Great Aunt Joy, who is Clarence's daughter, William worked at the Flersheim lace factory in the Lace Market from around 1891 until his retirement in 1928. Looking back through the various Nottingham directories, I found William listed as a lace draughtsman between 1891 and 1901.

Between 1910 and 1928 he worked a a lace designer. Joy can recall being told that one of his designs, which may or may not have been the bedspread, was displayed at either a London department store or at a large London exhibition. I haven't yet been able to locate this.




Their last address was 74 Lenton Boulevard, where William's wife, Annie, died on the 14th March 1935 and William himself died on the 14th September 1937.







Flersheim's factory eventually closed on 25th July 1964 and was demolished to make way for a new ring road.







Joy inherited the lace bedspread and took it to Australia with her when she emigrated with her husband, Don Jowett, in the 1960s. A few years ago she very kindly offered it to me and it travelled back to England, where it is now being carefully looked after.




Picture Credit Denman St; Picture The Past
Picture Credit Radford Blvd; Google Street View
Picture Credit Deligne St; Nottstalgia
Picture Credit Lenton Blvd; Google Street View

Travel Tuesday - Francis/Frank Jowett

I can remember my Grandmother telling me about her Uncle Frank emigrating to Canada when she was quite young.  He worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway for many years, a fact she was very proud of.

I noticed recently that both Ancestry and Find My Past have very detailed ships' passenger lists available so I thought I'd see if I could find details of his journey. Find My Past only have outgoing passenger details, but Ancestry also have incoming, so I could track any return journeys.

Uncle Frank (my 2x great Uncle) was born Francis Albert Jowett in Nottingham in 1894 and was the youngest of eight siblings. His parents were Edmund Jowett a Nottingham lace maker and Theresa Bates.

His father Edmund died when Frank was just fourteen in 1904 and in the 1911 census he was living with his mother Theresa, his brother Charles (my great grandfather), his married sister Mabel and two of her children, his nieces. Frank was working as a card lacer in a lace factory.





I have no idea what made Frank head off to Canada at the age of thirty-three, but he left from Liverpool on the 17th March 1922 on the Minnedosa. He gave his last residence as England, Haydn Road in Nottingham, and his intended future residence as Canada, so it was obviously his intention to emigrate permanently. He gave his occupation as 'agent'.


Frank next appeared in the records on the 8th March 1924 as he arrived back in Liverpool on the Montclare.  He had travelled from New Brunswick in Canada with his wife, Amelia. Frank gave Haydn Road in Nottingham as his intended address whilst staying in the UK, so it appears he had brought his wife home to introduce her to the family. They left for Canada on the 9th May 1924, again on the Montclare from Liverpool. Frank stated his occupation as a telegraph operator at this time.


Frank and Amelia returned once more to England on the 16th June 1935, this time accompanied by their nine year old daughter Marguerite. They again stayed in Nottingham until their return to Canada on the 10th August 1935, leaving from Southampton on the Empress of Britain.

I'm not sure if they ever came back to England after this visit. I know my Grandmother always regretted not having taken the opportunity to visit this branch of the family in Canada and she was in touch with Marguerite for quite a few years but the correspondence petered out eventually over the years.



So if you know any Canadian Jowetts, or you are a Canadian Jowett with Nottingham roots, drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you!









Picture Credits:
http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca/type-typography/the-canadian-pacific-railway-poster/
http://www.greatships.net/minnedosa.html
http://digitalpostercollection.com/?attachment_id=56706

Workday Wednesday - Nottingham Lace Makers

If you have traced your ancestors back to Nottingham in the census years of 1841 to 1911, it is highly likely that you will have come across lace making as an occupation.

My three main lace making families are the Oldhams, who worked in Calais during the 1860s as well as Nottingham, the Jowetts and the Bucknalls.

Looking through the census returns for these families, they did many different jobs within the lace industry, such as; 'mender', 'threader', 'draughtsman', 'clipper', 'manufacturer', 'winder', and 'warehouseman.' Not having any personal knowledge of the industry, I wasn't sure exactly what these different jobs entailed, so I was delighted to find a book of memoirs written by a local author, Mark Ashfield, who was employed in the lace industry.

I found it a very enjoyable read, with detailed description of life in a Nottingham lace factory - the hours, conditions, skills and works outings. It's available here both in paperback and for Kindle.

Another book which I've found really useful is Sheila Mason's 'Nottingham Lace 1760s - 1950s', my Oldhams even get a small mention!  It's available both via Amazon and Abebooks unfortunately at quite a price.  There may be reprinted copies available at the Nottingham branch of Waterstones, where I found my copy, for £25.






I think genealogy can be so much more than just gathering a list of names and dates.  If you can fill in the background, where they lived, how they worked, it can give you a much fuller picture of their lives.

Amanuensis Monday - Royal Flying Corps

In 1918 my Great-Grandfather Charles Harold Jowett joined the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and was sent out to Italy from his home in Nottingham.


He kept a diary during this time which I'm lucky enough to have, so I thought I'd share a few extracts;


Jan 28 1918
Called out for draft at Aldershot, received pay (30s) & pay books, left Farnbro' 12.50 arrived Southampton about 3 sailed on troopship 4.30 en route for Italy arrived off Le Havre 5 o'clock it was morning Jan 29th waiting for daylight a splendid passage asleep most of the time full moon a beautifull picture on the water escort of 2 destroyers rations for the day served out on board, bully beef & biscuits.
Landed midday Jan 29 & had a 5 or 6 miles walk with full kit uphill nearly all the way, absolutely fagged out very little sleep for cold.

Wed Feb 6th
Travelling all night up before the sun to enjoy the sights saw the sun rise over the sea a sight I shall never  forget one big ball of fire with the reflection in the water like gold passed through Monaco, Monte Carlo Manton & San Remo where we had a fine reception, mandarins mangos & flowers were showered on us the sea and landscapes were magnificent we were to enraptured to have breakfast some fine buildings & churches had a wash & shave just over the Italian frontier.

Fri Mar 8
No rain but plenty of wind, getting used to it. Saw an Italian funeral which takes place at dusk a curious affair women leading, then the corpse, surrounded by priests, followed by the men both women & men carrying lighted candles naturally giving a weird & creepy look to the procession.


Fri June 7th
Inspection of an English Division on on aerodrome by King of Italy

Tues June 11th
No flying rain all day
(Sun June 9th Lt Comm'dr Captn Lowe, crashed on return from flight, pilot & observer injured one machine missing & one damaged by machine gun fire)


Thur July 11th
Bad weather, but machines sent out, one crashed, sent  to fetch it in along with 4 other men & an officer at 9 O.C at night, travelled as far as Padova arriving about 1.50 A.M. lightening incessant, a very heavy storm soon after turning in.

Charles was sent home from Italy towards the end of July, as his daughter Irene, my grandmother, was very ill.
I've yet to research the background of his time in Italy & what the RFC's role was there.  I've bought a copy of this book Offensive Patrol: The Story of the R.N.A.S., R.F.C.and R.A.F.in Italy, 1917-18 which will hopefully shed some light on it.