National Museums Liverpool Blog - memories

I know I speak for many people when I say that someone close to me has had dementia. Many of us have had grandparents, parents and loved ones who have lived with dementia, and it is an emotional experience to watch someone you care for go through it.

“There are 800,000 people with dementia in the UK, with numbers set to rise to 1 million by 2025”.

I picked up this stat today when visiting the team from the Alzheimer’s Society, who had brought their Dementia Community Roadshow to the Museum of Liverpool. The Roadshow is going all over the UK to help raise awareness of dementia, and the services that the charity has to offer to those living with dementia and their carers.

The Dementia Community Roadshow visited the Museum of Liverpool today

Families and carers provide vital support to many people living with dementia across the UK. In fact, there are currently 670,000 carers of people with dementia in the UK, and family carers of people with dementia save the UK over £8 billion a year.

At the Museum of Liverpool, we have a training programme called House of Memories dedicated to helping carers recognise some key skills and resources that can inform their practice and support people living with dementia. To acknowledge and understand an individual’s personal history and memory is of great value and significance - especially for people living with dementia – and by using a museum or other cultural venue such as a library or theatre, carers can help unlock memories that are waiting to be shared.

Hurrah for half term! Aside from all the great half term events that are taking place at our venues next week, we are also set for some radio interference across the city from 18 – 22 February.

Waves on the Mersey is a project that has been created by Open the Door Theatre in Education, who are bringing five giant radios into the city to broadcast documentaries about major historical events that have shaped Liverpool’s history.

The documentaries have been created by young people between the ages of 14 and 21, who have researched, interviewed and devised radio shows and plays on each topic. They have also decorated the radios, which will be located at five locations around the city, broadcasting a different documentary every day.

The radios can be found at the Museum of Liverpool, FACT, Albert Dock Liverpool (outside Merseyside Maritime Museum), the Metquarter and Liverpool Cathedral. They will each broadcast the following documentaries between 1 – 3pm every day:

Monday 18 February – The Beatles, 1964
Tuesday 19 February – The Toxteth Riots, 1981
Wednesday 20 February – Hillsborough, 1989
Thursday 21 February – The May Blitz, 1941
Friday 22 February – Pope John Paul II’s visit, 1982

You can also tune into 87.7FM to listen to the documentaries, but if you’re able to visit the giant radios, how about doing a trail of them all and getting a picture with each one?

The Waves on the Mersey team with the giant radio located at the Museum of Liverpool

At first families back home in Liverpool were oblivious to the horror that had befallen their loved ones.

On November 23 1942 my grandmother watched from Crosby beach as Liverpool liner SS Ceramic left the River Mersey. Her husband Fred was aboard working as a steward. Clutching her three-month-old baby, Annie Felton waved the ship off, unaware that this would be the very final farewell.
 
The 18,400 ton Ceramic was launched in 1912 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast. She was the first ship built by White Star Line after Titanic and spent her years sailing the Liverpool to Australia route.

She was nicknamed “the relief of Bootle” because she’d offered work to jobless Liverpool seamen taking them off the dole queues.

On this day 70-years-ago (December 6 1942), Ceramic was en-route to Sydney. But she never made the Harbour Bridge. The merchant ship would be torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic off The Azores.

In deep of night U-515 aimed its torpedoes and unleashed hell. Passengers and crew scrambled into lifeboats, but this only prolonged the agony. As lifeboats capsized there was no escape from chaos of storm and sea.

Of the 656 men, women and children aboard, just one survived. U-515 emerged to pluck just one person from the carnage - sapper Eric Munday. It would be 10 months before the fate of Ceramic would be known back in Liverpool.

The sinking remains one of the worst shipping disasters of all time. The definitive story of Ceramic and account of sole survivor Eric Munday is available in a book by Clare Hardy called: “SS Ceramic – the untold story”: www.ssceramic.co.uk

SS Ceramic photograph is from the collections of Merseyside Maritime Museum. Our Maritime Archives and Library holds an extensive collection of maritime books and archives spanning three centuries, including one of the finest collections of merchant shipping records in the UK. www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/

By Dickie Felton

Tomorrow, is our First World War Family History Day at the Museum of Liverpool, and you may know that we have been blogging all week about WWI soldiers from the city. Today, we're featuring Captain Noel Chavasse, who was the only soldier in WWI to receive the honour of the Victoria Cross twice.

Captain Noel Chavasse won the Victoria Cross twice

The son of the Bishop of Liverpool, Noel was twice awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) and was the most highly decorated British serviceman in the First World War.

Dr Noel Chavasse was a medical doctor, who left behind his work at the call of King and Country in the autumn of 1914. Although he was an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps, he was attached to the Liverpool Scottish - joining as second Medial Officer - and threw his whole heart and soul into the duty of caring for the men in his unit.

He was promoted to the rank of Captain, and awarded his first VC at Guillemont in 1916, for conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. During an attack, he attended the wounded in the open for two days under heavy fire, frequently in view of the enemy. Altogether he saved the lives of some twenty badly wounded men.

He was awarded the VC again at Passchendaele. Though severely wounded early in the action whilst carrying a wounded soldier to the dressing station he refused to leave his post, and for two days not only continued to perform his duties but in addition went out repeatedly under heavy fire to search for and attend to wounded who were lying out. During these searches, though practically without food during this period, worn with fatigue and faint with his wound, he assisted to carry in a number of badly wounded men over heavy and difficult ground.

By his extraordinary energy and inspiring example he was instrumental in rescuing many wounded who would have otherwise undoubtedly succumbed under the bad weather conditions. This devoted and gallant officer subsequently died of his wounds in August 1917.

A Liverpool bombardier, who was with him all day on July the 31st, wrote:

"Gee! He did work! I was beginning to think he was not human, because nothing made him flinch or duck. The first wound that he received was in the head, and all he did was to take his tin hat off, jammed there, put a bandage around his head, and carry on. This he did all day and all night until the next wound he got, in the side, did for him. By Jove, it didn't half cut up the boys, because a man like that is not made to be killed. He is a hero of heroes. A V.C. is too small a reward for such a man."

He is commemorated on the war memorial in :
Liverpool College Junior School, Queens Drive, Sefton Park
Unidentified Memorial (now in Slaughterhouse Pub 13 Fenwick St)
Liverpool Cricket & Rugby Clubs, now in Liverpool Cricket Club, Aigburth Rd
Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, War memorial transept
Liverpool University, Victoria Hall, Brownlow Hill

Today, we're looking at the story of Captain Frank Watson, in the run up to our First World War Family History Day at the Museum of Liverpool on Saturday.

Frank Watson originally signed up to the 17th Pals Battalion in Liverpool.

Lord Derby came up with the idea of bringing together men who worked and socialised in a fighting regiment to appeal to more men to ‘sign up’.

The response to the first adverts was so great, that Lord Derby was able to form two battalions, and by mid-October a second advertisement appealing for recruits meant that there were a total of four ‘Liverpool Pals’ battalions, and two reserve battalions. They were officially known as the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Service Battalions of the King’s Regiment, Liverpool.

Excelling in his army career in the 17th Battalion, Frank Watson received a temporary officer’s commission and transferred to the 22nd Manchester Pals as Captain.

In April 1917, having returned to the Front after recovering from a previous wound, Frank was fatally wounded.

This is our second blog post in a series leading up to our World War One Family History Day at the Museum of Liverpool this Saturday, 24 March. Today, we look at the story of the Turner Brothers, William and Fred.

William and Fred Turner signed up as Officers to the Liverpool Scottish Battalion. William can be seen here on the far right.

Lieutenants William and Fred Turner were born in Ullet Road, Liverpool, to parents Jessie and William. Both attended the local Greenbank School, and went on to become successful sportsmen in cricket, rugby and football at Sedbergh School, Yorkshire before following in their father’s footsteps and joining the printing firm Turner & Dunnett, of which their father was Senior Partner.
The boys were among the first to ‘sign up’ and both joined the Liverpool Scottish Battalion as officers.

Fred, the younger of the two sons, was the first to go abroad arriving at the Front on 2 November, 1914. His brother William was still in England when Fred was killed within a few weeks of arriving in Belgium on January 10th, 1915, while inspecting barbed wire entanglements in front of his Platoon. He was age 26.

His Commanding Officer said in a letter:

"Fred was a gallant fellow, a universal favourite and the idol of the men under his command. His ever cheery manner and courageous bearing under all conditions endeared him to all his comrades. One of his fellow officers remarked to me that Fred Turner, above all men he had ever met, was one in whom it was impossible to find a fault, and I heartily endorse this opinion."

A Private wrote of him :

"His first thought was always of his men; when their spirits were inclined to droop he rallied them and joked with them, though he always took upon himself the most dangerous and disagreeable duties. A sniper who had tracked him along the trench picked him off."

His older brother William left for the Front straight after Fred’s memorial service two weeks later, and at the request of the men, took his brother’s command. Five months later, he too was killed leading his men in the charge of the Liverpool Scottish on June 16 1915, aged 31.

It was a day that the Liverpool Scottish underwent a terrible ordeal of fire at Hooge, when many men fell in a charge that broke the German lines. A German trench had just been captured, when a heavy shell burst, killing the men and Lieutenant William Turner.

The Rev. Alexander Connell, in an eloquent address at the Memorial Service said: “"He stepped without fuss, and at once, into his fallen brother's place. He won the affection and confidence of his men. Some of them, who have also fallen, had sworn, as we know, that for his sake, as for his brother's, if any hour of peril called them they should be found by his side, living or dead.”

Captain Noel Chavasse, Lord Derby and The King were among those who sent letters of condolence to the Turner family.

David Jones was awarded the Victoria Cross for his outstanding bravery

In the run up to our First World War Family History Day at the Museum of Liverpool on Saturday, we’ll be sharing a few stories from our collection about soldiers who fought in World War I.

Today’s story is about David Jones, VC.

David Jones, from Smithdown Lane in Edge Hill, enlisted in 1915 and was soon promoted to Sergeant.

When the officers from his platoon were killed during the battle for Guillemont, Jones took control. Jones and his men captured a key road into the village and held it for two days and nights without food or water. On the second day they drove back three enemy attacks.

Extract from the London Gazette, No. 29802 dated 24 October 1916:

“For most conspicuous bravery, devotion to duty, and ability displayed in the handling of his platoon. The platoon to which he belonged was ordered to a forward position, and during the advance came under heavy machine gun fire, the officer being killed and the platoon suffering heavy losses Serjt. Jones led-forward the remainder, occupied the position, and held it for two days and two nights without food or water, until relieved. On the second day he drove back three counter-attacks, inflicting heavy losses. His coolness was most praiseworthy. It was due entirely to his resource and example that his men retained confidence and held their post.”

Unnamed private from 12th Battalion, King’s Liverpool Regiment, 1916:

“Nothing could dismay him. At times there was enough to make one’s heart sink to the boots, but Sergeant Jones was as chipper as could be.”

David Jones was awarded the Victoria Cross for his outstanding bravery. He was killed the following month. He never wore his medal. His widow, Elizabeth, collected it from King George V in 1917. His Victoria Cross is on display in the Waterfront to Western Front special exhibition in The People’s Republic gallery. You can read about the Victoria Cross being donated to our permanent collections in a past blog.

The City Soldier's gallery features collections from The King's Regiment, and a range of helmets to try on. (c) Mark McNulty

This Saturday, 24 March, the Museum of Liverpool will be hosting a free First World War family history event to help people with their search into relatives who served in the war.

The Museum looks after the collections of The King’s Regiment in the City Soldiers gallery, which focuses on the long history of the regiment and its relationship with Liverpool. Created in 1685, The King’s Regiment is one of Britain’s oldest regiments. It has been Liverpool’s regiment since 1881, and is now amalgamated into the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment. 

We have many stories to tell about the men who served with The King’s in the First World War, which are on show in our Waterfront to Western Front special exhibition, and the City Soldiers gallery. We’ll be sharing a few stories this week in the run up to Saturday and today’s story is about David Jones, VC.

If you’re interested in finding out more, come down to the Museum of Liverpool on Saturday between 10am and 4pm, where there will be a range of family friendly activities on offer throughout the day. There will be arts and crafts for our younger visitors, performances and role players, along with talks from experts and historians and a number of local societies who will be on hand to assist with family history research.

Visitors will be able to gain access to a research database, which contains the biographical details of over 76,000 men who served in the King’s Regiment during the First World War, and experts will be available to speak to from:

• National Museums Liverpool
• The Western Front Association
• Liverpool Family History Society
• Liverpool Record Office
• The Liverpool Pals 
• The King’s Regiment Association

Here, Laura Cox, Visitor Assistant at the Museum of Liverpool shares the next of her favourite things.

Laura at the Museum of Liverpool life, by the Punch and Judy display

My second favourite object in the Museum of Liverpool is situated in the Wondrous Place galley, it's a whole case dedicated to Codman's Punch and Judy. The case contains a Punch, a Judy, a Crocodile and perhaps even a sneaky clown who goes by the name of Joey.

The family run Codman's Punch and Judy show used to take place at Lime Street and then later at Williamson Square, pictures around the case show crowds of people watching a show. These shows were way before my time, we're talking the 1800's here, so you may be wondering why it's one of my favourite things in the museum... Well, Codman's Punch and Judy holds a very special place in my heart and as soon as I set eyes on it in the new museum the memories came flooding back.

I remember the same display being in the old Liverpool Life museum, this was my favourite museum when I was little. I remember visiting on soggy Sunday afternoons and having the absolute treat of watching a live Punch and Judy show.  Professor Ronald Richard Codman whose Great Great Grandfather was The George Codman who started the family business in the 19th century, would come and perform his Punch and Judy act in the traditional booth - you can just make it out on the left in the picture. 

My photographic evidence of these soggy Sunday afternoons doesn't paint the best picture of it, not sure why I'm looking so shifty, although I do have a vague recollection of opening my car door on the puppeteers car by accident - whilst he was inside! I was probably terrified that he would come and beat me up with a Punch puppet!

Fear aside, I loved the Punch and Judy show. It's such a timeless tradition and no matter how old you are, where you're from, or what language you speak, a puppet hitting another puppet over the head and then possibly being eaten by a crocodile is and always will be absolutely hilarious!

Recently a visitor suggested that the items in the case should be brought to life... Well I couldn’t agree more. Get Punch and Judy and the puppeteer back! 

How much do you know about your parents and grandparents?

Bernie, Denise and Sun Yui worked with us to find out more about their families who feature in a new interactive Family Tree displayed in East meets west – The Story of Shanghai and Liverpool, part of the new Museum of Liverpool opening on July 19th.

Copies of marriage certificates, passenger lists and trade directories have been put together in a visual log that will provide visitors with plenty of ideas on how to track down family members past and present. These personal stories took us to archives in Shanghai where researchers tried to trace the participants’ Grandfathers – Sow Loo, Ching Ming and Leung Ngau.

For Bernie Gibson (nee Loo), the project meant exploring the family she never knew and celebrating the Chinese heritage she is proud of. Bernie’s search for her birth family began with a letter to Social Services in 1995 and the reply confirmed what she was always vaguely aware of – that her Mother’s father was Chinese, and Bernie’s surname Loo came from him.

Liverpool has one of the longest established Chinese communities in Europe, all thanks to Alfred Holt and Co’s momentous launch of the first direct steamship from Liverpool to China in 1866. Recruiting men from across Shanghai and Hong Kong, the Blue Funnel Line, as it became known, brought thousands of Chinese seamen to Liverpool, and many made the city their home. Sow Loo, Bernie’s Grandfather, was one such seafarer who arrived in Liverpool on board a Blue Funnel Ship in the late 1910s.

From looking at their marriage certificate from Liverpool’s Registry Office, we know Sow Loo married Catherine Johnson in 1922, and that he was working in a laundry at the time. By checking trade directories in the Liverpool Record Office we found out the business was actually his, and that the Sow Loo Laundry also housed the family at 230 County Road, Walton. The laundry disappears from the directories in 1928, the same year that the story of the family moving to China emerges. Passengers lists for the Kashima Maru in 1929 records Catherine returning to Liverpool with two of her four children, without Sow Loo, in time for the birth of Bernie’s mother – pictured kneeling down to the right of the photograph. Very little is known about the family at this time (1950s) and this is the only photo Bernie has of her mother.

These family trees show how documents, old photographs and oral testimonies can unlock the secrets of family members past, and show us the many ways Liverpool has grown as a Global city.

Do you recognise anyone at this Christmas party in Stanhope Street? Courtesy of Bernadette Gibson

Global Families – Discovering our roots, appears in East meets west – The Story of Shanghai and Liverpool for the Global City Gallery, part of the new Museum of Liverpool opening on 19 July.