The Ashby Family of Radnage

The Faces of Our Ancestors – Locating Family Photographs

In my last post I wrote about my great-great-grandfather, Frederick Ashby (1893-1963), of Radnage, Buckinghamshire. Fred was known to his family as ‘Happy’. I knew snippets about his life, pieced together from a number of sources and from oral history. Happy was the son of a chair turner, Alfred Ashby (1858-1935), who was also the licensee of The Three Horseshoes public house in Radnage. His mother, Elizabeth Ashby née Bird (1863-1951), was a lacemaker and lace beader; a popular cottage industry in the local area. Revisiting Happy’s life helped me connect with distant family and learn more about the Ashby family. It also led me to discover family photographs that I had never seen before.

There’s always more to learn about our ancestors, even if we already think we know a lot of information. This post outlines some of the discoveries I made after connecting with distant family members.

Cousin Connections and Collaboration

It is said that blogging about your ancestors is good ‘cousin bait’ that helps connect you with distant living relatives. These connections may help unlock secrets and stories about your ancestors that were previously unknown. It was still a surprise when I received a number of emails from distant relations. When I first started researching (many years ago), the online chat boards and surname interest lists were one of the key ways that helped me locate family photographs and collaborate. One chat board that I would recommend is Roots Chat https://www.rootschat.com/.

The first email I received was from a descendant of Happy’s brother, John Ashby (1884-1974). John Ashby has also served with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Private 202612. He enlisted on 11th December 1915 and was discharged on 3rd April 1918 due to ‘wounds’, and received the silver war badge. This badge was to be worn on civilian clothes to show that the individual had served with honour. You may have heard about the ‘White Feather Girls’ who presented a white feather of cowardice to men of military age. The silver war badge therefore served a practical purpose as a symbol that showed that a man had done his part, preventing him being accosted and publicly shamed. Both John and Frederick Ashby were awarded silver war badges.

When I asked if my newly found cousin had any photographs of Frederick and John Ashby’s parents, I was told that they didn’t believe there were any but that they would check. It was exciting when a I received an email with a photograph of ‘Granny Ashby’ attached. The photo had been labelled by my cousin’s father. It showed Elizabeth sitting in the entrance of a cottage with her lacemaking pillow on her lap.

I had been searching for a photograph of Elizabeth for some time, believing that one may have existed as she passed away in 1951. It was amazing to be finally looking at the face of my great-great-great grandmother. Elizabeth Bird married Alfred Ashby at 19 years of age on 15th November 1880 at Radnage, Buckinghamshire. The entry in the parish register shows her occupation as ‘lacemaker’. This would likely have been a skill she learnt as a young girl. It’s great to see ‘lacemaker’ recorded in the parish register as women’s occupations were not always recorded in records.

One of the leading lace dealers in the area was a man named Thomas Gilbert. Gilbert’s business became successful and he exhibited his pillow lace at the Great London Exposition in 1862. Incidentally, my maternal grandfather told me a story that his grandmother’s lace was shown at the exhibition. His grandmother was Martha Castle née Bryant (1847-1931).

Gilbert filed for bankruptcy in 1876 and his business was liquidated in 1878. The industry started to die out in the local area as a result and lace beading started to take over. Elizabeth is shown as a lace beader in the 1881 census but lace beading was not a very well paid job. The local lace making industry declined, partly due to the fact that Buckinghamshire lace could be copied by machine. I am grateful to Susan Holmes of the Woodlander’s Lives and Landscapes project for her help and articles on lacemaking. [1] This was a connection that was made through volunteering with the project.

Diaries of a Local Resident

Ernest Alfred Maunder (1900-1971) was a resident of Radnage and kept a diary from 1933 until his death in 1971. He recorded many of the births, marriages and deaths of the local community. Ernest bequeathed his diaries to his granddaughter in his will.

The diary from 1935 records the death of my great-great-great grandfather, Alfred Ashby. On Sunday 25th August 1935 it is noted: ‘Mr Ashby died Wichell’. It is not clear what ‘Wichell’ refers to but some entries record where the death occurred. Deaths were always framed by a rectangular boarder.

Whilst on a research trip in Buckinghamshire, I came across an image online of the Ashby family. This discovery was made totally by chance but the lady in the photograph was clearly a younger Elizabeth Ashby. This was a family group photograph so included Alfred and Elizabeth Ashby and their children. It was possible to work out who the children were using other records. John Ashby looked very much like the photograph I had been sent of him as an adult. I made contact with the person who had uploaded the photo who helped me arrange a meeting with the photograph’s owner, a 92 year old lady who had married the son of Frederick’s brother, Alfred Ashby Jnr. (1903-1949).

The children shown are: Annie Druscilla Ashby (1881-1964) who married Alfred Stallwood; John Ashby (1884-1974) who married Eliza Stone and then Ethel Lucy May; Alice Eliza Ashby (1887-1908); Wallace Ashby (1889-1917) who died in WWI; and my great-great grandfather, Frederick Ashby (1893-1964). The ages of the children date the photo to c.1895. I was now able to glimpse into the past and look at the faces of my ancestors from over 125 years ago.

At the meeting was another son of Alfred Ashby Jnr. (1903-1949) who showed me copies of a photograph he had of ‘Granny Ashby’ and helped me to locate the cottage that was shown in both photos.

The cottage in the photo was the same as the first photograph, where Elizabeth was sat with her lace making pillow. My cousin explained that this was Lantern Cottage, which now has a tiled roof and is a listed building. More details about the property can be found at the following links:

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1125760

https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101125760-lantern-cottagethree-cottages-radnage

The many connections made with distant cousins and other individuals allowed me to discover more about the lives of my ancestors. Collaboration has helped add to my family story, whether through locating records held in archives or personal collections, through DNA research or oral history.

There’s always more to discover!

[1] Holmes, Susan, The Story of Thomas Gilbert, Lace Dealer of Wycombe, 2022, available at: https://www.chilternsaonb.org/news/458/19/The-story-of-Thomas-Gilbert-Lace-Dealer-of-Wycombe.html, accessed: 29th April 2022.

© Richard Holt, Holt’s Family History Research, 2022