My family photos find a new home

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This is my father on his 1923 Model 16H Norton motorbike. As it happens I have not posted this picture before, even though a year or two ago I did a feature on my father's 'wheels' - that is to say his motorbikes and cars. Today some of those pictures have found a place on a website which celebrates the Norton motorcycle. John, the website owner, has managed to improve the quality of this picture, and so I have copied it back again from his website to post here.

This is the sort of exchange which really makes the internet, and blogging in particular, worth while for me. My mother and father are honoured again on a new blogsite, and John in Holland has found some more of his beloved Norton motorbikes to add to his blog.

I think I have at least one reader who will enjoy a visit to John's website, somebody else who loves his 'wheels'. Let me know what you think, Avus.

All's well...

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...back in action soon.

This is a 50-year-old colour slide taken by my husband in the garden of our first home. A friend converted it to a digital picture for me, with his special scanning device. So lovely to see it again. At the time I called it "Son and shade"!

My grandfather's trousseau

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It cannot be given to many people to know what their grandfather bought in the way of clothes for his trousseau; grandmother, possibly, since women are more inclined to value and to keep records of the things which are important to them. But I had a grandfather who was a very precise and careful man: his hobby was entomology, or the collection and study of insects, and by the time of his death he had amassed a collection of 65,000 flies, all painstakingly and beautifully laid out in cabinets and catalogued. It is now in the Natural History Museum in London. So it was entirely in his character that he should keep meticulous accounts throughout his life, both in his business and at home.

Grandpa as a child

Some of these account books came down to me through my mother, and have been lurking in a suitcase under the spareroom bed for decades. I have finally decided that the whole collection should go to the Archives & Heritage section of the City Library in Birmingham, where my grandfather was a master jeweller in the business started by his grandfather. But of course, as I begin to pack them into boxes I cannot resist having another look through the more interesting ones, to see what treasures from the past may lie therein.

Grandpa aged 20

The one I have just been dipping into is his personal account book covering the period from two years after his engagement, to two years after his marriage, that is 1893 to 1899. The book therefore contains a detailed record of all his purchases as he prepared to become a married man with a household of his own; of every penny that he spent on his honeymoon, as they did the grand tour of Europe together; and of two years of being head of a household after his return. (I have to wonder in passing if he carried this heavy leather bound cashbook, weighing 1 and 1/4 lbs, on his honeymoon with him. Knowing him, I think it is more than likely.)

Grandpa and Grandma on returning from their honeymoon (both aged 30)

In 1893, when my grandfather was already engaged, he was taking home a salary of £2 a week. From 1895 he was entitled to a third of the profits of the business, with a minimum of £4 a week, but until his marriage he only took home £2 a week,while a further £2 was banked for him in his capital account. Two years after his marriage his share of the profits was increased from one third to two fifths.

Here is grandfather's trousseau shopping over a period of six months [see note at end]:

Flannel for pyjamas - 2/5
Wool for trousseau socks - 3/6
Flannel for pyjamas - 2/2
Wool for socks - 3/6
2 prs white gloves - 4/-
2 white ties - 1/-
8 suits underwear - £3.18.8d
Flannelette for pyjamas - 1/2
Pair boots - 12/6
Buttons for pyjamas - 10d
Pyjama girdle - 4½ d
More Vyella for pyjamas - 3/-
1 Silk Hat - £1.2.0d
1 Bowler Hat - 8/6
6 ties assorted @1/6 = 9/-
1 doz collars - 9/-
1 doz handkerchiefs - 7/-
2 prs gloves - 3/9 & 2/11
Patent leather boots - £1.4.0
Madras Muslin - £6.2.3d
Mrs Fiddian - making 8 new shirts - £3.0.0d
Balance for Madras Muslin - 6/6
Wool for socks - 6d
Mrs Fiddian - altering 3 shirts & making 3 suits of pyjamas - 17/-
1 overcoat repaired - 2/-
1 Frock coat and suit - £5.15.0d
1 Morning suit - £4.12.6d
1 light grey overcoat - £3.3.0d
1 overcoat cleaned & repaired - 6/6

Then came something even more important, paying the business, via his father JW, for the rings he had made for the great day, and for a pendant for my grandmother. I do not have my grandmother's wedding ring, but I do have one of the pearl bridesmaid's rings, inherited from grandfather's unmarried sister, and I have my grandmother's engagement ring; this too is rather touching, in that the roughness of the work reveals it to be one of my grandfather's earlier efforts, before he achieved the 'master' status that he did later in his life.

JW for 1 wedding ring - £1.8.6d
3 pearl rings for bridesmaids @ 10/- = £1.10.0d
1 pendant for Nell - £2.10.0d

And finally, rather touchingly, his final weekly payment for board and lodging at home:

Mother - last time - 15/-

Seven days later, on the 22 April 1897 he was married and off on his honeymoon.

Grandpa as I remember him

Now, I am extremely interested in those eight suits of underwear, as many years later, after my grandfather's death in 1948, I became intimately acquainted with certain items of his underwear. By that time he was wearing two-piece sets: longjohns, and a longsleeved vest with a shallow boat neckline - no opening and no buttons (though those have become fashionable for men's and women's shirts in later years). These suits were machine knitted in fine wool, in the palest of lavender marl (a term used today, apparently, to describe a mixture of two different coloured yarns). There were two unused sets of these admirably protective suits in my grandfather's effects, and my mother offered the tops to me. They made splendid long-line sweaters to wear over jeans, with a natty scarf tied in the neck. It was a great talking-point too, to tell people that I was wearing my grandfather's vests! I have done some online research on men's underwear in the late 19th and early 20th century and can offer the following picture to pique your imagination:

[ Bear in mind that British money in those days was counted in pounds, shillings and pence, represented by the written symbols £ s d, also referred to verbally in short as 'l. s. d.' An amount consisting only of shillings and pence could also be written so: 15/6. Then consider that there were 20 shillings in a pound, but 12 pence in a shilling, and one penny was further divided in half pence, and quarter pence known as 'farthings'.]

Triplets

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Not what you might think - not at my time of life. No, it's like this: I've been looking through a couple of volumes of my grandmother's journal, written in 1889 and 1890, when she was 21-22, before she was married to my grandfather. Stuck into the back of one of them with stamp paper - (no sellotape in those days) - was a piece of paper headed 'Triplets', with this list:

Three things to love - courage, gentleness, and affection.

Three things to admire - intellect, dignity, and gracefulness.

Three things to hate - cruelty, arrogance, and ingratitude.

Three things to delight in - beauty, frankness, and freedom.

Three things to wish for - health, friends, and a contented spirit.

Three things to like - cordiality, good humour, and cheerfulness.

Three things to avoid - idleness, loquacity, and flippant jesting.

Three things to cultivate - good books, good friends, and good humour.

Three things to contend for - honour, country, and friends.

Three things to teach - truth, industry, and contentment.

Three things to govern - temper, tongue, and conduct.

Three things to cherish - virtue, goodness, and wisdom.

Three things to do - think, live, and act.

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Not much that is strange to our ideas today, except perhaps 'honour', 'country' and 'virtue'; and the idea of 'governing' oneself is perhaps not commonplace either. I notice too that 'friends', 'good humour' and 'contentment' each feature twice in the list. I don't think we would choose to express ourselves in quite the same way today, but if we sat down to do this exercise from scratch we would probably come up with many of the same answers.

My grandmother

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Discovered in a book ...

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... this lovely delicate little bookmark, obviously made lovingly for my grandmother Ellen Dora, known as Nell or Nellie. The book, which I was about to dispose of, is The Poetical Works of Longfellow, and it was inscribed Nellie D Bragge, Oct 15/91 - that's 1891 of course, when she was 24 and still unmarried. The giver has also inscribed his or her initials, which sadly, I am unable to interpret. But I think, given the evidence of the bookmark, it must have been a sister, cousin or girl friend.

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The shape and the colouring are so delicate that at first I thought it might be a real butterfly preserved in some magical way. But I don't really think it can be. It seems more likely that someone has painted it and cut it out so beautifully that it looks real. The pictures are worth enlarging to appreciate the delicacy of the colouring and the texture of the painting: oils? gouache?

The butterfly, together with a rose petal, was still folded into a piece of paper, which is of some interest in its own right. I don't think it is bed linen which is referred to, but, it seems, a copying service onto rather classy writing paper.

Don't you just love it ...

... when something goes wrong, and then in the end turns out to be absolutely right?

Yesterday I went to collect two of my mother-in-law's paintings which I had decided to have framed. I had opted for ready-made frames, with added mounts, and for changing the ordinary glass to special protective glass to prevent fading. [The framer was astonished at how good the pictures looked 100 years after painting! "They must have been somewhere with little light" he said, and I replied "They were, they were shut up in a box!"]

I had chosen the size of frame without difficulty, but wanted the gold version, and not the natural wood one's they had in stock in the size I wanted. I was told the gold could be ordered and that was what was agreed - or so I thought.

Strangely enough, on the way there, I began to wonder if the gold had been the right choice, but "Too late now" I told myself. When the pictures were put in front of me, lo and behold, they were framed in the plain wood. A lengthy discussion began as to why they were not framed in gold, and my case eventually fell apart as I saw that 'plain wood' had been written on the invoice, which I had clearly not checked carefully enough before leaving the shop.

To clinch his argument, the framer went and got another frame in the gold, and held it beside the pictures in the plain wood. I knew instantly that I should have hated the gold frames! So although in arguing his case he recalled conversations which I don't believe we ever had, I have to acknowledge that aesthetically he was right, and I end up happy with my newly framed pictures!

Not so much a Punch, more a light tap ...

I have received the gentlest and most generous of raps over the knuckles from Punch Ltd, for using their copyright cartoons as illustrations for my blog. Because they feel that my blog is a good advertisement for Punch, they are waiving their usual fee on this occasion, and allowing me to leave the cartoons in place, with the addition of an acknowledgment that I am doing so with their permission. This of course I have been only too happy to do. I think I must have imagined that the copyright belonged with the original artists, most if not all of whom I assumed to have long passed. I must be more careful.

I was also told that Punch the magazine is 'not dead yet', as they are bringing out a bumper book of Punch cartoons called The Best of Punch Cartoons, published by Prion Books, which will appear in September. This link will take you to WH Smith, where you can pre-order it, or Amazon will record a request to be notified when it is published. Be aware, however, that with 600 pages of incomparable Punch cartoons, it is going to cost you £35.00!

I have made my own illustration for this post - a rather dark photograph of an antique cast iron doorstop of Punch with his dog Toby, which holds my study door open. It has been painted, (thereby reducing its antique value I believe), but seems to have led quite a hard life subsequently, judging by the spots that have been knocked off him! Mr Punch appears to be holding a banana, although I believe it actually represents a quill pen; and I wouldn't be sure that he isn't picking his nose! However, I can forgive him that, for all the pleasure he has brought me over the years.

[The magazine Punch was launched in 1841, and was finally laid to rest in 2002. If you want to find out more about it, there is an excellent website here.]

Climbing trees ... the suspense is over ...

I have today received a report from the Kendal Records Office, and although they have not had time to answer all my questions, they have confirmed the most important of my findings. So, Avus, it seems that I have not been in a mare's nest up a gum tree, as I had feared I might be.

What has been most intriguing has been to discover that a certain James Taylor, born in 1777, is not only my husband's great grandfather on his father's side, but also his great great grandfather on his mother's side. This is because James had, among many children, a daughter Elizabeth born in 1812, and a son Jones born in 1826, 14 years later. A good many years down the line, Jones's son Harry married Elizabeth's granddaughter Mary, the older sister having managed to give rise to one generation more than her younger brother had done by then. It was only a casual reference, in some inherited papers, to the two families being cousins (of different surnames of course), that gave us the clue to follow this up.

I am particularly chuffed because the researcher said that the work I have been able to do using internet sources is very impressive. That is encouraging. I am afraid there are still a lot of questions I want answering, however, and some new ones, which I think I shall have to go back to Kendal for (and pay for).

Left to right: Jones Taylor; his son Harry; his grandson Michael (my husband).

Punch magazine

Lee commented on my last post that it was a pity Punch went belly up. I tried to remember just exactly when that was, and I couldn't. But not surprisingly there is a great Punch website with the full history of the publication and a whole gallery of cartoons, which is well worth looking at.

To paraphrase the introductory paragraph on the website: Punch, the magazine of humour and satire with an international reputation for its irreverent take on the world, was started in 1841 and lasted until 2002. It was a very British institution which gave us the cartoon as we know it today. Its political cartoons swayed governments while its social cartoons captured life in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was set up with a capital of £25 and was not an instant success, although eventually it enjoyed more than 100 years of popularity before beginning to decline in the 1980s. It closed down in 1992 but was relaunched in 1996 by Harrods proprietor, Mohamed Al Fayed, only to close again finally in 2002, leaving a legacy of over 160 years of humour and wit unsurpassed in publishing history.

Punch was the only magazine that my husband would read, and when it first closed down it was mourned by both of us. When it was relaunched it had changed its format and style and neither of us enjoyed it any longer, but felt that we had failed to move forward with it.

I am currently giving houseroom to seven bound volumes dating from 1884 to 1890, and several special issues and almanacks. As none of my sons seems to be interested in them, I may be lucky enough to keep them. Cartoon style has changed enormously in all these years - some of the old captions for instance are very long-winded, and the drawing tends to be much more elaborate and detailed. I think attention spans were longer in those days!

Oh yes, and a footnote which might interest Lee .....

The full name of Du Maurier, who drew the cartoon "True Humility" about the curate's egg which was excellent in parts, was George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier. His son was the actor Sir Gerald du Maurier, and his granddaughter Daphne du Maurier wrote best-selling novels. I had never associated the three names until yesterday.

[The cartoons are Punch copyright, and are reproduced here with the kind permission of Punch Ltd ]

More punches

Here is a cartoon drawn by du Maurier in 1888, the same artist who drew the "curate's egg" cartoon , entitled "True Humility", from which Lee took the title of his blog. The caption should be legible if you click and enlarge the picture, but in case you can't read it:

FOND AND FOOLISH
Edwin (suddenly, after a long pause). "Darling!"
Angelina. "Yes, Darling?"
Edwin. "Nothing, Darling. Only Darling, Darling!"
[Bilious Old Gentleman feels quite sick.]

The caption is part of my cultural heritage - I think my parents must have quoted it to each other often in their soppier moments!


This one I love particularly for the charicature of the 1920s styles, and the absurd posturing, both physical and verbal, of the shop assistant.

And how about the 'sugar daddy' in spats in the background, whom one can imagine being called upon to pay for the sorry remains of the obliging animal. I remember my grandmother's generation wearing fox furs - head, legs, tail and all, with glaring glassy eyes - draped around their necks, and there was one in my dressing-up chest for years, until I learned to dislike it and chucked it out.

Drawn by Beauchamp in 1929.



Assistant. "It suits Moddam perfectly. One would think the animal died for Moddam!"




[The cartoons are Punch copyright, and are reproduced here with the kind permission of Punch Ltd ]

'Punch' classics

I don't seem able to write at the moment, so here is a Fougasse cartoon published in Punch Magazine in 1931.

The caption reads:

DELIGHTS OF A HOTEL LOUNGE

"And what was it you said you were suffering from?"

And a story without words by J W Taylor

from 1951.

[The cartoons are Punch copyright, and are reproduced here with the kind permission of Punch Ltd ]

Climbing trees again

Quite an exciting day today. Stitchwort left me a comment on my last post, in which she told me about the website http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ (free births, marriages and deaths). As she said, they have got most of the General Register Office index transcribed and searchable without charge, and if you click on a "pair of spectacles" symbol you can see the scan of the original GRO page, and enlarge it enough to read the entry.

The entries are all post 1837, so they are a bit late for some of the enquiries I am making, but I was able to find the month and year of birth of my husband's father, which we hadn't known before, and it was quite a moving moment to bring up a photograph of the actual index page with the entry on it. Now I have to decide whether I want to pay for a copy of the birth certificate - probably not!




I found one or two other birth dates as well, but it is much easier where the person has an unusual name. My husband's father was Harry Fisher Taylor, and his brother Herbert Gate Taylor, so there was only one entry for each of them in the right place at the right time. I was not so lucky with the other two siblings, Frederick and Mary Isabel, as there were a number of entries to choose from for each. There's a peck of frustration for only a pinch of success in this game!

Climbing trees

Too old at 79? Don't you believe it. Though I must
confess that this is not the sort of tree climbing that I have lately been engaged in.

Mine has been a virtual ascent of the genealogical tree of my husband's forbears. When I realised that we didn't even know the name of my husband's paternal grandmother - (that is to say, one of the only two grandmothers that he had, was unknown to him!) - I thought I should attempt to do something about it.



A friend told me about the website http://www.familysearch.org/, where you can access the International Genealogical Index, and by filling in boxes with such information as you have about an ancestor, can search for him or her in this vast collection of data. It does not provide conclusive evidence, only clues to follow, and it is necessary to get access to original sources, such as parish registers etc, in order to establish the facts.

But it is a fascinating and compulsive pastime chasing back through the generations, and finding links, and filling in gaps. Only sometimes you find that you have followed a false trail, and, as I did for instance, put together a man and a woman as husband and wife, only to find the man would have been only 13 on the date of his marriage! So back you go and start again.

In the end I found it too difficult, and have sent off the data that I have to the appropriate County Records Office, with a request for them to do the research for me. Is it worth spending money to satisfy one's curiousity, I ask myself, but I know that having started the search, I could not let it go now. I'm stuck up the tree, and I need help to get down again!

Royal procession

Another great find amongst my husband's papers: a copy of The Bath Journal published on Monday, April 13th, 1789. The paper reports proceedings in the House of Lords, where the Lord Chamberlain announces that his Majesty King George III has appointed a day of public Thanksgiving, in recognition of his recovery from a recent illness, and that he and the Queen will go in procession to St Paul's to give thanks to Almighty God for his mercy.

Turning - (very carefully, for the ancient newsheet is extremely tattered and fragile) - to the advertisements on the back page, I found this:

LONDON, APRIL 11.
ADVERTISEMENT EXTAORDINARY

The proprietor of a large commodious house, most conveniently situated, for commanding a full view of the royal procession to St Paul's Cathedral, on the day of general thanksgiving, intends to let out places in his windows on the following terms, and under the following regulations, viz.

Ladies of middling sizes and under, to pay two guineas each. Ladies over the middling size, to pay five shillings per inch, for every inch exceeding twelve, in the diameter of their heads, or another part that must be nameless.

False rumps, false hips, full pockets, and every species of hoops, hats, caps, and bonnets, to be included in the mensuration.

Gentlemen at the same rates, and only to be admitted in the second rows.

Dapper beaus, petit maitres, and children, to be rated at half price as children.

Devourers of turtle, eaters of venison, and all other ladies or gentlemen with protuberant bellies, to pay double price.

N.B. For measuring the ladies, wo celebrated Men Milliners are provided, who will perform their duty with the strictest delicacy and decorum.
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I think it has to be a spoof, don't you? Although the fashions of the time would justify it. "Petit maitre" ~ two definitions from the web ~

The term arose before the Revolution, when a great dignitary was styled a grand-maître, and a pretentious one a petit-maître.

A fop; a lad who assumes the manners, dress, and affectations of a man.

More visual diversions

Elsie's sister Janet wrote articles for the papers, and amused herself also with child-like drawings which might have been used in a schoolroom - although I think this one is a cautionary tale for adults.

Friendship book ~ more pictures

Elsie had three sisters, and they could all draw or paint, and so could her daughter. Elsie's sister Mary passed on her talent to my husband, and our third son has inherited it too. Although it's only fair to say, my mother's grandmother, and her sister were artistic as well, so he gets it on both sides. And he's married an artist, so we expect a lot from from their son and daughter!

[NOTE : This picture has now been re- positioned so that it will enlarge, so the text can be read.]

Friendship book

Another find amongst my husband's papers: an autograph album - only that is far too boring a word for it - which belonged to his Aunt Elsie. The book is inscribed on the flyleaf: Elsie Burrow, from Mother and Father, Xmas 1889.

Many of the entries are copied poems and maxims, but for me the appeal is in the drawings and paintings, some of which have considerable merit and charm, and are most painstakingly executed.

I believe the end of the 19th century was the time of the Boer Wars, so this is probably a soldier of that time.






The pages of the album are coloured, and by some chance many of the best pictures are on grey pages, which is a pity. Here are two like that: a painting, and an incredibly neat and polished work in pen and ink with highlights in white paint.














I have redesigned this post with the pictures on the left, and it should now be possible to enlarge them for closer study, although they become so enormous that they then have to be looked at in small segments at a time!


















And finally a little cartoon-like drawing, to take us back into a long-ago baby's world. Corsets on babies? Please!



I am always astonished that people should undertake works of this kind straight onto the pages of an album, and get it right. There are a few (including the soldier) which have been worked elsewhere, then stuck in, but the majority of contributions have been made directly on to the page.

Old letters

Amongst my husband's papers I came across this letter written more than 200 years ago. I have copied the punctuation and spacing as nearly as I could, and used an 'f' to replace an 's' where double 'ss' occurs, as in the original. What I cannot copy is the perfectly aligned, regular, sloping script with elegant capitals and curlicues.

Leeds 10th June 1799.

Honored Parents,

The advanced period of the present half-year calls me to the Discharge of that Duty which your parental Care lays upon me. I trust I am fully sensible of your affectionate Kindnefs,in giving me so good an Opportunity of Improvement,and of qualifying myself to pafs through the various Duties of Society with Credit and Advantage. How far I have made a proper Use of these Privileges,my own performances and the Account of my Instructor will enable you to determine. I have applied to those branches of Education,which your Care pointed out as necefsary for the Line of Life in which I am likely to be placed: And moral Acquirements and useful Information have been carefully cultivated by Admonition and the perusal of such Books as have been put into my Hands.This specimen will show you what Improvement I have made in Writing;and I flatter myself that upon Examination,you will find me equally improved in every other Part of my Learning.Am desired to present respectful Compliments from Mr & Mrs Kemplay.I beg my Love to my Brother & Sister,and Respects to all where due.

With Gratitude & Duty I subscribe myself,
Honored Parents,
Your very affectionate Son,
John Linley

I can't help wondering if they are the young man's own words, or if perhaps he was taking dictation from his Instructor in Writing!

More retro fashions

Here are some more body-distorting fashions; these are taken from a souvenir programme for a Grand Church Bazaar held in Birmingham in 1905. This curious body shape, with bust thrust foward and the backside thrust backwards is, I think, what was known as 'the grecian bend'. Ladies accentuated it with high heels, but I doubt if the maids wearing these outfits did so. Can you imagine running up and down several flights of stairs, at the beck and call of your mistress, in a tightly corseted outfit such as this? Of course the advertiser's picture is idealised, and it seems unlikely to me that most hard working maids, or sensible women come to that, would impose this fashion on themselves in it's extreme forms. But it does make you understand why a couple of decades later women were going for the flat, straight look of the picture I posted here.

If you are interested, you can read more about these deformations of the body here on the Victoria and Albert Museum website.

Recipe Book - nearly 200 years old

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This has been fascinating to find out about. I had no idea who the Recipe Book belonged to, except that it had come to me via my Mum. The owner had not written her name inside, nor any dates. I was able to discover the approximate age of the book, however, as there were dates on some of the loose sheets inserted into it. The earliest of these, the recipe for Elder Wine at the foot of this post, is dated 1822. But far more exciting than that was finding the page of recipes below written for a child . Not only are they dated 1841 and 1843, but the second one is headed: "For Arthur Faraday 2 3/4 years". This meant that I could trace the child through the genealogy my brother is working on, and it turns out that he is my great great uncle; it seems a fair bet therefore that the book belonged to his mother, or that is, one of my great great grandmothers. What is more, it appears that her brother was a 'druggist' working in the Bull Ring in Birmingham, as his name and address are at the head of some of the loose recipes.

See text below

H.I.A. Letter July 5th 1841

For Baby - 5 mo's old

complaint Diarrhoea

first 2 grs Hydrargé Cretâ

afterwards

Prepared Chalk

Pow’d Gum Arabic

Pow’d Sugar of each 1 drachm

Water 4 oz

Ess peppermint 20 drops (3 drops of ours)

Laudanum 10 drops mixed

a tea spoonful 3 or 4 times a day

if the bowels be much relaxed – not otherwise -
……………………………………………………………………

For Arthur Faraday 2 ¾ years

Worm Powder

Rg Calomel 2 grs

Compound Powder Scammony 4 grs

in a powder – One every third morning in treacle

H I A Nov 7 - 1843