Thomas William Blencowe 2nd
m. Florence Rosetta Tull
Brackley
Adam de Blencowe abt 1310,Blencow
I
John Blencowe bef 1446, Marston Saint Laurence
John Blencowe abt 1460, Marston Saint Laurence
Thomas Blencowe abt 1475, Marston Saint Laurence
John Blencowe 1510, Marston Saint Laurence
John Blencowe 1553, Marston Saint Laurence
John Blincowe 1575, Marston Saint Laurence
John Blencowe 1604, Marston Saint Laurence
Francis Blincoe 1639, Purston
John Blincoe 1687, Hinton in the Hedges
Timothy Blencowe 1726 d. Brackley
Robert Blencowe 1767, Brackley
/Bicester Close DNA link about 9 generations back.
--->
son of Francis?? DNA link
William Blincow abt 1702, Launton
William Blencowe 1735, Launton
Thomas Blincowe 1761, Bicester
James Blinco 1790, Bicester
Thomas Blencowe 1827, Bicester
Thomas William Blencowe 1857, Bicester
Thomas William Blencowe 1893, Greenwich
Thomas William Blencowe II
Documents
Page from Birth index - 1893 Greenwich, 2nd qtr
1901 Census London, Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, 23 Clarence Street (now Canon
Beck Road)
Reference "Felix Lowy" Tailors to Royalty in India & Afghanistan" 8 Feb.
1912
Army pay book WW1
Furlough document 20 Dec 1916
Marriage Certificate 3 Feb 1917
Page from Marriage register 1st qtr 1917
Certificate - Signalling Examiners Badge 18 May 1917
Certificate - Assistant instructor of Signalling 15 Jul 1917
Certificate of Employment During The War - Sep 1918 (cold storage hand bef.
war)
Protection & ID Certificate 20 Feb 1919
Transfer to Army Reserve 22 Mar 1919
Discharge document cover 22 Mar 1919
Details of Service - R A Records Office - Woolwich 8 Feb 1928
WW2 CMF Pay book
Certificate of Discharge WW2 CMF - enlisted 14 May 1942 to 1 Mar 1944
Perth, Metropolitan Cemeteries Board website 25 Dec. 1971 Dispersed at
Karrakatta Cemetery
Thomas was born 22 Jun 1893 in Greenwich, London at his grandparents home and his parents moved to Rotherhithe soon after. He grew up at 23 Clarence Street, Rotherhithe, S.E.16 (now Canon Beck Road).
Thomas went to school in Rotherhithe where he achieved excellent results earning a book prize which his son still has. As a young man, he resigned from Felix Lowy, (tailors to royalty in India and Afghanistan) in 1912, and travelled in New South Wales where he worked as a teacher’s aide.
He returned to England and enlisted in the army 28th August 1914 as a gunner, was wounded in France, transferred to the reserve, retrained as a signaller and returned to service in France. He married Florence Rosetta Tull who lived in the next street and went to school and to the same church with him on the 3rd Feb 1917 in the United Methodist Church.
He
and Florence with their two sons migrated to Western Australia on the
"Hobsons Bay", leaving England on the 27th of November 1923 and on the
21st of February, 1924, they were appointed to Group 96, location
8233. They left that group in april 1925 and were re-appointed to
group 108, location 9909 and on the 21st of April 1927, location 9853
was added (next door and adjacent to the state forest).
They found themselves in Karri bushland with 50 metre trees. There were no schools. Each group of 20 families worked together to clear the land (and ringbark the trees) and then the farms were allocated by ballot.
Florence told me she subsequently returned to England with her sons, William Thomas and Herbert John (left her husband) but picketed Australia House for about six months because they had promised schools and not delivered. She subsequently returned to Northcliffe and had her third child. After some time not coming up with a name for the baby, the brothers suggested he be named after Stan Beeby, the boy on the next farm (also group 108, loc. 9909) so "Stanley" it was and call him that if you dare.
The Londoners with no experience set up a dairy farm 230 miles from the Perth market and supplied butter and cream to the dairy at Brunswick Junction by train. Stan remembers as a small boy, his father used to give him milk from the cows and he poured it into a tree stump.
Thomas'
sister Rose and husband Arthur Charles Scanlan also came out to the
group settlement scheme on the "Hobson's Bay" but a year later, leaving
England on the 25th of March 1924 and joined Group 98, Location 8586
but they left on the 31st of March 1927 and Arthur, not being able to
find work in Perth during the depression, was sent to the bush to make
roads and settled in
Donnybrook.
The boys had to walk five miles to school each day and often took their three year old brother Stan because mum was busy on the farm. Bill and Bert were mentioned in the West Australian at the time when they went fishing and were lost in the tall timber for two days. They were with another boy who was sure he knew the way back and led them the wrong way. Eventually they were found by a man with a bugle.
Subsequently the cattle got into the fresh bracken fern during the depression and all died, the Blencowe’s then walked off the farm as did many others and moved to the suburb of Subiaco in Perth, Western Australia. My grandfather worked for the rest of his working life as a painter. He enlisted in the AIF during WW2 as a signaller serving in Meekatharra and Darwin.
Tom
was a chain smoker but managed to live to the age of 79. After a
series of strokes, he was reduced to a vocabulary of two phrases, "cuppa
tea" and "Women!" Fortunately Flo didn't bother because she was partly
deaf and she could still talk the leg off an iron pot.
Flo had taken piano lessons for six months and after that had taught herself, so in Northcliffe, she played at the Borara schoolhouse for the local dances. She subsequently became the organist at Mount Hawthorn Baptist Church for about 40 years. She was a well liked person and was known for her offbeat phrases such as "I'll see you on the Christmas tree" and "I'm as silly as a wheel". She would often catch the bus to her son's home with "I've just come to see if you're still alive".
When living in the Church of Christ retirement homes at Mount Lawley, two Jehova's Witnesses were silly enough to come onto the property and knock on her door. She invited them in and politely refused their copy of the watchtower claiming she had read it. She then proceeded to introduce them to all of her family and then offer them Baptist tracts. I remember they were squirming to move toward the door and they never came back. She lived to the age of 91 and was extremely active right up until the last few weeks.
Sons of Thomas and Flo
William Thomas (right)
Herbert John (left)
Stan (centre)
