Wooden Elephants

Today we have the story behind these two wooden elephants, shared with us by Penny White.

Penny says I was born at the beginning of World War 2. My Father was serving as an officer in the Army based in India. He returned home on leave once to Caterham Surrey and my sister was born 9 months later, I have an elder brother and therefore my mother had three young children to care for on her own. The only transport she owned was a bicycle and I wonder how she coped with shopping etc.

When my father returned home after the war ended he brought with him two small black elephants which were carved in wood.  My parents later separated and my mother remarried. When she died my brother, sister and I spent a week emptying the house. When I came across the small black elephants sitting on a window sill it brought back so many memories. They seem to have lost their tusks and the baby only has half a trunk, but I have them on a shelf now in memory of my dear mother and father.  

A Toy Tiger

Today we’re sharing the story of this metal tiger toy, owned by Beth Whittaker.

Beth says whenever I go to a beach (remember those times?) I love beach combing, finding particularly beautiful shells, even intricately woven fishing line or rope, but ever-hopeful for treasure!

On this occasion, probably 25 years ago, we were on a Randwick village trip to a youth hostel in Devon with our two boys (both young at the time, and both keen to spot things for me, like apprentice beachcombers) and enjoying a long walk on the beach. The boys spotted this. It’s a metal toy - a tiger - worn by a combination of waves and perhaps of the fingers of its young owner, before it got lost, many, many years ago. The detail is impressive, so I believe it to be quite old and there is still a touch of colour on it. It’s a bit battered, but I sensed it was much loved and much missed.

When you shake it, there’s still sand inside!

A 111 Year Old Mug

Today we’re sharing the story of this Coronation Mug, dating from 1910. The mug is owned by John Peters who shared this wonderful story with us:

You will recognise a coronation mug when you see one. This one is from 111 years ago - it was for the 1910 coronation of King George V and Queen Mary. It belonged to my father, Frank Peters.

Here is a version of Frank's story relating to the mug, as I have been told it over many years by the great raconteur himself:

Frank Peters had started at Tetbury National School in January, two weeks after his fourth birthday. Nowadays, I believe, moneys for special occasions come from the Council, the Governors or a Parent Teacher Association. In those days, when nearly all the children were ‘the poor’, it was a matter of charity – the rich man in his castle…’. In this case it was the Pelly family at The Priory who coughed up for coronation mugs for each pupil.

Of course he was delighted and absolutely bursting at the end of the day to show Mother and Dad what he had been given. He ran all the way down New Church Street, turned left into Hampton Street, ran all the way to the end of Tetbury and set off for home, still running, up what was called Gloucester Road to his home in Upton Road, then a little hamlet outside Tetbury.

Nearly home, he tripped and fell. He was very upset. After all, he was only four! The worst was that his mug was smashed in pieces. Of course, he cried himself to bits. But when he had calmed down, sometime later, he found that ingenious Dad, the well-known blacksmith of Tetbury, repairer with rivets of the Long Bridge and installer of many an iron fence, including the structure at The Chipping, had found a piece of string and was ‘whipping’  it round the broken pieces, so tightly that they wouldn’t come apart, at least temporarily. Dad put it up on a shelf where Frank couldn’t reach it or break it again.

It was safe there, still not permanently mended, until his Dad died suddenly in 1938, on his way home from the Greyhound. Then Frank brought the mug back to the home he shared with my mother, who was expecting me at the time; and later he decided that I could inherit it.

A Wooden Stool

This wooden stool has been shared with us by Betty Merrett.

Betty says this is an oak stool (possibly a coffin stool). It is 21" high, and it was given to my mother by one of my aunts sometime in the 1930s. My aunt had been a cleaner at Kingscote Church and she had been given the stool to dispose of...it was intended for a bonfire at the Hunters' Hall. My father saw it on a visit and was then given it for use as a saw bench (it still has a few marks!) I found it in the shed sometime in the 1940s and brought it into the house. Cleaned up it has been with me ever since and is one of my favourite pieces of furniture.

A Pipe

Today we are sharing this pipe, owned by Nathan Large.

Nathan says this pipe belonged to my grandfather (Grandpa Myron). I only know him from photographs and family anecdotes. All the same, the pipe holds a strong sense of his presence - the smell, the marks left on the pipe - which I find reassuring somehow.

Toy Cat

Today we are sharing this very brightly coloured toy cat, owned by Hedda who at 4 years old is our youngest contributor to Meet the Curator - Reversed.

Hedda says that Kattis is special because she is sweet, and she likes taking care of her.

My Family Photograph

Today we’re sharing another family history story - told through Deb Clark Rennie’s family photograph. Deb says:

This photo is of my ancestors Charles and Harriet Clark née Moore with their children. Their youngest daughter, Amelia, was my Great-Great-Grandmother -  she isn’t in the group photo so presumably it was taken before 1866 when she was born.

Charles Clark was the son of William and Mary Clark he was born in Gloucestershire in 1821, his parents however were from Birmingham. The Clark family were timber merchants and Charles’ parents are buried in Painswick.

Harriet – Charles’ wife - was the daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Moore née Harvey and her history is in Gloucestershire for many generations. Her father was a waterman who was killed in a boxing match in 1822, he is buried in Saul. Also buried in Saul are Edward’s grandfather, father and brother who also died tragically when their barge ‘The Betsey’ sank during a storm in 1797.

A Tapestry of Memory

Today we share a tapestry made by Marion Hearfield. Marion says:

If an heirloom can be only forty years old, I choose my LA tapestry.

In November 1980 my husband's new job took us to Los Angeles for a year. Our children were 6 and 4, so quite portable, and went to local schools in Culver City for part of each day. But what was I to do, 8,500 miles from all our home stuff, apart from being a homemaker in our rented and furnished condo? I kept a journal of events, photographs, visits, receipts and leaflets that occupy five fat ringbinders, and I designed and stitched this 34" x 28" tapestry, in wool on canvas, of our year in LA.

After we got back to Stroud (just before the winter of 1981, which seemed horribly cold after southern California) I folded it away and it was not until I moved house four years ago that I finally got it out and hung it on a wall. Every element of the picture has meaning for my family: the bacon cheeseburger from Jack-in-the-Box, the beach, the Santa Monica mountains (a familiar sight in many movies), the tar pits in Griffith Park, the Hollywood Bowl concerts with a police helicopter searching overhead, the Almaden wine jug (now a lamp base in my bedroom), the neon signs and, of course, Disneyland; we went there a lot.

A Kalamkari Cloth

Today we share a Kalamkari cloth owned by Camilla Hale. Camilla says:

This is a kalamkari cloth, designed, drawn and dyed by the kalamkari artists from Sri Kalahasti, southern India, who came to the museum in the park in September 2010.

There are only three colours, black, red and khaki all drawn and coloured with a bamboo pen.

It tells the story of the abduction of Sita by the ten headed lord of Lanka (now Sri Lanka) and her rescue.

The little close up shows the monkey lord Hanuman winding up his tail and sitting on it to show that he too is a king and can be face to face with any enemy however important that enemy thinks he is.

The language written is Telegu, a South Indian Dravidian language.

The traditional uses for these Kalamkaris were as teaching cloths in the temples to show in a graphic way the great stories and teachings of Hinduism.

The full piece is 2m X 1.20m consisting of 27 smaller panels, one large central panel and a border. Only a small detail is shown here.

A Prize Book

Today we share a story from John Loosley who tells us about his Great-Grandfather through this book which he owned. John says:

Albert Joseph Hoskins was my Great-Grandfather.

Albert Joseph Hoskins was born on 1st April 1863 at Bowl Hill, Rodborough the illegitimate son of Mary Hoskins. Mary Hoskins was a woollen cloth worker and had a further 6 illegitimate children before marrying George Gillman, a stone mason, in 1883 at Stroud Register Office.

Albert Hoskins probably went to school at Kings Court British School as he was a regular attender at the Rodborough Tabernacle Sunday School. By 1881 he was living with his aunt Margaret and her husband Felix Cook at Kings Court and was working as a clerk in Apperly Curtis woollen cloth mill at Dudbridge. He married Clara Rosser at Ebley Congregational Chapel on 15 November 1886 and by 1891 had been promoted to mill manager and was living at No 2 Paganhill Road, Cainscross.

Albert Hoskins was appointed managing director of Apperly Curtis shortly after the death of Sir Alfred Apperly. He died on 2nd February 1924 at Willowdene, Cainscross Road at the age of 60 from heart failure following a bout of influenza. During his lifetime he was a member of the Stroud Mutual Benefit Society, the Cainscross and Ebley Co-operative Society, the Ebley Congregational Church where he was a member of the choir for 35 years, the Liberal Party, a freemason of the Hicks Beech Lodge, a member of Stroud Rotary Club and Ebley Victory Park Bowling Club and the Painswick Falcon Club.

A Pair of Candlesticks

Today we share a story from Cleo Mussi who tells us about this wonderful pair of candlesticks owned by her Great-Grandmother. Cleo says:

This pair of candlesticks was given to my Great-Grandmother, Isabella Fraser, in 1918.

They were given to her by Sir Alexander McRoberts, a self-made millionaire from a working class background who started life sweeping floors in a paper mill and educated himself through evening classes. He later travelled to India to establish woollen mills.

My Great-Grandfather was a bookkeeper for a shipping company. When he became very ill, my Great-Grandmother secretly took on his work, doing all the accounting (women would not normally have been able to do a job like this at this time).

Isabella was 51 when these candlesticks were gifted to her, I assume for helping with the accounts. 

These candle sticks are very unique as they are made from Scottish deer antler and bone but the small hunting animals are carved in Burma and I assume the candlesticks were made in Burma.

A Copper Watering Can

Today we share the story of a favourite object from the museum’s own collections, by Cherry Ann Knott. Cherry says:

A thing of beauty … and a very useful, practical object  … its design is so good, and works so well, it has barely changed over centuries! This particular example is in the Museum’s own collections.

I love it because it has evidently been well-used in its long lifetime – it has dents, repairs and many signs of use. It has an excellent ‘structural’ and functional design, with a generous over-arching main handle allowing multiple positions for the hands holding it to adjust according to the amount of water in it. The brace supporting the large diameter spout also gives a holding position for a second hand when the can is full. The large multi-perforated rose allows a gentle but wide sprinkling of water.

My Grandparents' Wedding Photograph

Today we share a story from Hannah Mary who tells us of her granmother’s dramatic escape from continental Europe in 1939. Hannah says:

This photograph is of my grandparents, Olga and Leonard Chamberlain, on their wedding day ca. 1927. Olga came from Linz, Austria.

By the start of World War Two they were living in Sandhurst, on the banks of the River Severn, where he was the parish priest. Every summer she took her growing family back to Austria to visit her parents, and it was no different the summer of 1939. This particular year, at the age of 33, she went alone with her four sons (ranging from aged 2 – 10). They were due to return to England in early September, but war was declared and the borders were closed. The boat they should have been crossing the Channel in was torpedoed and everyone on board drowned. My grandfather had no way of contacting her family in Austria, to find out if they had been on board or not. Yet, the family story is that he heard a voice, telling him that he was not to worry, that his family were still alive.

Through a friend of hers, who had been at school with an official within the Nazi regime, permission was finally received for her and her children to be able to leave Austria. I imagine the fact that her husband was a clergyman and wouldn’t be fighting may have helped their case.

Still dressed in their summer clothes, although winter was drawing in now, they made their way by train across Europe, from Linz to Berlin, and then to Amsterdam, where they had to board a plane to Copenhagen. It was only at this stage that she was finally able to contact her husband to tell him that they would soon be flying back to London. But this was not the end of the ordeal. Shortly after taking off from Copenhagen their plane caught fire and immediately returned to the airport. It was snowing heavily and her 4-year-old son became temporarily separated from her. He still remembers hearing the frantic calls of his mother.

Eventually they were reunited with my grandfather in London and they all caught the train back to Gloucester.

Revisiting this story now, during lockdown, puts into perspective my own family’s struggles at this time. How grateful I am that we are all at home!

Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book

Today we share a story from John Bassett who has recently found this book amongst his late father’s possessions. John says:

My dad sadly passed away earlier this year and I have been clearing his house. Amongst his things are a number of books including this copy of Mrs Beeton's ‘All About Cookery’ which (according to his own reckoning) comes from early 1900s - 1910s.

I think he must have got this from a car boot as the inscription inside says

"Constable H Must, Ellesmere Island Detachment, Royal Canadian Mounted Police".

On doing a bit of Googling - Ellesmere Island is one of the most remote parts of Canada and Constable Must was one of the first mounted police to be sent there in 1922.

That's all I've found out but this seems to be a fascinating story I want to know more about.

What happened to Constable Must? How did the book end up in Lincolnshire? Why did the Mounties in remote Canada who only got food supplies once a year use Mrs Beeton's recipes?