Friday, February 10, 2017

A Little Tea Party


Whether it was on the occasion of Penrose's travels across the ocean to visit his homeland or for a different reason, in July, 1936, the Hawkes and Reid families decided to host a tea party at Bride Park. Too late to capture the full group at the close of the event, one of the hosts thought to gather the remaining guests together for a group photograph on the lawn. Thankfully, Alice Hawkes Reid had the foresight to label the names of those present for the impromptu portrait, thus giving us one more significant listing from that mystery photo album to help guide our research.

Whether this additional page will advise us in our quest to determine just who the photo album was sent to as a pictorial greeting that next Christmas, I'm not sure. But for now, let's take a look at some of the friends and family of Harry and Alice as we close out this week's research attempts.

The photo was labeled—in Alice Reid's handwriting, as we've now learned—"A little tea-party at Bride Park when Penrose was home - July 1936." Along the right side of the photograph, Alice provided the names of all included in the photo, by the three rows of their seating arrangement.

Back row -
Harry, Laddie Nicholson, Self, K. Allen, W. Hawkes, Mrs. Allen, Mr. Nicholson
Middle row -
L. Hawkes, Mrs. Nicholson, Vicky Allen, Mother
Front row -
Ruby, Sonny Nicholson, Daireen Foott, Iris, Alfy Allen


One thing that stands out right away on this list is the appearance of two people with the surname Hawkes. Unfortunately, only initials were provided for first names: W. Hawkes and L. Hawkes. Perhaps, because the album was intended to be received by a family member—or at least someone familiar with those in the extended family—Alice felt no need to spell out their given names. On the other hand, if the album were intended for family members, wouldn't she have labeled the two other Hawkes family members by terms of their relationship, along with a first name—uncle William, for instance?

Almost as an afterthought, Alice added, "Other guests gone home before this was taken." Too bad. It would have been quite informative, for our purposes, to learn who else might have been included in the guest list.



8 comments:

  1. Two dogs in the photo too! :) Hopefully this will give you some clues! :)

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    1. Yes, there's Periwinkle, sitting so properly prim on his mistress' lap. I couldn't help notice how Ruby had a virtual headlock on the other poor furball, which so distracted her sister that her face was turned away (probably telling her sister to cut that out!), just as the photo was snapped.

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  2. http://landedfamilies.blogspot.com/2013/12/96-allen-of-clashenure-house-and.html I think tells of "Vicky Allen" (Victoria) and "Alfy Allen" (Alfred) [Allen, Alfred (b. 1925), of Clashenure.]

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    1. Amazing find, Iggy! It's interesting to see the photo of these children, then read material about the adults they obviously, at some point, became. It would be interesting to read "Alfy" Allen's books, for instance, after having seen a photograph of him as a young child.

      Fascinating blog you found, by the way. And thank you for including the link in the comments there. At some point, I do hope to connect with a family member. After all, the album would be of much more interest to descendants of the Hawkes and Reid families than to me!

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  3. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mpress&id=I1578 I think indicates that Daireen Toolt last name is Foott and that a Foott married a Nicholson somewhere...

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    1. You are amazing, Iggy! Thanks for finding that about Daireen. I've made the correction. And while the link at Rootsweb is for an address given over ten years ago, I've tried my hand at making contact. We'll see what happens...

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  4. Daireen is mentioned on http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mpress&id=I3553

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  5. Ms. Foott is also mentioned on http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mpress&id=I2160

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