Brothers & Sisters in Twos

 With the last of April's 's "Twosome" theme. I take a look at brothers and sisters together - beginning with an ideal match to the prompt of two brothers.  

 The Danson Brothers

 Two of my great uncles  - Tom and George Danson  in World War One army uniform.

The brothers   were from a large family of eight sons and one daughter, with five sons serving in the army, two  of whom died in the conflict.  

Tom (left) worked as a clerk at Poulton Station, but I know little else about him.  But George's story is a tragic one that I have featured  before on my blog.

 George Danson (1894-1916)   was the favourite uncle of my mother and aunt, perhaps because he was nearest to them in age and took on the role of the big brother.  He worked on W.H. Smith bookstalls at different railway stations, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and was killed 16th September 1916 at  the Battle of the Somme,    just a week after his 22nd birthday, buried at The Guards Cemetery at Les Boeufs.

 I was lucky enough to find  on Ancestry his service record, as many were destroyed in bombing in the Second World War. His  medical report stated he was 5'3" tall, weighed 109 lbs. (under 8 stone), with size 34 1/2 chest and he wore glasses - a slight figure to be a stretcher bearer in the Royal Army Medical Corps.  

"I had to assist the wounded at a dressing station 
and stuck to it for about 40 hours".
 It's blooming hard work being a stretcher bearer in the field.

On Friday I was in a big bombardment and will say it was like a continual thunder and lightening going off.  As I write there are blooming big guns going off abut 50 yards away every few minutes. Don't I wish that all of us could get home.  Wouldn't that be great, lad,  there's a good time coming and I hope we shall all be there to join in."

Sadly it was not to be.

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The Weston Brothers  

 

 

Unlike my Danson family, I have very few images of my father before he he married.  Left - my father John P. Weston proudly showing off  his first car to his younger brother Charle, c.1936.   During the Second World War Charles experienced the horrors of being a Japanese POW.    

Dad with his older brother Fred c.1960s I feel this is such a happy picture of them.  Dad had graduated to towing a caravan! 

 The Danson Sisters

 

The two little girls at the front  are my Aunt Edith and my mother Kathleen,   taken around 1911 in what I was told was a procession to mark Empire Day.  I love their frilly dresses, little boots and large hats.  

Many years on, my mother and aunt, with the Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh in the background. Even  for a causal drive out, it was  hat, court shoes, gloves and large handbag.  My mother must have been around 50 plus years old at this time - what  a contrast to casual wear today.

 

 

My mother and aunt in 1981.  

And Finally - My Brother and I

 

1948  with my baby brother Chris.  My earliest memory, though it is somewhat vague,  is of my Aunt Peggy holding my hand and taking me (at nearly 4 years old)  into a room to see the baby in a Moses basket.  

 

 

  A formal studio photograph  - the  anecdote passed down was the photographer had an awful job getting Chris to stay still.

c.1951 - I am dressed for taking part in the local village gala - in what I remember as a peach coloured dress, and with my hair in ringlets,  with brother Chris looking so angelic here.  

 

 

Much much later  - Chris  and I in 2016, with the River Tweed in the background, near my home in the Scottish Borders. 

 

 

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Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers   to share their family history and memories through photographs.

 

 

 

Click HERE to see  more Twosomes from other Sepia Saturday blogger.

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