Hello everyone,
I'm Malcolm Bland, the great nephew of Abraham Bland. I have been fascinated by your discoveries but I have to admit that I know a great deal about the man. Indeed, I hope to write a short biography about him in time for this year's Remembrance Day service.
I am not about to spoil your excellent efforts by filling in any dark areas and I do hope that you will continue to search for information. Already you have filled in some blanks for me.
117 Washway road was pulled down in the 1990s and the address given for a Manchester firm by Arranroots is news to me. An office block was to be erected on the site and I assume you have found one of the firms occupying this.
Don't be shy, EmilySiobhan, I don't bite! Abraham was born in Sale. And I would welcome any help with my research!
JillJ, Abraham never married and he seemed to have disliked the name Abraham, which he probably got from his maternal grandfather, Abraham Boardmen, who was a bleacher.
He enlisted, as Gennig says, as Lionel Gilpin Bland but I have two letters sent from him while in the 28th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and he signs them both, "Len". I am desparate to discover which Company he served in on the night of 21st/22nd August 1817 as I have the handwritten reports of the actions each of the four Companies and I would love to be able to read about what he did on the night of his death.
Manchester Ramble has surprised me with Len's sister's name. I had her down as Eliza Amy [1891 census] but her daughter Marjorie Huxley, who I interviewed twice had never heard that her mother's name was Amy! Now you tell me that she was also called Helena. I wonder where that came from?
As others have said, there were five brothers. They were, in order, John, William [my grandfather], Frank, Abraham Lionel Gilpin and Arthur. I am also desparate to know why the fourth son had three names! All the rest made do with a single christian name. Quite by chance I moved 27 years ago into the Yorkshire Dales [from the Home Counties] and discovered a William Bland living only two miles away ... and his father was called Gilpin Bland! I cannot make the connection.
Yes, Molar, this was a second marriage. John Bland, born 1817, married Eliza Carpenter in Hereford in 1848 but she died and they had no issue that I know of. Strangely, John was already living in Sale at the time and he still lived in Sale when he married Eliza Boardman in Hunslet in 1868. He got around! He was 51 at the time of his second marriage and all his seven children [that I know about], were born to his second wife. He was 64 when his last child was born. He died in 1903, as Manchester Rambler correctly states.
I have photos of Lionel if that would ad any interest to this thread.
Please keep lookin! I am stuck at Abraham's grandfather and I am convinced that they key to this mystery is the name GILPIN!
Thanks for all your hard work so far.
Malcolm
