Monthly Archives: January 2015

The Great Lafayette

lafeyetteThe Great Lafeyette, Sigmund Neuberger, was born in February of 1871 in Munich. When Sigmund was 19 his family emigrated to the United States where he began his career in one of his many guises.

Sigmund imitated the career of Ching Ling Foo, who studied Chinese magic and was a very well respected magician in his own country, and developed many illusions, including breathing smoke and fire or producing ribbons and a 15′ long pole from his mouth.   It seemed likely that when Ching Ling Foo brought his act to America, a few tried to emulate him, taking similar names and developing similar illusions.  Sigmund, taking the name of The Great Lafeyette, he was famed for his quick-change routines, flamboyant costumes and his dramatic illusions, including one he developed called the  ‘Lion’s Bride’ a 25 minute routine – this routine made him very popular with audiences.  But he was always aware of publicity and how to draw more people to see his act.

He was a world class illusionist and according to many was the highest paid magician of his time. In vaudeville it is estimated that he earned around £44,000 a year, millions of pounds in today’s money.

Lafayette-with-Beauty-11Lafeyette was an admirer of Harry Houdini and the two became great friends. Harry showed his friendship by the gift of a dog, who became known as beauty. Beauty, was pampered  even by celebrity pooches today.  He had his own set of rooms, ate five course meals and wore diamond studded collars. Both were to become inseparable and life long companions.

Life was going well for him, he was involved in all aspects of the shows, including set design, costume design and the creation of illusions. He created shows the like of which had never been seen before.

Lafeyette, is reputed to have his own Pullman carriage and he and Beauty always travelled first class, staying in the best hotels and always having a second room or suite for his best friend, Beauty.  He also looked after his staff, who toured with him – he paid well, but demanded total loyalty.

In 1911 Lafeyette and Beauty were in Edinburgh and set to appear at the Empire Theatre. It was just a few days before the show was set to open that Beauty died. The artist was so distraught that he sought permission to bury his companion in Piershill Cemetery, Edinburgh. The authorities were against this request until Sigmund said that he too would be buried there when his time came. Little did he know!

Empire Palace Theatre after the fire

Empire Palace Theatre after the fire

While in a state of deep mourning, it was during his performance on 9th May 1911 that, while performing  his ‘Lion’s Bride’ routine an oriental lamp burst into flames. The fire curtain dropped, but not fully. Lafeyette was very secretive of his illusions and had all the doors locked off. The fire very soon became out of control. In less than 20 minutes, the backstage area was ablaze and full of smoke, and the fire curtain fell to the stage. The audience, even in a state of panic all managed to escape to safety, but back stage was a different matter. Ten people in the back stage area lost their lives, including Lafeyette. He was identified by his costume and later cremated. But, strangely enough days later, after his solicitor had become involved while trying to find missing ornate jewellery that Lafayette wore,  another body was found under the stage, and identified as Lafeyette by a ring. The previously cremated body was that of a man who acted as Lafeyette’s double – a 25 year old man who played in the orchestra.

The Great Lafeyette's funeral

The Great Lafeyette’s funeral

lafeyette headstoneOn 14th May 1911, The Great Lafeyette, was cremated and the urn containing his ashes was laid to rest between the paws of his best friend, Beauty.

Years ago, while in Edinburgh I visited the grave of Sigmund and Beauty, a quite simple kerbed plot, headed by a simple yet informative headstone.

In the company was one James Edwin Baines, who I was sent information many years ago, but with computer glitches lost that information, so I have had to start again.

Early in 1881, James married Sarah Bailey, in the Dewsbury Registration District  and they can be seen in the census of that year, living at 72  Kirkgate.  James is employed as a clog sole maker. By the time of the 1891 census, James and Sarah were mother and father to four children.  The family lived at 10 Kirkstall Lane and James worked as a Journeyman Clogger

James in 1901 was living on Bradford Road, East Ardsley, a few houses away from the Black Swan Inn, married to Sarah and father to Edwin, Mary, Elizabeth and Esther – working as a Rate Collector.

On the night of 2nd/3rd of April 1911 census was taken and there is a James Edwin Baines, born in Leeds around 1861, which ties in with information regarding funeral arrangements made in Edinburgh. James is a 50 year old man, working as a musician, a visitor in the house of Henry Robert Tubbs, a car-porter living in Brighton, also in the house, as visitors, are other acrobats and musicians from various countries in Europe.  How has James come from being a rate collector to working as a musician.  If James is Brighton, where is his wife.  Well Sarah, is within a few miles of her birth – Hanging Heaton. Sarah, in 1911 says she has been married 29 years, bore 11 children and suffered the deaths of 7.  But as her husband is not with her, that information has been struck through.  While her husband was away, and more than likely when he was at home, Sarah worked as a woollen weaver in one of the local mills, close to her home at 10 Wordsworth Square, Morley (bottom of Commercial Street).

Lafeyette

Lafeyette

Sigmund is also on the census, he is living at 55 Tavistock Square, London. He is entered as Mr Lafeyette, 38 years old and says he is born in Los Angeles. He is single and works as a Music Hall Artist, of independent means. Also entered is Beauty Lafeyette, aged 16 of independent means and there is a 1 in the ‘children living’ column. Both the children living and the entry have been lined through. In the infirmity section Mr Lafeyette wrote ‘too good’ that has also been struck through.

The death of Mr Baines, it is thought was due to a gallant effort to rescue two members of the show from their dressing rooms. The body of James Edwin Baines, of Hackney, London, was encased in a polished oak coffin, accompanied by his wife and sister, he was conveyed by the 10.50pm train to Wakefield, where he would be interred in Woodkirk Churchyard. The solemn event was witness by family, friends and the majority of the local communities, who held James in high regard.

On 22nd August 1911, Probate was granted to Sarah with effects if £24 18s – What happened to Sarah and her family.

The building that once was the Black Swan Inn, still remains and today 98 Bradford Road, East Ardsley has been the home of H Waterhouse and Sons, since they moved there from Waterhouse Corner, opposite Woodhouse Lane.

Note- some sources say that James was accompanied on his last train journey by his brother-in-law.

Prisoners of War WW1

Over the past week or so I seem to have gone into blogging overdrive – well I have had a gap of over 12 months due to technical problems.  So, I am back with vengeance, as they say!

Those of you who visit my pages on a regular basis, will know that I like to tell you of resources to help with your research, news about places and updates to my website plus the odd mystery that has diverted me from my original path.

I think this bit of information will come under the heading of ‘help with your research’.  A few days ago someone sent a message around about Prisoners of WW1 record cards being put online by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and what a good source of information that is.

I think most people will be like me when a name search is placed directly in their view – yes, I go through most of the main surnames I am researching, well what did you expect me to say!   Siddle, no matches ; Wilkinson, too many ; Riach, not many.  Looks like Riach it is.

But before I tell you about soldier Riach, a little bit of background.   During the Great War 10 million, yes 10 million, sounds a lot dosn’t it? More than I imagined.  These 10 million were servicemen and civilians who were captured and sent to detention camps.  The countries involved provided an index card for each prisoner or detainee and  5 million are available to search through. One must realise, that the ICRC has a great deal of extra information in French, as it is based in Switzerland.

 Riach, was my search criteria, and a soldier named Walter H Riach turned up.

But what do his index cards tell? Walter was a Captain in the Cameron Highlanders. I saw his rank and thought to myself, that his service record won’t be online.  He was classed as wounded and missing on 23 March 1918. Words and references are F.S.E.  R.I.A E70738 with Z154 being struck through.  The card gives the impression that enquiries should be made to Berlin. Details of a Mrs Helen J W K Bakewell, of Forest End, Sandhurst, Berkshire are noted along with the fact he may be a Roman Catholic and that he was a prisoner, but with information that I now know the dates show the information was slow to be passed through.

If certain references are registered on the card it gives a link to other information available for that person – Walter has the relevant references. Another card tells that Walter Riach was a ‘soldat’ and had a reference of PA 28358 prefixed by a printed cross – possibly signifying a Red Cross reference.

Another card gives more references – A34209 with 27819 struck through.  We already know that Walter was wounded and missing since 23 March but now we know that it was between Fries and Equancourt – a look on a map tells me that Fries could be Fins.  We now have another name – Colonel Goff (cousin), Villa Valerie, Bellaria, La Tour, Vaud, Suisse.  the final page has another reference A400 with 30245 struck through.

As I said earlier there are reference that give access to more information and Walter had one, PA28358  which took me to a scanned book, typed and very faint but all in French.  The PA refers to British prisoners in the hands of Germany. The site has screen shots of what each reference means but sadly there was only one set of references for Walter so his information came to a halt here…………….but I wanted to find out what happened to him and more to the point who he was and who were Mrs Bakewell and Colonel Goff, his cousin.

Walter Hamilton Riach was the son of Arthur Hamilton Dundas Hamilton a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Engineers who served in India.  There are sources that say that Walter was born in Muree, India about 1897. This is getting very complicated as the more I search for the family the more I find peoples research differs and as this is not my Riach line, well not yet anyway, I am not going to get bogged down in others research, therefore, I will focus on what is out there on original documents. One document I did find was the Roll of Honour of The Imperial Service College which tells that during 1912-1914 Walter was there.

Ancestry has the medal card for Walter which tells what we know already – his name, ranks, that he was eligible for the 1915 Star etc. That he served in France from 30 September 1915 and his date of death.  Yes, Walter died his wounds while a prisoner of war on 5 May 1918 aged 21.  Here is card is unusual as it has information on the reverse.  An application was made by Mrs C H Holmes on behalf of her late nephew Capt., Riach W H for his medals.  An address is given as Rosevale, Newton Abbot presumably for Walter and his fathers address is given as 44 Grange Road, Ealing, W5.

Now, as to who is Mrs Bakewell and Colonel Goff, shall we say that is my next adventure………..see you there!

The CWGC tells that  Walter served in the 5th Bn., of the Cameron Highlanders and that his father at the time information was given regarding his grave was 30 Mattock Lane, Ealing, London.  Additional documentation for the CWGC gives references to his plot and tells that a headstone had been erected, no. 324, with the design 1010/1C with a cross with the words ‘The pure in heart shall see God’ his father’s name is also listed with his address but without seeing the headstone I’m not sure if all the wording is included.

le cateau cwgcWalter rests in plot III F 4 in Le Cateau Military Cemetery, along with over 700 others who gave their lives for King and Country, of which 511 are identified.  The probate for Walter’s estate was granted on 13 August 1919 to Arthur Hamilton Dundas Riach, Lieutenant-Colonel R.E.. Effects £593 9s 7d.

The area had been in German hands since 1914 and Le Cateau had been the site of a German railhead and also the site of an important military hospital.  In 1916 the Germans laid out the cemetery and allocated separate sections for Commonwealth servicemen and German soldiers, of which over 5000 rest within its boundaries and 34 Russian servicemen .

 There are three other people mentioned in this snippet, Arthur Hamilton Dundas Riach, Mrs Bakewell and Colonel Goff, a cousin.  Who they are will have to be another story……………so see you soon!

Sources

Ancestry

International Committee for the Red Cross

CWGC

WW1 Trench Maps

Have you ever tried to place the whereabouts of a family member who served during The Great War?

We have the medal cards, sometimes the service records and pension records, not forgetting the CWGC who can give a clue to an approximate area of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, but how a library in Scotland have scanned over 130 Trench Maps from that period in time, covering France and Belgium.trench map

The changing Front Line, with communication trenches as well as enemy positions.  Also highlighted are observation posts, guns emplacements, machine gun positions, mines and wire entanglements.  Some maps include the names of soldiers that gave the trenches their unique names plus landmarks.

It has been estimated that there were more than 34 million British maps of the Western Front printed during the war years.

These maps are a wonderful resource, adding that little bit of extra information to your soldiers war record.

The National Library of Scotland, who has digitised the maps also includes on their map image link:- maps of Scotland, County maps, Town plans and views, series maps plus more.

Sources

The Daily Mail

National Library of Scotland

A letter of Thanks dated 1916

Some of you that know me will be aware that I have a box that  has a lot of newspaper snippets and notes all ready for the day when I will get around to telling the world their story. I also have a folder in my email and a file on my laptop that has something similar, but sometimes the donor of photographs after being saved to the laptop gets separated and I am unable to acknowledge the sender or owner of the photographs…………yes, I know, but none of us are perfect!

A while ago I was sent a set of three pictures – one was of an envelope, and the other two were pages of a letter.

The letter, by a little ragged, was franked and had two one penny stamps on the top right hand corner. It was not written in a style I would have thought was used in that time but a style that was more rounded and with rounded loops on the high letters. The envelope was addressed to Nurse Howell, The Asylum, Wakefield – followed by a full stop and a confidently underscored stroke. I will leave Nurse Howell for a while and concentrate on the sender, one Elizabeth Rudd.

Elizabeth Rudd on the top right of her letter gave her address as 32, Westcliffe Terrace, Harrogate and dated it March 5th 1916. Who was Elizabeth and why was she writing to Nurse Howell?

To find who Elizabeth was we have to pry into her life by reading her words of thanks. Elizabeth was thanking Nurse Howell for looking after her sister during her last hours of life, which as she says ‘I did not know the end was quit so near….’ The nurse was thanked for her kindness for being at her patients side while her sister was not. But Elizabeth was glad that the nurse had been spared any painful suffering – Elizabeth’s sister having a peaceful end. Elizabeth went on to say that Nurse Howell was doing ‘noble work, one which required much patience and endurance…..’

Let’s go and find these two ladies!

Firstly, Elizabeth. We know where she lived in 1916, so a look at the 1911 gave an Elizabeth Rudd living at 81 Skipton Road, Harrogate, who was 28 years old and working as a draper’s clerk. Her parents were John William Rudd, a joiner and Mary Ann, and five other children in the house. Elizabeth had one sister, Maud Mary aged 23 – could this be the sister whose life had ended with Nurse Howell by her bedside?

Back in time 10 years to 1901 the family have now swelled their ranks and are living at 4 possibly Ashworth or Charlesworth Place, Harrogate. But there are still no clues as to the missing sister.

Back to the drawing board and a cleared Ancestry. I have set up the quick links and one of the links is directly into the UK Collections, but could not find the collection I wanted. So back to the home page and ‘see all new records’ Bingo, there it was, the UK, Lunacy Patients Admission Registers, 1846 1912. My main fear was that the date of the letter was just four years after the collection date, but hey-ho, in for a penny!

I did not know Elizabeth’s sisters name therefore a general search for Rudd and Wakefield. One entry stuck out and that was for a young lady called Hannah Jane Rudd. Hannah had been admitted on the 16th of September to the W. Yorks Asylum with no year given at the top of the page and no years on the previous pages, but her date of discharge of death on 14th February 1916, does seem to lend itself to being the lady we need.

So, if Hannah Jane is Elizabeth’s sister and she is not on the 1901 of the 1911 census, will she be on the 1891 and link her to her sister? Let’s go see!

The Rudd family in 1891 were living off Grove Road, Harrogate. John William was a joiner and builder and there was a Jane A Rudd, in the house. Could this be our Hannah Jane, who was three years older than Elizabeth?

Do you know any different?

Nurse Howell, now this could be a little trickier! Presuming, a thing I know you should never do, but where needs must…………as a nurse I presume she would have been a mature person, so over 21. I know during 1916 she was working in the Asylum, and possibly living in the Wakefield area. But, was Nurse Howell, 21ish in 1916 or older?

Back again to the 1911 census and a very, very broad search for Howell, Wakefield and female………and more ladies to search through than I cared for. I selected the search to about 1870 to 1895. I hate the new search on Ancestry, the searching does not hold the same ‘chase effect’ that it used to, but we got there after what seemed like an age – I could have made a Christmas cake quicker, or it felt that way!

One entry out of all of them stood out! Harriet Margaret Howell, aged 21, giving her year of birth around 1890. She was born at Bowes Park, Middlesex but was living in Seacroft seacroft hospitaland her occupation was Hospital Nurse. Harriet was one of many nurses and ancillary staff working at Leeds City Hospitals for Infectious Diseases, Seacroft, Leeds, Mr A E Pearson, MRCS, Medical Superintendent was in charge. The hospital cared for patients with scarlet fever and diphtheria and provided care for 482. When the need for isolation hospitals lessened Seacroft was changed to a children’s hospital.

Harriet  must have moved to work in the Asylum by 1915/16 to have nursed Miss Rudd. 

Seacroft Infectious Disease ward c1900

Is the Nurse Howell I am looking for or do you know better!

Sources:-

Leodis

Ancestry

Find My Past