02
Nov
2021
Rev William Glenn of Bishop’s Castle
Amongst the many Downing family photos there are a few references to Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire. The connection is all a bit of a mystery. Continue reading →
01
Nov
2021
Walter Patrick Nicol
Pat Nicol was born on 15 Aug 1901, the oldest son of Arthur Patrick Nicol, MC and his wife Daisy. Daisy Nicol, nee Showell, was the youngest child of Walter Showell, born in 1876. The Nicol family originally came from Aberdeenshire in Scotland. Continue reading →
26
Oct
2021
Dolly Crombie
Florence Showell, known as Dolly, was born in 1874 in Oldbury, Worcestershire. She was the ninth daughter of Walter Showell. She had one younger sister and three older brothers making her one of thirteen children all who survived and all but one got married. Continue reading →
22
Oct
2021
Fishing Party, Parkhill, Dyce, c 1898
A group of early photos in Mary Downing‘s collection depict a Fishing Party in Aberdeenshire. Mary spent time throughout the decade around 1900, with her Aunt Dolly Crombie (nee Florence Showell) at her Scottish Estate at Parkhill House, Dyce. These photos are the only few where she identifies her grandfather, Walter Showell, the Oldbury brewer who was to die in 1901. As such they are the only surviving likenesses of him. Continue reading →
29
Sep
2021
Walter Showell Junior
Walter Showell was the second son of Walter Showell, the Oldbury brewer. Continue reading →
20
Sep
2021
Bartolo Leopold D’Aubigné
Listed in the Downing Bible as a Godfather to William Noel Downing, is the name ‘B L D’Aubigné’. There are a few named photos of ‘D’Aubigné’, taken on shooting or fishing parties accompanying the Downings. He is also self-evidently present at the wedding of May Downing in 1906. Continue reading →
12
Sep
2021
Ratlinghope 1899
A small packet of loose photos, labelled ‘Ratlinghope 1899’ exists among the box of Downing archives. Continue reading →
08
Aug
2021
Eleanor Gill Welch
Eleanor Welch was born in Handsworth on 15 Dec 1884. She appears in three photos taken by Mary Downing in the late 1890’s. Up until about 1895 the Downings lived in Church Lane Handsworth around half a mile from the Welch household. Continue reading →
06
Aug
2021
William Lyon Browne
William Lyon Browne was born in about 1845 and was a corn merchant from Shrewsbury. He had extensive business dealings with William Edmund Downing and the Downing’s malting business. This included social gatherings and shoots in Church Stretton and Ratlinghope from about 1880 to 1900. Continue reading →
05
Aug
2021
Caroline Hamilton Herbert
Carrie Herbert was born in London on 18 Apr 1873. She features on a number of early Downing photos, taken by Mary Downing in the 1890’s. Continue reading →
14
Jul
2021
Hubert (Hugh) Broughton Showell
Hugh Showell was the son of John Henry (Harry) Showell, the younger brother of Hannah Pitt Showell. As such he was a first cousin to Noel Downing. His maternal grandfather was William George Webb of Wordsley, Stourbridge, famous and wealthy for the Seed Business that bore the Webb name. Continue reading →
27
Jun
2021
Manor House, Ratlinghope
Photographs show that the Downing family had a developed pattern of making visits to Ratlinghope in Shropshire from as early as 1899 right up to 1939. Continue reading →
03
Mar
2021
16 Woodbourne Road, Edgbaston
The first family home of the Noel and Molly Downing was 16 Woodbourne Road, a large house in Edgbaston. The house is situated within two miles of both the centre of Birmingham and the Downings’ Maltings in Smethwick. Continue reading →
02
Mar
2021
47 Selwyn Road, Edgbaston
The family of Noel and Molly Downing lived at three addresses in Edgbaston and Harborne from 1919 to 1945. For about eleven years, 1919 to 1930, they lived at 16 Woodbourne Road. Continue reading →
24
Feb
2021
Major Bill Shaw, DSO
William Shaw was born on 1 Jun 1878. He served in the Navy (to 1908) and the Field Artillery (First World War) and was a good friend of Noel Downing‘s family. Continue reading →
07
Feb
2021
Joyce Mabel Foulds
Joyce Foulds was born in 1913, the daughter of a surgeon in the Royal Army Medical Corps. She married Archibald Agard Evans on 20 Aug 1938. Continue reading →
07
Feb
2021
Nancy Merrial Grazebrook
Nancy Grazebrook was the oldest child of Willie Grazebrook and Daisy Downing born on 5 Feb 1905. She lived to the age of 95. Continue reading →
06
Feb
2021
Rastit Family of Marseille, Sep 1938
Pamela Downing spent nearly four months in France between 1 September and 20 Dec 1938. A number of annotated photos have survived. Continue reading →
01
Feb
2021
Hélène Fruytier (née Cordier)
Hélène Cordier was born in 1917 and spent time in England in 1936 and 1937, some at the home of the Downing family. She became a lifelong friend of the eldest daughter Pamela Downing. Below are some photos that have survived. Continue reading →
22
Jan
2021
Aileen Mary Moriarty
Aileen Moriarty was a nurse, who served alongside Molly Evans and Clarice Molloy at the Queen Alexandra Hospital at Dunkirk, 1917-1918. Her father Arthur Stephen Moriarty, an Indian Civil servant, had died in 1900 when she was five. The Moriartys were Oxford educated, half Irish, born in France and Catholic. Aileen’s uncle, Louis Martin Moriarty (1855-1930) was French master at Harrow School and seemingly the only teacher who Winston Churchill got on with! Continue reading →