Week three of #52Ancestors. The topic is “favourite photo”. So here are three short stories about photographs I love.
Photographs can be a fabulous gateway into studying history with children – dates and places are fine and dandy, but actually seeing the faces of our ancestors can really hook kids in and get them imagining what life was like before they were born. We have some brilliant conversations based on photographs I share.
This is Harold Sampson Charles and his little brother, Alfred Henry Charles. They are my great-granduncles on my mum’s side.
In a strange coincidence, my own children have the same names as these brothers. I didn’t know this before I found the photograph a few years ago in a family bible.
Alfred was born in 1906 in Shropshire, and grew up to be carpenter and joiner. I have not found a marriage for him, and he died in 1987.
Harold was born in Shropshire in about 1902, although his age varies on censuses! He married Agnes Mirriam Holliday in Stapenhill, Derbyshire and the couple moved up the road to Burton-on-Trent, where by 1939 Harold was a steam lorry driver. They had twin daughters in 1928. Harold died in 1971.
I am still working on persuading my boys to dress up so we can recreate this photograph, but I think it would be very cool!
This is the only photograph I have of me with a great grandparent. And yes, that’s me, dribbling a little, being held by my Nanna, a while before I got interested in genealogy!
Lillian May Charles was born in Penn, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, on 7th September 1892 to Isaac and Mary Charles. Isaac was a coachman from Abbot’s Bromley who arrived in Wolverhampton by way of Derbyshire, where he married Mary Kennett in 1891.
Lillian was Alfred and Harold’s sister, although she was quite a lot older than them, and by 1911 she had already left the family home to work as a servant at the Old Bell Hotel, Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton. Her employer was Joseph Attwood, who was also her uncle by marriage, as his wife was Jane Kemmitt (the surname was variable), Lillian’s aunt.
September of 1911 saw Lillian marrying Arthur Dunn, owner of the family bible mentioned above, and a milk salesman. The couple had four children, Arthur Edward, Hilda, Phyllis and Joan (my Nanna).
Lillian died in 1981, two years after I was born, so I never really knew her. My boys were lucky enough to meet two of their great grandparents when the former were old enough to chat and the latter were still young enough to enjoy the company of the children.
And finally, this is my great great grandfather, Zachariah. Although I am not sharing an additional photo here, for me it is just my dad with a massive beard. The family resemblance, at least to my eyes, is striking.
Zachariah Southgate was born in Combs, Suffolk, in 1831. He was a thatcher, and later innkeeper and farmer (he probably brewed his own beer from his crops). A tiny bit of controversy – Zachariah’s first wife was Charlotte Mattock, with whom he had eight children. She died in 1870 and the following year Zachariah married her sister, Octavia. This was a void marriage at the time, as the “Deceased Wife’s Sister’s Marriage Act” did not come into force until 1907. However, this act was applied retrospectively, so all is ok.
Although born and raised in Combs, by 1891 Zachariah had moved down the road to Barking and was innkeeper at the Fox Inn. He lived here until his death in 1906, and Octavia continued to run the pub afterwards. Apparently this was a favoured drinking place of the Kray twins later in their life, although by that time the Southgates were long gone.
I love when you can see yourself in your ancestors. It makes them relatable and approachable. I want to investigate their lives, as for me there is nothing sadder than an unidentified family photo.
These three pictures link to lots of people, places, things and ideas, and begin so many conversations. Until time machines are invented, photographs are the next best thing.
