Sunday 30 September 2018

Sunday 23 September 2018

Jan Havenith and Ida Magermans - Marriage Plate


This beautiful plate was made by Frans van Gerwen, a cousin of Ida Magermans, who worked at a factory that made that porcelain. This factory called Mosa, is based in Maastricht and is still going.

These days the focus seems to be on tiles and since 2005 have had a turnover of 100 million. However, searching the Internet reveals a healthy market place for the old Mosa plates and ceramics.

I've always appreciated this plate as I saw it hanging on the wall everytime I visited my grandparents. It's in such amazing condition for a plate that's over 60 years old.

The company can be found here.

Sunday 16 September 2018

Tim Havenith and Lucy Newbury: Wedding Locations

Registering for the wedding
This was the register office in Trowbridge when we registered for our wedding in October 2013.

These days it's a car park!
Night before the wedding
Lucy stayed with her mum and sister the night before the wedding.

I stayed with my visiting family at our previous house at Tower Road, Melksham.
Wedding Day
We were married at Devizes Register Office at 2pm on the 30 May, 2014.

We then followed this with photographs and a meal at the Shaw Country Hotel.


Followed by cake back at Tower Road!

Sunday 9 September 2018

The Bottomley's of Ancoats

This is an incomplete story as I don't yet have all the details. I just wanted to jot down what I have at this point, so I don't lose track of where I'm at - as my daughter is now overdue, life is going to get very busy very quickly sooner rather than later!

We meet the family in 1901 on Marth 31st, the night of the census. William Bottomley is the head of this household and works as a flagger, someone who lays paving stones. He resides at 22 Marcer Street with his wife, Mary Ellen,daughter, Katie, and sons Herbert and William. William the son is my great grandfather and moved to Lincolnshire, at some point between 1901 and 1917 to marry my great grandmother, Lilian Smith - but that's another story.

17 Marcer Street in 1896, the house where my great grandfather was born.
Posted by Manchester Libraries.
The story gets complicated because I have found a William and Mary Ellen Bottomley at a nearby address in 1890, but Herbert, who would be around 5 years of age at this time is not present on the record. Perhaps he's spending the night with his biological father? Maybe that's why the couple's youngest son is called William - after his father William, and Herbert is named after his father? I have found a Herbert Kennedy born in nearby Salford - Kennedy being Mary Ellen's birth surname. My next step here is to buy the marriage certificate of William and Mary Ellen, which is around 5 years after the birth of Herbert, to find out if Mary Ellen is recorded as being a widow or previously married.

Back to Marcer Street, today this house and this street no longer exist. The area was bombed around 1940-1941 with at least 1 house being demolished. Eventually the area was purchased by compulsory order and being redeveloped. These days there's a Marcer Road, but not quite on the footprint of the old Street.
The blue circle is for high explosives, the red shading for demolished buildings. This map was created by
Manchester City Council City Architect's Department (Building Surveyor's Division) in 1940-1941.


As yet, I have been unable to find the family in 1911 (apart from my great grandfather). But as I continue to research, perhaps I will rediscover them, hopefully after the war having survived and prospering.


References:
Maps Collection. 2018. - Maps Collection. [ONLINE] Available at: https://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/maps002~1~1~351132~123655?qvq=w4s%3A%2Fwho%2FManchester%2BCity%2BCouncil%2BCity%2BArchitect%252527s%2BDepartment%2B%252528Building%2BSurveyor%252527s%2BDivision%252529&mi=48&trs=49https%3A%2F%2Fluna.manchester.ac.uk%2F...%2Fmaps002~1~1~351132. [Accessed 05 September 2018].
Marcer Street Photograph: Flickr. 2018. Flickr. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/6431339079/in/photostream/. [Accessed 05 September 2018].

Sunday 2 September 2018

Tim Havenith - Birth Plate


This beautiful birth plate was made for me by my opa's (Jan Havenith) best friend, Toon van Hoof, who he had originally met in the early days of his career at DSM. Sadly I never got to meet him as he died when I was around 2 years old, but I'm very honoured to have this wonderfully crafted plate as a reminder.