Grandparentsrowe

When Frances was a toddler my father showed me this photograph and told me that it was him and his mother and could I see the resemblance between himself and Frances. It was not until we got interested in geneology that I realised I knew nothing about my grandmother other than that she died when Dad was a child. With some help from Chris who works with my son in law Allan We did eventually trace who she was and what happened to her.Her name was Edith May Matthews and she married my Grandfather in November 1912 and "oops" Dad was born in March 1913. My grandfather was in the army and during the 1st World War he was stationed in Chatham and in 1918 she and my dad were lodging there when she caught Influenza and died in October 1918 aged 32. We did eventually manage to trace where she was buried and went there in 1999.

Louisa was my Nana, the only one I ever knew,she married my grandfather in September 1922 when my father was 9. She had two sons of her own Herbert and Edward. Edward died under as far as I know mysterious circumstances when he was about sixteen. At a later stage I intend to get his death certificate to authenticate what I was told in the past. During the war my mother and I went to Manchester where my Grandfather had been sent by the War Department as the bombing at that time was not so bad in the north. I can remember some things about it,my Uncle Bert who must have then been a young man spoilt me, when I cried he was the one who picked me up. During childhood we went there and vice versa. My Grandfather I remember as a very tall upright man, typical Sergeant Major and I cannot at this time find one photograph of him, he unfortunately died the year after my mother after a long battle with cancer. Nana kept going and I still went and visited in the School holidays. She never as far as I noticed ever made any difference between her natural grandchildren, Berts children and myself. They saw more of her as they lived in the North as well after they came back from the I sle of Man. When Brian and I got together and the children came along she used to visit a couple of times a year and we usually went up there once a year when we got a car. She was always very active and right up until just before she died at over 80 she was still making tea at the night school a short distance away. She suddenly had a stroke with as far as we know no warning. A neighbour rang and told us and myself Brian and Dad went up and decided to bring her down to Orpington with us. Unfortunately that night she had another stroke which left her completely incapacitated. Our family doctor at that time was very good and helped a lot while we looked after her at home but she had no speech and no movement on her own. Eventually the doctor said she should go in hospital for physiotherapy but they put her in a geriatric ward and she eventually slipped in to a coma and died on Boxing day that year. Brian and I were with her. It was actually the first time I had seen anyone die. The children missed her greatly as when she came there were always jumpers and such that she had knitted between visits. This was especially the girls.