Today I have been surfing the 1911 UK Census which is now available online. I found all of my grandparents and great-grandparents, plus some great-greats as well. This is the first Census available where you can see the actual forms as filled out by the householders. Great Grandfather Brown has by far the nicest handwriting:

He was a glazier in 1911 and served in France during World War One – I have copies of his service records. He came back with only partial lung capacity and was never in perfect health again. He died in 1941 during the chaos of London in World War Two. I visited my 89 year old Great Auntie Elsie on this trip just gone and she recalls waiting in the hospital trying to get a doctor to see him, he died before being seen. As it was the middle of the war he didn’t have a proper funeral. Elsie thinks he was buried in a mass  grave.

The ancestor with the most children was my great great grandmother Henrietta with 12, 6 of whom had died by 1911.  Great great grandmother Emily had 10 children, three of whom had died. My great grandmother Helen had lost 4. We tend to forget about the high rates of infant mortality in those days.

I have also been baking banana bread – smells great. I think I put a little too much baking powder in, as the top of the crust has broken and there’s this great tumour shaped lump coming out of the top.