Family Photographs #2

Family Photographs 2

20th Century Photographs

All these photographs of family members were taken in the years after 1900. Just click on the thumbnail photo to launch the full size version.

To see an individual in the context of the family tree just click on the name below the thumbnail photo and the family tree will open in a second browser window.

		My Gt Aunt Anne Onions (known always as Annie) was christened on the 7th December 1851 at St Mary’s Church, Handbridge in Chester the daughter of William & Harriet Onions. According to a local press cutting written at the time of her 100th Birthday she was born in a house built over what used to Knights Brewery in Park Street, Chester. She attended the little school of St Mary’s on the Hill under a Mrs & Mrs Jenkins. The boys and girls in this school were apparently separated by a curtain to help them concentrate on their studies. Her father William and Mother Harriet died when she was just 18 so she then lived with her Grandmother in Queen Street, Chester. She moved for a short time to work in London before returning in 1903 to Chester and worked as a dressmaker for Browns in Eastgate Row. She retired age 71 and went on to receive a telegram from the Queen on the occasion of her 100th Birthday. She died in 1952 at a Chester nursing home.
Annie Onions


		Annie Onions reading her Telegram from Buckingham Palace on the occasion of her 100th Birthday. Another picture taken on this momentous day shows her with cigarette in hand which seems very non PC these days! .
Telegram from the Queen


		My Gt Gt Grandfather William Paddy was born about 1830 in Coventry, Warwickshire the son of William & Elizabeth Paddy. He was educated at Bablake Boys School Coventry and by the time of his marriage to Frances Evans on 6th April 1858 had joined the Army and was stationed at Salford Barracks. His Army service took him to Kilkenny in Ireland where his second daughter Maud was born. By 1871 he had risen to the rank of Staff Sergeant. He is pictured here in the uniform of a Rifle Volunteer Company probably about 1870. After his retirement he lived in Crewe Street, Chester and worked as a Timekeeper for a Cabinet Manufacturer. He died in Chester on the 7th January 1896 and is buried at Overleigh Road Cemetery in Chester. More information about William's Army career is available via the People & Places pages.
William Paddy


		This photo shows Thomas Bagnall Holland seated 2nd from left in what looks like an early NAAFI. The NAAFI shops date from about 1894 and were set up to provide shopping facilities for the British Armed Services. Given that Thomas died in 1922 this photo probably dates from the period of WW1 between 1914 and 1918. Some familiar old brand names can be seen on the shelves such as Frys Cocoa, Horlicks and Players Medium Navy Cut cigarettes.
WW1 Naafi


		This picture from my wife’s family album dates to about 1920 and shows a party setting off from the Spital Vaults Pub in Boughton, Chester on board a Crosville Coach. Prominent in the picture at the front (left) is the Pub's landlady Mrs Millington with a Mrs Vickers 4th from the left inside the coach with her children. Given the UK's unreliable summer weather it takes little to imagine how spirits might have been dampened by the return journey on a wet Bank Holiday Monday! Sadly no known family members are visible in this photo.
Coach Trip c 1920


		Another nice photo of happy expectant faces in a Crosville coach setting off from the Spital Vaults in Chester circa 1920.
Coach Trip C 1920

		This lovely family photo shows my wife’s father Thomas Griffith with his father & mother together with his brothers and sisters. Given the relative ages of everybody this picture would have been taken circa 1912.
Griffith Family circa 1912


		This photo dates from about 1916 and shows WW1 soldiers recuperating at Tooting Military Hospital in London. Known as "Wounded Blues" the patients were issued with blue tunics during their stay in hospital. I'm still trying to identify which if any family member might be pictured here.
Tooting Military Hospital c 1916


		Buried in a box of old paperwork recovered from the house of my Mother after her death was this charming sketch of my Father Sydney Holland drawn in pencil by George McKay. From reports handed down my father was very fashion conscious in his adolescent years and the sketch shows him in Oxford bags, the must have fashion in men's trousers in the 1920's.
Syd Holland c 1920


		On the 4th of May 1926 Britain’s Trade Unions called a General Strike in support of the miners who were threatened with compulsory pay cuts. The General Strike continued until the 13th of May 1926 although many miners continued their strike for several more months. This picture shows my Grandfather Richard Holland (bottom right) with the Chester Strike Committee. Many Chester people may well recognise a family member in this photo which benefits from having people names listed.
Strike Committee


		This picture dating to about 1900 shows Olive Detton (a member of my wife's Griffith family) sitting with her mother Nessie Detton formerly Holloway. Born 7th January 1899 Olive had 9 children by the time she died aged 38 on 15th Septemeber 1939. Her husband Thomas Griffith married again and went on to have two children by his second wife Annie McMahon.The photograph was taken at the studio of R.W Morris, St Werburgh Mount, Chester.
Olive Detton