Re: ALLEN and/or SAWFORD- Leicester area Looking for a home for some old photos
- From: chrisj.doran@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:52:03 -0700
On 14 Aug, 15:48, "Malvary in Ottawa" <malva...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Among a batch of old photos (my sister bought as a job lot for a frame that
was among them) is a very badly damaged photo postcard with the remains of
his picture on the front and written on the back is:
151(?)7 Private R Q? Allen,
C Company 16th Middlesex
Bri????h(or k). E. Force (possibly Horse) (British Expeditionary Force?)
France
1915
Killed in France
July 1??? 1915
Fatally wounded while
binding(I think) the arm of a
wounded comrade.
In his 40th year.
It was the middle one of three cards stuck together by wet. The top one was
also a photo card but with no picture left. The message on the back is
possibly to an Allen but I'm not sure. If so we have an address of The
Aloes, 177 (197?) Hinckley Road, Local. There is a town of Hinckley 'the
other side of Leicester' according to her hubby.
The writing was stuck to the picture of Private Allen and his picture is
damaged when I separated them. The back of his card was stuck to the
picture of the third card which says "to Gracie with love from Uncle John
14/9/19". Whether the three belong together or not I haven't a clue, but on
the very wild longshot that you may have a genealogy board where you might
be able to see if anyone is researching Private Allen's family I thought I'd
ask you. At 39/40 years old, he could likely have had a wife and children
at home, and thus have direct descendants tracing their ancestors. I'd hate
to throw it away if anyone would cherish it.
Mostly the places where the ????s are is where bits from the front of Uncle
John's photo are stuck, so it may be possible for that to be removed and the
words better exposed.
As I said, the three cards were with a load of other stuff including 4
albums, 2 of which are quite well labelled with the when and where - 1920s
to early 30s. A well to do family I should think as they holidayed all over
and had a car etc. But it's the postcard I want a home for first as it's so
frail.
At this point I did some searching and found that Private Richard Oswald
Allen Private PS/1557 was killed 1/07/1916 age 39 16th BN Middlesex
Regiment. Information from CWGC - Thiepval Memorial. He was an artist.
I found him on the 1901 census, single, living as a boarder - occupation
painter/artist.
I also researched that he was born 2nd quarter 1877 in Leicester and married
Stella Stretton Swain (born 2nd qtr 1879 Billesdon) in 2nd quarter 1904
Barrow S (Barrow on Soar). I have also found one son Frank Allen born 3rd
qtr 1915 Leicester. There are probably other children (in fact there are
lots born in Leicestershire but I can't track them because they are before
the mother's maiden name is listed).
I passed the info on to my sister (particularly the death date) and her
reply was
The top date (under France) is definitely 1915, which could be when he went
out to France.
The lower date could be 1916, it's at one of the stuck on places.
The Q could easily be O as it's all written in a very curly round copper
plate hand, and the stroke that is possibly the Q's tail could just as
easily be an embellishment. That's why I put a ? on the original info.
All-in-all I think you have the right chap.
I wounder if the wounded comrade survived!
Just seems a shame to dump it as it is a real one-off. Specially if he's an
artist!
Just had a quick look through the albums that I have from the same batch in
case Foss Rd (shown on the CGWC site) was mentioned, but it's not. I don't
know if they belong together or were lumped together at some point in the
last 70+ years
One album has a Baptismal Certificate in the back for June Yvonne Sawford
Feb 28 1926. Born (if it's the same child) Jan 29 1926 there are then loads
of photos of same brat from hospital onwards. Sawford is a less common name
than Allen, and all four of the albums *may* belong together. Again, I
don't want them but don't like to see these things being thrown if they
would be of interest, and they are very well labelled.
Anyone researching these names? Do they belong to your family? Sis would
like to find a loving home for them.
Malvary in Ottawa, Canada
You could summarise the above on the relevant surname boards at
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/index.html
These sites (and no doubt others) are collecting info and photo(s):
http://www.1914-1918.org/
http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/
http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/L/lostgeneration/index.html
http://www.deadfred.com/ (a more general repository for mystery
photos)
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/ reveals that there are several Hinckley
Roads in and around Leicester. There are some 1910s street directories
at http://www.historicaldirectories.org/
Chris
.
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