On This Day ... 16 September

1797     John Horsley was born in Hartlepool, Co Durham, England. He was the son of John Horsley and Margaret Coulson.

1816     Robert Heightley Hudson was born in Sunderland, Co Durham. He was the son of Ralph Hudson and Mary Heightley.

1944     Jessie Hephzibah (Effie) Darby nee Pugh died in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. She was 61 years old and was my great grandmother.

On This Day ... 15 September

1801     Jane Coulson was born in Hartlepool, Co Durham, England. She was the daughter of Robert Coulson and Isabella Pounder.

1865     William Read was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. He was the son of Silvester Read and Ann Terry.

1879     Silvester Read died in Birmingham, on his son's 16th birthday. He was 64 years old, and was my great-great-great grandfather.

Wordless Wednesday - College Hockey Team

Jess Darby at Portsmouth Training College - Jess was my great-aunt and the only member of my family who grasped the importance of labelling photographs!

On This Day ... 14 September

1812     Thomas Read married Ann Hill at St Peter's Church, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England.

1830     Ralph Hudson married Hannah Glenwright at Holy Trinity Church, Sunderland, Co Durham, England.

1839     Robert Birtley married Margaret Todner at St Mary and St Cuthbert's Church, Chester-le-Street, Co Durham.

On This Day ... 13 September

1788     Jane Hood was born in Hartlepool, Co Durham, England. She was the daughter of William Hood and Alice Shepherd.

1836     Elizabeth Pugh died at St Harmon, Radnorshire, Wales. She was the 19 year old daughter of Josiah Kinsey Pugh and Sarah Price.

1837     Sarah Jane Hull was born in Sunderland, Co Durham. She was the daughter of Robert Hull and Jane Hudson.

Amanuensis Monday - letter from Bill Hudson to Peggy August 30, 1945

Peg and my father Peter had been evacuated to Australia in July 1940. Peg kept the last couple of letters Bill wrote from Hong Kong prior to the Japanese invasion, along with the letters he wrote immediately after liberation.

Most of the letters are long, so I'm going to serialise them over the next few weeks.

This is the letter written by Bill on the day Stanley Internment Camp was liberated by the British Navy.

Page 1 is here.

Admiral Harcourt landed today yet we are still here not even a flag flying in Camp, the Japs would not allow it, while over at Shamshui Po they Troops have all the Allied Flags flying, told the Japs to go to Hell.  Yesterday they dropped food and medical supplies by parachutes, it was very exciting, and scores of our Planes are over daily.  We saw the fleet sailing by Weglan this a.m., too far away to cheer - or even see the sailors.  Planes are sweeping the house tops now - what a skill Peg.  I have kept a diary which will be good reading (if you have the time) for you and Peter.  We don't know what is going to happen to us, if we have to stay or go - one thing Dear.  I don't want to return, but I would like to get made Asst Chief - it means another £1.00 a week for pension.  All our possessions have gone, my two big silver cigarette cases were stolen from the Club, the things I took in the gaol they would not return, I believe the Indians - who have been working all the time for the Japs - got them.  My watch and rings I sold for food and smokes.  Dick sent me 20 yen a month, but when I tell you sugar was 1,200 Yen lb, eggs 45 yen each, oil 2,000 yen a caddy, cigs 45 yen a pkt, salt 200 yen lb, egg yolk 2000 Yen lb, you can see how far 20 yen would go.  All those are black market prices, stuff brought in by the guards - we had a canteen but they could not get supplies - even there we have paid 50 yen for 2 ½ ozs of sugar - not white - but the Chinese kind in sticks, how the Chinks lived in Town nobody knows.  Girls I hear had to turn prostitutes to live - including our Darling Flo Ashby who has been outside all the time.  I hear Fordham and Hill had a Battle over Mrs Fordham, Hill has been running her about for years, so with Peace Henry declared War, both have been suspended until we can make our enquiries.


The next page is here.

On This Day ... 12 September

1833     William Van Haansbergen married Jane Ann Jackson at St Stephens' Church, Wolsingham, Co Durham, England.

1877     Esther Hudson Pearson was born in Stockton Street, West Hartlepool, Co Durham. She was the daughter of William Davison Pearson and Elizabeth Hudson.

1911     George Peters was born at 35 James Street, Aston, Warwickshire, England. He was the son of Frederick Robert Peters and Elizabeth Sarah Darby.

On This Day ... 11 September

1794     Cuthbert Coulson was born in Hartlepool, Co Durham, England. He was the son of Thomas Coulson and Isabella Bulmer.

1908     Ellen Darby nee Haywood died at Mott St, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. She was the widow of Henry Darby and was my 3 x great-grandmother.

1951     David James Pugh married Martha Jane (Pat) Jones at Hay Register Office, Hay-on-Wye, Breconshire, Wales. It was a second marriage for both.

On This Day ... 10 September

1907     Edward Kinsey Jones was born in Abergwynfi, Glamorgan, Wales. He was the son of Thomas Kinsey Jones and Margaret Jones.

John Child and Susanna Shore

John Child and Susanna Shore are my 4 x great grandparents but I know very little about them.

John, according to the 1851 census, was born around 1790 in Birmingham. (At least I think it's him on the census - he was visiting his son in law and is listed as a visitor, but the profession fits and the age matches the 1841 census.)  There are two baptisms in the IGI which fit the bill, and I've yet to work out if either of them are my guy.

Susanna was born around 1784, in Warwickshire per the 1841 census. There are no baptisms in the IGI in the Birmingham area (Warwickshire or Staffordshire) for a Susanna Shore but there are several for Susanna Shaw. Again, I haven't figured out if one of these is mine.

What I do know is that John and Susanna married at St Mary's Church, Handsworth (Handsworth is a part of Birmingham) on 22 March 1812. The couple had four children together:

Isabella Child 1815-1857
Edwin Law Child 1817-1871
Henry Child 1820-??
Sophia Child 1824-??

Susanna died in 1841, following "a fall downstairs" at the age of 57. John outlived her by at least 10 years, as I've found him in the 1851 census, but thereafter he disappears, and I haven't yet found his death record.

Still plenty of work to do here...

On This Day ... 9 September

1797     Benjamin Hood was born in Hartlepool, Co Durham, England. He was the son of Thomas Hood and Mary Robson. 

1802     Matthew Horsley died in Hartlepool. He was just short of his 4th birthday and was the son of Matthew Horsley and Mary Pounder.

On This Day ... 8 September

1799     Robert Mushen died in Wearmouth, Co Durham, England. He was the infant child of John Mushen and Jane Todner.

1802     Jane Yeal was born in Hartlepool, Co Durham. She was the daughter of William Yeal and Mary Horsley.

1842     Jane Pugh was born in Wales (probably Radnorshire). She was the daughter of Edward Pugh and Jane Evans, and spent most of her life in Pickering, Ontario, Canada.

Wordless Wednesday - out shopping

Bill Hudson and Peggy Lamb outside the Dividend Store.

On This Day ... 7 September

1794     Elizabeth Hood was born in Hartlepool, Co Durham, England. She was the daughter of William Hood and Alice Shepherd.

1805     William Haddock was born in Bishopwearmouth, Co Durham. He was the son of William Haddock and Mary Hudson.

1883     Delilah Jane Hughes was born at Henhriew Farm, St Harmon, Radnorshire, Wales. She was the daughter of Morgan Hughes and Jane Eliza Powell, and was my great-grandmother.

On This Day ... 6 September

1880     Margaret A Pugh nee Morgan died in Pickering, Ontario, Canada, aged just 31. Her daughter Mary died 61 years later to the day, in 1941, aged 69.

1982     My grandmother Margaret Anne Hudson, nee Lamb, died at Victoria Jubilee Infirmary, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England. She was 77 years old.

Amanuensis Monday - letter from Bill Hudson to Peggy August 30, 1945

My grandfather Bill Hudson worked as a prison officer in Hong Kong from 1921 to 1941. He was still in Hong Kong in December of 1941 when the Japanese invaded and occupied the colony. My grandmother Peg and my father Peter had been evacuated to Australia in July 1940. Peg kept the last couple of letters Bill wrote from Hong Kong prior to the Japanese invasion, along with the letters he wrote immediately after liberation.

Most of the letters are long, so I'm going to serialise them over the next few weeks.

This is the letter written by Bill on the day Stanley Internment Camp was liberated by the British Navy.

Page 1 is here.

After staying there 6 months, the Japs decided to move the Police Force from the College, and put them in the Indians Qrs, owing to them having raided the Godowns of all the food we had stored there for the siege.  Here we have been living ever since, 5 in a room, Fitz, Hodges, McCutcheon, and McTavish.  Food has been hellish - at the beginning Rice and fish water then they gave us meat - then a slice of bread a day, which was afterwards made to a 5 oz loaf, but since January 1944 we have had no bread 1943 - 44 - 45 very little meat - salt fish - then only Chinese vegetables and rice, at one period I was only 130 lbs, and nearly blind, they gave me glasses to read and walking out - a little extra food - peas and butter - eggs - soya bean milk.  It was terrible Peg, thousands of times I have thanked the Lord you were out of it - safe and sound.  This last week we have been living like fighting cocks - meat every day - good veg - tinned bully - beans, in fact we could not eat it all.  Bagley when last seen on Xmas night 1941 was tight and told people he was going to get back to Stanley, he was in the Dockyard then, his pockets filled with hand grenades, so he must have been killed by the Japs on the way.  Ryan died in Hosp - Bowen Road - Dick who has been over twice to see me already - says tumour on the brain.  Our Foster and Carey of the Police died of Scrub Typhus a kind of typhoid.  Apart from my eyes I have been ok.  Dick was over last Tuesday and again on Monday, they are allowing the troops to visit us.  Taffenden Jamieson Perry and Harrop have also been over.  Dick looked bad last week, but I saw a big improvement in him this week.  He has been in Hosp 6 months asthma again.


The next page is here.

On This Day ... 5 September

1781     Edward Jackson married Ann Wren at St Stephen's Church, Wolsingham, Co Durham, England.

1867     Mary Haddock, nee Hudson, died in Stranraer, Wigtownshire, Scotland. She was 83 years old.

On This Day ... 4 September

1768     Lancelot Hudson was born in Numbers Garth, Sunderland, Co Durham, England. He was the son of Lancelot Hudson and Elizabeth Wardell.

1862     David Easton married Maria Welthin Hudson at Bishopwearmouth Church, Sunderland, on her 20th birthday. Maria was the daughter of George Winlow Hudson and Elizabeth Hughes.

1899     Alfred George Milbanke Hudson married Amelia Maria Becher in Creagh Church, Creagh, County Cork, Ireland.

On This Day ... 3 September

1823     Alexander Kerss was born in Gateshead, Co Durham, England. He was the son of John Kerss and Grace Logan.

1871     Hugh Pugh died in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. He was 32 years old and was the son of Hugh Pugh and Hannah Smith.

1924     Richard Wilson Hudson married Dora Ethel Wood at St Oswald's Church, West Hartlepool, Co Durham. Richard was the son of Robert Hunter Hudson and Margaret Mossom.

Thomas Read and Ann Hill

Thomas Read was the son of Silvester and Sarah Read. He was born in Willenhall, a small town near Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England, in 1792 and was baptised at St Giles' Church in Willenhall on 6 July 1792.

On 14 September 1812 Thomas married 17 year old Ann Hill at St Peter's Church in Wolverhampton. I haven't yet found a birth/baptism record for Ann.

The couple settled in Willenhall where they had several children:

Sarah Read 1813-??
Silvester Read 1815-1879
George Read 1817-??
Catherine Read 1820-1899
Priscilla Read 1822-1893
Hannah Read 1825-1828
Elisabeth Read 1827-1828

The family moved to Birmingham sometime after the deaths of Hannah and Elisabeth in 1828. Three of the children - Silvester, Catherine and Priscilla - married in Birmingham churches between 1833 and 1841.

In 1841, the census shows that Thomas and Ann were living at Stone Yard, Deritend, Aston (a suburb of Birmingham) with Silvester and his family. Thomas was listed as an anvil maker.

The next, and last, reference to the couple that I have is the 1851 census. This shows them living in Grosvenor Street, Birmingham (the same street their son Silvester was living in) with Thomas listed as a currycomb maker.

I can't find the couple on the 1861 census, and as they would have been in their late 60s by 1861, I assume that's because they died in the 1850s. However, I've so far not found death records for either of them - that needs to be my next job on this couple.