The Weaver Who Wouldn’t Back Down

For this next story, I turned my attention to a branch of the family which I haven’t written about before. It is centred on my 3x great grandfather George Cuthbertson and was inspired by a set of photos sent to me by my Dad in October last year which included the first one I had ever seen of George. It was a photo of a photo of a photo that he had got from my Granny (born a Cuthbertson) some years ago.

I have gradually accumulated photos of all but 4 of my 16 2x great grandparents, but this one of George was only the 5th of my 32 3x great grandparents that I have found and is therefore very precious.

The research was hugely helped by some fantastic resources about Stonehouse, the village in Scotland where George lived all of his life. In particular, the Stonehouse Heritage Group website, the Sorbie family website, and especially the website and Facebook group run by John Young. His Stonehouse Weavers research was invaluable for learning about George and his wife Jessie’s day-to-day life.

But the icing on the cake was finding an absolute goldmine of oral histories from residents of the village, collated by John. This collection just so happened to include ‘Tales around the fireside’, recounted by James Cuthbertson (George’s nephew) around 1944. James was born in 1885 and was living with George’s 84-year-old father John Cuthbertson at the time of the 1891 census. I’ll draw on James’s memories again when I write more about the Cuthbertsons.

What strikes me with George is the contrast of him being “quiet and unassuming” while also being there for his community when it mattered and standing up strongly for what he believed in. Honourable traits which I hope in some way have been passed down through the generations.

Read George and Jessie’s story here:

The Weaver Who Wouldn’t Back Down

A Sparkle in His Eyes

I turn again to my maternal side this time and back to researching life in the 19th century. The subject is my 5x great grandfather Thomas Thorpe, ancestor of my mother’s grandmother Gladys, and not someone whose memory lasted in our family despite a long and notable story. I became interested in Thomas thanks to a census entry which listed him not only as a glove manufacturer but also a Primitive Methodist Vocal Preacher. Finding a photograph of him shared online really helped to bring him to life.

It can be more difficult to feel connected to ancestors from further back in time, but Thomas lived his life less than 10 miles from where I live now and there are echoes of his endeavour and liberalism that still remain. The skill in textiles was certainly passed down through the generations – I’m told Gladys was an accomplished seamstress.

This is another quite lengthy piece, partly because there was a lot to cover, but also because I enjoyed exploring the wider context of Thomas’ life in Bulwell throughout the 1800s.

A Sparkle In His Eyes

A Man Who Kept the Lights On

I have been in contact with my dad’s cousin Graham and his wife Linda in New Zealand on and off for 20 years sharing old family photos, research and stories, mainly about ancestors long since passed. I have also exchanged the odd email with Graham’s sister Jaine who I once visited with my family as a child on her farm on the North Island.

After a prompt from my dad’s brother Alan, I recently reached back out to Graham, who had suffered some recent health problems, to ask if he’d like me to write up the life of his father, my great-uncle, Ted Ball. Linda had already done much of the hard work collating information and photos, but they were both very happy for me to pull everything together into a written biography.

I had always been interested in the vague mentions of Ted being involved at Dunkirk and an adventurous life seemingly in contrast to his brother (my grandfather), Ron. I knew that Ted had worked for a time in Brazil and ended up in New Zealand, but not much more.

In the end, although the details of Ted’s naval career and later professional life were fascinating to research, it was the personal memories and reflections from Graham which really brought Ted to life. There were rumours and revelations I wasn’t expecting (some omitted from this published account to protect the privacy of those still living) and I feel privileged to have been trusted to write Ted’s story. I hope it does him justice.

A Man Who Kept the Lights On