Let's start with the only grandmother I knew - the maternal one. She had two children - Uncle Jim and Mum. Her first husband was killed in Liverpool in about 1908 - the front wheel of his bike got jammed in the tram tracks and was run over. She remarried during the Great War and her husband was killed on the Western Front three months before Mum was born. Rumour has it that there was another husband in between. In the early 20's she was housekeeper for a local farmer and in 1926, she heard that a widower in St Helens with 4 kids wanted a housekeeper and she was hired - that's how Mum met Dad.
Dad, in WWII, was torpedoed 4 times off North Africa and shot down over Sicily - not bad for someone in the army. On one occasion, after being torpedoed, he supported a man in the water for over 7 hours - both were in full battle kit.
His cousin, Peter, who I am named, after was captured during WWII and interned in a Polish POW camp but he managed to escape and it took him about 18 months to get to Sweden.
One of my brothers was the mayor of my hometown, his wife was also the mayor but it has a different spelling!
Can I ask posters - especially the younger ones - to talk to your parents and grandparents and get a rough family history/tree, so much easier when they are alive!
We did have nobilty in the family - Dad's brother, Uncle Jack and his wife Auntie Buff thought that they were so much better than the rest of us and were known as Lord Snooty and Lady Muck
