Alfred Maddison & The Fleet Review

On this day in 1914 our 4th cousin, Boy 1st Class, Alfred Maddison participated in the Fleet Review at Spithead in the Solent, serving aboard the Royal Navy Cruiser, HMS Hawke. Alfred signed up, age 15, for twelve years service in 1913. He initially trained at the shore establishment, stone frigate, HMS Ganges. Upon achieving his Boy 1st Class rating,...

Bill Gracia & Cupertino Foothills

William “Bill” E Gracia (1901-1978), our 2nd Great-Granduncle, was the youngest of seven children born to Maggie MAHOOD (1856-1921) & Frank P GRACIA (1852-1930). Bill is sat on the far left of this historic Gracia family photo. The occasion for the picnic is the celebration of Bill purchasing this property in the Cupertino Foothills during the summer of 1915. By...

President John Adams & Popular Culture

On this day in 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the second and third Presidents of these United States passed away, John Adams (1735-1826) & Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). Curiously the Bacon side of the family share a common immigrant ancestor with John Adams, their 9th Great Grandfather, Joseph ADAMS Sr (1626-1694). Joseph was...

Henry Loftus Wisker & Penal Transportation

Today, a convict ancestor is a matter of pride for Australians. It provides a connection to the earliest pioneer (and prison colony) days of a nascent Australia! Between 1788-1868, 162,000 convicts were transported to Australia. In 1841 our 1st cousin 5x removed, Henry Loftus Wisker (1805-?), became our first ancestor to be sentenced to transportation for seven years! Penal transportation...

William Clark & Iron Puddlers

William CLARK (1852-1902), our Great Great Grandfather, worked as an Iron Puddler in the iron foundries of England and Scotland during the Second Industrial Revolution. Born in the small village of Seaton in Cumberland, William was the second child of nine, raised by parents Jane DREWERY and Joseph CLARK, a farm labourer and husbandman. The village economy had transitioned over...

Ronald Hardacre & The Commander of the British Empire

Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood St. James’s Palace, London, S.W.L The QUEEN has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of the Celebration of Her Majesty’s Birthday, to give orders for the following appointments to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. To be Ordinary Commanders of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order (CBE): Geoffrey...

Joseph Henry Hudson & The Lords Feoffees

The Court Leet 1919, July 17th, the day after the Peace Pageant. The Court Leet was a local court set in front of the Bayle Gate, formerly the gatehouse of the priory, in Bridlington and continued during the period of the Lords Feoffees. Joseph Henry HUDSON, our 2nd Great Grandfather, is the man seated in the back, closest to the...

Wandless Brothers & The Anzacs

On this Anzac Day, we remember our 4th cousins, Thomas Howson Wandless & Robert ‘Bob’ Wandless, brothers who were raised in Western Australia. Thomas was born in England just before the family emigrated, while Robert was the first of the seven siblings to be born down under after the family emigrated in 1881. Generations of the Wandless family came from...

William Thompson & The Mounted Home Guard

Our Great Grandfather, William THOMPSON (1891-1964), led the charge! “England’s only mounted section of the Home Guard, which nightly patrols 100 square miles of the North Riding,” read the caption in the Yorkshire Evening Press. Well, that might have been a slight exaggeration, as there were at least three other mounted units in Devon, Glamorgan, & Warwickshire. It was the...

H Robert Thompson & Vickers Wellington

Sergeant H Robert Thompson, Royal Canadian Air Force, was serving with 14 OTU at RAF Market Harborough, training as a navigator on Vickers Wellington medium bombers, having left his new wife, May, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Prior to enlistment, Robert worked on his father’s farm and completed two years studying medicine at Victoria College. He intended to continue studies after...