May 2012
15 posts
5 tags
Happy 100th Birthday Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White was born on this day, 28 May, in 1912 in Knightsbridge London. He can be found in the England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915 shown below.
His family moved to Australia 6 months later and Patrick White went on to become a renowned author, penning 12 novels and 8 plays.
White spent some time in England and returned to Australia after the War,...
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Fame and Fortunes
The England and Wales National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966 records are particularly interesting as they show where and when your ancestors died and the value of the estate they left behind.
Now I don’t know about you, but none of my ancestors left too much money behind, but there are a few famous faces in these records who had larger estates than the...
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1911 England and Wales Census
The 1911 England & Wales Census contains over 36 million records and a wealth of information for family historians.
I was having a look through the records and found a Mr William Joylance Court. His occupation is listed as a Barrister at Law and he is shown with his wife Mary and 2 daughters, Evelyn and Dorothy. Also listed are his 10 staff members including a butler, valet, footman,...
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Tilly Devine in the 1911 England Census
Best known as a Sydney criminal, gang member and madam, Matilda “Tilly” Devine was born Tilly Twiss in the UK in 1900.
She can be found on the 1911 England and Wales Census with her parents Edward and Alice and 7 siblings, residing at 57 Hollington Street, Camberwell in London. A few years later in 1917 she married Aussie serviceman James Edward Devine. She arrived in Australia in 1920 and became...
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Little Nan
Having grown up with my great-grandparents who were fabulous story-tellers, I didn’t think I’d uncover anything in my family history that I didn’t already know. However, I came to uncover some remarkable stories about the women in my family and I thought it was no wonder that when women are seriously ill in my family the general reaction is “she’ll be right, we only...
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Finding Mum's Heritage
On retirement I decided to take up the hobby of finding where we came from, not an easy feat as Mum had very little information about her Mother who died at the age of 32 in child birth.
Mum being only very young was fostered out to a family friend with her stepbrother, who she had no idea at the time was her stepbrother. When Granddad remarried Mum was brought back to the family unit, however,...
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Mother's Day Stories
Mother’s Day is fast approaching and we’d like to hear about the mothers in your family.
How has Ancestry.com.au helped you discover more about the mothers in your family tree? Be it your own mother, a grandmother, great grandmother? Let us know!
Simply click on Submit Your Story and enter your anecdote. Remember to add photos of your ancestors in your story if you have them. Click on Submit a...
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Proposal by Post
My parents met when they worked for the same firm in Purfleet, Essex in post-war Britain. Their friendship developed when they both played sport for the firm’s sporting club, and subsequently started dating.
In 1952, Dad decided to immigrate to Australia, following his brother who had left England in 1949 with his young bride, to try life in “the lucky country”. Dad and Mum continued...
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Old Romantic
My father was never very demonstrative of his love for our mother and he always called her “Mum”. Three years ago our darling mother who will be 95 this coming September had to be placed in a Nursing Home for the extra care she needed as she can no longer stand or walk.
Whilst sorting through her belongings I found several beautiful love letters that our father had written to her before they were...
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Just like Clark Gable
It was during WW2 that women learnt what they were made of, and when men realized they needed women more than ever before.
Vi, a young woman of 16 years, went to work in an ammunition plant. She thought if she couldn’t shoot the enemy then she could make the bullets that did.
Every week a list of soldiers names would be put up on the notice board and all the women would gather around. The...
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The Prettiest Picture
It was 25th April 1950, and it was an overcast morning. My nan was heading to the ANZAC ceremony and coincidently so was my pop as he fought in the war. At the gathering they were seated next to each other and my nan being ever so shy and ladylike, kept to herself although she did notice the handsome man next to her.
My pop saw nan and thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen....
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Lucky Switch
It was 1967 in Sydney, Australia, and my 18 year old mother Kathleen had decided to sneak out to meet her friends. Though terrified of heights, her only choice was to climb out her second story terrace house window.
On her return, she had to climb back up to the window to get back inside the house without disturbing anyone… but it would not budge!
It was only then she saw the four inch...
