Nuneaton &
North Warwickshire
Family History Society
The friendly family history society for all of North Warwickshire
The friendly family history society for all of North Warwickshire
William Chamberlain was the son of John Chamberlain, labourer, and his wife Ann (White). His parents were married, after Banns, at St. Modwen, Burton upon Trent on 9th January 1804. By 1806, it is known that John and Ann Chamberlain were living in Rotherhithe, SRY, and on 6th May 1810, William, their third son was born. On 30th September 1810, William was baptised at St. Mary’s church, Rotherhithe.
By 1810 William’s siblings had both died; it is not known when John, Ann and baby William removed from Rotherhithe, to Bedworth, but on 16th May 1813, William’s sister Elizabeth was presented for baptism at All Saints church, Bedworth.
Ann (White) Chamberlain was born in Bedworth and baptised at All Saints on 16th
November 1788, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Spurrit) White of Bedworth. It is assumed …
Arthur Thomas Sidwell was a school attendance officer and whilst carrying out this role he took photographs of the places her visited. These were turned into postcards (many by a half-tone process). His wife Zillah was postmistress at Meriden and no doubt sold his postcards. Most of the pictures date to the first decade of the 20th century. Some of these can be seen at the bottom of this page.
1870 Arthur was born, July Qtr 1870 at Stretton under Fosse
1881 Arthur lived with his parents, John and Martha Sidwell and siblings Clara, Minnie, Percy, Annie, John Lawrence and William T at Victoria Farm, Grange Lane, Foleshill
1891 Livied with his grandmother, Dinah Sidwell and brother Percy and sister Clara, at Station Road, Longford, Foleshill and was employed as a baker
1892 Married Zillah Isabella Tinsley of Foleshill on 12 June 1892 at Meriden St Laurence. Zillah was born …
British heiress Dorothie shunned her aristocratic background to become a highly decorated volunteer nurse and ambulance driver on the Western Front during World War I.
She was the first woman to be awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field in 1916. She also received the Croix de Guerre in 1915 from the French and the Order of Leopold II in 1915 from the Belgians for services to their wounded.
She was a daughter of Rudolph Feilding, 9th Earl of Denbigh and the Countess of Denbigh, Cecilia Mary Feilding (née Clifford). She was one of ten children, three boys and seven girls. She was a distant relative of Henry Fielding, the author of Tom Jones.
As a child she was educated at her birthplace at Newnham Paddox, Monks Kirby, Warwickshire, and at the Convent of the Assumption in …
Introduction by David Jones
I discovered my grandfather’s autobiography while clearing out my late uncle’s house in Hen lane, Coventry. He probably started writing it during the 1960s but it ends abruptly during his description of the air raids on Coventry during WW2. Grandad had a stroke in the early 1970s and this is perhaps the reason why.
Norman Edward Jones was born at 88 Haunchwood Road, Stockingford in 1899. He was the son of Samuel Jones (a blacksmith at Stanley’s Colliery) and Emma Perry, who moved to Stockingford in 1897 from Bloxwich, Staffs. Norman married Gertrude Moore and they had three children, Peggy, Norman (my farther) and Leslie. He went on to become a mining electrician.
Grandad was always noted for his excellent memory and his story tells of life growing up in Stockingford, the local characters, school life, events such as watching Claude Grahame-White and Louis Paulhan’s 1910 …
Beryl Mary Streather was born on 5th April 1925 in the family house at 21 Hinckley Road, Nuneaton. I don’t know whether there are any family stories about her as a little girl; perhaps Sheila, her younger sister, will recall some later this morning. But Beryl did tell me a little story about herself. I had asked her where a large house called ‘The Briars’ was, and the answer, simple, when you thought about it, was where Briars Close is, off Hinckley Road. She then said that between the wars the house was used as lodgings for single female teachers from Nuneaton Girls High School. One day, when she was about seven, she was enjoying jumping in and out of a puddle on the pavement in Hinckley Road. She was then furious when two of these spinster teachers told her off for jumping in the puddle. As …
Webmaster’s note: Sadly, having forwarded this article to me for publication on this website, Mr Lawes died in May 2012. The article has been published with the kind permission of his family but with the request that they are not contacted for further information regarding Mr Lawes family history research. Thank you.
Click here to view a pdf file of Mr Lawes’ Buckler descendancy chart.
Josiah Buckler was born in September 1851, the oldest son of Robert Buckler and Maria Whitecroft.
Robert, a farmer and a butcher, lived in the Stockingford area of Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Josiah was raised as a Methodist at Chapel End, Hartshill. This influenced his whole life and, although he was a successful business man, he was, in reality, a born student. His mother worked hard to keep him at the local Grammar School, which was run by a Quaker, but on leaving school he …
During WW2 my father, Fred Fowler was a well known local hairdresser in Chilvers Coton conducting his business from 99 Coton Rd, not far from Coton Arches. But at night time he was a war time Policeman, PC.PWR 339, stationed at Nuneaton Police Station Coton Rd. From here he policed the streets and was on duty through some of the worst bombing to occur over Nuneaton and witnessing at first hand the terrible aftermath.
One memorable event was when he was called to attend and guard the crash site of the German bomber which came down in flames over Nuneaton in January 1942. While there he retrieved a German belt buckle from the wreckage inscribed (HAMBURG NOW A 1938). It has remained in the family ever since as a memory to those terrible days.
An extract from his Police note book of 1939, mentions …
I was born in 1929 and lived with my parents and younger sister at no11 Gypsy Lane from then until 1949. My memories of wartime bombings from my early teens are obviously disjointed but these are what I do remember.
My first experience I found very frightening, my sister, mother and I cowering in the corner of our living room as bombs planes and guns made noise all around on what I assume to be the night of either the Nuneaton or first Coventry blitz.
As a result of that night a shelter that we shared with our neighbours was built in our back garden. From then on I don’t remember being frightened, just very confident that we were safe – even when an anti-aircraft shell (that had not exploded in the air) landed in the garden and blew an apple tree out of the …
I was prompted by reading Peter Lee’s article to write about my memories of Courtalds factory. I spent my school years living on Princes St across from the Police houses. I used to pass by the factory on my way to school on Greenmore Road, I crossed the “patch”, then up a back lane, over the canal bridge and another back lane to reach school. I used to be there all day as I stayed at school for lunch.
Of course this was during the war. One day coming home I crossed the bridge, came down the lane and what did I see but the entire patch covered with American soldiers and their vehicles – mostly trucks. I wandered into the camp with no one bothering me, I guess I looked harmless in those days. As I wandered around, probably looking for someone to give me some gum, …
The following article appeared in the Nuneaton Tribune 1st February 1990
One of Nuneaton’s most prominent landmarks, the 70 year old Courtaulds clock, is keeping perfect time thanks to a great deal of loving care and attention. The one time thriving factory in Marlborough Road closed down in Nuneaton almost ten years ago and since then the clock has been kept going.
Harold Lapworth, the present clock “caretaker” said: “I have a great sense of conservation and satisfaction for this very fine piece of mechanism which has been keeping time within seconds, throughout its 70 years of excellent service.” He added: “I have lived 60 years within the sound of the Courtaulds clock – I’ve been interested in clocks since a child and my father used to give me a clock to keep me busy by taking it apart and putting it back …