Do you remember that a while ago I wrote about John Anderson (week 116 – a tailor) who was 19 when he married 17 year old Mary McKissock in 1861 ? Little did I, or anyone else, know at the time that her father, John McKissock (my 3 x great grandfather), had been sent to prison for four years in 1854 and would commit further offences after his release ending up with him being sentenced to a further eight years servitude in 1862 before being deported on the prison ship "Clara" to Western Australia in 1864. 

I was recently contacted by a researcher living in New Zealand looking at the lives of convicts in their countries of origin prior to them being deported to Australia. We were able to prove that Mary McKissock’s father was the same John McKissock who had appeared on her marriage certificate as a witness. This blog is his story.

​John certainly had a chequered record of petty theft – mostly, I suspect, through necessity rather than for any long term advantage. On 3rd May 1854 he was convicted of stealing a wheelbarrow and copper boiler, thought to have been a kettle, from the burn in Muirside of Aldbar near Brechin in February of that year. Aggravated by three other similar convictions he was sentence to 4 years penal servitude. 

On 30th September 1862, John McKissock was convicted again for stealing in July, possibly on the same night :

• from a wash house in Balmadity, Fearn : A gown, 5 caps, an apron, a shift, a petticoat and a towel.
• From an unnamed place : Two shirts and a pair of stockings.​

His prison record says he was convicted of "stealing articles from a bleaching field".  At that time in the 19th century, a stretch of grass would be set aside to spread off white linen to bleach it white in the sun or for drying wet clothes.  

It was obviously the clothes John was after in 1862 - probably so he could provide them for his family.

Above is a map showing the places where the two thefts he was convicted of took place.  I was initially worried that it was rather a long way - about 28 miles from Dundee where he was shown as living with his wife and daughter on the 1861 census (St Clements) - but the article in the Perthshire Advertiser says he was living in Forfar which is much nearer so makes more sense.

​Four previous convictions for theft were taken into account - presumably the three prior ones taken into account plus the actual conviction in 1854.

​This time he was sentenced to eight years penal servitude and, as it turned out, this involved being deported to Australia !

He arrived as convict number 7786 to Fremantle Gaol, Western Australia aboard prison ship Clara on 13th April 1864 having previously been held in Chatham Gaol.  Fremantle Gaol had been constructed between 1851 and 1859 so was reasonably new. At the time it was solely used for convicts deported from Britain.  It is now a World Heritage Site.

Prison records from 1864 (see below) show that he was indeed married to Ann McKissock and that they had these three children :

• Robert born about 1842
• Mary Ann born about 1844 (my 2 x great grandmother)
• Archibald born about 1857

 
I haven’t found anything at all about Robert or Archibald or any other child who might have been born and died in the unusually long gap for those years without being pregnant between 1845 and 1856. 

According to prison records, John was 5 foot 4 and three quarters inches tall, had brown hair, grey eyes, a sallow complexion with oval face and was middling stout. He had "burn marks both sides of neck".  I wonder whether he got these marks from an accident or an assault ?

​John wouldn't have been sent down the mines to work due to his age but between September 1866 and May 1868 was sent on a 'ticket of leave' to Geraldton which was a crayfishing town on the edge of the desert. The winds which blew off the Indian Ocean were horrific and life would have been very hard for John. 
 
A ticket of leave allowed convicts to work for themselves provided that they remained in a specified area, reported regularly to local authorities and attended divine worship every Sunday, if possible. They could not leave the colony. Its principal aim was to reduce the burden on the fledgling colonial government of providing food from the government's limited stores to these convicts. Convicts who seemed able to support themselves were awarded a ticket of leave. Tickets were given as a reward for good behaviour, which permitted the holders to seek employment within a specified district, but not leave it without the permission of the government or the district's resident magistrate. Each change of employer or district was recorded on the ticket.

John's worked for 10 different masters :

​He was conditionally released on 30th April 1868 but a notice in The Perth Gazette on 24th September 1869 says he breached the conditions of his release. It looks like he was sentenced to one month back in prison.

I haven't found out anything else about John or his family. He probably stayed out in Australia after serving his sentence and made a life for himself. There is evidence to suggest that in 1877, when he was 60 plus, he employed a 'ticket of leave' man at Champion Bay which is a bay facing the port and the northern part of the city of Geraldton.

Whale Island is a small island in Portsmouth Harbour, close to Portsea Island. It is home to HMS Excellent, the oldest shore training establishment within the Royal Navy, and the location of the Naval Command Headquarters.  

Before the Second World War there was a zoo on the island which gave a home to animals presented to British representatives. The island is home to the State Ceremonial Gun Carriage which has conveyed the coffins of Kings and Queens to their final resting place.  The island has its own museum and church of St Barbara as well as a Victorian Drill Shed.  There is also a Chapel on the island. 

Whale Island is not normally open to the public.

...... this, what might seem to be a small amount of information, meant a lot and effectively proved that what she believed to be true was true.  

​This is the story of the successful search for my birth mother, who had been forced to give her 56 day old little Billy up for adoption in the mid 1950's.

​

The road map to my life probably changed as a result of the TV programme “Who do you think you are”. I had always loved detective stories and mysteries so I was fascinated to discover that it was possible, even exciting, to trace unexpected facts and stories about our ancestors. I purchased the WDYTYA software for my wife, initially thinking it would be fun to trace her tree. Things quickly developed from there and I soon began to research my parents tree. It is addictive; the more you find, the more you want to find. Unlike a detective story, there is no end and the e-universe is expanding exponentially. ​

What shall I do after researching my parents tree ?  Wouldn’t it be fun to see if I could find out a bit about my birth parents and where my birth roots came from ? Having lived and been brought up in the affluent suburbs of Hampstead Garden Suburb in North London, in a happy and middle class family, I considered myself to be the quintessential Englishman and the only question in my mind was whether I was a Man of Kent or Sussex or even perhaps Surrey. It was never a possibility that my research would result in finding 75% of my roots as being Scottish with a splash of Irish thrown in ! Perish the thought. ​

In January 2006 I applied for access to my birth records and had an initial meeting with Social Services to be given that all so crucial birth certificate. ​I was then in a position to use my experience of tree building to start a new tree from scratch. It was surprisingly easy although this was partly due to ‘luck’ in that Irene Thackeray (nee Musgrove), my birth mother, and seemingly her entire family had lived, married and died in roughly the same area of the country for well over 50 years. 

Anyway, by May I had mapped out the Musgroves tree and then on 2nd June 2006 at about 10.00 in the evening, I found her, her husband and a son on the Electoral Role with an address and telephone number. Wow !! This was the point at which this was no longer an academic exercise. What had been names on bits of paper suddenly became real, live people. 

What to do now ? I hadn’t believed I would find her and if I did I never considered she might be alive. I had and she was ! ​

The photograph of me on the right was one which had been in our family album and was very familiar to me. Imagine my surprise when Irene showed me her copy and said she had always kept it close to her ever since she gave me up. 

It turns out that a short while after my adoption had been legally completed, Irene asked if she could have a photograph of her little baby and this photo of me when I was about 6 months old was sent to her by my mother via the adoption society. It must have been quite a shock for Irene when she met me over 50 years later to discover I had changed somewhat ! ​​

​I have been very fortunate finding my birth mother and my half brothers and sisters, and forging new relationships with them. We all seem to get on well which is marvelous.

Hannah always lived in poverty - her mother (click here to read about Catherine) being a laundress working and living in what would become the slums of North Kensington.  On the 1871 census, Hannah was aged 4 and living at Alpha Terrace and ten years later at 37 Talbot Grove, both in Kensington. 

Hannah married William Musgrove on 19th April 1885 at Christ Church in Notting Hill, Kensington when she was very pregnant – their marriage certificate shows them living next door to each other at 36 and 38 Treverton Street, Kensington. William was 23 years old but Hannah was very pregnant and just 18.  George Wattell is an unknown witness to the marriage. Their first child was born 3  weeks after they married !

They went on to have 8 children in total :
William - born May 1885
Caroline - born February 1887
Charles - born March 1891; died May 1893
Alf - born August 1893
Bert - born April 1895 
George - born September 1896
Frank - born June 1898
Jack - born August 1900 (my grandfather)

Their life together ended in November 1901 with the premature death of William leaving Hannah living in the cramped, overcrowded conditions of Southam Street.  She was left with the impossible task of looking after and feeding her young children aged between 1 and 16 effectively as a single parent. 

Both William (16) and Caroline (14) would have been old enough to work when their father died and  Frank (3) and Jack (1) were not of school age. However, Alf (8), Bert (6) and George (5) had to attend the residential Banstead Road School for the poor full time which must have been heart wrenching for Hannah - they spent around seven years at the school between 1902 and 1909. There was also a period between 17th June 1907 and 15th January 1908 during which the two youngest attended while Hannah was "in a fever hospital".

​Hannah and three of her children remained living at Southam Street on the 1911 census. Census records are not available after this but she was living at 55 Ledbury Road, Kensington with her daughter Caroline, now married to Jack Akehurst, on the 1939 Register just before the outbreak of WW2.  

When Jack Akehurst died in 1947 Hannah and Catherine moved to St Ervans Road. 

​JW told me that Hannah’s special friend in life was Nell Lowe. They were both widowed young and had a lot in common.  Hannah initially lived at number 57 St Ervans Road but moved to number 41, where Nell lived, when a floor became vacant. 

Nell lived on the ground floor and in the basement.  Hannah and Caroline had two largish rooms on the first floor, and another old lady lived on the top floor. 

The house was a terrace plus a basement, all having just one front door.  JW told me, "You had a dark entrance hall and steep stairs, the paintwork was brown or stained, no white !  Going up the stairs you passed the shared toilet that must have been on part of the roof. Upstairs used it too, but I don't know if Nell Lowe did. The first room was the kitchen where Hannah had her bed and her chair. The gas cooker and the sink were there too, plus a huge chest of drawers so you had no room in there to move.
 
The other room had a big roundish table, with chairs, various other items with Nan's bed along the far wall. All the entertaining was in there and we ate there every week.

Hannah was a real character; she had an extremely infectious laugh. She was regarded as old at 50 and sat in the corner of the room, always dressed in black long skirts."  

JW found out later that the armchair Hannah sat in was really a commode, on which they put lots of covers and cushions !​

​Everyone would bring her whisky for her birthday and it was considered to be the reason she lived to such an old age.  ​My birth mother, IT, remembers Hannah being "a lovely lady". Hannah died on 20th May 1959 after breaking her hip, aged 92, apparently with her veins full of whisky !

The first born child of my great grandparents, William and Hannah, was named William, as had the first born son for generations before 

• William 1785
• William 1835
• William 1860

and after  

• William 1915 
• ...... and me Billy Musgrove in 1954 (William John Musgrove) prior to my adoption.

William John Musgrove or Will, as he was known, was born on 13th May 1885 at 38 Treverton Street in the slums of Kensington.  

• At the age of nearly sixteen on the 1901 census, he was described as an "office boy". Ten years later he had begun trading as a "newsagent (on own account)" living with his widowed mother and her two youngest children at 27 Southam Street.

He married Mabel Butler in August 1913, who was born almost next door to Will at 33 Treverton Street. Their address were both given as 38 Rackham Street. They must have moved to 45 Golborne Road shortly after the wedding. 

​They had three children :

• William Herbert Musgrove - 1915 to 1918 - born and died at 45 Golborne Road
• Stanley George Musgrove - 1919 to 1982 (see his story in Chapter 3)
• Vera M Musgrove - 1923 to 1997

Will and Mabel lived in a shop on the corner of Golborne Road and St Ervan's Road. ​​It was a newspaper and tobacconists. As it was within walking distance of St Ervans Road, where Will's mother and Caroline then lived, JW remembers visiting her great uncle there : "The shop Will had was a gold mine; it was really a newsagents selling newspapers, cigarettes and sweets. Lots of lads did newspaper rounds. He and Mabel always seemed to be in business as they had a nanny. Everyone called her Aunty Nan, and she looked after Vera and Stan when they were young. When we visited Nan and Grandma we were allowed to go down to the shop to buy sweets. Will always gave us extra."​

​"A bridge was next to his shop and the Great Western Railway passed by the end of his garden and along past Caroline's house. My brother, Gerald, and I used to train spot and watch the shunting from the roof of what would have been Nell Lowe's flat below." The nearest station was Westbourne Park.  

​I wonder how long he had the shop ? Probably most of his working life. When did they move to Langley Crescent, Hayes ?

Will died on 6th December 1961 at the age of 76 and was cremated.  His occupation was described as a "retired newsagent and confectioner". Apart from £300 he bequeathed to his housekeeper, Florence Bell, he left all his worldly goods to his wife, Mabel. ​ His cause of death was "bronchopneumonia, congestive cardiac failure, chronic bronchitis and emphysema" ..... enough to kill anyone !

Mabel died in 1977 aged 91. 

The fifth child of John and Hannah (1) was my 2 x great grandmother, Catherine Wild (sometimes Katherine), born in 1833. Census mainly describe her as being a laundress :

Who was her daughter's father ?

Being adopted and having found my birth parents, I have potentially a total of 4 parents, 8 grandparents, 16 great grandparents and 32 great great grandparents on the tree.  I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find that I was only missing the name of one ancestor from the 32 great great's - Hannah (2)'s father ! 

Given their surroundings and probable lifestyle I am more convinced than ever that it wasn't David, who was on the birth certificate, or John from her marriage and death certificates. The most likely scenario is that when Catherine gave birth it would be better and more socially acceptable if she invented a husband, David Wild, and pretend her maiden name was Smith.  Maybe this invented name had been forgotten by the time of Hannah's marriage and her father then became a John Wild ?  

Either way, we will probably never know as I am convinced that she was born illegitimately.  Quite a stigma in those days.  Whether we will ever discover the father's identity probably now depends on finding a DNA match with someone to whom we can connect her.

Working as a laundress

​By the late 1800's the area of Kensington where Catherine and her daughter Hannah lived predominantly consisted of laundries. It was estimated that over 70% of women worked as laundresses, washerwomen, manglers and ironers. It was not well paid but at least enabled them to pay their rent.

Records show mostly small in-house laundries with 41 of them in South Row, ten in Kensal Road, four in West Row and two in Middle Row.  There were also larger industrial sized laundries including The White Knight Laundry, originally based in Southern Row, a version of which still survives today.  

Catherine died at 27 Southam Street on 26th March 1905, aged 72. Cause of death was given as "syncope and acute pneumonia". ​Syncope was a temporary loss of consciousness usually related to insufficient blood flow to the brain. 

Alfred James Musgrove or Alf, as he was known, was born at 27 Southam Street in the slums of North Kensington on 2nd August 1893. He was the fourth of William & Hannah's children.

Due to the fact his father died in 1901 leaving Hannah in poverty, he attended the residential school for the poor - Banstead Road School - for nearly 7 years between 15th August 1902 and when he was discharged on 20th April 1909 to join the 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry in Aldershot. 

​The 1911 census describes his occupation as a "Tailor" serving overseas in Hong Kong with the 10th Battalion, The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI). 

He married Francis May Stoneman on 1st August 1915 at Holy Trinity Church, Hammersmith when his occupation was "Army Private". Their address was given as 246 Latimer Road.

He served with the KOYLI during WW1.

• Alf joined the Metropolitan Police on 19th May 1919, warrant number 105607, and was still serving when he died. His last post was to Y Division as a Police Constable.
•   

​Alf died at St Thomas's Hospital in April 1925 aged just 31.  His death certificate says he was living at 21 Hargrave Road, Highgate. The cause of death was given as septic bronchus pneumonia and heart failure. However, a close relative of Alf was told he collapsed while on point duty at Kings Cross. Despite having a look in local newspapers and writing to the Heritage Centre of the Metropolitan Police, I have been unable to substantiate this.

POSTSCRIPT

They had a son Alf (born 1920), a Squadron Leader in the RAF, who in 1969 piloted the VC-10 taking Queen Elizabeth to Brazil for a state visit, as well as on many other overseas trips. JW says she saw "him wearing his VC10 tie at Laura's funeral (her aunt Laura Akehurst who died in 2002). He also flew the Comet before it came out of service". Alf junior went to live in America in 1982.​ He died in 2015 aged 95.

Albert Edward Musgrove or Bert, as he was known, was the fifth born child of my great grandparents, William and Hannah. 

Bert was born on 13th April 1895 at 27 Edenham Street in Kensington. As his mother's address was given as 27 Southam Street, Edenham Street may have just been temporary. He was baptised three years later in August 1898.

The 1901 census shows him living with his parents, siblings and grandmother at 27 Southam Street.  His father died in November 1901.

He attended the residential Banstead Road School for 8 years between 17th October 1902 and when he was discharged on 18th October 1910 to join the Royal Garrison Artillery in Gosport. On the 1911 census he was 15 years old serving at Fort Rownes No 2 Depot Royal Garrison Artillery in Military Road, Alverstoke, Gosport. 

​He served as a Master Gunner with the R.G.A during WW1 (service number 1405889) and went to France in April 1918 until Armistice Day. I don't have his service record so haven't any idea of what action he was involved in.​​ He also served during WW2.

On 28th December 1920 Bert married 23 year old Edith Grace Henson at the Willesden Register Office. His address at the time was 81 St Johns Avenue. His brother George and George's wife Teresa were witnesses. Edith gave birth to their only son, Albert, four months later. 

Bert loved watching horse racing. 

​Towards the end of his life he apparently lived with a man ...... I can't find him on the 1939 Register as he was serving in the forces. Obviously there is no evidence of whether or not it was a platonic relationship or even just a convenient arrangement but I am told it might not have been. ​

​JW's mother took JW to see him in St Lukes Hospital near Kensington where he died of cancer (carcinova of the rectum) aged 55 on 22nd January 1951.  His death certificate described him as a Retired Major in the Royal Artillery.

In his Will he bequeathed all his worldly goods to his sister Caroline.

It is strange that I am unable to find any reference to his wife on either the 1939 Register, his death certificate or on his Will as she didn't die until 1964.

Charles Thomas Musgrove was the third born child of my great grandparents, William and Hannah.  

He was born on 5th March 1891 at 27 Southam Street in Kensington.  His only dent on history is that he was shown as being one month old on the 1891 census.

Sadly, Charles died of "Tubercular Meningitis" on 25th May 1893.

• Tuberculosis (TB) is spread through the air when people who have TB in their lungs cough, spit, speak, or sneeze. ​
• The bacteria multiply within the lungs, pass into the bloodstream and are able to travel to other areas of the body
• If the bacteria travel to the meninges (protective layers that protect the brain) and brain tissue, small abscesses are formed
• These abscesses can burst and cause TB meningitis. This can happen immediately, or several months or years after the initial infection 
• The infectious process causes a rise in pressure within the skull, resulting in nerve and brain tissue damage, which is often severe

​His death certificate describes a rather painful and upsetting death in that he had been diagnosed with TB for 21 days and suffered from convulsions for 12 hours.​

​He is another example of someone who died far too young due to the atrocious conditions in which his parents had to bring him up.

I have already blogged about the possible parents of John Musgrove (Week 108 : the first of my Musgroves) and now I want to tell you what I know about him.

He was born in the Kings Brompton district of Somerset. He was a shoemaker and a cordwainer.

​
The photo to the left (source : Wikipedia) is a statue found in front of St Mary Aldermary in Watling Street in the City of London. This was the main shoe and boot making area of London and it still includes the Cordwainer Ward.
 
The word ‘cordwainer’ is derived from the name of the city of Cordoba in Spain, which was renowned for its fine leatherwork. A cordwainer worked on particularly fine leather so only the more skilled shoemaker would work with it. Hence, describing yourself as a cordwainer meant you considered yourself to be a better class of shoemaker.

At some point before 1830 John must have moved up to London as he married Mary Martha Ann Lewis on 12th April 1830 at St Botolph without Aldgate. Very little is known about Mary other than she was born in about 1807 in either Plymouth (1861 census) or Exeter (1851 census) and died in Marylebone in 1873. They had three sons and three daughters who were all born in Marylebone between 1835 and 1850 : 

• William born 11th June 1835 (my 2 x great grandfather)
• Joseph born 28th April 1837 (died 14th April 1921; possibly murdered at goldfields)
• Samuel born 26th August 1838
• Rachel born 2nd November 1842
• Matilda born 9th April 1845
• Fanny born 7th June 1850 (died 3rd February 1854)

 
The first four children were all baptised on 24th July 1844.
 
John died of bronchitis on 1st February 1871 at 9 St Paul Street, Marylebone. His wife died on 31st January 1873 at 11 North Street West, Marylebone. 

The earliest Anderson in  my tree, so far, is James who was born about 1811 and described, at the time of his marriage in 1845, as a flax dresser. I wrote about him in week 115 of my blogs (click here).

Clan Anderson has been around for hundreds of years.  

​The surname originated in France about 1100 AD and the Normans brought it to Scotland one hundred and fifty years later.  

There is no single location where The Clan began. There could be any number of reasons for this and probably the main one being that with the origin of the name was "son - or servant - or follower - of Andrew"; Andrew being the patron saint of Scotland.

Anderson Crest

The Anderson crest consists of a strap and buckle encircling an oak tree. The oak tree rests on the "wreath", which for the Andersons is a twisted strand of red and silver threads. The wreath has six loops, with silver and red in an alternating pattern. Silver is the first loop on the left side, and red is the last loop on the right side.

Clan Motto

The Clan motto, STAND SURE, is written in the top portion of the strap. All Andersons are entitled to wear the crest as a sign of being a clansman.  STAND SURE reflects the spirit of confidence of the Anderson Clan from a place of strength with the sturdy dependence of the oak tree. ​

​Anderson Tartan

The Anderson Ancient tartan is predominantly light blue, red, black and white.

The Anderson Tartan is unique among all of the Scottish tartans, because it is the only tartan to have seven colors. All other tartans have six or less. Because of this, the Anderson tartan must be woven on a special loom. The colors are primarily a rich blue with yellow, green and red in the plaid. 

Quite by chance I was searching the Ancestry records and found a number of the Musgrove children being educated at a poor school in Hampshire. Their father, my great grandfather, William Musgrove, had died aged 41 in 1901 leaving his wife, Hannah, to look after their 7 children aged between 1 and 16. From the records I have discovered the following, taking the children in order of their ages at the time of William's death :

• The eldest of those children, Will and Caroline Musgrove, didn't attend the poor schools because they were older than the minimum school leaving age which, at that time, was 12.
• Alf Musgrove (born August 1893) attended Banstead Road School (BRS) for nearly 7 years between 15th August 1902 and when he was discharged on 20th April 1909 to join the 2nd Yorkshire Light Infantry in Aldershot. On the 1911 census, Alf was serving with the 1st King's Only Yorkshire Light Infantry in China. 
• Bert Musgrove (born April 1895) attended BRS for 8 years between 22nd August 1902 and when he was discharged on 8th October 1910 to join the Royal Garrison Artillery in Gosport. On the 1911 census he was serving there. I don't have his service records, but he retired as a Major with the Royal Artillery. 
• George Musgrove (born 1896) attended BRS for over 9 years between 15th August 1902 and when he was discharged on 20th April 1909 to join the King's Own Light Infantry in Ireland. He was decorated with both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal. Read more about him by clicking here. 
• Frank and Jack Musgrove (born June 1898 and 1900 respectively) were both at Marlesford Lodge and BRS for just a few months between 17th June 1907 and 15th January 1908. During this time, their mother was in "a fever hospital". Frank died of his wounds in October 1917 while fighting for the small village of Passendale. 

What was the law at this time regarding providing a pauper child with education ?​  

Poor Law Unions

After 1834, parishes were grouped into Poor Law Unions and these unions reported to the newly created Poor Law Commission.  Each Poor Law Union was run by a board of guardians elected by ratepayers from their constituent parishes. 

Residential Schools for pauper children

Each union was required to set up a properly constituted residential school for pauper children with a salaried schoolmaster or schoolmistress. Pauper children were to receive both a basic education and industrial training to make them fit for employment. The 1844 Poor Law Amendment Act and 1848 District Schools Act gave the Poor Law Commissioners powers to combine parishes and unions into school districts which would establish a large residential school outside London for the care and education of all pauper children from the areas concerned. Seven Poor Law School Districts were formed covering the London metropolitan area. (Source : Wikipedia)

Kensington and Chelsea decided not to have a 'district' school but instead to have a stepping stone school in Hammersmith and a cottage home development in Banstead, Surrey.

Marlesford Lodge (ML)

The stepping stone school was at Marlesford Lodge in Hammersmith which was opened in 1883 as a reception centre for girls and infant boys temporarily in the care of the Guardians or awaiting transfer to Banstead. Here they assessed the children for their suitabilty for the Banstead Road School.  If a child was admitted and assessed before 2 p.m. they washed them and sent them to Banstead on the same day.

Banstead Road School (BRS)

The design was one of a model village in the countryside, much like Bournville. The village consisted of an administration block with probationary rooms, where the children stayed for a couple of weeks for observation before moving them to one of the cottages on the estate. There was a bakery, laundry and swimming pool plus, of course, a chapel. Alternate days were spent by the children doing school work and domestic duties.

Jessie was born on 22nd June 1895, the first child of James and Margaret (nee McTear). She was living at 65 Strand Street in Whitehaven with her parents and two siblings on the 1901 census but had moved to nearby 17 Scotch Street in 1911. A first cousin twice removed, she appeared on my radar as a result of the unusual death of her brother, Thomas. My W57 blog says : 

Thomas died after attending a party in Whitehaven on 31st May 1915 which was held to celebrate his sister Jessie's marriage (to Matthew Jones) on Whit Monday a week earlier. He and his sister, Janet (aged 14), were walking three of their friends (aged 13 and 14) home around 10.00 p.m. Thomas had his sister and one of the female friends on each arm. They were passed by an older man, James Hallett (aged 26), with a women on each of his arms and some words were said which Thomas took as being derogatory towards the girls. The two men got into a fight which led to Thomas suffering a fatal injury and dying a short while later.  

On 24th May 1915 Jessie married Matthew, a "Railway Locomotive Fireman". By the time the 1939 Register was produced they were living in Greater Manchester and he had become a "Police Constable" which he remained until his death in 1953.  As you will imagine, the surname 'Jones' is usually almost impossible to research without some knowledge of knowing what you are looking for, and Matthew was no exception.

Jessie died seven years later on 15th January 1960 at 18 Highcroft Road, Erdington which is in a suburb of Birmingham. This was the generic address for Highcroft Hospital, a psychiatric hospital which had been caring for long-term chronic and short-term acute patients with mental and nervous disorders since 1948 when the NHS was formed. Why she was there isn't known, possibly dementia, but apparently records do exist which could explain her situation and treatment.

Although it called itself a psychiatric hospital, the locals saw it as a ‘lunatic asylum’. Treatment was primitive and electro convulsive treatment was standard. Jessie died of "cerebral thrombosis, cardiovascular degeneration and hypertension".The electric shock treatment possibly caused Jessie's cerebral thrombosis which is a blood clot on the brain whose symptoms may include headache, abnormal vision and seizures.
​
The hospital eventually closed in 1996 and the mental health facility was moved to more modern buildings because the hospital was no longer fit for purpose. It was bought by property developers and turned into luxury apartments. I'm not sure I would want to live in a building which had such an unfortunate history. 

​This branch of my tree has been difficult to research, partly because there are so many Dalrymples living in a small area of Scotland and a lot of them are agricultural labourers moving around the country on a regular basis without leaving much of a footprint..

Blogs I have written so far with the most recent connection first :
W17 : Janet Dalrymple (1853 - 1890), my 2 x great grandmother; a village girl who led a short, tough life. She married James McTear in 1872.
W32 : Jannet or Jessy or Jessie Dalrymple  (1832 - 1911), who was my 3 x great grandmother and brought up on Dirry Farm and became a domestic servant.
W86 : James Dalrymple (1825 -  1880) who also lived on Dirry Farm until he became a merchant seaman, ending up dying in Melbourne, Australia.   

I now want to go further back.  We know that on both the 1841 census, James Dalrymple (1790 - 1852) was a joiner living with his wife Janet Wallace, and five children at Dirry Farm in Mochrum. ​Ten years later, in 1851, he was still living on the same farm but was now an agricultural labourer. He is listed on the family grave in Mochrum as dying on 29th September 1852 aged 63.​ 

Dirry Farm in Mochrum Parish, Wigtown, no longer exists but this was a photo someone sent me a while ago of the field where it was located.

I do love the name 'Dalrymple'.  It has a certain ring to it. Dalrymple is a well known surname in Scotland, and they were originally allied to King Colius, better known as Old King Cole, but the Dalrymple Kingdom was divided by Robert the Bruce and half was given to his son.  The current Dalrymple Castle (Lochinch Castle) is in Wigtownshire, near the village of Stranraer, and is the home of the 14th Earl of Stair, John David James Dalrymple.

In all likelihood, rather than being related to the Lord of the Manor, our Dalrymples were probably given the surname 'Dalrymple' to identify them as being of the manor of Dalrymple when surnames were introduced for tax purposes around 1275. 

​​One of the joys of looking back into the past is you never know what you are going to find and what tangents you might go off on.

This is a blog about 50 year old Albert Edward Butler who is very distantly related to me in that my birth mother's Musgrove branch, on more than two occasions, married into the Butler family. One of them, Mabel Butler (1885 - 1977) married William John Musgrove (1885 - 1961) who ran the grocery store from a shop on the corner of Golborne Rd and St Ervan's Road, Kensington.  Some years later it seems Albert was living next door to that grocery store and he was the focus of newspaper headlines in 1947 when he was suspected of murdering 35 year old Gladys Hanrahan who now lived in that same shop. 

​A lot of what follows is transcribed and adapted from various newspaper articles in the months between when the murder was committed and when the inquests jury verdict was delivered.

Facts of the murder

The murdered woman lived with her uncle, Walter Reason, above the grocers shop at 5 St Ervans Road in Kensington. My ancestor, Albert Butler, lived next door.

Miss Hanrahan was found on the grass in Regent's Park on the evening of 1st October 1947.  Police investigations in the park were carried out throughout that night with the aid of car headlamps. She not only had a gag over her mouth but there were marks on her face and neck. Death was caused by asphyxia due to strangulation and gagging.  The strangler rammed a handkerchief into Miss ​Hanrahan's mouth before killing her, and the police believed that this handkerchief could lead to the murderer's arrest.  She had not been interfered with, and her handbag was found under her body. 

​Lines of investigation

​Police believed that shyness may have prevented Miss Hanrahan from mentioning to her father or uncle that she had a man friend, and their investigations seem to have been based on the theory that her killer was known to her.

Only her closest friends at the Mayfair branch of United Dairies, where she worked, had the slightest inkling that she had, for some time, been meeting a man. She was described by the under-manager as "one of the quietest girls we had". 
​
Police said she was seen with a man in Baker Street earlier in the evening although they didn't know what time they met or whether they left together.  This line of enquiry seems to have taken a back burner after Albert, “who had been friends with Miss Hanrahan, attended Albany Street police station and remained for seven hours. He paid a second visit lasting two hours". ​It seems that Albert Butler had been seen in the girl’s company on the morning of her death and was suspected of seeing her again in the evening prior to murdering her .

​The Inquest

Albert Butler evidence

At the beginning of the inquest, Albert was warned by the Coroner that he need not answer any question likely to incriminate himself.

Despite this, he said that he had known Miss Hanrahan for nine years and used to visit her family every night except Sunday. He said he saw her on the morning of her death outside the Golden Cross public house in Portobello Road and asked her to have a drink. He claimed she had said “Right-ho” and they had two drinks each and a friendly chat.  They left together about 1 p.m. and parted.  

He said that he then went in another direction towards the Metropolitan public house, where he had two or three more pints of beer.  “I came out at two o'clock.  I was at a loose end so I took a bus to Victoria and went to Brighton".  He said he was in Brighton for about two hours before returning to London, where he went to the "World's End” in Chelsea to have a look at some property and then returned to Westbourne Park, where he again visited the “Metropolitan".  He said he then had two more pints of beer, met a woman he knew by the name of Rose, and stayed in her company until 10.30 p.m.  He arrived home at 10.45 p.m, had a chat with his wife over the days happenings, and went to bed. 

When the Coroner asked Butler if he had anything to do with Miss Hanrahan's death, he replied firmly : "No, sir”.

​Her uncle's evidence

Walter Reason said that "when she went out at about 8 p.m. yesterday I thought she was going to the dairies' sports ground at Wembley. She had been there for the last week or two on a Wednesday. She was an attractive looking girl, with a very pleasant nature." He said that when his niece had gone out she was wearing a gold sapphire and diamond pendant and a five-stone sapphire ring. These, he understood, were still on the body of his niece when she was found.

Employee of suspect - evidence

An employee of Butler's, Isabella Greenwood, said that at 5.30 p.m. on October 1st she saw Butler standing behind the counter of his shop with his wife. 

Detective's evidence
 
Detective Inspector Jock Jamieson said Butler couldn’t provide anyone who saw him between 1.30 p.m. and when he arrived back at the Metropolitan public house in the evening.
 
Father of deceased woman evidence

Daniel Hanrahan said Mr Butler, who came into the house every weekday, told him the day after his daughter's body was found, "I intended to be in last night, but did not get back in time."  He told Mr Hanrahan he had had a couple of drinks with his daughter on the day she was found dead. 

Dorothy Woodvine (friend from work) evidence

At the inquest it transpired that the deceased had told one of her friends that a man who lived next door "was always chasing after her to go out with him". Miss Dorothy Woodvine said that Miss Hanrahan had told her that Albert had done the chasing.  Miss Hanrahan had also told her that she did not like it.

Miss Woodvine was told by the deceased that Albert had followed her to their sports ground at Wembley on 25th September.  "He wanted to take her out in the evening and she would not go. She argued outside with him and told him to go. He did not go away and Miss Hanrahan went outside to him twice and told him that it was no use staying there. Miss Hanrahan told her Butler was in a terrible temper". When she saw him the next morning before going to work, Butler had told her "it was a good job I did not stay last night. I should have done you in !"

She also said that the deceased "was friendly with one of the chaps at United Dairies who had a motor bike". She told Butler "It's no use waiting here, I shall be going home on the bike". Butler had apparently then said, "If I see you on the bike I shall pull you off".

Manager at United Dairies evidence

Herbert Marshall, depot manager at the dairy where Miss Hanrahan was employed, said that two weeks before her death he saw Miss Hanrahan and Butler at the company's sports ground at Wembley.  He said "there was a very heated argument going on between them".  ​

Theresa Grimes - witness evidence

Mrs Theresa Grimes, of Paddington, said she saw a woman and a man, whom she now recognised as Butler, go into the Prince of Wales Hotel in Great Western Road during the evening of October 1st.  She also saw them leave.  "I noticed particularly the man because he reminded me of a man whom I knew in the 1914-18 war and who was killed".

​Frances McLaughlin (barmaid) - witness evidence

Mrs McLaughlin was a barmaid at the Prince of Wales Hotel, Harrow Road, West London. She said the deceased had been in the saloon bar, accompanied by a man, a few hours before her body was discovered. She subsequently identified Butler as being the 'man'.

She had received a letter threatening death, written in an angular hand and bearing a W.C.1 postmark.  The letter said: "Keep your nose out of the Hanrahan case. If you don't, the same thing will happen to you."​

​The verdict

Summing up, The Coroner told the jury that Albert Butler had given evidence that he was not with Miss Hanrahan on the night of her death as, on that day, he went to Brighton. "There is no evidence which I can see which would justify you in saying that Butler, putting the worst case against him, must have been the person who murdered her".

Just over two months later on 3rd December 1947, the jury were absent considering their verdict for only ten minutes. Albert Butler was again present in court.

An open verdict was returned of murder by some person or persons unknown.

..... and then ?

From the evidence provided at the inquest, there appears to have been a real possibility that Arthur may have had something to do with her murder BUT there are no more newspaper reports which seems to suggest the case was never solved.

​Of course, these days, the DNA on the handkerchief could have provided evidence of his guilt or innocence. We shall never know ..... unless the handkerchief still lies in an evidence bag somewhere and the murderers DNA can be found on it for comparison to potential living ancestors ...... including mine ! 

POSTSCRIPT

I don't know when this information became available as public knowledge, as it wasn't in the British newspapers at the time, but it seems that the initial ‘A’ was on the corner of the handkerchief which was forced into Gladys’s mouth while she was being strangled. Arthur claimed he had lost the handkerchief some time before. Do we believe him ?

The article on the left was from an Australian newspaper 

Gladys is buried in Kensal Green Cemetary.

This blog is unusual in that the story starts with a brick wall and explains the process I went through to break it down by thinking laterally. 

Arthur George Wareham was born in Perth, Scotland in 1874 and had four brothers and a sister.  Quite a lot is known about his siblings but, strangely, little was known about him. What we did know was that by the time of the 1881 and up until the end of the 1891 census he was living with various members of the family in  Edinburgh. At the age of nine he was enrolled at the George Watson School in Edinburgh (later attended by sportsmen Gavin Hastings and Sir Chris Hoy).

Up until his death, nothing much else was known about Arthur as he was, and still is, missing from both the 1901 and 1911 census. ​

​A breakthrough came with his obituary printed in The Hertford Mercury and Informer on 20th January 1939 which said that he was with the Cheshire Regiment and a prisoner of war in The Great War.

The Red Cross have now made available their records of ALL prisoners they had contact with throughout WW1 and from this we found his service number 315739 and attached was a list of repatriated servicemen arriving in Dover on 1st December 1944. Unfortunately, apart from his name, the fact he was with the 2nd Cheshire's and his service number, there was no indication as to which camp he had been in or even which country.

His service and pension records don't survive and must have been destroyed by the bombing raid on the War Office in September 1940.  

Where do we go from here ? 

​I decided to have a look at all the servicemen from the 2nd Cheshire's who were repatriated with Arthur to see if their service or pension records had survived and, if they had, whether I could extrapolate any of their information to Arthur.

​We know that somewhere around 40% of ALL records were partially rescued and that the rest were lost. Of the 35 names on the list, 11 have surviving service or pension records - 31.4%. Slightly less than average but statistically acceptible. 
 
Knowing that, I looked at the 11 service men with surviving records to see if there was a pattern which we might extrapolate to the missing files. It turned out that EVERY ONE on the list was reported missing on 15th April 1918 and almost all were POWs on the Maritz River near Philippopolis in Bulgaria which was the largest camp in Bulgaria ..... the individual who wasn't had been hospitalised which probably explains why he was an exception.  I concluded that Arthur was probably also captured by the Bulgarians on 15th April 1918 and became a POW at Philippopolis.

I then looked at the CWGC website to see if there were any Cheshire Regiment deaths on the 15th April - there were 22 including that of Corporal Arthur Smith (see below).

​

So what was going on on 15th April 1918 which led to so many being being killed or taken POW ?
 
I thought at least one of those on my list of repatriated POWs would have been researched by a living relative or have had a write up in a local newspaper. Couldn't find anything. As a last resort I looked to see if the leading officer, Corporal Smith, might have been researched and found a comprehensive article which must have been written using the Regiment's War Diaries (which aren't, for this period, online).​ It included the following :

I also found a less detailed account of what happened which says "they repelled numerous bayonet attacks and bomb attacks, and endured sustained sniping and shelling." 

These seem to suggest Arthur was probably captured along with the rest of the platoon, after staying to face the enemy while giving covering fire to their retreating comrades.  ​

As confirmation that Arthur was indeed a POW in Bulgaria, and not Germany, I then found another list, which I am pretty sure wasn't there when I first looked, issued on 3rd December 1918 which, at the top, specifically says "the following soldiers who were prisoners of war in Bulgaria have been released".  The list includes Arthur Wareham 513729 AND all the other released POWs who were on the repatriated list.  

QED (Quod Erat Demonstrandum) !

For the past three and a half years I have been trying to ascertain the BIRD family connection to the island and tea plantations of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). I began with the anecdotal story from my parents that we were related to someone who owned a tea plantation on the island and moved on to an unlikely suspect, George Bird, who was a well known pioneer coffee planter (W1 : when you wish 2 + 2 = 4). Having discounted any connection, I moved on to Percy Bird, my grandfather, who certainly did have a link.

I wrote Percy's story in W44. It seems that prior to his marriage in 1911, he was resident in Avissawella, Ceylon, in the western foothills of the island, in the province of Sabaragamuwa.

​His WW1 Army Book describes Percy's occupation prior to The War as “Planter (Ceylon)" and it says he had a slight knowledge of Tamil Singhalise.​

​I am still left with questions :

• Why did he choose to go to Ceylon ?  
  
• Was it because of a prior family connection ?  

I have not found any trace of him ever returning to Ceylon, so this might be one of those annoying brick walls which will never be solved now that all the protagonists, who might have known more, have died. 

This is a blog about a beautiful manor house in Hook, Surrey owned by Georgie Bird and his wife, Nina, over a period of nearly fifty years.

I am not sure when The Rhodrons was built and I can't find it on the 1881 census but an advertisement appeared in the Morning Post in August 1887 (Source : British Newspaper Archive .co.uk) saying that, due to the death of the Lesee, which I believe to have been Charles T. Herbert F.Z.S, the property was to be sold by auction. It was described as :

FREEHOLD BIJOU RESIDENCE, known as Rhodrons, in the village of Hook, with admirable stabling for six horses, conservatories, glass houses, ornamental cottage, farmery, charming grounds, and productive paddocks, in admirable order, being now occupied by the family of the late tenant. Also, in separate Lots, the Freehold Building Plots opposite the above, ripe for development, with extensive frontage to the high road and to the Epsom-road, with the well-built cottage and garden.

My 2 x great uncle, Georgie Bird, must have bid and purchased the property in 1887. At the time he was single and on the 1891 census he was living there with a live in domestic servant. Georgie married Nina Mabel Florence St Paul in the June 1891 quarter and ten years later they were still living there with five live in servants on the payroll. 

​The final census we currently have access to is in 1911 and they are both still living at The Rhodrons, now with three servants. The census gives details of the number of rooms in the property and is completed personally by the head of family :

In the book, "Hook Remembered" I found a photo of a painting of the property from 1912, which I can only imagine was commissioned by Georgie.  I wonder where it is now ?

​"Hook Remembered" recalls that The Rhodrons is one of the few grand old houses of Hook still standing and it says my ancestor, Georgie Bird (week 4) kept racing horses in paddocks which were later sold and the land used for the development of the Arcade Parade shops and post office. The 11 acres were bordered by a tall hedge which stretched along Elm Road and Hook Road. 

​Georgie died in 1930 and his wife died in 1935. Her Will confirmed she still owned The Rhodrons at that time.

An auction took place shortly afterwards and, from what I can gather from the rather complicated Land Registry documentation which I have, it looks like the land was sold to a group of builders. Subsequently, The London Gazette of 18th May 1937 reported that it had been purchased by Leslie Henry Ransom and Arthur Elwyn Macdonald with planning permission to build a number of urban properties.

A few years ago I was contacted by a committee member of The Rhodrons Social Club who was trying to ascertain the history of the house. They bought the house from Ransom and MacDonald and invited me to come and visit the club - which sadly I never took them up on.  She told me they have a print of the house in it's day hanging in the club and wanted to get the history of the house and it's residents documented in order to display next to it - this must be the painting referred to above.

I haven't visited Rhodrons Avenue or visited The Rhodrons Social Club but from the Google Earth snapshot there isn't much remaining of what had been a magnificent manor house a hundred years previously.


​

It is unusual to be able to write about more than one individual in each generation as the information isn't generally available. However, in my paternal Sandeman branch there were three brothers with interesting stories. The two I have already written about were :

• Robert Sandeman (1718 - 1771) - very involved with a religious sect. 
• David Sandeman (1720 - 1779) - captured by Bonnie Prince Charlie during the 1745 rebellion.

I am now going to tell you about another of the brothers, my 6 x great grandfather, William Sandeman (1722 - 1790), who was born in the village of Luncarty, a few miles north of Perth. 

William was a leading Perthshire linen and, later, cotton manufacturer. He was engaged in the family linen and textile business and was said to be one of the most enlightened and successful men of his generation.

He had two children with his first wife and a further fourteen with his second wife, Mary Anderson. 

In 1740 William started a weaving business with his brother Robert but as the duties of the church became ever more demanding, Robert left the family business to concentrate on the church. William then took on another partner, Hector Turnbull. The two families were united even more with five of William's children marrying five of Hector's twenty children !

William was said to be "renowned in the annals of the burgh [i.e. Perth] for his 'indefatigable industry' in diverting and excavating a canal through granite for manufacturing purposes." It seems, in order to avoid his bleaching fields becoming flooded, he moved the course of two rivers and created a two mile long canal, some of it built through granite, to service his mills.

By the 1780's cotton was beginning to take over from linen. William and others established the Tay River powered cotton mill in Stanley (just north of Luncarty) in 1786 with 3,200 spindles.

​The Stanley Mills continued to produce textiles for over 200 years, until it finally closed its doors in 1989. Now it stands as a unique example of Scottish industrial history. There is not just one mill at Stanley, but rather, a complex of mill buildings beside the Tay. Among them is The Bell Mill, one of the oldest industrial factories in the world, still largely unchanged from the day it was built. The Bell Mill now hosts interactive displays which tell the rich history of Stanley Mills. There are exhibits which let you test your on dexterity and let you experience what it would have been like for the young children who helped keep the mill running. Beside the mill buildings is the village of Stanley itself, built during the 1780s to house the workers at the mills. (Source : Britain Express)

By 1790 when William died, the Luncarty bleachfields covered 80 acres and processed 500,000 yards of cloth annually. He was buried in the Greyfriars graveyard in Perth with the inscription "William Sandeman - manufacturer Perth and bleacher at Luncarty".

Once you run out of online resources to find out more about a particular branch, it is necessary to explore further afield. This will probably entail visiting the place of birth of the last known ancestor and looking for some evidence to move the branch forward. One such place for me is Kings Brompton in Somerset, or Brompton Regis as it was sometimes known, although there is no reason this blog couldn't be adapted to cover almost any other village.

Rather than just turn up and walk around looking hopeful but without any real expectations it is useful to make some form of plan beforehand to increase the percentage likelihood of having a positive result. 

Known births in the Village

​The first thing I would do is prepare a list of those individuals on your tree who you already know were either born, married or died there ..... with relevant dates. This could help when walking around the graveyard looking for their graves or even just searching for other evidence.

In Week 108, I wrote about The First of my Musgroves with specific reference to the parents of my 3 x great grandfather, John Musgrove. At that time I knew that his probable parents were William Musgrove and Mary which has now been confirmed. The Kings Brompton Register of Births shows they had the following children :

• JOSEPH MUSGROVE was baptised on 19th Dec 1802 in Kings Brompton.
• JOHN MUSGROVE was born on 18 Apr 1805 in Kings Brompton and baptised on 3rd May 1805 (see copy of Register above). 
• MARIA MUSGROVE was born on 31 Dec 1806 in Kings Brompton and baptised on 2nd January 1807. She died on 23 Aug 1807 in Kings Brompton.
• SAMUEL MUSGROVE was born on 02 May 1808 in Kings Brompton and baptised on 25th December 1808.

I know that John became a shoemaker and that he married in London, 1830, where his children were born. So far, I have not found any trace of the other children in Kings Brompton or elsewhere other than their birth / baptism. 

There is a listing in the Register of a marriage between a Joseph Musgrove and Mary How on 9th October 1777 - perhaps Joseph was William's brother ? 

What do we know about Kings Brompton ?

It would be useful to find out a bit about the village and the general area as it might be useful to visit adjoining villages as well, even if only so you can recognise place names on census etc. 

Kings Brompton (A) is in the Exmoor National Park, roughly in the middle of a square drawn between Minehead in the north (E), Taunton in the East (B), Tiverton in the south (C) and Barnstaple in the west (D). It is sometimes still known as Brompton Regis.

There is an interesting website with local news and the history of the village which includes the fact that "today Brompton Regis is only a small village but reminders of its agricultural and industrial history endures with the names of the farms a reminder of its former settlements and the names of some of its houses a reminder of its industrial past. It was once a market town and one of the largest in the area. It has a population of 439 (2001 census) which includes the villages of Bury and Withiel Florey."​

Perhaps during my visit I might find a trace of my Musgroves or their children or children's children ? It is surprising how little is needed to move a branch forward. 

​Local Church

It is also useful to have details of any local churches which might contain graves or other historical information. These might not only be in the actual village of birth but certainly within easy travelling distance bearing in mind the methods of transport available at the time.

​During my visit to Kings Brompton I need to visit the  Church of the Blessed Virgin St Mary. There is an online monumental transcription of all the graves in the graveyard but there is no trace of any Musgroves on this. ​Perhaps there may be some of their children or children's children leaving a footprint somewhere else in the village ? 

​Local Archives

Finally, it is always useful to find out in advance where the local archives are, in this case being at the Somerset Heritage Centre near Taunton. A trip there will almost certainly be interesting if not necessarily productive. A tip - they are usually closed at least one day each week, so check before travelling.

Hopefully my trip will prove worthwhile and I can knock a hole in this brick wall.   

Sources : History of the village www.bromptonregis.com/villagehistory.html
​

Tony Bird, my Dad's brother, inherited a 1904 Lanchester from John Benson, the 2nd Lord Charnwood. John was allegedly a distant cousin of Tony’s and I have been asked if I can find the connection.
​
John died in 1955 and probate was granted (see right). I obtained a copy of the Will (below) and the contents include :

There is no indication that any of the beneficiaries are related to John which you would expect if they were - his sisters and wife were named as such. Tony received the 1904 Lanchester and also a Johanson watch. Why ? How did they know each other ?
 
Tony Benson’s ancestors
​​
Mother – Marjorie Benson 1884 to 1961 (who married Percy Bird)
Grandfather – William Cole Benson 1850 to 1898 (who went to South Africa)
Great grandfather -  Thomas Benson 1810 to 1896 (linen draper & merchant in Islington)
2 x great grandfather – Thomas Benson 1781 to not known (farmer in Passenham)
3 x great grandfather – Thomas Benson 1746 to 1822 (farmer in Passenham)
 
John Benson’s ancestors

Father - Godfrey Rathbone Benson, 1st Baron Charnwood 1864 to 1945
Grandfather – William Benson 1816 to 1887
Great grandfather – Robert Benson 1785 to 1846 (lived in Liverpool)
2 x great grandfather – Robert Benson 1749 to 1802
3 x great grandfather – George Benson 1699 to 1761 (lived in Lancashire)

​How could they have known each other if not as cousins ?
​
Tony was born in 1917, died in 1974 and went to Highgate and then St Paul's School. He never went to University. John was born in 1901, died in 1955 and was educated at Eton and then Balliol College at Oxford. They obviously can’t have gone to school or University together because of their different ages. John didn't have any children.  

John gained the rank of Major in the service of the 105 Field Brigade, Royal Artillery (Territorial Army). He fought in the Second World War. In Tony’s unpublished autobiography he talks about his time as staff car driver with the Royal Artillery and, although pure conjecture, it could have been during this period that they met and shared their love of cars.

I certainly haven’t found any other likely connection between the two Benson families. They came from completely different parts of the country. ​ Hopefully someone will read this blog who knows how they met and what their relationship was.

You can read an excellent article about John Benson's life written by a friend as an obituary in The Illustrated London News of 1955. 

I originally believed that my relative, Stanley Musgrove (W20), was a member of the crew of a Halifax which was shot down over Belgium on 27 / 28th April 1944. I now know it was another Stan Musgrove but this is a small tribute which records the events of that night and the aftermarth.
​
A four engine Halifax bomber from 432 Squadron took off from East Moor, a Royal Canadian Air Force base just north of York, at 23:36 hrs on 27 - 28 April 1944 to bomb railway yards at Montzen in Belgium.  There was a standard seven man crew on board.

It seems that flying above the flak at 11,000 feet, the bomb run was completed successfully and the plane was returning to England.  There was a sudden burst of flak from a railway train which hit in a number of places, setting the plane on fire.  The pilot feathered the burning engines and ordered everyone to bail out at about 01:30.  The plane crashed near Hanneche (Limbburg) a small village 2 km west of Burdinne in Belgium. 
 
When a member of the armed forces goes missing behind enemy lines, they are debriefed and complete an "Escape and Evasion Report" on their return.  These are now in the public domain (see blog 72) and I have copies of each crew member who evaded capture.  From these, and other blogs on the net, I have ascertained that :

PILOT - F/S. Gilbert Millar RCAF; 20 years old - second youngest member of the crew - was a clerk from Brooklyn, New York City before the war.  In his Report he said "after bombing, we were hit by Ack Ack shell (reported to have been by a woman AA gunner) and set on fire.  I ordered my crew to bail out and followed myself at approximately 400 feet."  He parachuted near Pintails in Belgium and hid in a small wood overnight before being contacted by locals who passed him on to the resistance.  Eventually he, like all the others on the run, were liberated by the advancing Americans who flew him back to England.  I have recently contacted and communicated with Gilbert's sister who lives in Texas. 

FLIGHT ENGINEER - Sgt. Stan Musgrove RAF; 25 years old - I don't know how or at what point Stan was captured but he ended up as a POW at Kopernikus, Stalag Camp 357.  I need to visit the National Archives to find if he completed his Liberation report (WO 208 3348 to 3352. There is a card index of names in the Research Enquiries room but it is not comprehensive). The files consist of Evaders who were captured and POW Escapers reports from all war zones. About 60% of returnees completed the liberation questionaire. 
 
NAVIGATOR - F/O. Peter Holmes RCAF; 21 years old - was wounded badly in both legs with flak and was attended to in Belgium by a young doctor in a small village, Villers le Bouillet, in Eastern Belgium.  He was the only survivor who believed everyone in the crew, except FLATHER, had been killed.  Peter was previously a life assurance student from St John's, Newfoundland, before the War.

​BOMB AIMER - Sgt. Duncan McCaulay RCAF; 26 years old - from Nova Scotia.  He said that they had "bombed our objective.  On return journey we were hit by flak and forced to bail out."  He landed in trees, got rid of his parachute and hid for two days in some nearby woods.  The Belgium Maquis located him and took him to a farm where he was sheltered for five months by a Belgium family. 
 
RADIO OPERATOR - Sgt. Warren McPherson RCAF; 25 years old - his Report says that his "wounded arm was giving trouble and my feet were very blistered."
​
TOP TURRET GUNNER - Sgt. George Flather RAF; 30 years old - after parachuting from the plane he landed near Fize Fontaine, Belgium and rested in a haystack for two days until he approached and obtained food and civilian clothes from a local farmhouse.  He stayed in the village a couple of weeks before being moved to Liege.   
 
TAIL GUNNER - Sgt. Roy Harmsworth RAF; only just 20 years old - the only fatality of the raid.  Roy is buried in a cemetery of the Church of Hanneche in Belgium.

​Comment : It is difficult, sitting here at the beginning of the 21st century, to comprehend the fear which must have gone through their minds as their plane caught fire at over 10,000 feet and they descended by parachute into enemy territory.  Hardly suprising those returning were reluctant to talk about their experiences afterwards.
 
Source : The picture is a photograph of a Halifax bomber dated 12th April 1944 from a painting "Just in Time" (77 squadron) by John Rayson G.A.V.A.

As mentioned in my blog about his father (W115 : James Anderson, a flax dresser), John was born in 1842 and was living with his parents on both the 1851 and 1861 census. He was 19 when he married 17 year old Mary Ann McKissock, on 4th October 1861 in Paradise Road, Dundee, at the United Presbetaryan Church. At the time, they were both living, possibly together, in St Clements Lane, also in Dundee.

Surprisingly, perhaps because it was on a Friday which was a working day, nether of John's parents or any other of his relatives acted as a witness to the marriage. 

A lot of Paradise Road was demolished when the road around Dundee city centre was built.

John and Mary Ann had ten children who went on to have various occupations :

• James (1865) - first born named after his father - tailor's apprentice (1881) - did he die before 1888 as another child named James ?
• Margaret Ann (1867) - scholar (1881) - jute reeler (1891)
• David (1874) - scholar (1881) - lemonade factory worker (1901) - shop porter (1911)
• Mary (1875) - aged 6 (1881) - warp winder (1891)
• William (13th May 1877) - aged 3 (1881) - lemonade factory worker (1901) - kitchen porter (1911)
• Peter (1880) - aged 1 (1881) - part time worker (1891)
• Alexander (1883) - scholar (1891) - mill worker (1901)
• Albert (1886) - scholar (1891) - mill worker (1901) - assurance agent (1911)
• James (1888)
• Jane (1889) - aged 2 (1891) - scholar (1901)

​The 1861 census gives John's occupation as a tailor, as do all the censuses up to and including 1911. Up until at least 1901, the couple lived in Dundee, at 21 Charles Street (1881) and 68 St James Street (1891 and 1901). At some point after then they moved to Edinburgh, with John living in Buccleuch Street with three of his children in 1911. ​

As a tailor, John would probably work sitting cross legged on his table by a window as in those days windows were quite small and, to get the best light, the table would be pushed up as close as possible to the window . His shop would be reasonably warm as his iron (the goose) was heated on an open fire or charcoal heater, ready for use. He would normally sit cross legged to keep his work clean, to have his material at hand, and to lay his pressing board (a donkey), used for doing seams and sleeves, across his knees.

Sadly, I haven't found any trace of John's death or that of his wife, Mary Ann. I think she probably died sometime between the 1901 and 1911 census. As far as John is concerned, he is aged 68 on the 1911 census and I can't trace him after that.  They are both shown as "deceased" in 1915 on their son William's marriage certificate. Looking forward to the 1921 census ...... in 2021 or 2022.

The earliest Anderson in  my tree, so far, is James who married Ann Fenton on 31st December 1845.

​He was born about 1811 and described, at the time of his marriage, as a flax dresser.

A flax dresser was someone who broke and swingled flax, or prepared it for the spinner. Basically flax plants were uprooted and piled in the field before they were then either beaten with a flail (or swingle) or combed (rippled) to remove any seed pods. The stems were then allowed to rot or were soaked in a stream to remove resins (retting). This loosened the bark from the bundles which were then beaten (scutched) to crush the inner woody core leaving long fibres. The final step was to draw the fibres through a comb (heckling) to remove the remnants of the fibrous core and outer bark. The flax was then ready for spinning (source :John Heckels on Roots Web). 
 ​
The best grades of flax were used for linen fabrics such as damasks, lace and sheeting. Coarser grades were used for the manufacturing of twine, rope, canvas and webbing equipment.  

What else do we know about James ? Not a great deal, I'm afraid.
​
On the 1851 census, James and Ann, shown as aged 40 and 38 respectively, are shown as living at 65 King Street, Dundee with their three children :

• John (born about 1842 aged 9)
• James (born about 1844 aged 7)
• Elizabeth (born about 1850 aged 1)

​

​By the 1861 census, John (18), who was soon to be married, is living with his parents at Quarry Land, Cowgate in Dundee with another two young siblings :

• Cecilia (born about 1851) - she was working as a millworker aged just 10.
• Thomas (born about 1858 aged 3)

Twenty years later on the 1881 census, James is 68, described as "Housekeeper", and living at 55 King Street, Dundee with his children :

• James (38) - a tailor
• Cecilia (28) - a spinner
• Thomas (22) - a baker

​Their sons, John and James, were born before their parents married. The marriage certificate for John Anderson says he was was 19 in 1861 and therefore born in 1842, before his parents marriage at the end of 1845.  

It isn't known when either James, or his wife, died. Scottish records are not easy to access unless you have an idea of what you are looking for and about when and where in Scotland it happened. However, from reading about the life of a flax worker, it would be very surprising if James was not extremely poor, working almost 12 hours a day with limited holidays.

​The Surname originated in France about 1100 AD and the Normans brought it to Scotland one hundred and fifty years later.  Anderson means "Son of Andrew" or "servant of Andrew", Andrew being the patron saint of Scotland. There is no specific place where the Clan originated and the name was used all over Scotland by groups unrelated to each other. 

The Clan

The Clan has been around for hundreds of years. Though it is said there is no exact place of origin, the Kinrara manuscript contains details of a claim that the MacAndrews came to Badenoch from Moidart about 1400 AD. 

The Tartan

Mostly blue, it is one of only a few Scottish tartans woven with seven colours, all others bearing no more than six colours. The distinctive and elaborate Anderson tartan can be found in many minor variations dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. The Highland Society of London began to collect specimens of tartans in 1815, but the Anderson sample appears to have been added at a later date, there being no reference to its place in the collection of early records. 

​The Crest

This consists of a strap and buckle encircling an oak tree. The oak tree rests on the "wreath", which for the Andersons is a twisted strand of red and silver threads. The wreath has six loops, with silver and red in an alternating pattern. Silver is the first loop on the left side, and red is the last loop on the right side. All Andersons are entitled to wear the crest as a sign of being a clansman.

The Motto

STAND SURE reflects the spirit of confidence of the Anderson Clan from a place of strength with the sturdy dependence of the oak tree. 

Septs …. some of the divisions within the Anderson Clan
 
Anderson, Andrew, MacAndrew, MacCulloch, MacLulich, MacTaggart, MacTear, MacTier, MacTire, Taggart.

Interestingly, my birth father is an Anderson and my grandmother was a McTear !