Margaret Jane Webb (1921-1999)
Today would have been my mother´s 95th birthday. She was born at Radcliffe in 
Northumberland on 16th October 1921. This photograph was taken in her late teens on 30th January 1940, a couple of years before she married my Dad, George William Crackett. As the third in a line of Margaret Janes, she went by the name of Peggy to distinguish her from her mother, Meggie.
George William Crackett (1916-1978)
My Dad, George Crackett, was born 100 years ago today in Amble, Northumberland. He was the eldest of the three children of George Crackett and Elle
nor Turner (Nellie). He went to the Duke’s Grammar School in Alnwick and made the break away from our mining heritage when he took a clerical job in the offices of building contractors R. Carse & Sons Ltd. He married Margaret Jane Webb (Peggy) in 1942 and then served in India for 3 years during the war, leaving his young bride at home with her parents. On his return from India they bought a house in Central Avenue, Amble where they raised my brother and I. Dad continued to work for Carse in clerical and management positions for the rest of his working life. We lost him much too early, when he was just a little older than I am now.
My family history event for January 19th is the birth of Percy James Crackett in 1899 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He was one of 8 children, some born in London and some in Northumberland. His parents were David Crackett (1862-1924) and Sarah Alice Meadows Gillies. By 1911 the family were living in Stakeford. I have traced this line back to Lowick in the late 1700s/early 1800s, but have still not managed to make the paper trail connection to my own Cracketts who were living in the same area at the same time.
My family history events for January 18th include:
1950: Death of Lily Evelyn Crackett (née Lily Evelyn Allison) at Barrington in Northumberland. Actual date of death is a little 
uncertain as this was a curious case of manslaughter. Lily was killed by her husband David Robert Sinclair Crackett. If you would like to know more about this tragic tale then you can read about the “Murder at Barrington“. She was last seen alive in November 1949, but her death certificate states body found 18th January 1950. The court returned a verdict of manslaughter, not murder.
1789: 227 years ago today was the baptism of my 4th great uncle, Ralph Bainbridge, at Longbenton in Northumberland. Ralph was the son of William Bainbridge and Mary Coxon.
I have several family history events for January 17th. The most significant is the the marriage of my great grandparents:
1874: 141 years ago today my great grandparents, Leonard Crackett (Cracket) and Mary Parkinson, married at Morpeth in Northumberland. The banner picture at the top of my blog shows Len and Mary and their 10 children who all reached adulthood.
1900: My first cousin twice removed, James Edward Doleman Simmons, was born at Amble in Northumberland.
1916: Nora Graham, the wife of my first cousin twice removed Edmond Hanson, was born.
1794: 221 years ago today my 4th great uncle, Thomas Bainbridge, was born in Longbenton, Northumberland. Thomas was baptized two days later on 19th January.
My family history events for January 13th include:
Among my family history events for January 12th are:
My family history event for January 10th is the birth of my father’s cousin John Thomas Crackett in 1910. In the 1911 census he is shown as the youngest child of John Thomas (Jack) Crackett, living at Chevington Drift, Northumberland. Mother Emily and older siblings Isabella, Mary, Leonard and Robert also appear on the census. His father Jack is in the banner picture for my blog (back row, 3rd from left).
Having now found an alternative method for following up dates in my tree I can now also report another event 231 years ago for January 10th. My 5th great grandparents, Archibald Henderson and Ruth Weymes, married at St. John’s church in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on January 10th 1785. There are many variant spellings of Weymes. One site gives the names on their marriage record as Archibold Henderson and Ruth Weans.
I have added 3 new topics to my page DNA plus paper:
You can access them from the link above in this post or from the menu line of Digging up the Ancients.
Marshall Riley’s Army – Lindisfarne
In October thirty-six they took a trip,
The men who made the ships,
Searching for some kind of salvation.
With heads held high, and dignified,
The towns folk and passers by,
Held them in some kind of admiration.March on, Marshall Riley’s Army,
Marching for your rights,
You’ve surely earned them.
Any among you who grew up in NE England in the 70’s can probably quote the whole song word perfect, but I wonder how many have reflected on the meaning. I remember heading for the library at the time to figure out what it was all about. (If you are wondering why I chose to link to that particular rendition of Marshall Riley’s army on youtube, it is because I was very probably in the audience at that concert !)
For some time now I have been mulling over a couple of unconnected questions, but had not decided who to ask about either:
Both were answered for me today, before I even asked the questions, by my cousin Julie Crackett-MacFarlane, who published a comment on facebook with a link to a BBC History article about the dire employment situation on Tyneside in the mid 1930s following the closure of Palmer’s Shipyard. Her grandfather, Edmund Rudd Crackett (1907-1974), who is my 3rd cousin once removed, was born in Jarrow, County Durham. In his early thirties he joined the Jarrow March to London in October 1936 to fight for the right to work and provide for his family. It was Edmund who subsequently made the decision to uproot his family and move to the Midlands in search of employment, where they established a thriving group of Cracketts in the Sandwell area.
A big thanks to Julie for triggering my thoughts on this subject and giving me permission to publish a post about her grandfather and mention her as a contributor.
Digging up the ancients 