On This Day… 9th April

Posted on 27 April 2022 by

9TH APRIL

On 9th April 1882, my great-grandmother, Alice Dando, nee Free, was born in Hadstock, a village in Essex not far from Saffron Walden. Her father, Stephen Free, was 66 years old when she was born and was much older than her mother, who was his second wife. Sadly Stephen died within the year but her mother lived until 1921.

Alice had a nickname of Benny and is pictured aged 4. My dad remembers her as a sweet, kind, very petite lady. She died in 1954 at the age of 71 and was cremated at Efford Crematorium in Plymouth.

Alice Free, aged 4

Alice Free, aged 4

Today also marks the passing of my great-uncle, Charles Henry Martin in 1942. He was born in 1903 in Twerton-on-Avon, Bath, Somerset, and married my great-aunt, Nellie Gertrude Hibbitt, in 1927. Charles was in the royal navy and reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Sadly during WWII, his ship, HMS Hermes, was sunk by the Japanese off Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka). Most of the survivors were rescued by a nearby hospital ship, although 307 men from Hermes were lost, including Charles.

Charles and Nell never had any children. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial on Plymouth Hoe on Panel 63, Column 1.

Charles Henry Martin

Charles Henry Martin

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The Career Of Air Commodore C.N. Ellen D.F.C. A.K.A. Harvey’s Grandad

Posted on 27 January 2022 by

The Service Orders, Leave Clearance Certificates, etc. file

The Service Orders, Leave Clearance Certificates, etc. file

About seven years ago, I began scanning some documents in a file which had belonged to Harvey’s Grandad Ellen, labelled “Service Orders, Leave Clearance Certificates, etc.”. It was jam-packed with papers and forms spanning the whole of his career starting from when he joined the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in 1915 right through to the end of his career in the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1946.

The scanning was a big task and I found myself pausing about a third of the way through the pile. That pause was only halted at the end of December last year when I picked up the job once again.

Since arriving at the end of this particular digitisation project, I’ve now produced a web page which outlines the long and varied career of Air Commodore Cyril Norman Ellen D.F.C. which can be viewed here.

I found his career very interesting which included; undertaking Observer duties in the First World War when he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, flying the Cairo to Baghdad Airmail Route at its inception in 1921, writing a wireless course for the RAF Cadet College in 1927, Commanding No. 5 (AC) Squadron in Quetta when the notorious earthquake hit the region in 1935, commanding three RAF technical training schools during the Second World War, assisting the Deputy Chief of Air Division in Berlin in 1946, and then going on to hold appointments with the Control Commission under the Foreign Office.

I met Harvey about 18 months after his grandad died which is a real shame as I would have liked to have known him.

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Harvey’s Childhood Homes In A Painting In Nelson Mandela’s House

Posted on 31 December 2021 by

Going through some old family papers, I came across part of a magazine article which was kept by Harvey’s parents. It shows Nelson Mandela in his house. What is remarkable is that there’s a painting in the background depicting the houses in Fore Street, Newlyn, which were in Harvey’s ‘Barnes’ family for a century and it’s where Harvey lived when he was a child.

Nelson Mandela in his house

Nelson Mandela in his house

Close-up of the painting on the wall

Close-up of the painting on the wall

I don’t know this particular painting but there have been many paintings of this view produced over the years, particularly by the Newlyn School of Artists.

The houses photographed in 2018

The houses photographed in 2018

There have been quite a number of changes to the properties since the painting was completed but you can still see the likeness to the modern-day photograph.

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On This Day In 1873

Posted on 8 October 2021 by

8TH OCTOBER

Not only is it the 49th anniversary of my Grandpa Hibbitt’s (Charles George Hibbitt) death today but I have only just realised that his father, Alfred Charles Newbold Hibbitt, was baptized on this day in 1873, exactly 99 years before my Grandpa died.

Baptism of Alfred Charles Newbold Hibbitt

Baptism of Alfred Charles Newbold Hibbitt

Alfred was actually born in 1869 but he wasn’t baptized until he was four years old. I have had a question mark over Alfred’s paternity for a little while due to the lack of DNA matches beyond him, although the hiccup could possibly have occurred at his father’s generation instead. His father, being an only child, makes it difficult to establish which generation the non-paternal event can be attributed to.

We have plenty of DNA matches on Alfred’s mothers’ side (Pitcher) but going back on the Hibbitt side or on his purported grandmother’s side (Newbold) has proved fruitless in terms of the DNA. His father was supposedly born in the Rutland area and Alfred was born in Birmingham. We have very few meaningful DNA connections to Rutland but a number of matches which converge in the Midlands area which I have yet to tie down.

It’s possible that Alfred’s parents didn’t immediately get around to having him baptized for any number reasons. A younger brother, William Henry Hibbitt, wasn’t baptized until he was two when it appears he was very close to death. Alfred was baptized just over a fortnight later when the matter might have felt more pressing to his parents so the ‘late’ baptism may have no connection to any questionable parentage at all.

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My Granny Geake – Photos, Cine And Video Footage

Posted on 18 September 2021 by

18TH SEPTEMBER

Posting photographs, cine and video footage of my Granny Geake (born Phyllis Grace Weaver: 1916-2005) on what would have been her 105th birthday. Known as Phyl, she was born in Tavistock in Devon ten days after her father was killed in WWI. Orphaned before the age of five, she went to live with her maternal grandparents where she later said she was somewhat spoilt by her uncles. After her grandmother died in 1925, Phyllis lived with her aunt, Edith Ellen Martin, and uncle, John Luxton Martin. The environment was stricter but Phyllis later said it did her good. She was intelligent but was denied a place at the grammar school because she had no father.

She married my Grandpa in 1938 and they lived in Tavistock all their married lives. However, the Second World War meant they didn’t see each other for four years between 1941 and 1945. During this time Phyllis developed an overactive thyroid and became gravely ill before having an operation to remove the gland.

Phyllis worked in Lennard’s Shoe Shop and also in a newsagent’s shop as well as helping my Grandpa with his fruit and vegetable round. She took great pleasure in her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and was well known for her broad Devonshire accent and raucous laugh. She was plucky, generous and hospitable, always wanting to feed you up whenever you visited. She laid on many family Christmases and when I stayed with her as a child, we always stopped for elevenses which was a special one-to-one time.

Phyllis finally left Tavistock in 2004 to go to live in a retirement flat in Plymouth but not before organising the sale of nearly all of her furniture (and not through the internet either). She died the following year, leaving a big hole in the family where a kind and bright personality once was.

This video can also be viewed on my YouTube channel at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSyLHS1HD2M
and in my website gallery at
https://www.hibbitt.org.uk/gallery/videos/video-album/0038-granny-geake/

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