august 14th 1905 harry bruton to jane bruton nee stuart

woolwich, london to loughborough, leicestershire

137 miles

the message

“14/8/05

Dear Mother

Arrived here all right, about 6 o’clock. It is a beautiful day. We are all just going to Fanny-on-the-Hill.

Best love.

Harry

Will write in a day or two”

the sender

Harry Bruton (1888-1973) was the son of Richard Cox Bruton (1852-1928) and Jane Stuart (1851-1936). Richard was an engine fitter who in 1911 was working on electric cranes.

Harry was the youngest of three boys by some distance. There was a 14 year gap between his elder brothers Edward Thomas Bruton (1872-1957) and Richard Cox Bruton (1874-1963). Harry was a time and motion analyst at a chemical and textile works. In 1911 Harry married Mary Lilian Newbold (1888-1970), a theatre pianist working for the Electric Theatre Company.

At the time of sending the card, Harry was 17 years old and living at home with his parents in Loughborough and the card is sent to his mother Jane. However, his brother Richard Cox Bruton (junior) was living in Plumstead which is near Woolwich which is where the card was posted. Richard was an engineering machinist working for the Department of War.

the recipient

Jane Stuart is a bit of a puzzle for a number of reasons. Was her name Stuart, Steward or Stewart or Shortt? Who were her parents? One marriage record says that her father was Edward Staurt. But the 1851 census, taken just after her birth, it looks as if Edward, an Under Gamekeeper in Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire was her grandfather. That would make her grandmother Ruth Wooding. The head of the family being John Wooding.

If Edward is the grandfather, then her parents are probably Charles Stuart or Steward or Stewart (1827-1881) and Eliza Tabitha Frail (1828-1880).

The names Stuart, Stewart, Steward and Shortt seem to be used interchangeably across the records, but Yardley Hastings was not a big place. It is quite possibly that they did not know themselves what the correct form was and different branches seem to have chosen differently. Also, in a tight nit family, perhaps it was not clear to Jane who her parents were.

In 1871 Jane was working as a cook in Bedford. Later that year she married Richard Cox Bruton the elder.

the tree

the places

Woolwich, London

Loughborough, Leicestershire

what the card says to us

The picture shows the Garrison Church in Woolwich (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George%27s_Garrison_Church,_Woolwich) which itself has a history having been damaged by a V1 in 1944. Woolwich is where the card was posted.

The message is a straightforward “arrived safely” card until you get to the reference to Fanny-On-The-Hill, which was a public house which no longer exists. What was the legal drinking age in 1905? Harry is only 17.

The postmark says 3pm. The message mentions 6 o’clock. That suggests that Harry arrived at 6 am. That is an early start.

Another message from the background to this card is how the spelling of names changes over time with Mrs Bruton’s maiden name being variously Stuart, Steward, Stewart and Shortt. And of course Bruton easily becomes Burton or Barton.