52 Ancestors challenge - Week 5 - Branching out

 

As you gain confidence with your family history research branching out into tracing other families which are connected in some way is inevitable.  We first start with looking at our fathers’ and mothers’ families, two families, then when we go back to grandparents, two more families to research, and so it continues continually increasing the further back we go in our family story.

If your family have been resident in a small town or village for many generations, you may find that there are multiple connections with your family over several generations.  Small communities can offer little opportunity for marriage, so some people venture further away, for work, or adventure and then you get branches of your family who live in another part of the county or country, or even abroad. 

What I find fascinating is the kinship networks which can become apparent by studying your family.  The more you delve, the more connections can be found – marriage, work, church or chapel or social activities. 

Since the 1970s, and perhaps more so now that more datasets and digital records are available to view online, connections with my families have become clearer, and in some cases have given me more leads to chase up.    

From my paternal Nickels family in Hertfordshire, London and Suffolk, UK I have now researched in some way the Sutch, Israel, Woodman, New, Dominy, Baker, Hunt, Fairhead, Borrett, Kemp, Bigsby, Boulton/Bolton, Fiske/Fisk and Colby families.

From my maternal Morgan family, mostly in north Hertfordshire and south Bedfordshire, since the 17^th century, I have also researched, Taylor, Cotton, Moules/Moles, the families of my Gt Grandparents – then with their ancestors also done some research on the Day, Muncey, Brown, Pratt, Rook, Dilley and Darton families.  Not all direct relatives but connected by marriage. 

Then, when we married we also researched my husband’s families – Tunesi, we have a One-Name Study registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies (GOONS), Whenmouth, Thomas, Wild, and in Scotland, as he is half Scots, we have researched his mother’s family of Dodds, Muir, Gibson and Ewing in Wigtownshire.  

Branching out of the main line of research with genealogy is inevitable.  Going down rabbit holes of collateral interest you may find treasure, but also the odd brick. 

'Auntie Polly with the Wooden Crutch' - 52 ancestors challenge - Week 4

Whilst researching your family tree there is usually one or two aspects of the story that are curious to you. Why did they move to a different place?  How did they meet? Who was she?  Where does she fit in?  Tales told by elderly relatives of their wider kinship networks can be both fascinating and frustrating to research.  Are those stories true or do you need to take them with a pinch of salt?

By nature, I’m nosy (or curious); traits which have helped me with my family history research.  I like to find out about those stories which are passed down by elderly relatives to see if there is any truth in them.  It is the thrill of the chase and trying to join the pieces of the family jigsaw together, the sense of achievement and in some cases the feeling of pride in the outcome.

For the #52ancestors challenge this week – meet my relative, ‘Auntie Polly with the Wooden Crutch’.

Whenever this particular lady came up in conversation amongst my Dad’s siblings there was curiosity about where she fitted in the family and also the inevitable snigger!  Whoever heard of a woman with a wooden crutch.  Rude children!

But what did we know about Auntie Polly? 

My Dad’s eldest sister Vi could remember her as the lady who came to help when her mother died in 1917.  There was some family relationship, but she didn’t really know where she fitted in.  She was called Auntie Polly and used a wooden crutch as a walking aid, hence her name recorded in family lore.  Vi was about 10 at the time.  

As my family history research got underway, I was introduced to my Dad’s cousins who were the children of his Auntie Gert.  Auntie Gert lived in Walsworth near Hitchin in Hertfordshire.  Gert was a younger sister of my grandfather.  My step-grandmother Meg evidently died at Auntie Gert’s house from a thrombosis.  She had been helping to peg out the washing and they were drinking a cup of tea together afterwards when she collapsed and passed away.   

I remember a lovely visit to speak with Cousin Ida when her eldest sister May was visiting from Australia.   May, being born in 1901, could remember more about my grandmother Alice, my great grandmother Elizabeth, and the mysterious Auntie Polly. I still have the handwritten notes I made after this visit, dated 24 July 1984, and have the photo I took of these elderly sisters, see below.

May candidly told me that she was born before her parents married.  Surely a taboo subject?

Once back in Australia she sent over a photocopy of her parents’ marriage certificate which she possessed. 

Gertrude Montjoy and Frank Pettengell were married by Licence at Willian in Hertfordshire on 2 March 1905.  May would have been 4 at the time.  On the certificate Gertrude stated that her father was called John Montjoy, a Master Mariner. 

May also remembered Auntie Polly from her visits to see the family and said that she was a companion to a Miss Stanton who was a schoolteacher in Bepton in Sussex, and said ‘Polly had a pointed nose, one eye which had a terrible squint and was very tiny’.  Not terribly flattering!

The surname Mountjoy however rang a bell.   

Great Grandmother Elizabeth was Elizabeth Mountjoy when she married my Great Grandfather Alfred John Nickels.  She was a widow and older than her new husband, although the age gap does differ from different census and certificates!  From further research she was 12 years older than Alfred John.  She had what is now known as a ‘toy-boy’.

Alfred John and Elizabeth had three children, Bessie, Kate, and Alfred Charles, all proudly inscribed in the family bible which I inherited from my Auntie Vi. 

The inscription in the Bible states ‘Elizabeth Mountjoy from Mrs Lach 30/8/72’ (or is it 3?) with the publication date of the Bible being 1870.  

It is clear then that the Bible had originally been owned by Great Grandmother Elizabeth, but the names of the children must have been added by Great Grandfather Alfred John, as the handwriting is different. Whether Elizabeth or Mrs Lach wrote the inscription is unclear.

Family lore also recited that Great Grandmother Elizabeth was originally an ‘Elizabeth Dominie’ from Poole in Dorset.  All well and good, but where did Auntie Polly fit in?  And where was Gert’s birth in the family bible? 

Auntie Polly evidently died in 1918 in the Union Infirmary, in other words the Workhouse, at Hitchin, Hertfordshire and was buried in the council cemetery.   When I extracted all the records for my family surnames from the burial books, in a very cold and damp cemetery chapel in the mid-1980s, not only did I check for my Mum’s family (Morgan, Moules, Cotton and Taylor), I also checked for Alfred John, Elizabeth and Polly who were all supposed to be buried there.  The Sexton showed me the actual plot for Elizabeth, alas just a patch of grass, a similar story for Alfred and Polly. 

Polly took some finding.  I had been told that she had died in 1918 so by searching through all the burials, I eventually found her buried as ‘Mary Mountjoy’.

Mountjoy again………

With the digitisation of census returns and parish registers available via www.ancestry.co.uk I have been able to track down where Auntie Polly fits in the family.

My great grandmother Elizabeth Mountjoy was a widow when she married my Great Grandfather Alfred John Nickels. They were married at St Stephen, Walworth on 3 May 1874.  Alfred John stated he was 25, a bachelor, a Plumber, living in Albany Road, his father being Charles Nickels, Publican.  Lizzie Mountjoy states she is aged 30, a widow, also living in Albany Road, her father being James Domney, deceased.  Both signed their names.¹  

From the 1881 Census return, the first one after they married, we find the family at 121 Hill Street, Newington, Surrey.

Alfred Nickels    Head  Mar  32       Plumber                           Suffolk   Orford

Lizzie Nickels     Wife   Mar       37                                          Dorset    Poole

Bessie Nickels    Dau                    6   Scholar                           Surrey    Newington

Kate Nickels        Dau                   5   Scholar                           Surrey    Newington

Alfred Nickels    Son              1                                                 Surrey    Newington

Mary Mountjoy Visitor              18   Dressmaker                      Dorset    Poole 

 

There she was, Mary Mountjoy, a visitor and born in Poole, Dorset, so I conjectured that she must be somehow connected with Elizabeth, who was also born in Poole.  

Jump 10 years to the 1891 Census, we find the family still living at 121 Hill Street, Newington, Surrey.

 

Alfred J. Nickels  Head  Mar  41          Plumber                                    Suffolk

Elizabeth   “         Wife   Mar         46                                                     Dorsetshire

Kate           “          Dau                    15                                                   London   Walworth

Alfred        “          Son             11                                                           London    Walworth

Mary Mountjoy   Visitor                25                                                     London    Walworth

Gertrude  “           Visitor                5                                                       London    Walworth

 

There is Mary Mountjoy, and a Gertrude Mountjoy, both visitors on census night.  Could this be Auntie Gert?

In 1901 we find the mysterious Mary Mountjoy living at 127 Lorrimore Road, Newington, Surrey.

Mary Mountjoy    Head   S      31      Linen Collar Maker                     Poole    Dorset

Alice Sutch             Visitor S      21      Linen Collar Maker                   London Newington

 

Interestingly, my grandmother Alice Sutch is visiting Mary on census night which implies that they were friends and from the census had the same job as a linen collar maker.     Alice would later in 1901 marry my grandfather, Alfred Charles Nickels.

‘Girty’ Nickels however is living with Alfred John and Elizabeth at The Fox pub in Willian, Hertfordshire.  She is described as a daughter, aged 15.  Alfred John is the publican.

In 1911 we find Mary Mountjoy in Bepton in Sussex.  

Rosa Standen    Head    51  Single    Elementary School Teacher    West Sussex County                             Council   Worker   Kent    Sydenham

Mary Elizabeth Mountjoy  Servant   49   Single    Housekeeper (Domestic)    Dorset    Poole

 

Bepton had come up before when talking with cousin’s Ida and May in 1984.     Mary was living with a Miss Standen in Bepton, as a housekeeper. 

Mary Elizabeth Mountjoy, born in Poole.  Elizabeth Nickels formerly Mountjoy also born in Poole.  There had to be a connection!

On a holiday in Dorset in the 1990s we visited the Dorset Record Office and located the first marriage of my Great Grandmother Elizabeth.  

She had married a John Mountjoy at St James, Poole on 29 December 1857.    John Mountjoy was aged 23, a mariner and lived in Lagland Street, Poole.  His father was John Mountjoy, a seaman.  His bride was Elizabeth Dominey, aged 20, a spinster, living in Baiter.  Her father was James Dominey, a Coal Metre. 

On 11 March 1859 their daughter Mary Elizabeth was baptised at St James, Poole. 

It now became clear that Mary Mountjoy and Polly Mountjoy were one and the same person.  Polly can be used as a diminutive of Mary.  She was the daughter of my Great Grandmother Elizabeth from her first marriage.  

But who was Gertrude?

On her marriage certificate of 2 March 1905 at Willian, Hertfordshire, Gertrude Montjoy was stated to be the daughter of John Montjoy, Master Mariner.   She is stated to have been 21 years old.   

After much searching in the registers of birth at St Catherine’s House we eventually found the right birth.  Ethel Gertrude Mountjoy was born on 2 July 1885 at 121 Hill Street, Walworth, the daughter of Mary Mountjoy, a Dressmaker.   No father noted on the certificate, so Gert was illegitimate.    She was registered on 12 August 1885 by her mother, Mary Mountjoy, living at 121 Hill Street.  121 Hill Street was the home of the Nickels family in the 1881 and 1891 census.

Gert was brought up as a sister to Bessie, Kate, and Alfred Charles, when she was in fact a step niece.  Because of the way she was brought up, she was always known as Auntie Gert by my dad and his siblings.  The generations were thrown out of sync when Elizabeth had her first child when she was 23 and her last when she was 46, with an illegitimate grandchild thrown into the mix.   It is good to know that Gert was not abandoned, but just added to the young Nickels family and brought up with them.  Even at her marriage her illegitimacy was masked by putting her grandfather's name in the place of a non existent father.

Subsequent research has revealed that Elizabeth Mountjoy nee Dominy was widowed soon after Mary Elizabeth (Polly) was born when her husband John Mountjoy was lost at sea. 

Two-year-old Mary Mountjoy is found living with her grandmother and her aunts and uncles in Pile Court, Poole in the 1861 census whilst her mother Elizabeth, a widow at 23, is at Murmor House, Lytchett Matravers, Dorset, a servant in the household of Edward Blunt, a clergyman and perpetual curate of Lytchett Minster.  As a servant Elizabeth would have been unable to have her daughter with her so left her with her mother.  

                                                    © https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/828

In the 1871 census, Mary is living with her aunt, Mary Ann Wills and her young family at Baiter, Poole. Mary Ann is Elizabeth’s younger sister.   Mary is 12 and described as a niece, a scholar.   Mother Elizabeth is by this time living elsewhere, I suspect if not in London, half-way there.    The identity of Mrs Lach, if it can be found, may provide a clue – the inscription in the Bible is dated 1872 or 73, she may have been Elizabeth’s employer.

One presumes that Elizabeth and Mary kept in touch and were reunited in London in the early 1870s. Gert was born at the family home and brought up within the family unit.  Perhaps Elizabeth regretted having to farm Mary out with relatives when young whilst she was working in Dorset and the subsequent move to London.  She did not have much choice in having to work as a young widow and must have been thankful for the support of her family, even if she had to pay them board and lodging for Mary.

So, Auntie Polly, you were the eldest daughter of my Great-Grandmother Elizabeth.  You were brought up with the families of a grandparent and aunt for the first dozen years of your life.  By 18 you are reunited with your mother in London, with her new husband and young family.  You had an illegitimate daughter, Gert, when you were in your early 20s who was brought up as a younger sibling of my Grandfather and his other two full sisters, Bessie and Kate (who died when she was 15).  You continued to work as a dressmaker, or linen collar maker, in London and eventually became a housekeeper to a schoolmistress is Sussex.  Your daughter Gert, living with the family in Hertfordshire, subsequently also had an illegitimate daughter, May, and seven other children who in turn had issue themselves.  You came to Letchworth to help your mother, Elizabeth, with her 6 young grandchildren when their mother, my grandmother Alice, died in 1917.  I suspect you were not well then but came to help anyway.  You died from cancer in 1918 and were buried in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

‘Auntie Polly with the wooden crutch’, you had a challenging life – I would have loved to have got to know you.

Notes

1.      1. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P92/STE1/013 via Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1936 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. [last accessed 23/01/2022]

52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 3 - Favourite Photo

 

Now this is a difficult one! I have over the years been given many family photographs, some dating back to the late 1800s, so I have a gorgeous collection, so choosing my favourite is going to be a challenge.

 

Do I pick the photo because it is of a favourite relative, a special occasion, the fashions, or the story associated with it? A conundrum.

After thinking about the theme for this week I have decided to choose a photo of my Granddad Morgan, the only grandparent I knew. The photo was taken by my cousin’s husband on Granddad’s 88th birthday in 1977, coincidentally about the same time that I really got interested in recording my family tree. My Granddad had no teeth and I had been told that they had been shot out during the First World War.

My Granddad, William Henry Morgan, was born on 8 September 1889 in Charlton, a hamlet near Hitchin in Hertfordshire, UK.  He was the elder son of Harry and Emma / Emily Morgan. He was baptised on 24 June 1891 in Hitchin. His younger brother Ernest Arthur was born in 1892.

In the 1891 census William appears with his parents living in Charlton.  Harry is a Labourer and Emily a Housewife.  Little Will is aged 1.

Willie Morgan from Charlton attended the British School in Hitchin, which is now a unique museum - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Schools_Museum. 

In the 1901 census he is living with his parents, Harry & Emily in Charlton.  Harry was described as a Drayman (brewers).

After he left school at 12 Will was apprenticed to a butcher in Hitchin.  From other photographs I have inherited he was also a footballer in his spare time, playing for St Johns, 1911-12 and also H.W.F.C. 1912-13. 

 In the 1911 Census he is living with his parents at Charlton.  Father Harry was a Mineral Water Maker employed at a hotel, with William and Ernest both being Butcher Salesman at a Meat Purveyor.  Mother Emma has no occupation noted.  Will’s parents had been married for 22 years and had just the two children, Will aged 21 and Ernie aged 18.

Will married Sarah (Sally) Taylor on 29^th January 1912 at Hitchin Register Office, with their eldest daughter, Violet Winifred making her appearance on 16^th February!   She was closely followed by Dorothy May (always known as Cis) in 1913, Ernest Arthur (always known as Son) in 1915, Daisy Lillian (Babs) in 1919, Eva Joan (my Mum) in 1925 and Jean Elizabeth in 1928. 

The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 – 15 saw younger brother Ernie volunteer for the front in the Bedfordshire Regiment before he was transferred to the East Surrey Regiment.  He was sadly shot by a sniper about 8 / 9 November 1915 and died of wounds at Poperinge shortly afterwards.  He is buried at Reninghelst New Military Cemetery, Poperinge in Belgium.  He was evidently a tall strapping lad, the opposite to my rather small Granddad.  But that is another story.

Will, as a married man with three children, was called up on 29 May 1915.  He first joined the 4^th Battalion the Bedfordshire Regiment before being transferred the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment in 1916 and to the Manchester Regiment later the same year.  He was promoted to Corporal in 1917 and Sergeant in 1918.  He served in France and Italy and was eventually invalided out in 1919.   Granddad gave me his Manchester Regiment cap badge.

I have been lucky enough to locate via www.ancestry.co.uk his Service Records which made for very interesting reading and proved some of the stories I had been told about his time as a soldier.    

Granddad was called up on 29 May 1915 and joined the 4^th Battalion the Bedfordshire Regiment on 5^th June.  He was then transferred to the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment on 26^th June 1916 and posted to France.  He was transferred to the Manchester Regiment on 28 September 1916 and was promoted to Corporal on 16 October 1917 and Sergeant on 11 September 1918.  He served ‘at home’ from 19 May 1915 until 10 June 1916 and was then posted to Italy and France from 1 July 1917 until 13 October 1918 and Home again from 14 October 1918 until 5 April 1919 when he was deemed no longer fit for service.  He was discharged from the 10^th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment on 5 April 1919. The records state that he suffered a gun-shot wound to neck and face with a fracture to his jaw.  He was wounded on 4 or 5 May 1918.  The records also state that he had 50% disablement and was entitled to a War Pension of 16s 4d.  Regimental No 44421.  Will was living at 62 London Road, Hitchin at this time so had returned from hospital.

Granddad gave me his Silver War Badge and I inherited Granddad’s First World War medals, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal, from my cousin.

After the War Granddad did not go back to being a butcher.  Maybe it was too much after the horrors he had seen. Alternatively, there may have been a scarcity of work in Hitchin for Butchers. He inter-war years were difficult for those returning home from the War with lack of employment opportunities and the adjustment to home life.

Granddad was employed by the Great Northern Railway (1921 census) and London, North Eastern Railway (1939 register) as a Plate Layer until retirement.  He lived in the family home in Hitchin Hill Path until the last few years of his life, when he spent time with each of his children on a rota basis.

The house at Hitchin Hill Path had a scullery with a copper, a kitchen with a range and a front room. There was also a cellar where I used to venture with Granddad to get a little ‘nor’ carrot from the veg kept there which he peeled especially for me.  Granddad had an allotment in Charlton where he grew veg to feed his family. On the first floor, accessed by a narrow staircase, there was the room where Granddad slept and another room which was the one used by Uncle Son, all the 5 girls were on the top floor, accessed by a further staircase, in one large room with several beds.  Goodness knows how they all ate at the one table in the front room – I guess in sittings!  Bathing was done once a week in a tin bath in front of the range with the toilet being outside in the yard, next to another one for the family next door.

I fondly remember sitting in front of the coal fire at Hill Path, on a hassock, the covering of which had been made for one of my Mum’s hats.  Here Granddad told me the stories of what he had done in the War, how he was blown up and came round in a shell hole crater, eating bully beef and sleeping standing up.  My Granddad had no teeth and did not or could not wear dentures - I expect the nerve endings were still in his jaws where his teeth had been shot out. He could never eat ice cream without ‘warming it up’ first.  I used to love my chats with him by the fire and eating the lemon puff biscuits from the biscuit tin that was brought out when Mum and I visited him.  Happy times.

Old habits die hard, and Granddad always had boots that he polished until he could see his face in them.  He always said goodbye to me by palming me a 5p piece and shaking my left hand with his as well as a kiss which tickled as he had a moustache.  He always smelt of Wright’s Coal Tar soap, a very reminiscent smell for me.

My Granddad died on 1^st March 1978 at the age of 88 at my Auntie Vi’s house and is buried at the council cemetery in Hitchin in the same grave as my grandmother, Sally, who died in 1967.

52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 2 - Favourite Find

 

When it comes to family history, finding that elusive marriage or finally locating your relatives in a census or parish register can be exhilarating and worthy of a ‘high five’ but sometimes it is something else that is a favourite find.  It could be a postcard of a town high street with your relative’s shop in full view, finding a photograph of a relative attached to an online family tree, or finding a mention in a newspaper.  Or it could be something more tangible, like my own favourite find.

When I started to research my family history, way back in the 1980s, one of the ancestors that caught my imagination was one of my great-grandfather’s on my paternal side of the family, Henry Alfred (Harry) Sutch¹ born in London (UK) in 1857.  I had always been told that he was a music hall performer and also composed music.

Some of my Dad’s Sutch relatives were musicians and performers, both amateur and professional. His Aunts Nellie and Rose played the piano for the silent films, Ada was a dancer, while Uncle Fred was a whistler, Uncle Harry jnr was a composer (Forgive and Forget and Don’t Bid Me Goodbye) and cousin Dolly ran The Robert Layton Agency.  There was also another cousin, Lee Sutton, who was a drag artiste, who died of a heart attack at Danny La Rue’s Walton Hall Hotel.   Such are the tales I was told from a young age.

In the 1980s some of the Aunties were still alive.  My parents and I met Auntie Ada, who still regularly played the piano for the ‘old folks’ at a community centre near her home in Camberwell.  Auntie Ada gave me one of my most treasured family possessions, the band parts of the songs which she performed, many of which were written by her father and brother. Through Auntie Ada, my Dad also met for the first time cousin Dolly and renewed contact with cousin Florrie, who had been a nurse. 

Cousin Dolly owned a scrapbook, which she very kindly let me photocopy, which is full of family information about  Dolly’s brother, Leslie, who was a blind pianist and composer (Ninette and Holiday of the Toys) and her cousin, Lily Sutch, who was in Tod Slaughter’s theatre company.  There are also many newspaper cuttings about her Granddad, Harry. 

The scrapbook gives tantalising clues about his career on the halls as a double act with his brother and later as a well-respected pianist for charity events, playing for residents at Brinsworth House in Twickenham, Middlesex, the home for retired variety artistes, and for other clubs and societies in the South London area.  There is also a tiny real, very faded, photo of Prince, the champion soldier dog, who was an integral part of the Sutch Brothers N****r Minstrel and Performing Dog Act.

Amongst other family papers given to me by cousin Florrie there was an undated programme from the Brighton Aquarium with Harry Sutch in the ‘Celebrated IDK Minstrels’, a photo of a minstrel troupe, and a programme from a Theatrical Garden Party in 1913 at which Harry Sutch was the pianist. 

The music halls and artistes intrigued me and became a topic of interest, research and eventually performance.  I joined the British Music Hall Society and attended their music hall weekends, taking part in the ‘Members Music Hall’ performances.  I also performed locally raising funds for charities and in London, at the CAA and Hoxton Hall, singing the songs of Marie Lloyd, Vesta Victoria and my speciality siffleuse song, The Whistling Bowery Boy.  

I have found over 100 references to Henry A. Sutch / Harry Sutch in The South London Press, The Era, The Stage and The Daily Herald by using the British Newspaper Archive via www.findmypast.org.uk.  Some are advertisements, for example, ‘Mr Henry Sutch, Quadrille pianist and accompanist, acknowledged as one of the best pianists in South London……’, whilst others are reports of performances he was involved in from the 1870s to 1930s.

Harry’s family lived in Avery Row, Westminster in a house of multiple occupation in the census returns of 1861 and 1871, and in Marylebone in 1841 and 1851.

In the 1870s, he and his brother George were successful as The Brothers Sutch, appearing in music halls in London and the provinces as this advertisement from The Era of 17 Jan 1875, illustrates. There is a similar one is Cousin Dolly’s scrapbook. 

 Henry Alfred Sutch and Jane Matilda Woodman were married in 1877² and they had 10 children all of whom lived to adulthood.   After his marriage Harry and Jane moved to Lambeth and Newington in South London where they raised their large family.

Harry must have ‘settled down’ after his marriage and with his ever-increasing family needed to have a regular income, so a piano tuner by day and tickling the ivories all over South London by night!

In the 1880s-1900s, he was a pianist / accompanist at the popular concerts at The Horns in Kennington, concerts for The Queen’s Regiment, and for many other events in the South London, and for the ‘Old Folks’ dinners at Brinsworth House.   A report in The Era of 11 January 1928 states that ‘Mr Harry Sutch, for the twenty-first time, acted as an efficient accompanist’.  

In the South London Press, 3 March 1895 an article states that ‘Mr Henry A. Sutch has resided in South London for 18 years.  His popularity shows no signs of easing, for he has over 100 engagements this season. Mr Sutch has had the usual ‘ups and downs’ of the profession.  He made a start in life as a pianist at the old Temperance Hall in Dudley Street, Seven Dials, and he could a tale unfold of the early days of many stars of to-day’.  I will have to find out more about the Temperance Hall in Dudley Street.  

Harry was a composer of some published, many unpublished, tunes and songs, some of which are in the band parts given to me by Auntie Ada dating from when she was a ‘Serio and Dancer’³.  Most of the music is handwritten.

I have recordings of all the music, but I wish I had the words too!  Unfortunately, Auntie Ada could not remember many of the words but still remembered parts of some of the tunes and proudly stated she played the cornet at the beginning of ‘Terry, my Territorial’.

But the most interesting item I have discovered in a newspaper so far is an article from The Daily Herald, 9 January 1939. 

Harry died in April 1939, shortly after this newspaper article appeared.  My Dad and his sister Nellie could remember when the newspaper came out and how proud they were of seeing Granddad Sutch’s picture.  You get a flavour of the man from that opening quote.  What a character!  I do wish I had met him. 

But what of my favourite find, apart from finding a wealth of information from newspapers about my ancestor? 

You may remember that Harry was a composer, with some of his musical compositions actually being published.

On looking on the popular auction site Ebay I was delighted to find an original copy of Harry’s music called the The Queen’s Barn Dance (Francis, Day & Hunter, 1897), dedicated to Col. F. W. Haddan V.D. 4^th Vol^r Battⁿ “The Queen’s” (Royal West Surrey Regiment).

From my research he also seems to have had published three other compositions, La Cygne - Valse (c.1894), Our Little Darlings – Schottische (c1892) and The Cricket Bat Polka (c.1892) which was dedicated to W.G. Grace.  I wonder if I will find any more.

A copy of the ‘dots’ of The Cricket Bat Polka has so far proved elusive.  There is an illustration of the front cover in A Song for Cricket by David Rayven Allen (Pelham Books, 1981) but I have so far been unsuccessful in tracking a copy down for my family archive. 

 

Notes

1.       GRO Birth. 1857, Sep Qtr  Sutch, Henry Alfred  St Geo Hanover Sq, 1a 181.  [Copy Birth Certificate. 13 June 1857 at 13 Avery Row, New Bond Street, Henry Alfred, Boy, son of Henry Sutch & Eliza Sutch formerly Israel. Journeyman Shoemaker.  Informant: Eliza Sutch, Mother, 13 Avery Row, Bond Street, Twenty fifth July 1857].

2.       1877, July 15.  Henry Alfred Sutch, a bachelor, of full age, a Musician, living at 10 Avery Row, son of Henry Sutch, a Bootmaker.  Jane Matilda Woodman, a spinster, of full age, also of 10 Avery Row, daughter of Henry Woodman, a Butcher.  Both signed their names.  The witnesses were a Henry Sutch and Jane Woodman. 

3.       I have the Band parts for Pianoforte, 1^st Violin, 2^nd Violin, Bass, Trombone, Cornet, Euphonium, Flute, Clarinet & Drums.  The songs are titled ‘Maudie’ the Flower Girl (by Henry A. Sutch), Oh you are a Saucy Girl – Romp Song (by Henry A. Sutch), Go’way from Idaho (Music Henry A. Sutch, Words H. S. Sutch), The Darktown Cakewalk (by Edward Hesse), ‘Frisco’ -  Dance,  2 step (by Frank Brockett), Go’way Mr Jackson Please (by Henry A. Sutch), Hope for the Best or There Yet May Be Sunshine (by Henry A. Sutch), Don’t Bid me Goodbye (by H. S. Sutch), I’m Your Little Girlie, I am (by H.S. Sutch), You’re a Nice sort of Fellow (by H. S. Sutch), We’ll Stick to the Ship, Dad (By H.S. Sutch), Will You ever learn to love me? (by H. S. Sutch), Judy’s Wedding (by Bert Wilkes), My Drummer Boy, ‘Terry’, my Territorial (by H.A. Sutch).  There is also a list of the songs sung by Fred Garrick, Ada’s brother, who was a whistler.

 

 

 

 

 

 

52 Ancestors challenge - Week 1 - Foundations

What are the foundations of tracing your family tree?  A desire to find out where you come from, to learn more about your relations and the places they lived in, what they did for a living or just being plain nosy?  For me, back in the 1970s, it was a school project to tie in with HM The Queen’s Silver Jubilee and the knowledge that my paternal grandmother would have been 100 if she had lived. 

I was lucky as most of my aunts and uncles were still alive and I spoke to them all to glean little bits of family information, photographs, and reminiscences. 

I only had one grandparent still alive, my Mum’s Dad, a veteran of the First World War, who used to tell me stories of bully beef, tea and being blown up and lying in a shell hole crater, stories which my Mum and her siblings had heard may times before.  Me, being the youngest grandchild, lapped them up.  I was also reverently told about Granddad’s younger brother Ernie, whose photo was on the wall directly in front of Granddad’s chair at his home, who was killed.   I was the recipient of Ernie’s medals and scroll, a very precious family treasure, given to me by Granddad.  Uncle Ernie will never be forgotten – I always look for his name on the Hitchin War Memorial when we visit the town. My Mum’s Mum, Nana Morgan, died when I was 2 years old, so I have no real recollection of her, apart from a lady in a bed.  She had been bedridden since a stroke several years before.

Mum always told me that a person is never forgotten if their name is remembered and stories about them handed down to the next generation.  This has stuck with me throughout my years of family history research. 

My Mum and her siblings could remember their grandparents well, as could some of my cousins.  I was also lucky that on various trips to the local council Cemetery in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, Mum pointed out to me the gravestones of her grandparents’ parents.  I can still find them.

My Dad’s sisters were also very helpful with their side of the family.  Both my grandparents had died before I was born, and most of my uncles.  My Dad’s Mum had died when he was only 11 months old, so his eldest sister, Vi, was very special to him as she had really brought up the family until she married. 

Me, being the youngest grandchild, somewhat mucked up the generations with some of my cousins 30+ years older with children older than me.  This however could be an advantage as I could gather first-hand knowledge of people who had died long before I was born.  By this method of talking to relations, such as my grandparents’ cousins, I came to learn about the characters of my Great Grandparents on both sides of the family.  It is all well and good researching dates of birth, baptism, marriage/s, death, and burial, but to put flesh on the bones of your ancestors, the anecdotes, descriptions and stories about the person make them come alive, and seeing a photograph, if you are lucky enough to be shown or inherit one.

Family knowledge passed down through the generations is a good starting point for any research. 

With my Mum’s family I was fortunate as they were resident in the same locality in Hertfordshire back to Gt-Gt Grandparents, and, as I have subsequently found out, many generations further back. 

With my Dad’s family, who had lived in Hertfordshire since the late 1890s and been one of the pioneer families living in Letchworth, the World’s First Garden City, their story took me back to London and then to Suffolk.  I was a family mantra that we were descended from ‘Charles and Betsey Nickels from Orford in Suffolk’. 

Stories of my ancestors, the publicans, the agricultural labourers, the mariners, plumbers, and music hall artistes fired my imagination and was the impetus to start researching the family in more depth.  Were those stories correct or ‘embroidered’!  There’s always more to find out.

The 1970s is a long time ago and the ways in which we research has changed, but the methodical way of proving each part of the story have not.  Work backwards from yourself, ‘proving’ each step by way of documentary evidence, photographs and stories which can be researched further by using the internet, talking to your relations, and joining relevant groups specialising in family and local history.

Family history is personal but also inclusive.  Everyone’s family has a story to tell.  For some it is easy, for some hard, for some of what you find out about your ancestors and relatives’ lives is difficult to digest with a 21^st century mind.  Lives were different in the last and proceeding centuries.  Rising up, or sliding down, the social scale, better education and emancipation could alter the fortunes of families, especially in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  Where your family lived and the occupations open to them, or lack of same, could be the reason why people moved, as my family did from Suffolk to London in the 19^th century.  Some stayed put, with the family links being maintained over many generations in different parts of the country.  There was still a genuine fear of ending up in the Workhouse for my Mum’s parents’ generation, with her older relations refusing to go into the local cottage hospital as it was in the same building as the Workhouse. 

Memories can colour family history, for good or ill.  An impression of a person can be different within a family group and generations.  My paternal grandfather, who I never knew, was a strict father to his 8 children, but this attitude may have been coloured by his own upbringing.  We learn from our parents, or carers.   From the photographs I have of this grandfather I get the impression he was a hard-working man with responsibilities, who looks likeable, and a ‘spitting image’ of my own father. 

My Aunts found him harsh - woe betide you if you were late home!  The children were beaten with a leather belt with a buckle for their flouting of his ‘rules’.  He had a hard life.  Born in London in 1880, he had two older full sisters, one of whom died at 17, and a much older half-sister who produced an illegitimate daughter who was brought up as his younger sister. A Plumber, like his Dad. Widowed with 6 children during the first world war when he was working in the North, his elderly mother and half-sister helped with the children after his first wife’s death.  In 1919 he married again, a lady he had met in Sunderland, who was not popular with his 6 children.  There were two further children before he was again widowed in the early 1920s.  His eldest son was killed riding his motorbike when a horse was spooked, ran into the road, and trod on Alf’s head. My Dad hated motorbikes. Granddad married for a third time late in life to ‘The Duchess’, a widow with 10 children who he had known for years. 

His eight children, from both marriages, did well.  They had trades or their own businesses, or in the case of the girls married well and happily. By the time he died in 1957, he would have seen many changes in his long life, from birth and early working life in London, moving to Letchworth to help build the Garden City, and seen a flourishing family, despite the difficult times and heartbreak.  I didn’t know him so cannot really judge, but I think I would have liked him.

The foundation of any family history research is gathering all the information you already have, then going from the known to the unknown.   First, talk to your relatives.  See if they have any certificates or other family papers to help you in your search. A photograph can speak a thousand words - ask older relatives if they have pictures of their parents, or grandparents.  Ask them, who are the people, what event was it, where was it.    It is all a jig-saw puzzle, some bits will remain blank for years, whilst other bits slot in easily. 

It is the thrill of the chase.   Are you ready to start your family history journey?