When i see old photos I somehow get drawn to imagine not necessarily the lives of these people, but the relationships between them. This is my family, my grandfather as a young and very handsome man and his three brothers. He was the eldest, and I guess in this photo he may be in his twenties; he was born in 1887, his brother Percy in 1890, Wilfred in 1891, and Stanley, always known as Tom, in 1894. They were all born and brought up in Littlehampton on the South coast, and their father, William senior was always a dapper smart man with a great personality. William senior was called Billy by his friends, which seems to suit him.
I never met any of my great-uncles as far as I know, but I think in this picture they are from left to right Tom, Wilf, Percy and my grandfather stands on the right.
My grandfather when i knew him seemed closest to the youngest brother, Tom, and always spoke about him affectionately. Tom had four children who were called by their nicknames, Billy, Bobby, Brucie and Barrie – Bobby was a girl by the way. However, the family as a whole were close because the brothers children, my mother, her sisters and brother and their cousins, remained in contact all their lives, and even tried to meet as often as possible when they were adults.
I’ll never know the relationship of these people from a hundred years ago, but looking at photos like this is a very good way to be creative and imaginative, and very useful as a writer!
Littlehampton
Lois Elsden 