Month: May 2020

Henry Armriding married Frances Elizabeth Laurence at the Parish Church Cheltenham on 7th July 1868. Now how could we not spend time reserching this family?

The Armridings were a family from Preston and we had done some research on this family whilst in Lancashire, waiting for Matilda to be completed. It’s not clear why his father James moved south but presumably is was for work. He married Susan Wilks from Somerset at St Mary’s Cheltenham, on 10 April 1838. They had two children Jane and Henry.

William Laurence below was the father of Frances Elizabeth. He also had 5 sons

We decided to try and find where they lived and where ths businesses were. The Local studies libraian was very helpful and found us some old business directories, street indexes and newspaper cuttings.

1851 Census 15 & 16 Montpellier Street:
William Laurence 38 H M 38 Baby linen maker

1861 Census3 Queens Circus:
William Laurence H M 48 Auctioneer b Frome

1871 Census Badgeworth:

William Lawrence H M 58 Retired Auctioneer b Frome

1881: Arran Lodge Rodney Terrace
William Laurence 69 H M Retired Auctioneer b Frome

Probate
1887 8 January. The will with a codicil of William Laurence late of Tavistock Villa Cheltenham in the County of Gloucester, Gentleman who died 23 December 1886 at Cheltenham was proved at Gloucester by Frederick William Laurence of Tavistock Villa Auctioneer, the son, and Henry Armriding of Leicester Villa, Ranelagh Road, Ealing in the county of Middlesex, Schoolmaster. The Executors Personal Estate £878 18s 10d. Resworn February 1887 £882 13s 10d

1864: Cheltenham & Glos Directory Mrs Laurence Childrens dressmaker. Laurence & sons Auctioneers were in Clarence Parade.
Jeweller: George Laurence 9 Promenade Villas James Laurence: Photograther 121/2 Collonade

We really got to know the centre of Cheltenham!

The rest of the month!

We made three visits to The Roses. The first was to see Christins Rhianoff and her dancers. The theme was Dance to the Music.

Local dance schools had been invited to participate and she spent ages at the end of the show posing for photos with them.

The second visit was to see Frankies Boys who gave a very slick performance! Quite a lot of audience participation!

Our third visit was to watch the film Bombshell. Ironically the following day Harvey Weinstein was sentenced!

A stunning display of snowdrops and purple crocus

Visited a Family History Fair at UWE in Bristol in the hope of help in reserching ancestors. No success in finding the elusive Aldridge Grandfather but a very enjoyable and thought provoking day. We stopped by the Wiltshire stall to say hello. Bought a new web based genealogy programme.

Enjoyed the Civic Society Talk on the Newport Ship so much so that we plan a visit to see the site!

We had our first dance lesson with Robert in Badsey, We are determined to conquer the Foxtrot.

We braved the floods (Good job we had done some off roading training with JLR) and went off to spend the day at the NEC looking around the Caravan and Camping exhibition. Brownhills of Newark kindly provide all their owners with refreshment so we enjoyed a delicious ploughmans lunch.

Caught up with Devizes friend Claire when she was working in Stratford on Avon

Yet another battle with DVLA. In order to drive Henry I need a C1 category on my Driving Licence – it’s automatically removed when you reach a certain age. I had to have a half hour expensive appointment with my GP to check my health and this resulted in an expensive visit to the opticians. Having submitted all the necessary paperwork my licence was returned without the CI category. Aaagh!

And so February comes to an end and my elder grandson Eli has his eleventh bithday.