On Saturday I was able to visit a Postcard Fair in Canterbury in Kent where I found some interesting old family photographs, which helpfully had names or dates on the back that could help me to identify them further.
The first one that I have researched is a lovely old photograph, as below, of four children including three boys in sailor suits and a girl in a very pretty dress – the photograph was taken by Lambert, Weston & Son in Folkestone in Kent – on the reverse, as below, were written four names Violet 1877, Edgar 1879, George 1881 and Alfred 1883.
Could I identify them further and did the family have links to Folkestone?
I started by using the dates of birth as written to research death records and began with Edgar born on 18th September 1879 – I quickly found a Edgar Hermann J SCHUSTER who was born on 18th September 1879 and who died in Oxford in 1969. Did this Edgar possibly have siblings called Violet, George and Alfred?
Looking at the 1891 census records for Edgar H J SCHUSTER, as below, I quickly discovered that he did indeed have siblings Violet H, George E and Alfred F and that his parents names were Ernest J and Hilda SCHUSTER.
Source Citation: The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class: RG12; Piece: 750; Folio: 98; Page: 6; GSU roll: 6095860 Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1891 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
Edgar had been born in Hampstead in London, but in 1891 the family were living in Folkestone in Kent where the old photograph had been taken – Father Ernest had been born in Frankfurt in Germany and his occupation was a Barrister.
I then looked at the 1881 census, as below, when the family had still been living in Hampstead in London and then the 1901 census, as below, where the family were still living in Folkestone in Kent.
Source Citation: Class: RG11; Piece: 170; Folio: 21; Page: 36; GSU roll: 1341037 Source Information: Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1881 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
Source Citation: Class: RG13; Piece: 847; Folio: 70; Page: 17 Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1901 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
I then looked to see what happened to the four siblings after 1901 and found the following:
Edgar Hermann J SCHUSTER had married a Beatrice WEST in 1904 and had two children Aubrey in 1906 and Helen in 1910
Violet Hilda SCHUSTER married Edward Harold SPENDER in 1904 and she died in 1921 aged 44.
George Ernest SCHUSTER married Gwendolen PARKER on 12th December 1908, as below, and had two children John in 1910 and Richard in 1912 and he died in 1982 aged 101 and I have found reports aboyt his marriage and 100th birthday in the newspapers as below.
Source Citation: City of Westminster Archives Centre; London, England; Westminster Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: SPES/PR/2/19 Source Information: Ancestry.com. Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2020.
Source: Daily Mirror newspaper London – Monday, December 14, 1908
Source: Birmingham Mail 25th April 1981
Alfred Francis SCHUSTER was sadly killed during World War 1 on 20th November 1914 aged 31 and is ‘Remembered with Honour’ on the Menin Gate in Belgium.
Source: Westminster Gazette 26th November 1914
Father Ernest SCHUSTER died in 1924 aged 74 and I have found his obituary, as below:
Source: Nottingham Journal newspaper 11th December 1924
Do you have a connection to the SCHUSTER family as it would be great to reunite this lovely old photograph with a family member if possible – if you do please message me via this blog or send me an email.
Many thanks
Simon LAST
charnwoodresearch@virginmedia.com
charnwoodgenealogy 