05
Sep
2020
Llandudno 1890s Photos
Amongst the Downing papers concerning the property in Tan Yr Allt in Llandudno are these three late Victorian photographs. Continue reading →
Photos
18
Jun
2020
Beryl Margaret Brodribb White
Beryl White was born in Crouch End, London in 1891 and was a long-standing friend of Molly Evans. It is not entirely clear how the two met but it would seem to be likely it was around the activities of Miss Rawlins, principal of the school at Beach Court, Walmer. Continue reading →
16
Jun
2020
Beach Court School, Walmer
Both Molly Evans and her friend, Edith Mathews, were involved with Miss Rawlins and her school in Walmer, Kent based in Beach Court. A number of photographs and correspondence have survived. Continue reading →
16
Jun
2020
Edith Turney Mathews
Edith Turney Mathews was born on 11 Oct 1889 and was a school friend of Molly Evans at Beach Court School Walmer. Their families both lived in the Stourbridge area. Continue reading →
15
Jun
2020
Randle Mathews family
A group of seven photos has survived in a an envelope marked ‘Randle Mathews Photographs’. The writing on the envelope and on the back of three of the photographs is in the hand of Molly Evans. Continue reading →
08
Jun
2020
Pamela Downing
Pamela Downing was born on 16 Jul 1920, a year after the marriage of her parents Noel Downing and Molly Evans. The attached sequence of photos was taken at roughly yearly intervals throughout her growing-up. Continue reading →
10
May
2020
Bletchley Park Picnic in Brickhill Woods, Summer 1945
After VE Day, code-breaking operations at Bletchley Park entered a new and final phase. Some staff were transferred to the continuing Japanese sections. Pam Downing and her Hut 6 colleagues seem to have embarked on a period of much needed respite and relaxation. Continue reading →
28
Apr
2020
VE Day at Hut 6, Bletchley Park
Pamela Downing served in Hut 6 at Bletchley Park as a civilian from 13 Oct 1941 to 29 Aug 1945. Hut 6 was at the heart of German Army and Air Force Intelligence Code Breaking. She was engaged with a team working round the clock in an intense environment repeatedly processing and entering coded messages directly into Enigma/Typex machines.
We have three photographs of her and her colleagues from Hut 6 (and a few from Hut 3) celebrating VE Day. These are rare examples of the very few taken at Bletchley throughout the period. Continue reading →
30
Sep
2019
Allen Basil Bratton
Allen Basil Bratton was born in Shrewsbury in 1890 the son of Doctor James Allen Bratton. His father died when he was 3. Continue reading →
10
Jun
2019
Beacon Lodge Photos, 1920s
Here is a collection of 1920s photos from Mary Downing‘s album “Beacon Lodge & Surroundings”. After the First World War the Beacon remained a shooting lodge for William Edmund Downing. But more pictures of picnics and walks suggest that it also became a regular place to visit for Noel and Molly Downing and their young family until 1939. Continue reading →
27
Jan
2019
First Western General Hospital, Birkenhead, 1917
On 15 Mar 1917 Molly Evans resumed her nursing service at the First Western General Hospital in Birkenhead. She was joined there by her two friends and colleagues Clarice Molloy and Frances Ashlin. All three had already been working together in France for the best part of a year at the No 2 General Hospital, Le Havre. Continue reading →
06
Jan
2019
The Grosvenor Family of Broome House
George William Grosvenor, the head of Woodward Grosvenor & Co, Kidderminster Carpet Manufacturers, and his family lived in Broome House in Broome to the West of Hagley from about 1875 to 1899. He was a JP, Deputy Lieutenant and in 1897 High Sheriff of Worcestershire.
Broome House was sold in 1904 for £6500 and the family then moved first to Elmley House in Blakedown and finally to Park House, Hagley, where he died in 1923. The four children feature in some of the photos and correspondence held by the Downing and Evans family of Hagley. Continue reading →
30
Dec
2018
The Hatton Family of Hagley House
The family of George Hatton moved into Hagley House in about 1912. Hagley House was a large Georgian building on the corner of the Birmingham and Stourbridge Roads. The previous occupant recorded in the 1911 census was Henrietta Moore, the grandmother of Hal Barlow. Henrietta’s husband Joseph Moore, a brick manufacturer, had died there in 1901. Continue reading →
28
Nov
2018
Constance Ellen Loveridge (née Neve)
Constance Ellen Neve was godmother to Molly Evans. She was almost certainly a good friend of Florence Evans. She married Walter Loveridge in 1884 but was widowed after only three years of marriage. Continue reading →
31
Oct
2018
Future Officers, 4th Public Schools Battalion
The 4th Public Schools Battalion, 21st Royal Fusiliers, did not land in France until Nov 1915, approximately one year after they first gathered in Ashtead, Surrey as newly enlisted recruits. We have pieced together from the photos in Noel Downing‘s (PS/2581) collection, the names and identities of some of his comrades in arms. Continue reading →
12
Oct
2018
21st Battalion (4th Public Schools) Royal Fusiliers
Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, Noel Downing enlisted and joined the 21st Battalion (4th Public Schools) Royal Fusiliers. In early Oct 1914 he arrived in Ashtead, Surrey where he was billeted. Noel kept a series of postcards that illustrate the new recruits’ arrival and early training and the construction of a vast encampment of huts in Woodcote Park, Epsom. Continue reading →
27
Feb
2018
Wilmot Evans at Shrewsbury School, 1903-1909
Wilmot Evans was an Old Salopian. He was at Shrewsbury School from 1903 to 1909. His School House was Haydon’s now Rigg’s Hall. Captain C.W. Evans MC is remembered by the School among those who were killed in the First World War. Continue reading →
24
Feb
2018
John Burke’s Afghan Military Photograph, 1880
Among the photos in the Evans’s family archive is a formal group portrait of British Army Officers by John Burke known for his photographs of the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880). Most likely it came from General Charles Richard Ogden Evans‘s military memorabilia. Continue reading →
12
Feb
2018
A.K. Gibbs to Mary Downing Letter, Nov 1917
Annie Katharina Gibbs’s letter to Mary Downing dates from 17 Nov 1917. She congratulates Mary on receiving her decoration (Royal Red Cross) and as an ‘old friend’ uses the opportunity to catch up with the family’s news. The letter is part of a number of congratulatory letters preserved in Mary’s Writing Box. Continue reading →
12
Dec
2017
Photo Books and Calendars
A few years ago we stared to print photo books and calendars for ourselves and close circle of family and friends. Each one contains the best pictures featuring people we met, places we visited and events which happened in the previous year. Continue reading →