I've just been sorting out a large art folder and found these paintings which I'd never seen before.  These are some of the paintings executed by my father, John WH Smale (1919 - 2006).

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.

One of the descendants of JHH Smale, Alfred Gardner Pickthall Hodgson,  looks rather interesting ... 

Firstly, to see where he fits in:

Daughter of JHH Smale
Charlotte E Smale

Born: 1851 Woolwich
Married:  Joseph Ralph W Bridle

Born: 1849 Portsea, Parents: Charles James Bridle and Jane E Smith

Children:

Lillian Charlotte, b 1876, Portsea (see below)

Claude Hamilton:  b 1881 Portsea, no issue

Their daughter: Lillian Charlotte Bridle

Called herself Lillian Paumier when an actress

Married: 1895 Manchester to Alfred Gardner Pickthall Hodgson (Paumier)(see bottom of this article)

Children:

Ronald Harker Joseph Alfred Ralph Pickthall , Christchurch 1896

John Hamilton Pickthall Hodgson, b Christchurch 1913

Son No 1: Ronald Harker Joseph Alfred Richard Hodgson-Paumier: Died: 16.8.1917, (515147 Pte Ronald Harker Joseph Alfred Richard Hodgson-Paumier joined 3rd Btn early 1917. Killed in action 16.8.1917, near Hooge during 3rd Battle Ypres, buried in Perth (China Wall) Military Cemetery, Zillebeke, Belgium. Attended Bournemouth School.)

Son No 2: John Hamilton Hodgson Paumier: Death 1940 (source Commonwealth War Graves. Band corporal in Royal Marine Band, on HMS Glorious d aged 27, memorial Portsmouth Naval Memorial in Hants.  Panel 43, column 3.  First married Ivy Brewer in 1937, daughter of that marriage Ann Hodgson Paumier.

To return to Lillian's husband: 

Alfred Gardner Pickthall Hodgson (later Paumier)

Born 1870 Everton, Lancs, Parents: Alfred Richard Hodgson and Diana Peck Boadle

1915 changed his name, London Gazette 14/5/1915 from Alfred Gardner Pickthall Hodgson to Alfred Gardner Pickthall Hodgson Paumier.

Died: 25 1.1951 aged 80, Surrey Alfred GPH Paumier.

Actor:

1914; active in Broadway in The Story of The Rosary, see above picture.

1916: The Lifeguardsman, adventure film, silent, made in UK.

1916: Wanted: A Widow, short, comedy.

1920. The Amateur Gentleman. Directed by Maurice Elvey, who probably also wrote the scenario. Featuring:

1.      Langhorn Burton as Barnabas Barty

2.      Madge Stuart as Lady Cleone Meredith

3.      Cecil Humphreys (I) as Wilfred Chichester

4.      Herbert Synott as John Barty

5.      Pardoe Woodman as Ronald Barrymaine

6.      Alfred Paumier as Prince Regent

7.      Gerald McCarthy as Viscount Horatio Debenham

8.      Geoffrey Wilmer as Captain Slingsby

9.      Sydney Seaward as Sir Mortimer Carnaby

10.  E. Vivian Reynolds as Jasper Gaunt

11.  Dalton Somers as Natty Bell

12.  Teddy Arundell as Digby Smivvle

13.  Will Corrie as Captain Chumley

14.  Judd Green as Jerry the Bosun

15.  A.C. Fotheringham-Lysons as Peterby 

Alfred Paumier plays the boxer who inherits a fortune & poses as a nobleman. He has to save his father from unjust imprisonment & strive not to lose the love of aristocratic Lady Cleone Meredith when inevitably his true identity is revealed.

http://www.violetbooks.com/farnol-films.html (unfortunately this a/c has now been suspended)

Rotary Club of Saltash

Jack Smale was a member of the Rotary Clubs, I think it was in Callington and Saltash. Including being President:

He also enjoyed being Secretary and held that post for many years.
His one disappointment was that when we all moved up to Derby they would not accept him due to his age.

Callington Probus Club

Jack Smale was the first President of Callington Probus Club when it was formed in the early 1980s.  He was subsequently made Life President:

Old Family Photos

Lots of old family photos are stuck in boxes in the loft or storeroom and no-one ever looks at them. Many are  tiny, grainy and faded.

With Picasa (which can be downloaded, free from the internet) I've been able to bring many of these old photos to life and in the process been able to pass them on to other family members.  
There are several ways of improving photographs.

One way is to use the cropping facility to look at the part of the picture which you're interested in, whilst still keeping the original photo on the computer.

Here's a good example - a photo of my grandmother (Bunty) staying at a friend's caravan back in the 1960s.  It's such a long time ago that no-one knows who the friend is so, apart from the retro caravan, the important part of the photo is  Bunty herself.

So it's been cropped and now we see Bunty and in greater detail:

When I become more adept  I'll learn how to delete the friend's shirt and tie - but that's for another day!

Another advantage is shown by next photo (taken about 1929) which was so faded that no-one could see what it was.  The photo was imported into Picasa and then I pressed the button 'I'm feeling lucky' and lo and behold my mother's parents appeared in their motorbike and sidecar:

Before (above) and after (below) 

Not as clear as today's photos but what an improvement!


Another very useful feature of Picasa is being able to straighten pictures. Take this photo from our living room window:

A great pic but the sea somehow doesn't look right. After applying straighten, the photo is a great improvement:

and it's less likely to make me feel seasick. As you can see, when a picture is 'straightened' it does lose part of the sides, so this can't be done with every picture.


Web Albums - coming ...

Bianco and Unicorn

Jack, Bunty and Dorothy by Bianco, moored at Richmond Walk, Plymouth

Jack's other leisure boat, the Unicorn

Sportsman's Arms, Menheniot

The Sportsman's Arms, Menheniot, Liskeard, Cornwall - where
the Smales lived from 1952 to 1959.

Front View of Sportsman's Arms, Menheniot Station, taken August 2011

 Sitting on the wall at the bottom of the car park, with Sooty and an American visitor

 The public bar (right hand side of the front door)

Lounge Bar (left hand side of the front door)

View from just above the back car park

The back door

Sooty by the back door (Dorothy behind, in the kitchen)

Gateway leading down to a magical field

The website to see The Sportsman's is:

http://sportsmansarms-menheniot.co.uk/

Henry Charles Waddon Smale (1853 - 1921?)

HENRY CHARLES WADDON SMALE B 1853

Born: 1853 Woolwich

Parents: John Henry Hodgson Smale and Mary Ann Waddon. 

Married: 1876 Portsea to Sarah Frances Hoskins

Children:

Hilda Corby, b amj 1889, IOW, Cowes.

Adolphus George (or George Harry?), b 1876 amj, Stoke Damerel. (M Lilian M Hallier? Amj Bristol )

Claude William, b 1885, Portsmouth; (may have married 1916 amj 2b/1095 Portsmouth Miss Rogers)

1861 Census:  13 Somerset Tce with parents.

1871 Census: Not yet found.

1881 Census:Lower Stamshaw Road, Portsea.

Henry, 28, clerk,writer, civil servant; wife Sarah F, 27;

George, 4;

1891 Census: 52 Foord Road, Folkestone.

Henry C W Smale, 37, Customs Outdoors Officer; Sarah Smale, 38;

George, 14; Claude William, 5; Hilda C 1.

(11.11.1881 Henry Charles Waddon Smale temporary copyest at Cowes Customs (CUST 61/179))

 (Info about Cowes Staff 1892 - 1912: Henry C Smale: Outdoor Officer, 1st Class at Cowes.  Port: London. Salary £85-10/1 to increase by £1-10/- pa to £100. Ref: 26868/1889, 11^th October 1889.)

Retired due to alcohol?

1901 Censes:  Cannot find 1901census - Charlton?

1911 Census: Portsmouth

Henry Charles Waddon Smale, b 1856; Sarah Frances, b 1852;

Hilda Corby Smale, b 1890;

Died 1921? jas, 2b/456 Portsmouth, aged 68.

Sarah  Frances Hoskins

Born 1852 Southsea jfm 2b/412

Parents:  George Hoskins and Elizabeth …

1861 Census: 53 Marylebone Street, Portsea.

George Hoskins, 36, Baker/Grocer, b Hursley; Elizabeth, 37;

Richard, 10; Sarah F, 9; Ellen, 5; Edward, 1; the rest born in Portsmouth.

Walter Hoskins, 21 Nephew, b Hursley; Mary Poe, cousin, 16, b Deptford.

1871 Census:

Died: after 1911.  Looked up to 1930 and couldn’t find her death or remarriage.

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)