Why forgotten?
Well, sometimes, we can all forget. Exciting stories about our families slip into the past, never to be heard again. Fortunately, we have the skills to help find these forgotten stories for you.
We tell stories so they are no longer forgotten. Stories, like these.
An artist in the family - who knew?
When researching an East-end family, we discovered an artist in their midst. Arthur pursued his dreams, travelled to Yellowstone Park in 1883, and painted a series of mesmerising watercolours. His paintings are now very collectible, although hard to find. One of them was found in a Paris flea market, and brought to the US Antiques Roadshow in 2011, where it was valued at between $75-125k. We liked the excitement of having a talented artist in the family, now very much appreciated for his beautiful paintings.
Torpedoed, off Cape Town in 1942, aged 5
Aileen described a terrifying episode from her childhood, when she was torpedoed. During WWII, her family were heading home to the UK, from Cape Town, on the SS Orcades, along with more than 1,000 passengers and crew. On 10 October 1942, Orcades was sunk by a German submarine. Her father, Jim, a Master Mariner, piloted one of the lifeboats, with his family aboard. Luckily a Polish trawler, the Narwik, steamed to their rescue, and gathered them up. Aileen’s brother, Jimmy, wrote a moving contemporaneous account of the incident. We liked this story because of the first-hand accounts Aileen and Jimmy told of such a notable episode in history, with the sinking of the second largest liner in WWII.
The Robert Burns of Wales
When researching the roots of a medical family, we came across the Welsh lyrical poet, John Ceiriog Hughes, or Ceiriog, born in 1832. Ceiriog won many poetry prizes, including at the London Eisteddfod in 1856. His first volume of poetry, Oriau’r Hwyr, was published in 1860. He also became prolific at song writing, collaborating with Brinley Richards to produce “God Bless the Prince of Wales”. Hughes is often talked about as the best lyric poet Wales has produced, and Alfred Graves, the Irish poet wrote that "Ceiriog is and will ever be the Welsh popular poet", comparable to Robert Burns of Scotland. We were excited to find such a talented poet in the family.
Rev Joseph Thrift, in Charge
When researching Maureen, we came across Rev Joseph Thrift, vicar at Holy Trinity Church, Rotherhithe, from 1922-1958. Rev Thrift baptised Maureen in 1935, at Holy Trinity, five years before it became the first church to be destroyed by bombs in WWII. Wikipedia explained that Rev Thrift “made sure that all around were safely away, before escaping with just the clothes on his back, by rowing boat to Stepney, further bombs falling around him”. He later married Maureen and Peter at Holy Trinity in 1955, with the new church re-built by 1959. We liked Maureen’s surprising link to Rev Joseph Thrift over 20 years, and the colourful role he played as Holy Trinity's priest, through good and bad times.
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