Saturday, March 01, 2008
Saturday, February 02, 2008
New Homework!!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Mystery Pictures - of People
Among the pictures we inherited from Auntie Hilde are also some of people we can not identify with certainty. Let us begin with this one, of a very elegant lady in a car, a model which I would date to around 1908, having looked at catalogues of historic cars. Unfortunately, the make is not identifyable. Notice the “bandage” around the front left wheel, which had obviously been repaired after a recent puncture.
The lady could be Kathrine (Kitty) Bice, Mary’s sister (born on January 8th 1855) who married Hernry Joll of Plymouth in 1880. We saw a very distinctive -almost angelic- picture of her earlier. We also see her son Henry Joll Jr. on many of Robert Burnard’s family pictures. Kitty died relatively young, at 55 in 1910, let’s hope it wasn’t a car accident. It is just a thought, given that most of Mary’s sisters lived to be quite old.
Then there is this one, of a young man in uniform.
It could be Charles Fredric Burnard, named after his father - his second son. The reason why this may be Charles is that he lived from June 25th 1842 to March 10 1867 - so he died before turning 25. I checked the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Website, he did not die in action.
Mary, his sister born in 1850, would have remembered him and may have kept his picture to be handed down to us via her daughter Hilde.
He certainly does not appear on any other of the many pictures taken, usually in the 1890s. Also, he has that distinctive Burnard nose that gives away several family members.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Mystery Pictures - of Places
In the old albums "auntie" Hilde left us from her time with her mother's family in Plymouth, we have some old landscape and house photographs. Having kept them, they must have some significance, but we can only guess what they might depict.
First, there is one of a sailing boat in front of a hillside where new houses are being being built.
Second, there are picutres of a house close by the sea ... also in an area where few houses are visible in the vicinity.
Could this be in "Teignmouth" ?
The reason why this may be so is that Robert Burnard (the photographer) moved away from Huccaby to a place named "Stoke Teignmouth" in about 1911. Interestingly, the Plymouth data website refers to his home in Stoke-in-Teignhead and later in Torquay.
Robert wrote a very moving letter to his sister Mary on the outbreak of World War I. So, my hypothesis: we are looking at pictures of Stoke-in-Teignhead in Devon.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Huccaby Tales
Copyright of the Dartmoor Trust
But first, let me introduce you to Huccaby. Huccaby is a wonderful farmhouse set within Dartmoor, only a few miles from Princetown, where a high security prison was (& still is) located. Only a few bridges led off the moor. Even today, there are no houses in its direct vicinity. Above is a picture taken by Robert in the 1890s; below are some pictures we took of Huccaby in 1978. If you look at Robert's entire picture collection, you will find that Huccaby House figures prominently in about a dozen pictures.
The first is about Reverend Fox, a clergyman who would regularly come to visit Huccaby. It was in 1903 or 1904 that the cousin who usually managed the Household for Charles .F. Burnard went on holiday for three weeks and Hilde was asked to stand in for her. As so often, Reverend Fox would come over for his one or two visits per week and, as so often, would not leave as dinner time was approaching. Hilde was surprised to hear that he was from Australia, having assumed that the reason why people go out there usually prevents them from coming back.
Dinner was served and at about 9:00 pm, “Grandpa” Charles got up and said: “I am going upstairs to sleep, please have the lights of the pony cart lit up for Reverend Fox”. Well, there was no sign that Rev. Fox was about to get the hint. At about 9:30 pm Hilde said to Sarah, the cook (comment: she may be pictured on one of Robert’s photos): “Please have the lights on the pony cart lit up now, Grandpa did say Rev. Fox is about to leave.” - Rev. Fox remained seated. At about 10 pm Sarah appeared with a big loaf of bread from the kitchen and gave it to Rev. Fox. “Who’s bread is this?” Hilde asked. “Your Grandfather’s” Sarah replied.. “Well, then you can not give it away without asking me” Hilde said “after all, I am supposed to be running this household”. Rev. Fox kept the loaf of bread, but he was not very friendly as he finally left.
A few days later Reverend Fox visited Uncle Bob (Robert), who had a farm nearby Huccaby (Comment: I was not aware that there were several farms, but Hilde’s memory was usually very accurate). Reverend Fox told him he had recently met the rudest most and most “impertinent” girl ever at Huccaby and he believed she was from Germany. “Oh, Robert said, that is my favourite niece!” and laughed. Reverend Fox did not stay for dinner that night.
The second tale is about prisoners escaping. Huccaby farm is actually on Dartmoor, only a few miles from Princetown, where a high security prison was and is located. As you can see from its website, the prison was in those days considered to be the hardest and most severe in England and had some very notorious and dangerous inmates.
There were only a few bridges leading off Dartmoor, one of them was very close to Huccaby. When prisoners went missing a number of cannons would be fired and all bridges would be guarded. Well, most of the time. Sometimes one or both of the guards would come for Tea in Huccaby. One time Hilde was visiting when the cannons were fired and the usual procedure was followed: Some food and warm clothing was left on the porch outside and the whole house was locked up. The justification was: “These poor sods will get caught soon anyway, so why let them freeze and go hungry along the way?” More likely, it was a pretty good tactic for making sure some very dangerous people do not try to enter the house.
This time, though, there was a knock on the door, which kept getting louder & louder. Uncle Bob (Robert) was there; all in all three men. Uncle Bob said: “We can handle an old convict. If he needs something, he can have it; if he attacks us, we’ll teach him a lesson”. The men took the irons from the fireplace and the women anything they could find & Bob opened the door.
Outside was the 17 year old son of the caretaker. He had been sent by his dad to say: “You can all go back to sleep. The escaped prisoner has been sighted near several miles away. So they did. The next morning the news arrived that the prisoners had been caught uncomfortably close to Huccaby. Perhaps the boy was a decoy sent to test the strength of the “troops” in the house.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Burnard Family Close-Ups
This is the closest we have ever been to Robert Burnard's family, given that most pictures were taken from some distance away. In the back are Dorothy Blanche Burnard (born Aug. 9th 1877) and her sister Olive Louise Burnard (born May 17th 1848) . In the front left is Fanny Evans (Born June 26th 1844, dies 1921) married to Edward Paget Headly of Cambridge, in the center is Laurence Freidrich Burnard (born July 27th 1874) and their mother, Fanny Louisa Burnard (nee Pearce). They feature on many of Robert's family pictures.
Here is a further picture of Dorothy... with her dog named Peggy. If you are wondering how come I even know the dog's name, remember that Robert kept meticulous records of the people he photographed and, in line with the love for dogs and horses we all seem to share with our ancestors, he even recorded the names of his dogs. I will have to introduce you to Bruce, Tag, Di and ... spotty Peggy in due course.
Above is Di, another 4 legged character that appears on several of Robert's pictures, together with Peggy sitting on Olive's lap above Fanny, her mum. I am not sure who the two gentlemen are. The one on the rights looks like John Steed from the "Avengers", but that TV series was some 70 years later.
I only recently discovered that it is Queen Victoria to we have to thank for redefining the role of our pets. She made it fashionable to keep dogs in the house and the Burnard family certainly took this to heart. It was a recent phenomenon at the time, whereas it seems totally notmal to us today. Dogs Homes & Animal Protection as we know it today began as a result of Queen Victoria's initiative. Apparently, she had more pictures of her pets commissioned that any other regent before her. Battersey Dogs Home was the first dog sanctuary in the world & it was opened by Queen Victoria.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
New Findings in the Family Archives
Below you can see the family tree prepared by Charles Frederick Burnard. You can see all his children (three of which died very young) and those of the photographer, Robert Burnard. You can also see the reference to Mary Beatrice, including the reference to her marriage to Richard.
You can also see at the top that the name dates back to 1543 , and that is appears from the Chantry Rolls of Devon and Cornwall in 1546. But the family tree, which initially recorded only the deaths, begins in earnest with John Burnard of Treroose, who died in 1788 .