Julie Goucher ~ Anglers Rest

Today’s picture is of my Great Grandmother, Annie Prudence Butcher nee Harris. This was taken in 1953 and was the photograph she used in her Christmas card for that year. It was obviously taken in the summer in her garden which she loved. Green fingers are a trait that runs in part of the family, sadly not as far as me though!

By this point Granny, as she was known was already a widow. Her husband, my Great Grandfather, Charles Butcher died in December 1943 and my Grandfather was given a month of compassionate leave from his army service in Sierra Leone to come home and pay his respects to his father.

As we research and collate the material we discover, I think we forget that all the basic emotions we feel were felt by previous generations. How must my Grandfather have felt, as he made his way from Africa back to England? A long way by modern standards, and even longer in 1943. The feeling of helplessness, and of course grief. Did he reflect on his last conversation with his father? Wonder how his mother was? She was not alone, as her other children remained in the area and her remaining 3 sons were working on the farm the family had farmed at since 1930.

In this photograph, Granny is in her early 70s and she was to live another 20 years, but more of that later in the month.

Today’s photograph is of my Grandfather’s first Cousin.

William James West was born in Aldershot Hampshire in 1898, the son of William Arthur West, a military man and, Emma Jane Ellis (Harris).

I had always known that my Grandfather’s first cousin had died in the First World War, and then I was presented with a photograph of William, such a handsome young man! The moment I saw that photograph I wanted to know all I could about William.

Private William James West served with the 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment. He is Commemorated at: Ligny-Sur-Canche British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. He died of wounds on 5th September 1918, aged just 20 years.

He is commemorated on the War Memorial at Stony Stratford Buckinghamshire, where his parents, William Arthur and Emma Jane West lived & ran their newsagents business at 63 High Street.

I submitted the details for William James to the First World War Digital Archive whilst material could be submitted. As I wanted to further preserve the details of William.

William James had two army numbers and was Private T4/212898 William James West, Army Service Corps, and later was 51275, 1st Bn. Cheshire Regiment. His T4 Army Service Corps prefix indicates he once served in transport.

As I said I submitted his details to the Digital Archive and they further spotted a detail I had not known about the photograph, as he is rather oddly, pictured above wearing a ‘lamb and flag’ cap badge, relevant to neither unit he was known to have served in, (unless he served for a time in the small Army Service Corps Armoured Car Companies, recruited from transport personnel. Their ‘Light Armoured Motor Batteries’, operative in Palestine, wore a similar badge unofficially).

Bombing during the Second World War destroyed some of the records from the First World War. I was lucky, in that William James’s record survived and is a total of 24 pages detailing when he enlisted, his service and which regiment he was attached to and then, finally his gun shot wound to the chest leading to his death in 1918, just months before the war ended.

I have downloaded a copy of his Service Record and have just noticed a mention of the Devonshire Regiment that I had been unaware of.

His medal card, confirms what medals his family were entitled to claim after his death and this corresponds with the Service Record.

May he rest in peace and know that even though he paid the ultimate sacrifice he is still firmly in the heart of his family.

Today’s photograph is the grave of my Great Grandparents, which were my Grandmother’s parents.

The location of this is at The Mount Cemetery at Guildford Surrey.

My Great Grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Matthews, nee Elstone purchased the plot for her husband, John Matthews in 1931, on a lease for 75 years. Six years later she herself was interned and this is a photograph of how the grave looked at that time.

As a child, I rarely visited this cemetery, which is one of two at Guildford.

About ten years ago I was emailed by a fellow genealogist, we share several surnames the same, but can not find any connection. Anyway, had I seen the notice about The Mount Cemetery? I replied that I had not and in due course a photo of the sign was emailed across to me. On my next visit to Surrey a few weeks later I went to the Cemetery, located the plot and photographed the grave. 

This photograph is of my Grandmother and came to me after she had passed away. It was one of three photos that  was posted to me from my Cousin who thought I might like them. She was quite right!

I can not exactly date this photo. I have a feeling that it was taken before my Grandmother was married. I can not see her fingers, because of how she was sitting with is a shame.

I notice that she is wearing a necklace. Something, that I never saw her do. The only jewellery she wore was her wedding ring. Her Eternity and Engagement rings were always in her jewellery box and are now in mine! I wore my Grandmother’s wedding ring as my something old on the day I got married. Which was, very special. More about that on day 14 of the festival!

I think that is taken when she is in her mid 20’s, so around 1937 which would fit with the general scene of pre Second World War. As to the location, seaside favourites were varied. As a child we would go to Bognor, Portsmouth or Brighton on the South Coast. Brighton is known for its very pebbly beach. It looks like sand behind, so that rules out Brighton. My Grandmother’s sister, Elsie and her family routinely went to Hastings, so perhaps she went with them. My Grandfather’s sister, Gladys and her family lived in Southend Essex and we have lots of photos of them there.

Today’s photograph is one of my favourites. This is an early one of my Mum, taken around 1951, which dates from her pre-polio days.

I love the way she is standing, the pose, holding the dress. It is simply so cute. Mum can not remember this being taken, but she did I think recognise the chair! That lovely turned wood.

Although my Grandparents married in 1939, Mum was not born until after the war, during the “Freeze of 1947” which is one of the worse winters the UK experienced.

We don’t know how long the labour was, except that after the birth, which happened at home, in the house my grandparents moved into in 1939 and our family association left in 1992, Mum was so small that she was placed in a drawer as she was too big for a cot.

Even though the birth happened at home, my Grandfather was not permitted in the room and I can imagine him pacing downstairs nervously awaiting to know that his wife and baby were okay. That leaves me to wonder who was with my Grandmother? By then her own mother had passed away and as far as I can tell my Grandmother got on well with her in laws, so perhaps my Grandfather’s mother was there, or his sister Doll or my Grandmother’s sister Elsie.