Happy anniversary to Bert & Daisy (AKA "Nanny & Grandad Payne")

Today would have been my great grandparent's 83rd wedding anniversary and I think that's worthy of a blog post!

Daisy Howard married Albert Norrie Payne on 29 September 1930. Daisy was 19 and Albert (known as "Bert) was only slightly older at 20.

They married at Willesden Register office before setting up home together a stones throw away from the place they were wed and going on to have four daughters, the second eldest of whom was my Nan.

Daisy did a series of factory jobs throughout her life as well as brining up the couples' daughters whilst Bert spent most of his working life "on the railway".

By the time I was born they were in their seventies and were still living in Willesden in a house they had lived in since just after the second world war. They were cosy and warm and spent most of their time at home at this point, although Nanny Payne did like to sometimes venture round to the bingo hall and Grandad Payne would visit the betting shop on a daily basis. In fact, whenever we visited, Nanny Payne's first words to us would inevitably be "He's 'round the corner", meaning he was in William Hill's.

Nanny Payne made a mean victoria sponge, sprinkled with sugar on the top. Grandad Payne cooked too (unusual for a man of his age I guess, but presumably a skill he had learnt during the war years), and his mashed potato was legendary and the nicest I have ever tasted - largely due to the half a block of butter he would use!

As they approached their eighties their health deteriorated meaning Nanny Payne could no longer go to the Granada bingo hall, but Grandad Payne somehow still managed to get to the betting office, even after a big operation that people thought would end his daily betting office trip.

In September 1990 they celebrated their Diamond wedding anniversary with an afternoon party at their house in Roundwood Road and a telegram from the Queen (that was proudly displayed for all to see). Then the cancer he thought had gone returned to Grandad Payne and he spent a lot of time in and out of hospital before finally dying in October 1992 at Park Royal Hospital, following another operation. Nanny Payne died just nine months later in the same hospital and whilst a long explanation was given on her death certificate, we all knew what she had really died of - a broken heart.

So, sixty two and a half years after their marriage they were reunited and back together like they belonged. And twenty years later, having found out more about their lives than I could have imagined during their lifetime and having realised how few people know their great-grandparents, I'm more pleased than ever that I knew them.

September 1990 - Brent Chronicle

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The wartime will of Private John Howard

As soon as I heard that the wills of 230,000 WW1 soldiers have been made available online for the first time by Her Majesty's Court & Tribunal Service (HMCTS), there was one I knew I needed to search for - Private John Howard of the 23rd Batallion of The Royal Fusiliers (City of London regiment).

John Howard was the older brother of my great nan, Daisy Payne (nee Howard) and like many thousands of others, he went to fight on the front line during WW1 and never returned.

I remember my great nan telling me when I was little that one of her brothers had died in the great war when she was a little girl and when I started to research my family tree a few years ago, it was one of the first stories I set about investigating. 

I discovered that John was killed in France & Flanders in 1918 as the brutal war came to an end, and he is commemorated on the Arras war memorial in France, which I hope to one day visit.  He was 22, and his family were devastated to receive news of his death. My great Nan was just seven when her brother died, and a few years later her mum died too (another story for another day).

So, as soon as the wills became available, I searched his name and hoped that he was there. As the site had only just gone live, there were some teething problems and for the first few days I was unable to order John's will from the HMCTS website, but eventually it worked!

For £6.00, you can order a digital copy to be sent to you. The website emails you when the will is available to view and warns you that this can take up to ten days. Luckily for impatient old me, I only had to wait two days - but it still felt like a long wait! Once available you can download the document s much as you like for 31 days.

Many of the wills released have had letters attached - a last message for family that was never passed on due to security concerns. I really wanted John's paperwork to have a letter enclosed but unfortunately there was just a will when I downloaded it.

As he was so young with no real belongings, the will is short and just says that he leaves all of his property and belongings to his mother ("Mrs Howard of Priory Park Road, Kilburn"). But there is still something very poignant about seeing that written on an official document and imagining it being read to his mother.

As we approach the 100th anniversary next year of the outbreak of WW1, it is as important as ever to remember the sacrifices made my so many like John Howard and the wills make them that little more "real" as ancestors. The digitisation is a fab project and I would recommend anyone with WW1 soldiers in their tree search the available wills here.

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For Northern social history, The Beamish is the museum to beat!

I’m a big fan of museums – I have been since I was a child. They are a great place to learn about a subject and wander around on a Sunday afternoon. 

But since I have become interested in family history, I have realised that they are as important as documents, archives and record offices in telling a story and often “fill in the gaps” around a certain subject. They also provide context and a wider description of an area or historical timeframe.

No visit to the North of England would be complete without a trip to the Beamish Museum, described as “the living museum of the North”, so we pencilled in a trip whilst we were in the North East.

Situated between Newcastle and Durham, the museum is much more than you would expect from the word museum. It is set over several acres of open countryside and is actually a series of small villages and buildings that recreate a time gone by in fantastic detail so that you can walk around and totally immerse yourself in the rich history of the North.

Particularly of interest to my family history research was a recreation of a colliery and pit village – you could smell the coal by the colliery and sense the danger that lay underground and then go into the immaculate terraced houses of the pit workers and their families. The houses were very cosy!

Colliery at The Beamish Museum

There was also an opportunity to visit the Edwardian town and browse the shops such as the Co-Op and sweet shop whilst admiring Suffragette posters that called for women to have the vote.

Some vintage transport can take you between the sights at the museum, or you can walk around the paths leisurely and enjoy the magnificent views of the Durham countryside. We walked around mainly, before boarding an old fashioned Blackpool tram to take us back to the museum entrance.

Vintage transport at The Beamish Museum

At £17.50 for an adult ticket (10.00 for children, with a family ticket also available), entrance to the museum isn’t cheap but you can return free throughout the next 12 months (if you live near enough to do so!) and there is enough to do and see to warrant a full day out.

Like all good museums there is a well stocked gift shop for both souvenirs of your visit and historical books and DVDs, as well as a restaurant and tea room for refreshments. We got the “Waggonway” bus from Newcastle city centre which took around 40 minutes but did give us a 25% discount on our entrance to the museum. Also luckily for me, it took us through Lanchester (another place on my ancestral trail!). There is also ample car parking available at the museum.

The Beamish Museum was a favourite stop on our trip and I would recommend it to anyone who has Northern ancestors or is looking to learn more about Northern social history. Both young and old would enjoy the museum and as long as the weather is OK, you would have a great time.

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Consett & Blackhill - home of The Consett Iron Company (and my great grandfather!)

Consett is a Durham town forever linked with miners, steel and industry. So much so that when Margaret Thatcher died earlier this year, TV crews went to Consett to get a reaction to her death. Needless to say, they weren’t exactly big fans of Britain’s first female prime minister in Consett.

But long before the closures and unemployment in Consett of the 80s and subsequent deades , when my great grandfather, William Henry Brown was born in Blackhill (an area of Consett) in 1895, it was the heart of British industry.

Me upon arrival in Blackhill!

The Consett Iron Company (previously the Derwent Iron Compnay and later part of British Steel)  were colliery and limestone quarry owners, and iron and steel manufacturers. They were at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution and the whole area was dominated by their presence -  from the collieries and red dust from them that affected the landscape to the recreation areas and houses provided for the workers.

William’s father and other family members were employed by the Company and he too in time would work for them, as did nearly all the men in the town.

We visited Consett and Blackhill on day 2 of our trip. The road that William was born in and lived in until his marriage in 1915 to my great grandmother still exists in name (Dale Street), but the houses have all been pulled down and replaced with a modern development. I knew this before our trip (as I had looked on Google streetview) but there is still a moment of regret when you see that roads around where you’re standing are intact and the road you are after isn’t!

The view of the Derwent Valley - once home to Consett Iron Works

The fact that many roads still had the original Victorian terraces did however mean that I was able to envisage what William’s house would have looked like.

I was also able to enjoy the stunning views of the Derwent valley that once would have been dominated by the iron works, and take a walk through the Blackhill & Consett Park which has recently been totally refurbished due to a Heritage Lottery grant that has allowed the park to be restored to it’s former glory -complete with replica Victorian bandstand. The park was originally gifted to the town by The Consett Iron Company, and the Company’s presence has been kept in the refurbishment.

Consett Iron Company reference on park entrance

Many of the workers (including my ancestors) lived in terraced houses in Consett known as “Company Rows” as they were provided by the Company. The rows often matched the jobs in the Company – Furnace Row and Puddler Row appear in my family history, with furnace worker and puddler appearing as occupations. The rows were all pulled down in the 1930s but the name lives on in the Wetherspoons pub that is on the site today – it’s called The Company Row!

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Tundergarth - A beautiful Scottish church

The first place we visited on our trip was Tundergarth and it was a lovely place to start.

Tundergarth is a rural village in Scotland, not that far from the border with England. I use the term “village” loosely as it is so rural there are just a few farm cottages scattered amongst rolling hills. I knew before we visited that it was rural, but I hadn’t really considered how rural until I was there. I’m a town girl and as the taxi drove the three miles from the nearest town to Tundergarth parish church, I will admit that I did start to worry we would not be able to call a taxi to come back again – you could see nothing for miles except open beautiful Scottish countryside.

The parish church that stands now was built in 1900 on and beside the ruins of a much older church, and the immaculately kept churchyard has many 18^th and early 19th century headstones including one in particular that I had come to see.

The picturesque Tundergarth parish church

My 5 x great grandfather, William Graham, is buried at Tundergarth along with several of his relatives. William was a tenant farmer in Tundergarth and he died in 1827. The family spent a long time in Tundergarth and the area of Dumfries around it before moving on to the North East of England, probably in search of work.

Like many of the graves, weathering has made some of the inscription difficult to read on the family grave but with a bit of perseverance (and a monumental inscription recorded previously) you can make out the following:

"William Graham, tenant in Mosshead, who died March 12th 1827, aged 83 years. Also Mary Johnstone, who died 12th April 1847, aged 87 years. Also James Graham, son to William Graham, in Mosshead, who died August 21st 1792, aged 6 weeks. Also Mary Graham, sister to the above, who died at Mosshead, January 11th 1817, aged 667 years. Also William Graham, son to John Graham in Mosshead, who died 13th February 1837, aged 11 months. Also the above John Graham, who died 6th March 1869, aged 86 years"

As I stood at the grave of my ancestor who lived nearly 300 years ago and farmed the land around me, I felt an amazing sense of belonging. The connection between then and now felt stronger, and I could imagine William’s family standing where I now stood when they buried him.

Me at the grave of William Graham (1744 to 1827) and family, Tundergarth churchyard

Additional info on Tundergarth

As well as the ancestral pull, Tundergarth has its own charm – an idyllic, peaceful piece of rural calm. As we stood in the graveyard, there was no noise except birdsong and the odd “Baaaaaa” from the sheep in the field next to the church. Beautiful on any day, it was especially beautiful on a warm summer’s morning as it bathed in sunlight. It is difficult to imagine that anything could shatter the calmness felt there, but it has seen tragedy a rural parish of it’s size should never see.

I mentioned earlier that Tundergarth is three miles from the nearest town. The town is Lockerbie.

On the evening of 21 December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 came down over Lockerbie. I won’t dwell on the horrors of that evening as I am sure everyone is familiar with the terrorist atrocity. A total of 289 people died – everyone on board, plus some Lockerbie residents on the ground. There is a “famous” photo that has come to symbolise the Lockerbie disaster – the nose cone of the plane lying in a Scottish field. The field is in Tundergarth, just opposite the church.

There is a "memorial room" in the Tundergarth churchyard. A former stone watch room, it has been renovated as a memorial to those who died in the disaster and we visited for some quiet contemplation. There is also a visitors centre at Dryfesdale cemetery, just a few miles away which tells the story of both the Lockerbie air disaster and the wider history of Lockerbie. Dryfesdale Cemetery is also home to the Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial and Garden of Remembrance, which we also visited. The list of names on the memorial is heartbreaking - there are so many, it looks like a war memorial.

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Such an enjoyable week. I loved every minute!

I am back from the North East and it looks like I was right when I said that I may not be able to blog whilst away due to being tired! The six days we were away were jam-packed with sight seeing and research and as a result we were absolutely knackered at the end of each day!

We had fantastic weather - the North East of England and the Scottish borders were basking in sunshine all week with the highest temperatures of the year. If anything it was too hot, as we got a bit too warm and miserable as non sun worshippers. I even got sunburn on a bit I missed with suncream which is a sentence I never thought I would write after a day in SCOTLAND (a country known for being cold, but which was 30 degrees the day we were there!). Our apartment hotel was fab (the apartment was gorgeous) and it was very close to the railway station which made our trips outside of Newcastle a little easier.

We went to libraries and archives but also went to places my ancestors had lived and died, as well as museums for a wider context of the lives they lived. We spent time in Newcastle, Gateshead, Durham, Consett, Blackhill and Beamish and our day in Scotland was spent in Dumfries, Tundergarth, Dryfesdale and Lockerbie. We'd planned to spend a second day in Scotland visiting Glasgow but I forgot to book our train tickets in advance and walk on fares were close to £200 so I decided to keep Glasgow for another trip!

I've learnt lots about the area, my family and the times that they lived in and it was a thoroughly enjoyable week of genealogy. We saw the sights of the North East and I was amazed by how beautiful the area is. We fell in love with the region and I can't wait to return.

I will blog more about the week in the coming days - once my feet stop hurting, and I am a bit more organised!

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Packed and ready to go!

The sun is shining, I'm all packed and tomorrow me and hubby go on a summer genealogy holiday.

We're off up to the North East of England for six days, staying in Newcastle but taking in lots of North East towns and Scottish towns where my ancestors have lived and worked. I know it's not everyone's idea of a summer holiday, but we're looking forward to it :-)

We've got some appointments booked at archives, some trips to museums planned and my iPad and digital camera are charged and raring to go. I'm hoping to blog during the week whilst I am away but that will depend on how good wifi is and how tired I am after long days researching!

We've done day trips for genealogical research before, but this is our first longer trip in search of information on those who have lived before us. Wish me luck!

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