Annie arried Arthur Cross. Arthur’s parents had a farm at the very end of Grammar School Road. Annie's first two children, Geoff and Charley Cross, were brought up by their Turner and Cross grand-parents respectively. Annie went on to have another seven children. Geoff and Charley were both older than me but are now dead, so I am the eldest living Turner grandchild and I have been since birth the eldest grandchild of Hannah and Charles Hills, my maternal grandparents.
Florence followed in 1906, then came Albert in 1908 and finally Fred in 1910. Flo married Chris Vessey of Barnetby and spent the rest of her life there. Chris worked on the railway as a plate layer. Flo had four boys: Reg, Ron, Fred and Keith, but I believe that Fred is the only survivor.
Albert’s bride was Miriam Green; her father was a game-keeper on the Nelthorpe estate at Scawby. They had three children: Violet, Douglas and John. Douglas died when he was about six. I saw Violet at her home in Messingham in 2003; she was not in good health and died not very long after we returned home. I was never told why Douglas died in childhood, but looking back I think the cause was probably leukaemia. In contrast to his brothers, who worked in the family business until they retired, Albert was a restless soul. For a short time he had a butchers shop in Elwes Street, Brigg, and also had butchers shops in Grimsby and Sheffield and finally a grocery shop at Messingham. He and Mim lived for two separate periods in Scunthorpe but I do not know how he was employed on those occasions.
Fred was the last to marry; his bride was Joan Fuller of Poolthorne Farm, Cadney, one of three very pretty sisters. Their father managed the farm. This was the only wedding of the five children that I can recall. It took place in the Brigg church but the reception was held at Poolthorne and my chief memory is of seeing the cows milked. Weddings cannot remove the requirement of cows to be milked!
Fred and Joan had three children: Keith, Jean and Colin. Colin died at a fairly early age and Keith died when about 76. He was the last to run the family business.
It's time to turn to my mother's family. I know less about them because they lived in South Lincolnshire at Spalding, about 60 miles from Brigg. Grandad (Charles Alexander) Hills came from London and I know very little about his parents. I knew he had at least one brother, Henry, because he went to live for a while at Spalding at the beginning of the war when we all expected mass aerial attacks on London, but he did not stay for long. I know my mother had a cousin Katie, on her father's side, but know nothing about her.
Grandad had served in the Royal Marines. I have a copy of his Certificate of Service; it says that he was born on 21 May 1877 (which was about 18 months before his actual birth date) and joined the Marines on 19 July 1895. His previous employment was as a telegraph messenger. The address of his father Joseph is given as 95 St Phillips Street, Battersea, London.
He served in HMS Victorious for more than two years. I believe he may have visited Japan as I was once shown a picture of a Japanese girl and Granny said "That might have been your granny". There must have been a good story in those words but, alas, we will never know. At my grandparents’ house, 17 Queens Road, Spalding, a large picture of a warship used to hang in the front room and I am almost certain it was of the Victorious. His service certificate says he was invalided out of the Marines on 13 November 1903 as the result of an accident.
At the 1901 Census my grandmother, Hannah Musson, was in service with Lt Col John Britten in Kensington. When they married, early in 1902, Grandad was still in the Marines but it seems likely that he moved to Spalding soon afterwards. When I first knew him he was a postman but I think he got that job as a result of his service in the 1914 war. He had seven children when he voluntarily joined the army during the First World War (Regimental Number 8373, Lincolnshire Regiment). He was severely wounded at the battle of Passchendaele in Belgium in 1917, and was honourably discharged from the army. My cousin Shirley has his discharge papers dated 10 June 1918. It is only now, as I write these words, that I have realised he must have been 35 years old at the start of the war, and with such a large family it is unlikely that he would have been conscripted. Granny Hills died in 1943 and Grandad in 1957.
(Many more instalments to follow.... Above we see part of the family tree)
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