95a SMITHDOWN ROAD - BIRTHPLACE OF CHARLES SEAMAN

One Sunday morning, a few years back, I decided to go and take a look along Smithdown Road, Liverpool to try and see if I could locate the place where my Dad had been born.

On arriving and parking the car across the road, I found this sight before me.

95A, the flat where my grand-mother gave birth to him, is the one with the missing front wall. 

Not only had I found the property where he had been born, but I could actually see into the rooms themselves!

The location didn't last long after this, for the area was scheduled for redevelopment and the property was demolished. I think only a few weeks afterwards!

I can't help but think that someone was behind my decision to go out with the camera on that day.

It had been my last opportunity... and I'm so glad that I took it. 

THOMAS SEAMAN - NEWSPAPER OBITUARY

This is an extract from the Wrexham Advertiser, dated 14 May 1881, which details the death of my great-grandfather (x3), Thomas SEAMAN.

Thomas was tragically killed in a mining accident at Hawarden Colliery in Flintshire, when he was caught in the lift mechanism at the base of the shaft, and his head was crushed.

Thomas' trade at the time was to work as a blacksmith and shoemaker, and he had been going down into the pit to tend to the shoes of the pit ponies which worked there.

I've included the wider segment of the article as well here, as it is interesting to read some of the other items which featured on the page at the time. The language used appears a bit strange in places, and it certainly highlights the fact that the paper was reporting on events in a different age.

Apart from the item on my great-grandfather, I think my favourite is the report of the annual dinner which took place at the Crown Hotel. The paper states that it was '...of a very hilarious nature', and '...the enjoyment was kept up till far on in the evening.' 

I would have liked to be a fly on the wall at that one!  

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - Margaret Eleanor Graham LAIT - HAVING A BREAK!

One for Wordless Wednesday.... my grandmother M.E.G. LAIT (left), having a break at the sweet factory with a friend while wearing her shiny shoes! 

How I wish I could see through them to read the full name on that cart!

Plus an early example of photo-bombing, which at that time, hadn't even been thought of!

TEXT-FREE TUESDAY - AGNES SAUNDERSON & LAURENCE D'ANNUNZIO - COURTING AT NEW BRIGHTON

Text-free Tuesday.... snappy title don't you think?

In an attempt to try and become slightly more organised and regular in the frequency of my posts, I decided to try to create a series of shorter pieces, based around some of the family photographs we have in our possession. 

This photograph is from the D'Annunzio side of the family. Sandra's grandmother and grandfather... in the days before marriage and children.

Laurence D'Annunzio and Agnes Saunderson (as she was then), enjoying a day out on the beach at New Brighton. 

It doesn't look a particularly sunny day for sitting on the beach, but when you're courting I suppose a person doesn't really care. The fact that the couple are fully clothed in their Sunday best on the beach is also not unusual. 

To show bare flesh on the beach was only for the brave in those days, and come on... this is the north-west of England, and not the Algarve after all! 

No wonder they kept their coats on... all those seagulls and the chilly sea-breezes!

Brrrrrrrrrrr! 

FAMILY HISTORY - ELIZABETH ENGLEBRETSEN IN SERVICE

The above photo shows my gran, Elizabeth ENGLEBRETSEN, on the right of the picture. This was taken when she was a teenager, aged about 16 years old, long before she married my grandfather William John WELSH in 1925.

This was taken when she worked 'in service', helping to look after one of the families who lived in the large mansion houses around Toxteth in Liverpool during the early part of the last century.

She obtained work through a local agency, and this is said to be a copy of a formal advertising photograph, used by the agency to advertise its services.

None of the other girls are immediately recognisable from within our own family, but they must belong to somebody. 

I wonder if anybody can put a name to one of the faces?  

CHARLES GRAHAM LAIT - SEARCHING WITH A SPOON!

I was determined to find the grave location - even though I only had a spoon to dig the ground with!

Grave marker for Charles Graham LAIT - Anfield Cemetary

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