Robert Houseman afloat

Robert Houseman writes:

We’ve been retired for two years now, and are enjoying life on our boat. We bought her two years ago after we sold the house, and now spend the winters in a marina in Newbury, and the summers cruising around the waterways of the UK - "living the life" as it’s now common to say !! Photo of the boat attached

Please could you note our current postal address of 29 Greenacre Place, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 7GY (07887 535872) - we use our son’s address as our postal address, and then collect any mail from him.

MARK FLETCHER

The photograph alongside was received at Christmas 2018 from Mark Fletcher, great grandson of Peverell Hichens and Constance ‘Connie’ Downes, who lives in Australia. He says: My father Robin turned 90 on 3 December and I've attached a photo of 3 generations of Fletcher blokes, Ben is now 14, grown up a lot since we were in the UK in 2010. I’m hoping to get the UK soon.

Admiral Dennis Cambell

DENNIS CAMBELL 1907 - 2000

Many readers of this blog will remember Dennis Cambell, his wife Dorothy Downes, and daughters Lamorna and Lalage.  

Lalage produced an excellent document on her father, to be found at http://www.denniscambell.org.uk. The two sisters organised a 50th wedding anniversary party for their parents in 1983. I have a photograph somewhere of myself as a page at their wedding in 1933.

Lalage has recently sent me the two pictures below of the plaque placed at her parents’ home in Petersfield in 2011.

Lamorna’s 80th birthday party is mentioned in an earlier blog.  

Lalage is 17 years younger than her sister. She reverted from her married name back to Lalage Cambell in 2005.

JUSTIN DOWNES

Justin Downes of 26 Hans Place, London SW1X 0JY, 07894337140 recently wrote to me as below, and has given me his permission to quote him.  When next I have a copy of the book Downes Pedigrees by Col Leonard Downes available I look forward very much to trying to relate Justin’s remarks to the book, especially as regards the regicide.

I came across your very interesting work relating to the Downes family.

I have taken my Downes back to 16th c Nuneaton, Warks. 

For successive generations, they remained in Coventry and Nuneaton.

They certainly seemed to have led humble lives until the 1890's when they inherited the equivalent of £30 million via a cousin at law. The story is rather sad.

One Richard Downes, my ggggfather was transported to Tasmania in 1842 and never returned to the UK or ever saw his family again. He only had the clothes he stood up in!

Just before he died in Hobart he was told that he was one of six cousins who shared in the estate of a cousin, Francis Sumner, a staunch Catholic, High Sherriff of Derbyshire and a major mill owner. There were some 1500 claimants as he died intestate!

Poor old Richard never lived long enough to enjoy his money, dying soon after.

Anyway, the point of all this is that John Downes, the regicide, directly descends from the Rev. George Downes of Nuneaton ('descended from Cheshire') and that is where we think we connect.

Kind regards

Justin Downes

Georgie Le Grice

Ian Aldous has kindly sent me this copy of a page from the May issue of Country Life.

The caption includes -  Miss Georgina Wilmay Le Grice .. only daughter of Mr and Mrs Timothy Le Grice of Trereife House, Penzance ... is engaged to be married to William Chapman.  Apparently there is more about Trereife in the magazine.

In September 2019 Sarita Perkins wrote: Georgie had a boy last week to be called Ralph Valentine which is rather nice.

Updates - Atty Carden; Jutland

The "Tea Party for Atty" mentioned below will take place at BMA House in London on May 7th. Please ask for particulars if you have not received an invitation.
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A few days later on Monday May 9th, my son Mark and I will be going to a debate about Jutland to be held in Portsmouth.  See http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/
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Battle of Jutland

The National Museum of the Royal Navy will be holding an exhibition about the Battle of Jutland opening in May 2016.  I am sure they will make use of material from the journals of Andrew Downes.  See http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/site-attractions/attractions/36-hours-jutland-1916
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I have now heard as follows from Nick Hewitt who is in charge of the exhibition: " The Downes journal for Jutland will remain on display in  our permanent galleries, as one of the central tenets of this exhibition was that we set out to ensure that we did not strip out the permanent galleries either here or at IWM. Despite this we have still secured well over 300 artefacts! However, we will definitely be linking it across to the new gallery, and if you would like to organise a family visit I’d be happy to show you around again.

So I will not organise a family visit unless asked to do so - though I will definitely visit the Jutland exhibition myself.  Anyone like to join me?

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Albertine ('Atty') Carden

As many of you already know, my beloved wife Atty died on Saturday January 23^rd. She had been discharged from hospital at the end of November to a nursing home specialising in end-of-life care where she was superbly looked after and remained her usual feisty self until the last few days of her life when she faded gently away and then died peacefully and painlessly in her sleep.

A non-religious funeral took place at Worthing Crematorium on February 8th. We will hold a celebration of her life, probably in London on May 7th.  I will tell you about this when arrangements have been made.

 

I have written a brief biography of her fascinating life, mentioning life in Holland during the war and how she became an orphan there before making her way to England. A copy is available from me.
  

 

Portrait made in Indonesia in 1972

 

 

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John Downes the regicide

Those who have a copy of the book Downes Pedigrees mentioned in the next post will be familiar with the chapter about John Downes the regicide. He was one of the 59 signatories of the warrant condemning Charles I to death in 1649.

A book Killers of the King by Charles Spencer, published last year, tells how most of the regicides were brutally executed when the monarchy was restored in 1660. John Downes escaped execution. He claimed at his own trial that he had only signed the King's death warrant under duress, during a time of military dominance. His actual words are quoted in the book.  He was committed to the Tower and was still there in 1662, but when he died is not recorded.
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Downes Pedigrees

DOWNES PEDIGREES.

Readers might like to be reminded that my niece Shane James has two copies of the book Downes Pedigrees by Col Leonard Downes.  Both copies, one of which belonged to Theodosia Downes, contain many manuscript annotations and insertions. Another copy is in the library of the Society of Genealogists, donated by M Goodbody, whoever he might be.

Shane also holds a DOWNES FAMILY INFORMATION FILE assembled by her mother Audrey Bryant in February 2010 from her Downes papers and mine.

At the time I created a descriptive Contents List. I will be glad to send a copy to anyone who asks for one.

Family news

Two items of family news -

.  Robert Hichens is now back at home, having made a remarkable recovery from a stroke on July 21. I had a long chat to him on the telephone a day or two ago. He walks with a stick, is not allowed to drive, and has a degree of memory loss, but is generally in fine fettle.  He thanks everyone who sent him a card.  

.  My late sister Audrey’s granddaughter Bella James married Edward Garrett on August 22.

 

Please will other family members let me know of events of general interest to the family.

 

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Downes family tree

Robert Houseman writes:

I would be delighted to receive updates to the Downes Family Tree and would be more than happy to email anybody a PDF of their particular branch of the Family Tree or the whole Tree, as required. Please do ask people to email me at robert.houseman@houseman.com and I will update and email back soonest.

 

This is a splendid offer, and I intend to request a PDF of my branch from Robert soon.

 

I think Ian Aldous maintains a similar record, of the complete Todd Family Tree, which includes the Downes one. He, too, would like to receive updates.

 

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Audrey Theodosia Bryant, RIP

Audrey Bryant died peacefully on April 10^th 2015, aged 88. Her grandmother was Theodosia Badcock, neé Downes. The name has been passed from daughter to daughter through five generations so far.  Her funeral in Walgrave and her interment in Cornwall were attended by her brothers Arthur and Michael, by her children Shane, Ginnie (who flew over from California), Terl and Suzanna, by her grandchildren and many other relatives and friends.

I have revised her entry in my book Carden of Barnane to read as follows in the next edition.

AUDREY THEODOSIA CARDEN was born 10 December 1927, daughter of Eustace Carden and Lucy née Badcock. Educated Byculla School, Winchester School of Art, New York School of Interior Design.

Married Terl Malcolm Bryant (“Terry”) 19 January 1952, issue Shane 1956, Virginia (“Ginnie”) 1958, Terl 1961, Suzanna 1963.

Audrey and Terry travelled widely in USA for four years (where she worked for Georg Jensen, Fifth Avenue and British Publications), before settling at the Dial House (her Badcock grandmother's home) in Northamptonshire. She worked for Scott Bader in 1977-80 for the Lotus-Crystic Systems subsidiary and then was appointed to create the Kettering Volunteer Bureau which she managed for 12 years. During that time she set up 'Furniture Turnaround' and 'Pleasure Gardens', both Manpower Services schemes to help people in need, and initiated LEAP (Local Emergency Accommodation Project) which won Housing Association funding for two hostels for the homeless, and which expanded to seven hostels over eight years. She was regional representative and a Council member of the National Association of Volunteer Bureaux for several years. 

Audrey was an artist, poet, active Christian (member of Synod and Bishop's Council), ecology movement activist (taking part in the Molesworth and Greenham Common anti-nuclear demonstrations in 1978-83), co-founder and National Co-ordinator of Christian Ecology Link, member of the Green Party, stood in the Euro Elections in 1984, 1989 and 1994, in 1989 gaining almost 21% of the vote, one of the best Green Party results in any constituency.

She and Terry sold the Dial House and separated in 1979; they divorced in 1991 but remained good friends.  After living in Kettering for a while, Audrey moved back to Polruan in Cornwall (her childhood home) in December 1998, having been offered a council house with views of the ocean and harbour. In 2000 a stroke removed her powers of speech, which she later recovered, showing great determination to do so. She continued to live happily in her little house at the top of Polruan, packed to the brim with books, paintings and memorabilia. She painted in oils again, chiefly portraits, and was much involved with local and church affairs, representing council tenants on the District Tenants Forum. She visited Virginia and David in California in 2002. In 2006 she produced a 60-page booklet of her poems, The Long View, and another Mountains of the Mind, in 2009.

However, after suffering additional strokes (one of which involved a helicopter flight from Polruan to Truro, which she much enjoyed), her children arranged for her to be transferred to a care home in Buckinghamshire in 2013 and later to another in Corby where she died peacefully on 10 April 2015.

At her wish her funeral was held in Walgrave, on 17 April, and she was interred the next day at her beloved Lanteglos Church near Polruan.

The photograph above shows family members after the funeral, by the graves of Audrey’s mother Lucy, grandfather Thomas and the latter's brother John.

 

News from Dawn Robinson

Dawn writes, together with other news, “Charles and Sarah (Robinson) have now produced a second son, Freddie Henry Alexander, born on October 17th 2014.”

 

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Downes Journals at Portsmouth

Tim Le Grice has now agreed that the journals of Commander Andrew Downes, RN may remain at the Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth on long-term loan.

Dr Duncan Redford, of the museum, writes:  “the Jutland journal is being displayed in our new permanent gallery … Diaries of this quality and length are few and far between. His diaries are of vital importance to our ability to put a human face to the Royal Navy’s story in the Edwardian and First World War period and in the most sympathetic manner to tell the Royal Navy’s story to the widest possible audience. … Scholars working on the field have been advised of their existence.”

The Journals can all be viewed in the library Monday to Friday 1000-1600 (by appointment only as it is within the secure area of the Naval Base). If anyone wishes to make an appointment they should email: library@nmrn.org.uk or ring 02392 725795.

The museum has given Tim two complete scanned copies on suitable portable hard drives to ensure that he and the wider family can continue to refer to the journals. Tim has now kindly passed one of these to me and has given me permission to loan it to any interested family members. Please don’t hesitate to ask me for it or ask Tim for the other copy. I have downloaded a copy to my own computer, so that I can read it at leisure.

Perhaps one day this will enable me to add the missing early 1914 and late 1918 volumes to the summaries of seven wartime journals which appear in my book The First World War Journals of Commander Andrew Downes RN. The scans, which are of excellent quality, would also enable me to improve the rest of the book with more illustrations and further extracts from the journals.

ŒNONE COX (1918 - 2014)

Œnone died on 18 September 2014, about a month after her 96^th birthday.  Born at Trehunsey Farm near Mawnan Smith in Cornwall, daughter of Lucy Houseman and Percy Horton, she was the last, and youngest, of her generation, her parents then being in their mid 40s.

I was unable to go to her funeral but I hear that there were about 30 family members present and Dawn has sent me a copy of the marvellous Tribute written by Œnone’s daughter Cindy. Anyone who would like to receive a copy is welcome to ask me or Dawn.

Œnone was much loved by everyone. I used to meet her and her brother Ormonde when I was a youngster and later at the house of my mother Lucy in Northamptonshire and finally in Cornwall in 1998.  It was a delight to receive, until quite recently, her long and interesting letters, full of family information.

She will be missed, and remembered, by many of us for the rest of our own lives.

Lamorna's birthday

Many family members attended Lamorna’s most enjoyable 80^th birthday party on 7th June held at two pubs near Winchester. Her son Mark wrote, “I've hired for Mum's trip from the Flower Pot's pub to Milbury's a splendid horse and carriage!

 Perhaps I’ll expand on this much delayed brief note. Meanwhile it is well worth visiting http://www.soapboxsolutions.co.uk/80thbirthday/7june2014.html

where there are many photographs, including the one reproduced here, and other details.

Allan and Dorothy Downes

Lalage writes “here is a photo of my grandmother Dorothy Frances Downes (nee Long) and one of my grandfather – whom I never met.”

Lalage’s mother (Dorothy Cambell) was the elder sister of the twins pictured below, daughter of Allan John Downes and Dorothy Long. Andrew, who wrote the journals, was best man at their wedding and wrote plenty about them in his journals.

Portsmouth, July 16 2014

  Several of the journals written by Andrew Downes (see December 2012 below) were in their own display cabinet at an exhibition called “Racing to War” at the museum in Portsmouth Dockyard. It seemed a good idea to try to arrange for interested Downes relatives to get together to meet each other and visit the exhibition.

As far as I am concerned it was worth the considerable effort involved. At one time it seemed there might be 25 of us, but in the end the following fifteen came:

Descendant of Jane Todd, elder sister of Rev John Downes

Kate and Ian Aldous

Descendants of Edith Downes (dau of Rev John Downes)

Cynthia Strickland (dau of Œnone)

Robert Houseman

Fiona Bennett (sister of the above)

Cherry Conway-Hughes

Descendants of Theodosia Downes (dau of Rev John Downes)

Arthur Carden

Shane James

Michael Carden

Descendants of Constance Sawbridge Downes* (g-dau of Rev John Downes)

Robert & Mariquita Hichens

Antony Hichens

Descendants of Allan John Downes* (g-son of Rev John Downes)

Lamorna Lee (née Cambell),

Lalage Cambell

Descendants of Dorothy Isobel Downes* (g-dau of Rev John Downes)

Tim & Liz Le Grice

The picture shows Matthew Sheldon, responsible for the exhibition, telling Tim, Lamorna, Robert, Kate and others that the journals are of great interest to naval historians. Two of the 24 volumes are in front of him.

(This posting will be improved when more photographs and comments are received.)

Alan Sawbridge Downes 1914-1963

In Portsmouth someone mentioned the Swordfish aircraft. This led to my discovery of the website http://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/catalogue-archive/lot.php?auction_id=28&lot_id=23494 where a good deal of information appears about Alan Sawbridge Downes 1914-1963, Commander, DSO, RN. He was a son of Allan John Downes (who was an elder brother of Andrew Downes, author of the journals), twin of Humphrey.

He lived an amazing life, shot down in Holland in 1940, escaping, then surviving the sinking of HMS Courageous and becoming one of the famous Swordfish pilots who were based in Malta.

The website gives details of the sale of his medals in 2000. When I told Roy about it he wrote:

I learnt more about my father’s wartime exploits from the auctioneer’s description than I ever heard firsthand. Like many servicemen he was very reticent to speak about his experiences.

A couple of details have always stuck in my memory – he always said he owed his life to the fact that Swordfish (stringbags) were so incredibly slow, flying at between 95 knots and 110 knots depending on headwind, that the Luftwaffe pilots in Messerschmitts never realised just how slow the Swordfish were and invariably fired well ahead (and therefore missed) and then rapidly and unexpectedly overtook the Swordfish…which then had a very good chance to shoot down the German planes.

The other was an incomplete story about an adventure in Holland (presumably after his plane came down at Overflakke) when he ended up “liberating” industrial diamonds with the Dutch resistance – possibly in Rotterdam. He said that the Germans were only “one block away”. Somewhere I may have a handwritten account of this event.

We have a photo of my father accompanying a very young Princess Elizabeth on the steps of the control tower at RNAS Hal Far. The Captain of the station at the time was “Streamline” Robertson (so called because of the shape of his nose). Streamline was a stickler for detail and he objected to the amount of putty in the window glazing of “my father’s” control tower. So before the next Sunday's Captain’s Rounds some putty was removed. Not enough for Streamline’s eye however. My father was duly reprimanded for this shortcoming. More putty was removed. The following Sunday the same indignation….orders not being followed etc. Having noted which window Streamline habitually tapped my father arranged for ALL the putty from that particular pane to be removed. Streamline duly complained again and tapped the pane forcefully in his rage….and of course the glass fell out and smashed on the tarmac 20 feet below. Father always said that was what scuppered his chances of promotion to Captain!

Regarding the medals: I remember my mother telling me that she was going to sell them and that was probably in the late 1980’s or early 1990. It was while she was living at Castle Marina in Lee and before she moved to a nursing home. Pip died in 1994. However she did not sell the miniature set (mess dress medals) and I still have these.

This copy of a photograph of the twins contained in the file held by Shane was made by Lalage in Portsmouth.