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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Jagoman on Monday 02 November 09 15:02 GMT (UK)
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Hi,
Would any one have any information on the owners of Great Western Hotel Newquay about 1909. All I have is a copy of a telegram with the names Aileen & Bosun. It is possible that the name Cyril Varcoe Hooper 1898 may be connected.
Many thanks
Jagoman
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Bo'sun was named Mr ? Hooper and he owned/ran the Great Western Hotel in Nqy Cornwall - he had a daughter Sheila. I do know a little about the telegram (I think it's a wedding telegram to a member of his family) Their name was Chellew (my ancestors)
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Cyril Varcoe Hooper was the son of John Varcoe Hooper and Violet Annita Bennett.
Violet's father was Edwin Bennett and her mother was Jane Adams.
Edwin's mother was Jane Bennett nee Chellew.
Cyril went to Canada at some point.
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Hi
Many thanks for the information on the Great Western Hotel in Newquay and the Hooper family.
Jagoman
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Cyril and Aileen divorced and Bo'sun went on to marry two more times. Their daughter, Sheila, (my mother) lives in the north of England. Aileen moved to Sussex after the divorce and never remarried.
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Hi Robbthomas
I think that Aileen died in Brighton Sept 1987. Her father Joseph Thomas Powney was killed during WW1 and was involved with the Postal Service. Would you recognise a photo of him as I have a picture of an Officer outside Canterbury Cathedral with a Lady which I think may be him. I only today restored a photo of Cryil in his uniform during the WW1
Jagoman
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I'd assumed that at that date the Railway Companies involved ( Great Western, etc.) would have been the actual owners of the Hotel, as they were usually built for the convenience of rail passengers, and that managers would be in charge, rather than being privately owned....?
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Hi Jagoman,
Yes, she passed away in Sept 1987 in Brighton. I would not recognise a photo of her father but her daughter (my mum) might. I would be interested in the photo of Cyril in WW1 uniform. We still have a few family photos of him on horseback as he used to also run the stables at Trenance in Newquay.
robbthomas
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Hi Robbthomas
Please find photo of Cyril Varcoe Hooper. I have to work out how to upload the most recent one.
Jagoman
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Hi Robbthomas
Photo of Cyrils Mother Violet Annita Bennett
Jagoman
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Hi ThrelfallYorky,
I checked on your particular point with my mum as she lived at the Great Western in the 1920s/30s. To her knowledge, the Great Western was owned by Cyril's father and passed onto Cyril in due course. Not sure how it came into John Varcoe Hooper's hands in the first place so there may have been a Railway connection before this time due to its proximity to the railway station. However I always assumed it was named after the Beach that it looks over.
robbthomas
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Hi Jagoman,
Many thanks for the photos. Mum will be very interested to see them - unfortunately she is not online so will have to post them to her.
Not really a fair swap but please find attached Cyril on horseback around the 1930s.
Can I ask what your connection is to the Hoopers or Great Western Hotel?
Many thanks
robbthomas
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Hi Robbthomas,
Great photo. I have only seen ones from WW1. Cryril would have been my first Cousin once removed his Mother would have been my Grand Aunt Violet. Edwin Alexander Bennett the Master Marineer Violet's father would have been my Great Grand Father. I know after Edwin retired they run a Guest House called Penhenver in Newquay.
I have a few more negatives that I will try and post with photos of Cryril.
Kind regards
Jagoman
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Hi Robbthomas
Heres another photo from the same film roll. Not sure who the man on the RH side is.
Jagoman
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Another photo could well be Cyril on horse back from same film roll.
Jagoman
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Possible reference to the GWR Hotel in Newquay can be found in Oliver Carter's book "An Illustrated History of British Railway Hotels 1838-1983" published by Silver Link Publishing, May 1990. Page 83 states 'Financial involvement also extended to the lending of money to finance hotel projects. More holiday resorts with more hotels and more passenger traffic was business worth encouraging, but hoteliers new to the business often lacked the necessary financial backing and looked elsewhere for help. For example, the GWR came to the assistance of Cornish Hotels Ltd in 1891 with a £2000 loan (repayable over 16 years) for the purchase of the Atlantic Hotel at Newquay.'.
Presumably included in the agreement was an undertaking from the purchasers to rename the premises as the Great Western Hotel?
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The Great Western Hotel was built 1879 and the Atlantic was built 1892, both designed by Silvanus Trevail.
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Youngtug -That's interesting. It would appear that the author of the book on Railway Hotels has got his facts wrong. There is no mention in the book of a GWR hotel. I mistakenly thought that the Atlantic had been renamed.
Although from what is written above seems to suggest that the GWR hotel was also a recipient of funds?
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It is the Great Western Hotel, not the Great Western Railway Hotel, wether it was a railway hotel or not I do not know.
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This is interesting; http://thecloudandshowershow.com/2014/08/06/the-cornish-hotels-company-and-the-atlantic-hotel/
We seem to have diverted the course of the thread, sorry.
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Youngtug. Thanks for the very interesting history of the Atlantic Hotel. It seems I was barking up the wrong tree!! Apologies to jagoman for diverting the course of his enquiry.
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Hi Youngtug
No worries found it interesting
Jagoman
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Robbthomas - your mother and mine were half sisters (Jill Anetta Hooper). I have some photos and super 8 film somewhere of CV riding his horses etc . Sheila's half brother Jeremy who had the hotel after CV still lives near Truro.
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Hi Robbthomas,
Great to hear from you again. I am sorry but C.V. Hooper was my 1st Cousin 1x removed. Violet Anniita Bennett Cyril's Mother would have been a Sister to my Grandmother.
Jagoman
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My husband is related to the Hooper family connected to the Great Western Hotel:
Jeremy J. Hooper (Father)
Cyril Varcoe Hooper (Grandfather)
John Varcoe Hooper (Great Grandfather)
It's wonderful to see the photos you have posted and the information on the Great Western Hotel.
I'm currently researching his side of the family and would welcome any other photos and to connect with relatives! I've attached a 'cleaned-up' version of Cyril's photo if anyone is interested.
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Hi 4hooper,
Many thanks for the photo restoration it has come out well. All the photos I have of Cyril I have posted on this thread. I have recently found his service record on Ancestry which has details of him being wounded in WW1 and his journey through the hospital system and X-rays of his knee.
Jagoman
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It is the Great Western Hotel, not the Great Western Railway Hotel, whether it was a railway hotel or not I do not know.
In late Victorian times many large favourably-placed railway companies built branch lines to the coast for the sole purpose of establishing a resort, with a hotel of course. Weston, Skegness, Ilfracombe, Cromer and Morecambe are familiar examples. Many of the hotels took the name of the railway company, usually without the word Railway. As the line to Newquay was part of the GWR its title would not be surprising.
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http://www.newquaycouncil.co.uk/information-and-policies/local-area/railway-station
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Good morning,
Just as a matter of interest all the photo's of Cyril in uniform show him as being in the Canadian forces. He has a medical orderly trade badge on his right arm.
Was there a family connection to Canada?
John915
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Youngtug. Thanks for the very interesting history of the Atlantic Hotel. It seems I was barking up the wrong tree!!
The 6-inch map of about 1906 shows the Great Western Hotel where one would expect to find it, close to the station. The Atlantic Hotel is on the northwest edge of town, probably on a headland, and some distance from the railway. Definitely two distinct establishments.
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The Great Western hotel was built in 1879 and the Great Western Railway bought the railway line and station in 1896. Maybe the Great Western Hotel, also the Great Western beach which adjoins its position was called something else before that, I wouldn't know.
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The Great Western Hotel opened in April 1879 for businessman, Mr Henry Whitefield. The original building was designed by Cornish Architect Silvanus Trevail. It was Mr Whitefield who applied a licence for it to be called "Great Western" months prior to its opening.