Welcome to the August edition of our family newsletter. This month we will look at part of the family that originated in Long Crendon, Bucks. In June I said that I would look at this "next month" so here it is. Better late than never. There will be more from Long Crendon in coming months.

• A profile of Mike Collins - a descendant of the Long Crendon part of the family
• The featured Will is that of Richard Brangwin.
• Some more odds and ends

I hope you enjoy learning more about your extended family.

I would like to thank those who contributed to this edition. Firstly, Mike Collins and David and Margaret Brangwyn for the wonderful photos that have been included in the Long Crendon article. Of course, a big 'thank you' to Mike Collins for his profile. Margaret Brangwyn provided the transcription of the Will of Richard as well as other input into this newsletter.

Our family site has been very busy over the past month. Not only do we have quite a few newly discovered cousins who have joined but we also have managed to sort out a number of missing relationships. All in all, July has been a very good family month. In the months to come we will look at some of the sections of the family that have been recently sorted out. That should be fun as they really presented a challenge at the time. As we still have a lot of branches to follow, there is plenty of family research still to do. If you have a spare hour or two and can write some letters or make a phone call or two let me know as your time can be usefully used tracking down those members of the family who are currently in the 'lost' category.

There are some wonderful photos of Buckingshire at http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/photo_database. Have a look at the places mentioned in the newslettters. Each parish has a collection of photos taken from the Bucks county archives and generally covers the church, village and surrounding features.

Contributions to the Newsletter are most welcome. If you find something that you would like to share please send it to me so that it can be included. My email address is lwuth@hups.net

Lorraine Wuth

Editor

This Newsletter will introduce you to yet more family places.

Ludgershall, Wiltshire, lies a short distance north west of Andover.

If you don't have ready access to a detailed atlas or road directory for southern England I suggest that you check out your local library. You may be surprised what they have on their selves. It does make it easier to visualise the territory where our kinfolk roamed once you can see just how close many of these places are.

I am not the Michael Collins, Brigadier General in the Irish Republican Army who founded Sinn Fein and formed the Irish Government on 15 Jan 1922. Nor am I the Michael Collins who controlled the Command Module whilst Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin made the historic Lunar Landing on 20 July 1969. I am just one of the thousands of lesser-known people named Michael Collins who occasionally gets mistaken for a more famous bearer of the name. My part of the Collins family tree is neither Irish nor Catholic, and is all from the Wiltshire and Hampshire areas of England - but then I have only traced it back six generations and two centuries.

There are some loose connections between the Collins and Brangwin families before my great-aunt Ethel Irving and my grandmother, Kathleen Irving, 3rd and 6th children of Mary Brangwin and John Irving, married Sidney and Alfred Collins in 1910 and in 1915. The Collins family, starting with William Collins (1842) and Emma Wreata Gunn (1846), were the Licensees of the Queens Head public house, one of two in Ludgershall, from sometime just after 1881 until about 1920. Ludgershall Brangwins were associated with the Queens Head in various ways - from about 1900 - one unknown Brangwin was treasurer of the Queen’s Head Christmas Club funds in 1914, for example.

William and Emma had 7 children, Polly (1873), Lydia & Emma (Twins 1879), Adelaide (1880), Edward (1882), William (1884) and Sidney (1886). After William (snr) died about 1895, Emma remained as Licensee. After her death in 1909, William (1884) managed the Queens Head until about 1920. Polly the eldest child became pregnant to an unknown person and gave birth to her son, Alfred Collins, on 19 Aug 1892, in the small bedroom above the coaching arch at the Queen’s Head. Polly later married a Mr Bunce from Ludgershall and had two daughters.

Sidney, the youngest child of William Collins and Emma, married Ethel Irving (daughter of Mary Brangwin and John Irving), in 1910 and they lived in Ludgershall not far from and behind the Queens Head. At some stage Alfred Collins moved to and lived with Sidney and Ethel Collins. Alfred often referred to Sidney as his “brother” and William Collins (Sidney’s father and Alfred’s grandfather) as his “father” (on his marriage certificate for example).

Alfred Collins met Ethel’s younger sister Kathleen, courted and married her on 15 Dec1915. Kathleen and Alfred initially lived in Ludgershall but moved sometime later (before 1917) to Goodworth Clatford, near Andover, Hampshire. Before that on 30 July 1916 their only son, Arthur Ralph “Ralph”Collins was born. Ralph Collins was my father. They had no other children.

Sidney and Ethel Collins had two children, Harry (1911) and Wreata (1918) and moved to a new house in Ludgershall. Wreata, now in her 80s, still lives in that house today. Other members of the family moved to and still reside in the Tidworth and North Tidworth area of Wiltshire, close to Ludgershall.

Alfred, Kathleen and Ralph Collins lived in the middle of three small (2 up and 2 down) terraced thatched cottages in the main street of Goodworth Clatford. Those cottages were converted into a single dwelling about 1955 and I helped my grandfather, Alfred, re-wire the building - although retired, his Royal Navy skills, as a submariner (torpedoes), kept him part-time employed as the village electrician and watch/clock repairer. Alfred and family then moved to their only other address, a semi-detached two storey house in the same street, called “Milton” (an address at which much of my childhood was spent). My father, Ralph, like his father, Alfred, joined the Royal Navy as soon as he was able, at sixteen, as a boy seaman. Prior to that he had attended Clatford Primary School and Andover Grammar School.

Another family that had a (much older - about 1858) connection with Goodworth Clatford, was that of my mother, Dorothy Eileen Dew. Although living with her family at Lee in Southeast London, my mother made several visits to relatives in Clatford and there met my father in 1937 when she was sixteen. They married on 6 July 1939 at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lee, London, two months before the outbreak of WW2.

[1] Dad and Mum at 18 Edgerly Gardens, Cosham

My father was based at Portsmouth, Hampshire, and my parents rented the top half of a house at 18 Edgerly Gardens, Cosham, [1].

They lived at this address from August 1939 until December 1940 whilst my father was on leave, with my mother moving back to stay with her in-laws at Clatford when he was at sea.

I have been reliably advised that I was conceived in this house at Cosham.

He was posted from his ship, HMS Vernon, to HMS Hood (the “mighty Hood”; the world’s largest and most powerful warship; the pride of the British Royal Navy) on 25 April 1941 - two months before I was due to be born. It took him nearly three weeks to actually “catch up” with his new ship in Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands just north of Scotland. Ship’s locations were top secret and it was often quite difficult to find out where to meet up with a ship you were posted to during this period. He sailed on HMS Hood in company with HMS Prince of Wales on 21 May 1941 from Scapa Flow to hunt for the German Battle Cruiser Bismarck in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The enemies met in the Denmark Strait, between Greenland and Iceland and the major but brief sea battle commenced at about 5.50am 24 May 1941. At 5.55am HMS Hood was hit once and then three more times. Incredibly, the “mighty Hood” sank at 5.58am. There were only 3 survivors, and 1418 men, including my father, were lost. The British Royal Navy sank the Bismarck 3 days later with the loss of almost 2000 lives. This year, 2001, marks the sixtieth anniversary of those terrible events.

I have just heard today, 25 July 2001, that in yesterday's English Daily Mail Newspaper, there is a report that HMS Hood has been found, two miles beneath the Atlantic. The discoverers, believed to be Channel 4, have promised to leave her undisturbed and took Ted Briggs, the only living survivor, out to the site where he laid a wreath for his 1418 lost shipmates.

[As a member of the HMS Hood Association, I lay the official wreath at the 58th Memorial Service for HMS Hood at St George’s Church, Portsea on Sunday 23rd May 1999. This was at the invitation of the Association President, Ted Briggs. I also attended the Association AGM and the formal dinner on 22nd May that year. I considered this a very great honour and had the privilege to march along side some truly marvellous men. One of those men who marched, Bill Stone, was 99 years of age at the time - he is now 101 and served on HMS Hood in 1922.]

A three storey building named “Beverley House” [still there] in the village of Wickham just outside Portsmouth had been converted to a wartime Naval Maternity Home for the use of Portsmouth naval wives and mothers. On 18 June 1941, twenty-five days after the loss of HMS Hood, my mother gave birth to me at Beverley House.

Shortly after, we moved to the home of my grandparents at Goodworth Clatford. My mother and I moved many times in those first few years, setting the pattern for my whole life. Initially from relative to relative and then from (live-in) job to job - there were no single parent pensions at that time and the war widow’s pension was slow to be paid and difficult to live on. We moved from Hampshire to Surrey. locations included Portsmouth, Goodworth Clatford, Guildford, Godalming, Hindhead (x 4), Leatherhead and Croydon. We stayed in Croydon throughout my high-school days at Selhurst Grammar School until I was 18 years old and completed GCE “A” Level (matriculation).

One of the unusual aspects of my life is that I never experienced bachelorhood (leaving home as a single man). With schooling completed in July 1959, I married Patricia Yvonne Bryant at the South Croydon Congregational Church on 29 August 1959. We moved almost immediately from Surrey to Derbyshire. In 1959 I had been offered a “sandwich course” (a 5yr combination of apprenticeship and Bachelor of Engineering degree) with Rolls Royce Aero-engines in Derby, subject to passing two out of my four ‘A’ Levels. Plans were made to move to Derby, but the two passes I obtained were not the two subsequently required by Rolls Royce, and I never worked for them.

After a number of insignificant jobs, I joined the Derbyshire Constabulary as a police officer. I had a very strong urge to join the Royal Navy as my father and grandfather before me, but believed that whilst it was all right for a girl to marry a sailor, it was not all right for a married man to join the navy. So the police force was a poor second choice for me. However, despite being a non-spectacular police officer, whose only claims to fame were -

• a brief involvement in the investigation into the Great Train Robbery masterminded by Ronald Biggs - my local butcher handed me one of the cancelled five pound notes from the robbery and, until stopped by senior officers, I commenced a full investigation; and
• arresting Michael Copeland, the infamous “carbon copy” murderer responsible for at least eight murders -

I nevertheless enjoyed my time in that occupation as a “Bobby”.

[3] Constable 738 Collins, Derbyshire Constabulary - 1965

Patricia and I had three children, Antony (5 March 1961), Wendy (27 February 1962) and Gary (29 June 1963) and lived in a police house at 82, Kingston Avenue, Hallam Fields, Ilkeston, Derbyshire. [I was amazed, when I returned to Ilkeston, 32 years later in 1997. Not because my police house was now privately owned; not because Derbyshire Constabulary no longer exists and is a part of the West Midlands Police; but because my next-door neighbour, Vera Hadfield, was still there. When we called she invited my wife and I in, went straight to the mantelpiece in her living room and took down an old torn piece of card, asking “Which one were you then?” On the card neatly written at the top was “Michael Collins - moved to Australia 1965” followed by the names of the next four police officers to occupy my old house!]

I had passed the promotion examinations for both Sergeant and Inspector but it would be another 11 years before I could be considered for promotion - “dead man’s shoes promotion”. My ambitions required more than this and it was then I started looking around the world and reading about overseas police forces, in particular, Australia. I read a book on Australian Police Forces written by a chap called O’Brien. That was my inspiration. It also told me that the best place to go was Western Australia because of all the States and Territories it had the highest population growth (at that time). Increasing population means increasing police staffing and more rapid promotion prospects.

It wasn’t possible to apply from England, a letter from the Police Commissioner’s office in Perth, Western Australia, advised me. I had to apply on arrival! Our application for migration was eventually accepted. I became a member of the International Police Association (IPA), for support, resigned from the Derbyshire Constabulary on 30 November 1965 and my family of five took our first ever flight on an aeroplane, flying from London to Perth, Western Australia, via Kuwait, Colombo and Singapore. The flight time was 32 hrs (today it takes just over 17 hrs in a B747 400) and with time zones and refuelling meant we left London on 1st December and arrived in Perth on 3rd December. The aircraft had four propellers and had the maximum seating configuration to carry as many migrants as possible - it also only cost us £10 each to travel!

Apart from a one-week school-exchange holiday to St Malo in France when I was 13 years my only other international experience had been two visits to north Wales! Western Australia was a cultural, climatic and every other sort of shock beyond belief. I loved the place from the moment of arrival (and have never changed since) but it took a long time to understand that everything - EVERTHING - was different. From the colour of the sky and the smell of eucalypts in the air, the grass and plants, the flies and other insects, to the oral and written language (which certainly was not English) of the people. I wrote a letter back to my ex police colleagues in Derbyshire and spent thirteen pages trying to describe the differences - but only touched the surface. The transitional shock was not helped by the fact that we had flown out of London when it was 12°F and arrived in Perth three days later when it was 103°F.

I didn’t join the Western Australia Police Force - I had just missed a recent intake to the Police Academy - and I applied instead to the armed services as a provost. At the combined services recruiting office in Perth (I again avoided the navy) I was offered a commission with the Royal Australian Air Force. There were no vacancies for officers in the Provost Branch “…what do you know about air traffic control…?” the commissioning board wanted to know. I knew about traffic control from point duty on Ilkeston Market Place, wearing white gloves and stopping traffic for elderly ladies, would that do? By 10 Jan 1966 I was sworn in, kitted out, and a Pilot Officer, Special Duties Air Traffic Control Branch at RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia. I had been granted a 4yr Short Service Commission.

I wrote to my grandfather in England and proudly told him of my career change. He had served a total of 35 years in the British Royal Navy and had attained the non-commissioned rank of Chief Petty Officer. (My father had died with the rank of Petty Officer). My grandfather wrote back to me with a letter of one sentence

"Son, not only have you joined the junior service, but a foreign junior
service, and what is more, now I will have to call you sir.”

[That was my last letter from him before his death in 1967. Fortunately for me I knew him, and his humour, well enough, to know that that letter meant, “well done son”. This man had played the father role for me all my life. He taught me many “manly” skills and values (Royal Navy style). He taught me to drink my daily tot of rum (started me at 5 years; took me to the Royal Oak public house in Goodworth Clatford regularly from the age of about 14 years sneaking me in through a side door). He taught me to play billiards as soon as I was tall enough to reach over a full-size billiard table.]

I was sent over to the “eastern” States for training. Firstly three months at RAAF Base Point Cook, outside Melbourne, for Officers’ Training School; back to Western Australia, and then secondly to RAAF Base East Sale, 130 miles east of Melbourne, for six months for the Air Traffic Control School. For each Melbourne/Perth trip (3) I was sent by train (about 2200 miles each way). In those days the standard gauge rail did not extend across Australia and you changed trains each time the gauge changed. I caught my first train in Perth for Kalgoorlie; changed trains at Kalgoorlie onto the “Trans” (Trans-Australian Railways) to Port Augusta in South Australia; changed trains onto the “Overland” to Melbourne via Adelaide. The journey took three days (like my recent flight from London to Perth).

Waking up on the “Trans” at about 5am (having left Kalgoorlie about midnight), at first light, I looked out of my first class “roomette” sleeping compartment through double glazed windows. The scene, as far as the eyes could see, was one of unbroken dead flat red dirt interspersed by numerous small, round, blue “salt” bushes. When the sun set that night at about 9pm, all I could see, out of my air-conditioned roomette, was unbroken dead flat red dirt interspersed by numerous small, round, blue “salt” bushes. [The train was barrelling along but the scenery had been unchanged for sixteen hours. That was my first real taste of the incredible enormity of this wonderful country, Australia. All subsequent trips with the RAAF were by air. They had a system, which took account of the fare cost compared with the time taken and hourly rate of pay to determine the most cost-effective choice. What wasn’t cost effective or fair, not that I complained once, was that officers travelled everywhere first class (Australian domestic flights had first class seats at this time), whilst enlisted men and women travelled economy class.]

So, 057450 Plt Off Collins M.R. was trained to be an officer (and a gentleman?) and after two months back in Perth was again trained this time as an ATC officer. During this period my family remained in Perth, living in rented accommodation with a fixed proportion of my salary paid directly to my wife’s bank account. I was catered for with full board and accommodation in the Officers’ Mess at each location.

I graduated in 2nd place on the “No.37 ATC Course” in December 1966 out of 18 officers - 2 from Royal Malaysian Air Force, 1 from the Royal Australian Regiment (Army) and 1 from the Royal Australian Navy, see [4] below.

My first posting as a trained Air Traffic Control Officer was to RAAF Base East Sale. I took leave for Christmas 1966 and with a fellow Western Australian officer took off for the 4900mile round trip to Perth and my family in his old Austin Mini. That was a trip I shall never forget!

To Perth we travelled from Sale to Melbourne, Bordertown and Adelaide and on. The roads were not as they are today. Travelling down through the Adelaide hills was a fairly narrow and zigzag (Alpine type) road, which passed though the village of Hahndorf. It was 5am, dawn, and by the time I had seen the 35mph sign and taken my foot off the accelerator we were through Hahndorf and still coming down to 50mph! [A Mini does 70mph (115kph) flat out].

The police car parked in Hahndorf was fortunately on the other side of the road and facing the other way. I saw the police car start up and turn around after me before accelerating through the next bend in the road. In South Australia they had advisory speed signs for each corner 35mph, 20mph etc. and they meant what they said. This zigzag road had some very sharp corners, and one of them was so sharp the crash barrier rail on the inside curve did not turn but actually stopped and started again in the opposite direction. The speed advisory sign said “5mph”. My police training came to the fore; I entered the turn at 25mph, executed a hand-brake turn, and rapidly accelerated in the new direction. We “lost” the following police car (in those days they were powder blue coloured Studibakers which had heaps of power but rolled a lot and had terrible road handling). The expected police trap at the bottom of the hill in Adelaide did not eventuate, to my surprise, and we carried on to Port Augusta and the Nullarbor.

An experienced and police trained driver, I had never driven in such conditions or so far in my life. We carried a 5 gallon water container with a long plastic tube (straw) so that we could drink and drive, stacks of food, three spare wheels and our luggage. Each driver drove for four hours or 200 miles and then changed over; combining these stops with food/water top ups and calls of nature. We were both over six feet tall but somehow managed to sleep for part of our four hours off. The road from Ceduna in South Australia to the border was dirt and much further north than the current bitumen coastal highway. We declined the offer of a salt-water shower for £1 (they hadn’t caught up with decimalisation) at Ivy Tanks and continued West. Semi-trailer trucks had made huge ruts with their wheels and humps in the centre of the “road”. The Mini had to be driven with its wheels on each edge of one of the truck wheel ruts, but despite this we “snow-ploughed” to a halt several times in the “bulldust” (the super fine sand which is like talcum powder). We had to empty the engine compartment twice of bulldust, which filled every space! We threw the car bonnet away; it was just a nuisance. We wrote off seven tyres, buying four replacements on the way at outback-inflated prices.

We made it to Perth in an unrecognisable and very sad looking “Mini”. Bought a new “Mini” for the relatively uneventful return trip about three weeks later. In January 1967, I was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer.

I applied for a married quarter so that I could move my family from Perth to Sale. There was a waiting list and a quarter was not available until August 1967. Rather than wait I flew back to Perth and transferred my wife and three children to Sale and a temporary rented house, in June of that year. In November 1967, Patricia, my wife, left our three children and I, to start a new life with her “boyfriend” Ray. Our marriage had lasted just over 8 years. I had be oblivious to an affair that had probably started in Perth whilst I was in Sale. The RAAF were wonderful (the armed services have a procedure for every eventuality). My duties were changed to suit my domestic responsibilities; wife’s allowance payment stopped; notices in the press disclaiming any debts incurred after the separation; assistance with childcare etc.

In 1968 I had a posting, at my request, to RAAF Base Edinburgh, in South Australia - I needed a new start. During that year I had met Beth at the Sale Amateur Dramatic Society. She was separating from her husband, Tony, and had a daughter, Sharon. Beth and Sharon moved with my family and me to South Australia and we lived together until divorces allowed us to marry. I married Elizabeth “Beth” Margaret Evans (nee Slater) at Gawler Police Station, South Australia, on 10 July 1969. Sharon, at her request at 7 years old, changed her name by Deed Poll to Sharon Lee Collins.

We were married for nearly 10 years. Highlights of those ten years included -

• In 1969 commencing our own security business in Elizabeth, South Australia in partnership with David Collins (no relative, but a fellow ATC Officer at Edinburgh) and Frank Church (like me an ex UK Police officer and member of the IPA). [The company, South Australian Security, was very successful. Regular publicity in the local press “…Mike Collins, head of SAS, says…crime is on the increase…” became a problem with the RAAF. Our Commanding Officer fronted David and I on a couple of occasions and then suddenly in 1970 we each received a posting; David to Darwin and myself to Malaysia.]
• In January 1970, I was promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant and granted a permanent Commission at the expiration of my 4yr Short Service Commission.
• From April 1970 to November 1972, I was posted to RAAF Base Butterworth, Malaysia, living on Penang Island and travelling every day by ferry to work. (Penang now has a road bridge over the Straits, but that did not exist in the 1970s). Beth and I, and our four children, lived in relative luxury for this period. We had a spacious married quarter and employed a “cook” and an “amah” and shared a “gardener”. Penang is 4 degrees north of the Equator with two monsoons each year bringing 180 inches of rain. Weather forecasts are meaningless (except to aircraft) because there are only two variations; they are the same every day during the “wet” and the same every day during the “dry”. This was the period after the Singapore confrontation and when communist terrorists were still active in the jungles around Butterworth. A Stirling sub-machine gun for personal use replaced my standard officers’ issue 9mm pistol! A curfew was still in place on the streets of Penang during the early hours of the morning and well armed and frightening “riot police” still travelled the streets in their bright red painted armed convoys.
• Our return home to Australia was the last of our first class air travel. Malaysia was a very worthwhile and enjoyable experience, but it was great to be back. We broke the journey, Penang-Singapore-Sydney-Adelaide-Perth, at Adelaide to spend some time with my mother, stepfather and brother before continuing on to the final destination, Perth. [My mother had finally re-married, after my first marriage, to Fred Watson and had another son, Mark Christopher Watson on 20 Sep 1963, twenty-two years my junior, younger than and uncle to my three eldest children. The Watson's had migrated to Australia after me arriving in October 1967 and had settled in the Adelaide area.]
• After returning to RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia in December 1972 We bought our first house at Viveash, Perth in Feb 1973. I realised there were no further challenges left in the RAAF, much as I liked it. According to seniority lists, I could not be promoted to Squadron Leader until a year after my retirement at age 55 years. I had had the only overseas posting possible. There were only five annual incremental pay rises for Flight Lieutenants and I had had three of them - so I had two pay rises for the next 2 years and then nothing for the next 21 years. I resigned my Commission in the RAAF on 17 Aug 1973. [My nearly eight years in the Royal Australian Air Force had seen me on duty on either posting or attachment (short term moves) at the following Bases. RAAF Base Pearce and RAAF Base Gin Gin in Western Australia; RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia; RAAF Base Point Cook, RAAF Base Laverton and RAAF Base East Sale, in Victoria; RAAF Base Richmond in New South Wales; RAAF Base Ipswich and RAAF Base Townsville in Queensland; and RAAF Base Butterworth in Malaysia.]
• After 4 years of insignificant jobs and small businesses, we needed a change, sold our house, bought a converted 36ft diesel bus - mobile home and attached a tandem trailer carrying a generator and a Haflinger 4 x 4.
  
  
  
  [5] Mike Collins at the wheel of the Haflinger 4 x 4 before the trip around Australia
  
  We enrolled our four children in “correspondence-schooling” and set off to see Australia. That lasted for about two years, stopping when and where we felt like it, driving when we wanted to move on. The only major stop was for me to take up employment as the licensee/manager of the Tasman Hotel in Port Lincoln, South Australia for about eight months. That was an interesting experience with fifty-five staff and a busy pub turning over about 60 x 18gall kegs a week. Did some sailing and offshore racing at Port Lincoln as a crewmember on a 38ft ex Sydney/Hobart yacht called “Cedallion”.
• Returned to Perth in 1978, sold the bus and trailer and bought two suburban houses, one in Guildford for the family and another in Bayswater as a rental investment. Shortly after this, Beth decided that we had grown apart and needed to separate. She left with Sharon in December 1978. I found myself a single parent again, this time with three teenagers. The divorce was messy and because I was not prepared to argue and fight, I lost both houses and most of the contents and ended up with debts.

The third major phase of my life had now begun. I took on a new career as a senior project officer, working with unemployed kids in Fremantle in a government funded enterprise called the “Community Youth Support Scheme” (CYSS). My children all decided to leave school and commence work, Antony at the end of year 12, Wendy at the end of year 11 and Gary at year 10. We all lived together in a house I rented in Dianella, Perth. In November of 1979, I had changed jobs and worked for the Commonwealth Government as an Employment Officer, when I met the love of my life, Ruby. This was a cradle-snatcher relationship as she was 21 years and I was 38 years. She was 4 years older than my eldest son Antony was, and initially my children thought their Dad had gone mad. (Mind you they have always thought that!).

Ruby and I met with no assets, in fact we were both in debt left over from previous relationships. We combined those and our limitless resources of love, energy and "work-a-holism" and, after my divorce from Beth, married on 16 June 1980 at Mount Lawley, Perth. My son Antony drove my car with Ruby to the church, my daughter Wendy was a bridesmaid and Gary was my groomsman and all three of them rapidly came to love Ruby for her generosity and good nature and much later to accept her as “Mum”. With three jobs each we paid off our debts and bought a house paying off a quarter of its price within twelve months of getting married. Nature then took over and slowed us down by getting us pregnant and our daughter Justine Frances Collins was born 28 Sep 1981.

I applied for and won a promotion and transfer to Hobart, Tasmania. We sold our home and moved to Tasmania in March 1983. My new job was that of Field Officer, administering the 22 CYSS projects in Tasmania and the communities they serviced. Ruby, Justine and I, after renting a couple of houses, bought a small farmlet of 2½ acres at Kettering, south of Hobart, where we kept chickens, ducks and 2 goats. [Kettering is where the ferry leaves for Bruny Island, a 50mile-long island in two parts with a narrow isthmus joining them. This is the island where Ruby and her family were all born, descended from the first permanent white settler, Karl Zschachner who arrived in Tasmania from Hamburg, Germany, in 1870, and Bruny Island in 1876]. We grew gooseberries, blackcurrants and two varieties of plums. We sold or bartered our surplus eggs and fruit with others in the district. We later obtained a Jersey heifer with the intention of producing our own milk.

Needing more land we sold this property and bought another at Middleton, further south of Hobart. This time we had 40 acres with two houses on top of a small hill with a full 180º view of the ocean (The D’Entrecasteaux Channel) and the “neck” or isthmus joining North and South Bruny Island and the Tasman Sea beyond. Here we ran 30-40 head of sheep, “Buttercup” the cow (named by Justine) and her calf “Sir Echo”. With a permanent spring and two large dams on the property there was plenty of water and all of our livestock could be run on just 8 acres of paddocks.

[6] Mike Collins and Buttercup (hiding Sir Echo) about October 1986

I had no farming background, but it is amazing how quickly you learn and how helpful neighbours could be. We bought the local Post Office and Commonwealth Bank agency as a business, which Ruby ran on her own. Middleton had a general store, with a petrol pump outside, and the post office as its only businesses. The nearest public house was 10km up the road at Woodbridge. Although servicing a country population of about 3,000 people the post office was only opened from 9am-12nn Monday to Friday.

I had wanted to buy the general store, add the post office and obtain a bottle-shop liquor licence to make a compact and useful business that would allow me to resign from government work. But the general store was not for sale and I was getting tired of commuting the 100km per day to Hobart (as well as travelling all over the State in my job) and running our hobby farm. We stayed at Middleton for 2½ years before selling up and moving back to suburbia. We had a house at Kingston (just south of Hobart) and then a townhouse at Blackman’s Bay.

In 1988 we travelled to Oban in Scotland to give away my daughter Wendy to her husband John Donaldson Morton on 10 June. Justine (7) was a bridesmaid although she nearly didn’t make it as she was diagnosed with Glandular Fever three days before the wedding and we were told to take her straight home to Australia. The doctor had had no concept of the 30+hrs of flying necessary to achieve that from Oban to Hobart. When it was pointed out he accepted a more gentle travel itinerary and we in fact attended the formal part of the wedding.

Shortly after our return to Tasmania in June 1988, resulting from a cat bite, Ruby became very ill with Toxoplasmosis which although cured after six months had triggered the onset of manic depression, an illness she suffers from to this day.

The Australian Commonwealth Government about this time became aware of a new concept (to them), “fraud”. It was suddenly the “in thing” for government departments to examine the possibility of funds and services being fraudulently obtained. Here was a way to save expenditure and cut budgets. The Department of Employment that I worked for had amalgamated with the previous Department of Education. Major players in this new drive against fraud were, Taxation, Social Security and Education. There was a shortage of public servants with police backgrounds or prosecution or investigative skills. I was promoted to a new job as Manager of the newly formed Benefits Control Unit in Hobart. I enjoyed being back in the police officer role and continued with it for nearly two years.

We decided to return to Western Australia. There were many reasons for this. Ruby’s health and our first grandchild were two. I was unable to get a transfer because of the costs involved to any Department that took me (about $20,000). Despite being unofficially told, more than once, that I was the best candidate for the jobs I had applied for, I was not being selected. I took leave without pay, sold our townhouse, car and furniture and left Hobart on 25 May 1990. We travelled to the Goldcoast, Queensland to see my mother [who was by now a widow again and living in Queensland with her sister] and then on to Bali in Indonesia for a week’s tropical holiday before arriving in Perth in June 1990. We had been in Tasmania for 7 years and 77 days (as I stated in my farewell speech).

After several months I finally persuaded a Department to take me on by signing an indemnity that I would not claim retrospective transfer costs. Another new job, this time with Immigration as a Compliance Officer (policeman), commencing in January 1991. The function of this job was to identify, locate, apprehend and in most cases deport illegal entrants to Australia. It was a fun job and almost the opposite of police work. By that I mean it was all power and little responsibility (this has changed in recent times).

I travelled all over Western Australia from Derby in the north to Kalgoorlie in the east and Albany in the south. This went on for 18 months and would have gone much longer (I was enjoying my work and believed it worthwhile) but for the car accident in September 1992. I was one of three Immigration Officers returning on a wet night from Bunbury to Perth when we were hit head on at 200kph by a drunk driver on the wrong side of the road. Miraculously no one died. The Royal Flying Doctor Service flew both drivers to Perth. My colleague and I were taken to Bunbury Hospital. I had been the front seat passenger and was in the worst condition. I had my sternum broken in two places and six broken ribs. According to one doctor I had no right to be alive (a broken sternum usually pierces the heart).

That was the end of my career chasing people across rooftops and kicking down doors. When I returned to “light duties” after an absence of three months, it was to a desk job and later interviewing permanent-resident prison-inmates for possible “criminal deportation”. My investigative and prosecution skills were severely curtailed.

Ruby’s illness since 1988 had been cyclical with little if any improvement and she had spent long periods in hospital [so much so that Justine reckons she had missed more than half of her birthdays]. In 1996 I had my 55th birthday, and I decided to take early retirement at that time and become a full-time carer for my beloved Ruby. There was enough in the superannuation fund for us to pay for a comfortable house in a nice suburb of Perth without a mortgage, pay out any debts and leave a little over.

So that the transition was not too sudden, we purchased a Cleaning Business franchise - something we could do together, part-time, at our own speed with no stress. We kept that going for about 18 months and finally sold it because we wanted some evenings at home with the family. For the next nine months we had a Contract Courier Delivery business, using the van we had purchased for the Cleaning Franchise, and worked about 15 hours a week with Ruby operating the radio and making some deliveries whilst I did the driving. Ruby started getting stressed by the time constraints and by my driving and we finally retired completely in December 1998.

Anyone who is retired will tell you that it appears that you have less time than when you worked. That is certainly true for me. I started some part-time studies at a University in 1999 and will graduate in 2004 - just to keep the grey-cells active. I look after Ruby. We have 4 children and 14 grandchildren if you count all the “ring-ins”. My son Antony has two children, is divorced and in a new relationship which includes two more children; My daughter Wendy has one child; my son Gary has three children; and my ex-stepdaughter Sharon has six children. I am grandad to all of them.

On top of all of those time-consuming interests I now exercise my investigative skills in family tree research and write long boring biographies for newsletters.

[7] Ruby, Justine and Mike Collins - December 2000

Ruby and I enjoy our retirement, our lives together with our children and grandchildren, but just so that we don’t get too bored, we have just listed our house for sale and are in the process of buying another. This will be the 66th home for me since I was born, and the 21st with Ruby in our 21 years of marriage.

Generation 1

John Brangwin married Hannah Allnutt on November 25, 1771 at St Mary the Virgin, Long Crendon, BKM.

It is likely the John Brangwin listed in the Buckinghamshire Poll Book of 1784 under the Ashendon Hundred [Hundreds will be explained in the next newsletter] under Long Crendon is this John. The Poll Book entry reads:

Freeholders Names: Brangwin John

Place of Abode: Long Crendon

What Freeholds consist of: Land

Occupiers: Himself

When John died is unknown. His burial has not been located. Given that the Long Crendon Baptist Chapel records have not been located, it is possible that John was buried there and the details are contained in that register. One day we hope to find this very important book. Let’s hope it still exists and turns up sometime soon.

Hannah died in Long Crendon in July 1783 and was buried there on July 26, 1783.

John and Hannah had two children: Richard and Thomas. There could have been others but these are the ones that we know of at present.

Generation 2

Richard Brangwin was born in 1776 at Long Crendon, the son of John Brangwin and Hannah Allnutt. He married Elizabeth Winter on December 12, 1805 in St Ebe, Oxford, OXF. They were married after the calling of banns and both were listed as lodgers. They had four children:

1. Mary born about 1806. She married John Stone Miller on June 25, 1806 at St Mary the Virgin, Long Crendon
2. Elizabeth born about 1809 [We will look at Elizabeth in a coming newsletter]
3. William born in 1811 [more later]
4. Richard born about 1815 in Long Crendon. According to the 1851 census he was a cattle dealer, 33 years old and unmarried. He was living at Littlewick Green, Bray with his widowed mother. He died on August 24, 1854 at Long Crendon. [His will is featured later in this newsletter]

At the time of the 1841 census Richard and Elizabeth were living in Long Crendon, at Smith End. Richard was of independent means. He died on January 6, 1842, aged 65, and was buried there on January 12. The burial index gave his occupation as farmer and grazier.

Elizabeth was the daughter of John Winter and Martha Cannon. She was born in 1784 in Long Crendon and died there on July 22, 1854, aged 70. She, too, was buried at Long Crendon.

Thomas Brangwin was born in 1781 in Long Crendon, BKM. He was a farmer. He has been attached to John and Hannah on the basis that John was at Perrots and a Thomas was farming at Perrots according to the short history of Long Crendon. [We will look at Thomas in a coming Newsletter, too]

Generation 3

William Brangwin was the son of Richard Brangwin and Elizabeth Winter. He was born in 1811 at Long Crendon. The 1841 census recorded him at Bottom House, Hambleden, Bucks, aged 28 and a farmer. In 1851 he was living at Littlewick Green, Berks. He was 38, married and a cattle dealer. At the time of the 1881 census, William was living in Little Marlow, Bucks. He was a widower and his occupation was still given as cattle dealer. In 1891 he was a visitor in Ludgershall, Wiltshire and this is where he died on January 19, 1892 aged 80.

[Rotten Row Farm House: one of Edmund Brangwin's farms. Around 1839 William Brangwin the son of Richard and Elizabeth farmed here after the William who was Edmund's son. That probably caused some confusion! Photo: Margaret A Brangwyn]

William started life in Long Crendon, lived at Hambleden at Rotton Row, Hurley (in Berks, just out of Henley), White Waltham, Littlewick Green and Little Marlow. Quite a number of places! And these are just the ones that we know about.

William married Mary Curtis by licence on March 30, 1837 in Turville, BKM. The witnesses were John Curtis and Susanna Curtis. Mary was the daughter of William Curtis and Susannah Louch. She was born in 1807 at Little Marlow, BKM and baptised on September 27, 1807 at St John the Baptist, Little Marlow. She died on April 2, 1880 at Little Marlow Road, Great Marlow, BKM, aged 73.

William and Mary had seven children:

1. William Curtis Brangwin born 1837 [more later]
2. John Curtis Brangwin born 1839 [more later]
3. Susannah Brangwin born October 26, 1840 at Rotten Row, Hambleden, BKM. She died in 1865 at Wokingham, aged 25.
4. Phillip Brangwin born 1842 [more later]
5. Richard Brangwin born 1845 [more later]
6. Mary Brangwin born January 23, 1847 at Littlewick, White Waltham, BRK. She died on March 18, 1847 at Littlewick, aged 1 month 3 weeks 5 days
7. Mary Brangwin born 1848 [more later]

Mike Collins has kindly provided this image from William's Family Bible. It records the births of each of his children and notes where they were born and their place in the family. [Rotton Row is in Hambleden]

Generation 4

William Curtis Brangwin was the first child of William Brangwin and Mary Curtis. He was born on August 10, 1837 at Long Crendon. He was baptised at St Mary the Virgin, Long Crendon, on November 21, 1837. He married Eleanor Griffiths on June 24, 1865 at the Sardinian Chapel, Duke Street, St Giles, MDX.

In 1865 William was using the spelling Brangwyn for his name. This variation on the spelling appears in this branch of the family. A number of other Brangwins have also adopted this form of the name.

In 1881 the family was living at 30 Grange Gardens, Hammersmith, London. William was an architect.

William died on November 19, 1907 at 36 Salisbury Road, Cardiff, WLS.

Eleanor Griffiths was born 1842 in Llanstephan, RAD, daughter of James Griffiths. She died in 1918 in St Albans, HRT, aged 76.

William and Eleanor had six children:

1. Editha Maud Brangwyn born on June 19, 1864 at 16 Mabledon Pl, Pancras, MDX. She died on February 8, 1911 at 50 Ashmore Road, Paddington North, MDX, aged 47.
2. Helene Marie Agnes Brangwyn born on January 29, 1866, at Rue des Pierres D20, D20, Bruges, BEL. She married Tom John Norris on March 19, 1889 at St Stephens, Bow, MDX. Their first child, Tom H, was born in 1890. At the time of the 1891 census the family was living at Queens Head Inn at Ludgershall, WIL. Tom's occupation was given as brewer and publican.

3. Guillaume Francois Curtis "Frank" Brangwyn was born on May 18, 1867, at 24 Oude Burg, Bruges, BEL. He married Lucy Annie Ray on January 28, 1896, at the Register Office, St George Hanover Square, MDX. Frank died on June 11, 1956, at The Jointure, Ditching, SSX. [See the February Newsletter for an article on Frank.]
   
   The picture to the right was taken of Frank in 1894 while working on a painting.
   
   Photo from David and Margaret Brangwyn
   
   
4. Philippe Edouard Brangwyn was born on May 27, 1869, at Rue des Dominicians, B no 8, Bruges, BEL. He married Annie Nethercroft in 1900 at Kensington, MDX. They had two children in England: Philip Edward N in 1902 and Francis William David on May 23, 1903. There may be other children. Not much is known of the life of Philip. It is known that he went to Chicago as an interior designer. We are yet to track down when and where he died or what happened to his children.
5. Cuthbert Patrick J Brangwyn was born in 1875 at Hammersmith, MDX. It is understood that he intended becoming a Franciscan Monk but this plan appears to have changed at some time as he went to the US. He appears in the 1910 census in Allegheny, Pittsburg, PA aged 36 together with a 35 year old wife, Margaret. No other details are known.
6. Lawrence Owen Brangwyn was born on April 19, 1878, at 30 Grange Gardens, Hammersmith, MDX. He married Marion May Patchton in 1901. They had two children: Winifred Rose Eleanor who was known as Queenie and was born on October 26, 1901 and William Lawrence who was born on April 12, 1906 and died in 1907. Queenie died late last year. Her uncle, Frank, paid for her to go to boarding school supposedly to escape from her parents who had a tubulent marriage. She married Arthur Lionel Wright in 1939. Lionel was quite a bit older than she was.
   
   Although Lawrence was a carpenter he ended up running "The Duke of Marlborough" pub at the bottom of the hill in St Albans, below the Catherdral. He died on May 7, 1944, Croydon, MDX, aged 66. Marion died in 1971, aged 90.

John Curtis Brangwin [Photo courtesy of Mike Collins] was the second child of William Brangwin and Mary Curtis. He was born on November 3, 1839 at Rotten Row, Hambleden, BKM. He married Sarah Grace Foord on December 7, 1869 at St James, Ludgershall, WIL. The marriage register entry stated that John Curtis Brangwin was a bachelor, aged 29, son of William Brangwin, dealer. Sarah Grace Foord was a spinster, aged 27, daughter of Michael Foord, painter. Witnesses: William Henry Sparkes and Frances Anna Foord.

According to the 1881 census, John was a draper and grocer and he was living in High Street, Ludgershall, WIL where he was in 1891 as well. He died in 1919 at Portsmouth, HAM, aged 79.

Children of John and Sarah:

1. Edith Mary Brangwin was born in 1870 at Ludgershall, WIL. She married Walter William Rivers on February 17, 1923, at St Saviours, Pimlico, MDX. At the time of her marriage, Edith was aged 52, a spinster, of 53, Albert Palace Mansions, London, SW, daughter of John Curtis Brangwyn, deceased, Grocer. Walter William Rivers was aged 43, a bachelor, Schoolmaster, of 23, Colchester Street, London, SW1, son of George Henry Rivers, Woodworker. Witnesses: Arthur Herbert Mann; George H. Rivers.
2. William Curtis Brangwin was born in 1872 at Ludgershall, WIL. He died on November 14, 1872, at Ludgershall, WIL
3. Ernest Harry Brangwin was born in 1873 at Ludgershall, WIL. [more later]
4. John Curtis Brangwin was born in 1876 at Ludgershall, WIL. He died on February 24, 1879, Ludgershall, WIL, aged 3.
5. Reginald Richard Brangwin was born in 1879 at Ludgershall, WIL. He died on October 20, 1906 at Devizes, WIL, aged 27.

Phillip Brangwin the third child of William Brangwin and Mary Curtis. He was born 9 June 1842 in Hurley Mills, Cookham, BRK. He married Elizabeth Sophia Bird on December 26, 1868 at All Saints, Great Marlow, BKM.

In December 1878 Philip and Elizabeth were living in St Ann's HIll Road, Chertsey, Surrey. He was a baker and journeyman.

Photo of Phillip courtesy David and Margaret Brangwyn.

In 1881, Phillip was living in Winchester Street, Ludgarshall, WIL. He was a baker. He died, aged 60, on January 5, 1903 at Ogbourne St Andrews, WIL, where he was also buried

Elizabeth was born on August 30, 1844 at Marlow Mills, Great Marlow, BKM. She was the daughter of James Bird and Emily Hurst. She died on June 17, 1913 in Ogbourne St Andrews, WIL, aged 68.

Phillip and Elizabeth had six children:

1. James Curtis Brangwin was born in 1869 at Chertsey, SRY. He was a baker. He died, aged 71, on November 27, 1941 at Savernake Hospital, Marlborough, WIL.
2. William Edwin Brangwin was born about 1871 [more later]
3. Edith Emily Brangwin was born in 1873 at Chertsey, SRY. She died, aged 20, on July 20, 1893
4. Mary Kate Brangwin was born on May 9, 1876 [more later]
5. Charles Ernest Philip Brangwin was born on December 14, 1878 [more later]
6. George Frederick Brangwin was born on June 24, 1881 at Ludgershall, WIL. He married Caroline Ackley on October 24, 1908 at the parish Church, Weeke, HAM. They had one child: Freda Mary (September 6, 1901 - December 22, 1984); Caroline died in 1918 and he subsequently married Elizabeth R Harcombe in 1922. George died in 1949 at Alton, DBY

Richard Brangwin was born on May 1, 1845 at White Waltham, the fifth child of William Brangwin and Mary Curtis. He married Maria Saunders in 1866 in Lewisham, MDX. In 1881 the family was living at 81 Armagh Rd, Bow, MDX and Richard was a cab driver.

Richard ran into a spot of trouble in 1893 as this report in the Times atests. Thanks to Margaret Brangwyn for supplying the transcript.

The Times
1st November, 1893

County of London Sessions
(Before Sir P. H. Edlin, Q. C., Chairman, sitting in Clerkenwell)

RICHARD BRANGWIN, 50, a jobmaster*, was indicted for having caused bodily harm to William Bristow by wanton and furious driving and by wilful misconduct as a driver. Mr. R. D. Muir was for the prosecution; Mr. Paul Taylor for the defence. On the afternoon of October 10 the defendant was driving a horse and cart along the Mile-end-road. Opposite the corner of Burdett-road the traffic was blocked, and the defendant went round the obelisk which stands there, and drove at a quick pace along the wrong side of the road. Bristow, who was an inmate of a workhouse, 73 years of age, happened to be coming across the road, wheeling a barrow. The prisoner's approach on the wrong side of the road was hidden from him by a tram, and as he came from behind the tram the defendant's horse and cart ran into him, upset the barrow, with Bristow underneath it. He was taken to the hospital, where it was found that he was much shaken and suffering from internal injuries, which, however, proved to be not very serious. Mr. Taylor said he could not resist a verdict on the count for causing bodily harm by wilful misconduct as a driver, and the prisoner was convicted on that count. Witnesses to his character were called, and sentence was postponed, a statement having been made that he wished to compensate Bristow.

The Times
10th November, 1893

County of London Sessions.
(Before Sir P. H. Edlin, Q. C., Chairman sitting in Clerkenwell)

RICHARD BRANGWIN, 50, jobmaster, was brought up for sentence. The prisoner was convicted last Sessions of causing bodily harm to William Bristow by wilful misconduct as a driver, the case against him being that, while driving along the Bow-road, finding his proper side of the road blocked, he went on at a rapid pace on the wrong side and ran over Bristow, who was an elderly inmate of a workhouse. Bristow received internal injuries, which proved, however, not to be permanent. It was now stated that the prisoner had compensated Bristow, and, as he had been in custody since his trial, he was discharged on paying a fine of forty s. and the costs of the prosecution. Mr. R. D. Muir and Mr. W. H. Leycester were for the prosecution; Mr. Paul Taylor for the defence.

*Jobmaster - One who lets out horses and carriages by the job. (Oxford English Dictionary)

Richard died in on January 16, 1914 at the London County Asylum, Illford, ESS. He was 68 years old.

Richard and Maria had nine children:

1. William Brangwin was born in 1866 at Lewisham, KEN. He married Jane Hartop on January 31, 1921 at the West Ham Register Office, West Ham, ESS. At the time of his marriage William was 53, a bachelor, occupation general labourer. His father was Richard Brangwin, deceased, general dealer. Jane was using the name Perry. She was a widow, aged 41. Her father was William Hartop, deceased, a general labourer. The address given for both parties was 91 Langthorn Street, Stratford, Essex. William died, aged 76, in 1943 at Stepney, MDX.
2. Richard Saunders Brangwin was born in 1869 in Poplar, MDX. He died in 1880 at Islington, MDX, aged 11.
3. Susannah Maria Brangwin was born in 1871 in Poplar, MDX. She married Edward William Lawley on January 27, 1892, at Eaton Bray, BDF
4. Frank Curtis Brangwin was born in 1873 at Poplar, MDX. He married Matilda Ann Giddings on June 18, 1901 at Wantage, BRK. They had a child, Mollie, who was born in 1903 and died in 1906. Frank died in 1909 at Wantage, aged 36.
5. George Brangwin was born in 1877 at Poplar, MDX and died in 1880.
6. John Brangwin was born and died in 1879 in Poplar, MDX.
7. Levi Brangwin was born in 1879 in Poplar, MDX. He was the twin of John. He died in 1959 at Henley, OXF.
8. Albert John Brangwin was known as John. He was born about June 1880 in Poplar, MDX.
9. George Brangwin was born and died in 1884 at Poplar, MDX.

Mary Brangwin was born on January 10, 1848 at Littlewick, White Waltham, BRK. She was the seventh and youngest child of William Brangwin and Mary Curtis. She married John William Irving on December 25, 1882 in the Parish Church, Hartley Wintney, HAM. Both were single. Mary gave her age as 32. John was 27 and a baker by trade. John was born in Wantage, BRK. His father was John Henry Irving, Internal Revenue Officer.

Mary died on May 28, 1915.

This photo of Mary was taken around 1895.

Photo courtesy Mike Collins

Mary and John had seven children:

1. Mabel Florence Irving was born in 1883 and died in 1964.
2. Evelyn Mary Irving [more later]
3. Ethel Blanche Irving was born in 1886. She married Sidney Collins and had two children: Harry Leslie (1911) and Wreata Mary (1918). Ethel died in 1983.
4. Harry Curtis Irving was born on April 12, 1887 [more later]
5. Arthur Irving was born in 1888. He went to the US and disappeared around the time of the end WW1.
6. Kathleen Grace Irving was born in 1890. She married Alfred Collins. They had one child, Arthur Ralph who was born in 1916 and was a WW2 casualty. Kathleen died in 1982.

   Arthur Ralph Collins was born on 30th July 1916 at Salisbury, Wiltshire, the only child of Alfred and Kathleen Collins. He was known as Ralph. His parents lived at Goodworth Clatford, near Andover, all of his life. He attended Clatford Primary School and, later, Andover Grammar School. His mother's sister, Mabel, was headmistress of the local school and ran the Sunday School at his local church, St Peter's, Goodworth Clatford, where the ashes of his parents lie today. Ralph's father, Alfred, joined the Royal Navy in 1909 until about 1937, including 12years as a Submariner, and was called back from the Reserve, as a Chief Petty Officer, for active service 1939-45.

   At fifeteen, Ralph volunteered for 12 years service in the Royal Navy on 8 June 1932 as a Boy 2nd Class and commenced on 30 July 1934, his eighteenth birthday, as an Ordinary Seaman. His service history, copied from his Royal Navy Certificate of Service, is listed below. Whilst on HMS Vernon on 10 November 1937 he volunteered for service in Submarines. In a letter to his parents at the time he wrote, "...I hope you don't mind me joining the suicide squad ... out of the last 12, 5 didn't finish, 3 killed, 2 passed and 2 failed, so I'm still believing in the one word 'Kismet'..."

   He married Dorothy Eileen Dew at Lee, London, on 6 July 1939. He was posted to HMS Hood on 24 April 1941 although only joined her about three weeks later just before her departure from Scapa Flow to hunt the Bismark.

   Ralph was "one of nature's gentlemen", with a somewhat serious nature, tempered by a wonderful sense of humour. He was well respected and liked by everyone who met him. He was twenty-four years of age when he died sixty years ago with 1,417 of his shipmates and the "Mighty Hood" which was sunk by the Bismark on May 24, 1941. He was survived by his wife, Dorothy, and his only son, Michael, who was born 25 days after his death.

7. Gertrude Maud Irving was born in 1891 and married Herbert Seymour.

Generation 5

Ernest Harry Brangwin was born in 1873 at Ludgershall, WIL. He was the third child and second son of John Curtis Brangwin and Sarah Grace Foord. He was an Innkeeper. He married Rebecca Weeks Witchell in 1900 in Poplar, MDX. She was born about 1865 and died on April 27, 1940 at 3 Chirchester Road, North End, Portsmouth, HAM. Ernest died in 1955 at Gosport, HAM, and his death is recorded under the spelling Brangwyn.

Ernest and Rebecca had two children:

1. Harry Douglas William Brangwin was born on February 7, 1901 at Aston Clinton, BKM. He married Edith M Weeks in 1924 at Portsmouth, HAM. The had two children:
   • Clifford I born in 1924 and died aged 2 in 1927
   • Patrick Gerald Brangwyn who was born on October 26, 1925 at Portsmouth, HAM. He married twice and had three children, dying in 1997.
   He then married Kitty J Power. Harry died in 1971, aged 70.
2. John Leslie Brangwin was born on January 10, 1903 at Dagnal, BKM. He married Dorothy Alice Gilbert in 1930 at Holbeach, LIN. They had two children:
   • Shiela M Brangwyn who was born in 1932 and married Edward G B Carden in 1956
   • Dennis G Brangwyn who was born in 1936, married Elisabeth J Zierer in 1965 and has two children
   John died in 1991.

William Edwin Brangwin was the second child of Phillip Brangwin and Elizabeth Bird. He was born about 1871 at Chertsey, SRY. He married Elizabeth Jane Chequer Batho.

William died on May 4, 1916 at Ogbourne St Andrews, WIL. He was only 44 years old. Elizabeth had died the previous year, 1915, also aged 44. Both were buried at Ogbourne St Andrew, WIL

William and Elizabeth had one child: John William Philip who was born on December 8, 1903. After being orphaned he was brought up by his father's sister Mary Kate. He married Alice Higginbotham in 1930 at Windsor, BRK. He died aged 69 on December 18, 1972 at Richmond, BC.

Mary Kate Brangwin was the fourth child and second daughter of Phillip Brangwin and Elizabeth Bird. She was born on May 9, 1876 at Chertsey, SRY. She married Francis George Witchell in 1902 at Malbrough, WIL.

To the right is a photo of Mary Kate Witchell nee Brangwin, with her own three children, Francis Brangwyn Witchell, Edith Mary Witchell and Marjorie Phyllis Witchell. The older boy standing at the back is Mary Kate's nephew, John William Philip Brangwin, who, after being orphaned at 14, was cared for by the Witchells.

Photo courtesy of Margaret A. Brangwyn. You can also find this photo on our MyFamily.com web site

Mary and Francis had three children:

1. Edith May Witchell
2. Marjorie Phyllis Witchell was born on September 30, 1907. She married W N Clayton and died at Folkstone, KEN, on December 12, 1985.
3. Francis Brangwyn Witchell was born on July 12, 1911. He married Cora and they had two children: Christine and Peter.

Charles Ernest Philip Brangwin was born on December 14, 1878 at St Ann's Hill Rd, Chertsey, SRY. He was the fifth child of Phillip Brangwin and Elizabeth Bird. He married Sarah Ferguson Mackie on July 28, 1908 at Emmanuel Church, Forest gate, ESS.

Photo of Charles and Sarah on their wedding day courtesy of David and Margaret Brangwyn

They had three children:

1. Philip Brangwyn was born on September 30, 1907 at 2b Margery Park Road, Forest Gate, ESS. He married Ethel Lilian Davison on June 30 1934 at the Woodgrange Methodist Church, Forest gate, ESS. Ethel was the daughter of Charles Thomas Davison and Annie Louise Fisk. She was born on January 6, 1907 in Westbury Road, Forest Gate, ESS.

   Philip died aged 51 at the East Ham Memorial Hospital, on July 27, 1959.

   Children of Philip and Ethel:

   • David Charles Brangwyn born 26 Cranbrook Rise, Ilford, ESS. He married Margaret Ann Vince in 1971. They have two children: Claire and Alex. [David was profiled in the May Newsletter and Margaret in the February edition.]
   • Michael Philip Brangwyn was born in Woodford, ESS. Known as "Brang", he married Margaret Joy Kirkpatrick in 1976 and Margaret Wheeler in 1991, causing endless mirth and confusion because of all the Margaret Brangwyns thus created.
   
   
2. Robert John Brangwyn was born on July 4, 1911 at 2b Margery Park Road, Forest Gate, Essex, and died on September 13, 1911 at 65 Milford Street, Salisbury - home of the Witchells;
3. Agnes Jean Brangwyn was born on May 3, 1913 at 2b Margery Park Road, forest Gate, Essex. Known as Jean, she married Thomas Jeremiah Quinn on November 6, 1941 at Holy Trinity Church, Chipping Norton, Oxford. They had two children - Jeremy Thomas and and Sarah Jane [who belongs to our MyFamily.com site]. Jean died on July, 15 1991 at Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex.

Evelyn Mary Irving was the second child of Mary Brangwin and John Irving. She was born in 1884 and died in 1968. She married and had a daughter, Elizabeth Taylor, in 1916.

Photo of Evelyn and daughter Elizabeth taken about 1926.

Photo: Mike Collins

Ethel Blanche Irving was the third child born to Mary Brangwin and John Irving. She was born in 1886. She married Sidney Collins and had two children:

1. Harry Leslie Collins born in 1911
2. Wreata Mary Colins born in 1918. She had a son, Philip, in 1943.

Ethel died in 1983.

Harry Curtis Irving was born on April 12, 1887 at Hartley Wintney, HAM. he was the fourth child of Mary Brangwin and John Irving. He married Lilian Jane Ayres around 1913. They had six children:

• Norah Evelyn Irving born on March 22, 1914. She married John Charles Nixon on March 4, 1942. They had a daughter Janet. Norah died April 14, 1984.
• Arthur James Curtis Irving was born on June 30, 1918. He married.
• Myrtle Irving was born on September 26, 1920. She married Clifford Holt and they had a son, Michael.
• Vera Irving was born on April 20, 1923. She twice and had two children: Paul and Denise.
• Audrey Margaret irving was born on December 30, 1925. She married Gerald Frank Tilbury in 1951. They had three children: Jane Linda, Marilyn (who is known as Mandy) and David Penton
• Leslie Irving was born about 1927

Lilian died in 1931. Harry married Gertrude Lillian Gladdis about 1938 and they had one child, Mary, born in 1939. He died in January 1941.

Kathleen Grace Irving was born in 1890. She was the sixth child of Mary Brangwin and John Irving.

Kathleen married Alfred Collins. Their only child, Arthur Ralph who was born in 1916 and was a WW2 casualty. He died on May 24, 1941. He was 24. Arthur left a wife, Dorothy, and son Michael Ralph.

Kathleen died in 1982 and she is the grandmother of Mike Collins.

This photo of Kathleen was taken around 1910.

Photo courtesy Mike Collins

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The Will of Richard Brangwin of Long Crendon, Bucks: 10 August 1854

This is the last Will and Testament of me Richard Brangwin of Long Crendon in the County of Buckingham Yeoman, First I will direct that all my just debts funeral and testamentary expenses shall be fully paid and satisfied by my Executor hereinafter Named as soon as conveniently may be after my decease, I give devise and bequeath unto Richard Dodwell of Oddington in the County of Oxford my Trustee, All and singular my real and personal estate goods Chattels and effects whatsoever and wheresoever of which I am now seazed or possessed or may hereinafter acquire To hold the same to himself the said Richard Dodwell his heirs executors and administrators Upon trust to sell and convert such part thereof as may not consist of money into money in such manner as he may deem expedient And to stand possessed of the proceeds to arise from such Sale and conversions Upon trust in the first place to pay thereout all my just debts funeral and testamentary expenses, And if there shall be any residue then to pay and divide the sum between my two sisters Mary Miller of Marlow Bucks and Elizabeth Dodwell of Oddington, and also my brother William Brangwin of Marlow Bucks in equal shares and proportions share and share alike as Tenants in Common, And I appoint the said Richard Dodwell to be my said Trustee of this My Will and I hereby revoke all former and other Wills by me at any time heretofore made, In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 10th day of August One Thousand eight hundred and Fifty Four

Richard Brangwin
Signed published and declared by the said Richard
Brangwin the Testator as and for his last Will and
Testament in the presence of us William Winter and
Mary Spencer at his request in his presence and in the presence
of each of [blot on paper] us have hereunto
subscribed our names as Witnesses
William Winter
Mary Spencer

December 5th Richard Dodwell the Executor according to the tenor of the above written Will
was sworn as usual and that the personal estate of the deceased is under the value of
One hundred pounds Before me ... Frederick Cox ... Surrogate

Proved the 5th December 1854 before the Reverend Frederick Cox Clerk surrogate by the Oath of Richard Dodwell the Executor to whom Administration was committed he being first sworn duly to administer.

[Richard BRANGWIN was born in 1815 at Long Crendon. he was the son of Richard BRANGWIN and Elizabeth née WINTER. See earlier in this newsletter for details of Richard]

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Wendell Finds a Home

Last month the obituary for Wendell B. Brangwyn was included in the Newsletter. At that time he had not been placed into the family at large. We now know that he belongs to the Michigan arm of the family and was the grandson of Guy Brangwin.

We will look at this part of the family soon.

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I hope you have found this edition of the Brangwin Family Newsletter of interest.

I would also like to thank Mike Collins for his profile and the many wonderful photos. Once again, Margaret Brangwyn has provided an interesting array of items for this newsletter. The reports from the Times, the Will of Richard Brangwin, photos and much more. Thank you Margaret for your invaluable assistance.

That's it for this month. Next month we will look at another part of the family. There will be another family member in the spotlight. And who knows what else will be featured!

If you have anything you would like to contribute I would like to hear from you.

Until then next month

Lorraine