For Christmas 2008, I Discover Four New First Cousins

The Board of Trade in the UK compiled records of people leaving and entering the United Kingdom, and these records are now available as Record Sets BT26 & BT27 at the National Archives, Passenger lists leaving UK 1890-1960 and Passenger lists entering UK 1890-1960.

I decided to check in these records for Rodney and Leonard Hutchinson, two of G.H. Hutchinson's siblings who I knew very little about. I'd never met either of them. I knew that one or both of them had lived in New Zealand for a period, but that was about it...

A quick search of the two sets of Passenger Lists brought up a lot of records of folks who might possibly be our Rodney and Leonard, so I'll spend some time going through them. Two records (one outbound & one inbound) are definitely my uncle Rodney; here are the details.

S.S. Captain Hobson, Glasgow to New Zealand, departed 24 February 1953.
The passenger list includes;
Hutchinson, Mr. R.P., aged 38, Farm Worker. Last address in the UK;
9 Thorncliffe Rd., Staincliffe, Batley.
also,
Mrs. N. Hutchinson - aged 28
Miss S. - aged 6
Miss E. - aged 5
Master K. - aged 1 (all at the same address in Batley.)
All are listed as UK citizens, intending to settle in New Zealand.

R.M.S. Ruahine, New Zealand to Southampton, arrived 25 July 1958.
The passenger list includes;
Hutchinson, Rodney, d.o.b. 4/2/15, Plastic Moulding Operator. Address in UK;
31 Maitland Court, Lancaster Gate Terrace, London W2.
also,
Nora - d.o.b. 18/4/24
Sandra - d.o.b. 29/12/46
Elaine - d.o.b. 10/2/48
Keith - d.o.b. 10/2/52
Dawn - d.o.b. 22/4/56
Nora & the children are listed with this UK address;
2 Mavis Avenue, Southill, Dewsbury, Yorkshire.
All are listed as UK citizens intending to settle in the UK.

Now, how do I know these two families (1953 & 1958) are the same people? The initials and ages correspond; Dawn was presumably born in NZ. How do I know this is my Uncle Rodney? The Maitland Court address he gives on the return journey is his sister Dorothy's London address (she lived there for forty or more years; I visited her there in the 1970s.)

It is a bit of a mystery that they give different addresses in England on the return journey. Presumably the address in Yorkshire that Nora gives is her parent's or a sibling's address, just as Rodney gave his older sister's address.

Potts Family Photo

In clearing the house in Shenden Way I came across this photograph and took it to the nursing home when I went to visit Pam in August, 2005. I was able to identify six of the people in the group because I knew them personally; my grandparents, A.E. Snowling and Gertrude Snowling; my mother and her first cousin, David Morris; and my mother's uncle & aunt, Harold and Ethel Potts. Pam was able to identify the other six people in the family group; her grandparents, her uncle Billy, David's father & mother, and David's sister Jean.

Joshua & I visited David & Shirley Morris a couple of months ago, and I showed David the photo. He has a copy of the same photo in his collection, and was able to fill in some further interesting details. He said that it was taken to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary of my great-grandparents, Edward Coulthard Potts & Margaret Hall Potts .. they were married in May 1887, so the date of the photo was probably either that day in 1937 or some date in spring or summer of 1937 when all the family could get there (the Snowlings lived in Egypt, Pam Snowling was at boarding school in Darlington, and William Potts worked for Cable & Wireless and spent much time abroad, in the middle east, far east and the Caribbean.) David also told me that the photo was taken in the garden at his parents' house, 8 Holly Gardens, Low Fell, Gateshead. (Google Maps shows that the terraced houses in Holly Gardens have no back garden but there is a communal garden across the road.)

These are the people in the photo, and their relationship to Mr. & Mrs. Potts;
BACK ROW
A.E. Snowling (son-in-law, husband of Gertrude Potts); William Windlow Potts (son); Harold Potts (son); Alfred Morris (son-in-law, husband of Ethel Hall Potts)
MIDDLE ROW
Ethel Potts (daughter-in-law, wife of Harold); Edward Coulthard Potts; Margaret Hall Potts; Ethel Hall Potts (daughter)
FRONT ROW
Pamela Snowling (granddaughter); David Morris (grandson); Gertrude Potts (daughter); Jean Legg (granddaughter, daughter of Ethel Hall Potts & her first husband, Thomas Legg, killed in WWI.)

One reason the picture is especially valuable is that it is so complete; almost everyone is there. All Grandma & Grandpa Potts' children are present, and all their grandchildren. (Only Gertie and Ethel Hall Potts had children, Harold and Billy did not.) The only person missing is Billy's wife; either she took the photo, or she wasn't there that day.