While I was in London I had the pleasure of meeting John and Frances Reffell. John runs an excellent family history website about the Reffell family and got in touch earlier this year. He has written a biography of Frank Leslie Reffell, who emigrated to South Australia on the Orsova with my great-grandfather: www.reffell.org.uk/people/australianfarmboy.php I highly recommend a browse through the website to meet some other fascinating characters, such as Madame Caballero!
John has kindly offered to host my thesis and Wartime magazine article at his website too: www.reffell.org.uk/elspeth/farmboys.php
John and Anne Vogt have also assisted in locating sources about the Kent Colonizing Association, which loaned money to Frank and many other apprentices from the Tunbridge Wells area to cover their emigration costs. Thank you both for lending your expertise!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Visit to UK
For the past five weeks I've been in the UK. While it was mainly for recreation, I managed to squeeze in a bit of research too. Most importantly, it was a great chance to meet the people who have been helping me from the other side of the world in person. This is just a quick outline in chronological order...
We visited the Kibble Education and Care Centre in Paisley and finally met Elaine Harris, who is coordinating the Centre's 'Lasting Legacy' history project. Elaine kindly showed us around and invited us to have lunch with some of her colleagues. I also got a chance to browse through the archives and made several interesting discoveries. It was a shame that our visit was so quick. On the way to Glasgow we paid our respects at the Stanrigg Disaster Memorial and William Hamilton's grave at Lennoxtown. We also attempted to find the Grant family's former home in Maryhill.
In Cambridge I was able to study the scrapbooks that Thomas Sedgwick donated to the Royal Commonwealth Society. It was three days well spent and I took copious notes! In London I was able to get copies of booklets published by Sedgwick that are unavailable in Australia. The staff at the London School of Economics were particularly helpful. In London I was also able to meet John and Frances Reffell, who are related to apprentice Frank Leslie Reffell (more about that in the next posting!) Unfortunately I missed meeting Trevor Skingle but hopefully we will meet in South Australia in the near future. We visited the Imperial Camel Corps memorial on the Victoria Embankment, where apprentice Eric James Jarrett is listed on the roll of honour.
I spent an afternoon at the Surrey History Centre in Woking and again found some more helpful staff. I studied the archives of the Redhill Farm School and found that, like Kibble in Scotland, it was a very progressive reformatory. I have recently received copies of records relating to the four apprentices who attended Redhill.
Next I paid my respects at John Forrest's grave in the Royal Victoria Country Park, Netley. This was the site of the former Royal Victoria military hospital, which has a fascinating history. Again it was a shame we didn't have more time to spend there, but we were due to meet Alvin, Anne, Danny, Les and Jim at the Anzac Memorial in Weymouth for lunch. Alvin kindly gave us a tour of the former Anzac camps around Weymouth and I was able to visit Alex Simpson's grave.
This is a photo album from the trip. My sincere thanks to all those who took the time to meet with me or helped me out at the various libraries/archives. It was lovely to meet you all and although I have fallen behind in my emails of late, I will be in touch!
We visited the Kibble Education and Care Centre in Paisley and finally met Elaine Harris, who is coordinating the Centre's 'Lasting Legacy' history project. Elaine kindly showed us around and invited us to have lunch with some of her colleagues. I also got a chance to browse through the archives and made several interesting discoveries. It was a shame that our visit was so quick. On the way to Glasgow we paid our respects at the Stanrigg Disaster Memorial and William Hamilton's grave at Lennoxtown. We also attempted to find the Grant family's former home in Maryhill.
In Cambridge I was able to study the scrapbooks that Thomas Sedgwick donated to the Royal Commonwealth Society. It was three days well spent and I took copious notes! In London I was able to get copies of booklets published by Sedgwick that are unavailable in Australia. The staff at the London School of Economics were particularly helpful. In London I was also able to meet John and Frances Reffell, who are related to apprentice Frank Leslie Reffell (more about that in the next posting!) Unfortunately I missed meeting Trevor Skingle but hopefully we will meet in South Australia in the near future. We visited the Imperial Camel Corps memorial on the Victoria Embankment, where apprentice Eric James Jarrett is listed on the roll of honour.
I spent an afternoon at the Surrey History Centre in Woking and again found some more helpful staff. I studied the archives of the Redhill Farm School and found that, like Kibble in Scotland, it was a very progressive reformatory. I have recently received copies of records relating to the four apprentices who attended Redhill.
Next I paid my respects at John Forrest's grave in the Royal Victoria Country Park, Netley. This was the site of the former Royal Victoria military hospital, which has a fascinating history. Again it was a shame we didn't have more time to spend there, but we were due to meet Alvin, Anne, Danny, Les and Jim at the Anzac Memorial in Weymouth for lunch. Alvin kindly gave us a tour of the former Anzac camps around Weymouth and I was able to visit Alex Simpson's grave.
This is a photo album from the trip. My sincere thanks to all those who took the time to meet with me or helped me out at the various libraries/archives. It was lovely to meet you all and although I have fallen behind in my emails of late, I will be in touch!
Photobucket Album
GK McPhail
In early July I went to Melbourne to present a paper at the Australian Historical Association's conference (I am working on adding a podcast of my presentation to the blog, so watch this space!)
My dad Peter and I took the opportunity to meet with George McPhail's daughter Judith, her son Andrew and nephew Bruce (and talk to Judith's son Graeme by phone). This was the first time we've had a chance to meet fellow descendants of the Kibble boys. Some of the research into George's youth has come as a surprise to his family so I'm glad we had the opportunity to talk about it more in person.
It was really interesting to learn more about George's life and particularly amazing to discover that the McPhails had formerly lived in the one of the houses that dad grew up in! I look forward to keeping in touch.
My dad Peter and I took the opportunity to meet with George McPhail's daughter Judith, her son Andrew and nephew Bruce (and talk to Judith's son Graeme by phone). This was the first time we've had a chance to meet fellow descendants of the Kibble boys. Some of the research into George's youth has come as a surprise to his family so I'm glad we had the opportunity to talk about it more in person.
It was really interesting to learn more about George's life and particularly amazing to discover that the McPhails had formerly lived in the one of the houses that dad grew up in! I look forward to keeping in touch.
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