Personal Histories III

Enchanting Histories

Tracing personal histories is certainly addictive. When you know someone has worked in the same place, sat at the same table, worn away the same steps, and made friendships in the same place as you, learning about these people of the past becomes enchanting.
Today's personal histories blog is about Minnie Cassandra Lovegrove.

Lovegrove Family Tree

Minnie was born in January 1894 to William Roland Lovegrove (b. 1865, Chaddesden, Derby - d. 1903), and Martha Emma Lovegrove, née Wibberly (b. 1871, d. April 1894).
Minnie lost her mother at only 4 months old, and was brought up by her grandparents, William and Emma Lovegrove, and her father William Roland Lovegrove.
William Lovegrove was a Railway Engine Driver in 1881, and his son William R. was a machine apprentice. They lived on Bloomfield Street (off London Road) in Derby. By 1891 William R. is listed as a soldier in the Royal Marine Light Infantry: Chatham Division (enlistment date 11 July 1882). He must have left in late 1891 or early 1892, as he joins the Midland Railway in Derby in May 1892 as a 'Caller-up'. We're not sure what this occupation is - there is some thought that it is another term for 'knocker-up', or perhaps a 'Caller-off/caller-out who "Loads and unloads trucks in a goods  depot; calls out particulars of incoming and outgoing consignments, from  labels on goods, to goods checkers in preparation for their removal  from platform or wagon by goods porters."

Shortly thereafter, in 1893, William R. marries Martha Wibberly, and Minnie is born the following year. Martha dies the same year and Minnie next shows up in the 1901 census.

Borough Isolation Hospital Derby

In the 1901 census, Minnie is listed (age 7) as a patient at the Borough Isolation Hospital. The address of the hospital is Mansfield Road, Derby. It was also known as Derby Borough Infectious Hospital, and the Derwent Hospital. The hospital no longer exists but was in the area now known as Hampshire Road. It was opened as an isolation Hospital in 1883, and closed in 1985-6, when housing was built n the land.

You can see photos of the hospital on Flickr and Picture the Past.

In the 1911 census Minnie and her grandmother are living as lodgers at 39 Grange Street Derby. By this time Minnie has lost her mother, father, and grandfather (who both died in 1903*). Later that year, aged 17, Minnie starts work at W. W. Winter Photographers.

We can see from the wages ledger that she takes over from Nellie Manning:

She clearly has bouts of poor health though as illness is listed under her wages on several occasions.

She eventually leaves in February 1914, although she must spend some time in a sanatorium in 1913 as she is referred to in some of the letters (as Cassie) that Bernard Sheppard wrote to William Henry King.
In a letter dated September 15 1913, Sheppard writes, "Miss Lovegrove is out of the sanatorium again. She came in on Friday evening. She looks a big rosy faced country lass compared with what she was before, and has gained about a stone in weight. Can't say when she will return here yet - got to see the medical advisers first."
Just three days later Sheppard writes in another letter to King, "Cassie had left the premises only half an hour before he came in. She had had a bad coughing bout the night before, and seemed a bit low spirited in consequence. Am afraid that poor kid 'aint going to be patched up to mean anything after all."
Sadly Minnie dies in 1914 aged just 20.

While Minnie doesn't have any offspring she does have a number of relatives via various aunts and uncles, and we are hoping to find a possible living relative through these.
Names we are looking for include: George E. Lovegrove; Harry R. Lovegrove; Velsha M. Lovegrove; Florence, Margaret and Jean Sands; and Doris M. Weston, who would all have been cousins of Minnie. Get in touch if you think you might be related!
Email: office@wwwinter.co.uk
Facebook: @WWWinterLtd


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*The Midland Railway ledgers show William R. has several periods of illness from January to May 1897, November 1902 to March 1903, and finally leaving in August 1903.

Personal Histories II

Families, Photos, and Tracing Links to Today

Staff Stories

One of the main early and long serving employees of W. W. Winter was Samuel Wain.

We have highlighted him in some of our social media posts as he was present in a number of staff studio portraits.

Staff group at W. W. Winter, Samuel Wain highlighted.

We were fortune to get a ‘hit’ from these posts as a gentleman got in touch to query whether or not we had identified the correct person. Intriguing!

What we hadn’t noticed was that there were in fact two Samuel Wains in the staff wages ledger - Mr Wain, and S. Wain.

The Mr Wain our gentleman was aware of, was his grandfather who was thought to have worked in a photographers. It turned out this Wain was our S. Wain or, Samuel William Wain, and we could trace him through the census to be the son of Mr Samuel Wain.

Samuel Wain, Framemaker

Mr Samuel Wain (1844-1915) was born to Samuel and Margaret Wain in Littleover, Derby. In the 1861 census, aged 17, Samuel is living with his parents on Devonshire Street in Derby and is already listed as a carver and gilder (i.e. a frame maker).

In the 1871 census we can find no trace of him but we can see his wife (Selina) and child (Samuel William) registered at his parents house in Stockbrook Street. While we can’t account for him, it is likely that he is simply temporarily at another address and his name has been transcribed incorrectly from the original records.

Samuel Wain (back) in the W. W. Winter workshop

Two Generations of Wains

By 1881 Samuel is recorded as living on Burton Road with Selina and son Samuel William who was born in 1869 on the Isle of Wight where his mother, Selina, was originally from. Samuel is listed in 1881 as carver, guilder, and confectioner. Later census data shows Selina as a shopkeeper, so perhaps they owned a sweet shop.

At this point Samuel William is listed as scholar. This changes by the 1891 census where the two generations are working together at W. W. Winter, Samuel as gilder, picture framer, carver; and Samuel William as photographic finisher. They are living at an address on Lower Park which does not appear to exist any more but looks like it was between Wellington Street and Carrington Street.

By 1901 Samuel is working part time at Winters and appears to also be self employed as a confectioner. This coincides with a downturn in the business (by 1911 it would appear that he is a full time gilder and picture framer at Winters, while his wife Selina is a shop keeper). Samuel William has left home by this time, but appears in a ledger of the Railway Employment Records with the details:

Name: Wain, Samuel William

Date of Birth: Jan 5th 1869

Station: Derby

Date / Appointments and Advances / Wages:

April 21 1896 - Employed as Photographic Assistant - £1 1s.

April 28 1899 - Advanced to - £1 4s.

Oct 31 1901 - Left without notice. Competency fair. Conduct good

We can't locate Samuel William or his family on the 1901 census, and it is possible that they travelled abroad, but he reappears in the 1911 census as a 'Warehouseman Core Shop', with his wife, Hannah, listed as a Net Mender. Four of their children are living with them at the time.

Sam Wain

We have been able to fill in a few more details of Samuel William Wain's live via his grandson, Known to his descendants as Sam Wain, Samuel William served in WWI as a stretcher bearer, falsifying his age to join up (he would have been 46 at the start of the war).

“He and a companion worked in no man’s land collecting injured troops and brought them back to field hospitals. One day they were overcome by mustard gas and taken prisoner by the Germans. My grandfather’s eyes were damaged by the gas, a German surgeon repaired them, and in due course he was returned to the UK.”

By this time Sam had fathered seven children, the youngest of whom was daughter Ethel. Ethel went on to marry Charles Weston, and it is their son Geoff who has so kindly supplied us with the details about Sam. Winter’s continued to feature in the Wain/Weston family as there are Winter’s portraits of Charles and Ethel taken in the 1930’s most likely by William Henry King.

Geoff tells us: “Unfortunately [Sam’s] eyesight quickly deteriorated [after the war] and he soon went blind in one eye and by 1930 had both his eyes removed. He became a member of St. Dunstan’s (now Blind Veterans UK) and in the late fifties became their oldest surviving member. He died at the grand old age of 96 in 1964.”

Followers of Winter’s heritage will recognise photos of Samuel Wain (above) and we were delighted to bring his great-grandson news of his heritage as well as being able to add to ours. Geoff was unaware of his great-grandfather, and indeed, three generations of Samuels!

Of even greater delight, Geoff has provided us with some images of Sam which we reproduce here with his kind permission. 

Samuel William Wain, carrying grandchild, Geoff, around 1946

Samuel William Wain, 1959

Samuel William Wain, oldest surviving member of St. Dunstans, pictured here in around 1962

Heritage Open Days 2017

Do you think you have a Winters relative? We will be displaying information about staff from around 1900 at our free tours as part of Heritage Open Days. We will be open on 7th, 8th & 9th September with tours at 10am and 12.30pm. Booking is essential due to limited space. Do come along! You can book now by phoning W. W. Winter Ltd on 01332 345224.

Personal Histories

Ancestry searches!

We are slowly working our way through an old ledger that lists Winter's staff names, wages, and addresses, from November 1889 to May 1902.
Many of the entries are quite vague - no first name or initials, no job titles. But, there are contact addresses which do seem to get updated yearly.
It is sometimes tricky to read the handwriting but once you get your eye in it is possible to match up local street names.

The entries are divided in to male employees and female employees, listed mostly from highest to lowest paid. Cross referencing the names, dates, and addresses with the census in 1881, 1891, and 1901 we are able to pinpoint some of the staff.

Miss Tomkinson

One of the entries that piqued our interest was for Tomkinson. Miss Tomkinson is listed in the ledger from the beginning (Nov 1889), and so may have been working at Winters before this date.
According to the ledger, Miss Tomkinson's address is listed as 52 Dashwood Street, Normanton Road, Derby. If we look at the census for 1891, however, whilst we find a Tomkinson family at his address, no one is listed in any occupation that would suggest working at Winters.

We do know that the census takes place in April and coincidentally Tomkinson is absent in the wages ledger at this point.

From 10th January to 2nd May Tomkinson is listed as ill, and then as away with typhoid fever! How can we find out which Tomkinson this is? Is there someone missing in the 1891 census? We can trace the family back to the 1881 census and therein we find, at the age of 8 years, Julia Tomkinson. Was Julia still alive in 1891? Now armed with a firstname and year if birth based on her age we can search again for Julia in 1891 - and here she is:

Julia Tomkinson is resident in the Lime Tree Lane Convalescent Home in Matlock. She is listed as a 'photographic assistant', born in Derby.

So what becomes of Julia? She returns to work in May 1891 and continues to be employed at W. W. Winter until the end of November 1896.

We thought, perhaps she had left to be married but out of curiosity we checked the marriage records and the 1901 census. It appears she remained single and dedicated the rest of her working life to nursing. In 1901 she is working  at Rainhill Asylum in Lancashire, and by 1911 she is Head Nurse at Boreatton Park in Shropshire.
Our access to the census ends here but death records show Julia lives to a good age of 78. We can only speculate but perhaps Julia's experience in the convalescent home inspired her future move to nursing!

Relations?

We are always looking for people who may be related to the Winter's extended family. Julia did not go on to have children but perhaps you are descended from one of her siblings (Laura, Albert, Bertha, Arthur)? Let us know!

In the Papers!

We have been excited and grateful to receive some local and national press coverage over the FORMAT17 Festival.
The Derby Telegraph have been supportive as always, as have BBC East Midlands. You can see one of our images on BBC Local Live with Gavin Bevis  (14:54, 7 Feb) , and there is a lovely piece on their news website covering the Derby Museums exhibition.

We have particularly had some lovely feedback from the Guardian article. A gentleman from France has been in touch to identify his Great Uncle from the Tickner photograph, and a lady from Spain has recognised her grandfather, Alf Goodere, from the newsagents.

We also spotted a new entry for W. W. Winter on Wikipedia quoting the Guardian article which was a typo. Winters was not in fact founded in 1865, and we can now confirm from a notice in the Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal that the original date for the business was 1852! This allows us to firmly place Winters as the longest continuously running photography studio in the world.
You can see a copy of the clipping from 31 March 1863 on our website

Last but not least, we came across this lovely blog post from 2014, 'My Great Aunt Norah's wartime diaries, 1938-1948' featuring a Winters portrait of a young woman - a great read for anyone interest in family history.

Celebrations!

Well it's been a while since we blogged but a wonderful time for Winters!
We are very fortunate to be based in Derby, home of the international biennial FORMAT photography festival. Over last 12 months we have been working with Greg Hobson (Curator of Photographs at the National Media Museum), Debbie Cooper (artist and curator), Jane Middleton-Smith (archivist), and Jonathan Wallis (Head of Museums at Derby Museums), and a handful of dedicated volunteers to bring together a fabulous exhibition as part of FORMAT17.

Exhibition

On display at Derby Museums from 25 February to 23 April 2017, the show has been curated under this years FORMAT theme of 'Habitat' and is titled 'People, Places & Things'.

Jonathan and Greg installing a Winters photograph of King Edward VII

We are delighted to say that after many weeks of long, hard days the exhibition is everything we had hoped and more. The images are superb - spanning 165 years of Winters originals from the first studio on the opposite side of Midland Road, and covering the 150 years at the purpose built studios at 45 Midland Road.

Some of the images on display at Derby Museum

The opening night was a real celebration of Winters and everyone who had worked so hard.

Preview at Derby Museum

We are receiving great feedback and some very welcome national coverage for the heritage trust and will update you on some of the articles that have been appearing! Remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date :-)