Family Documents
Here are some of the family documents I inherited along with my family photographs.
As you can see, my family hardly ever threw anything out!
Click on any picture for a larger size image.
The sections are:
Certificates - Weddings - War and Aftermath - Deaths - Letter from Gladstone - Old Newspapers - Golden Jubilee 1887 - Bible Christian Hymn Book 1883
Certificates
This section includes vaccination certificates, school certificates and a certificate for "The Quiver" Order of Honourable Service.
Vaccination certificate for Mary Jane Clarke, 1868, under the Vaccination Act 1867.
School certificate for George Westfield Clarke, 1879 and "The Quiver" certificate for Mary Ann Serjeant, 1887.
School certificate for Emma Griffiths, 1904 and Neville Bartlett's running certificate, 1946.
Weddings
This section includes wedding invites and related documents.
Emma Griffiths and George Westfield Clarke - wedding meal menu, wedding invitation card and good luck telegram, 1922.
Mary and Neville's honeymoon hotel (The Grange Hotel, Harrogate), 1954 and the invitation to Dorothy and Cecil Clarke's wedding, 1928.
War and Aftermath
This section includes wartime ID and ration cards, and exemptions from military service.
George Westfield Clarke's First World War ID Card, 1918.
Mary Elin Clarke's ID card, 1948.
Emma Clarke's Clothing Ration Book, 1947 - 48.
Frank Neville Bartlett's certificate of exemption from military service, 1916.
It says:
George Westfield Clarke
18th July 1918
Age: 45,
Height: 5 feet 4 inches,
Weight: 102½ lb,
Hair: dark brown,
Complexion:
Sallow,
Eyes: Blue.
George Westfield Clarke's certificate of exemption from military service, 1918.
Deaths
This section includes just a small selection of the funeral cards I inherited.
Funeral cards for Mary Jane Clarke, 1908 and John Clarke, 1867.
These cards were in George Westfield Clarke's writing desk. Mary Jane Clarke was an older sister and John Clarke must be a relative but I don't yet know where he fits in.
Funeral card for Sarah Anne Feltham (née Clarke), 1891.
Receipt from Leicester Cemetery for interment of Joshua Clarke and Joshua Clarke's funeral card, 1899.
George Westfield Clarke's funeral card, 1954.
Letter from Gladstone
In 1885 James Elijah Bartlett was Honorary Secretary of Lowestoft Liberal Club and wrote to Prime Minister Gladstone. Unfortunately I don't have his letter, but below is the reply from Gladstone's office.
Letter from Gladstone, 1885. I found this in my grandfather Frank's attic after he died in 1981.
The fall of General Gordon in Khartoum, Sudan, in January 1885 was a major blow to Gladstone's popularity and this letter is written in March that year. Gladstone resigned in June.
Old Newspapers
My grandfather, George Westfield Clarke was a firm believer in social justice, and kept this newspaper from the 1932 National Hunger March.
When my mother, Mary Elin Bartlett (née Clarke) was in her eighties, she surprised everyone by speaking Polish to nursing home staff.
Presumably she met Polish airmen stationed in Britain in World War Two and collected this 1941 Polish Free Forces newspaper at this time.
Read more on the Polish resistance movement in World War Two.
Golden Jubilee 1887
A very tattered programme from Northampton's celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in June 1887.
Bible Christian Hymn Book 1883
A Bible Christian hymn book given to William Henry Drew's mother, Maria Thorne, on 7th August 1883 - read about it here (PDF file, opens in a new window). Thanks to Stewart Free for sending me this file.