An officer of Wing

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the WW1 death of William Godfrey Willoughby Garforth, estate agent to the Rothschilds. You can read about William on the website. He was a public schoolboy and I am very grateful to the Archivist of Charterhouse School who provided me with information and photos about William.

Dear Santa

On the offchance you've won the lottery since Christmas Day and are trying to find that perfect extra gift for me, might I suggest this?

Ascott Cup 1887

The Rothschilds

Is anyone else out there too busy for much genealogy this month? The one thing I have done is read "Rothschild: A Story of Wealth and Power" by Derek Wilson, which didn't have as much mention of the Wing branch of the family as I would have liked but was quite interesting all the same, particularly the early years in Europe and England. I've also read "The Rothschilds At Waddesdon Manor" by Mrs James de Rothschild, which was obviously about Waddesdon rather than Ascott - this had some great photos and descriptions of the construction of Waddesdon Manor.

de Rothschild photos c1910

Friday saw the opening of an exhibition of a collection of autochromes (the earliest form of colour photography) taken by keen amateur photographer Lionel de Rothschild in the 1910s. Lionel was the eldest son of Leopold and Marie, and the family was at home at Ascott House in the 1891 census when Lionel was 9.

The BBC News slideshow includes photos of both Leopold and Marie, and their fluffy white dog! Does anyone know if the exhibition includes any of Ascott House or Wing? Anyone in the Hampshire area want to go and check out the exhibition for me?

April update

This month the 1869 Post Office directory was added - this helps fill the gap between the 1864 directory and the 1871 census. This directory also sees the first time a member of the ROTHSCHILD family appears listed as a resident in Wing.

Two more military men were added, Jeffrey TEARLE in WW1 and Ernest Henry GIBBS in WW2. I still only have a handful of Wing WWII men - if your father or grandfather served and should be there, email me to let me know his details.

I've also done the periodic checking of external links from the website, so various pages have been updated with corrections to those.

Hunting accident

It's funny the random things you come across.......I was just doing a websearch to see if I could find anything useful about Leopold de Rothschild's racing activities (as distinct from the foxhunting at Ascott), and came across a newspaper report from January 1899 reporting that Leo had broken his nose when a treebranch hit him across the face while he was out hunting near Windsor.

This was in the New York Times archives, of all places!

Wing wives and postcards

Another five pages checked in the 1891 census, which makes 10 out of 62 done. Time to pick up the pace! Five or six a day for the next ten days will see the checking complete, so that's the pace I need to aim for in order to be ready for the September update.

In one of the pages I checked today, the enumerator had accidentally written "Wing" instead of "Wife" for Elizabeth ROSE's status. I know how he feels.....

And in other news, I received today a postcard I'd purchased on Ebay - it's a nice colour one of All Saints Church in the early 1900s showing the old gate and fence (since replaced with the lychgate memorial to Rev Tatham). But the message on the back was just as interesting! Posted in 1910, it reads:

"Dear F [Miss F East of Camberley Surrey] - Just a line to let you know that I have got a job: after three weeks at "Ascott" Leighton Buzzard Bucks L De Rothchild. Yours truly W Morgan".

Anyone recognise these MORGAN and EAST correspondents? And does anyone have any Wing postcards to or from their family members in their collection?

FOUNTAINE in WW1

If you have ancestors or connections who may have served with the Australian forces in WW1, be sure to check the Australian War Memorial databases.
Australian War Memorial

I have just been reading Private Sydney FOUNTAINE's Red Cross file. He was initially missing and there is a lot of correspondence from Mrs Leopold de ROTHSCHILD's staff enquiring on the Fountaine family's behalf trying to establish what happened to him. He was eventually confirmed killed in action.

Ascott House

I was browsing our local paper online this morning, and there was a brief mention of Ascott House.....apparently one of the Rothschild family owns a property in NZ which is being developed as an organic farm!

David de Rothschild's Banks Peninsula farm