This page is something of a hybrid. It combines several of my early exercises. It illustrates an idea I have had for a while, of providing family history for our large far flung family, who may not be aware of our history and may not have access to many family photos. The page is an outline of how the web site may start to look.
This page also contains my first use of pictures in a page, and so, along with the family text, there are explanations of how images work in a web page.
THE DOVELL FAMILY IN LONDON
As far as we know, our Great Grandparents arrived in London in the late 1800's. The family had originally been from the West Country, and, having fallen on hard times, some had come to the big city.
Original data, dating back to the early 1700's is provided by our distant cousin Sophie who is a part of the family who stayed in Devon.
Most photos were provided by Ian. Some are mine. If you have any you do not see here and want included, please put them in the Dovell dropbox , email them to me or give to Ian for scanning. They will be added to the site as they arrive
Ian has a written history of the family to go along with the family tree. Margaret has provided her recollections of her early family life. I'm requesting each of us do something similar to Margaret, and I will add things to this page as they arrive.
The following is a part of Ians' work:
Robert George Dovell Born 1879 Died 2 December 1899 Age 20. Buried at
St Pancras & Islington Cemetery Finchley Grave no 13746.
I no longer believe that the above was the son of William Dovell. I
based the original information on a funeral card found in the Dovell
papers. He may have been a cousin to Charles Frederick.
William Dovell Born-- Died--. Occupation carpenter. Married Elizabeth
Priest. The birth certificate of his son registered at 8 May 1838
shows William senior as an ‘inmate of 16 Salisbury Street Strand
London.’ This street was demolished to make way for the Savoy Hotel.
William Edward Dovell Born 19 April 1838 at 16 Salisbury Street Strand
London Died 26 March 1907 Age 69. Buried at St Pancras & Islington
Cemetery Finchley Grave no 18834 Section G. Occupation House Painter
Married Elizabeth Stenlake Born St Pancras London 1839.
In the 1871 cencus the family were living in part of a house at 8
Hollingsworth Street Lower Holloway Finsbury London. In the
ecclesiastical parish of St Davids. Their children are listed as Clara
age 9. Caroline age 7. Eliza age 5. Elizabeth age 3. William age 5
months.
In the cencus of 1881 the family were living at 1 Adam’s Place Lower
Holloway, Islington. In the ecclesiastical parish of St James’s. The
cencus lists 6 children.
HOW TO INSERT PICTURES INTO TEXT ON A WEB PAGE
MARGARET'S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE DOVELLS, SYDNEY ROAD - 1930'S TO 1950'S
I used to enjoy going to stay with my Aunt Bet and her husband Bert at Durham Road Fortis Green N2. Bet & Bert lived on the ground floor and her younger sister Maisie lived upstairs. So that Betty could get a break from me at times I went up to ‘play’ in Maisies. Bert had two red headed twin brothers, who were much younger than him. They used to come over to play at times and then all hell broke lose in the garden, much to Berts annoyance. The Amieses lived in the Seven Sisters Road Tottenham.
images will always precede the text that flows around them. Text will continue to flow until a Break is encountered. < BR CLEAR=LEFT > < BR CLEAR=RIGHT > OR < BR CLEAR=ALL > will stop the text flowing until the end of an image aligned to the left, or to the right , or until all images are cleared.
Our grandmother Agnes had a friend, Mrs Adams who lived in the Church Army Houses on the other side of Sydney Road. Her living room had its walls completely covered in family photos. Mr & Mrs Adams were the complete opposites of Charles & Agnes. No wonder Agnes liked to go over there. Agnes liked a cigarette, she used to buy little packets of 5 Players Weights and keep them hidden until she went across the road to see her friend, Mrs. Adams, when she would have one over a cup of tea.
Mrs Adams would only put her false teeth in to eat and sometimes it seemed as if her chin touched her nose. It used to fascinate me. I don't remember Charles ever having any contact with them.
Agnes also liked her job as a milk and dinner lady at the school opposite. I think because of her puritanical husband, she never said a word out of place so the other dinner ladies gave her the nickname ‘Queeny’. But I'm sure Queeny enjoyed the robust conversations of the kitchen.
Violet, Will's second wife
Vi was a smart dresser, I liked her and used to go around to see them. Often Will was on late shift and a ‘family friend’ would be with Vi. I also liked Tubby (think that was his nickname) They seemed to be pleased to see me, but now I realize they were just being polite. When Vi left I was about 15 or 16 years old, so it must have been 1947 or 48. Will was very cross with me because he thought I must have known what was going on. If I was an adult I probably would have, but not as a silly teenager. I tried to keep in touch with Vi but she didn't respond. I think her new surname is HELAS but can't be sure about that. It may have been her maiden name. Grandad Charles disliked Vi from the start - not sure why.
I was Ann's godmother. Ann was adopted by Vi's second husband so it is possible that she was not Will's daughter. Ann had fair hair. I don't remember much about her as she was only a baby or about 18 months old when the marriage broke up.
The images above were aligned left and right. Images can also align to the TOP, MIDDLE and BOTTOM of the text. Here is an image, showing those 3 different types of alignment -
Margaret’s mother Doff use to talk about having to get up early and go to the bakers in Muswell Hill to buy yesterday's bread cheaply. Was this Wylies of Muswell Hill Broadway where Doff worked when she left school?
Of mealtimes with Charles, glaring at the children, with a cane on the table ready to strike.
(I remember that same table as happy Xmas dinners when all the family came and there had to be 2 sittings for Xmas dinner as there were so many of us)
Dorothy often missed school when Agnes was sick or in childbirth when, as the eldest, she had to stay home to look after the family.
I also remember one Xmas when it was time for the King' speech (always very important) when half way through the battery ran out. A great drama ensued to put in a new one but of course the King had finished by then and it was considered a great disaster that we hadn't heard all of the speech. In those days 196 only had gaslight. Ed had the electricity put on when he was in the workforce.
Of Ed as a happy child with bad eyes and glasses who often got into scraps at school and came home with broken glasses. He was in real trouble. Nothing pleased Ed more that to earn a few pence following the horses and carts with a bucket and then selling collected manure. Doff said he was so pleased to be able to give this money to his Mother.
Ern gained a scholarship to the County School but was not awarded a place, but achieved an education via the Post Office and Civil Service exams - it must have been a route a number of boys took.
Then there was Miss Waklen, a member of the Anglican Church, who did charity work and helped the Dovell family in more ways than I know about. Ed always spoke very highly of her and Doff tells how when she had bad toothache she was sent to Miss Waklen's house to collect a shilling and go to the dentist
John used to be looked after by Charles and he may have some stories.
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