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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: ChrisWd on Monday 01 November 21 17:46 GMT (UK)
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I’m not quite sure where to post this enquiry so I thought I’d try this board.
I came across a woman in my family tree called Ann Jean Martineau born 1917 in Chelsea, daughter of Cyril Edgar Martineau, an English stockbroker. Jean’s mother, Muriel Robbins, was an American by birth and a 1st cousin of President F.D. Roosevelt.
There’s various mention of Jean in the newspaper archives, particularly during her debutante season in London in the 1930’s. She even attended a dance held for her at the White House during Roosevelt’s term of office.
Jean was a nurse at St Thomas’s Hospital during WW2 but soon after hostilities ended she married a chap called Peter Cazenove, a wartime Spitfire fighter pilot. Peter was the son of Percy Cazenove, another stockbroker who reached the rank of Major in the Hertfordshire Yeomanry during The Great War.
Peter Cazenove’s exploits during WW2 make interesting reading. In March 1940 Flying Officer Cazenove was providing air support over Calais to the retreating British troops when his aircraft was hit by airborne enemy fire and he was forced to make a ‘wheels up’ landing on the beach. He was subsequently captured by German troops and after several failed attempts was eventually sent to Stalag Luft III which was the PoW camp famous for The Great Escape of March 1944. His aircraft was recovered from a sandbank on the French coast several decades later and fully re-constructed to original specification and airworthy condition.
Peter Cazenove married again in 1957 to Edna Marjorie Hollis (nee Davie). He died in 1980 in Angmering on Sea in West Sussex. There’s no further trace of Jean Martineau beyond the late 1940’s. She featured on the front cover of Country Life in 1946 a few months after her marriage to Peter and was living with her mother at 35 Sloane Avenue, Chelsea in 1948 under her married name. Her mother continued to live at the Sloane Avenue address until her death in 1971 but I’ve not seen any electoral register records showing daughter Jean was living there after 1948.
Can anyone shed any light on what became of Jean Martineau? I’m guessing she may have moved to the US.
Cheers,
Chris
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Who administered her mothers estate
ADDED Does Peter's second marriage certificate state whether he was divorced or widowed
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Passenger list for a Mrs A J Cazenove 29 April 1946 travelling from Liverpool to Mombassa.
I see she was travelling with Mr P F Cazenove
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Good points….thank you.
The 1946 passenger list is particularly interesting. As you mention, it shows both Jean and Peter travelling to Kenya with the intention of staying there as permanent residents (farming).
Peter Cazenove must have returned to London over the next decade, so there should be a passenger list somewhere. Jean returned to London to stay with her mother in 1948, so likewise there should be a passenger list for her return journey and another had she travelled back to Kenya.
I agree Peter’s second marriage certificate would contain an important point.
Jean’s mother’s probate record states Administration with Will, so presumably the will would be available from the probate office which I’ll pursue.
Regards,
Chris
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Discovered her birth date was 17/5/1917 and then found a death entry for:
Ann Jean Aschan b.17/5/1917, died 1990 West Oxfordshire.
Probate lists Jean Aschan, otherwise Ann Jean, otherwise Ann Jean Martineau, died 3/3/1990.
No idea how she came by surname Aschan but it is clearly her.
Annette
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Great find.
How did you initially find her birth date? I couldn’t find her 1939 census. I think she was working as a nurse at St Thomas’s hospital in London through the war.
Cheers,
Chris
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Here’s the second husband……Nils Kristen Holger Aschan. They married in 1955.
http://www.europeansineastafrica.co.uk/_site/custom/database/default.asp?a=viewIndividual&pid=2&person=13744
Chris
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Checked 1939 index and found she and her mother both transcribed as Martincan.
Annette
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Thanks…..I’ll check it out.
Jean Martineau has also been referenced with the surname Aschan in the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project.
https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers//documents/myday/index/person/erp-pn-jeamar.html
Cheers,
Chris
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Hi, I've just come across the queries re Jean Cazenove and can enlighten those asking as I'm her adopted daughter Josephine. She had no other children. She married Krister Aschan in 1955 after adopting me in 1953. We lived in Kenya until 1961 then moved to the UK (Leafield). My father died in 1984 and Jean in 1990 in Chadlington where she was living at the time. Peter Cazenove remained a very good friend for the rest of their lives.
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I'm Josephine, and the only daughter of Jean Aschan (formely Cazenove) and Krister Aschan (previously married with 2 children) and see there have been many posts regarding what happened to her. She married Krister Aschan in 1955. We moved to the UK in 1961 and lived in Oxfordshire, Leafield, and later Chadlington. Jean died in 1990.
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Sorry for the delay in replying but very nice to hear from you Josephine. Your information ties up some loose ends.
I have a remote connection to the influential Martineau family in Norwich and to the two Martineau gentlemen who founded a major sugar refinery business in the east end of London in the early 19th century. I came across Jean when I was looking at some of the descendants of the Norwich Martineaus. There’s some fascinating family history there and I was also very interested in Peter Cazenove’s story.
Thank you for your posts.
Chris