Discovery....

It's been a bit frosty out!

Been slightly blown away by some family discoveries this week – and weird coincidences.... Let’s start with the Peaky Blinders. For those of you that follow, you’ll know this is a drama series following the semi real adventures of a gang in Birmingham, set after WW1. I love a good period drama and one with the added bonus of gorgeous vintage fashion, slightly edgy stories and the exceptionally handsome Cillian Murphy – well! I did miss the series when it first broadcast but DD treated herself to NetFlix and so endless TV is now a click away. We are most of the way through Season Two and there are regular flashbacks to the main characters experiences in WW1, along with associated effects of PTSD. They were tunnellers, an occupation which involving digging tunnels under enemy lines to plant explosives. Just look it up, the stories of their part in the war are truly unbelievable. I had only just had a conversation with a friend about how we can never really appreciate the conditions that any of those brave guys had to endure (all of them, not just tunnellers). We also wondered at the job the tunnel diggers had to do, and could you imagine having to do that. I hate enclosed spaces and would just be filled with fear at the thought of tunnels let alone explosives and fighting and the thought of breaking into an enemy trench accidentally!

Fast forward a week or so and I am sat at the computer working on my family tree research. I go back and forth to this as the mood takes me. I try to be organised but get distracted by random leads to follow... This particular evening I was following my paternal grandmothers line when up pops a William Redding, my 2x great uncle. He fought in the Boer War (a whole new piece of history that I shamefully know very little about) but then ended up joining the Royal Engineers 184^th Mining Coy, He was a bloody tunneller in the First World War. From what I can make out he ended up near Arras when heavy German bombing caused massive damage and William was among the casualties. He was taken to Rouen hospital where he died from his injuries, aged 37, on June 8^th 1916. He was buried in St Sever Cemetery, Rouen, in France. 

This weekend we took a drive out to see his name on the Roll of Honour at the churchyard in Little Marlow, Bucks. His name also appears on the War Memorial at Flackwell Heath but my incompetence and lack of Wifi signal meant that we missed seeing this too. Next time..... 

Roll of Honour at Little Marlow Church

William Redding - remembered.

I would like to be able to visit his grave in France too – I don’t know whether any of his family at the time would have been able to make the trip but it seems to be a small thing we can do to pay respects to one of those brave men that never came home. 

Lest We Forget x

A Victorian Mystery.....

Miss Bella Pateman

It all started when I decided to face the horror of clearing out the space under our stairs! Dubbed ‘the computer room’ it was actually a hidey hole of hell. I rolled up my sleeves and dragged everything out to sort and tidy. Whilst in there I discovered a box of photographs and bits from my Nan’s house. I have dabbled with Family History over the years and absolutely love old photos so this was a double treasure to unearth.

In amongst the photos was an old newspaper cutting with a handwritten message across it. The cutting was the obituary of an old actress called Bella Pateman and the handwritten note was by someone who clearly knew her personally – here was a mystery. Who was Bella and was there a connection to my family?

Finding Bella the actress proved fairly simple – she was a Victorian actress who saw fame both here and in America in the late 1800’s. She was married to another famous actor of the day, Robert Pateman. But I wanted to know more and here is where the story got a little more difficult.

I have access to the Ancestry site and so following up births, marriages and deaths and other useful Census info is usually a time consuming but fruitful job. This one proved otherwise! It seems that Bella and her pre marriage records suffered from a catalogue of alternative spellings and without the magic marriage certificate (which I cannot locate anywhere so far) I cannot be certain I have the right family – but playing along with hunches and some matched details this is what I have so far....

Bella was born in 1846 to Caroline and Robert in Reading. She appears in the 1851 census in Chatham Street as Isabel Radborn living with her parents and siblings. Mr Radborn was an engine cleaner and supported his wife and four children, William, Thomas, Jemima and little Isabel.

By 1861 Mr Radborn had passed away leaving his widow (now documented as Radbowin) with two teenage girls. Jemima is now listed as a 17 year old comedian and Isabel is 15.

I could now link to facts from her professional career, she met and married Robert Pateman in 1869. Robert hailed from Ireland and so far I cannot locate any further information on him. Later that year the newly married Pateman’s set sail for New York. They remained in America touring some of the major theatres for the next few years, returning to the UK in 1876. There are tantalising clues as to the plays they appeared in and some of the famous people of the age that they mixed with. These included their friend Edwin Booth, actor and brother to the notorious John Wilkes Booth who assassinated Lincoln.

Robert Pateman - Google Image

By 1881 the Pateman’s were living in Hammersmith and it was here in 1886 they had a daughter, Isabel Roberta ‘Robbie’ Pateman. They continued living in Hammersmith and then Barnes while taking a number of prominent roles on the London stage. Bella is listed at the Adelphi amongst other places. She carried on as a significant actress until 1902, her last role being that of Lady Ridgeley at the St James’s. Bella died at her home in Barnes on 30^th January 1908 at the age of 64. Robbie followed her in 1910 at the young age of 24. Robert continued acting, travelling to the USA for further roles before he, too, passed away in 1924 at the age of 83 leaving the not inconsiderable sum of £11000 to his nephew and another acquaintance.

My Ebay find!

There is still much I do not know. The link between Bella and my family is intriguing. I do have connections to the Reading area and so I assume this is where it might be – but until I can prove Bella’s early details I cannot go further here. An interesting aside, while I was searching for links to Bella I found a signed photograph of her for sale on Ebay. It came as a pair with a signed photo of Hermann Vezin, a well-known American actor of the same period whom Bella had acted with at the Adelphi in a production of ‘Amy Robsart’. Of course I had to buy them! I will continue the search in the hopes that new details come to light and the mystery is finally solved.