My great grandfather Charles (Charley/Charlie) Brown served 12 years as a soldier with the British Army in India before marrying cook, Lavinia Seaby, in Cambridgeshire in 1893. His residence at the time was Girtford in Sandy, Bedfordshire, where they spent their short married life. It took a while to trace his birth, and the home … Continue reading Charley Brown: A Herts childhood
Seaby Lavinia (1861-1944)
William Fage and Alice Cade: A long residence in Sandy
After solving the minor mysteries of William's name change and Alice's peripatetic childhood, it was fairly easy to trace my maternal great grandparents' married lives and growing family. I had a couple of family photos of them in old age and was pleased to find that their family home at Longfield Road, Sandy, was still … Continue reading William Fage and Alice Cade: A long residence in Sandy
Lavinia Brown: A long life and loss in Sandy
My maternal great grandmother Lavinia Brown, nee Seaby, lived a long life much characterised by struggle and loss. Two children died in infancy, her husband Charley Brown died of cancer and her eldest son Walter Charles Brown was killed in action in WW1. Her later life is less well-recorded, but she was clearly loved and … Continue reading Lavinia Brown: A long life and loss in Sandy
Lavinia Brown: Family struggles and a lost son
A 1910 local newspaper commented that my great grandmother, "Mrs Brown ... has had a hard struggle to bring up her large and young family and several times illness and other misfortunes have befallen them". She was born Lavinia Seaby, and was widowed in 1904 after ten years of marriage, when her husband Charley Brown … Continue reading Lavinia Brown: Family struggles and a lost son
Charley and Lavinia Brown: A short marriage
My maternal great grandparents Charles Brown and Lavinia Seaby married fairly late in life; he was 30 and she was 32. Both had had careers before marriage, he as a soldier in India, she as a Cook in London. Their marriage was sadly cut short by Charley's early death. What do we know of their … Continue reading Charley and Lavinia Brown: A short marriage
Lavinia Seaby (1861-1944): Cook to the gentry?
My maternal great-grandmother Lavinia Seaby was born in Dry Drayton, in rural Cambridgeshire, but family tales suggested that before she married Charles Brown, she was a Cook 'to the gentry' in London. Censuses do show that she worked in service, latterly as a Cook, in private houses in fashionable Notting Hill, London. What more could … Continue reading Lavinia Seaby (1861-1944): Cook to the gentry?
Horace Brown (1901-1994): A bad lad of Sandy?
My mother's father was born in 1901 in the small Bedfordshire town of Sandy. Both he and my grandmother were still alive when my interest in family history was piqued, so I was able to hear about their early lives and families at first hand. Was Granddad Brown really a 'bad lad', as Nana Brown … Continue reading Horace Brown (1901-1994): A bad lad of Sandy?
Charley Brown (1862-1904): A soldier in India?
My maternal great grandfather Charles Brown was said, in family circles, to have served with the Indian Army. Could I find any evidence? I knew his birth year and place and father's name from other records, and also knew he married as a Labourer, aged 31, comparatively late in life. There was a family photo … Continue reading Charley Brown (1862-1904): A soldier in India?
My Stocking Roots 