General Chat

Janey C

How tragic your friend was taken so young, but no doubt he achieved much in his short life that made a difference to many. That I think is what counts in this life, not to make a fortune but to make a difference for the good of all.

And an activist midwife! Yes, exactly. Maternal and infant mortality were a scourge of our ancestors' lives, and women like that were lifesavers.

I don't believe we saw Paddington Station when we were in London 15 years ago, but I must say *all* English train stations, from the tiny perfect 19th century things like in Wellingborough and Worksop where we caught trains to big impressive ones in London -- I think King's Cross and Waterloo were where we ventured forth from -- were lovely.

Well, except for the loos. Ew.

Terrific!

I couldn't get the link to work but careful googling found it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/20/asian-women-trade-union-grunwick

Looks the same to me ... also found the obituary of Jayaben Desai, who died last December. Congratulations to your cousin; immigrant women workers (here in Canada too) are usually the most exploited, and feel neglected by both the trade union and the women's movements.


Not an ancestor of mine, but a dear old friend ... Jim A was one of the cohabitants of the big old mansion he and I and 16 other close friends rented as students, with assorted dogs and cats and a guinea pig and a raccoon, in 1970.

My parents visited the first spring we were there, after a period of estrangement on my father's part due to my, er, lifestyle. My dad got out of the car and took one look around him ... it was spring cleanup weekend, time to dispose of the mountain of green garbage bags that had accumulated over the winter, etc., and Jim A was up on an old ladder taking down the storm windows ... with his long blonde hair (and bangs), in a pink and turquoise satin shorty kimono and bellbottom jeans with some missing bum. My dad got back in the car and refused to come out.

When we were waiting for trains to pass at the nearby level crossing, railway workers would throw lipstick at Jim from the caboose.

Well, he abandoned his philosophy studies, having spent his student loans on stereos and such, and went to work in a factory and joined the union. Eventually, he became president of the District Labour Council in my home town. And then at 45 he was struck down by the heart condition that had taken his dad at the same age. There is now a street named after him, a scholarship for union members' kids, and other honours.

My dad used to tell me all about him when he was in the news. ;)

I have a direct ancestry who at the age of 12 carried the Engkish flag at the battle of Waterloo. The same family have had people in the Army,and the Navy at various levels and one of my sons has continued this tradition.

A great grandmother was a midwife and was so appalled at the lack of support that she eventually started mother and child care at home in the area she lived in.

Maybe not famous but still important was my great grandfather who helped to design the Great Western Railway into Paddington Station.
if I am in the UK go if possible and walk around the building and the station and feel my great grandfather is with me.

My fourth cousin Leonard (Len) Gristey was the London Area Organizer of the trade union APEX . During the bitter dispute that began in 1976 between the down-trodden workers and management of Grunwick and lasted almost 2 years. This was the union that the mostly Asian female workers had joined in their fight for better pay and conditions that they had put up with so long.
After the first woman Jayaben Desal walked out in protest she was followed soon after by the rest of her colleagues and they joined APEX in order to have some representation for their dispute. The media dubbed them as 'strikers in saris'.

Len along with others organized picket rotas, meetings and regular bulletins for the strikers. The strikers nicknamed him 'Elbow' as he was always telling them he had something else up his sleeve to further their cause !

In a conversation with my brother his wife said of Len 'that he was always for others- 15 years service in the Army and 25 years as a trade union representative.'

There is an article on the background to the strike at -

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/20/asian-women-trade-unions-grunwick

Oh! I was missing page 2. ;)


A Victorian feminist -- now *that* is more like it. Excellent!

ValerieM, you could try pitching a small fit and stamping your feet and saying "I wanna book" as I have done about the book that my efforts led to Allan's pictures being in. Hasn't worked so far. Of course, I could always just ask the author nicely.


"Charles Stewart Parnell" ... yes, I have to google now .. sounds kind of Civil War? ... well, in a manner of speaking, not the civil war I had in mind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stewart_Parnell

"He was one of the most important figures in 19th century Ireland and Great Britain and described by Prime Minister William Gladstone as the most remarkable person he had ever met."


See what learning I get by asking obscure questions?

If only someone would explain those Fenians to me:

"From August 1877 Parnell held a number of private meetings with prominent Fenian leaders."

They're mixed into Canadian history of the era somehow, I clearly remember it being in my grade 6 or 7 or 8 history curriculum, and I equally clearly remember never grasping a clue of what that was about at all.

Cooper -- your grx3 and my grx2 grfather must have known each other! (I think this makes me old ...)

Mine was from Essex, born c1821, and was a shoemaker in 1841, a police constable in 1861 and 1871 (blamed if I can re-locate him in the 1851) -- and by the 1881 census he was a boot maker.

Always thought his daughter was an odd choice of bride for my gr-grfather, a recent military deserter living under an assumed name ...

I should get you to tell me how to find out more, shouldn't I?


Now those WWI dead, like my gr-uncle, gased in France a mere 3 weeks or so before the Armistice ... I do think of them as victims rather than heroes.

One of my ancestors was Florence Fenwick Miller, a Victorian feminist. In 1871 she joined Sophia Jex-Blakes campaign to open Britain's medical schools to women and to seek matriculation at the University of Edinburgh. There is quite a bit more about her on google as a Rosemary T Van Arsdel has written her biography. I would buy the book, but is is quite expensive.

LOL Janey - He was a well respected lover of food and ale - he also owned a pub!

Okay, there is one of the greatest humanitarians I could put in my tree.
Not a direct descendant of mine, but of my children.
The father of my children is apparently a direct descendant of Charles Stewart Parnell.

HI Janey

My 3x Maternal Grandfather James Higgins came over from Ireland. He was a shoemaker by trade and joined The Metropolitan Police in London on the 21st August 1854 age 27

He retired on the grounds of ill health after 27 years service aged 54 on the 28th April1882. He was a PC all that time and his pension was £54 per year.

His record said he was of "good conduct"

Many Police officers never made it to retirement as the job was difficult and dangerous so James did well when you think about it.

He continued to live in the same Police house with his family until he died at the age of 69 in 1895.

I am the next generation to work for the public sector, James retitred from the Police 99 years before I went into my job!

My Great Uncle Joseph Helm (James Higgins great Grandson) was born in the same year as James died in 1895.

Sadly Joseph died in the battle of the Somme on the 29th July 1916
His name is on the WW1 war Memorial in Thiepval, Somme, France.
He served in the Royal Field Artillary.

Both ancestors I think served their Country well

Still waiting to find the rich/famous ancestors with the Family fortune



Teresa :-)

Sheesh, maggiewinchester, what some people won't do to get their name on a post. ;)


Ye gods, slim pickings indeed. A Scientologist???

Wait, I googled, he was an *ex*-scientologist. Okay then. Unlike my possible but not likely rellie, Francis Ward Monck the imprisoned spiritualist fraud, he recanted and did good deeds:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mind_Benders
"After certain libraries in Canada refused to remove the books from their shelves, they were sued by Scientology."
(Scientologists have a colourful history here. At one point they had operatives in the Attorney General's office in Toronto.)


Lateral do count, you know! (or I wouldn't have been able to stick my Viscount Sankey in there -- grx4 grandmother's brother's grandson).

And war heroes count of course -- at least WWII ones, not sure about WWI ...

It may be time for that ancestors-on-the-stage thread, since several people (starting with moi) have felt compelled to insinuate them into this one. :D

A rather distant ancestor was the first airman to receive a VC - sadly posthumously.

Sue

Not direct line, but share the same ancestors as:-
Sidney Curnow Vosper 1866-1942 Artist
Cyril Vosper 1935-2004 Scientologist wrote 'The Mind Benders'
Frederick Charles Burleigh Vosper b. 1869 Cornwall, Australian Journalist/Proprietor and Polition.
Frank Vosper 1899-1937 British Actor drowned after falling from SS Paris.
Baroness Tessa Ann Vosper-Blackstone.

Carol

One of my ancestors Charles Meade Ramus invented Hydroplane...

Jules..

Let me see. So far we've a couple of sailors, a convict, an African American, a tram conductor, a sign writer and a bootmaker.

And of course the circus clowns.

My mum was the first female member of the electrical trade union in the Northern Territory.

Slim pickings indeed.

Hmm - no direct line ones, but a couple of 'twigs' if they count.

The Capitalist Jabez Harker 1840 - 1912 who was a joint founder and director of the Public Benefit Boot Company supposedly to provide affordable footwear for the workers. Mind you, he did quite well out of it with an estate of £10 000 when he died!

Then there the was the 'Spook', James Harvey Gaul 1911 - 1945 who was captured behind German lines and executed as a spy.

How about Gaul's own grt grandfather, Philip Barltett, 1812-1899 a travelling Methodist Minister in the US. although from his photos he looks like a fire and brimstone type of guy, he seems to have been a 'good egg'.

Thank you sue!

She's gorgeous GF - you must be very proud :-)

Sue

I have a rellie who was an MP for a long time, but can't find anything humanitarian about him, just a few dodgy dealings. No change there then!

My gx4 grandfather was,at his death in 1842, apparently the heaviest man in England (though not as big as Daniel Lambert).

The newspaper report also states that his wife and daughters were also 'big'.

So, on humanitarian grounds, they kept quite a few farmers and shops in Romsey afloat in the 1830's!!!