Tagged With: William Slaughter
William’s ‘other’ family
During the early 1980s, my mother saw an advertisement in the Times requesting any descendants of William Capel Slaughter to contact a box number. This my mother duly did, and through subsequent enquiries discovered that her grandfather had had an affair with a governess after the death of his first wife and that a son … Continue reading
Mr Slaughter and Mr May
William May’s background was very different from William Slaughter’s. Born in 1863, May was from a professional, landowning family in Berkshire. His father was a surgeon in Reading, as had been his grandfather. William was born in the family home at Caversham, a mansion set in large grounds by the Thames. He was educated at … Continue reading
William Slaughter and The Home and Colonial Stores
In November 1882, William Slaughter’s sister Elizabeth married Reginald Drew ,older brother of Julius Drew,the co-founder of The Home and Colonial Stores which was later to become one of the most flourishing food retailing companies of that era. My mother remembers her great aunt Lizzie and her husband [known as Reggie]. Though described in the … Continue reading
William Capel Slaughter -his early career
Records of William’s schooling are scarce. In the 1871 census he was a pupil at a boys’ school run by James Ward at 116 Clapham Common where,aged 13, he headed the list of pupils aged 7 – 14. After that it is assumed he was tutored at home. He never went to university, but decided to … Continue reading
Problems and pitfalls researching family history (continued.)
In a previous post I questioned why William Slaughter was missing from the 1891 census. Had he thrown himself into his ever-expanding and demanding business after the tragic death of his wife, leaving his sister to care for his young family? Perhaps he was simply away on a business trip at the time of the … Continue reading
Researching family history – some problems and pitfalls
It has been fascinating but at times frustrating to research William Slaughter and his family through internet access to archive material. Luckily the name, combined with Capel [his mother’s maiden name] is relatively unusual. However, his father and brother, both named Mihill begin to cause problems when people try to analyse writing on original documents. … Continue reading