TV Gems

I find that over the summer holiday, when my children oust me from my computer in the office, I settle with my laptop in the lounge. The temptation then of course is turn on the TV. One programme I've found myself watching on a morning is 'Heir Hunters'. This show follows probate detectives who try to track down the relatives (sometimes distant, sometimes immediate family) of people who have died without leaving a will. These detectives use many of the tasks we genealogists use to create a family tree and often build up a rich picture of the deceased individuals' lives. From eastern European royal families to bigamists and unknown half-sisters, Heir Hunters can provide some wonderfully interesting stories. Well worth a watch. You might even find you're an heir to a fortune.

On Wednesday, the new series of Who Do You Think You Are begins. I've always enjoyed watching this programme, sometimes out of interest in the celebrities featured but mainly because it can be very useful in showing how we can use the tools and resources featured to assist our own investigation. The first episode will be about June Brown, octogenarian actress of Eastender fame. Later episodes will include J K Rowling, Sebastian Coe and Larry Lamb.

Important Dates: 1st - 20th July

1st July

Written in pretty handwriting is the equally pretty name, Florrie Ainly. In our family tree there are several Florences but probably more pertinently, there is a Flora Ainley. Flora is the grand niece of the wife of the uncle of the wife of my great grand uncle. How's that for a convoluted relationship link?

Flora was born in 1889 in Crosland Moor, Yorkshire, England. Her parents were Charles Hall Ainley and Emma Jane Wrigley. I have Flora living in Lockwood, Yorkshire in 1901 but can trace no other records for her at this time. Both Crosland Moor and Lockwood are in the Huddersfield area.

8th July

"William Lockwood 75 died 1916"

This one is a puzzle. There are numerous William Lockwoods in my family tree but none of them seem to match these details.

• William Lockwood 1, born about 1893 in Wellingborough, Northants, date of death unknown.
• William Lockwood 2, born 8th June 1805 in Lepton, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, died 7th December 1872 in the same location.
• William Lockwood 3, born about 1858 in Batley, Yorkshire, date of death unknown.
• William Lockwood 4, born 9 July 1842 in Almondbury, Yorkshire, died 13 November 1888.

The only one is that anywhere near the possible date of birth (1841) is WL4. Could I have got his date of death wrong? This requires further investigation.

12th July

"Sir Oliver Lodge 80 June 12th 1931"

Sir Oliver Lodge was a British physicist and writer. I can't find any links between him and the Lodge branch of my family so I wonder if he was simply included in the GTB as matter of pride that a Lodge should have made such important accomplishments. You can read more about him here.

16th July

The entry for this date is Nora Kilner. Nora was born in 1911 in West Yorkshire. Her mother was my grandfather Alfred's sister. I have no further information on her.

17th July

The name recorded on this date is Gladis Hargraves. We have only one Hargraves in our family tree - Elizabeth Hargraves, born on 17th December 1749 in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. It's possible that Gladis is a descendant of Elizabeth.

18th July

"Fred Thompson"

We have Thompsons and Thomsons in our tree. The sole Thompson is Isabella Thompson, who married Henry Garside (born 1851). I have no further details on her. Perhaps Fred is a descendant of her or one of the Thomsons but the spelling of his name has been changed.

19th July

There's no name entered on this date but there is an address, "35 Regent Road". I have no idea what this relates to. Regent Road is a street name that occurs several times in Yorkshire.

20th July

There are a couple of names mentioned here - Kate Annie Thackray, Jack Sow or Tarr or Farr or Fow, and again, 35 Regent Road. 

I can't trace a Kate Annie Thackray in our family tree but we have many Thackrays. I can't trace Jack either, and again I don't know what the address relates to.

Many many important dates: June

The run up to and preparations for the summer holidays have stolen much of my writing time. The Golden Text Book has sat abandoned on my bookshelf since the beginning of June. This is the first day for a while when I actually have a moment to myself. I've got rather behind with telling you about the GTB entries and there's lots to catch up on.

Two dates that are very important to me personally occur in June, within two days of each other. My son Max was born on 15th June and my husband Paul on 17th June. Occuring shortly before Father's Day, this is always a week of celebration for our family. I've added their names to the GTB, my own handwriting and loved ones next to the generations that have gone before.

On June 18th, there is the name Louise written with no surname. I have a distant cousin called Louise but the entry is quite an old one so I don't think it's her. The only other Louise I can find in our family tree is Harriet 'Louise' Lockwood. I suppose she could have been known by her middle name like my Uncle Ken was (real name John). She was born in 1875 in Halifax but I can't confirm her exact birth date. She is my second cousin two times removed.

On 20th June, we have three entries for what I assume are friends of the family - Dr Braithwaite, Mrs Far and Mrs Roberts.

On 21st June, the entry reads Arthur Roberts. We have no Roberts in our family tree. Perhaps Arthur was related to the Mrs Roberts recorded on the date before.

On 22nd June, there is the name William Arthur Quarton. We have no Quartons in our family tree. On Ancestry, I can find the following entries for this name:

Death entry for WAQ born about 1828, died 1869 in Wakefield, Yorkshire.

Death entry for WAQ born about1885, died October 1908 in Bramley, Yorkshire.

Birth entry for WAQ registered April 1885 in Leeds, Yorkshire.

These would fit with William being a neighbour or local friend.

Entered on 23rd June but with 24th June written below the entry are the words 'Prince of Wales'. 

Pictured is Edward VIII, son to George V. He was born on 23rd June 1894. On his birthday in 1910 he became the Prince of Wales. You can find out more about him here.

The 24th June is packed full of names:

• Mildred Cox
• Dr Braithwaite (again)
• Mrs Roberts (again)
• Charlie
• Mr Tranner (possibly - handwriting is questionable)
• Lord Kitchener.

We have no Coxs in our family tree but the Cox family lived near to my mother's childhood home. Kitty Cox was the same age as my grandparents and I know she had a son. The impression I got of their home was a ramshackle house of clutter and collections.

One of the confusing elements of the GTB is that it not only keeps a record of births but also of deaths. A name may therefore be entered twice but it is sometimes difficult to trace which was the birth and which the death. I think that is probably why we have Dr Braithwaite and Mrs Roberts again.

My father was called Charlie but I can't find any connection between him and this date in June. There is a Charles Lockwood (born 1878) several generations back but I can't trace his exact birth date so I can't confirm this entry is him.

Mr (or possibly Mrs) Tranner means nothing to me, either as part of our family tree or as a friend of the family. I can't even confirm that it actually is Tranner due to the ornate handwriting.

The Lord Kitchener mentioned here is Herbert Kitchener, first Earl Kitchener. He was born on 24th June 1850. He was a war hero, turned Secretary of State for War at the beginning of the first world war. You can read more about him here.

On 25th June, we see the name Mrs Tarr. This name doesn't feature in our family tree so it was perhaps another family friend.

Important Dates: 4th to 12th June

4th June

The first name  recorded under this date is 'King George'. I assumed that this must relate to George V or George VI. I can find no link between George VI and this date. George V was born on 3rd June 1865 so I suppose the birth date could have been recorded a day late in the GTB. Looking back further George III was born on 4th June 1738. Seeing as this book seems to have started around 1880 (the date in the front leaf of the GTB), I think it's unlikely that the King George recorded is George III. 

This is George V (pictured). He ruled as British king from 1910, through the first world war, until his death in 1936. He was a grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and first cousin to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. 

The second name under this date is Annie Clark. The Clarks in our family extend up from our Lodge branch. They are all based in Huntingdonshire and I've only traced them down to the mid 1700s. Maybe I can trace them further at some point and see if they were living in the Yorkshire area in the nineteenth century.

The final name for this date is Reginald Beatty or Beattry. We have no-one in our family tree with this surname. When I search for this name and Yorkshire on Ancestry.co.uk, I find an entry for a Reginald Beatty who died in the first world war in 1918. 

5th June

Under this date is the name, Winnifred Hale. We have no Hales in our family tree. When I search on Ancestry, I find a Winnifred Mary Hale who was born in 1893 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. I can also trace a Winnifred Hale in the 1841 census, born in 1781 and resident in the Yorkshire area. This could have been a friend of the family.

6th June

The name recorded for the date is Lord Halifax with the words '92 1931'. This is Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax. I don't know why he would matter to my ascendants, other than that he lived in Hickleton Hall in Doncaster. His birth date is actually 7th June.

12th June

The name recorded under this date is Mr Lowden or Sowden accompanied by the words "58 June 12/12". We have no Sowdens or Lowdens in our family tree and I know of no family friends of either of those names either.

Important Date: 28th May

Written in the Golden Text Book on this date is the name 'Bertram Thackray Lockwood' and the address '29 Albert Terrace, Burley Fields'.

Bertram or Bertie was my granduncle, the younger brother of my grandmother, Maud. The photograph left shows the two of them, probably outside their home.

Bertie was born in 1887. He died in 1891, aged 4 years old. I haven't been able to trace what caused his death but I do know that he was buried at Woodhouse Church and the ceremony was carried out by a Reverend Longbottom on 29th December. It must have been a very sad Christmas for the family that year.

Important Date: 27th May

The entry in the GTB for today reads, 'Ann Thackray died May 27th 1904'. On checking the list of Thackrays, I couldn't find an Ann with a maiden name of Thackray but I did find an Ann Mitchell who married John Thackeray. The dates of death match so this must be the right person.

Ann was my great great grandmother. She was born in either 1818 or 1822 in Leeds, Yorkshire. I have no details of her parentage or whether she had any siblings. Tracing her through the 1851 to 1901 census, she lived in the Leeds area all her life, mainly Headingley (with or cum Burley). She would have been in her eighties when she died.

In the 1891 census, Ann is listed as the head of the household 'living on own means'. She was by that time a widow, having lost her husband in 1872. Living with her were her son in law, Alfred Lockwood and her daughter Eliza. Her grandchildren, Maud (my grandma) and Bertram were also listed. She is still head of the household and living with Alfred, Eliza and Maud (Bertram died in 1891) in 1901 but she was then listed as 'paralized 15 years'.

It would seem that at least two of her children (older than Eliza) were still living in the area so I wonder if they helped Eliza to care for their mother.

It is noticeable that the surname Thackray is spelt differently on documents and census and even family records. Sometimes it becomes Thackeray and other times Thackrah. I wonder if this was down to the Yorkshire accent.

Important Dates: 19th - 26th May

19th May

There are two entries for this date - Mary Alice Lockwood and Mary Laverack.

According to Ancestry.co.uk, Mary Alice Lockwood is my first cousin two times removed on my mother's side of the family. She was born in 1873 in Fenay Bridge, Almondbury, Yorkshire. Her parents were Joe Sykes Lockwood and Alice Jessop. She was to marry John Sutcliffe in 1901 when she was 28 years old (see photograph left). They would have four children - Nora, Stanley, Elsie and Nellie.

I don't know a lot about Mary but she and John look very grand in their wedding photograph. I assume it 'is' their wedding photograph. The alternative would be a professional portrait. John certainly looks very happy.

I can find no Laveracks in our family tree so I assume that this Mary Laverack was a friend of the family.

20th May

The burial of King Edward is recorded here. See my previous entry for more information.

22nd May

The entry for this date is John Kenneth Lodge. This is my uncle, my mother's brother. I always knew him as Uncle Ken. I don't know why he dropped his first name or when it happened. Ken was the middle child. My mother was younger than him and their sister Betty was the eldest. Ken was born in 1924 in Leeds. The census records are obviously of no help to gathering information on him but I do know that during the second world war he was a pilot and after he married his first wife, Janice, he settled in a small town in Scotland called Cromarty where he ran a carpentry artisan business producing spinning wheels, beautiful carved artwork and many other wooden gift items.

Ken always seemed a very glamorous figure to me. My mother adored him and he was a good friend to my father too. My favourite memories of him are when my parents and I used to visit Ken and his family in Cromarty. There was a beach across the road from his house and I can distinctly remember live crabs roaming around the floor of the kitchen before they were boiled. That all changed when he divorced, re-married and moved down to England, but looking back to those early days still makes me smile.

25th May

Mrs Sale and Mrs Smith are the names recorded on this date. We have no Sales in our family tree so I assume this is a family friend. There are Smiths smattered all over our family tree but few that have links to Yorkshire. This entry amuses me in that it creates a picture in my head of two elderly, respectable widows, Mrs Sale and Mrs Smith whom nobody dared refer to by their first names.

26th May


There are two entries for this date. The first reads, 'Queen Mary, 1931, 64 years'.
This is Queen Mary, Mary of Teck, grandmother to Queen Elizabeth II. She was the wife of King-Emperor George V. Her birthday matches up. She was born in 1867. She didn't died until 1953 but she would have been 64 years old in 1931.

The second entry reads, 'Mary Laverack, died 1910'. On Ancestry.co.uk, I can find a Mary Laverack whose death was registered in October 1910 in North Bierley which is near Bradford, Yorkshire. I wonder if this was our Mary Laverack.