RootsChat.Com
Wales (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Wales => Topic started by: billramp on Sunday 22 May 11 03:53 BST (UK)
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My mother was from Folkestone....father from London ... and ancestors from Devon,Cornwall and Somerset...
and I was born in Neath!
Am I Welsh?..(Wi Cymraeg?).....
I was born at the West Glamorgan County Hospital, Penrhiwtyn during the war in 1941...
Dad was with the Royal Engineers (Company Quarter Master Sergeant, (Omnibus Driver) living at 19 Abbey Rd Port Talbot.....1943 living at 37 Palmerston Rd Barry....then in 1944 to Birmingham where dad was in hospital after being disabled and then to 4 addresses in Coventry by the time I was five.
I know mum almost died giving birth to me and the birth was registered by C.S.Polson 'Occupier'...West Glamorgan County Hospital
I was baptised at St Paul's Church Aberavon....unfortunately the certificate was lost during a break-in...so I do not know who my godparents were or the date.
Mum and Dad never talked much about war time and they have both since died.
Would dad have been posted to that area and were there barracks there? and were these addresses private houses?
Although I have spent most of my life in England, I still feel there is a part of me that is Welsh, and I always say I am Welsh,
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Bill
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If you have any surviving uncles or aunts, ask them. If they are no longer alive, they may have said something to one of your cousins. It is possible that your mother was evacuated to a safer area. There was a grouping in the list of people to be evacuated which included expectant mothers.
Graham.
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Bill - you could apply for your Dad's service records which might help, especially if you're short of the relatives that Graham has suggested, or they can't help. I understand that they take a long time (9-10 months) to come through and would cost you £30, but could fill in some details for you.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/09es/
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I still feel there is a part of me that is Welsh, and I always say I am Welsh,
Depending upon which time period you take as your reference it was once the case that the place of birth could be used to determine your nationality although there were various exceptions to that as it wasn't a hard and fast rule. The modern interpretation is that your parents bloodlines now determine your nationality although again exceptions occur (e.g. people becoming naturalised citizens of a country or their children)
Personally, I have always believed that you are from where your heart tells you regardless of other factors.
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Hi Bill
Have you tried googling "Port Talbot World War 2"? There appear to be several sites with background information.
When and where did your parents marry?
BTW Google Street View using 19 Abbey Road will take you to the houses opposite where No. 19 would have been. The buildings on the even sided numbers look pre war but the other side are newer so 19 may have been a house or a different type of building. Someone who lives in Port Talbot may be able to help with local knowledge?
Heather
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Hi
Thanks to you all for your input.....
Graham.....unfortunately Dad had two sisters and one brother , none of whom had children, so I am the last in the line, and have not been able yet to establish links to other 'Rampling' groups elsewhere. I never knew grandparents as they died before or during the war.
Mum got separated from her family, who were mostly step brothers and sisters, because of the war, she was not even allowed to go to Folkestone to her father's funeral.....there are a couple of cousins but they do not know any of the answers.
I will have to take up 'mshrmh' suggestion and apply for dad's service record.
Heather.. my parents married in Folkestone, just before the start of war...I think dad worked for Pickfords removals.....I will have a look at Abbey Road on Google... as you say I need someone with local knowledge....not a lot on the Army in Port Talbot....but there was a munitions factory there..... it might even have been he was sent to hospital there on being disabled?
Thanks Falkyrn....my heart tells me I belong to Wales.... I would certainly like to live there...and when my wife is fit enough, I want to visit my birth place...( I am full time carer),
I would still appreciate more local knowledge if anyone has some.
Thanks again
Bill
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as you say I need someone with local knowledge....not a lot on the Army in Port Talbot....but there was a munitions factory there..... it might even have been he was sent to hospital there on being disabled?
I would still appreciate more local knowledge if anyone has some.
Bill
It might be a good idea to ask a Mod to move this thread to Glamorgan and also try contacting the Port Talbot Historical Society at http://beehive.thisissouthwales.co.uk/default.asp?WCI=SiteHome&ID=5906
H
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Thanks again Heather.... have had a quick look at that link and will contact them......not sure how I ask a moderator to move the thread to Glamorgan?
Bill
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I was baptised at St Paul's Church Aberavon....unfortunately the certificate was lost during a break-in...so I do not know who my godparents were or the date.
Bill
Contact the church http://www.parishofaberavon.org/index.html and ask for a copy of your baptism record. I realised recently that despite having done family history for about 20 years I had never actually seen my own baptism.So I applied for mine and got it last year.It was very interesting as most of the other people on the same page were people I had been at infant school with.
You won't need to know the exact date,most of us back then were baptised at around 2-3 months old.
Carol
Added- I have just clicked on report to moderator and asked for this to be moved to the Glamorgan board for you ;)
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Hi Carol,
Thanks for that..I will drop them a line. I know I was given a fairly ornate card with details on including the names of my godparents.... I believe my godmother was spanish and godfather Welsh....but unfortunately no contact since then.
When mymother died a few years ago, the house was ransacked and old photos etc were taken or dumped.
The history of St Paul's confused me at first, as I read it it had just been finished, but on reading further, I think it was reporting on what had happened when the
church was dedicated...but no date.
Thanks for the 'mod' bit......always thought that button was for reporting something 'naughty' !!!!!!
Bill
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Hi Bill,
Your history has made very interesting reading; I sympathise with your lack of surviving helpful relations and the difficulties caused by family moves. Can't offer any help myself, but you are obviously in good hands here. It's good to know you feel at home in Wales; one good maxim, I think, is that you are as Welsh as you feel.
Best of luck with your searches,
Pinot :)
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Hi Bill,
I wondered if you had looked at Genes Reunited?
I can see 2 entries which seem to refer to your family. Perhaps they may have some information to share with you?
Alan
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Personally, I have always believed that you are from where your heart tells you regardless of other factors.
Totally agree Falkryn,home is where the heart is.
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Thanks Pinot for your words......Unfortunately, unlike today, when I was young, certain family 'goings on' were never mentioned and also with both mum and dad having had parents who had married before, there was also a certain amount of bad feeling with brothers and sisters of the first marriage.
I really get interested in how people meet....for example my mothers mother came from a family who were flax growers and weavers in somerset, one of them went to london and sold goods in the rag trade in London, he then worked there and moved to a chandlers shop in the old kent road, selling cloth, which is where my grandmother was born. My gfather, a fisherman in Folkestone also had a ships chandlers shop and I think would go up to London to buy sailcloth, rope etc ....they married and I believe dad, a londoner, would deliver these goods to Folkestone and met mum.......
Yes Alan... I am a GR member and there are some Ramplings on there but I have been in contact and neither of us have yet established a connection.
My gggfather was born out of wedlock to a Mary Chandler and on the various certs I have and census, the surname keeps changing from Rampling to Chandler, then to Rampling- Chandler then to Chandler- Rampling and then finally Rampling....
Just getting a bit of relief from the London-Folkestone side to work on my own Welsh side!!
Very interested tv programme on earlier giving a glimpse of how people managed during the war in the valleys....some present day families were 'transported back in time to then' to live and work like they did.
It mentioned that there were 2000 soldiers etc there during the war and wives of servicemen would have to work locally - some in the munitions factory.
Thank you Seoras....makes me feel better already.
Bill
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" Why was I born in Wales?"
The simple answer is of course,because that's where your mum was at the time!
I had to say it,it's what I've thought every time I see the title of this thread.
;D ;D ;D
Carol 8)
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Carol.......you go Top of the Class!!!
Thanks for that...at least it made you look!!
I have since found an old Pearl assurance Penny Policy on myself which gives yet another address at 65 St Paul's Rd, Aberavon.... when I was six weeks old...that is now eight addresses by the time I was five.
I have found the house on google and like the other two places in that area, they are private houses, so do not appear to be army houses. I will have to wait until I get dad's service record before I know definitely..............I wonder if wives of the 2000 or so servicemen would have been put up in 'digs'?
Bill
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Hi Bill, we are related through Edward Saunders 1821. My line is from his son, John Warman Saunders via his daughter Sarah Ann Saunders and her daughter Ellen Maud Tumber (my grandmother).
I cannot help with your Ramplings I am afraid (though I have now linked Dorothy L Saunders to Leonard Arthur Rampling, from your post) but have a lot of research on your Folkestone side and would be happy to let you have a gedcom.
I would also appreciate any data you can give me on that side, particularly on your John Warman Saunders (1874) and his families with Esther Boughton and Juliet Miles.
Best regards,
Neil
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Hi Neil
Thanks for your reply and welcome to RootsChat
Are you, by any chance, the Neil who comes up a lot on my Hot Matches on Genes Reunited?
It would certainly be good to see what you have done. I don't know what relation we actually are! but I can certainly see your grandmother on my tree, and it would be great to keep in contact.
I think you have to make three posts before we can PM, so if you reply to this, I may then be able to PM you and send you my email..(email addresses are protected on this site and do not appear in posts).
I do know quite a lot of what mum told me, but since she died, most contact has been lost. It must have been about 1983 when I last visited Folkestone.
Please forgive me if I do not answer straight away, but I am a carer for my wife, and sometimes it is a bit difficult...but I certainly look forward to hearing from you.
Bill
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I have found the house on google and like the other two places in that area, they are private houses, so do not appear to be army houses.
Bill
They might not have been then Bill.I know one estate in Cornwall that was all RAF but is now private.Other places could have been requisitioned or perhaps soldiers may have been billetted with families.
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Thanks Seoras...
Have been looking at another couple of sites and a Port Talbot chat room, and some old threads suggest that the hospital may have been used for 'forces' casualties during the war, and dad could have been sent there because he was disabled, and mum followed and as you suggest may well have been billetted with various families...dad's address when I was born was given as 19 Abbey Road, and six weeks later mum was at St Paul's rd, Aberavon......perhaps abbey road could not cope with a howling baby like me!!!!!
Bill
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Hi Bill,
Yes, I am probably the one you find on Genes Re but I do not have time to log on there much.
This will be my second post. Do I need to make another, for you to make contact? Excuse my ignorance but what does "PM" mean?
Best regards,
Neil
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one more post will allow you to send a PM (personal message) - you should see a green scroll under a users name, click on that and you can send a message. To check if you have recieved any look at the top of the page you should see a line starting - Welcome back with the number of messages - clicking on that will bring them on screen
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Thanks Bill, I got your message. Hopefully, after this post, I will be able to contact you,
Neil
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If you have any surviving uncles or aunts, ask them. If they are no longer alive, they may have said something to one of your cousins. It is possible that your mother was evacuated to a safer area. There was a grouping in the list of people to be evacuated which included expectant mothers.
Graham.
I doubt that Neath and Port Talbot would be a safe place to be evacuated to, as it was an Industrial area Steel Making. and not far from the Port of Swansea. so , No I do not think that would be an area to evacuate pregnant women to.