Friday, 4 May 2012
Temperance Hotel -Station Road Rainham, Bessie Humpreys
I have received the message below. If anyone is able to help shed any light on the questions please post your replies as comments below:
I was guided to your address through your web site, and also from Freddie Cooper’s site, and wondered whether you could offer me any suggestions for solving a family mystery?
My paternal grandparents (who I did not know) were from Northampton where my grandfather was a shoe maker.
They married in 1887 in a Baptist church in that city and immediately moved to Brighton where he set up a small shop making and selling his shoes and boots in Edwards Street.
They remained in Brighton for the rest of their lives and had 8 children, the last 5 of which were born in Rainham between 1895 and 1905. I only have the birth certificate of the last child who was my father who died in 1967, and this gives his place of birth in 1905 as ‘Station Road, Rainham’.
The mystery is why my grandmother went all the way to Rainham for her confinement.
We can find no family connection with the town, and a quick glance at the 1901 census only offers the remote possibility of the Temperance Hotel in Station Road where the ‘Head’ was a Bessie Humphreys single, age 27, whose occupation was Midwife (?LOS) and she was born in Brighton.
She was 12 years younger than my grandmother which seems o.k. and it may be that she undertook her midwifery course at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Kemp Town, Brighton which is close to where my grandparents lived.
Probably wishful thinking but I can find no other slight link between my grandparents and Rainham and wondered whether you might tell me any more about the Temperance Hotel or it’s Bessie Humphreys, or whether you might have any other thoughts about why she should have travelled to your town.
Any ideas or suggestions will be most welcome,
Thank you,
Chris Woods
retired mariner,
Norfolk (born Brighton)
Falkland War - News Headlines 4 May 1982 - HMS Sheffield Destroyed
Falkland War - News Headlines 4 May 1982 - HMS Sheffield & Sea Harrier Destroyed
HMS Sheffield was hit by an Exocet missile from an Argentine bomber and a Sea Harrier was shot down while attacking an airstrip on the Falklands. The news was announced by the Ministry of Defence by their spokesman Ian Macdonald in what was to become a familiar voice over the coming weeks as all news from the frontline was far more controlled than is the case now with internet. It is hard to believe now how restricted the news at the time was and that word of casualties could be contained. Later on in the war the attacks on soldiers disembarking were kept secret for several days leading to speculation about the extent of the losses which will be seen in future headlines.
 |
| Falkland War - News Headlines 5 May 1982 - HMS Sheffield Destroyed |
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Falklands War News Headlines 1982 - Exclusion Zone Extended
Falklands War News Headlines 1982 - Exclusion Zone Extended |
| Falklands War News Headlines - Zone Extended |
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Wettest April for 100 Years - Highest April Rain since Records Began
The Met Office have now confirmed that April 2012 was the wettest April for 100 years or since records began. Our weather station shows the massive variation between March and April 2012 with March showing 20mm of rain and April recording a massive 137mm of rain falling during the month.
You can view the Rainham weather station records here with the rainfall figures for April 2012 as well as previous months.
 |
| Wettest April for a century - highest monthly rainfall since records began |
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Falkland War - News Headlines 24 April 1982
Falkland War - The Guardian News Headlines 24 April 1982
Fleet poised for attack as peace hopes fade
 |
Fleet poised for attack as peace hopes fade |
Monday, 9 April 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)