The photographs …… the family ….. and some of their stories ……..

Now anyone who has tracked their family history will know that mix of curiosity, and pleasure at uncovering long lost relatives.

The "Lines" girls, date unknown

In my case it is less how far I can go back into the past and more the stories which can be written about those that went before me.

And the real fun comes in placing them in the context of where they lived and how their stories fit into the national picture.

So, a big chunk of my ancestors were agricultural labourers and with the coming of the Industrial Revolution worked in the new textile mills, or migrated south from the east Highlands, eventually crossing the border at the start of the last century and by degree travelling ever further south before finally ending up in London in the 1930s.

Susan and Jean Lines, date unknown

Nor does that quest “to find out” stop with our family, which brings me to an interesting collection of family pictures sent to me by Frances who wrote “they were my aunt's family, but she was my aunt by marriage, so I don't know any of the people in the photos”.

And as you do, I started with the images which I was most drawn to, including two studio portraits, an elderly woman astride a motorbike, along with a mother and baby outside a tent in Blackpool and a young Jean Lines training to be a nurse in Blackheath in 1931.

Susan Eleanor Lines, date unknown

As ever the choice was random, the picture of the elderly woman on the motorbike from the 1920s looked intriguing, while Jean Lines was living and working in a part of south east London I know well because I grew up close by.

Such are the reasons why we get drawn in and once drawn in the exercise to find out more becomes as fascinating as any piece of personal family research.

Major Lines, circa 1914

All of which took me to Major Edward Ellis Lines, his wife, Susan and his daughters.  

All of them feature in the collection but at first the connection seemed tenuous so while some of the photographs carried first names, not all had a surname, and most were undated.

But the key was Major Lines, who was born in 1859 in Dorset and was in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and with him came a series of census returns which offered up the names of his daughters, who were Eleanor, Leonora, Sadie, Phyllis and Marjorie.

The returns also provided a backdrop to his military career which showed that the family had moved around the country and beyond.  

So, sometime around 1902 they were in Hampshire, while between 1905 and 1907 they were in Malta and later still in Darlington, all of which are vouchsafe by the birthplaces of his daughters.

And this transitory life might explain why in 1901 Major Lines was in Weston Super Mare while his wife was on the Isle of Wight and back in 1891 his daughter and two sons from his first marriage were living with their grandparents.

Edward Ellis Lines, date unknown

There is much more to learn about Major Lines, but one thing stands out which is that he rose through the ranks.

Sadie and Leo Lines, date unknown

In 1880 when he married his first wife Cecilia in Somerset he described himself as a “soldier”  living in St John’s Wood in London.

By 1883 at the baptism of their daughter Mabel he had risen to “Staff Sergeant” with the Army Hospital Corps, and in the fulness of time I guess we will track his later promotions.

And in the same way uncover more about his first wife, and their children one of whom served in the Royal Navy.

But for now, it is enough to have found a framework and context for the family photographs and identify the woman on the motorbike as his second wife Susan who may well have been in her 50s when the picture was taken.

Edward Ellis Lines and daughter, date unknown

Of course I may have got bits wrong, as happens with any family research, but I am happy with where we have travelled so far.

Location; all over

Pictures; from the family collection of Frances Jones