With no one with living memory of him alive, or stories written down, there's a need to clarify what we know about my maternal great grand father George Charles Beech Hooper and his family of origin before it is too late... From notes written on the back of a photograph by my mother, Paula, we find...
"Grandpa Hooper (George Charles Beech Hooper) was 73/74 when he died--appears to have been born in 1846. He was born in Wiltshire - Bath - home 'Bradford on Avon'. His family home, 'Murhill House' B-on-Avon. He went to Blue Coat School, W'shire. There was an Aunt Fanny. Also Edith Crutwell - Auntie Min (Fanny Emily Mary Rose nee Hooper b 1877) used to write to her. Her son Hugh Crutwell was Secretary to the Governor of Hong Kong. During World War II his wife Joyce and first born (at that time only child) Martin were evacuated to Sydney and stayed with Auntie Min for a time. Hugh's father was an historian at Oxford University." _______________________________--- While largely correct, after checking carefully through a range records, also speaking with my sister, it seems that the following edited version may be more correct. I've also added some additional historical information. "Grandpa Hooper (George Charles Beech Hooper) was 73/74 when he died--appears to have been born in 1846. He was born in Wiltshire - Bath - home 'Bradford on Avon'. His family home, 'Murhill House' B-on-Avon. He went to Blue Door School, W'shire. There was Edith Crutwell. Auntie Min (Fanny Emily Mary Rose nee Hooper b 1877) used to write to her. There was also an Aunt Fanny, Grandpa Hooper's sister whose son, Hugh McAuley Crutwell, who attended Bath Gr school and studied History at Oxford, graduating in 1890, was a teacher. Hugh McAuley Crutwell's son Humphrey John Crutwell, recorded by Paula as "Secretary to the Governor of Hong Kong" was certainly a 'Civil Servant, HK' and listed under that occupation in the records of the Stanley Internment Camp in Hong Kong. He appears to have been held at the Stanley Internment Camp by the Japanese from early 1942 to the end of World War II and is recorded in a fellow detainee's journal as having taught German classes while there. "During World War II his wife Joyce and first born (at that time only child) Martin were evacuated to Sydney and stayed with Auntie Min for a time". Possibly a distant cousin, .... Crutwell was an historian at Oxford University, ........, was typecast in many of the novels of Evelyn Waugh. (Still under construction....) |
The Journey ...An 'occasional blog' recording elements of my renewed family history journey. This is the second wave in my 'family history' journey. The first lasted from 2010 to 2014. with intermittent bursts since then. It's time to revisit, to share more stories, to edit, to tackle uncertainties... Categories
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