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Critchleys of Nottingham
This photo is of my mother and a man who may be my biological father. On the back it is dated 19th March 1944, Mansfield Notts. My family sees likenesses to me in the man.
My name is Tony Wright, christened Anthony and born on July 7th 1945 in Bournemouth and brought up in Uxbridge before boarding school in Hampshire, working in London and emigrating to Sydney, Australia in 1976, where I now live. I was raised by Ernest Wright, known as Ben, who I believed was my father until last year when, aged 78, I learned that he was not my biological father. This was a shock, although not really a surprise, as I was unlike him in looks and character.
My mother was in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) at the time.
We believe the man may be Richard Harry Critchley born 23 May 1922 in Nottingham, son of Harold Marcus and Hettie Elizabeth. Richard died 24 June 2012. I have a lot of information about the Critchleys but would love to be able to connect this man to them.
My mother, Margaret Thomson, known as Peggy, was born in Wolverhampton on 27th February 1924. Her parents, my grandparents ran a general store in Whitmore Reans. Her Scottish father drove a motor bike and side car and had lost the first half of his forefinger. It was rumoured that he shot it off to escape the first World War. My mother joined the WAAF and she admitted that she and a Welsh women friend had a wild time of it. She met ‘Ben’, RAF pilot who later became a senior captain for British Airways and was awarded a Queens Commendation for services to flying, at RAF Shawbury, Shropshire, used for flying training and navigation training during World War 11. They married in April 1945, when she was 6 months pregnant with me. Apparently, Ben confided in some family members that he thought that I would be better off if he married my mother. I knew nothing of this until last year.
My mother was a character, she worked at Pinewood Studios after the war as an executive secretary and knew many of the movie stars of the day. She also raced Stock Cars at the weekend and was often seen at Denham Flying Club. She and Ben were divorced when I was 10 years old. Peggy remarried and moved to Guernsey with her second husband where she raised a second son.
Of my biological father I know very little, in the tumultuous times of the second World War, it is easy to imagine how young people were thrown together with an uncertain sense of the future. That he was serving in the forces is very likely, in the RAF probably, and maybe based at Shawbury, but a location near her home of Wolverhampton is also plausible. My half-brother in Guernsey, where he lived with my mother, has unearthed the above photo.
I am keen to find any information on the Critchley family to whom I believe I am related. In particular I would wish to identify the photograph of my mother.
Kind regards
Tony Wright
www.freshperspectives.com.au0
061 417 447 242
Grettons’ of Newark, Carlton & Gedling
My name is Richard Gretton born in Derby 9th February 1950. My father, John Thomas, was also born in Derby and was the son of William Gretton. William was born in Newark-on-Trent 8th September 1860 to parents Levi and Ann (nee’ Adams).
Levi and Ann’s other children were Henry (born 1845), Joseph (born 1847), Sarah Ann (born 1849), Harriet (born 1851), John (born 1854) and Thomas (born 1862).
In my search of the family history to date I have gathered a considerable amount of information on the travels, occupations and children of William and his siblings. Most of them, from what I have found, moved away from Newark at some point in their lives spreading as far as West Yorkshire and Derbyshire.
There are currently two things I am researching and would love to hear from anyone who may be able to help. The first is Joseph who spent nearly all his working as a Baker. The 1871 Census records him as a ‘Journeyman Baker’ living at 20 Parliament Street, Newark. By the time of the 1881 Census, he was recorded as a Baker & Confectioner’ living at 42 Balderton Gate, Newark. He was married to Sarah (nee’ Squires) and they had three children, John James (age 6), Ann Ada (age 5) and Ethel (age 1). As well as family members visiting at the time, there are also two servants, and another Baker recorded as living at the address. My question is, did he own his own bakers’ shop and was it where they were living, particularly as he was obviously earning enough to be able to employ two servants?
My second area of research is that of Levi’s parentage. Levi was baptised 12th February 1817 in All Hallow’s Church Gedling. The actual date of his birth has yet to be confirmed so I am currently (rightly or wrongly) using this date. The Baptism Register entry records his father as Joseph and mother as Sarah. Joseph’s occupation is that of Labourer and their abode as Carlton. I have also found an entry in the same Baptism Register for a Noah Gretton for the 12th February 1819 and again on 31st December 1821 also for a Noah Gretton. Both records have Joseph and Sarah as parents and living in Carlton, but Joseph is recorded as a F.W.K., which I assume is Framework Knitter. Is this the same Joseph and Sarah?
Any help with the above is welcome.
Richard Gretton
Email: rgretton4079@gmail.com
Mobile: 07914 007825