What happened to Grandad?, etc (Members' stories II)

JANET BARNES
A Historical Record of Farms
in Middleton-cum-Fordley

Janet spoke about her work meticulously researching and recording the history of the 16 farms that lie within the boundary of this Suffolk parish.  She has gone back as far as 1800, often earlier, and her work is now in The Hold at Ipswich.

Sources she has consulted include:

· Tithe Maps (1840) - detailing the name/occupier/owner of each field.

· Census returns; Kelly’s Directory from 1937

· National Farm Survey (a government wartime survey). Every farmer was required to complete a detailed questionnaire, with questions including acreage, soil type, number of cottages, and if the farm had water and electricity supplied.  Wartime aerial photographs also proved useful.

· OS maps of 1880 (which showed 90 ponds existed in the parish).

· Annual farm returns, sales catalogues, personal diaries, etc. 

She also kept records of her interviews with farmers and their families.  Included in her talk were fascinating details about different farms.  Watermill Farm, of just less than 100 acres, specialised in pedigree animals.  The name Potash Farm derived from producing a mix of lime and burnt rubbish to sell to the glass and soap-making industries.

Janet Barnes		Janet Huckle

JANET HUCKLE:  What Happened to Grandad?

Despite 37 years doing family history research throughout England and Scotland, Janet knew very little about her husband’s grandfather — just his birth in 1880, and that he had deserted his wife and three children in the 1920s.

For years, she couldn’t find any trace of him.  Then he cropped up in a ‘Divorce Proceedings’ file at The National Archives (TNA).  Walter FLOOD was named as the appellant; his wife the respondent, and Francis William HUCKLE the co-respondent.  Whilst at TNA, Janet photocopied all 20 pages of the ‘Flood v Flood and Huckle’ Divorce Court proceedings, so that she could study every detail at home.

The couple were traced to several addresses, including Manningham [near Bradford]. Janet suspects that a private detective was involved, to have obtained this level of detail about them.

Francis William Huckle then appeared on Passenger Lists, published online by Ancestry.  Janet was able to establish that Francis’s father had been a train driver, and that he himself had worked as a railway clerk, chemist’s clerk and a fabric merchant.  It was due to this last post that he travelled from Bradford to the USA.

According to Ancestry, Mary Flood (and baby) were on the passenger list of the Mauritania on 24/11/1922, bound for New York.  Janet obtained a copy of the original manifest, and discovered Flood and Flood recorded as having embarked, but that this was crossed out.  (Ancestry also said they appeared in the Ellis Island Records).

It was only by reading a transcript of the original manifest that Janet realised the favourite son of Francis was killed in a road accident just when Francis arrived in New York, so he immediately returned, and Mary did not set out for America.

Francis worked as an artist and musician and lived the rest of his life as Francis Williams.

Outlining her research to the Lancashire Family History Society eventually achieved a breakthrough with the help of a member.  Janet also wrote a letter to a Bradford newspaper, which was seen by a family member, aged 95.  Her son-in-law contacted Janet with information and photos.

This included photographs of Francis at the wedding of his daughter (the baby from the passenger list), and Francis and Mary in old age – apparently they used to row a lot!

Janet now owns, and brought to the meeting, a painting by Francis of Worcester Cathedral and cricket ground, but Mary sold off most of the others.  His first wife never divorced him.

Janet found compiling a chronology of Francis’s life invaluable when her research got too complicated.  She stressed it was important to scrutinise all details.  Online genealogical sites are useful, but sometimes no substitute for checking an original document!

JANE EVANS
My Grand-Uncle Charles Maurice BAKER (1888-1942)
and a List of Roses

Jane’s research was prompted by a relative showing her a biscuit tin that contained old photographs and (unread) letters — also, intriguingly, a list of roses, sent back from Germany in World War II.

Charles’s father was a shepherd who married Ellen TYE, a shepherd’s daughter.  When the couple moved to Norfolk for work, the young Charles was left in the care of his grandparents in Sweffling.  Jane’s grandmother was sister to Charles, and they were very close.

When Charles enrolled in the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1909, he was sent to a training camp in Wales.  From there he sent his family a series of postcards.

In 1911, he was posted to India and continued to send cards.  One notably depicted the Delhi Durbar (Coronation celebration) where he was on duty.  She also has a photo of Charles and fellow army Signallers; this was a highly skilled post.

In World War I, he served in the British Expeditionary Force in Calais and met Gabrielle, his future wife, in the town of Merville.

A post-war agricultural depression meant hard times for agricultural labourers — often listed as ‘out of work’ in the 1921 Census.  Failing to find work, Charles returned to France to marry Gabrielle and settle down there.

He was employed as a gardener’s labourer by the newly established Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

In World War II, he was placed under arrest by the occupying Germans.  The list of roses must have been in his possession at the time.  He died in Stalag 8C hospital in Poland in 1941, one of 49,000 POWs held there.

Jane found it difficult to research his life in France, but eventually found ‘The Forgotten 1939-45’, a book by Frederick Turner detailing the many British men, women and children interned by the Germans in the Pas-de-Calais region.

A funeral ceremony for Charles took place in Merville in 1947.  His grave is marked by a CWG headstone, which is very unusual for someone who did not serve in WWII.

In 2016, Jane visited Poland and through a museum was able to locate Stalag 8C.  Eventually she was also able to make contact with Charles’s French descendants.

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This was a thoroughly enjoyable meeting. All three speakers were very knowledgeable and demonstrated great depth of family history research, using a variety of techniques and sources.

Angela Skelcher

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We had talks scheduled by four "Janets" in December, 
but unfortunately the bitterly cold snap caused one to fall over that day, 
and another was unable to drive in on the slippery roads.  

However, those "two Janets" can now present their talks to us as promised …

Janet B has been compiling a historical record of the Middleton-cum-Fordley farms from the early 1800s.  She thinks that you will be surprised as to how much she has collected from many sources.  Not all will be revealed.

Janet H:  "What happened to Grandad?":  Janet's husband’s Grandfather disappeared from the family in the 1920s never to be seen again.  He worked as a clerk, and she knew that he was a talented musician and artist.  She will show how she tried to find him.

… and Jane E joins them this afternoon with "My Grand-Uncle Charles":  Charles Maurice Baker Ag Lab was born in Sweffling in 1888, served in WWI, and became a Commonwealth War Graves gardener.  A list of roses (returned by the Germans to his parents during WWII) inspired Jane to research his life, write his story and then trace his descendants. 

Attendees over Zoom should register at https://avsfhg.org.uk/book before 5:00pm on Friday, 17th March.  In-person attendees can just turn up — at £1.00 for Members, £3.00 for visitors, including tea/biscuits.