Lydney Male Voice Choir 1915 (General)
Some interesting details in an article in the Dursley Gazette from Feb 1915 are as follows
"The Lydney Male Voice Choir visited Sharpness on Thursday Last and gave a further high class sacred concert in the Union Church.
As is already known, the Choir have created a big reputation by their splendid musical treats given at the Port on previous occasions.
The party were in charge of Mr C B SMALE who conducted throughout"
The songs that were sung and who sang them were listed, their names being
Mr C B SMALE
Mr W BEDDIS
Mr W T COOKE
Mr GOULDING
Mr YEATMAN
and the accompanist was Kathleen SMALE
So, how do we think they traveled to Sharpness from Lydney that evening?
Lydney Male Voice Choir 1915 - Charles B SMALE
by slowhands 
, proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Wednesday, October 23, 2013, 15:23 (4050 days ago) @ dink999
Some interesting details in an article in the Dursley Gazette from Feb 1915 are as follows
"The Lydney Male Voice Choir visited Sharpness on Thursday Last and gave a further high class sacred concert in the Union Church.
As is already known, the Choir have created a big reputation by their splendid musical treats given at the Port on previous occasions.
The party were in charge of Mr C B SMALE who conducted throughout"
The songs that were sung and who sang them were listed, their names being
Mr C B SMALE
Mr W BEDDIS
Mr W T COOKE
Mr GOULDING
Mr YEATMAN
and the accompanist was Kathleen SMALESo, how do we think they traveled to Sharpness from Lydney that evening?
Over the rail line from Purton to Sharpness ??
before http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=28274
Charles Blackwell Smale
Probate Date:9 Dec 1949
Death Date:16 Oct 1949
Death Place:Weston-Super-Mare
Registry:Bristol
1901
Charles B Smale abt 1863 Lydney, Gloucestershire, England Head Lydney, Gloucestershire
Anne Smale abt 1865 Leicester, Leicestershire, England Wife Lydney, Gloucestershire
Kathleen R Smale abt 1894 Lydney, Gloucestershire, England Daughter Lydney, Gloucestershire
John A Smale abt 1895 Lydney, Gloucestershire, England Son Lydney, Gloucestershire
Phyllis J Smale abt 1898 Lydney, Gloucestershire, England Daughter Lydney,
--
Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>
Phyllis Jane SMALE, BBC Radio "Soap Star"
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, October 24, 2013, 20:59 (4049 days ago) @ slowhands
As shown above Phyllis Smale was born in Lydney in June 1897, from GlosBMD:
Child Surname Child Forename Father Surname Mother Surname Mother's Former Name Year District Office Register Entry
SMALE Phyllis Jane SMALE SMALE WIDDOWSON 1897 Forest of Dean Chepstow, Lydney 24 254
Phyllis was Baptised a little later in life, on the same day as her older sister Kathleen. From this site's PRs:
Record_ID: 120369
Entry_Number: 2059
Year: 1909
Month: Jan
Day: 10
Parents_Surname: SMALE
Child_Forenames: Phyllis Jane
Fathers_Forenames: Charles Blackwell
Mothers_Forenames: Ann
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Lydney
Occupation: Grocer
Officiating_Minister: J.C.E.Besant
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes: [J.C.E.Besant underlined]
Register_Reference: 851113
Page_Number: 258
Parish_Chapel: Lydney
Soundex: S540
Also Baptised that day was father Charles & brother John:
Record_ID: 120366
Entry_Number: 2056
Year: 1909
Month: Jan
Day: 10
Parents_Surname: SMALE
Child_Forenames: Charles Blackwell
Fathers_Forenames: John Rase
Mothers_Forenames: Harriet Jane
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Lydney
Occupation: Grocer
Officiating_Minister: J.C.E.Besant Vicar
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: 851113
Page_Number: 257
Parish_Chapel: Lydney
Soundex: S540
Record_ID: 120368
Entry_Number: 2058
Year: 1909
Month: Jan
Day: 10
Parents_Surname: SMALE
Child_Forenames: John Arthur
Fathers_Forenames: Charles Blackwell
Mothers_Forenames: Ann
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Lydney
Occupation: Grocer
Officiating_Minister: J.C.E.Besant
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes: [J.C.E.Besant underlined]
Register_Reference: 851113
Page_Number: 258
Parish_Chapel: Lydney
Soundex: S540
Phyllis and Kathleen both attended the new Lydney Grammar School where they joined the Dramatic Society. A history of the society written about 1931 states,
"In 1904, at the first Speech Day, two pieces were presented by the drama group: “The Sleeping Beauty” and scenes from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
In the former, one notices amongst the cast the names of Kathleen and Phyllis Smale (Mrs. Luscombe of the B.B.C. radio series). Miss Phyllis Smale (now Mrs Forster of Bristol) tells me she left the school at the age of nine in 1906, so clearly only very young children took part in “The Sleeping Beauty”.
In later years Phyllis, an elocution teacher, ran the Phyllis Smale / Hicks-Smale Drama School(s ?) in Durdham Park Bristol. During these years she played a leading role in the early career of a famous British actress, as described below. By the end of WW2 Phyllis was also working regularly for BBC Radio, her most famous role was in the long-running radio serial "At the Luscombe's". This saga of family life in a West Country village first aired in September 1948 and was still running 1,000 episodes later in 1964. See her photo in this article http://www.turnipnet.com/whirligig//radio/luscombes.htm
As hinted above Phyllis married at Weston Super Mare, from FreeBMD:
Surname First name(s) Mother/Spouse/Age District Vol Page
---------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages Jun 1942 (>99%)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Forstar Harry Small Weston 5c 1417
Smale Phyllis J Forster Weston 5c 1417
Small Phyllis J Forster Weston 5c 1417
It seems they had at least one child, again from FreeBMD;
Surname First name(s) Mother District Vol Page
---------------------------------------------------------------
Births Dec 1944 (>99%)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Forster Harriet C Smale Bristol 6a 270
Kathleen Rose SMALE, mother of World Famous "Film Star"
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, October 25, 2013, 00:28 (4049 days ago) @ Jefff
Kathleen Smale was born in Lydney in December 1893, from GlosBMD:
Child Surname Child Forename Father Surname Mother Surname Mother's Former Name Year District Office Register Entry
SMALE Kathleen Rose SMALE SMALE WIDDOWSON 1893 Forest of Dean Chepstow, Lydney 22 345
From this site's PRs, she was Baptised alongside younger sister Phyllis:
Record_ID: 120367
Entry_Number: 2057
Year: 1909
Month: Jan
Day: 10
Parents_Surname: SMALE
Child_Forenames: Kathleen Rose
Fathers_Forenames: Charles Blackwell
Mothers_Forenames: Ann
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Lydney
Occupation: Grocer
Officiating_Minister: J.C.E.Besant Vicar
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: 851113
Page_Number: 258
Parish_Chapel: Lydney
Soundex: S540
After attending Lydney Grammar School, Kathleen married Arthur "Jack" Trimmer born Highweek near Newton Abbot, Devon. He was an Army Captain who had lost a leg during WW1 at the Somme and became a naval architect and civil engineer.
Record_ID: 106756
Entry_Number: 59
Year: 1919
Month: Aug
Day: 21
Grooms_Surname: TRIMMER
Grooms_Forenames: Arthur Charles
Grooms_Age: 25
Groom_Condition: Bachelor
Grooms_Occupation: Captain in Army
Grooms_Residence: Harronden
Grooms_Fathers_Surname: Trimmer
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames: Arthur Kerr
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation: Civil Engineer
Brides_Surname: SMALE
Brides_Forenames: Kathleen Rose
Brides_Age: 25
Brides_Condition: Spinster
Brides_Occupation:
Brides_Residence: Lydney
Brides_Fathers_Surname: Smale
Brides_Fathers_Forenames: Charles Blacknell
Brides_Fathers_Occupation: Grocer
Licence_or_Banns: Licence
Date_of_Banns:
Signature_or_Mark: both sign
Witness_1: John Arthur Smale
Witness_2: Phyllis Jane Smale
Other_Witnesses:
Officiating_Minister: John C E Besant Vicar
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P209 IN 1/18
Page_Number: 30
Parish_Chapel: Lydney
Soundex_Groom: T656
Soundex_Bride: S540
They had one daughter, Deborah Jane Kerr Trimmer, born in Glasgow on 30th Sep 1921.
Deborah had a difficult childhood growing up in the West Country. In the 1930s, she became a pupil at Northumberland House boarding school, Westbury Park, Bristol. A fellow pupil recalled her as a "thin, freckled nine-year-old" who was shy and often bullied, yet she still played lead roles in school plays such as the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland" and Maid Marion in "Robin Hood". "Alice" was produced by drama teacher Joan Sanderson (born & subsequently at Northumberland House in 1912) who later starred as a fearsome teacher in TV's "Please Sir!". http://www.anp-archief.nl/page/197057/nl
Far from happy at school, Deborah spent her holidays with her grandparents in Weston; "I hated that boarding school, and I wasn't very happy in the holidays at Weston because granny was very strict. I'm sure it was good for me - it certainly taught me discipline - but I didn't enjoy it very much."
When father Jack became ill she moved in with her grandparents, attending Rossholme School, Weston-super-Mare. When Jack died they were joined by mother Kathleen and younger brother Ted. Under Aunt Phyllis's guidance she forged a career in entertainment, reading stories for BBC Local Radio's "Children's Hour" in 1936 aged 15. Her "professional" theatre début was at Weston in 1937, as "Harlequin" in the mime play "Harlequin and Columbine". She soon won a Scholarship at Sadler's Wells ballet school, London, making her début in the Corps de Ballet in "Prometheus" in 1938.
However Deborah soon realised she was too tall to succeed as ballerina and pursued her lifelong love & childhood refuge, acting. She had walk-on parts in various Shakespeare productions at the Open-Air Theatre, Regent's Park, before joining the Oxford Playhouse rep company in 1940.
Her first film role was in the British film "Contraband" in 1940 but her scenes never made the final cut. Between films she also performed for the British Armed Forces in France, Belgium and Holland with ENSA. Her fifth film, playing a Norwegian resistance fighter in "The Day Will Dawn" (1942), ensured her success. She was an immediate hit with the public, being voted the most popular local female star at the British box office.
By now she had adopted the name Deborah Kerr; "Kerr" was a family name going back to the maternal grandmother of her grandfather Arthur Kerr-Trimmer.
This was the start of a long and glittering career, standouts include "From Here to Eternity" opposite Burt Lancaster (1953), and her British Governess "Mrs Anna" in "The King and I" with Yul Brynner (1956). For her contributions to the Hollywood film industry she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Although she never won a BAFTA, Oscar or Cannes Film Festival award in a competitive category, all three organizations gave her honorary awards: in 1984 a Cannes Film Festival Tribute, in 1991 a BAFTA Special Award and in 1994 the Academy Honorary Award in recognition of "an artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline and elegance". Deborah was awarded a CBE in the 1997/8 New Years Honours List.
Kerr's first marriage was to RAF Squadron Leader Anthony Bartley on 29 November 1945, from FreeBMD:
Surname First name(s) Mother/Spouse/Age District Vol Page
---------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages Dec 1945 (>99%)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Bartley Anthony C Kerr-Trimmer Westminster 1a 1051
Kerr-Trimmer Deborah J Bartley Westminster 1a 1051
Trimmer Deborah J K Bartley Westminster 1a 1051
They had two daughters, Melanie Jane and Francesca Ann. However their marriage was troubled, Anthony disliking her success and long periods away from home; they divorced in 1959. Her second marriage was to author Peter Viertel on 23 July 1960. In marrying Viertel she acquired a stepdaughter, Christine Viertel. She eventually moved back to Britain to be near her own children as her health began to deteriorate. Viertel, however, stayed in their Marbella home.
Deborah Kerr CBE died from the effects of Parkinson's disease on 16 October 2007, aged 86, in Botesdale, Suffolk. Peter Viertel died of cancer less than three weeks later.
[Compiled from several sources, both online & literary]
"Miss SMALE of Lydney", Cinderford Baptist Chapel c1910
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, October 25, 2013, 01:32 (4049 days ago) @ Jefff
While searching tinternet I have come across this superb website describing in great detail the history of the Baptist Chapel in Cinderford, I'm sure a venue where the Lydney Choir performed.
http://richardnet.co.uk/genealogy/bapchap.htm
This site is an excellent FH research resource, as it describes in detail a great many local family names, for example William (Frowen) Rhodes. William Rhodes was born in Coleford on October 1808, moved to Woodside aka Cinderford as a High Street grocer and soon became Cinderford's first Postmaster. He was instrumental in opening the town's first Baptist Church in 1842. This extensive document goes onto record the history of this Chapel, it's larger 600 seat successor built 1860 and still in use, and details all the various Ministers and a great many local people connected with the Chapel and town, with full names and their family relationships eg Cooksey, Cooper, Tyndall, Chivers, etc etc etc....
The site is essentially reiterating a History of the Church previously written in 1907, by Mr S. Jordan (secretary). Also included are full details of their Jubilee Celebrations, in 1910. This also included extensive lists of those people who have attended the Church, or subscribed/donated towards it's Celebrations. These names include
" Miss Smale (Lydney), 2s. 6d." - Kathleen perhaps ??
"Alfred Beddis, Cinderford, son of John Beddis, grandson of Mary Ann Richards, early member." A possible relative to the aforementioned choirmaster Beddis, perhaps ?
I urge anyone with roots in Cinderford if not beyond to read, or at least search, this excellent site - there are a great many old Foresters waiting to be found and hopefully placed into family trees !
--------------------------------
Baptist missions to Cinderford were attempted before 1842 when, with help from Gloucester, services were held in the house of W. F. Rhodes, a grocer and a member of the Coleford church. The following year the Cinderford meeting became a separate church with 10 members and it built a chapel in the later Commercial Street. The church, which had its own minister from 1845, became by far the largest Baptist meeting in the Forest and supported missionary work in several places. The chapel, in which a gallery was erected in 1847, attracted morning and evening congregations of 170 and 280 and taught 170 children in its Sunday school in 1851. It was pulled down following its replacement in 1860 by a larger building immediately to the south. The new chapel had a pedimented street front and an end gallery, and its sloping site afforded accommodation for a schoolroom under it. In 1862 a Strict or Particular Baptist church also met in Cinderford and its minister Richard Snaith conducted baptisms in St. Anthony's well near Gunn's Mills in 1864. The meeting had a chapel in Flaxley Meend and has not been traced after 1879. Under Cornelius Griffiths, minister 1873-81, the Commercial Street church saw its membership double to nearly 400 and it sent missions to places nearby and to Newnham. Its chapel had side galleries from 1875 and new rooms, opened in 1887 and 1903, were added at the rear for the Sunday school, which in 1901 taught 1,208 children and young adults. The church, which in 1907 opened an institute in Belle Vue Road and at the end of the First World War held open-air services at Mousell barn just outside Cinderford, was in decline by the later 1920s. It had 46 members in 1992.
From: 'Forest of Dean: Protestant nonconformity', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 396-404.
URL: http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23273 Date accessed: 25 October 2013.
For more info about the Chapel see:
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=23938
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/churches/pages/page_9.html
PS I'm pleased and not surprised to see that, on my further searching of this forum, the Baptist Chapel website has already been recommended here, as I should perhaps have remembered...
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=32433
"Miss SMALE of Lydney", Cinderford Baptist Chapel c1910
by peteressex , Friday, October 25, 2013, 08:02 (4049 days ago) @ Jefff
Harris's Forest of Dean Almanac and Directory, 1910, has an entry for Lydney Male Voice Choir, showing Mr C B Smale as conductor and "Mr H N Howell" (Herbert Howells) as accompanist. The entry says the choir had been formed in 1908 but had already grown to a membership of 72, winning prizes at Chepstow and Monmouth, despite 3/4 of the membership being new to choral singing. No wonder they were invited as far afield as Dursley, as well as Cinderford, as already described in this thread.
Handily perhaps, this 1910 entry was placed opposite a half-page advert reading as follows:-
"Smale's Stores. Oldest house in the town. For drapery, grocery and furniture. Best value at lowest prices. Immense stock of floor cloths, linoleums. 12, 16, 18 Newerne Street, Lydney." (So what, I ask myself, was at No. 14?)
The Lydney Observer of 4 Jan 1946 carried an article headed "Miss Deborah Kerr's rise to fame - grand-daughter of Mr and Mrs C B Smale, Lydney." The item is too extensive to do justice to it here, particularly in terms of Deborah Kerr's rise as an actress, but it confirms that her father, Arthur Kerr-Trimmer, had married Kathleen Smale, "daughter of Mr and Mrs C B Smale who had the well-known drapery business in Newerne Street."
My connection is that C B Smale's wife was godmother to W E E "Eddie" Pritchard, whose father John Frederick Pritchard ran the Lydney Coal Company with offices in Victoria Road and whose sister Clara Pritchard married Henry Sterrey, these becoming my great-grandparents who lived in Albert Street (next to the Step Aside Inn, again perhaps handily.) I imagine that the honour of godparenthood went to Mrs Smale as her husband and Eddie Pritchard's father were both prominent businessmen of the time.
I got most of this from Roger Dennis, another Pritchard great-grandson.
Kathleen M P SMALE ( nee HALL) 1905 - 1982
by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Friday, October 25, 2013, 08:11 (4049 days ago) @ slowhands
Cemetery Yew Tree Brake
Grave Ref A18 536
Name SMALE Kathleen Maud Priscilla
Age 76 years
Address "Lorelei",
4 Wyelands Park,
Lower Lydbrook,
Glos.
Date of Death 3rd February 1982
Date of Burial 10th February 1982
Place of Death Gloucester Clinic, Denmark Road, Gloucester
Officiating Minister Rev. C. Minett
Name:Kathleen M P Hall
Spouse : Charles G Smale
Date of Registration:Oct-Nov-Dec 1933
Registration District:Middleton
Inferred County:Lancashire
Volume Number:8d
Page Number:1433
1911 Ruspidge
Henry Hall 31
Maud Mary Hall 29
Kathleen M P Hall 5
Harold H Hall 3
Name:Kathleen Maud P Hall
Date of Registration:Oct-Nov-Dec 1905
Registration District:Westbury on Severn
Inferred County:Gloucestershire
Volume:6a
Page:280
Year: 1906
Month: Dec
Day: 27
Parents_Surname: HALL
Child_Forenames: Kathleen Maud Priscilla
Fathers_Forenames: Henry
Mothers_Forenames: Maud Mary
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: East Dean Gloucester
Occupation: Collier
Officiating_Minister: G. W. Hicks
Event: Baptism
Memoranda: Parent's Residence Woodville Ruspidge
Notes:
Register_Reference: D2598 5/6
Page_Number: 84
Parish_Chapel: Forest of Dean Bible Christian
--
Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>