A Christmas card in which are stuck two historic
pictures was sent out by John
Stuart BODDINGTON ,
signing it Stuart, Peg, David & Lindy. On the back is a message
indicating that the pictures are of the Shaws and the Boddingtons.
The card is dated 1953.
The Boddingtons
Subsequently someone has written on the card back:
'Centre back - Arnold'
'[Centre] seated - Winifred [Boddington nee Shaw], on her L[eft] Len [Leonard
Boddington]'
Analysis of the Boddington picture and relative ages of the individuals
makes it hard to accept the description. If the two principals are Arnold
and Winifred then who are all the girls? There are seven other
youngsters in the picture, at least four are girls, two are boys and
one is an infant. If the male principal is Arnold and one of the boys
is supposed to be Leonard - well suppose that the infant is Ida, born
1902 and perhaps a year old in the picture then Len would be 23. The
boy is not that old.
I now believe that these are the nine children of Samuel
BODDINGTON JP, five girls, four boys. The young man centre back
would be Arnold. The young lady seated at front middle is not Winifred
Shaw, but Nellie Elizabeth holding the infant Guy
Livingstone. This would date the picture about 1892-3. The ages
of the others then relate reasonably well. Arnold would have been 18
or 19. The 7 or 8 year old girl on the right would be Gladys
Mary.
See the further history page on Samuel
BODDINGTON JP.
Update 28 December 2014: My cousin David Boddington (one of the signatories
on the card) has so kindly sent me a further copy of the picture (top)
as mounted in an album and complete with the names of the individuals
shown beneath. This confirms my presumptions above - from the left,
the girl is Ida (who died young), then in the bow tie is Ralph (married
Muriel Jesse Harris, died in WW1), at the back Elsie (unmarried), the
young boy on the arm of the chair is Guy the youngest child (married
Barbara 'Babs' Severn, died on the Somme, WW1), the tall lad is Arnold
(married Winifred Shaw, father of one girl and four boys including Stuart,
signatory above), seated at front middle is Nell[ie] (unmarried), the
girl back right is Clare or Clara (family history says Clara but picture
annotation says Clare, she married Frederick Arthur Shaw), young man
seated is Leonard (married Dorothy Coley), and finally, on the right
is Gladys (married Eben Pemberton).
The Shaw Family
The Shaws
The Shaw family picture is older, about 1885. It is believed to be that
the gentleman is Frederick
H SHAW JP (b.1843) [back] and
he is shown with his wife Sophia, nee Hodge (b.1849) [second left], and
six children, Elsie (b.1869) [top
right], Alice
(b.1871) [middle right],
Frederick (b.1873) [forward
right of father Frederick], Winifred
(b.1875) [left], Sophia
(b.1877) [in front of father], and Percy
(b.1879) [infant
at bottom right]. Winifred later married Arnold
John BODDINGTON , Samuel's eldest son. Frederick Arthur married Clare
'Clara' BODDINGTON , Samuel's 4th child. Much of this information
was kindly researched and provided by Frederick Anthony Shaw to whom
I am most grateful.
Shaw family page set:
Shaw family;
Frederick Henry Shaw, obituary and funeral;
Frederick Arthur Shaw, visitor
book.
Acknowledgement
I am very much indebted to Danika Lloyd who has undertaken the research to discover the history of the
Shaw family.
