Faulder Family Genealogy Faulder Family Genealogy

30 January, 2020

WW2 Evacuation and the Start of WW2

I have been reading through the memoirs of my late mother, then Elizabeth Willett, and trying to “decode” them. Because she was adopted she changed names and places to protect the anonymity of her birth family. However she encoded almost everything – even events that had no bearing on her birth family!

Most recently I have been looking at her description of being evacuated at the beginning of World War 2. Her details in the 1939 register are still redacted (it takes some time for them to unredact details of recently deceased people – it seems they are running at least 15 months behind), so I was not sure where she was sent.

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5 June, 2019

On this day – 75 Years Ago: D Day

My late mother, then Elizabeth Willett, was almost 14 in June 1944. In her memoirs she wrote of her memories of D-Day. She was away at boarding school in Sherborne, Dorset.

During the night of the 5th – 6th of June 1944, everyone in my house was woken by the staff and prefects to watch the gliders being towed over to Normandy at the start of D-Day.

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11 November, 2018

On this day 100 years ago: Armistice

One hundred years on it is hard to imagine the impact of the Armistice. I was too young to discuss it with any of my relatives who survived the war. I imagine amidst the celebrations there would have been a sad reckoning.
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26 April, 2018

On this Day 100 years ago: Harold Faulder; Killed in Action

On this day 100 years ago (26th April 1918) my Grandfather, Harold Faulder, climbed out of a trench near Ypres leading his company across no man’s land towards the German lines. He did not return and his body was never recovered.

A previous post had detailed his career. Today I am looking at what we know about the night of 25th/26th April and the early morning of 26th April 1918. (more…)

1 April, 2018

William Blizard Williamson of Cork

One of my brick walls has been William Blizard Williamson and his family;

  • His wife Elizabeth (maiden name unknown) and
  • His sons William Blizard and George Henry.

George Henry was the father of Elizabeth Ann Willett who with her husband Everard William Willett adopted my mother, which makes William Blizard Williamson (senior) my Great Great Grandfather (by adoption).

This posts summarises what is and is not known about this family and what can be done to break down this brick wall! Essentially we know little about their Irish life or of their ancestors in Ireland.

(It was initially published on 24 December 2016 and updated 1 April 2018 and 3 August 2021.)

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20 November, 2017

A remarkable but tragic coincidence

Elsewhere I have written about Wilfred Willett and how his wife rescued him when he was left for near-dead in a Base Hospital in Boulogne. He had been injured on 13 December 1914 when crawling out into no-mans land to assist one of his men who had been shot.

I now read of an incident involving his brother Lewis Willett. It caught my eye because my mother was adopted by a Willett and was consequently a cousin once removed of Wilfred and Lewis. (more…)

27 May, 2017

Identifying the Fells at Huddersfield

Family of Robert & Martha Fell

Family of Robert & Martha Fell at Somerville, Huddersfield

I came across a photograph believed to be of the Fell Family. A count of the people was consistent with Robert Fell and his wife Martha (née Keighley) and their children and the spouses of those children.¹

Robert and Martha had eleven children – all of whom are believed to have outlived their parents. Eight of them married.

Three faces have been pasted (old fashioned scissors and paste!) into the picture* – the two characters directly behind Robert Fell and another standing at the back on the left. * Or more accurately the negative – my print is a single sheet without pastings. (more…)

13 December, 2016

Obituary: William Blizard Williamson (the elder) of Worcester

The following is a transcript of the obituary (and associated reports) for William Blizard Williamson (the elder) of Worcester. He was (via the adoption of my mother) my Great Great Grandfather and lived from about 1811/12 until 15 September 1878.
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1 July, 2016

On this night 100 years ago (1 July 1916)

On this night 100 years ago (1st July 1916), I believe my grandfather, 2nd Lt Harold Faulder, went into the trenches for the first time in front of Serre on the Somme.

Possibly it might be more correct to say the remains of the trenches; my belief is that his first time in the trenches was to recover the dead and wounded from the day’s fighting. (more…)

17 May, 2016

One Hundred Years ago Today

Hansard, The Record of the UK Parliament, reports for 17 May 1916:

HC Deb 17 May 1916 vol 82 cc1572-618

Message received to attend the Lords Commissioners.

The House went, and, having returned,

Mr. SPEAKER

reported the Royal Assent to,

1. Local Government (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1916.
2. Courts (Emergency Powers) (Amendment) Act, 1916.
3. Summer Time Act, 1916.
4. Edinburgh Corporation Order Confirmation Act, 1916.
5. Gas Orders Confirmation Act, 1916.
6. Burnley Corporation Act, 1916.
7. Weston-Super-Mare Grand Pier Act, 1916.
Hansard, HC Deb 17 May 1916 vol 82 cc1572-618

The Summer Time Act had long been advocated by William Willett. He did not live to see his proposal implemented having died in March 1915. The idea had been adopted by many other countries including Germany and it was only the demands of wartime that moved the British from ridiculing the idea to adopting it. (more…)

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