ToniLouisa

Joseph Bowers Abram

December 28, 2017January 15, 2021 ToniLouisaLeave a comment

Joseph Bowers Abram was the first child born to my great grandparents Joseph Charles and Millicent May Abram.

Growing up I remember often being told about Joseph, although at the time we did not know the child’s name, born to my great grandparents during time they had spent in South Africa. My great grandfather was stationed in Tempe, Pretoria on army service and Millicent was there with him.

There was no military conflict in South Africa that would have caused them to be there but there was a substantial military presence in South Africa following the
creation of the Union at the end of the Anglo-Boer War in 1899-1902 and some British Army units remained stationed in South Africa until the beginning of the First World War.

The British had occupied the town of Bloemfontein and Tempe became a military base – Bloemfontein, as the capital of the Boer Orange Free State Republic and a large town, was established as one of the new Union’s administrative centres and consequently had a local military garrison, Tempe. Today, the Tempe base is reported to be one of the largest Army bases in South Africa.

My grandmother recalled being shown a photograph of the child’s grave which Joseph Charles is said to have carried in his wallet but the photograph can no longer be found – the grave was surrounded by iron railings made by my great grandfather, who worked as a Farrier (a blacksmith – specialising in shoeing horses, a skill that requires not only the ability to shape and fit horseshoes, but also the ability to clean, trim, and shape a horse’s hooves).

However, for many years the search for information about the child proved to be fruitless. Requests for help locating documents or a photo of the grave ran cold. The child was nothing more than an often told family story – there was no evidence he had ever lived.

Eventually information about the child did emerge – a boy, named Joseph Bowers Abram (Joseph after his father and Bowers, his mothers maiden name) was found to have been born on 11 March 1913 – he was baptised less than a month later on 4 April 1913 in Bloemfontein Cathedral, Orange Free State, South Africa.

Detail of the baptism of Joseph Bowers Abram, 4 April 1913

Sadly, Joseph lived for two short months – he died of enteritis and heart failure. Joseph and Milly May returned to England soon after. I can only imagine how it much have felt to leave their baby so far away.

2009

Around 2009 my dad made contact with a cemetery recording project, they advised they had the following information on a DVD.

ABRAM, Joseph
Buried: Rooidam Military Cemetery, Tempe, District Bloemfontein, Free
State, RSA
Note: Joseph Abram
Son of S Sgt Abram. Died 1908-1913 during occupation of Tempe

The information he was told was taken from a headstone recording done in 1993 by Holden, P and Botha but sadly the information did not lead to a photo of the grave.

Both of us also made contact with The Commonwealth War Graves Commission. They advised their responsibility for graves in Rooidam Military Cemetery was limited to the war graves and those of soldiers from the Anglo-Boer War. The cemetery contained many private graves of the soldiers family members but many of the private memorials had deteriorated over time or disappeared and The Commonwealth War Graves Commission did not have records of the civilian burials in Rooidam Military cemetery.

A member of staff kindly visited and checked the private headstones that still existed but was unable to locate any that related to Joseph Bowers Abram which was terribly sad, as it appeared there had been a headstone in 1993. He went on to advise that many infants appear to have been buried in a plot to the rear left of the central avenue but unfortunately few headstones remain. He sent the photograph of the cemetery below but could not confirm this was where Joseph was actually buried.

Rooidam Military Cemetary

Further images of the cemetery can be found below.

Rooidam Military Cemetery

2018

Then in February 2018, when trying to pull together everything I knew into one place to write this story, I decided to do an internet search for ‘the occupation of Tempe’ – I wanted to know why my great grandfather was there and why Tempe was occupied. I didn’t find the answers to my questions but the search did lead to me discovering four photos of the Tempe memorial which named both my great grandfather and his son.

Tempe memorial

Further images of the Tempe memorial can be found below.

Tempe Memorial

This was swiftly followed by a church burial record and death entry.

Death entry for Joseph Bowers Abram

form-of-information-of-death-joseph-bowers-abram

Joseph Bowers Abram burial certificate

Armed with the new information I had obtained, I made contact with the South Africa War Graves Project. They wrote back and advised that a visit to the Rooidam Cemetery had not identified the location of the grave – there are quite a few crosses with no names etc and open patches where you can see there’s a grave but no stone etc.

Updating this story in March 2018, I now believe the chance of locating an individual grave is unlikely – it has been suggested to me that there might have been an individual grave at sometime with or without a headstone. It has also been suggested to me that the graves could have been flattened and the memorial erected and/or the people named on the memorial could be buried at the site of the memorial. Whether we ever find this out remains to be seen – we may never know.

However, finally, the burial certificate shows the place where baby Joseph is buried and whilst the Tempe memorial is not the individual grave dad and I had been searching for, the memorial, clearly names Joseph and his father Staff Sergeant Abram – evidence that the baby who lived for only two short months has not been forgotten.

Acknowledgements

Many people helped in piecing together the history that appears on this page. Thank you in no particular order and hoping I haven’t missed anyone to Sandy Botha at Bloemfontein Cathedral, Terry Cawood and Glen at the South Africa War Graves Project, the eGGSA library, Cheryl Jacobs on the South African Genealogy Facebook page for providing the links to to the church burial record and the death entry, Riana le Roux, Rod Carkett at the Commonweath War Graves Commission, Rob Palmer at British Military History and the Ministry of Defence Army Secretariat in Andover.

Spaceathlon: a fundraising challenge

May 11, 2016May 12, 2016 ToniLouisaLeave a comment

During May my dad and I will be taking part in a Spaceathlon Challenge to raise funds for the Neuromuscular Centre (NMC) in Cheshire, where we both attend for physiotherapy treatment. The NMC is a national Centre of Excellence for adults with muscular dystrophy, providing ongoing, specialist physiotherapy, employment and training, advice and support to 1,000 individuals (and their friends, families, and carers) affected by neuromuscular conditions. The centre is also a charity, but its services are free for its service users, many of whom travel from across the country and further afield to access the knowledge and expertise available.

Neuromuscular conditions affect over 70,000 individuals in the UK and range in severity, onset and presentation. Some conditions are diagnosed at birth, while others do not become apparent until later in life, as was the case with dad and me. However, all conditions present challenges and affect independence, mobility and quality of life and all share one unifying feature, muscle weakness, which is often progressive and can lead to changes in the ability to walk, climb stairs, washing and dressing. Individuals affected by neuromuscular conditions are often less mobile, less able to access active exercise and therefore more at risk of secondary health problems in the future.

You can learn more about the NMC and neuromuscular conditions in the short film below – hit the triangle in the middle of the screen and it plays like magic.

Toni and Mike

Dad and I began attending the NMC shortly after getting our diagnosis of centronuclear myopathy and are incredibly fortunate that it is almost on our doorstep. Finding the NMC was a godsend, for on getting our diagnosis, we were told there were very few others in the world with the illness, that there was no treatment and that no long term prognosis could be provided. In addition no counselling was given to help us come to terms with what our futures held and to enable us to deal with our diagnosis emotionally.

For a while previously, I had attended a physiotherapy clinic at my local hospital – the physio who was not trained to understand muscle diseases would spend considerable time twisting and moulding my body and placing my feet and arms in a particular way, only for me to immediately ‘flop’ the moment she left me to stand alone because my muscles are simply not strong enough and therefore totally resisted this regularly prescribed type of physio treatment. Attending for physio at the NMC however is a different matter entirely. My treatment is designed for me and rather than trying to make my body work normally or trying to cure me, the focus is on maintaining the movement and flexibility that I currently have for as long as possible. My physios understand muscle disease and always take the time to ask about recurring problems or whether there are any new issues since my last visit and are able to offer a number of ‘on site’ solutions for regular or one off aches and pains, such as an infra red heat lamp, ultrasound and ‘wellies’ which help with circulation problems.

Attending the centre has also connected my father and I to others with muscle diseases and although they have different conditions to us (there are 60 to 70 types of MD), they understand what we are going through, as we all experience similar physical problems. The NMC also provides other types of support, for instance they were able to advise me on an Access to Work scheme and provide me with a letter of support to give to my employer and I know that should I require any other assistance in the future, they would be there for me.

Without the NMC my father and I would still be living with the knowledge that we have a chronic health condition but feeling very isolated and not knowing where to turn for help and support and although we are both aware that our condition is progressing and that there is no cure for us, attending the NMC has enabled us to re-gain some control in the battle against our disease. We are grateful to have found a sort of home inside the walls of the NMC and taking part in the Spaceathlon, is an opportunity for dad and I to give something back by taking part in a fundraising activity for the centre. Also to raise awareness of the work of the centre and the benefits of exercise for people with muscle conditions, as well as improving our own fitness.

The challenge

Inspired by British Astronaut Tim Peake, the effects of zero gravity during space flights which cause astronauts to experience loss of muscle tissue and bone density and the Space to Earth Challenge set by Tim to get fit with him, the aim of the Spaceathlon is simple, to encourage the whole NMC community to contribute to a cumulative distance of 460km (the maximum distance between the earth and the ISS) by taking part in physical activities and to raise funds for the centre in the process.

Research indicates that exercise (at an appropriate intensity and frequency) is beneficial for individuals with muscle conditions, not only in providing a stimulus to maintain muscle strength but also improving whole body fitness and reducing soft tissue tightness and pain. So the NMC has asked their clients to think about their own levels of activity and to set themselves a challenge. This could take the form of a specific time or distance or simply doing a little more active exercise than usual (as is the case with dad and I), with some clients aiming to cover a half marathon distance on the centres bespoke, wheelchair accessible arm and leg pedals, swimming the length of the ISS in the hydrotherapy pool or rowing to the stratosphere. While some are incorporating three elements to their Spaceathlon challenge, linking it with the triathlon theme.

The science bit

So how does Tim Peake and the Space to Earth Challenge relate to neuromuscular conditions? The progressive nature of muscle conditions is similar to observations made of astronauts in space. After five months in orbit above the earth an astronaut would typically lose as much as 40% of muscle and 12% of bone mass. Therefore astronauts have to undergo daily rigorous exercise to try to help counteract the loss of bone and muscle fibre, together with other risks such as shrinking legs due to fluid redistribution, deterioration of weight baring bonus and muscles and forgetting how to walk, that come with living in microgravity. And just like like an astronaut, if people with neuromuscular conditions don’t exercise, their muscles will waste away faster still, so some physical activity, despite what people might think, is really important. It is not at all easy but helps with cardiorespiratory fitness, energy efficiency, weight management and muscle performance – exercising muscles maintains flexibility, length and strength and helps maintain better function for longer.

Similar to a thermostat that only maintains a temperature when it is needed, bodies only maintain or build muscle when muscles are used repeatly. This is why body builders are able to gain muscle bulk by repeated weight lifting and also the reason why astronauts need to do so much exercise when in space – where the lack of gravity reduces the stimulation the body would normally receive from physical activity, taking away muscle tissue and bone it believes to be unnecessary. This mechanism is reproduced in neuromuscular conditions, where reduced activity and reliance upon powered mobility aids such as wheelchairs, leads to a reduction in muscle mass.

And finally

The NMC is a charity and 60% of the running costs of the centre come from fundraising, so if you are able to spare even a couple of pounds, dad and I would be incredibly grateful. Visit our JustGiving page below to make a donation – it will inspire us to walk and pedal even harder and enable us to give something back, to the place that helps keep us and so many others with muscular dystrophy going. And for progress reports on how we are getting on, keep checking the page – we will update this as we go along.

JustGiving

Further information

There’s no place like home

April 3, 2016April 5, 2019 ToniLouisa1 Comment

Going through old family photos, I have come across photos of places my family have lived. Below is a brief history of some of the places my family have called home.

39 Woodbridge Close, Luton

My first home was 39 Leagrave Close, Luton and it was here that I was born. My mum had wanted to give birth to me in hospital as I was her first baby but the doctor felt she was young and healthy, so a home birth it was.

Woodbridge Close was my parents first home after they were married in March 1967 and I came along in May 1971. The house was a mid terrace in a block of three properties and a new build which cost £4,250. Dad told me the heating/hot water came from a coal fired back burner in living room. The house had three radiators, the coal fire had to be refilled two to three times a day and an ash box emptied each morning.

Langport Drive, Vicars Cross

When I was seven months old we moved to Chester. My parents bought a new three bedroom house on Langport Drive in Vicars Cross for just under £5,000, after the first buyers pulled out and we moved in on 9 December 1971. At the time of purchase the house had just a gas fire in living room and my parents had to find a plumber to fit the central heating.

The houses were built by Thomas Warrington Homes Limited and are a mix of bungalows, detached and semi detached properties, most of which have very recogisable windows on the front of the property – one large window divided up into many smaller windows. The bedroom windows overlooking the road had two similar smaller windows, with wooden shutters and mock black iron hinges. Today the windows still remain but the shutters and black hinges have now mostly be taken down.

My friend Ian and his sister Helen lived a few doors up the road in a detached property – their house was the last house on the right of the street. I remember it had a larger back garden than the rest of the houses and to the side of their house, out the front, there was a piece of land on which the children from the street would often play. The land signalled the top of the cul-de-sac, behind which a hedge was planted to separate the road from the busy A41 which ran directly behind it.

The black and white photos below show Ian and me as bables outside of my parents house. The colour photos show Ian and me with our sisters Helen and Rachel.

Poplars Close, Luton

Poplars Close was my grandparents house until I was about 11 when they moved to Chester. I remember visiting my grandparents and also, because it was so close, getting to visit London and go the theatre at the same time which was always a treat.

The property was a large two bedroom bungalow called ‘Robin Hill’. The property was a large two bedroom bungalow, with a large garden out the back. I remember a greenhouse where my grandfather grew tomatoes and looking at the the photos today, I am struck by the size of the garden and how pretty it was. My grandfather must have spent a lot of time out there and I wish I could have talked to him about it, as I have grown to love gardens too and I think he could have taught me a thing or two.

Earls Barton

My great grandfathers Albert Edward William Clarke and my great grandfather Joseph Charles Abram lived about 100 yards away from one another on Earls Barton. More information about both men can be found on this website.

32 Mears Ashby Road, Earls Barton

Mears Ashby Road was the home of my great grandfather, Joseph Charles Abram. Named ‘Rockaway’, it was a three bedroom semi detached house and was one of two houses which we believe he built after he retired from the army.

My dad and granddad lived in this house for around 4 – 5 months in 1952 too because my grandmother was in hospital. Dad remembers the property had a large flower garden but also a large area for growing vegetables. He explained to me that gardens were much bigger than they are today and growing vegetables had been encouraged during the war years as part of the Grow for Victory campaign.

The Limes, Earls Barton

My great grandfather Albert Edward William Clarke lived at The Limes. The house still stands today. Photos of the property can be seen below.

The Limes

The Rag Trade

April 3, 2016February 28, 2021 ToniLouisa2 Comments

My mum has always been good with a needle and thread and when she left school, her first jobs were in the textile industries.

Mum first worked for a company called Kayser Bonder in Biggleswade. The underwear made by the company, was known throughout the world during the 1950’s and 1960’s and Biggleswade was home to one of its factories for 53 years. The letter shown below was sent to my mum prior to her starting work at Kayser Bondor. She was fifteen years old at the time.

Mum also worked as a sewing machinist for Skirtex undertaking piece work (a type of work which pays a fixed rate for each unit produced or action performed regardless of time) and at Electrolux as an armature winder, both in Luton.

The photo below was taken at Skirtex. Mum is stood directly behind Father Christmas, to the right of a woman wearing glasses, who I know was called Connie, because I met her once. Mum tells me the women had a radio and would sing while they worked and I can imagine them singing along loudly and giving hell to any man who walked across their factory floor.

Later, mum made clothes for my sister and I and also for my dolls – I still have a bag full of them, seemingly unable to throw them away, even though I am now much too old for such things.

Then, almost forty years after mum began work with Kayser Bondor, she took early retirement and began making quilts. Turns out she is pretty amazing at it too and has won awards for her work. Mum’s quilts are displayed on her website below.

Diane Abram Quiltmaker

Up in the air

March 27, 2016November 4, 2022 ToniLouisaLeave a comment

When he was young dad was a member of the London Gliding Club on Dunstable Downs. Bedfordshire. He trained as a glider pilot and was ready to go solo but never saw the training through as he needed the money to buy a home. The photo below was taken at the Scottish Gliding Centre in 1962. The plane is a Slingby T31 trainer.

However, he retained an interest in flying over the years and for four years in the mid 1960s he worked at Luton airport as a duty crewman in the airport fire service which he described as fire, security and any jobs the airport commandant requested to maintain smooth running of the airport.

The airport was opened in 1938 by Sir Kingsley Wood, MP, the Secretary For Air, at which time it was known as the the Luton Aerodome and featured a flying demonstration by Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in 1930 and who set a string of other records throughout her career.

Newspaper articles from the opening of Luton Aerodrome.

More photos

School days

March 5, 2016May 16, 2018 ToniLouisa2 Comments

My sister and I spent our childhood in a place called Vicars Cross in Chester. The house we grew up in was on Langport Port Drive, a cul-de-sac and part of a large estate, with two schools, the Square One youth centre (the Youthie), a scout hut (here my dad would disappear one weekend a year for the Jamboree on the Air event, making radio contact with scout and guide groups around the world), a pub, a church, a library and a shopping parade with a home and garden store (later a chemist), post office, newsagent and greengrocers (Meloncauli) right on our doorstep.

Oldfield infant school was two minutes walk from our house, which mostly meant we got to go home for lunch. I remember milk time (milk was delivered in crates by the milk man and each pupil received a bottle of milk to drink each day) and a tuck shop. Mrs Cope was my teacher and I remember her teaching us patchwork. Mrs Hale was the headteacher – I remember she had a glockenspiel in her office and the sound the wooden bars made when they were hit. I also remember Mrs Simpson – she once told us that it snowed on her wedding day in June. (I have learned in recent years that snow fell in the UK in June 1975, halting a Derbyshire versus Lancashire cricket game).

The junior school was a hop, skip and jump along a path which took you across the school playing fields to the larger school which still stands – the infant school has now been demolished and today houses stand in its place. Here we were prepared for attending high school, so lessons were more structured but I also remember singing (the headteacher, Miss Payne I think, trying to get us to sing The Beatles ‘When I’m 64’ and gently reprimanding the boys who really weren’t feeling it) and country dancing classes in the school hall.

I don’t remember there ever being any question that Rachel and I would attend the local schools or go to the same schools as one another, it was just the way things were then. Rachel and I both attended the same high school too, in the pretty nearby village of Christleton.

History of Christleton High School

Each school day we would get the bus with other pupils or at least try to – there was always lots of pushing and shoving and shouting and not being the pushing and shoving and shouting type, I frequently landed up standing, as the bulging bus made its way along the winding roads to the school. I really don’t know how the drivers put up with us – we were perfectly horrid.

I remember my first day at Christleton High School very clearly – it was a sprawling metropolis compared to my earlier schools and I felt very much like a small fish in a big pond, with my huge school bag full of books. I guess the school must have realised that the younger pupils might feel this way though, as there were two playgrounds – one for years one to three and a second one for the older pupils including the sixth formers, who all seemed very grown up and had a room at the school just for them.

English and Home Economics were my favourite classes. Maths and science, not so much. One year I got straight A’s in Religious Education (RE). No one was more surprised than me. Called to Mr Birch’s office (the deputy headteacher), I thought I was in trouble but was rewarded with a stick of rock.

There were a number of school canteens and we had to eat with members of our school house. I remember we used to cover our school books in wrapping paper – maybe to protect them or maybe to be individual, anyhow, it was the thing to do. Also, we had two school uniforms, a winter uniform and a summer uniform made with fabric from Laura Ashley. It seemed that every year we would petition for the girls to be able to wear trousers during the winter months but this was never allowed. I also remember my science teacher, Mr Bradley shaving his beard off for charity and everyone crowding into the school hall to watch.

End of year assemblies were held in the sports hall, the only place big enough for the whole school to congregate and I remember sitting on the hard stone floor, usually reserved for tennis, football and five a side. One year I remember a teacher telling us all we would not need to know Pythagoras Theorem once we left school. He was right but they made us learn it anyway … the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. Why I still remember that I have no idea and more importantly, what does it mean?

There were no proms back then but on my last day, 22 May 1987, I took my camera into school and took photos of my school friends and we signed books and school shirts to wish one another well. By this time, I was pretty much going in for exams and revision sessions only – I remember spending a lot of time with my friends Emma and Claire at their home in the village and walking home with friends along the canal.

Later that summer, I started work as a YTS trainee earning £28.50 a week which at the time seemed like a small fortune and with which I think purchased a George Michael single and some makeup. At the time of writing this, it has been almost 30 years since I left school, sometimes it seems only yesterday, at others, a lifetime away.

More photos

Read all about it

March 5, 2016March 5, 2016 ToniLouisaLeave a comment

Margaret and my Australian family

February 8, 2016February 8, 2016 ToniLouisaLeave a comment

Putting together these pages, I have felt incredibly fortunate to know so much and have so many photos of my family and I am indebted to Margaret Creighton (nee Abram) for sharing so much of the Abram family history with me.

Margaret is my dads second cousin once removed and the daughter of Reginald Abram, one of the many children of my great great grandparents Charles and Emily. After the first world war ended, Charles and Emily stayed in England and Charlie and Millicent (my great grandparents) settled in England too but many of the family emigrated to Australia, with Reg going in approximately 1922 – 1923.

Below are some photos of my Australian family.

Photo one: Margaret with husband Graham, mother Connie (wife of Reginald Abram, one of the children of my great grandparents Charles and Emily) and sister Joan, 20 March 1093
Photo two: Margaret and Graham with Connie aged 90 1/2 years holding her great grandson Robert, also Robert’s mother Teenga
Photo three: Margaret’s eldest child Rodney with wife Jenny
Photo four: Margaret’s middle child, Greg
Photo five: Margaret’s youngest child Andrea

The pommie mafia

January 23, 2016April 7, 2021 ToniLouisaLeave a comment

The photo below was given to me by my relative Margaret Creighton who lives in Australia. It shows my great great grandparents Charles and Emily Abram (nee Hutchings) pictured front and centre, with their youngest daughter Violet, seated in between and surrounded by many of their children. Margaret’s father was Reginald (Reg) Abram and is pictured on the back row of the photo. When Margaret gave me the photo, she told me her husband used to refer to it as ‘the pommie mafia’.

Back row, from left to right: Will, Frank, Walter, Mabel, Albert, George, Louis, Reg, Will (Millie’s husband), Bet-Martha (Louis’s wife), George (Frank’s son),
Front row, left to right: Gladys (daughter), Alice (Will’s wife), Vera (Will’s daughter), Emily, Violet, Charles, Kit (Albert’s wife) Gwen (Albert’s daughter), Millie, Annie (Frank’s wife)

Further information about Charles and Emily’s children can be found below.

It is believed there were at least two other siblings that died. One was a female named Mary, the other was a male but his name is not known. A newspaper article from 1930 at the time of Charles and Emily’s Golden wedding anniversary records there were fourteen children, with six of these serving in the Great War and all of them returning home.

Golden wedding announcement: Northampton Chronicle and Echo, 24 March 1930

When asked about the photo above in her 100^th year, Violet re-called a number of things. The photo was taken not long after Walter and Mabel’s wedding and one of the brothers, George had come over from America to visit. The dress that Violet wore was blue velvet.

Charlie Abram, my great grandfather, was not in the photo because he was in Africa serving in the war. Violet remembered that Charlie had been married prior to marrying my great grandmother Millicent May Bowers and that his first wife had been a ‘dark skinned lady’. (Records show that Joseph’s first wife was Lucy Thompson, her father was William was a gardener and her mother was called Harriet. Joseph and Lucy married on 16 April 1906).

Violet said she was about the same age as Gladys (Frank’s daughter) but Gladys had died aged 29. She noticed that Theresa, who they called Sis, wasn’t in the picture but she couldn’t remember why and that Kit and Albert’s son Sonny had also died young but was unsure at what age.

After the war, Charles and Emily and my great grandparents Charlie and Millicent settled in England but many of the family emigrated to Australia. Violet re-called that Rose (Kathleen) was not in the photo as she was already in Australia – she had left with her husband, an Australian soldier, around 1919. Reg followed in approximately 1922 – 1923 and Louis, Bet-Martha and Violet left around Christmas 1924, arriving in Australia on 9 February 1925. George didn’t want them to go and had tried to convince them along with Charles, Emily and other family members to go to America.

More photos