Ida Mary Downing (nee Johnstone) was born in Harborne, Staffordshire on 8 Oct 1871. Her father Alfred Johnstone was a Manufacturer and Metal Refiner. She married Thomas Lee Downing on 27 July 1893. Continue reading →
Thomas Lee Downing was the third and youngest son of William Downing. His mother was William Downing’s second wife Susan Lee. Born in 1867, he was brought up in Holly Lodge, Smethwick and by 1890 joined the family malting business, by then bearing the names of his two elder half brothers “G and WE Downing” Continue reading →
Emma Clifton was baptized in Oldbury on 24 Nov 1824. Her father was Edmund Clifton, a farmer, and her mother was Susannah Horton. She appears to have been the seventh of eight sisters. Continue reading →
Letter from Emma Downing to her husband’s sister Sarah Downing, postmarked 28 Jul 1845. Her first son George was born in Nov 1844 and is the baby in the letter. She also refers to Aunt Thompson in the letter who is the elder sister Nancy of her husband’s father. Continue reading →
The Green House Tettenhall is the three storey building pictured on the right and still stands today in the centre of Tettenhall to the west of Wolverhampton. Continue reading →
Holly Lodge in Smethwick was a substantial residence built in the early 1860’s by William Downing on the back of his successful malting business. Continue reading →
The Birches Codsall was the residence of Henry John Marten and his family from about 1875 onwards. The family moved there from Parkfield House in Wolverhampton, having lived in Penn Hall up until about 1860. Continue reading →
Kneller Hall, formerly the residence of the painter Sir Godfrey Kneller, is close to Twickenham. In 1850 it was largely rebuilt and became the headquarters of the Royal Military School of Music. Colonel Thomas Bradney Shaw Hellier was Commandant there from 1887 to 1892. Continue reading →
Anne Thompson was born in Bilston on 23 Feb 1801. Her parents were Isaac Thompson, a Japanner, and his wife Sarah (nee Astley). She married Edward Bagnall Dimmack at the age of 30 on 17 Oct 1831 – and was about seven years older than him. They only had one daughter who lived into adulthood, Frances Anne Dimmack. Continue reading →
William Lucas was born in Sydenham, Oxfordshire in 1789. He married Sarah Holder in 1811 and spent the rest of his life in and around Colnbrook, Buckinghamshire. He seems to have been involved working as a coach driver, employed by Inns in the town. Colnbrook was on the Bath Road (A4) and his addresses in the censuses after 1841 are next door to a number of Inns. Continue reading →