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Hello Smileyface,

thank you for adding your family memories about the Holfords/Alfords and their shop. It's great to hear about them from people who knew about them. I met Dorothy Holford just the once and I was only a child. Dorothy left the Marsh after James died in 1950 and spent the remainder of her life living with her sister in Beeding W.Sussex.

Dorothy came to Occupation Rd during the war years following the death of her mother in 1943 so was there for about 7 years. My only recollection was hearing my mother say that Great Auntie "Dolly" ran a shop with her husband in Abbey Wood and that they had land at Dymchurch.

The medals have been examined both through photographs and in person by medal experts. I was told the the dcm would have been a victorian long service and good conduct medal and then been re- named and had the dcm lettering added to the face. The surface looks quite rough and pitted and I assume this is through having been ground down to remove the good conduct lettering. The egypt medal and "dcm" both look uneven round the rim and the naming/lettering detail is not very straight on either medal. The kedive star is not named but the original has the soldiers regiment 19th Hussars on the top 2 points of the star and his name on the inside rim of the star.

I believe the medals are genuine victorian medals which were originally awarded to someone else, the original names having been erased. How they came to be in my family is the mystery I have been trying to solve as no one in our family knows anything. They were passed down the family along with the genuine family medals.I don't know why or when they were "faked" other than before ww2. After researching the soldier I was finally able to make a link with my family as the woman/"wife" living with him in his final years and present at his death was a distant relative and she died in 1944. I think the medals probably came into the possession of my direct line ancestors at this point and were put with the other family medals.

This woman could have played a part in procuring the medals, she is known to have had an unconventional lifestyle and associations with several different men and a general disregard for the law. I doubt whether I'll ever know the real story so I'm exploring likely scenarios in an effort to find plausible explanations.

 

Hello
My great grandfather was serving in the 1st Battalion of Grenadier Guards based at Windsor in 1901 and in the Guard of Honour. I was wondering what this role actually involved in regard to Queen Victoria's funeral. He was a sergeant major at that time. I attach a photo of him taken about 1896
Thank you
 

Thank you for your posts, they have been a great help.

I haven't found them on the 1921 census though they appear to be living at 587 Seven Sisters Rd, Tottenham South on 1922 electoral register and 37 Oscar st, Deptford in 1928 assuming its the same couple. The earliest record ( which I've found ) of this couple in Occupation Rd is the 1932 electoral register.
There is an account  in Folkestone and Hythe District Herald  6 Jul 1940 of  Annie Holford of 148 Occupation Rd, Belvedere being  fined £10.00 for allowing a caravan to be inhabited for more than 42 consecutive days at Dunkirk End, Dymchurch.