I got the idea for my book Remembering Rose from two old photographs in my mother-in-law's family album. I thoroughly enjoyed researching the history that would enable Rachel, the heroine, to travel back in time, and it eventually turned out to be the first book of my Mapleby Memories trilogy. What's more, although the story is entirely fictional, there are snippets of her family history hidden in it, things that mean long dead family members are not forgotten.
There is, however, another book that I really should write but somehow don't seem able to start, and that's the story of my own grandfather. When he died, aged 72, in 1910, he must have felt sure that the truth of his birth would never be discovered.
According to family legend, his parents were scions of English nobility whose love affair had been thwarted, it was assumed by their parents. He had thus been born in secrecy, fostered until he was old enough to be educated, and later apprenticed in a trade that would ensure he had a well remunerated life. So far, so fairy-tale ending! But who were his parents? By the time I was intrigued enough to want to know, all the next generation were dead and there was no one to ask any more.
Looking at his photo, I still wondered. Long face, high smooth forehead, amazing cheekbones, a luxuriant moustache; definitely a Lord of the Manor lookalike. So for years I dined out on possibly being the granddaughter of a baronet, duke or earl…I didn’t go quite as far as prince. Then the Internet arrived and I realised I could track him down.
But where to start? A birth certificate, except I didn’t know where he was born, so a wedding certificate. My grandmother’s name would prove I had found the correct William. Determined, I contacted the General Register Office and…wow! He and my grandmother, Elizabeth, were married in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster in May 1884. Built next to Westminster Abbey, it has a long and imposing history as well as being the parish church of the House of Commons. Samuel Pepys was married there, and the poet John Milton. Winston Churchill was too.
I discovered that Elizabeth lived in Kent so, instead of marrying locally, a wedding in Westminster must have been a deliberate choice. Was it because her father was a Professor of Music who had previously been a Band Master in The Royal Hussars and had influence, or was it something more mundane?
The certificate also said William had a father, George! George (deceased) was a builder. What? There was something mysterious hidden amongst those statements and signatures.
Fired up, I sent for birth certificates. Elizabeth’s was exemplary but William’s told a whole new story. I found him in Norfolk, born to Sarah. No father. I started trawling the censuses and there he was, in 1861, aged 3, LIVING WITH HIS GRANDPARENTS and, shock on shock, his older brother Joseph, also illegitimate. William was still there in 1871, aged 13. His grandfather was a bricklayer who owned a brickyard. Sarah lived and worked away as a maid. Also living there was his Uncle George, a builder. George never married and remained in the family home until his early death.
I’ve been to Norfolk now and seen where they all lived; the corner house with a yard behind it, the big double gates wide enough for a cart full of bricks to be pulled through by a horse. His grandfather, my great-grandfather, was always employed and apparently earning enough to keep both his illegitimate grandsons in education until the school leaving age of 14, not very common in those long-ago days. He probably paid for their apprenticeships too.
I don’t know if the family tales of William having to sleep under the counter during his apprenticeship as a draper are true or just another embellishment to make his life seem more exciting.
I learned nothing more about him until I found him, at the age of 22, living and working in Knightsbridge, where St Margaret’s Westminster would have been his parish church, so getting married there wasn't special after all.
How he met Elizabeth is also a mystery because everything I’ve learned about her family indicates that she moved in much more rarefied circles than a Draper from Norfolk. Surely they didn’t bond over a bolt of cloth while she was choosing material for a dress!
However, by the time William and Elizabeth married, the stars were aligned. His mother, both his grandparents and his uncle George were all dead, so who was going to find him out if he sanitised his past by claiming George as his father? In 1884 the Internet wasn’t even a concept.
Was he a young man ashamed of his birth or a young man who saw an opportunity to better himself? Or did he lie to persuade Elizabeth's parents that he was worthy of their daughter?While I’ll never know the answer, I do wish my father and his brothers and sisters had known about their grandparents. Known, too, that they had cousins and aunts and uncles in Norfolk. Was he ashamed of them? Did he disown his brother too? Did he lose his Norfolk accent? I certainly never heard that he had one. In fact nobody ever mentioned Norfolk at all, so I guess they all bought the nobility story. Nor do I know when the story of his supposedly noble illegitimacy became part of family legend and he ditched his uncle George. After his in-laws died I would imagine!
I have never been able to track down his father either, so Sarah’s secret will remain with her. William, however, has been well and truly found out!
Am I shocked by his lies and subterfuge? Not really because I’ll never know what drove him to behave as he did, and when I look at that photo I have to admit that he still looks distinguished, a proper Victorian gentleman, so maybe he achieved his ambition to better himself. I don’t think I’m imagining the hint of a knowing smile beneath that luxuriant moustache either, so maybe it was worth it.
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