A Century of Families Together - Sepia Saturday

My cousin's Great Grandparents -  Joseph  & Mary Oldham and Family. c.1908

Here are Joseph Prince Oldham (left) and his wife Mary Alice Knowles (right) with their son and heir John William Oldham,  and three daughters - Edith (standing), young Beatrice (holding the dog lead),  and seated  Sarah Alice.

The Oldham family of Blackpool, Lancashire were carters and coal merchants for three generations.  The business was founded around 1890, steadily became prosperous and in 1905 moved to near North Station, Blackpool in a house with a large yard, hay loft, tack room. and stabling for around seven horses. An accident at the coal sidings in the railway station resulted in Joseph being blinded and he died in 1921, with his will, signed with his "mark". 

Joseph's son  John William took over the business.  Five  years earlier, John had married my grandfather's cousin Mary Jane Bailey.  

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Weddings of course are a great occasion  for family group photographs - as seen here: 

 A magnificent array of hats (and buttonholes)  in this wedding group at the marriage in 1910  of  Wilfred Hyde and Annie Coombes, relations of Stuart's wife.

 

 Another Coombs wedding -  Albert Leslie Williams & Hilda Florence Coombs in London  in 1931. 

  
At this time, hats in the  Dutch style were obviously in fashion across the country  for bridesmaids - below at the wedding in 1929 at Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire  of my great aunt Jennie Danson to Beadnell  (Bill) Stemp.  

 

 Jennie was the last child and only daughter out of a large family  of sons, born to James Danson and Maria Rawcliffe.  At her wedding she was given away by her eldest brother  Robert Danson (on the left),  The little bridesmaid on the left was  my aunt Peggy Danson, with the matron  of honour on the right, Jennie's niece Annie who had married a year earlier.

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 TTree generations of the New Zealand branch of the Oldham family, c.1927 

The little girl, Edith Nancy stands between her grandmother Sarah Oldham, ee Cross and her father and mother seated  - James William Oldham and Edith Keyner.  Arthur Oldham,  Standing are young Dorothy Lilla and grandfather Arthur Oldham.   

Alfred and Sarah Oldham emigrated to  New Zealand in 1906, where they ran a wholesale tobacconists and stationery business on Karangahape Road,  Auckland.   

 

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Onto 1938 and a post-wedding photograph.   This is the only photograph I have,   where I can identify my  paternal grandfather.  It was taken in the garden of my mother's home,  after my parent's wedding  with Mum's  parents (William and Alice Danson) on the left,  and my father's parents on the right (Mary and Albert Weston)

 

 

 

 

 

A wartime picture of my grandmother, Alice Danson, nee English, with her youngest daughter Peggy (the tiny bridesmaid above)  who served in the  WAAF on a barrage balloon station, Alice's  son-in-law,  my father, serving in the RAF Code & Ciphers Division   and,  Alice's youngest son Billy, ith his Italian born wife.  

And to bring us more up to date to a typical 1950's family - my parents with myself and brother Christopher - probably taken by my aunt who often joined us on outings. By today's standards, we are very formally dressed for a picnic, with my father wearing a jacket, collar & tie and my mother a stylish dress and necklace.   I am in my school blazer and note my  Clark sandals that all little girls seemed to wear then.  

 

 

 

 

 Three generations - myself, my mother and my daughter, 1981. 

 

Nearly 30 years later -  I am the granny, with daughter and granddaughter, 

With thanks  to my cousin Stuart's collection for his contribution towards my theme this week of  of "Families Together". 

 

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SSepia Saturday give bloggers an opportunity to share their family history and memories  through photographs.

                              

Click HERE to see what other Sepia Saturday bloggers 
have come up with this week. 

 

 

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A Sad Soldier's Tale - Sepia Saturday

A military group features in this week's Sepia Saturday prompt photograph.  A cue for me to tell the sad tale of Edward Stewart Ingram Smith -  my cousin's grandfather.

There were over 3 million British  casualties in the First  World War. Of the men who survived, their suffering could include  physical injury including loss of limbs, blindness, effects of gas poisoning, and shell shock (what would now be  termed post- traumatic stress disorder),  Many would not  talk about the war  or forget the scenes they witnessed  but their experiences affected their lives ever after.

One  such man was my cousin's paternal  grandfather Edward Stewart Ingram Smith (1871-1923).

 

 

Edward Stewart Ingram Smith on the back row, far right with his regiment the Liverpool Scottish.  An older man at 44, standing rather apart from his much younger colleagues.

Edward's Early Life 

Edward was a man of many parts -  boy soldier,  waiter, photographer,  and upholsterer.   In this photograph of him as a 20 year old young man, he has a sensitive and artistic air about him.

Edward was born in 1871 in Ceres, Fife,  Scotland, eldest son of John Ingram Smith and Isabella (Ella) Edward.   His Ingram middle name came from  that of the minister in the Shetland Isles  who had  baptized his  father - and was a name adopted by future generations of Smiths, who were very proud of their heritage on the island of   Unst - the furthermost northern point of the British Isles. 

In his early childhood, Edward experienced several moves across country  as his father's hotel businesses failed.   

Edward's daughter Ella  (who lived to the age of 99)  left notes relating how her father  wore the kilt until he was 17 years old, played the bagpipes and spoke Gaelic  He enjoyed art and painted in oils.  He was well educated  in Edinburgh and spoke with a soft lilting accent. 

On leaving school, Edward joined the army as a  Gordon Highlander, but did not settle and was bought out by his parents. 

 

By the time of the 1891 census, 20 year old Edward was  in Leeds where his father John  was manager at the Victoria Hotel.  Edward's occupation was listed as photographer. 

A further move by the family followed, as by 1901  Edward was working as a waiter at the Belvedere Hotel, South Promenade, Blackpool, Lancashire.     

 

In 1902 at Kirkham Registrar, near Blackpool,  Edward married Lily Beatrice Jones, 13 years his junior.   

   Four children were born to the marriage - Lily Ella, Arthur Stuart Ingram, Edith Florence and baby Edward who did not survive infancy.   Edward's interest in photographer is illustrated in the many delightful portraits he took of his children - with son Arthur,  in a "little Lord Fauntleroy"  outfit and a  mop of long fair curls.

 

 

Ella, Edith and Arthur

In the 1911 census, Edward's occupation was still given as photographer, but illness struck and Edward had to give it up.   He moved into upholstery, and eventually  opened up a furniture  business in Blackpool.
 
Called up to Serve

In 1915 at the age of 44, Edward, as a previously serving soldier,  was called up to return to the army. Determined to maintain his Scottish links,  he joined   the kilted Liverpool Scottish Regiment.  

 A serious looking family photograph, probably taken as Edward set out for war.   With Arthur's hair shorn of its curls. 

 

 

The sporran that Edward is wearing in this photograph is still held by the family, 

Edward served  in France, but was gassed and injured at the Battle of the  Somme. Wounded in action in the ferocious fighting in  the Battle of Delville Wood, (nicknamed Devil's Wood),  he was invalided back to England and hospitalised.   His daughter Ella related how he went to meet her  at the school gates and she did not recognize him, as his weight had dropped from 15 stone to 9 stone.

 Liverpool Scottish soldiers at Dellville  Wood.

An Army Discharge Certificate (the first time I have come across one) and Military Award Records show that Edward received the War Medal, Victory Medal and the Silver War Badge  to denote that he had been wounded in action. 

 Edward's army discharge certificate.  It is not a good image but I had never come across such a document before and was keen to feature it here.  

Life Post-War  

But following Edward's discharge,  family  life proved unhappy.  His mother died in July 1919 and at some point, he separated from his wife and children.  In searching local newspapers for an item on Edward's war service, I came across this report   of 24 November 1919 in "The Lancashire Evening Post"  It made sad reading:

One cannot  help reflect that having to return to active service at the age of 44 and face the harsh physical and mental conditions of the World War One battlefields took its toll on Edward, as on so many soldiers.   He died in 1923 aged 52.    His wife Lily survived him by a further 40 years and married for a second time.  

The photograph below shows an older Edward Stuart Ingram Smith with haunting eyes and a dispirited air - a  far cry from the smart,handsome young man of thirty years earlier.

 

 

 

        Adapted from a post first published in August 2016 

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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity

               to share their family history through photographs

 

Click HERE to read more tales

From Sepia Saturday bloggers.