I began to write on Easter Sunday 10th April 1977 as I listened to Vivaldi's Gloria recorded about the same time last year.  It seemed that I was being impelled to set down the story of my family as far as I can remember it and am helped by letters and photographs which must now stretch back - in some cases - almost a century.  It is now twenty years later and during the intervening years Eveline, my niece, has uncovered quantities of information about my father's side of the family which I can now incorporate.

It is the record of very ordinary people - the only extraordinary feature being that in my case three generation span about 160 years. My paternal grandfather, William Jones, was born in 1808 during Napoleonic times. He married his first wife, Elizabeth Cooper, in 1828, and seventeen children were born to them. Few seem to have survived. I recall being told of an unmarried daughter of this marriage but the only survivor about whom there is any information was Frederick Daniel Jones, born in 1845. My father was much attached to this stepbrother perhaps because they both shared the same love of music. Frederick  is recorded  living in three different  places; in St. Helens, where he was a church organist; in Corwen where he  worked for  the  Inland Revenue - as his copy of  'Elijah'  now in my possession proves and in Lewes  where for his services he was presented with a marble clock. This stood on our mantelpiece at West Brampton  and accompanied us whenever we removed but has now been given to Peter, Eveline's younger son.

Eveline, motivated by her mother's belief that she was descended from Anne Boleyn (which would have been difficult), did some research on my paternal grandmother who was born Mary Burroughs, daughter of  Charles Burroughs, born  in  Cockshutt near Ellesmere in Shropshire in 1805 and whose splendid tomb  is in the churchyard there. The family home - now a farm - is also there. Charles married   a Sarah Boyllin (hence the confusion over Boleyn!)  And died when only 35 .His widow remarried a man called Lloyd and produced a family by him.

My paternal grandfather was a staymaker (corsetiere) in Newcastle under Lyme in  the days of whalebone and resided  in Merrial Street although the 1861 census indicates that he was then living in the Ironmarket with his first wife, Frederick, aged 16,  Martha Ann aged 11,  an assistant  called John Dobson and  a tailor called Thompson and his family.  On 30th May 1862 he was presented with a silver snuff box for his services as treasurer to the Ancient Order of Foresters. This is still in my possession. He died in 1880 when my father was 14 and is buried in St.George's churchyard where my parents joined him.

Of my father's early years I know very little for he was a very quiet man and also deaf - a great inhibiter of conversation. He confessed to being a very nervous child and told how he was frightened by the sudden sound of a church organ and ran terrified to his mother. He went to school in School Street, Newcastle until he was 14. His elder sister, to whom he was devoted, gained one of the first scholarships to the Orme Girls' School which was established in 1876.

The death of my grandfather in 1880 - father being 14 - must have been a severe blow to Grandma Jones, her daughter and three sons. She was undoubtedly a woman of character and determination, as she needed to be for there was no Social Security for widows and their families. Father was apprenticed to Cabinet Making, a trade of his own choice. It seems that some attempt was made to persuade him to become an upholsterer, for in that trade, for some reason,  he might have become a Burgess of Newcastle, but in those days of horse hair and flock he disliked the nasal irritation caused by the dust they made and so refused.

I have the parchment indenture signed by my father, his mother and his future employer, George Mason, on 7th July 1880. It makes fascinating reading…he shall not contract Matrimony within the said term (7 years) nor play at cards or Dice Tables…he shall not haunt Taverns or Playhouses nor absent himself from his said Master’s service day or night unlawfully “And all this restraint was rewarded by 2/6d a week - rising to one guinea by the time he was 21.

I imagine that he must have been a most conscientious apprentice. Two things only remain in my mind about his working conditions. During winter the gaslight was turned off at 8 am whether they could see or not. And before leaving at night, every tack, nail and screw had to be picked up off the floor and placed ready for work next day. So often am I reminded of this when I see electric lights burning all day long in offices whose huge windows should make it quite unnecessary.  I doubt if many nails and screws get picked up now - except for private purposes!

The apprenticeship had run for six years when bereavement hit the family again. This time it was his beloved elder sister who died of one of the commonest Victorian diseases - consumption - when she was only 21. My father and indeed all the family must have felt her death most sharply and now he, being the eldest, was obliged to shoulder the responsibility for his mother and two younger brothers who were apprenticed to tailoring.

I remember reading “Cranford” at school as a set book and marveling at the genius of Elizabeth Gaskell who could take triviality and transform it into a work of art. How petty were the little doings of the ladies of Cranford, yet by the alchemy of love and compassion they became humorous and even dramatic. This capacity for an understanding compassion was almost totally lacking in me when young and only as I stand back now in old age and through imagination can I attempt detachment and impartiality.

Apart from his work, his great love was music and he had an exceptionally good bass voice. I was told that he once had the opportunity to become a chorister at Lichfield Cathedral, but his nervousness and false teeth apparently deterred him. In 1911 he was one of a winning quartet in Hanley and received a gold medal which used to hang on his watch chain.  I think he knew the great oratorios by heart and was frequently a soloist with local choirs. His copy of “Messiah” is dated 1896.  He was a member of the choir that sang in the first performance of Coleridge Taylor’s “Death of Minnehaha” - part of the Hiawatha work - conducted by the composer at the Victoria Hall, Hanley. He recalled the gasp that went up from the audience at the sight of a coloured composer and one of the sopranos fainted! He was a chorister at St. George’s Church for 40 years. To begin with the choristers were paid, but when the financial reward ceased many left the choir. My father, however, because he loved music more than money, continued to attend and freely gave his services.

Submitted by: Bettie Preston