A to Z 2015 reflections

My blog tells some of the stories about my family history. All my posts, including A to Z posts in 2015, have this focus. In 2015 however, a hundred years since World War 1 and seventy years since the end of World War 2, many of the posts recall men of my family who fought in those wars.

My family, like so many others, felt the effects of those wars. Both my grandfathers and my father-in-law fought in World War 2. All four of my great grandfathers and both my husband’s grandfathers and my step grandfather fought in World War 1. All ten men survived, though both my husband’s grandfathers and one of my great grandfathers were injured.

Our forebears lost brothers and cousins in the wars. Most of these uncles and cousins did not have children and so it is up to us, the descendants of their siblings and cousins, to remember them.

Of course I have never met most of the men I have written about, and I cannot comprehend the appalling experience of fighting in a war. I hope I have done something to keep their memory alive by gathering together the dry facts of their military experience.

• A is for aviator: Ernest Osmond Cudmore
  Ernest Osmond Cudmore (1894 – 1924) was my 1st cousin 3 times removed
• B is for Buick
  continuing the story of Ernest Osmond Cudmore
• C is for Compiègne on 1 September 1914
  Claude Norman Champion de Crespigny (1888-1914) my 5th cousin; twice removed, although relatively distant in fact the English and Australian cousins stayed in close contact
• D is for Durham Light Infantry
  George Champion de Crespigny (1783-1813) my 4th great uncle who was killed in the war against Napoleon. My great grandfather had an engraving of his portrait hanging in his hallway. My brother now has the picture.
• E is for Exile
  George Napier Sprod (1919-2003) my 2nd cousin twice removed
• F is for fundraising
   my great grandmother Kathleen Mary Cudmore née Cavenagh-Mainwaring (1874-1951)
• G is for Gallipoli

   Walter Fish (1878-1915) brother-in-law of two of my husband’s great aunts
• H is for Hindenburg Line

  George Murray Cross (1890 – 1962) was one of my husband’s paternal great uncles
• I is for insulin

  my great grandfather Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny was one of the first physicians to use insulin in treating diabetes
• J is for James: James Curtis (1826–1901)

  my husband is researching James Curtis, a note businessman of Ballarat  and a Spiritualist
• K is for Kanatte General Cemetery in Colombo

   Vyvyan Westbury Hughes (1888-1916) was my great grand uncle
• L is for Lagnicourt

    William Stanley Plowright (1893-1917) was the cousin of my husband’s grandmother
• M is for muddle

   my great grandfather Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny was not aide-de campe to General Birdwood though he did meet the General and probably met his 4th cousin once removed, Henry de Crespigny who was Birdwood’s aide-de-camp
• N is for New Guinea

  my father-in-law Peter Young (1920-1988)
• O is for orders

  William James Harris (1898-1917) is the great uncle of my sister-in-law
• P is for Poperinghe New Military Cemetery

  Selwyn Goldstein (1873 – 1917) was the first cousin of my great grandmother
• Q is for Querrieu

  John Percival Young (1886-1918)was my husband’s great uncle
• R is for No. 1 Australian General Hospital at Rouen

   Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny (1882-1952) was my great grandfather
• S is for St Eloi

  Milo Massey Cudmore  (1888 – 1916) was the cousin of my great grandfather
• T is for Tobruk

  Richard Geoffrey Champion de Crespigny (1907-1966) was my grandfather
• U is for unwilling or hesitating to obey an order

   Henry Sullivan (1894-1969) was my husband’s great uncle
• V is for Vizefeldwebel

  Fritz Hermann Boltz (1879-1949) was my great grandfather
• W is for West Africa

  James Morphett (Jim) Henderson (1915-1942) was my grandmother’s cousin
• X is for the Military Cross

  George William Symes (1896-1980) was my step grandfather
• Y is for Ypres

  William Alfred Fish (1890-1917) was my husband’s first cousin twice removed
• Z is for Zillebeke

  Stanley Gilbert Edwards (1889-1917) was my husband’s great grand uncle

During the month I had trouble with my broadband internet connection and I was also away from home travelling for a week. I had trouble completing my daily posts.