GREAT GRANDAD: Dad's side of the family
I realised I'd been on five World War I battlefield tours with the students, and still knew next to nothing about my own family's role in WWI.  So, I came home from the last trip and started investigating...

My Dad told me that his Grandad (my great Grandad) had fought in the war as a member of the Northumberland Fusiliers, a member of the 4th Tyneside Scottish (23rd Battalion).  This in itself was significant, since the 4th Tyneside set a record as Lord Kitchener's fasting growing Pals Battalion formed on the 5th November 1914.  Records show my great Grandad trained in Alnwick then on Salisbury Plains, being posted to France in 1916.  The Battalion was known as "harder than the hammers", since a hammer might be broken before the fighting spirit of the Battalion was ever broken!  I believe my great Grandad took part in the campaign at La Boiselle, exploding a huge mine.  Horrifically, all four Commanding Officers, plus 80% of the Battalion died.  The 4th Tyneside lost 16 officers and 668 men as they pushed forward along the Albert-Bapaume road.  You can see more about their role here http://www.tyneside-scottish.co.uk/page8.html With these stats it seems miraculous that my great Grandad survived.  Discovering this made my visits to the war sites suddenly harsh and real... 

I was inspired to continue researching: if my great Grandad had survived, what happened next?  Using the National Archives, I discovered he'd been awarded a medal (the picture you see here).  I've also tracked down a photo of the 4th Tyneside, taken after the severe losses at La Boiselle, but I have no idea which one (if any) is my great Grandad (below).  There's also still a missing gap: my Dad informed me that Spencer Lumsden (great Grandad's name) had been posted to India.  It was as this time that my Grandad (Thomas Grenfell below) went to live with his Aunt in Glasgow as Spencer's wife had passed away.  My Uncle has just informed me that he has the letter written by Spencer's wife aged just 36, movingly and tragically labelled "Not to be opened till after I am dead", so this will shed some light on why Thomas Grenfell went to live with his aunt. But I am struggling to find anything on Spencer's move to India at the moment, although I'm still searching.  However, I do now know what happened c.20 year's after India as I discovered records of him in phonebooks of all things!  The phone books span the years 1941 until 1959 and he is listed as Major S.L. Arnott.  He stays in the same place: Ashleigh Cade Hill, Stocksfield - a place in Northumberland, west of Newcastle upon Tyne.  

GRANDAD: Dad's side of the family
My most recent battlefields trip also took in some of the sites of World War II - including some of the D-Day beaches.  Yet again, I felt I should know more about my family's role in these monumental events.  

Luckily, my Granny was a prolific writer, publishing 8 books.  One of her books (The Unexpected Call) covers in some detail the events of WWII, and what happened to her and my Grandad - Thomas Grenfell Arnott; furthermore, my Dad has clear memories about the events too, having been recounted the stories by his parents.

Firstly, I knew Grandad had served in the RNVR, and that he'd gone on to command a former-trawler, commandered during the war to become a serving ship.  His particular duty was - terrifyingly - mine sweeping in the north seas, off the coast of Edinburgh.  With the wonders of the web, I managed to discover a list of serving solicitors (Grandad's role before the war), which listed him as commanding HMS Strephon - the picture you see to the right above.  I found it wonderous that my Grandad should've been in charge of such a big ship (when I learned a trawler had been commandered, I imagined a small, chugging craft - nothing as grand as the ship you see here!).  Doing a bit of internet investigation, another person trying to document his own father's life had uploaded an album from World War II showing life aboard HMS Strephon.  Thomas Grenfell is on page 13 - the top left picture; he's on the right.  You can see it here:  http://picasaweb.google.com.au/gstewart49/JimmyStewart02#slideshow/5206752758046020306  He's also listed on this website under 'Arnott' - a list of RNVRs http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RNVR_officersA.html

Further research showed that Grandad had actually trained - prior to commanding Strephon - on board HMS Victorious in 1941/2 (see photo below)... the very aircraft carrier that successfully hunted the Bismarck.  It is highly possible that Grandad was training aboard the ship during these events!

UPDATE: Further investigating has revealed that Grandad was on HMS Victorious when it hunted the Bismarck.  I've been given a wonderful photo of Grandad's, labelled "between Iceland and Greenland, 9 ancient Swordfish ready to attack Bizmark [sic], May 1941".  And indeed, there are the rather ramshackle Swordfish planes, preparing to take flight, from what looks like the tiniest flight deck you've ever seen, with the stormy seas throwing up spray behind them.  It's quite impossible to imagine the thoughts going through the minds of the men who you can see climbing into their planes... Just taking off from Victorious must have been an immense challenge, requiring real skill and nerves of steel.  I'll get the photo scanned in and uploaded asap.  As if this weren't exciting enough, I've also been given a letter, written by my Grandad to my Granny.  It is dated 13th October 1944 and Grandad is still away at sea (at this point on HMS Strephon).  In the letter he recounts a letter he's been sent from Lieut. Commander John Cooper, congratulating them for a rescue mission, helping another RNVR vessel.  I've yet to trace the exact event, but I am searching.  Here's what was written to Grandad:

I want to express my own gratitude and that of my officers and men to you and your first Lieutenant and ship's company for your grand rescue efforts and in addition for the warm hospitality and kindness shown to survivors by everybody on board HMS Strephon. I hear they gave up their bunks and food and did everything for my people's comfort, regardless of their own, and that your cook's resources and energy were outstanding.  May I add my own admiration of your masterly ship handling under most difficult circumstances, and your calm acceptance of inevitable damage.  If any leave was accrued in consequence it was never better earned.  That half my ship's complement can call themselves survivors is due to HMS Strephon.  Thank you, yours sincerely, Lieut. Commander John Cooper, RNVR.

GREAT GRANDAD: Mum's side of the family
Wow! This has been a great adventure so far. My Mum grew up in London with her Mum (Margaret Bergin).  Margaret was an Irish Catholic and did not tell my Mum much - if anything - about her family in Dublin, Ireland.  So, my Mum has spent her 60+ years knowing nothing about her Grandparents, nor her aunts and uncles.  The power of the web (thank you whoever you are that uploads all these millions of records!) has meant that tonight I've unearthed some of Mum's secreted past.  Her Grandad was called Thomas Francis Bergin.  He was born in c.1871 in Dublin.  In 1893 he married Margaret (both were aged around 22 years old).  I've not yet tracked down the marriage record (but I will!).  The very next year their first son was born - Thomas. The next year, Mary Ellen was born. In 1898 Kathleen Bergin was born, followed by Elizabeth in 1899.  Alice was born in 1901, followed by Margaret Patricia in 1904 (my Mum's mum), then Peirce in 1906.  Wow: 7 siblings!  I discovered from census returns that Great Grandad Thomas was a tramway inspector.  The trams in Dublin only opened in 1871, growing to over 60 miles of tramway.  I've uploaded a picture here to show Mum what the trams may have looked like when her Grandad was an inspector.  The picture is of Sackville Street, which was the main depot / head office for the trams - so perhaps where he went each day to start his shift.  Thomas' wife is listed on the census as 'wife', and she certainly would have had her hands full raising 7 children!  The family is listed as living at 25 Havelock Square in the 1901 census (before Mum's mum was born), and at 23 Belvidere Avenue in 1911.  The Irish census is fascinating as it gives you lots of detail about the condition and 'rating' of the house.  For example, 25 Havelock Square had 1 window to the front.  It was rated as a 2nd class family house (1st class being the highest, 4th being the lowest).  It appears that in 1901 Thomas Bergin shared the house with another family (the Gills).  Thomas and co had 3 rooms, and the Gills had 3 rooms (for 6 people).  It's difficult to see from the photo below how 6 rooms would've squeezed into the seemingly-tiny house.  In 1911, where the Bergins then lived (23 Belvidere Avenue) was also rated as a 2nd class house.  It's listed as having 4 windows to the front, and Thomas and his family lived in 4 rooms (all 7 children were born by this point).  There were five families sharing this address: Mr McAuliffe had 1 room for 2 people; Ms Daly had 1 room for herself; Mr Connoll had 1 room for himself; and Mr Colligan had 1 room for 3 people.  Given that these houses would have had one toilet - presumably in the back - you can imagine it would have been a really busy place, full of the hum and drum of children and people going about their work.  Interestingly, Havelock Square today overlooks Lansdowne Park stadium!  I've put pictures below of what each address looks like today. 

I can't find any evidence that Thomas Frances fought in World War 1 (he was 43 years old when war broke out in 1914, so escaped the call given to 18-40 year olds and, of course, as an Irishman I don't think he faced conscription).  His son Peirce was too young (only 8).  I can find no evidence of whether Thomas was a Nationalist, pushing for home rule, but the one thing Mum did learn from her Mum (Margaret Patricia) is that the family was strict Roman Catholic.  So it is possible that the family were Nationalist.  Nevertheless, living in Dublin they may well have supported the war effort due to the fact that John Redmond (the political leader pushing for home rule) was active in Dublin (where he wanted the home rule parliament to be set up), and encouraged Irishmen to support the war in the hope that Britain would see the plight of Ireland achieving freedom from Britain akin to the plight of Belgium and Serbia achieving freedom from their 'invaders'.  But, I'm making assumptions - for all I know, Thomas could've been more radical!  He may well have been more aligned to James Connolly and Patrick Pearse who wanted to proclaim an Irish Republic (and tried to do so in the Easter Uprising in 1916).  I've absolutely no idea how I could find out this stuff - I don't know of any family diaries on Mum's side of the family... but I will push on.  Perhaps there are some dregs of memories with Mum's sister?  

GREAT GRANDMOTHER: Mum's side
What a service: did you know you can request the birth certificates of your ancestors? Using the Government Records Office, you can enter details and hey presto, for a small fee the certificate is posted to you.  So, I requested the birth certificate of my Mum's Mum (the one above who told my Mum very little about her family).  On Margaret Patricia's birth certificate was listed her mother's maiden name: Margaret Seery.  And so another chink of light creeps into the hidden darkness of my Mum's past.  Plus, the birth certificate has also revealed that Mum's Mum was born at home: 53 Gordon Street, Dublin.  This is interesting: not only does it tell me that the Bergins moved house between the 1901 and 1911 census (addresses indicated in Thomas' biog above), it also reveals that they were moving very frequently.  To move 3 times in 10 years seems frequent, considering there were 7 children in tow.  Why would they move this often?  Also, the homes in question are all within walking distance of one another.  These are questions I can't yet answer.


On the up side, the brilliant thing about getting Margaret Seery's maiden name is that I now have another angle to explore: I can search for her marriage record to Thomas Francis Bergin, and thus find out about where she and he were originally from, and their parent's names... So I can hopefully reach another generation back.  Watch this space. 

GREAT GRANDMOTHER: Dad's side
I am very lucky in that my Grandmother (whose biography I will add shortly) wrote a large number of books. One focused on her own family history. But only now am I reading it again with an appreciation of the phenomenal amount of research that went into this book - especially given she had no powerful internet!  I've been really fascinated to re-discover the story of my Great Grandmother, Louisa Story. She grew up in Barnes, and her father was the vicar of Holy Trinity Church (near Hammersmith bridge). At school she excelled in Mathematics and Science, going on to study at Royal Holloway. Around 1901 she was invited to teach at the Royal School in Bath, and is listed in the census for that year as "officer - Assistant Mistress Mathematics and Science". By 1903 she had moved to Edinburgh, teaching at George Watson's College, and from 1904 was listed as a member of the Edinburgh Society for Mathematics. In 1910 she was still a member of the society, but is listed as living in the prestigious Norland Place in London - although I can find no record to explain why, except that she may have been teaching in the Norland Place school.  Around this time, she wrote one of her first published articles: 'The Organisation and Teaching of Mathematics to Secondary School Girls'. I find it mind boggling to think that I am taking after my own flesh and blood as a teacher, and can't help but wonder as to the extent of nature / nurture in my own career choice. Louisa was then invited back to the Royal School in Bath [pictured] to become the youngest ever Headteacher - a record I believe she still holds, even today. I love the picture that my Granny's words paint of my Great Grandmother's character in her book 'Journey into Understanding':

I had been at school rather over a year when I discovered, to my astonishment, that in these surroundings I was 'different' from my friends. My mother... [had] made a notable contribution to life of the city [Bath]. From time to time she arrived in the hall of my school to be received with obvious pleasure and deference by that tall imposing figure, the Headmistress, of whom I was much in awe... She was in great demand as a speaker on many platforms. This, oddly, was a nightmare to her, and she often became physically ill beforehand. This strange situation taught me, over the ensuing years, much about my mother. Deeply sensitive, she looked at life with a courage that had only been won with difficulty. In spite of the positions of authority she had held so young, she seemed to me to show an inner fearfulness, not I believe apparent to outsiders, which as a child I could not understand, but of which I was conscious...