I would like to thank everybody who has so far contributed to this thread. I have consolidated the information gained from it and would like to see if I can glean any more information before the thread becomes too cold.
In 1944 (or before)the late Ramsay Marsh, son of Elias and Lily, met a girl in Canada and married her there in 1945. She died a few years ago but it is not my intention to look into her background but rather to look to see what I can find of my late mother's (Thelma E. E. Kirtland b 1928) family. So far I have got basic details as follows:
According to the
Slough Windsor an Eton Express she married my father at Windsor Methodist church at Windsor on Sunday 2 6 1952. I know that the wedding reception was held at The Swan P.H. in Clewer near Windsor. The paper says that the Best Man at the wedding was Mr. A. G. Morton-Fuller, who I suspect,
may have been an American or Canadian air force Flight Sergeant. How can I find out about him?
My mother's father (Leonard Ralph Kirtland) was born at Clewer, Berkshire in 1885. He died at Windsor hospital of TB in 1956.
His wife Ethel Elizabeth Nee Green was born at Winkfield Berkshire in Dec. 1889 and died at Winkfield in 1967 having spent all of her life in and around Windsor. Apparently she delivered milk from a horse and cart there when she was about 14.
Her mother or other relations may be mentioned in this passage from
The Windsor and Eton Express 28th January 1837
Windsor Police
On Thursday four men, named Richard Green, George Green, John Wilson, and John Raygon; were bought before the Magistrates, charged with stealing two coppers, the property of Mr.Bedborough, from some of his houses in South-place. The coppers were stolen on Monday night, and from some circumstances of strong suspicion against the prisoners they were apprehended on Tuesday. Upon these circumstances being stated, the prisoners were remanded for further examination on Monday next. From some private information which was obtained, Captain Thomson, after the men had been remanded, granted a search warrant to Copas, the Clewer Constable, who proceeded to the premises of an old woman, named Green, a relative of two of the prisoners, residing in Clewer fields, and succeeded in discovering the two stolen coppers buried in the garden attached to her house. On Monday the property will be forthcoming , and the old woman herself will be brought forward.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dutillieul/ZWindsorEtonExpress/28thJanuary1837.htmlI should like to find a posotive or negative linkage. Any help much appreciated.
I should also like to be able to know more about Leonard's family who were:
Percy b.1896
George Henery (sp?) b. 1895
Eva 1893
Walley 1880
Ernest b. 1876
George b. 1874
Ada b.1873
An uncle told me that his aunt Ada used run tea rooms or a tea shop in Eton Hight Street 'about 5 doors down from Windsor bridge'.
How can I find out more?
Thomas James b.1872 Baptised at Clewer.
The same uncle told me that Thomas used to own a lot of property in Windsor 'about ten or twenty houses'. Including some pubs. I know for a fact that he had The Coach and Horses in Oxford Road Windsor and that in the pub was still being run by Mrs Lucy Kirtland before it was demolished in 1967.
http://www.thamesweb.co.uk/windsor/windsorhistory/Oxford%20Road/1950-1965%20OxfordRoad.htmlI am not sure if this Lucy was the wife or daughter of Thomas and really would most welcome further information on him. My uncle described him as 'a most interesting character, lets just say that you would not want to be on the wrong side of him' Unfortunately, I am not in possession of the picture of his uncle that in itself tells just that story. Apparently Tommy moved to London and opened pubs or clubs there.
The passage below from
http://www.thamesweb.co.uk/pubs/windsorpubs.html gives one of the flavour of Windsor before it was gentrified.
'It seems that in 1836, a Mr John Gibbs, landlord of The Coach and Horses public house, was prosecuted for 'running a disorderly house'. This establishment does not appear to get a mention ten years later. George Street also appears to get a regular mention in the Magistrates Courts transcripts. The Spread Eagle, The Rose and Crown, The Blue Anchor and The Prince George as well as a brothel and beer shop known as Wheelers get regular mentions. In 1849, The Spread Eagle's licence was transferred to The Bachelors Arms in Victoria Street, just prior to George Street's demolition. In Clewer Fields, William Austin's beer shop was the home to five girls who provided the census taker with enough information to indicate their profession was prostitution. Many were known only by their nicknames such as Fat Ellen, Black Hannah, Wraysbury Hannah, Biddy, Snook, Spital Bounce or the Sergeant Major. I have strayed off the point of this work but it is of note in order to capture these times in the history of Windsor'.
Any more relevant information please?