It's a Family Affair: Three Weddings and a .........................Christmas!

We have photos of three family weddings and I'm pleased to say that I know a LOT about the people who were married and those that attended. The first of these occasions was my husband's great aunt Lilian May (Lillie) Rich who married Thonmas Percy in 1923. The photo is absolutely delightful and, because I have spent two years poring over 100s of items, I can identify most of the guests, and what happened to them in later years.

Lillian Rich and Thomas Percy

 

Lilian was born in Bootle Liverpool in 1900. She was one of 8 children, but by the time of her marriage, only 3 others were living - her three other sisters - who were Sarah, Doris and their much younger sister, Grace (more of her later!) Lilian had worked as a shop assistant in Bootle prior to her marriage. Her family were very close, as evidenced in many, many photos of them all together.

Lillie as a young girl

A family outing before the Great War. Lillie,with her three sisters has her hands resting on her father's

shoulders. The girl on the left is her youngest sister

Catherine Grace, who lived to be 112 (another story!)

I believe her brother Tom is seated right. He died at Gallipoli.

Lillie and Tom married in West Derby in 1923. The family were from a very working class background (her father Henry was a shipwright working at the docks in Liverpool) as was both Tom and his father. The photograph shows quite a smart wedding - and the family were all there in their best, and very smart, clothes (and hats, lots of hats!).

Lillie and Tom's wedding, 1923.

Behind Tom is his new brother in law, Joe who is holding his son, Edgar

Next to Joe is Lillie's sister, Sarah, my husband's grandmother.

Lillie's father Henry is the elderly man on the right at the back

Her younger sister, Grace sits next to Tom

Her other sister Doris, is somewhere, under one of those splendid hats!

Tom had two brothers and a sister but he 

seems to have been estranged from them, 

although they may be in the photo.

Lillie and Tom were married for 36 years, before Tom died in 1959. Lillie died only 4 years later. They had a son, Len, who is still alive (in 2023). 

Grace Rich and Leonard Jones

I have blogged extensively about Grace, who was the youngest in the Rich family. She was born in 1906 and her mother died just 4 years later. Grace was effectively brought up by her eldest sister, Sarah, who looked after four sisters and her brother when her mother died. Grace was always very well dressed. I have dozens of photos of her and she always looks immaculate and indeed very fashionable! She owned or worked in a millinery shop before her marriage (we are not sure which). It was in Cherry Avenue in Liverpool. 

Grace and Leonard were married in 1933. The only photo I have is of the two of them together on their wedding day.

Grace and Len. They were married for 53 years when

Len died in 1986. Remarkably, Grace lived another 33 years!

She died aged 112 in 2019. being the oldest person in the UK at that time.

I have written a blog about her separately. 

 

Audrey Smith and Rex Gellion

 

Sarah and Joe had two children, Edgar and Audrey. Audrey was my husband's mother. The family lived in Bootle and were bombed out in the Liverpool Blitz in 1941 

Joe, who was a keen photographer took pictures of the bombed house!

Joe and Audrey, before the house was bombed

We have the most wonderful photo of the wedding of Audrey and Rex in 1949

The marriage, at All Saints Church, Childwall.

It's difficult to point everyone out! But Audrey's parents and aunts

are definitely there, as well as a young cousin.

Audrey and Rex had two sons and were happily married for 35 years  until his untimely death in 1984.

 

Three very stylish weddings and all three were very happy. The families remained close for many, many years after their weddings.This lovely photo from maybe the 1950s? shows our family altogether at Christmas. I love the food and drink that takes us back to those less excessive days!

Around the table we have Lillie, Sarah and Doris, Doris's husband Sam,

together with Sarah and Joe's two children 

(Audrey and Edgar with Edgar's daughter, and Rex)

A wonderful family photo!

Liverpool Working Lives: One Family's Story

I have been researching my husband's family who lived in Liverpool for over 200 years. I have explored some of their personal stories.But what of their working lives? From photographs, documents and census returns, I have been able to look into how they earned their living and what links there were to the city of Liverpool.

Joe Vernon Smith was my husband's grandfather. Joe served with the King's Liverpool Regiment in the Great War, but before this, he worked for his father, Joseph McDougall Smith. Joseph owned a Varnishmaking factory based around the docks in Liverpool, a trade that was important in shipping and of course in a thriving area at this time.  . I have a photograph that I believe shows Joseph, his son Joe and possibly one of his other sons. We are very lucky to have a photo showing them at work!

"Old Joe" as he was known is centre. 

I think Joe is on the right.

 

After the Great War Joe returned for a while to his position in his father's company. Sorting through the huge archive of documents my mother in law left us when she died I discovered that Joe and his father  worked on the building of The Kop in 1927. Joseph's father owned the company but  I’m sure Joe would have done much of the hard graft! I discovered the name of the Company because I found a letter on headed paper giving a reference to Joe when he headed for America..

 

 

 

From the Liverpool Echo March 1927

“If you inquire of George Patterson, the secretary to the club, he will tell you that the “Spion Kop” at Anfield has, since its inception, been particularly devoid of comfort on a wet day."

And so, it was decided to add a roof..

 "With the exception of the roof trusses and the four stanchions in the terracing, all of which will, however, be painted with selected local bitumastic rust-proof paint from the Mersey Varnish Company, Bootle, the remainder of the steel is completely buried in the concrete casings.”

My husband has been a Liverpool fan for decades and for all those years, standing and seated on the Kop, my husband stood beneath the very roof his grandad worked on!

Daniel McDougall Smith

Daniel was born on 26th May 1888, one of four sons born to Joseph McDougall Smith and Fanny Vernon. Unlike two of his brothers, Daniel stayed in Liverpool but unlike Joe, he did not work for his father's varnish making company. He was a cook, who progressed to "chief cook" by the time of the 1911 census and also gives his occupation as that "rotisseur" who is the chef responsible for all spit-roasted, oven roasted, grilled and in some cases fried foods. He worked on the Lusitania until early 1915. Sadly, he joined the merchant navy and died when the ship he was on (the Bayano) was torpedoed in March 1915. He was married to Dorothy Alice Leigh. There were no children and she never remarried.

 

 

 

 This photo is of all the cooks on board the Lusitania.

He was noted to be "chief cook", presumably there were several

 

 

Postcard sent to his family from New York

Henry Banks Rich  

Was  my husband's great grandfather. I have recently blogged about him. He was a shipwright, as were his father and his father's father. A great tradition and very much linked to the port of Liverpool.

 Henry at work

 

 

Henry was a member of the Shipwright Association 

 

Henry's Daughters, Lilian, Doris and Grace 

 

They all worked at some stage before they married. Sarah, the eldest (my husband's grandmother and Joe's wife) carried out domestic duties at home and at one stage had her father, four sisters and a brother to look after. They lived in a small terrace house. It must have been a very hard life.

I have found a photograph of Lilian and Doris, standing outside of a shop. I was thrilled to find that in the 1921 census, Lilian actually gives the name of the shop, because she describes herself as a shop assistant and puts the name of the shop as S & J Wallace. I have found the shop in a Trade Directory, and it was a grocers and provisional store.

 

Doris left and Lillie

 

 

Lillie also worked as a nurse. 

I cannot find any records, so I think she worked

in an unregistered capacity.

Catherine Grace  

Catherine (knows as "Gracie) was Henry's youngest daughter. Born in 1906, her mother died when she was 4.

 

 

 

Grace and her family lived at number 12 Cowley Road

for most of her childhood.

I think this is Grace standing outside that address 

(There is a helpful No. 12 visible!)

 

We know that Grace worked as a milliner - before she married I found her in a city directory as working from a shop in Cherry Avenue, Walton. Grace lived to be 112 and became the oldest person in Britain for a while. She mentions working as a milliner and owning a shop. When she married, she gave up working outside of the home.

These two families are an excellent illustration of working life in Liverpool in the late 1800s and early 20c. Trades associated to shipping, working on the big liners and women working outside of the home. The family were exceptionally close - we have 100s of photos of them and very many of them in a group - on holiday, days out or weddings. A wonderful example of a close family who worked hard to keep their families together. I will end with some of these photos!

 

 

This photo shows most of the family. 

All four sisters are there - (one is the bride!)

Also here are Joe next to his wife and holding his baby son

"Old Joe" and Henry stand at the back. 

1920

A few more family photos.

 

 

I love this one. Lillie, Sarah and Doris are here, along with Sarah's

two brothers in law. I love Sarah and Doris's outfits!

What seems a truly happy, family day out.

 

Sarah, "Gracie" and Lillie with various children and

Doris's husband.

Henry Banks Rich - A Dedicated Father 1861-1932

I have been telling the story in my blog of the Vernon Smith/Rich families of Liverpool and in particular Joe Vernon Smith and his wife, Sarah Banks Rich. I wondered what else could be added to their story? Fortunately there are quite a few photographs and items in the wonderful personal archive of my mother in law that we inherited. These tell the story of a working class family from Liverpool who lost two children in infancy, one aged 17 and a son aged 23 at Gallipoli. Henry  was widowed when his wife Sarah was just 43, leaving him with four daughters aged 8 - 17. Sarah was the 17 year old who took over the running of the house and bringing up her sisters.

I believe this is Henry's wife, Sarah. She seems unwell in

this photograph. She had 8 children who survived childbirth

the first when she was 23 and the last aged 39. She died four years later

Henry was born in Liverpool in 1861. According to his baptismal certificates his father Thomas was a shipwright. I have found Thomas on census returns and Henry's  grandfather was also a shipwright. As Henry did not have any sons, he was the last of his family to carry out this trade.

 

 Henry Banks Rich. Henry worked at the port of Liverpool

However, I have found him on the crew lists of transatlantic liners.He appears

to be on board a ship in this photo.

He must have spent many months at sea, away from his family. 

Indeed he went to sea the year of his marriage in 1889

 

 

 

 

We have the badges that show that Henry was a member

of the Shipwright Association. 

 

We have a LOT of photos of the family! Here are some of his children - the daughters before they married and his son Tom, before he emigrated to Australia - to die at Gallipoli in 1915.

 

 Doris and Sarah as girls

 

 

Mabel, who died aged 17 

Grace, the youngest, is centre. I think she is with Sarah and Doris.

Grace lived to be 112! 

Doris and Lilly worked in a family general store. 

I think this is in the Great War years.

The four sisters. Tom can just be seen driving the car!

 

 

 Tom emigrated to Australia just after his mother died in 1910

He was doing well (we have some letters he sent home to "my dear old dad") and

was hoping to train as a vet. Sadly, he died in 1915 at Gallipoli. 

His younger sister, Grace, lived to be 112 and spoke about the moment

that her father received the telegram of his death. He had to leave the room 

as he had broken down in tears. 

The family remained incredibly close; although Sarah and her husband, Joe, emigrated to the USA in 1929, they came back three years later. Sarah missed Liverpool and her family! Below are some photos of the family before and after their various marriages. I have 100s and they are all wonderful!

 

 

 The gang's all here! Henry, his four daughters and son. 

I don't know who the man on the left is but could it be 

one of Henry's brothers?

The gang's all here - plus additions! Henry is seated left. The older man

on the right is his son in law's father. We have all four daughters plus various

children! 

And here are more photos of this happy family. Henry had such tragedy in his life. Losing four children and his wife before he was 55. And yet his family seem to have included him in many holidays, day trips and family get togethers. He died at the age of 71 - quite an age for someone born in 1861 and who lived a very hard life at sea and at the docks. He lived to see all of his daughters married and his many grandchildren.

There are so many family members in these wonderful photos. I have so many more that my next blog will feature ones that show more of this "ordinary" and yet "extraordinary" family. One that had links to WW1, Liverpool trades, emigration. WW2, the Lusitania, a Military Medal and what was an obviously very close family life.