Category: London
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The London smog of 1952
6th December 1952 – the day my paternal grandfather Sydney Charles Howes died after cycling from his teaching job in Nunhead to home in New Cross. Smog related death not long before he was due to retire and the reason I never met him. (6th December was the height of the smog.) Originally from a tweet by @ancestryuk 22nd Nov: “Amazing photos from London smog of 1952. Wrong weather + burning coal = big problem for London.” The photo page on Another Nickel in the Machine » »
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Uncle William comes into focus
No longer in a pickle with the Cullums
No longer in a pickle with the Cullums It has been rather a long summer break for this blog – time to get back down to the writing. The only possible subject for this week is making contact with a genuine descendant of my great great grandmother Harriet Cutlock and her husband William Bishop Cullum (see Cutlock/Cullum page). Muriel’s daughter happened to stumble on this website as she was checking out the Cullum name and noticed that Muriel was mentioned. We have been exchanging emails » »
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Great photo, shame about the documentation
Continuing the exploration of the large batch of old family snaps digitised last week, here’s one of the more intriguing. It’s a wonderful action shot, taken by that prolific photographer ‘person unknown’. Fred and Dora’s wedding 25 Sept 1926 Labelled ‘Fred and Dora’s wedding September 25 1926’, the event is obvious and the most prominent figure pictured is also easy to identify as grandfather Sydney Howes. The occasion: Frederick Hinton Cullum, son of William John Cullum and Sarah Neve, marrying Dora Lillian Briselden – I had » »
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Theophilus Farrall shipping agent and electrical inventor
One family connection I hadn’t previously pursued very far was that of my cousin Geoffrey and aunt Irene (Watkins). Their father/husband was Charles O’Brien, revealed to have a middle name of Theophilus on his wife’s death certificate – I have a feeling he hated this name. I had only got a little info on place of birth and parents for Charles. It was likely that a birth registered in 1912, mother Farrell, was his but that was not enough data to go on in » »
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A fruitful life for a Norfolk accountant
All that I know on William John Cullum. William John Cullum was born 1868 in Norwich, according to family birthday records 9th March, to William Bishop Cullum and Harriet Cutlock. He was the eldest offspring of the couple, but almost 10 years younger than his half-sister Ann Harriet Cutlock. The 1891 census finds him as a “ledger clerk in manufacturer’s office”, living at Leiston Terrace, Lowestoft. (There is a rather small chance that this isn’t the correct entry for him.) In 1892 William marries » »