My grandmother and her Album
Her name was Christina Mary, but known to her children as "Gan". (My grandfather was Harrison Benn who died in July 1921. He owned woollen mills in Clayton, Yorkshire (near Bradford) and also in America. See My Grandfather Harrison Benn page.
My mother and I visited Gan during school holidays and I remember her as an old lady sitting in her chair in the music room at Holcombe Hall in the village of Holcombe, Devon between Teignmouth and Dawlish in the county of Devon. She was always dressed in black garments, with a large amethyst cross on a chain round her neck when I was brought in to her at tea time in the music room. This room had a beautiful pipe organ which fascinated me, but probably had not been played after his death. The organ went to a bombed out church in Bradford, Yorkshire, after WW2 ended.
There was also a serpent, an ancestor of the modern tuba, hanging on a wall which I was not allowed to touch.
My mother and I visited Gan during school holidays and I remember her as an old lady sitting in her chair in the music room at Holcombe Hall in the village of Holcombe, Devon between Teignmouth and Dawlish in the county of Devon. She was always dressed in black garments, with a large amethyst cross on a chain round her neck when I was brought in to her at tea time in the music room. This room had a beautiful pipe organ which fascinated me, but probably had not been played after his death. The organ went to a bombed out church in Bradford, Yorkshire, after WW2 ended.
There was also a serpent, an ancestor of the modern tuba, hanging on a wall which I was not allowed to touch.
I would like to record the pages from her album here. I am scanning the pages one at a time, so it will be some time before they are completed.
The album measures 9 inches by 7 inches and contains 86 pages. It is bound in soft leather with rounded corners and the pages are gilt edged. The first date recorded is June 21st, 1891.
The album measures 9 inches by 7 inches and contains 86 pages. It is bound in soft leather with rounded corners and the pages are gilt edged. The first date recorded is June 21st, 1891.
