Boddington families
Looking for our past!
The BODDINGTONs and the SHAWsA 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 children of Samuel Boddington |
Subsequently someone has written on the card back:'Centre back - Arnold'
'[Centre] seated - Winifred [Boddington nee Shaw], on her L[eft] Len [Leonard Boddington]' |
 The card back |
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 Harriett (who died young), then in the bow tie is Ralph Thomas (married Muriel Jesse Harris, died in WWI), at the back Elsie (unmarried), the young boy on the arm of the chair is Guy Livingstone, the youngest child (married Barbara 'Babs' Severn, died on the Somme, WWI), the tall lad is Arnold John (married Winifred Shaw, father of one girl and four boys including Stuart, signatory above), seated at front middle is Nellie Elizabeth (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 William (married Dorothy Coley), and finally, on the right is Gladys Mary (married Eben Pemberton). The Shaw Family Frederick H Shaw and wife Sophia with their children |
The Shaw family picture is older, about 1885. It is believed 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
AcknowledgementI am very much indebted to Danika Lloyd, who undertook the research to discover the history of the Shaw family. I am also most indebted to Mrs Elizabeth Knights for bringing the Metchley Visitors Book to my notice and for sending it to me.
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