Tales from the ancestors

Family history is an obsession, something I have been involved with for many years. I first became mildy interested through my parents. My father and mother had long been interested but it was when my father retired that Mum and dad had the time to properly begin family history research. That was back in the 1980’s. At the time I was just beginning my formal art education, and painting became my life’s focus, and I had also met my life partner Julia so I was somewhat distracted……. I would describe myself at that time as an interested on looker, always when visiting my parents Dad would inevitable bring out red wine or whiskey, the family tree would be laid out on the coffee table and the conversation would turn towards family history and what my parents had found out.

Well my mother passed away in 1991 and my father passed away in 2005 and both my brothers were not particularly interested family history…..so I was able to arrange to have all my fathers research notes, some family photographs and all the records he had accumulated sent to me, we were not a wealthy family at all…… and I as an artist proudly continue this tradition….but as inheritance go this was more precious to me than any amount of money. It was fascinating. I remember as a child drawers full of family photographs and slides, but much of this seems to have been lost. Still the research that my parents did was fascinating and going through all their notes…..well that was it the bug descended and I became quickly and thoroughly obsessed….. and yes there were and still are family mysteries to solve, though I have to say at the outset they are perhaps only relevant to my family. Still It is important to me to record as much of this as possible.

So this page is about my ancestor’s, it’s about lost photo’s, lost military medals family legends and stories once completely lost and forgotten..yet through patience and close friends….. teased back into existence. And that for me is the important thing that there are these stories completely lost and unknown that can be pieced together – there is something in this that I cannot quite articulate. So often when I look at my tree I think how sad it is that a persons life can be reduced to just a few dates…..birth….. marriage…..maybe birth of offspring….. death. So here are some stories from the ancestors……

 

The case of the missing medals…..

This is a photo of my paternal grandfather Thomas Herbert Hankey. I never met my grandfather. He was born 3rd October 1888 Bootle Liverpool Lancashire, and died 6 Jan 1959 Lancaster Lancashire England. just 4 years before I was born. My grandmother Ellen Cass – Thomas’ wife well she was fab and I did meet her several times and I will come back to her, and her toffee later.

 

I lifted the following from my good friend Carole’s written memorial on find a grave. Carole has been wonderful at tracking down the last resting place of all my grand parents and great grand parents and she has as a result tutored myself in how to go about this. So a huge thank you to Carole for this…..

 

…..From find a grave memorial….

Thomas Herbert Hankey was the youngest son of plumber and painter Herbert Hankey and his second wife Margaret Thexton Hankey nee Wearing. He was half-brother to Mary Jane, Emily, Arthur Benson, Louisa Ann and Bertha, and brother to Agnes. The family lived at Ludlow Street, Walton on the Hill.

Thomas was a registered nurse and worked as an asylum attendant when he married Eleanor Cass in April 1912 at St Peter’s Church, Lancaster. They had three children together: Agnes Evelyn, Thomas Herbert and Bernard Wulstan.

 

In November 1914 Thomas enlisted and served his country in the Great War as Bombardier 47056 in the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was awarded the British War, Victory and Star medals.

Follow this link to Find a grave memorial

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/233097377/thomas-herbert-hankey

 

…. this photo is not part of the memorial ….

…. This is a photo of my paternal grandmother Elleanor Cass,  and Thomas Herbert Hankey’s wife taken 1912 ….

 

 

…Back to the story….

Now as a youngster, and I can’t remember how old I was, but this must be going back over 40 years…..in any case my father always described his father as a very gentle man, He also told me of his enlisting in the army and serving in the great war. I remember I had been rummaging through my fathers desk and came across some very old birth certificates, and family photo’s which I still have,  he told me that for some reason his medals had gone missing, he had no idea where or when they had disappeared. but it stuck with me that they had and it cropped up in conversation from time to time. Since 2005 I had really only occasionally thought about them and I guess I had just come to accept that they were gone for good. There is an authentic streak in me and having replica’s made though an option I occasionally would entertain the meaning of having them would be….well, it is an odd one for a long time I thought there would be little or no meaning at all for me in having replica’s so I never bothered. That changed quite recently through a very close friend, Carole my most wonderful co conspirator in family history research, a sorceress beyond compare  in the dark and mysterious arts of family history research as you will come to understand……

So in 2021…… with Carole’s help I was able to bring two of the three medals back into the family through a very random and completely out of the blue set of circumstances which leaves me still feeling bemused and still unfortunately one medal short….. so this is what happened

Quite out of the blue… May 21st 2021 I received an e mail…..

Hi Chris,

Out of the blue I know but…your two of grandfather’s WW1 medals are up for sale on Ebay, item number 402871911100.

The sale ends at 13.57 tomorrow (1st June) and the seller is a medal dealer based in Sunderland

I have a bit of fun researching these things so just a heads up if you are interested.

A pair of service medals (British War Medal and Victory Medal) inscribed on their rims to;

47056 BMDR. T.H. HANKEY R.A

There should also be a 1915 Star but that isn’t selling here. It might be elsewhere in the family?

Thomas Herbert Hankey’s service record has survived so easy to research marriage to Eleanor Cass and their 3 children, one of which was Bernard, born in 1926.

If you get this and want to have a chat (if interested), please feel free to give me a call on ………… or home number ………….  . Can you let me know if you are going for them because if you do, I will not bid.?? If you aren’t interested, I might have a go for them myself in case I can track down an interested descendant.

I’ve got no horse in this race!. No bids currently

Regards,

…..so I was quite taken aback, (by the way out of privacy I have not included my contact’s name or contact numbers) Anyway later in the day I gathered my courage and gave the chap a call…..not knowing quite what to expect. I had thought what if it’s a scam…..but with my spam folder the way it is I have become quite adept at recognizing scams and this seemed genuine.

I decided to call my co conspirator Carole that evening to see what she thought. Carole has a good friend Paddy who specialises in military history so Carole quickly downloaded the images of the medals and sent them to her friend to see if he could give us an indication as to there authenticity. We were both really excited and really hoping these medals were the real thing. Unbelievably Paddy got back almost straight away and Carole let me know that he thought they were genuine as they had his name and service number on the edge of the medals. So that was it, we talked a while longer…we were both really excited. I had told Carole that the medals had been missing as far as I knew for 40 years at the least and I really wanted them back in the family….we decided to place a bid of £50 – as we were advised that that would be slightly more than there value.

So….. we could but wait…..that night I went to bed as usual straight to sleep and the next morning woke and I must admit it all went completely out of my mind as work was relentless and I had a short amount of time in the morning to do some odds n ends……. I have to admit that….I just completely forgot about the whole thing….and was in town food shopping when Carole called me with just 9 minutes to go before the end of the bid to let me know…… Carole had been desperately trying to warn me via e mail and through Facebook that we had been out bid…..

Bugger….

I was in town with no internet access and no way to get back in time, so Carole continued the bidding from her home and we stayed on the phone talking…full of excitment and anticipation, wondering if someone would out bid us at the last moment….. They didn’t…we got them back….after 40 years I could not believe it. The medals were sent to Carole who has them safe and sound and I finally got to see them in September.

Going back to the thought about authenticity well……Carole did another wonderful thing too. She ordered a replica of the missing medal so that we have the set. Seeing all three together was great and it did not matter at all…..seeing the set is fab and knowing what the missing medal looks like is a great help. I am still searching for the missing medal and hope one day to find it……

…. that they turned up on ebay of all places …

 

 

 

Here are all three together including the star which is the replica…..

 

 

 

This is but one story, the first of many, which will be documented on my blog in a separate catagory…..Tales of the Ancestors

Another sale ‘Remnants Of Theia’ oil on canvas 80×90 cm 2021

I met a lovely family just yesterday 25.10.2021 Bryony her husband Jan and their two children and we had a fun couple of hours looking at paintings and feeding the black birds and Thrushes that hop and fly around my make shift outside winter studio. I did not think to take any images….. so bugger for that, but I do have one image from the other day of where I am working and how I set things up…..ah well we got to chat about the work and the influences I have and the back story of how I came to be here for the duration of the pandemic….

The studio…..

 

So the painting they have bought is the second in the series about the Moon…..’Remnants of Theia’ I recently posted some background info about the first painting in this series a few days ago, but it is such a fascinating thing…..So much about the history of our planet and the evolution of life has been fundamentally influenced by that event it is quite mind blowing….So here is what I wrote a few days ago with some minor changes…..

My interest in astronomy and mythology continues to inform the work I do to an ever increasing level, and one evening in mid summer 2021, after several long and difficult weeks working on the Garrison campsite, my son and I and other staff members were relaxing over a few beers and some food.

Also Aaron and I had the chance to visit Samson, one of the uninhabited Islands which we had been waiting to visit for quite some time, I was intrigued as the Island has ruins that date back around 4000 years and I wanted to visit the buriel chambers. One of the the members of staff here has ancestors that were inhabitents of Samson many years ago. To have that connection is fascinating and I was looking foward to this visit with anticipation.

As it happens we had good weather and again the Moon was in the sky, and the ideas for paintings as always where instantly filling my thoughts.

That day visit and the  summer evening relaxing with good food and some beers was fab. That lovely king’s Blue of the sky, long wispy cirrus clouds streaking across the sky and there framed in the sky by these clouds – the waxing gibous Moon. The atmosphere was clear and it was easy to pick out several large features on the surface of the Moon including mare serenitatis, mare tranquillitatis, Mare Crisum, mare fecuditatis, Plato crator was just about discernable as was Tycho crater, Mare Firgoris, mare imbrium, and mare nubium.

The Moon as always is captivating and the conversation faded for me at this point as I just stared at the Moon. It always fascinates me as it seems to be there in complete calm and absolutely beautiful. It reminds me of The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy in which Arthur Dent asks the wise old bird in exaspiration what is keeping the cup in the sky from falling, and the wise old bird replies ‘art’…… that it is artistically correct.

The Moon always seems to have in a far more serious way that feeling of being in absolute harmony, perfectly placed, artistically correct, moving with such grace and beauty. Call it a feeling of awe and complete captivation with the beauty and connection with nature.

As always when I observe I draw upon a wealth of knowledge gained over many years and I start to rumage through what I can remeber of the names of the surface features, the history of the Apollo missions, humans landing on the Moon, and the theories of how the Moon formed, that as moons of the solar system go, in comparison to other moons and there parent bodies the Moon is exceptional in it’s size compared to the Earth…… and so for a long time how it got there how it formed has been a deep mystery.

During my contemplation of the Ruin’s on Samson, the  Moon, that bright king’s blue of the sky, the long wispy sirus clouds that evening I considered once again the origin of the Moon, oddly I had been reading a new article on this subject and watching a fab video on youtube involving a collision between the proto Earth and a Mars sized proto plant named Theia billions of years ago.

Out of interest here is the link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-EZjEJc8Bo&ab_channel=AntonPetrov

Hence the Title ‘Daughter of Theia’ and that evidence for Theia or whats left of Theia are buried deep inside our planet. So there I was sitting contemplating that deep beneath me were the remnants of Theia and above was the Moon both consequences of that immense collision, and that those remnants deep in the Earth also cause the Atlantic magnetic anomaly…….. And at the same time the reasons for the title of this painting are also intimately linked to the naming of ‘Theia’ and the mythological stories behind Theia, which are fascinating.

I like the fact that the scientists looking into this also know the mythologies of ancient Greece. I like having that connection with people I have never met, probably will never meet a very deep and profound connection to nature.

In greek mythology Theia was the Titan goddess of sight, (thea) and the shining aithre (ether) of the bright blue sky and right there we have the first visual connections as Selene one of the three children of Theia is the orginal name for the Moon, hence the title Daughter of Theia and the observers gaze is directed towards the Moon in this painting. The bright blue of the sky is representative of Theia – goddess of the deep blue of the sky. Theia also in mythology endowed silver and gold with their brilliance and lustre and so the bright silver luster of the Moon is also a direct reference to the goddess Theia. It is the focal point as it was mine on that evening – Theia bore the titan Hyperion three children Helios – the Sun, Eos – the dawn, and of course Selene the Moon.

The three children of Theia are also implicitly though indirectly in this painting. The painting has no particular refernce to being a dawn or a sunset there are no references to any particular time of day except for that time of day when I once again was caught up in contemplating our understanding of nature, but only for the purpose of the beginings of this description and so Helios the sun is part of this painting for without the sun how is one to see anything, also the painting could be after dawn and so Eos is implied and of course Selene – the Moon is the focal poin

The painting then conspires to present to the viewer all these aspects in one view. The mythology, my fascination, and our contemporary understanding for the origin of the Moon……and contiguously even through the four orientations of the painting, this remains the same.

And finally here is the painting that sold….

Remnants of Theia. Oil on canvas 80×90 cm 2021. £1800

 

Also in my thoughts during this evening and in fact pretty much every time I look at the Moon I reflect on how much influence the Moon has had on the evolution of life, the rythms of life, in many species including our own female menstruation is directly related to the Moon’s orbit around the Earth, it’s phases and the calender we have, the seven day week.

Another intriguing link to a very informative and fun youtube video….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpRd52dXHlQ&ab_channel=It%27sOkayToBeSmart

it all comes from this connection between the Earth and the Moon….. and so by extension to Theia and that immense collision. And now it is even thought that quite possibly that collision may solve another mystery. The mystery of where all the water on the Earth came from, and here is another link to another youtube video again by Anton Petrov….

Here is the link….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB5eUdHub8M&ab_channel=AntonPetrov

 

…..And now to start another painting in this series…..

 

 

 

Recent sale. Winter Storm. Oil on canvas 90×170 cm 2021

This painting sold recently but it has taken a while for me to find any spare time at all to write my somewhat haphazard blog….Now with winter approaching I can hopefully get back to this…

 

Winter Storm Oil on canvas 90×170 cm 2021

 

Three paintings ‘Sol – Teg Hager Awel’oil on canvas……. No.1, No.2 and No.3

‘Sol – Teg Hager Awel’- The title is partially in latin at least the first word ‘Sol’ is derived from the latin name Solis for the sun and ‘Teg Hager Awel’ is Kernewek – Cornish which roughly translates to Beautiful Winter Storm. And so these three paintings being inspired from my stay on the Isles of Scilly are titled accordingly and in respect for the hard won survival of the Cornish language.

All three are inspired from several most intense experiences of  winter storms on Tresco, Bryher and St. Mary’s

‘Sol – Teg Hager Awel 2’ Oil on canvas 90 x 170cm  is more directly a point of view, from below tregarthen moor and is as close to the sea as I could get. I sat and watched this winter storm as the sun was setting just beyond the edge of Bryher. The waves were huge and it was an absolutely overwhelming experience. I had just a sketchbook with me and spent several hours scrambling and changing my viewpoint to experience the storm. This painting is titled partially in Kernewek (Cornish) Teg Heger Awel translates to Beautiful Winter Storm, and Sol comes from latin Solis. In many celtic cultures Sol was the name for a sun god. the name Scilly is itself derived from Sulis who was the ancient celtic goddess of the sun. On the isles of Scilly she was known as Sulis she who watches and there is a Roman mosaic in Bath that depicts this goddess. So the painting is about nature but it also references many things at the same time including my fascination for understanding nature and how that knowledge evolves and changes over time, and on the back of the painting are the co ordinates of the sun and some brief info about the sun.

Sol – Teg Hager Awel 2. Oil on canvas 90×170 cm

‘Sol – Teg Hager Awel 1’ oil on canvas 90×180 cm and ‘Sol – Teg Hager Awel 3’ oil on canvas 90x170cm are much the same experiences

Sol – Teg Hager Awel 1. Oil on canvas 90x180cm

Sol – Teg Hager Awel 3. Oil on canvas 90x170cm

Four paintings in one……

This painting grew in the making, and became more than just a single work of art. My interest in astronomy and mythology continues to inform the work I do to an ever increasing level, and one evening in mid summer 2021, after several long and difficult weeks working on the Garrison campsite, my son and I and other staff members were relaxing over a few beers and some food. It was a glorious summer evening. That lovely king’s Blue of the sky, long wispy sirus clouds streaking across the sky and there framed in the sky by these clouds – the waxing gibbous Moon. The atmosphere was clear and it was easy to pick out several large features on the surface of the Moon including mare serenitatis, mare tranquillitatis, Mare Crisum, mare fecuditatis, Plato crator was just about discernable as was Tycho crater, Mare Firgoris, mare imbrium, and mare nubium.

The Moon as always is captivating and the conversation faded for me at this point as I just stared at the Moon. It always fascinates me as it seems to be there in complete calm and absolutely beautiful. It reminds me of The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy in which Arthur Dent asks the wise old bird in exaspiration what is keeping the cup in the sky from falling, and the wise old bird replies ‘art’ that it is artistically correct.

The Moon always seems to have in a far more serious way that feeling of being in absolute harmony, perfectly placed, artistically correct. Call it a feeling of awe and beauty and connection with nature.

As always when I observe I draw upon a wealth of knowledge gained over many years and I start to rumage through what I can remeber of the names of the surface features, the history of the Apollo missions, humans landing on the Moon, and the theories of how the Moon formed, that as moons of the solar system go, in comparison to other moons and there parent bodies the Moon is exceptional in it’s size compared to the Earth……

Here is the first of the paintings inspired by my own observations of the Moon.

 

Four paintings in one, as the painting is rotated through 90 degrees a new painting with a different title is revealed. The titles are as follows…..Daughter of Theia. One Light Second. In contemplation of the infinite. From within….that…Pale Blue Dot. Oil on canvas 80×90 cm 2021

During my contemplation of the Moon that evening I considered once again the origin of the Moon, oddly I had been reading a new article on this subject involving a collision between the proto Earth and a Mars sized proto plant named Theia 4.4 billion of years ago.  and that evidence for Theia or whats left of Theia are buried deep inside our planet. So there I was sitting contemplating that deep beneath me were the remnants of Theia and above was the Moon both consequences of that immense collision, and that those remnants deep in the Earth may also be cause the Atlantic magnetic anomaly…….. And at the same time the reasons for the title of this painting are also intimately linked to the naming of ‘Theia’ and the mythological stories behind Theia, which are fascinating.

The four orientations…..

In greek mythology Theia was the Titan goddess of sight, (thea) and the shining aithre (ether) of the bright blue sky and right there we have the first visual connections as Selene one of the three children of Theia is the orginal name for the Moon, hence the title Daughter of Theia and the observers gaze is directed towards the Moon in this painting. The bright blue of the sky is representative of Theia – goddess of the deep blue of the sky. Theia also in mythology endowed silver and gold with their brilliance and lustre and so the bright silver luster of the Moon is also a direct reference to the goddess Theia. It is the focal point as it was mine on that evening – Theia bore the titan Hyperion three children Helios – the Sun, Eos – the dawn, and of course Selene the Moon.

The three children of Theia are also implicitly though indirectly in this painting. The painting has no particular refernce to being a dawn or a sunset there are no references to any particular time of day except for that time of day when I once again was caught up in contemplating our understanding of nature, but only for the purpose of the beginings of this description and so Helios the sun is part of this painting for without the sun how is one to see anything, also the painting could be after dawn and so Eos is implied and of course Selene – the Moon is the focal point.

The painting then conspires to present to the viewer all these aspects in one view. The mythology, my fascination, and our contemporary understanding for the origin of the Moon……and contiguously even through the four orientations of the painting, this remains the same …. and hence the title –  ‘Daughter of Theia’ 

 

A painting with no title…..

This painting has no title and this is why…..

I have decided to leave this painting without any title at all……even labelling it untitled is in effect a title. There is something odd about giving titles to paintings. For the most part I do it, but with more care than perhaps most will realise after all a title like so many things is, obvious…a given… taken for granted, a simple thing on the surface. Go a little deeper and it becomes phenomenologically interesting.
In some cases it is a simple description in others it can enhance, obfuscate or even harm the artists intent in all cases a title for me is a question. For instance when I title something in Welsh or Irish it grounds the painting to a very specific experience and in my ancestry, but also it is a question…why would I do this….Well I am not going to give everything away.
Titles set boundaries, or parameters which are sometimes restrictive, limiting the scope…the intent of an artwork. It is for me to much like a fullstop an ending but like nature and in respect of nature the paintings I do are ever so slightly unfinished. So there is a paradox in this, a dichotemy in that at some point I made the decision to put down my brushes and stop painting, but nature never stops, change is the very core of existence and yet for me to bring particular attention to this is meaniful it sets up a dynamic….a creative mindful intereaction between the artwork, myself in that I give the artwork direction, form and intent and the viewer that can now no loger view the painting without knowing my intent, my thoughts and something about my philosophical background and in this way the painting continues to evolve, if not physically through a continuing process of painting then intellectually through contemplation. The more I look at this painting the more I realise it’s title is the whole thing. It is it’s own title. It is what it is and does not need words. Words in this case would only restrict and worse ill define it.
If this makes you feel unsure, unsettled bemused, uncomfortable…..or possibly curious then I would say that is a very good place to be…..

The bike

Super green……Super clean…..My very splendid cycling machine

 

Painting renovation. Painting by Arthur Wilson Gay 1901 – 1956. Title ‘Autumn Painting’

Over the years I have picked up a lot of knowledge and some ability to restore paintings. I am however very careful in considering what renovation projects I take on and I will not take on anything that is beyond my abilities as an artist who specializes in painting landscapes and seascapes. So anything outside of this area I consider to be beyond the knowledge I have and will limit what I do to advice only.

With that said here is a small painting renovation project that was entrusted to me recently. I had not come across the artist before and as such did a little reseach on his work trying to view as many paintings as I could and obviously making note on when he was alive.

So the artist is not a big name in the art world but is respected as an artist who painted tranquil scenes of St Mary’s Isles of Scilly and did some accomplished portraiture too. The artist is Arthur Wilson Gay 1901 – 1958. So for a start I knew he would be using modern materials…..a big help. The painting is called simply ‘Autumn Painting’

I won’t go into an indepth analysis on how I went about this, simply because it is my knowledge…..and you cannot have it….put it down to intellectual property rights. Instead I will show you images of some of the stages with a simple description under each image…..

The painting had suffered from smoke damage and water damage but this was it’s first professional cleaning, which was good because it meant that I did not have to take into account any other attempts to restore the art work….It is clear that it needs considerable and careful cleaning. The painting is covered in dirt and grime and the original frame is in similar condition with damage to the corners, chips in the paint through to the wood in many places….

Corner damage…..I have started to clean the white border which revealed cracks and chips in the paint of the frame

Detail of damage to the frame after some cleaning work, which allowed me to see the extent of the damage.

Detail – Back of the painting – The old frame sealing tape was extremely worn torn and peeling off

Removing the old tape

Removing the backing board and the painting

Cleaning the frame – removing glue residue

Continuing to clean the frame….looking much better now…still some ways to go….

Water damage to the backing board is clear there was also water damage to the painting both backing board and painting had been warped by the water damage. Fortunately this was something I have much experience with and was able to de warp the backing board and the painting.

Continuing to clean the frame….still a long way to go….

Continuing to clean the frame and repairs to the damaged paint work

Now for the scary part…..

Starting to clean the painting. I first chose a small area to test clean taking it really slowly and over the next week gradually extended from bottom to top on the right hand side of the boats mast….

….Slowly slowly slowly…..

……And again slow slow slower…

Frame and painting are almost done and I just needed to pause for a few days to see if everything was ok…..

….And relief…..done

….And finished…..the the owners were amazed…….and I was relieved…..

…..more cycological engineering……the headset bearings and other new components arrive

……Some fun is a foot, with some new components arrived I can finish converting the bike into a 1×11 drive and install a brand new set of headset bearings. With this in mind I decided to take the bike apart and give everything a good check over clean and re greese everything that needs it. In the end I noticed my internal gear cable was showing some wear so I replaced that too….luckily I had a spare steel cable. I won’t go through everything, but here are a few highlights…..

 

Tools of the trade with some new components – sram pg 1130, 11 – 42 tooth cassette, new 11 speed bar end shifter, new 11 speed KMC ept 11 speed chain, and new Pro headset bearings – a nice upgrade…..Yummy…..

Partially dismantled….

Old and busted….

There is wear left in this but the rivets holding the sprockets together have come loose. I have never experienced such a thing before, It makes me wonder if it was a manufacturing defect or if I inadvertently bought a copy rather than a genuine cassette. So glad I spotted the fault, It woukld have but dreadful if the cassette had deconstructed while cycling.

New hotness

The gear change ‘Oh but though…..the gear change’…….Great stuff

One of the two new PRO headset bearings…..they are super smooth….

….Ready to ride….