John Henry Hodgson Smale (1898 - 1956) My Grandbather

Born: 14.2.1898, Gosport, Hants. (B Cert says: Father: W J Smale, Fishmonger. Mother: Eiza Smale, formerly Morey. Born/living 29 Clarence Road, Gosport.)

Parents: William JOSEPH Smale and Eliza Morey.

During WW1: JHH Smale is back row, right hand side

Married: 19.9.1917 The Register Office Greenwich to Violet Florence Gasper, 19, Spinster, no rank/profession, address: Marquis of Granby, New Cross Road. Father George Egerton Gasper (deceased), Clerk.

John Henry Hodgson Smale, 19, Bachelor, Gunner RFA no 70578, Cambridge Barracks, father William Joseph Smale, Political Agent.

Witnesses: F W Adams and G C Buckthorp.

Children

John William Hodgson, b 5.7.1919 Miller Hos, Woolwich. Charlton.

Frank Douglas, 23.12.1921 London;

Vera Dorothy, 21.1.1925, London.

1901 Census: living with parents.

1911 Census: living with parents

1919: Living 213 Queens Road, Peckham, SE

Joined Army as boy soldier in 1912/13, enrolled in Personnel Ordnance College at Woolwich, trained as highly skilled practical engineer. In Army during WWI, in 1916 sent to Athlone in Ireland to help quell the uprising.  British Army War Pension Records, JHH Smale, 1919, Reg No 70578. Tel:0208 392 5225. Discharged 22/10/1919 unfit.

Left Army, no job, made sox. Worked for Merryweathers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merryweather_%26_Sons).  
Moved to Trenython in 1925 to be maintenance person.  Good at mending things, eg cars, didn’t communicate such skills to his children.  They had a car long before other people and used to travel all over Cornwall between the wars, boat, beach hut.

Took over Edgecumbe Arms, Cremyll, in 1940, then after the War Fountain Hotel in Liskeard (sophisticated in those days), then bought the Sportsman’s Arms, Menheniot  in early 1950s from Earl of St Germans.  Too fond of rich food, drink and sedentary lifestyle.

Died: 1956 Menheniot, Liskeard, Cornwall. 

VIOLET FLORENCE GASPER                                            (after WW2 known affectionately as Bunty)

Born:  2.4.1898, Maternity Hospital, Mare Street, Hackney. Subdistrict: South West Hackney.  Informant: F Gasper, mother, 28 Devonshire Road, Hackney. 

Parents: mother:  Florence Gasper Greenslade, b 19.10.1879, Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Marylebone, London.  Father not known - see below

Bunty's Birth Certificate

Brought up by the Jewish community in East End of London. Lived in a flat in Holloway. Didn't do much work at school used to tell the children stories during needlework, although in later life was good at sewing.  
As a child, Violet used to go to Lady Lethbridge 21 Cornwall Terrace, Regents Park for tea (on her own, special dress) (http://www.thepinnaclelist.com/blog/directory/78-million-lethbridge-house-20-cornwall-terrace-regents-park-london-england-uk/) - any relation?  If so, then, through the Roper side of the family is one of the descendants of King Edward III).  
Worked in handmade choc factory on leaving school, then huge pub (6 bars) in London (prob Marquis of Granby, New Cross Road - or White Hart).   

1901 Census: Florence Gasper, with her mother.

1911 Census: St Pancras: Francis Williams Adams, b 1880;  Florence Adams, b 1881. Violet Florence Gasper, b 1898; Francis Alfred, b 1907.


See another article on this site regarding her admittance to the workhouse in 1916.

Miscarriage (1918, daughter) as stood on rickety table to take down curtains to wash them as her in-laws (who she adored) were visiting, toppled over. Husband was away in Army peacekeeping in Ireland.

Jasper

Jasper the spaniel: Violet took the puppies she'd bred up to Crufts (by train).  When she arrived they said the puppies were too young but as she'd come so far she was allowed to exhibit.  She sold Jasper (above) and he sailed to America in April 1939.  In 1941 it says on the back of the photo that he was American Champion "Trade Winds". 
Violet started and ran Fowey (and District) or Tywardreath Dog Show before WW2, getting donations of cups and other help from local businesses.

 On board Antelope

Jenny, Dorothy and Bunty going to a wedding in the 1960s

Died: January 1987 Plymouth. 

Info from Bunty told to me in the early 1980s:

MRS GREENSLADE: 6' tall, kept guest house and had riding stables, Oakleigh Gardens, Monmouth Road, Bayswater, London.

Actors in guest house. (Was she at Hendon?)

WHO IS THIS?: George Egerton Claremont, killed WWII", mother Mrs Golding Bright last at 75 Ridgemont Gardens, Gower Street, London