"An Alpine Settler's Journey"

Episode Three

Well things have moved on somewhat since I wrote ‘Episode Two’. In fact what has emerged is really surprising, and not to say, just a little disturbing.

 Perhaps the first thing to tell is that I have finally found when, where and how ‘Nina’ died….. this after her supposed disappearance sometime in 1936.   Does saying that sound harsh and disloyal? Well the events, as you will see from this brief resumé of “The Saga” will reveal that maybe she didn’t disappear but rather chose to just disown my mother!.

 Let’s go back (briefly) to Nina’s romantic marriage to Charles Newcombe on Christmas Day 1911. Just eighteen months later baby ‘Muriel’ (my Mother) was born. Muriel Edith Edmed who we now know was in fact our Nina (my Grandmother), registered the child’s birth TWICE. Once with the name Muriel Edith Edmed (same as hers) and shortly afterwards as Muriel Edith Offley – Mother: Nina – Father: Arthur Offley.

 It should be noted that ‘to date’, despite three attempts I have been unable to get the English General Register Office to issue a copy of that first Birth Certificate registration. They have accepted that they did not send me the one I wanted (twice) – and have refunded one of my payments! So I now have THREE copies of the Offley certificate… but the only document that gives the link, and credence, to the Edmed family of Muriel Edith Edmed is that other one!  

 We know that my mother said she was raised using the name of Muriel Mèrcia Payne – as evidenced from her marriage certificate. Her father (according to what she was told by Nina – and I was told by her), was a certain Arthur Payne, who supposedly died early in World War 1. It was proof from the birth certificate requested by my mother showing her fathers name which caused Nina to ‘disappear’ – never to be heard of again! NO trace or any proof that Arthur Payne ever existed or of his demise has yet been found.

 But I have now uncovered a bit more about Nina’s life with little Muriel between 1913 and ‘that row’ in 1935/6 – and this is, to some extent, where the plot thickens…..

 Sometime between 1912 and 1924 Nina (Muriel#1) and Charles Newcombe were divorced. Not sure quite ‘when’ and it’s a bit expensive to search the National Archives for such files. But the fact is clearly recorded on the certificate for Nina’s second marriage in June 1924! This time, aged 33 she married a 46y.o. who had been a widower for 10 years and who she was living with at the time, maybe as his housekeeper. My mother (Muriel#2) at this point would have been just 11 years old….was this when she was away at school? I ask because my mother never mentioned a step father or her mother getting married (again).  He – Richard Henry Gunter – husband #2 had one daughter, born in 1900 and I am still trying to trace her. She shows up on the 1901 Census, but beyond that I have found nothing. His first wife died in 1914 – so he was on his own (?) for 10 years.  

 So I now know that she remarried and then I found among some old papers a photograph that I don’t remember ever seeing before. It was stuck to what looked like a page of a photograph album and having ‘unstuck’ it – there on the back were the words
“Muriel and (here the writing had seemingly been erased and written again later in a different hand) her mother taken on the back terrace of the Grove”. Now this photograph shows my mother in her Girl Guide uniform and I would think she is at least 15 years old…. So this would be about 1928 and ‘Nina’ had been married to Richard Gunter for about 4 years. The house they lived in when they were married was in a road called Bxxxxxxxy Grove in Islington – so at least that's another piece of the jigsaw that fits.

 The discovery of this marriage finally allowed me to discover the details of her death. And alas, the information given to her (Nina’s) old friends in Birmingham was, as most things were from her, a pack of lies. Probably transmitted by a letter that just said she was ‘lost’ in a bombing raid near Dover.  In fact nothing could have been farther from the truth.

 She died aged 58, of a brain haemorrhage, in her home in Chiswick in west London in 1949!

 Her death was reported by her ‘sister-in-law’ – so she had obviously kept in touch with her eldest brother and he must have remarried too. His first marriage was in 1913 to a Katie Savill, but he was a witness with E.R. Edmed (the sister-in-law) at Nina’s marriage to Richard Gunter in 1924!!!

 Just think - I was eight years old when she died and she didn’t even know I existed…..damn her! And I have some relatives ‘somewhere’ on my maternal side that she did her best to make sure I never knew about. 

And finally...  The lady herself– here is ‘Nina’ with my mother!

Not exactly a “femme fatale” is she?

 

 

Scroll 'down' to read Episode One

Episode Two

OK - here's what I think the Naughty Nina story SHOULD be - at least from what I have collected so far on her 'rather colourful' background.

The family we are looking at here is a British Army family. The father Frederick William Edmed was born in 1863 in England and was (it seems) a career soldier. He was, at some point posted with the army to Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada where he met Mary Ellen Stapleton (b. 1869) and they were married in a ceremony in Halifax in 1886. This was recorded in the British Army Returns for Marriages 1886-1890. Some time after that he was posted, together with his new wife to Egypt to take part in the British army occupation there at the time.

This may have involved his participation in such campaigns as that in the Sinai Peninsular or even the military events in 1889, which, besides the battle with the Ethiopians included the crushing of a revolt in Darfur and the defeat of an expedition sent against Egypt, marking the climax of Mahdist expansion. A bad harvest caused severe famine in the area; the privileged treatment given to the Caliph's tribe, the TA'AISHA, caused general resentment; and in 1891 a rebellion was suppressed.

A soldier of the time in Egypt...

While the Caliph's rule became more and more despotic, the French in 1895 planned an expedition to the Nile, under COLONEL MARCHAND. Now the British administration realized that their claim on the central Nile valley was questioned by the Italians, Belgians and French; in 1896 a British force commanded by SIR HERBERT KITCHENER was dispatched to occupy Dongola; (it had occupied Berber in 1887), defeated the main Mahdist force at Atbara on April 8th 1898; Omdurman fell on September 1st 1898.

 Now while all this hoo-hah was going on in Egypt dear old Frederick was busy making sire that his wife was fully occupied. They had the following children during his posting to Egypt.

Frederick William Edmed.   Born 1889 in Alexandria, Egypt.

Muriel Edith Edmed (Nina...).  Born 1891 in Cairo, Egypt

Victor Claude Edmed.  Born 1895 in Malta.

So the Edmed family carried on with their army life and we believe they were later posted back to Canada and later to London.

Then, surprise surprise, our Muriel Edith Edmed pops up in Wandsworth in London where she gets married… and of all days she chose the 25^th December (Christmas Day) 1911 when she married Charles Newcombe. The marriage certificate shows her father as Frederick Edmed – Army pensioner and Painter. The groom’s father is Frederick Newcombe a cook, and one of the witnesses is no other than Muriel’s younger brother Claude Victor.

So we know that this Muriel Edith Edmed is NOT an only child and that on two separate visits she registered her own daughter’s birth as follows:

Muriel Edith Edmed, daughter, Born 27^th May 1913 in Handsworth (Birmingham).  Mother’s name Nina Edmed.

Muriel Edith Offley, daughter, Born 27^th May 1913 in Handsworth (Birmingham). Mother’s name Nina Edmed. Fathers name Arthur Offley.

So we still don’t know where or why the fictitious character of Arthur Payne or that of Muriel Mèrcia Payne were created.

We have found no trace (so far) of what happened to Charles Newcombe – he may have been the father that Nina told her daughter had died early in WW1. The timing fits…. I say this because the next surprise that we find is that Muriel Edith Newcombe (neè Edmed) has married a Richard Gunter in June 1924 in Islington in London. Maybe Charles was declared ‘missing, presumed dead’ and she had to wait seven years to be able to re-marry OR maybe he (Charlie) cleared off when he found out his dear Nina (?) was expecting a child barely  eight months after he married her….. But then again, maybe they were divorced  - who knows? That was for her to know and for me me to find out!

Richard Gunter might have been the sugar daddy (?) who my mother vaguely remembers in Stratford-upon-Avon and who "sent her off to school". She would have been just eleven years old when this second marriage took place in 1924 and I rather suspect she was not party to, or even aware of it!

Looking at the situation with the change of first name from Muriel to Nina and the sudden suspicious (and twice registered) birth of p0 Muriel, I presume that Nina was disowned by her family for bringing shame on them – IF that was because of the sudden appearance of Arthur Offley….. Hence the Nina’s story of my mother being the only child of an only child….. when all the time there were grandparents and two uncles, and later their families too. Nina’s army background would also fit in with her horror at my mother wanting to ditch the army captain she was walking out with to marry a lowly (Nina’s words) army lance corporal!

Now the work begins in tracing what happened to the Newcombe family – they were from London too – but things are starting to point to them leaving England to escape WW1.

Perhaps the Newcombes travelled on a ship like this.....

But did Charles go with them I wonder? It seems that they may have immigrated to Massachusetts – but that needs to be followed up too.

The Edmeds it seems might have returned to and settled in Halifax N.S. – but once again that has to be verified. Did Nina get out too, with Muriel, before the outbreak of war? Was this the story my mother told me about?  That she had gone to the USA when only little…. This was the photo of her that Mum always believed (was told) was taken in America….

Oh Nina what a cruel and tangled web you wove…..

Could I really have some relatives on my Mother’s side or am I really, really here ALONE?

So, here ends Episode Two….

For obvious reasons Episode Three may be a little while before being written!

Episode One

This is a brief resume of what I knew (or rather didn’t know) about my maternal grandmother. For my entire life I have never know anything about her other than her ‘maiden name’. Not where or when she was born, died, married or anything!!!

The only snippets I had were recounted by my mother – Nina’s only daughter/child and as you will see – she was left in the dark and, it seems, lied to throughout her life too.

So first a bit of background and later – in ‘Episode Two’ I’ll update you on the ongoing research that has been done so far by a group of superb genealogists – but one in particular – ‘Nuccia’ -  who lives in Toronto Canada -  to help me solve this mystery.  There have been some quite surprising developments but they will need to be ratified. 

I’ll post the next episode later. But until then - just to whet your appetite - enjoy this bit of my muddled family history….

:::::::

Nina worked in the same place as Arthur (Offley). They had an affair, the result of which was little Muriel Edith. Born 27 May 1913 at Handsworth, Birmingham. Her birth was registered on 8 July 1913 - nearly six weeks after the birth. This registration shows Nina Edmed as the mother. It also indicates that they were both present when the birth was registered. It does not show Nina Edmed formerly 'anything' (on my BC it shows Mother as Muriel Mercia XXXXXXX, formerly Payne).

So I think that Arthur then probably gradually receded into the background - never to be seen again (the cad), and illegitimacy - being what it was in those days - had to be hidden.

At this point Nina had to move to where she wasn't known and invent a poor ‘dead’ husband Arthur Payne and with that of course the illegitimate daughter's details had to be the same, to save poor (?) old Nina's dignity.

So in effect Muriel Edith became Muriel Mèrcia.  A new ‘employer’ (sugar daddy) was found and the scam had to continue. He  (whoever he was),  clearly didn’t want another man’s child around so was quite happy to pay for her to go away to a school that would fit in with ‘his’ standard of life. I think perhaps he did indeed live in or perhaps ‘own’ New Place in Stratford. The daughter, who's poor Daddy ‘died’ in the war (the subterfuge story) spent her holidays there and went (perhaps) to America on one of these holidays, when still only a toddler, with mama Nina and sugar daddy!

Then the daughter (my Mum) grows up meets a dashing army Cavalry Captain (true), but falls in love with his ‘groom’. Now Nina’s daughter needs a birth certificate to be able to marry - Oh disaster.....

What is Nina to do now ?

 

The daughter grows up meets a dashing army Cavalry Captain (true), but falls in love with his ‘groom’. Now daughter needs a birth certificate to be able to marry - Oh disaster - What is Nina to do now -? I think she pretended ‘indignation’ that her daughter was marrying ‘beneath herself’ and that if she went ahead with it she would be cut off for ever....

     "The Happy Couple"

This was what my mother (Muriel) always told me. So the birth certificate was refused by Nina - got to cover her ‘dark’ past at all costs (wicked old bitch). As long as Nina’s reputation is preserved, never mind about the daughter!

Now to sustain this ‘You’re banned from my life’ charade, Nina has to disappear from where her daughter can find her. So where better that to the area (perhaps...) where she was born - Kent. Maybe she found a position, or was still with 1st  sugar daddy/employed/consort or even  with another employer. Who knows. Sufficient that her daughter can’t find her and disclose her ongoing lies. Then she is killed (most likely) during a bombing raid in the Dover area – or so we were told. But what name was she using? Nina Edmed or had she by now invented some other ‘fantasy life’? I think that during these years she kept in touch with her two friends in Handsworth, but swore them to secrecy about her lies. She may have listed them as people to inform if anything happened to her. Hence their limited knowledge of her death.

I was with my Mother when she questioned this elderly couple and they really didn’t want to talk about it. But the intimation was there that Nina HAD lied, but they would not admit that they knew any more about it....

So that was my theory, having pieced together all the little bits of the jig-saw. The problem remains though . That Nina amid all her shame and stupidity kept the most important pieces of this jig-saw to herself!