Previous Index Next My Great Aunt, Margaret Box, left Britain on the 17th of September 1918 to serve as a nurse in Salonica and Serbia. Her father, my Great Grandfather, John Box, clearly did not hear from her for a while as he contacted The Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Home and Foreign Service (London Society… Continue reading You need not feel anxious about your daughter, Mr Box
Margaret Box, nursing in Salonica and Serbia
Margaret Ada Box (1890-1986), my Great Aunt, daughter of John Box, volunteered as a Civilian Red Cross Nurse in 1918, with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals. She has a record at Forces War Records (which needs Full Access Membership to see it), which shows that her Department was “Scot. Women”, her Rank was “N.S.” (whatever that… Continue reading Margaret Box, nursing in Salonica and Serbia
Renowed Rebbecks
My Great Great Aunt was Lilian Jane Stevens, the Aunt of my Grandmother, born Doris Joan Stevens, who married George Edward Lines in 1922. Lilan Jane Stevens married Edward Wise Rebbeck in 1896. The Lines family kept in touch with the Rebbeck family, as is shown by their news appearing in The Pickwick Paper, a… Continue reading Renowed Rebbecks
Justus Reitze – German immigrant bakes his way to success
My Great, Great, Great, Grandfather, Justus Reitze was born in Germany around 1800. The information I have about him is rather sketchy, for example I do not know where in Germany he came from, or when he came to Britain. The early 19th Century was an unstable time in Germany. In 1805 during the War… Continue reading Justus Reitze – German immigrant bakes his way to success
The Apprentice
This article is not about the British television show, nor the American one, but about my Grandfather, George Lines, who was an apprentice at Clayton and Shuttleworth – a four year apprenticeship, ending in December 1911. Clayton and Shuttleworth were a Lincoln based engineering company, mainly focussed, before WW1, on agricultural machinery. On the 4th… Continue reading The Apprentice
Birthday wishes from Margaret Webster to Ada Webster.
Ada Webster, born on the 30th November 1861, was my Great Grandmother. She married my Great Grandfather, John Box in 1884. Her sister, Margaret Elizabeth Webster, born 23rd November 1851, wrote to her on the 29th November 1867, to wish her a happy 6th birthday. My sister has the letter. Here is the transcription 42… Continue reading Birthday wishes from Margaret Webster to Ada Webster.
Where is everybody – The Fermi Paradox, Self replicating spacecraft and computer system reliability
In 1950 the physicist Enrico Fermi asked the question “Where is everybody ?“, by which he meant – given the size of the universe, the diversity of life on earth, occupying every ecological niche, and the fact that the Solar System is a fairly average star system; why do we not see signs of extra… Continue reading Where is everybody – The Fermi Paradox, Self replicating spacecraft and computer system reliability
William John Webster – Anthem for a Doomed Youth
I was in the Weston Library last week, where they had on display, as part of their exhibition of “Treasures of the Bodlian“, the original draft of Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est“. It was another of his great war poems which came to mind when I thought about William John Webster – his “Anthem… Continue reading William John Webster – Anthem for a Doomed Youth
Amazing Love, Demographics and Mass migrations
Amazing Love On the 18th and 19th of February 2017 I will be taking part in the world premiere of Amazing Love, a musical based on the lives of John and Charles Wesley. The musical is written by Jack Godfrey, who also wrote “The Pharaoh’s High Magicians” for the musical Moses, (in which I took… Continue reading Amazing Love, Demographics and Mass migrations
Postcard from Roger – 9th April 1934
My father, Roger Lines, would have been 7 when he wrote this postcard, postmarked Sutton, on the 9th April 1934 (which was a Monday). We are just sitting on the loggia. The rooks are cawing loudly, I wish you could see them. I think we are having the rail way out this afternoon Tudy is… Continue reading Postcard from Roger – 9th April 1934