Me and my Great Grandfather

I started reading a library book this morning, whilst enduring a long coughing fit, about how to trace your family history. It was much better than I had imagined, better meaning more interesting. I follow my mother's interest in ancestry, since my dad never seemed interested in his family's past. Mum actually traced her family records back to the seventeenth century and somewhere I have a scroll with much of the detail on it. Since they both died several year ago, those sort of family history items have been stored, but now I feel like bringing them out into the air again.

Not long before he died, my dad told me he didn't know who this man in a sailor's uniform was. I had found the photo when sorting out some of his paperwork. I immediately took it home and opened up the back of the picture frame. I found several interesting pieces of paper behind the gilt paper frame that you can see. There was a section of old, well-used blotting paper (for those who are old enough to know what I mean) and a cutout advert from a newspaper promoting the Weetabix Free Gift Scheme. This offered various ephemera including a unique breakfast plate, a milk beaker, serviette ring, stainless porridge spoon, butter spreader, cheese server and a metal canister to hold your own large packet of Weetabix.

But most importantly, on the rear of the sepia photo were the names of my grand father and his brothers, the sons of the pictured Philip Hurrell. Looking closely at the picture, I saw that the headband on his hat had the words Coast Guard embroidered on it, and he has a medal pinned to his breast. Suddenly I had found an opening into my Dad's family history. Soon after I did some online searching and found my Great Grandfather had been born in 1847 in Modbury, Devon, joined the Royal Navy and served as far away as Japan on HMS Euryalus and HMS Pelorus, and finally on HMS Cambridge in Devonport. He then joined the newly created Coastguard service and whilst serving on the Isle of Wight at Ventnor, my grandfather and his brothers (a possible sister who may have died young?) were all born. They then moved to Dover, where my own father was born in 1920.

I had no idea of where the family had come from before this so it has been fascinating to find a possible extended family based in the South Hams in Devon, an area I have always liked. I went briefly to the Devon Records Office and have got links for further research, which has been on hold for about two years. Perhaps the time is ripe for me to go back there and see what I can find. I have never met another person with my surname, other than close family. Mary I., Pip's wife, went to Kingsbridge Museum in Devon and saw archive photos exhibited of several people all named Hurrells, and this museum was only about ten miles from Modbury.

The little boy is a picture of me, around my second birthday, at Thorpe Bay in Essex, where we lived with my mother's grandparents. Helena found the picture when we inherited my mum's 'things', and has since added her own hand-made frame. Mum's writing on the back of the photo tells me who and where I am/was. Perhaps blipping is providing part of that function for me now.

ps
For the sake of continuity, Helena found dad's old blotting paper pad that he always kept on his desk, which I've used for the background. There is no ink on it however as the last paper must have been revealed in the computer age, which my dad readily joined, ending up with an iMac! Perhaps I could use it on my desk too.