Anyone else have history

u8myufo

u8myufo

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Rich
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of the family kind?

An old photo of some of my family members who but all from a few have passed away. The young lady on the right marked with the red arrow is my grandmother from my mothers side, just up from her on the left is my grandfather. A fair few other family members such as aunts and uncles, a few I can name but still a few left that I need to identify.
The gentleman marked with the blue arrow is my great- granduncle, and the couple sat at the table in the middle are his parents. through searching the family tree I discovered that my great- granduncle was a man by the name of George Carwardine who invented the 4 spring Anglepoise lamp, note what is on the table in the middle of the picture. At the time he was also a car designer and developing new concepts for vehicle suspensions.146229071_10158925410104383_2625596208821683773_n.jpg
 
My maternal grandfather joined the army in 1916.

Survived the trenches when all his comrades didn't. Walked behind one of the first tanks.

Sent to Russia to fight against the reds in the civil war.

Sent to Mesopotamia.

Discharged.

Couldn't settle to civi life. Stowed away on a ship to Canada. Rode the the freight trains for two years.

Came back to Blighty and met Winnie, my Grandma.

I remember a gentle old man with a big mug of tea in a rocking chair.

I was four.

And now I've got emotional.
b****r.
 
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I think that most of us have family history but sadly, many of us don't know about it.

AFAIK I was the first male on my paternal side NOT to serve in the army. My father joined up in 1925, on the run at the time after throwing his sisters' married boyfriend down the stairs, and served in what was then part of the occupying army in India, around what is now the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. He was a sniper and also boxed for his regiment, which is probably why they tolerated him for a long time. He left the colours in 1933 but was recalled in 1939, serving as a small arms instructor. He was an outstanding marksman and in later life was very successful at both chess and bridge, but never really settled into civilian life.

His father fought in the trenches, WW1 but was unlucky, he was gassed and survived (but not lived) for 12 years. His father fought at Rorkes Drift.

My mother's side were subsistence farmers, and nobody kept records of them. All that I know is that her maternal grandmother was the daughter of a wealthy family but she ran away with a servant, the family disowned her and she lived the rest of her life in poverty.
 
My wife’s dad had an interesting life. He was sent to a special school at 14 (basically a borstal in all but name) because he’d been caught selling dodgy clothing coupons during the war. He was sent to be a steam loco fireman at 17, to help with the war effort, then he trained to become a train driver. At 18 he joined the regular army, just missed the end of WW2 but was sent out to Egypt then Palestine. By 19 he was driving troop trains across the desert, being attacked by Jewish and Arab forces alike and trying to avoid derailments where the lines had been sabotaged . He was in Hong Kong later when the Chinese were trying to claim it back from the British.

Sadly he died in his early 60s and I never got the chance to meet him. He wrote all his adventures down in his memoirs but I would’ve loved to have actually talked to him.
 
My grandfather is a hero to me. Like many others, he lied about his age and went to the First World War. His ankle was shattered by shrapnel and by the time they got him to a field hospital gangrene had set in and his leg was amputated above the knee. He spent the rest of his working life in the local shoe factory where he was paid a 'boy's wage' because they considered his disability prevented him from doing as much work as the able-bodied. I never heard him complain.
 
My dad volunteered for the navy in WW2 and got in by lying about his age and as couldn't swim he had to fiddle the swimming test by getting someone else to do it for him. He served on mine sweepers, submarine chasers and motor patrol boats. One story he told that I liked was about being on an exercise on Loch Ness, "I made sure I was on the machine gun that day" he said. One time he was on iceberg watch in the Atlantic when they hit underwater ice and the shock threw him overboard. His mates lassoed him but unfortunately they got him around the neck and nearly strangled him hauling him back on board. He said "I heard the harps that day" :D He had a small case full of photos but it went missing so he must have thrown them out at some point. He also threw his medals out but luckily my mam rescued them and gave them to me. I'd have liked to have those photos though.

Pictures further back in time show men in WW1 uniforms but sadly no one knows who they are these days. Others even further back show men who are dressed like men from the wild west working in fields. My grandmother knew approximately where the pictures were taken which was in those days a large farm, of course all gone now.
 
It's recently come to light (family tree search) that my grandfather spent some time in prison for stealing lead off his own church roof. Another member worked for a bank in Cumbria in the early 1900s, this job came with the use of the flat above the bank, he managed to get into the bank from the flat and stole some money and finished up in prison, we have the newspaper report as proof.
 
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My father's siblings as children. Their mother died and my grandfather remarried, resulting in my father and his younger sister. My mother's family were Ukrainian (which I didn't know until my older sister just happened to mention it a few weeks ago) and all my uncles were born there. My mother and aunt were the only two of her family born in Scotland.

The things you discover when you look through old pictures!

Dad's family as children _1040393.JPG
 
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My Great grandfather as a young man (apprentice taxidermist circa ~1908) and much later in life still in the trade.
He took a few years off to go fight the Germans in ww1, when he came home he used to drive his wife crazy putting brown sauce on everything. It was the only thing that made the food in the trenches palatable and he couldn't eat a meal without it for the rest of his life.


greatgrandad.jpgtaxidermist.jpg
 
Pongo Now said:
Found this photo of my wife's mom in the attic. Bruno of Hollywood took it. The second one is quick adjustments I made to it



View attachment 353375View attachment 353376
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Well it seems she was in glamorous company as i have read he also photographed Marilyn Monroe amongst others.


PS I wonder who the recipient was who got the Scotch & Soda ??? And is the lady Renee Scott(?) as per the signature on the bottom border?
 
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Box Brownie said:
Well it seems she was in glamorous company as i have read he also photographed Marilyn Monroe amongst others.


PS I wonder who the recipient was who got the Scotch & Soda ??? And is the lady Renee Scott(?) as per the signature on the bottom border?
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Yes, that was her stage name.
 
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