Grandparents

Feb

2026

Noel Downing – Special Constable 1926-1945

William Noel Downing first became a Special Constable in the City of Birmingham Constabulary in May 1926, when he volunteered his services during the emergency declared around the General Strike. Previously he had volunteered as a Private in 1914 (Public School’s Pals Brigade 21st Royal Fusiliers) . He went on to gain a commission in the Welsh Guards. Continue reading →

Feb

2026

General Strike Birmingham, May 1926

This article looks at some evidence as to how the upper middle class car-owning Downing family of 16 Woodbourne Road Edgbaston responded to the General Strike. Continue reading →

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 →

Jun

2019

Noel and Molly Downing Wedding, 29 Jul 1919

The marriage of Noel Downing and Molly Evans held at St John the Baptist, Hagley took place on Tuesday 29 Jul 1919. It was a relatively hastily convened occasion in the immediate aftermath of the Great War. The engagement had been agreed on 24 Mar 1919 two days after Molly’s return from France. Continue reading →

Oct

2018

The Cottage, Upton, Near Andover, Hampshire

Noel and Molly Downing bought The Cottage, Upton in Oct 1945 for their retirement. It had six or seven bedrooms and for the next twenty nine years the house welcomed a number of guests – old friends and family that came to stay or just visit for the day. Noel died in Oct 1965 and Molly in Sep 1974. Continue reading →

Oct

2017

Emma Ida Palmer

Emma Ida Palmer was born on 23 Oct 1883 at 108 Ladbroke Grove Road, Notting Hill. Her parents were Henry Edwin Palmer, a commercial traveller and glove salesman and Elizabeth Jane (nee) Treleaven. Both came from around Plymouth. She was the youngest of three children and her older sister was born in Plymouth. The circumstances of her early life were probably quite tough but the fortune and addresses of her family steadily improved. Continue reading →

Oct

2017

William Henry Morgan

William Henry Morgan was born on 17 Aug 1880 in 52a Swaton Road, Bow. Continue reading →

Apr

2010

Molly Evans

Constance Mary Shaw-Hellier Evans, known as Molly, was born on 15 March 1890 in the Green House Tettenhall and baptized on 9 May 1890 in Tettenhall Parish Church. Her godparents were Edith Ogden, Mrs Walter Loveridge and Col Thomas B Shaw-Hellier. Continue reading →

Feb

2009

William Noel Downing

Noel Downing was born in Moorfields, Church Lane, Handsworth on 16 Dec 1888, the only son and youngest child of William Edmund Downing. The records relating to him on this site are divided into a number of separate pages with some examples of the range of archives and material that still exist. Continue reading →

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