13 December 2015

Alma May Lee 1911-1995

 
Further to my previous 2009 article on Alma May Lee Brody here, I now have further information on her after finding mention of her marriage in Australia.
 
alma-brody-front-edited
alma-may-lee-back
I had originally thought her name was Alma May Lee Brody but now I see a full stop after the words Lee and Brody, so it seems her maiden name was Lee and her married name was Brody.
First I found mention of an Alma May Lee marrying Robert James Brody in 1941 in Victoria, Australia:-
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I searched the Australian Electoral Rolls on ancestry.com.au and found them both living at various addresses in Wannon, Hamilton, Victoria between the years 1942 and 1980.

I also found them in one family tree on ancestry which told me Robert was born c1916 and died 1975, Alma was born c1911 and died c1995. Robert’s parents were Ellery James Brody and Agnes Mathieson Paton and I found his birth registration. Alas, no such luck with Alma so I’m not sure if she was born in Australia or not, possibly one of these birth registrations in Victoria:-
 
 
I gather from the family tree on ancestry that they had two daughters and one son, all still living so hopefully one of them or their children will find this post and contact me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the LEE or BRODY families please do contact me, I would love to pass the photo onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.
 
Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

13 June 2015

Sarah Ann Botham 1859-1932

s-a-botham-1903-filtered 

Sarah Ann Botham is the only S A Botham I can find living in (or near) Stockport in the 1901 census, as to whether this photo is her is anyone’s guess.

Sarah Ann was the eldest of the seven children of Charles Entwistle Botham and Elizabeth née Faulkner, she was born on 6 Jul 1859 and baptised 14 Aug 1859 in the Hazel Grove Non-Conformist Chapel:-

baptism1 baptism2

Sarah Ann is found living at home with her parents at various addresses in Hazel Grove cum Bramhall up until the 1911 census when she is living with her brother, Henry Brant Botham, at Bank Farm in Chapel en le Frith in Derbyshire. She was a spinster when she died on 22 Nov 1932 aged 73, she was living at Black Brook in Chapel en le Frith, probate of her will went to her younger brother Isaac Botham. Both of her parents had died in 1907 within a few months of each other.

sarah-probate

References: ancestry.com.au; FreeBMD; familysearch.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the BOTHAM family please do contact me, I would love to pass the photo onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

11 June 2015

First Intake of Post Women, Wellington 1942

John sent me another one of his family photos dated 1942, the first intake to train ‘postwomen’ at the GPO in Wellington.
To make up for the male labour shortage during WW2 legislation was passed to allow women to be trained, for the first time, as ‘postwomen’.

post-office-women post-office-women-back
Apart from Joy Nelson we have no idea just which face belongs to which name:-
Joy Nelson - Whangarei - Front Row, 3rd in from right
M J Rolston - Levin
J E Oliver - Auckland
M K Green - Parangahau
B Sykes - Upper Hutt
H M Golley - Ormondville, Hawkes Bay
P W Seerup - Ohura
Evelyn McDonald - Te Puke
Helen McCaw - Waitahuna
Marcia Bacon - Wellington
P Barrow - Foxton
A Satherley - Seddon
D R Davies - Hastings
B Bird - Richmond
N Devoy - Thames
M Meehan - Ongarue
Betty Morrisey? – Greymouth
post-office-women-left post-office-women-right
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are related to any of the women and would like a digital copy of the photo please contact me.
This is ALL we know about them, we have no other information sorry.
Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

Edmund Alexander May 1850-1912

edmund-alexander-may

Edmund Alexander May was the Rector of Mudford in Somerset. I’m pretty sure that’s a dog collar he has on, what looks like a tie is just the inside of the collar of his coat.

Edmund was the first of fifteen children born to Edmund May and his wife Mary Elizabeth Waugh, Edmund was the Rector of St George’s Church in Stamford, Lincolnshire where Edmund Alexander was born in 1850, he was baptised there on the 2nd April.

Edmund Alexander married Frances Eleanor Shorland in 1878 and they had two sons, Alexander Douglas 1880-1889 and Arthur Edmund born in 1884. In 1911 Arthur was in the Asylum listed as a ‘lunatic’ since the age of 21, he was 27, I was unable to find out what happened to Arthur after that. Frances died aged 52 in 1901 and Edmund Alexander in 1912, it seems there won’t be any further descendants for them.

References: ancestry.com.au; FreeBMD; familysearch.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the MAY family please do contact me, I would love to pass the photo onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

09 June 2015

AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL ‘TRAFFIC OFFICERS’ - 1935

John sent me this wonderful photograph from his family collection, he thought there might be other descendants of the men who might not have seen it before. He has included the names that he knows and if you recognise any of the ‘unknown’ men please leave a comment.

1935-traffic-officers-1500

Back row from the left:–
Unknown, Sgt Joe Blazey, Dave Ross, Bert Fleet, Darby Rhyme, Tom Rieman, Tom Bottrel, Ben Rutledge, Jim Walsh, Lou Midgley, Richard Hall, Jim Fish, Ned Scholes, George Orr, George Chandler.

Front row from left:–
Ted Finney, Walter Marshall, Don Guilford, Sgt Charlie Wooton, Sgt Don Macnaughtan, Sgt Jim MacDonald, Sgt Cecil Bland, Fred Heskith (Town Clerk), Don Shaw, Jim Scott, Unknown,  Arthur Stephenson, Unknown, Spud Murphy.

The first ‘Officer’s Warrants’ were issued in 1933.  Later, there was also the ‘George Hunter Warrant’.

Below I’ve enlarged portions so you can see their faces clearly, starting at the left.

leftone two three four fiveright

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are related to any of the men and would like a digital copy of the photo please contact me.

This is ALL we know about the men, we have no other information sorry.

Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

02 June 2015

Lily Matthews of Staindrop, Durham

lily-matthews-round2

lily-matthews-back

This photo is another one that I found in the Hawera Antique shop, the names on the back are written in the same tiny handwriting as the other photos, mainly of the Spence family posted in a previous post.

I found the following Lily Matthews who had a sister named Ethel living in Staindrop, Durham in the 1911 census, she is just a few years older than Eric Marmaduke Spence’s wife Sarah Lillian (née Alderson), so I think if they aren’t related they were probably friends in Durham before the Spence’s emigrated to NZ. The message is why I thought Sarah Lillian might have been known as Lily.

Lily Matthews was born 1892 in New Raby, Staindrop, Durham, the daughter of James Matthews and Mary Ann née Hugill. She is living with her parents in New Raby in the 1901 & 1911 census, that’s all I know about her because with such a common surname it’s hard to know for sure if any of the marriages and/or deaths after that are hers.

Lily had nine siblings all born between 1879 & 1898, they are:- George, Sarah Ann, Edith, Mary, Rose, Jim, Maggie, Minnie & Ethel.

As to whether the Lily Matthews I found is the right one remains to be seen!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the MATTHEWS family please do contact me, I would love to pass the photos onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

The SPENCE Family of Cockfield in Durham

The next group of photos I picked up from the Hawera Antique shop all come from the same family.

The Spence family originated in Cockfield and son Eric Marmaduke emigrated to NZ sometime before 1969 when I found him & his wife living in Whakatane, he had married Sarah Lillian Pearl Alderson in 1920 in Durham.

Eric Marmaduke Spence was born on the 9 Oct 1896 in Cockfield, Durham to parents John Spence and Hannah née Dent, he had ten siblings with wonderful names like Methuna May, Osbourne Wycliffe, Mena Leucadia & Eldred John, a dream for anyone researching them. Unfortunately there wasn’t a photo of Eric but there was one of his three daughters & possibly his wife Sarah, she may have been known as Lily:-

mary-mandell-front

mary-mandell-back-small

   

Eric & Lily’s three daughters were – Catherine Lillian Pearl, Elsie & Ivy. I presume the names on the back were written by one of them which means Mam is Lily. So far I’ve had no luck in pinning down Mary Mandell, still working on her.

There were also three other photos of the girls taken at various times, two perhaps on the same day and all by the same photographer – Pictorial Studios in Redcar and Whitby.   ivy-or-who-spence-frontcatherine-spence-front

   

ivy-spence-frontivy-spence-back  

Ivy is the one holding the chair, it is dated 6 Aug 1937 on the back, the other two don’t have names on them although there is a date stamp which is faded but looks like 17 Aug 1936 or 1938. According to a few trees on ancestry Catherine died in Brisbane, Australia in 2003, she had married three times and had two children, Patricia Lillian Cody 1944-1997 and Peter Eric Cody 1947-2005.

Elsie married John Newton in 1947 in Durham, they have one living son, she died in NZ in 1989 & John in 2013. I think these photos may have been hers because it seems Ivy stayed in Durham.

Ivy married John G ____ in 1948 in Darlington, Durham, she died in the Memorial Hospital there on 16 Dec 1996, no death found for John so he may still be living.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The three other photos from the Spence family are three of Eric’s siblings:-

eldred-spence-front

osbourne-spence-front

eunice-spence-front

eldred-spence-back2

osbourne-spence-back

eunice-spence-back

It took me awhile to realise the address was ‘Cockfield’ and not any of the other obvious spellings as they were not in the same place as the photographers were. Once I had that it was easy to find them in the 1911 census and earlier from there.

Eldred John 1899-1982 married Hilda Stevens; Osbourne Wycliffe 1905-1996 married 1st Jane Thompson 2nd Marjorie Young; Eunice Selina 1912-1995 married Harold Crombie. The woman with Osbourne is unknown, possibly either his first wife as he looks quite young in the photo or maybe one of his other five sisters.

The other Spence siblings are:- Ernest George, Frederick, Eva Lavinia, Cassandra Jane, Methuna May, Ida Muriel and Mena Leucadia.

References: ancestry.com.au; FreeBMD; familysearch.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the SPENCE family please do contact me, I would love to pass the photos onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

24 May 2015

Adam Carlisle Bamlett 1907-1995

adam-bamlett adam-bamlett-back2

Today’s photo is another one I found in the same shop, in Hawera, as yesterday’s photo and again there doesn’t seem to be any connection with NZ.

Adam Bamlett, the only birth registered in England for someone of that name was Adam Carlisle Bamlett, 1907 in Darlington which fits with where the photographer was based. There were two men with this name (the first one born before civil registration started), one fairly well known and one not so well known, of course this one had to be the not so well known one! The other one died in 1912 aged 76, they don’t seem to be related so I suspect this one was named after the well known one.

This Adam Carlisle Bamlett was the son of Thomas Carlisle Bamlett and Lily Maud Hughf, from his death registration we learn he was born on the 10 Nov 1907 in Aycliffe, Durham. In the 1911 census he was living with his parents and three siblings (Percy Carlisle, Elizabeth Elsie & Thomas Anthony Carlisle) at The Traveller's Rest, Great Aycliffe, Durham.

In 1939 he married Freda Rosamund Peairs, I think they must have been divorced sometime before 1966 when Adam married Joyce Picken, as Freda’s death was registered in 1984. Adam died in 1995 and Joyce in 2003, both in Darlington, Durham. I don’t think Adam had any children with either wife although I’m not sure about Joyce as the mother’s maiden name only shows up on birth registrations and she may have been married before she married Adam.

References: ancestry.com.au; FreeBMD; familysearch.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the BAMLETT family please do contact me, I would love to pass the photo onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

23 May 2015

Joseph Anthony Gibbon 1898-1956

joe-tony-gibbon  photo-back

After researching the names on today’s photograph I still have absolutely no idea how or why it turned up in New Zealand. I found it in this antique shop in Hawera when I was on holiday a few weeks ago.

Joseph Anthony Gibbon was born in Barnard Castle in Durham, England and was baptised there on the 9 Oct antique-shop1898, his parents were Anthony Gibbon and Alice Ann Appleby who had been married in 1895.

baptism

Joseph signed up for the Coldstream Guards in 1916 and his Army Pension papers show the exact same address that is on the back of the photograph so we know he’s the right person:-

army-pension-records-sm

Joseph had three brothers as far as I can tell, Robert John 1896-?, David William 1901-1919 and George Edward 1903-1970. Their mother died in 1909 so there might have been more children between 1903 & 1909 but if there were they must have been staying with other family because they aren’t listed at home with their father in the 1911 census. I say this because it looks like Joseph sent his photo postcard to a sibling and I thought possibly to one who had emigrated to NZ. Two of his brothers died in England so that just leaves Robert John who I can’t find anywhere after the 1911 census although there are countless men named John Robert Gibbon who might be him, there doesn’t seem to be a sign of him in NZ though.

Joseph Anthony Gibbon married Maria Louisa Winter Jackson in 1920 and they are possibly the parents of three sons born between 1921 & 1933, William D, Raymond & Joseph A, all births registered in the district of Auckland in Durham to a mother whose maiden name was Jackson. Joseph Anthony died in 1956 and his wife Maria Louisa in 1976, both in Durham.

References: ancestry.com.au; FreeBMD; familysearch.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the GIBBON families please do contact me, I would love to pass the photo onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

21 May 2015

Frederick David Miles Sheppard 1894-1951

 fred-david-miles-sheppard-c fred-david-miles-s-back

As you see today’s photo is of Frederick David Miles Sheppard and yes he is a boy! Philippa found this in an op-shop a few years ago and hadn’t had any luck in finding anything about Frederick so she asked me if I could help. What follows is what I eventually found, although I have no proof as to whether the person I found is this little boy it does seem quite likely.

birth 

After searching the BMDs in NZ & the UK and not having any luck at all I finally settled on Australia and this I think is where he was born:-

His first two names are in a different order but otherwise the date fits with the photo.

After that he was mainly referred to in the various sources as Frederick M Sheppard and when he joined the Army he used only Frederick Sheppard, the address he gave when he joined in 1915 turned out to be the same address as his father was living at marriagewhen he died in 1911.

Frederick’s parents were David Arthur Sheppard and Matilda Brazier Kippin who were married in Bathurst, NSW in 1872. After finding that Matilda's mother's maiden name was Miles I'm even more convinced we have the right person to go with the photo.

Frederick married Mary Alice Kiss in 1914 at the R.C Church in Petersham, NSW.  On the 28 May 1915 he was a drover aged 22 yrs 4 mths when he joined the Australian Imperial Forces, 13th Battalion, he gave his birthplace as Picton and his wife as Mary Sheppard of 28 Sloane St, Summer Hill. During WWI he fought in France and was on duty in England before being demobilized in March 1919 and arriving home on board the ‘Cluny Castle’. Apparently after the Army verified his birth certificate he was 1 yr 1 mth older than he thought he was! Which all doesn’t seem to quite match up with his birth registration of 1894. During the war he was promoted to Sergeant and was awarded the DCM in 1918.

dcm-letter2 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the war things didn’t seem to go too well for Frederick & Mary Alice and they were granted a divorce decree nisi on 22 Oct 1932 and the decree absolute on the 3 May 1933.

divorce Perhaps that was when his DCM medal was lost because in 1937 he applied for a replacement:-

replace-dcm

Finally, after he died in 1951, a letter to the Army to see if he had left a will with them during the war:-

wasthereawill-1952

There is no copy of a will in the Army papers, if there was one, and no reply to this letter.

One last note: one of Frederick’s six siblings was Alice Minna Sheppard (married to Abijah Murray) who on the 23 Mar 1911 was lost at sea with her four children when the vessel Yongala disappeared never to be seen again. Their other siblings were:- Arthur William 1872-1876; Charles Sydney 1874-1913; Lillie Matilda 1879-1941; Violet Blanche 1885-1940; Amelia A 1887-1920.

References: ancestry.com.au; Trove Newspapers.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the SHEPPARD family please do contact me. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

20 May 2015

Carl Hermann Hustedt a.k.a Charles Henry Howard

Further to my post back on the 30 Jan 2009 I’ve recently turned up more information on Carl Hustedt.

carl-hustedt-small

 

Written on the back of the photograph is ‘Carl Hustedt’ and as it was taken in Nottingham I had thought he could be the Carl Hermann Hustedt who was born in Nottingham in 1891.

Previously I hadn’t been able to find him or his family in the 1911 census but yesterday I had better luck and found him still living with his mother, Zillah Thirza (née Voce), aged 19, single & listed as a student.

I also came across this little snippet in the London Gazette dated the 13 Feb 1925, he had changed his name in 1918 and was now known as Charles Henry Howard:-

change-of-2

 

On further investigation it seems by changing his name he becomes just one of many men named Charles Henry Howard! Therefore I’m unable to ascertain whether he ever married, had children or even when he died, I’ve checked all the wills for a Charles Henry Howard but none of them give any clues as to whether it might be his will. However, I did find a will for his brother Leopold Edmund Hustedt:-

leopold-hustedt-will

From that one would think that Greta was Leopold’s daughter, but, Greta’s mother’s maiden name was Turner according to her birth registration in 1932, and Leopold had married Alice Shawcroft in 1921. There are no births registered to a Hustedt with the mother’s maiden name of Shawcroft and there’s no second marriage for either Leopold or Alice, in fact Alice seems to just disappear, no death or remarriage for her. However, I did find the following information which seems to point to Greta being Leopold’s daughter by Nina Halley née Turner:-

nina-turner-divorce

Marriages Dec 1906
HALLEY     Douglas  Islington     1b 665
TURNER    Nina       Islington     1b 665

1911-census

Births Sep 1932
Halley  Greta    Turner (mother's maiden name)  Nottingham  7b  486

I wasn’t able to find a decree absolute divorce for Nina and there doesn’t seem to be a marriage for her to Leopold Hustedt, that doesn’t mean to say there wasn’t one though. Although the newspaper divorce report doesn’t give Leopold’s given name I think it most likely was him rather than his brother Charles, although leaving everything in your will to a niece is not unheard of either. I have searched all over but cannot come up with the final proof of either one being Greta’s father, I did find this last little snippet that points to Greta also having used both Hustedt and Howard as her surname, so either Charles was her father or Leopold did change his name at some stage although his death was registered as Hustedt but Nina’s death was registed as Howard:-

greta-death2

It looks like Greta never married before she died on 23 Aug 2003 and so the Hustedt name on this branch dies out.

References: ancestry.com.au; FreeBMD; FindMyPast; London Gazette. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the HUSTEDT (HOWARD) family please do contact me, I would love to pass the photo onto a family member. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz