Tagged With: Casson
Some Victorian weddings
I have just heard of a wedding taking place this summer which is to cost £55,000, a shocking expenditure in my opinion. But will it be any more festive than some of the weddings that took place between 1863 and 1870, uniting various members of my family then resident in Merioneth, North Wales? The most … Continue reading
Lloyd George Knew My . . .
. . .well, not my Father, but my great-great uncle. We usually think of family history as covering the lives of people who were not public figures in their own right, but they sometimes appear at the periphery of the lives of the famous. Randal Casson (1850 – 1914), younger brother of my great grandfather, … Continue reading
What Do I Think I’m Doing?
At the last meeting of the Writing Family History group, we thought it would be good to take stock of our projects, so that’s what I’m doing. Three years ago I was approaching near-retirement and clearing up my late parents’ house, my stepfather having died in the autumn of 2010, leaving some papers about my … Continue reading
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley
At the beginning of 1914, my grandparents had important decisions to make. My grandfather, Lewis Casson, 38 years old, had just resigned from an important job as producer (the more usual word for a theatre director) at the very first regional repertory company in England, Miss Horniman’s Company at the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester. His modern … Continue reading
Mrs Chapone’s Advice
In this season of New Year resolutions, there is usually an explosion of self-help books, instructing us how to keep fit, healthy and happy. It so happens that I have just started to peruse a self-help book from the 18th century, having reached the appropriate date in my ‘shitty first draft’ . One of the … Continue reading
Lively songs I shall never hear
Tramping round Liverpool last week, I was struck by the thought that there are aspects of family history that I can never uncover. Most importantly – SOUND and SMELL. I cannot hear their voices, I cannot hear the voices that surrounded them. When my great great grandfather’s tar and turpentine distillery works caught fire, I … Continue reading
Movers and Shakers
I am sometimes daunted by the large scale of my project, covering four generations of my family. But the fact is that the changes from one generation to the next fascinate me. The men’s work, for example, was sometimes typical for their own time and status, and sometimes it manifested more idiosyncratic ambitions. Who was … Continue reading