Pictures and the Past

 

These are some images of my family. Behind each picture, there are hundreds of stories. I often get asked, how do I start researching my family tree? My reply is always the same - start with a paper and pen and talk to your older relatives. Ask them about their memories. Let them describe their work, daily routines, superstitions, where they lived, neighbours etc. You will be surprised how willing they will be to chat about their early lives. Society has changed incredibly quickly, and their personal stories are priceless- and if not recorded will be lost forever. 

Luckily I did ask some of my family about their past, and my notebooks are full of stories about my maternal grandmother's hard life (middle left). Nanny Cuckoo; as I affectionately called her, was a remarkable woman. She lived through two world wars and raised six children - on her own.

My father (top left) often described his grandmother's strict Victorian ways; occasionally, he spoke about his experiences as a soldier during WWII; but I had to be careful - it triggered his nightmares. His memories later inspired me to write a book about his experiences fighting in the jungles of Burma. 

My mother (centre in the bottom row) is a goldmine of information and tells horrific stories of living in London during the Blitz. She also has many anecdotes about her grandfather Walter Coward (bottom right), known locally as The Iron Man of Islington. He must have been a colourful character. During the construction of the Astoria in Finsbury Park, he became buried under a collapsed wall. Hannah, his wife, thought he was dead. But, that evening he appeared on the doorstep covered in dust.  She fainted, believing she had seen his ghost! 

During research for my clients, I always add information that sheds light on the world their ancestors knew. Historical maps, school reports, trade directories, military records, electoral rolls and so on can all help. But, nothing can replace the colourful anecdotes of voices from the past. 

William Valentine Wait

 

St. Valentine's Day was an important day for my ancestors. 232 years ago my 5xGreat Grandfather John Wait (1765-1831) married Ann Wheatley (1766-1840) on the 14th February 1790, at St. Luke's Church in Old Street, Finsbury.

What a romantic day to be wed! In between working for my clients, I like to look at the world in which my ancestors lived. During this period, Valentine cards started to be sent. Initially, they were made by hand as pre-made cards were manufactured later. They consisted of lines of poetry decorated with flowers and love knots. An early hand-made Valentine puzzle, dating from the year of John and Ann's marriage, is shown.

Exactly a year later, John and Ann Wait’s first child was born. Their son, William was born on 14th February 1791 and baptised at Holywell Mount Chapel on the 10th March of that year. He was given the middle name Valentine.

William doesn't appear to have married, but when he died in 1857 he left a Will that showed he had been a reasonably wealthy barrister's clerk. Listed amongst his possessions were a mahogany Elizabethan bedstead and various silver-plated cutlery. He left his best clothes to his brother John Wait (1797-1868) - my 4xGreat Grandfather.

William Valentine Wait was buried on February 7th 1857 in St James Cemetery, Swain's Lane, Highgate, London. But his name would live on. When his brother John Wait had a second son on 31 May 1822, he was baptised William Valentine Wait. 

A Signature From 231 Years Ago

 

That moment when you see the signature of your 6xGreat Grandfather from 231 years ago...

The Princess, The Conqueror & The Viking

 

It is often a dream to trace a family back to 1066. And, this is what happened during my research for a client as a Christmas present for his wife. On Christmas Day, she was astonished to read about her family links to William the Conqueror, a Saxon Princess and even a Viking leader. My client has permitted me to describe some details of my extraordinary discoveries.

I started, as usual, with an examination of census returns and parish records. Soon I found that this particular Cushion family had an established bloodline in the County of Norfolk down the centuries. The resources, held in local archives, revealed that various academic investigations had taken place into the history of this family, including surviving subsidy rolls and manuscripts. As the days passed, a remarkable paper trail opened up for me. I linked her Cushion/Cussyn line with a Ralf le Cusyn de Limisi, a descendant of Ralph de Limisi, Baron of Oxenburg in Norfolk (c.1040-1093), nephew of William the Conqueror. Baron Ralph of Oxenburg had accompanied William to England during the Norman Invasion and was given lands in ten English counties, including Norfolk. 

So, I established that William the Conqueror, son of Robert I of Normandy and 3x grandson of the Viking chieftain Rollo, was also the son of the 26x great-grandmother of my client’s wife. Amazingly enough, legend states that Baron Ralph of Oxenburg married Princess Cristina, sister of Prince Edgar, an Anglo Saxon Prince. 

Of course, my client's wife cant move into Buckingham Palace yet. A surprisingly high number of people probably have a royal ancestor or two. The main problem lies with finding a gateway ancestor and the survival of records. Do you perhaps have roots with royalty?

A Journey in the Time Machine

Has a movie ever influenced you? One of my favourite films is The Time Machine, made in the 1960s starring Rod Taylor. After watching it on our black and white telly as a child, I was awestruck by the concept of travelling forwards or back through time. I rushed out to my library and read the original book. I have always loved history. Having the ability to visit a period long ago has always been a dream.

MRS. WATCHETT: Mr Filby, do you think he will

   ever return?

FILBY (quietly): One cannot choose but wonder. -

   You see, he has all the time in

   the world.

We haven't the scientific ability that the author H.G. Wells imagined in 1895. But, about 30 years ago, I discovered the next best thing after a long day trudging around a shopping mall in Essex. I espied a small paperback on the shelf of a tiny book shop, explaining how to research family history. It was what you would probably call an epiphany.

Many trips to London followed. I began researching census returns, ancient parish records and buying certificates. (This was before many archives were available online). Weekend visits to relatives now included me carrying a notebook, leading to my daughter Rebecca groaning, "dad's talking about dead people again!"

I became hooked and eventually completed a University course. 

Five years ago I started my very successful genealogy business. Now I invite my clients to climb into my time machine, meet generations of their ancestors, see where they lived, worked and worshipped and learn their individual stories.

   

The Font in St. Leonard's Shoreditch

On Christmas Day, during the stormy winter of 1797, my 4xGreat Grandfather John Wait together with his sister Ann, was baptised in St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, in the East End of London. One of seven children of John Wait, a carpenter (1765-1831) and Ann of New Inn Street. His parents probably chose this particular date, not because of any seasonal or religious reason, but because it was one of the only days of the year they were not working.

I will never know if John Wait senior and his family celebrated Christmas. They might have eaten rabbit if they were lucky and drunk gin and beer, which was easier to obtain than fresh drinking water. Although he was a carpenter by trade, life was incredibly hard.

Four generations of this Wait family lived within the sound of St. Leonards bells; many were baptised and married there. So its font is a link to my past. It stands immediately to the left as you enter St. Leonard’s - symbolic of baptism being the beginning of your life within the church. In 1740 a Mary Drought gave £20 towards constructing this font, made of white marble with a circular basin supported on a hexagonal baluster. My spine tingles when I imagine the many geneartions of my ancestors gathered around that ornate font.

Recently my son and I explored Shoreditch. We wanted to re-trace the footsteps of our ancestors along some of those old narrow streets. I  encourage clients to do this after they have received my research. Visiting where your forefathers worked, prayed and called home can be a fascinating experience!

A Visit to Shoreditch

 

My son Steve and I travelled back 278 years and visited Shoreditch in the East End of London in August to see where our ancestors had lived. In New Inn Street, my 6xGreat Grandfather, David Wait (1738-1793), worked as a carpenter. The experience of standing where your ancestors had lived and worked was unforgettable. I recommend it!! We even supped ale in The Old Blue Last, his local pub. The beautiful St Leonard's Church, where generations of our ancestors were baptised, married and buried, was unfortunately closed but still breathtaking to see.

Preston Hall, Aylesford

Preston Hall c.1719

 

As a child, I used to stare up at the towers and turrets of Preston Hall and re-imagine the stories of its ghosts, hidden tunnels and headless horseman. I vaguely remember going to a Christmas party at the Hall for children of the British Legion Village. As we approached its heavy oak doors, down the grand drive, it seemed two carved lions were watching us from their stone plinths.

One evening my father brought home a print of the old Preston Hall. I was amazed that this beautiful manor house with its sprawling grounds (above) had once existed nearby. Now, for my benefit, I have briefly opened the door on the often-overlooked story of the Hall and glimpsed episodes of Tudor intrigue, Elizabethan plots, executions and even hidden staircases!

The Domesday Book mentions Preston Manor, and later documents show it sold to the monks of St. Andrew in Rochester. Succeeding generations of the Culpeper family from Bayhall Manor in Pembury then developed the estate as a farming concern. Many of them were called Thomas!

A Thomas Culpeper was a courtier during the reign of Edward I and later became Sheriff of Kent. But, his son Walter switched sides during the rebellion against Edward II. Together with his three brothers, he took part in the Battle of Boroughbridge. Later that year, Walter refused Isabella, wife of King Edward, entry into Leeds Castle in Kent. The furious Edward then besieged the castle and 'took Captaine Colepeper and hung him up.'

Later generations of the Culpeper family who inherited Preston Hall became Justices of the Peace and Sheriffs of the County. When Sir William Culpeper died in about 1457, his son Sir Richard (1429-1484) inherited the estate. He had at least three children. His daughter Joyce (Jocasta) married Sir Edmund Howard in about 1510. They had two sons and three daughters, one of their daughters, Catherine, would become embroiled in court intrigue. 

Her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, found Catherine a place in the household of Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Ann of Cleves. Soon she caught the eye of the 48-year-old king. Henry quickly had his marriage to Ann annulled, making Catherine his new queen. 

Henry described Catherine Howard as ‘a rose without thorns,’ but his opinion quickly changed when he learned of her alleged affairs, including one with her sixth cousin Thomas Culpeper (11514-1541). 

Catherine was imprisoned in the Tower of London, charged with treason, and beheaded on February 13th 1542. A year earlier, the execution of Thomas Culpeper occurred at Tyburn. Like many traitors, they displayed his severed head on London Bridge.

The story of Preston Hall as the setting of Catherine and Thomas's love nest and the legend of their meeting by a secret staircase featured in The Tudors TV drama shown in 2007-10.

Later another Thomas Culpeper became mired in political intrigue. We know that Thomas Culpepper (1517-1587) was born in Preston Hall. In 1554 he met secretly with Thomas Wyatt the Younger and others at nearby Allington Castle to plot against Queen Mary and put her sister Elizabeth on the throne. But, the rebellion failed, Culpeper and the other ringleaders were incarcerated in the Tower of London. One of the prisoners with Culpeper was a certain Thomas Vane, husband of Elizabeth Culpeper.

An inscription on the stonewall of their cell in the Tower reads:

“ Be thou faithful to the end and I will give you a crown of eternal life – 1554, T Fane, T. Culpeper, of Ailsford, Kent.'

Culpeper and Fane were later pardoned, unlike other rebels. Documents in 1561 show Thomas Culpeper as a new purveyor of Rochester Bridge. Five years later, his daughter Anna Culpeper married Sir Henry Crisp of Thanet.   In Aylesford church, between the two pillars of the chancel, a commemorative brass plate records Crisp's internment in 1594. 

Although Preston Hall Manor stood just over the river from Aylesford, the ancient church of St. Peter and St. Paul only lists the Culpeper’s in the late 16th Century. Earlier family records exist in their other residences like East Farleigh and West Peckham. But, Aylesford does contain what has been declared one of the best rectangular tomb chests in Kent, erected in memory of Sir Thomas Culpeper (c.1549-1604) by his wife Dame Marie (Maria). 

Originally from Old Soar Plaxtol, this Thomas Culpeper inherited the ‘royal manor of Aylesford;’ in 1604 from James I and became a knight of the realm. He married Marie Pynner in about 1587; they had six children.

The last of the Culpeper family to live in Aylesford was Alicia, who inherited the estate from her brother in 1723. She was widowed four times and sadly survived all of her children. She spent her later lonely years at Preston Hall where she died in April 1734 and interred in the north chancel of Aylesford Church.

Preston Hall then passed to the Milner family through Alicia’s last marriage. By this time, the former Elizabethan manor, described as a ‘plain white stucco square building of an elegant appearance crowned with tall brick chimneys', stood on the west of a beautiful avenue of cedars that stretched from Aylesford bridge across timbered parkland to Barming.

Preston Hall, Aylesford c.1850

In 1848 the ‘palatial residence’ was purchased by Edward Ladd Betts (1815-1872), a prominent civil engineer who had made his fortune building parts of the British, Canadian and Russian railways. Prince Albert’s favourite architect, John E. Thomas, was then commissioned by Betts to design and construct Preston Hall Manor House in the Jacobean style. After selecting a new site, it was re-built with a grand stone facade, large bay windows, high and magnificent ceilings and rich wood-panelled walls. Outside were installed ornate fountains, an orangery and decorated stables with a carriage driveway through elegant gardens complete with sculptures.

Edward Ladd Betts enjoyed extravagant parties - to bring guests to his new estate, he extended a local railway branch line into Victoria London. He constructed a new railway station called Preston Hall - later re-named Barming because the family disliked the association with a railway station.

During the banking crisis of 1866, Betts had to declare himself bankrupt. Six years later, he died in Aswan, Egypt. His family arranged for his body to be brought back to Aylesford and buried in the parish church.

Preston Hall now became the property of another railway tycoon, Thomas Brassey, who passed the estate on to his son Henry Arthur. The Brassey family became great benefactors of their local community; Henry was named, The Good Squire of Aylesford by locals. Sports days and Sunday school parties were held at the Hall in the summer when the Brassey family presented oranges, boots for the boys and items of clothing for the girls.

After the death of his mother Anna in 1891, the second son, Henry Leonard Campbell Brassey (1870-1958), inherited the estate. He married Lady Violet Mary Gordon-Lennox in 1894. Unfortunately, his new wife detested Preston Hall, describing it as 'a workhouse only fit for commoners'. So to please Lady Violet, he sold off 4000 acres of the Preston Estates and moved to Apethorpe Hall, Northamptonshire.

Robert Horner of Spitalfields bought the estate in 1906 - a year after the Sauber family were in residence. 

During WWI Preston Hall was requisitioned by the War Office, in 1919 they established a scheme to use the remaining estate as a training centre for recovering soldiers from tuberculosis. It was known as the Preston Hall Colony and later evolved into The British Legion. In about 1955 my father,  a veteran of WWII, recovering from tuberculosis, convalesced there. He eventually rented a house in The Crescent in the British Legion Village and worked for the British Legion Press. 

London in 1839

 

I have many ancestral connections to London. So I find this earliest photograph of the city particularly fascinating. It was taken by Monsieur de St. Croix in 1839, during his first public demonstration of the photographic process. This image was formed on a copper plate coated with silver, without the use of a negative. The process, known as a daguerreotype, resulted in the earliest snapshots in existence.

This remarkable picture shows Parliament Street from Trafalgar Square with the statue of Charles I in the foreground. Look carefully and you can see ghostlike traces of the people who stayed and watched long enough to register in the exposure. The two sat at the foot of the statue and the man sitting in the hackney carriage may be the first Londoners ever photographed.

Ann Wheatley (1766-1840)

 

Isn't this document beautifully written (above). Not all parish registers are this easy to read. It records my 5xgreat grandmother Ann Wheatley’s (1766-1840) baptism in the church of St. Giles-without-Cripplegate, Middlesex. She was born on the 7th March 1766, the daughter of James and Penelope Wheatley.

James Wheatley is described as a wire drawer. This old occupation involved making wire by extracting metal through various size holes in a template. Documents show the Wheatley family living in Holywell Lane, Shoreditch. 

South of Holywell Lane is New Inn Street were a warren of skilled craftsmen was beginning to thrive. Several generations of the Wait family worked here as carpenters and paid their rent to Lord Bateman. And it was probably along this cramped narrow street, amidst the sawdust and stacks of timber that James’s daughter Ann met up with her future husband, John Wait (1765-1831). 

Just over a mile away from St. Giles, along Whitecross Street and its old market stands St. Luke’s Church. As the population continued to increase in the area, St. Luke’s was built to relieve some of the pressure on St. Giles. And it was in St Lukes, on St. Valentine’s Day 1790, just a year after the start of the French Revolution, that Ann Wheatley married my 5xgreat grandfather John Wait. Exactly a year later, on 14th February 1791, Ann gave birth to their first child- a boy. This date meant a lot to the couple and they had their son baptised William Valentine Wait at Holywell Mount Chapel, near Curtain Road.

I have written several articles about William. My research showed that he became a successful barrister's clerk and lodged in Sandwich Street in Marylebone. He left a very detailed Will that revealed much of his lifestyle. His funeral took place in Highgate Cemetery on the 7th of February 1857.

Meanwhile, Ann went on to have three more children, Sophia Wait (1792-1795), Ann Wait (1795-1867) and my 4x Grandfather, John Wait (1797-1868). She passed away during the severe winter of 1840 and the burial register shows that Anne’s body was brought from Grays Inn Road, along Old Street and passed St. Luke’s into Bunhill Fields Cemetery where she was buried on January 3rd 1841.