120Yards hurdle medal

When I was a child there used to be quite a few of these around the house..This is the only one I have, dated in 1936 .It is a medal dad won at Gresham's school for the 120 yd hurdles when he came second.It is in its original box

Dad,s favourite sport was Rugby Union followed by cricket but I remember  he also enjoyed watching athletics especially running 

Crosland bible

I have never seen a Crosland family bible but this is the nearest thing too it, I suppose.
Helen sent it to me via dad about 15 years ago. Her Dad, Percy Crosland had been given it as a child at Oakes Baptist Church Sunday School ,Lindley, Huddersfield on Feb 25th 1900.It was then passed onto Helen on 16th Jan 1930.
Our great grandfather had attended Oakes Baptist chapel for a number of years and had obviously sent his sons Percy and Herbert to Sunday School

Graduation Day

Dad first went upto Oxford at in 1939 but left at the end of the summer term 1940 in order ro join the army.having served in various places including Burma he rejoined Balliol College Oxford in I think 1946 and graduated in 1949
Mum remembers it being a very hot day and she sat in the balcony to watch dad graduate BA in Modern Greats -Politics Philosophy and Economics- with a 2-1.She wasnt keen but mum felt she had to wear a hat anyway. Note dads mortar board.

It must have felt a great achievment to finish something he had started 9 years earlier and which had been interupted by war.

Below are some recent memories from Eric Lubbock one of dads great friends at Balliol who became a Liberal MP and then a member of the House of Lords, as Lord Avebury

Many thanks for sending me the extracts from your father's book, which brought back memories. His nickname was Master, mine was Dean, Pat Scally's was Warden, and Dave Robinsin had a similar title which I can't remember. Your mother was called 'Aunt' for reasons I also can't recall. I wonder if she could remind us?

The bright yellow flying jacket I bought in a second hand shop came in very useful in the bitterly cold winter of 1947.It was fill length, ankles to shoulders, with zips to get inside it.

I remember Tommy Balogh, mentioned by your father as being very scathing to students who didn't come up to his standards. There was a story that when a bad student came to him for a tutorial, finding nobody in the room, he started reading his essay, only to be stopped after a few sentences by a voice from the cupboard: "Go away you horrible little man, I never want to see you again". So your father was let off quite lightly. I also remember well and with respect Cyril, the head porter, and Curly Dryden, the bald landlord of The George in the village of Dorchester, visited in your father's MG on weekends.

It was shaming to read how anti-gay we were in those days, but as your father does say, we weren't racists. Seretse Khama, subsequently the first President of Botswana after independence, was a good friend of mine, and he invited me to their independence celebrations in the late 60's.

I also think now that it was a pity we spent so much time drinking. I've been teetotal since 1973, and also gave up cigarettes in 1976, and coffee, cake, biscuits and sugar in 1977, partly because I became a Buddhist. Maybe I learned a few things from life, some of them long after leaving Balliol.

The Begum Aga Khan

We have some rich relatives
Gran Nicolls brother Ed went to India in the time of the Raj and became in mums words very grand and very rich.
Grans husband Bob did not like him much, mainly because he stayed in India in the first world war instead of coming home to fight.
His Grandaughter is Sally Croker Poole.Mum remembers as a 14 year old visiting her at her parents home in Surrey. Sally at that stage was crawling around the floor as a baby.
Sally grew up, became a model, married a member of the Scottish gentry ,divorced him and then converted to Islam, and married the Aga Khan ,divorcing following the birth of 3 children
A couple of pictures of her in her earlier life and then more recently.
She is mums first cousin once removed we think.

More info here;

Early life
Princess Salimah Aga Khan was born on 28 January 1940 at New Delhi, India, as Sarah Frances Croker-Poole. She is the daughter of Lt.-Col. Arthur Edward Croker-Poole. She married, firstly, Lord James Charles Crichton-Stuart, son of Sir John Crichton-Stuart, 5th Marquess of the County of Bute and Lady Eileen Beatrice Forbes, on 25 June 1959. She and Lord James Charles Crichton-Stuart were divorced in 1968. She married, secondly, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, son of Prince Aly Khan and Hon. Joan Barbara Yarde-Buller, in 1969. During her marriage to His Highness The Aga Khan, her official name was Her Highness Begum Salimah, although she remained informally known as Sally. Following their divorce in 1995, she kept the title of "Princess".

[edit] Charitable career
She is now a child-welfare activist and a prominent supporter of the charity SOS Children's Villages.[1] As part of her welfare activity she has also visited Afghan refugees in Pakistan[2] as well as victims of the 2005 earthquake.[3]

She has also been active in the Aga Khan Development Network.

[edit] Personal life
She has three children with the Aga Khan Princess Zahra Aga Khan (b. September 18, 1970), Prince Rahim Aga Khan (b. October 12, 1971), Prince Hussain Aga Khan (b. April 10, 1974).

Today she lives in London with Philippe Lizop, the French lawyer who secured her divorce settlement

The studio

Took a few photos of dads studio,when I saw Ann yesterday.Also one of the living room which is unchanged note the picture of Aram in the background

There is a humidifier in the studio which should keeep the pictures in good condition

Also got this unusual photo of Dad which I think dates from his Oxford days first time round say 1940

letters home

Dads letters
Above is a picture of many of the letters dad sent home to his family from this country while in the army.

They reveal a little bit more about him but are otherwise fairly mundane.

He was always after cigarettes,he sometimes asked for money to pay mess bills, he didnt enjoy the training. He was passed for a commission and was an officer for a while ,He appears to have spent sometime in the Marines in Lympston then Plymouth! He wanted at some point to transfer to the Lancashire Fusiliers (or was he joking?)
The letters show a lot of affection for his family including Helen which surprised me.

There is also a letter from Oxford assuring Percy that dad's place at Balliol would be kept open for him and he would be welcome back after the war

Muriel Crosland dad's mum

Muriel was alaways a bit of a mystery to me.
All I knew what that she died while dad was away in Burma. I dont know how.
Her fisrt husband was a Redmayne and was in the army, and he had killed himself.
( mum thinks by jumping out of a window )Muriel then married Percy Crosland.
The only other thing mum knew about her was that she was large and that in an age when few women drove -she drove a sports car!

Dad always gave me the impression he wasn't very close to his mum and dad, but today I saw some letters he had written when he had joined the army .They date from 1940 and 1941.The letters I think are pretty affectionate.
Anyway following Helens death late last year Susan kindly   sent some photos to Ann who passed them onto me and here they are !
She is not that large (at this stage anyway!)
The other picture is the classic one Was it taken on her wedding day.Was the picture of Percy taken the same day?

Thanks to Dwee for adding this
Interesting, I have heard that Dad adored his mother, and was very angry and upset when she died/ (peritonitis on the kitchen table), Grandpa had insisted that they operate on her there, I think probably she wasnt keen to go into hospital either.Did you know also that she married a bigamist,Muriel was also a great animal lover, and a free spirit by all accounts. She was certainly regarded as quite a beauty in her youth.

Robert Nicoll at St Andrews University

Robert Nicoll trained in medicine at St Andrews university.
He obviously enjoyed student life!
The 1912-1913 edition of the student magazine carries a spoof obituary of him which includes a caricature/cartoon.
The mock obituary tells us little about him; except that he was in the Officer Training Corps, and had a fondness for the ladies! The rest is in jokes which are impenetrable to us nearly a 100 years later but I guess he was a popular student
Interestingly in the same magazine there is an advert for Thos Muir,Son and Patton Ltd,Family coal merchants
Bob got a blue for running at St Andrews so running is in our genes somewhere!
The top picture is of Robert Nicoll in 1926 long after he left St Andrews, but he is wearing his running blue outfit.My guess is that it is taken on the sands on a return visit to St Andrews but we will never know.
By this time Robert had served in the Great War in the RAMC ,then been demobbed and was working as a GP in Beith Ayrshire.

The are only 2 Robert Nicoll's

Chatting to mum today she told me about Robert Nicoll senior
We know that Edwina ,Victoria, and my, grandfather and mum's dad was Robert Nicoll but his father had the same name!
The photo above was taken in New York !
Our great grandfather as a young man had been offered a job there as an engineer and was inclined to take it but his girlfriend refused to go wanting to stay near her mother

Robert therefore came home and when Bella's (Isabella's) mum died leaving a small drapers shop in Dundee, Robert and his then wife Bella ran it for many years.In fact mum remembers visiting it as a girl.
The couple had many years of happy married life together and had a large family of whom Robert Nicoll was one as were Meg and May. Robert Nicoll senior was well over 95 when he died,I think on 11th April 1958. Bella predeceased Robert,dying I think aged 85 in 1950. That means that the photos of a young Robert and Bella would have been taken in roughly the 1880's!
Here is a picture of them in later life looking very contented.

Below is a picture of their grave in Dundee. Also mentioned on the grave is a Margaret Gilmour who is a great great grandmother and from whom mum got her middle names. The grave is in a large cemetery in Dundee.

Crosland and Pickstone aerial photo taken 1933

Description: Crosland and Pickstone Finishing works in foreground, Transparent Paper Mill top right, Yates Duxbury Paper Mill in centre on both sides of the road

Photo taken in 1933

Having worked at Crosland and Pickstone in the 1970's for a couple of years I dont know the names of these ladies from Crosland and Pickstone (does the middle one have ricketts?) but I do know where it was taken
It is the dispatch area and these ladies would have wrapped the cloth that had been dyed and then finished by the company and would have been sent back by transport to the customers who would have been other complanies mostly in the north of England.
The dispatch area was one of the few areas women worked in the comapny though in the 1970's they also worked in the laboratory testing the strength of the cloth for example

La Belle France!

Just back from France
As children we went there quite a lot with mum and dad; Often to the south
Here is a photo from Le Lavendou!

Picnic at Atcham by River Severn

This photo was taken at Atcham and both the bridges can be seen in the background
It is of Sheila Crosland and Edith Nicoll having a tranquil picnic (or perhaps just tea in a flask) and I am guessing but would date it at about 1960-61
Unlike say Grinshill (where we would often go to walk dogs) Atcham was somewhere we visited only occasionally for a picnic and very rarely to play in the river
Atcham is still a picturesque place today and is very near Attingham Hall but it is also much much busier!

Early family photos

Here are a couple of photos both taken at Beech House Wem.
One was probably Victorias christening which would have been at Wem Parish Church( by Rev Turner I presume)in 1958
The other was some other occasion when Victoria is slightly older and is a much more informal photo .
The photos are unusual because dad is wearing jackets in both photos
I very rarely remember him doing that apart from formal business meetings

Thomas Muir Son and Patton

Just been chatting to mum and she tells me that Edith Nicolls father whose surname was Watson took over a coal merchants business in Dundee the name of the coal merchants business was "Thomas Muir Son and Patton" After the takeover the original name of the firm was kept, but run firstly by Edith Watson's dad(our great grandfather) and then by her brother Tom
I googled the name and came up with this interesting picture of a model train truck(presumably based on a real one )with the firms name on it !
This then would be a model of a real train that once carried the coal for the Watson family firms coal merchant business
As you can see from whats below the firm was still going in the 1930's and is very close to the station which would be used for supplies of coal.This station has been closed for many years now

1930`s

Shops & Business Premises
in Monifieth High Street & Maule Street •

South Side:
School Janitor`s House.
Monifieth Public School.
Corner of Maule Street ? South Union Street.
Office of Thomas Muir Son & Paton. Coal Merchants.
South Union Street.
House.
Farquharson. Plumber.
Winton. Painter.
Railway Cottages.
Railway Goods Yard.
Railway Station.

My memories of Edith Nicoll

I have vague memories of visiting Granny and Grandad Nicoll with mum when I was very young indeed.I think it was a flat in London but I am not totally sure.
After Robert died (Gran called him Bob)I remember visiting her at another flat. I think near Blackheath. I think she would have lived fairly close to Dot and Dieter at this time. She would visit us at Beech House from time to time and I can remember her falling in the hall there in the 1960's.She didn't hurt herself but she called me "a scallywag" because she tripped on something I had left there!
She was a great smoker and always had what she called "a fag" in her mouth " Where are my fags ?" she would say! In the last years of her life she always walked with a stick in her right hand. When she got very old she moved into a nursing home in Kingsland, Herefordshire where mum and sometimes her grandchildren would visit her.Truth be told, despite mums heroic and frequent visiting, Gran wasn't very happy there, and indeed her mind was not as sharp as it was.
Her presents to me were usually postal orders for seven shillings and sixpence!

Gran died in 1984 and her funeral was at Kingsland Church Herefordshire(picture above) when there was a fairly good turnout at the church, by many of her children and grandchildren ,though the vicar managed to get her name wrong throughout the service!
Gran was then cremated at Hereford
A good woman who had lived a long,sometimes very tough, but also useful life.
I will cover her earlier life in another post

PS Dwee has entered her own memories about things I had completely forgotten Thanks Dwee Here they are below
Granny also went to a nursing home in Hove (Sussex) which belonged to Edwina's boyfriends mother, Mrs Adolphe. Mrs Adolphe was a lovely Irish lady, and prior to working for the local newspaper there, Edwina had run another nursing home for Mrs A. Hence Granny ending up there for a few years. She loved Mrs Adolphe, who would ply her with sherry and encourage her to have her cigs whenever she felt like it. I visited her a lot there, and we would have a laugh and a joke and I would share her ciggies and sherry too. After her fall, she was never quite the same and was then moved to Glendaph nursing home, where Victoria worked briefly. My last memory of Granny ( who was a tremendous character) was her accusing some poor old dear in the next bed of taking her purse. She was then moved to a room on her own and spent the rest of her days there.


I have so many memories of Granny, she was a fierce royalist, and wouldnt have a word said against the Queen. She had very strong opinions about everything under the sun. She was very critical of people sometimes unfairly. I thought she was wonderful. She often told me stories about her youth. She was a nurse and a good one, and probably met Grandad through her nursing, though Im sure Mum would fill you in on that.
I used to visit her in her flat in Blackheath, and it was always a pleasure, she would provide lunch and we would chat for hours on end. I can remember going to the cinema with her after Doctor Zhivago came out, and she was delighted to tell me that I looked just like Julie Christie, !!
can you remember Grandad? I was always a little frightened of him, because he used to tease me, but he always seemed to be laughing and joking

Peter Crosland and children

This is a photo taken outside in the back garden of Beech House. The fact that Victoria is in dads arms places it in very late 1957 or more probably earlyish in 1958.
The stain is on the original photo
There are very few photos from childhood that I have seen of dad and his 3 children!

Bury Rugby Club

It's amazing what you can find on the web!
Dad played for Bury Rugby FC for 3 seasons 1954-55 and 55-56 and 56-57
These pictures are from the Bury Rugby Club website and you can spot dad in all of them. (3rd From left top row in top and bottom picture,3rd from left front row in middle)
The picture below does NOT have dad in it but I included it so you could see the club colours
I remember as a very young child being taken by mum, to watch dad play, and he came over to chat at half time. I think that would have been his last season when I was 3 or 4. He stopped on the families move to Shropshire in 1958

Childhood pictures

A few pictures from our childhood.

The black and white one is taken in the front garden of Beech House,Wem 1961

I am just about to leave for my first day at Abberley hall .The cat has had kittens which I am holding with mum .Teddy is there- please note mum has a foot on his lead! Teddy ran off more than any dog we have ever had -including Bonzo!

The next picture is on a beach somewhere with Dwee in the foreground and Toria in the background. I suspect its circa 1960-Could the 3rd person be Esther or Emilia?

The 3rd photo is in the back garden of Beech House Toria is holding one of our numerous cats .Is it Trixie with another cat in the background the date of this photo is exact August 1965

Mystery photo of Peter Crosland

I am not sure when this was taken,I have blown up the tray on the right and all that I can make out is a hairbrush and comb. Dad is in civvy clothes,with a civvy coat on the hook I think ,but has a short army style hair cut. Also whatever is on the tray it is very tidy!

Could this be a picture of him being demobbed after the war? That would probablly be worth a photo after many years fighting abroad in India and Burma! I think Dad's age in the photo would be about right .

Any other thoughts?

Dogs through the decades!

We have always loved animals .I think especially dogs( though cats feature too!) and here are pictures of some of those dogs from the top down (in reverse order of appearance) Flossie,Bonzo,Beauty,Teddy and Billy (mums childhood dog picture taken 1942)