Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

Four! One's a Posh Alert ....

:rotfl:

I'm REALLY glad you've taken the time to go through the stuff - and not throw it out - and get "hooked" on who is who.

No way was I throwing it out, the least I'd have done is store it safely in case someone else wanted it in the future. It's not just birth/death certificates, which can always be reissued if you know where the original was issued.
There's things like the last letters written by a Great-Aunt before she died whilst working for the Red Cross in Serbia in 1915, a Great-Uncle's "Dead Man's Penny" and a book that his parents assembled of tributes to him after he was killed in the Battle of The Somme, lots of certificates, etc. from another Great-Uncle's career in insurance, copies of The Times with various relatives' birth announcements. All stuff that definitely oughtn't to be chucked away.

By the way ... Once a King, always a King, but once a (k)night is enough

I had that as a window sticker on my first car

PasturesNew

chris_m wrote: »

...

Ah, proper stuff!

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

Ah, proper stuff!

Oh yes, very proper stuff - including a "book" written by a different Great-Aunt about all the family, which brings a lot more information out than the simple documents.

For example, the GA who died in Serbia;
She'd always been interested in pre-revolution Russia and hoped to go there sometime. With the help of a Russian cobbler in Whitechapel, she mastered the language to such an extent that she was once congratulated by a different Russian on her command of English !!!
In 1913 she achieved her dream, securing a post in Russia coaching a girl in English, who wished to study at Girton College, Cambridge. When the hostilities broke out in the Balkan, she resigned that post and joined the Red Cross. [FONT=&quot]After an intensive training in Moscow hospitals, she successfully passed the required examinations - all in Russian - after which, she was posted to hospital trains which were transferring the wounded from various military centres at the front to Moscow.
She then volunteered for special work on a hospital train that was being fitted out for Serbia.
One day, in February 1915, when she had scarcely recovered from an attack of jaundice, she and a party of the Red Cross staff went for a brief mountain expedition and it is thought that a fit of dizziness caused her to fall over a precipice, and she was killed instantaneously.
Her funeral was attended by a large crowd of very genuine mourners including the Russian Ambassador and his wife, Prince and Princess Troubetskoi, and a member of the British Embassy[/FONT].

Far more information than the press cutting associated with it, although the latter is handy as corroboration of the story.

Pyxis

A Russian cobbler in Whitechapel! :rotfl:

You couldn't make it up!


That would make such an interesting story!

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

A Russian cobbler in Whitechapel! :rotfl:
You couldn't make it up!
That would make such an interesting story!

The whole book is a wonderful read - particularly since I knew some of the people in it, but not all. It's brilliant background information.

Pyxis

You could write a book - you know - "My Family and Other Poshes!" :rotfl:

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

You could write a book - you know - "My Family and Other Poshes!" :rotfl:

Pyxis

chris_m wrote: »

I'm jealous, 'cos all my lot were serfs! :rotfl:

chris_m

Pyxis wrote: »

I'm jealous, 'cos all my lot were serfs! :rotfl:

We've got loads of those too - me, for one

Pyxis

chris_m wrote: »

We've got loads of those too - me, for one

Well, at least there's no m in serf! :rotfl:







Mind you, go back far enough and you might find some woad! :rotfl: