This is an obituary of my grandmother, Violet Florence Smale (nee Gasper), who died way back in 1987, found in a box of memorabilia of my father's.

It's nice to see what was written, although there are a few inaccuracies, and it's also interesting to see those who attended her funeral, many of whom I knew.

A few corrections:

• Although some people called her 'Mum', she was know as Bunty by most people.
• My father, Jack and his wife Dorothy joined Bunty at The Sportsman's Arms in 1956, following the death of Bunty's husband John, paying off the debts and enabling the business to continue.
• From then onwards it was my parents who had then had the tenancy of The Copley Arms, Hessenford, although Bunty was a great help in making the business such a success.
• My parents bought the private house (formerly a boys' school) in Dobwalls, getting the licence and turning it into the pub called 'The Highway' as it was on a main road.  The idea of the pub name came from Esme Couch, one-time Mayor of Looe.  Subsequently someone must have decided that Highwayman was a better name, especially for the tourists.
• Most people thought that my grandmother was the licensee and that Jack and Dorothy just helped her.  As my mother usually worked out in the kitchen (she was a trained chef), some people even thought that Jack and Bunty were husband and wife!  My mother wasn't too struck on that idea.  I wonder who they thought Dorothy was!

Without Bunty's help and business drive Jack and Dorothy wouldn't have had such successful businesses:  Dorothy had the catering knowledge and Jack had the business experience and the knowledge of the technicalities.

Bunty had the experience of running pubs, and the time to talk to customers.  Not only did she and her husband run the Edgecombe Arms, Cremyll, they also ran the Fountain Hotel in Liskeard (then very upmarket and now sadly closed).  

And the experience which Bunty gained during World War 1 working in a large pub in London must have been a vital part of her ability to be so successful in the licensed trade.  I assume the pub she worked in was the Marquess of Granby, New Cross Road, London (see pic, taken about 1910, not long before my granma worked there).  The reason for this assumption is that her marriage certificate states the Marquess of Granby as her residence.

Would you like to research your family tree and don't know where to start?

Well, here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Get yourself a good-sized notebook
• Write down what you know already: births, marriages, deaths, names of any relations, places they lived, their occupations, any other snippets which may seem unimportant.  The more you write down now the less there'll be to remember . . . .
• Talk to family and friends, especially the older members, noting all details, even tiny ones which seem irrelevant at the moment.
• Obtain certificate for all events about which you are certain.
• Back-up everything - 'just in case'.
• Use the information gained from the above to start looking further afield.
• Start a file making a note of which details you have about each person.
• Look on the internet - a good place to start as it saves shoe leather and petrol.  Various sites are given to the right of this column and in a separate spot on this site. Also see my article Recommended Sites from the April pages.
• To be continued .....

Example
I remember my grandmother (Violet Florence Gasper) saying that her husband was born on Valentine's Day in the same year as her, that her mother had the same first names as my grandmother but reversed and that Violet and her husband had been in a terrible accident in the mid 1930s on the way to a family funeral.

I had Violet's Death Certificate (above) from 1987 which gives information about her date of birth, and her husband's name.  This Death Certificate say that Violet was born in 1898, so I knew her age and could then look up her birth on http://www.freebmd.org.uk/.

I went onto this site, pressed on the word 'search'.  On the next page I keyed in my grandmother's maiden name and the approximate year of her birth (as some ladies have traditionally been economical with the truth about their ages) and then highlighted the word 'birth' in the top left hand corner.  Then I pressed on the word 'find' in the bottom left corner.

Up popped Violet Florence Gasper, born Hackney, in the quarter ending June 1898, volume 1b, page 508.  This gave me the information needed to send off for her birth certificate from: http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp.

On the first page which came up on this site I clicked on 'order a certificate online', to register with them.   Then typed in my email address and chose a password.  This saves giving my address details every time I order.   Then when asked I give the details gained from freebmd: name, year, which quarter, volume and page.  This service costs just under £10 for each certificate and is very prompt.

Here is a copy of Violet Florence Gasper's Birth Certificate 

ordered from gro.gov.uk (see above) . 

When it arrived we had a big surprise - there was no father mentioned: so my grandmother was illegitimate.   Well, at least it gave details of her mother, mother's job and place of residence and where little Violet  had been born.  I looked up on the internet and found a photo of, and some information about the place:

The Mother's Hospital (above) was a Salvation Army Maternity Hospital at 153-163 Lower Clapton Road, Clapton E5. It was opened on 18th October 1913, replacing an earlier Salvation Army hospital at Ivy House 271 Mare Street, Hackney E8, which had been opened in 1884. 


The next thing to do was to start the file, so there would be birth, marriage and death certificates, plus any other documentation and photos.  I like to keep a photocopy of everything so the originals can be kept somewhere safe. Then, if I go to the library or to visit someone the originals won't get lost or spoilt as I don't need to worry about the photocopies.

There are several ways to file information.  I like to have a ring binder with plastic pockets so everything can be seen at a glance.  Then I have tabs to separate each part of the family.


At present I have a different colour binder for each part of the family and start with the latest generation (me) at the front.  On the front inside cover I put a family tree, so I can easily see who is in that particular binder and where they're likely to be. 

Family Tree to go on front inside cover

On the back inside cover I put a tree with the oldest person first, cascading down to me and all my cousins.


I also started to do a page for each person, giving the following: name, date of birth, parents, spouse, children and death.  To this page I added census information when  located and any other details, pictures or references.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that we've covered how to start saving all this information that's accumulating, I must warn you that researching your family tree is somewhat addictive and the more you find out the more questions you'll probably have.  


Family history seems to seep into every subject: geography, history (of course), then there are the occupations of your ancestors, the wars in which they may have been involved.  Then there were the social conditions of the time, how some women had so many children which died in infancy, or indeed some mothers themselves died very young.  


Also you may well find relatives who've crossed continents and researching them may be not quite as straightforward as those who've stayed in one village all their lives.  Having said that, my husband's family mainly stayed in one place but unfortunately there are many people in the same village with the same name - so which Robert Fry are we to look at!?

SMALE - Family Tree

My family tree

Since this was uploaded, we've found some more on the Gasper side.  The person who we've called Florence Violet Gasper was born Florence Gasper Greenslade.  I sent off for her birth certificate and her mother was given Annie.

When Florence died in 1962 she stated that her parents were Thomas Greenslade and Mary Gasper - but was this for respectability and difficult to prove wrong from over 10,000 miles away in England?  (For more information about the Greenslade side, see link on right hand side here)

Florence Violet Gasper

Florence Gasper Greenslade b 1879

Birth certificate

Born: 19.10.1879 at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Marylebone, London. 
(Mother: Annie Greenslade, Ladysmaid, living at 27 Bolton Road, Notting Hill.  No father.

Married: 10 March 1906, The Parish Church, Hendon, Middx. 

Francis William Adams, 25, Bachelor, Coachman, residence: 6 Burroughs Gardens. Father: Alfred Adams, Gardener.

Marriage Certificate

Florence Violet Gasper, 24 Spinster, no rank/profession, residence: 2 Burroughs Gardens. No father.  

Witnessed by A Adams and G Fowler.

Children

Violet Florence, b 2.4.1898, Hackney.

Frank, b 1906/7 (Possible: “Frank Francis Adams, b 12.7.1906 Kensington, see Australian records)

1881 Census: Possibly living at 78 Blenheim Crescent, Kensington, age 1 yr, illegitimate, no mention of mother. (http://home2.btconnect.com/ladbrokeassoc/streets/blenheimcrescent/blenheimcrescent.pdf)

1891 Census: find
1901 Census: find

1911 Census:  St Pancras:

Francis William Adams, b 1880 and Florence Adams b 1881,

also Francis Alfred b 1907, probably their son. Florence Violet Gasper, 13;

(According to VF (my grandmother)her mother went to Australia about 1920 with Violet's step father and their son, and she lost contact.  Her mother and stepfather wanted my grandmother to move over to Australia with them, but my grandma said her place was here with her husband.)

2012: my cousin Ian has unearthed lots more information. It has told us much more but, as is usual with family history, has introduced even more questions ....

Frank Adams (new husband - FW), Florence Greenslade Adams (my grandmother's mother - FG) and Frank Alfred Adams (their son - FA) emigrated to Australia between February 1920 and 1924.

1924: 82 Bunting Street, Richmond, Melbourne: Florence G and Francis W  (no Frank A (son))

1937: 102 Gilbert Road, Melbourne: mother and son: FG & FA.

However, father FW is at 28 Robeson St.

1942:  102 Gilbert Rd, Melbourne: FW, FG and FA.

FA: enlisted Canberra, Australia, 1939 – 1948, next of Kin Florence Adams,

1954: 28 Robeson St:  FW, FW (no longer a 'motorman' (an engineer?)) and FA (no longer a carpenter).

1962: My greatgrandmother, FG died (Her father is listed at Tho Greenslade and mother Mary Gasper).

1963: 28 Robeson Street: FW & FA

1965: FW died.

1980: FA living at 28 Robeson St.

1983: FA died.

The following info came from my Grandmother - VF Smale:

MRS GREENSLADE (my greatgrandmother perhaps)

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

Actors in guest house. (Was she at Hendon?) (the 6' tall is strange as my grandmother was under 5' herself).

I've found this excellent site re migration into Australia: http://familyhistoryresearch.com.au/courses/AustImmigration/ImmAustralia.htm

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

first tree

This is a rudimentary 'til I've learned how to put one in here

William Smale 1791 - ...)
m Ann Stocker (1798 - ...)
in 1815?

\

John Henry Hodgson Smale (1826 - 1898)
m Mary Ann Waddon (1825 - 1900?)
in 1847

\

William Joseph Smale (1861 - 1920)
m Eliza Morey (1857 - 1934)
in 1883

\

John Henry Hodgson Smale (1898 - 1956)
m Violet Florence Gasper (1898 - 1987)
in 1917

\

John William Hodgson Smale (1919 - 2006)
m Dorothy May Askham (1922 - 2012)
in 1949

\ 

Jennifer Anne Smale (1951 - ...)

Some poems from long ago

Nursery Song handed down the generations

This is a song my Granma* taught me years ago.  As it was handed down verbally it may not be 

completely correct, but here goes:

There were six little cots in the nursery

And six little children too

And every night when the light grew dark

They would all know what to do

With their nighties on they would frolic for a while,

'Til the nurse appeared unexpectedly

And she said "now children this will never do,

There's a ........ downstairs

Looking for a few

Little disobedient children

Who are awake."

Creep, Creep, can you hear him creeping

Up and down the stairs;

Sleep, Sleep, if you are not sleeping

Every babe he scares;

Hide, Hide, hide your little faces

'Neath the bedclothes white.

When I have tucked you safely in

Just say Mr Teddy Bear, Goodnight.

* Bunty, otherwise known as Violet Florence Smale (nee Gasper) 1898 - 1986.

On the Garden Wall

How dare you sit up there and look so smug,

You smirking, mangy, lop-eared bit of rug?

Oh, how I'd love to shake you - and I'd try

If this disgusting wall was not so high.

I would, d'ye hear me? Don't be so absurd

And look as if you hadn't heard a word.

 Who killed the sparrow? Yah, who pinched the fish

Out of the larder and upset the dish?

(And Cook blamed me!) You green-eyed ball of silk,

Don't purr at me, I'm not your blessed milk!

Come down you coward, don't sneak off like that!

(She's gone - the other side - just like a cat!)

Said by a Jack Russell to a Cat (any sort will do)
From 'My Dog and Yours' published 1929.