There’s nothing I love more than a proper family history mystery to get my teeth into. And finding those old photocopied BMD certificates at Mum’s, full of unfamiliar names and faces, has whetted my appetite for some serious sleuthing.
With any luck, the 1911 Census should provide some clues, so I search there for my great-grandfather John Tonge, born c. 1865. And here we are, back again at 45 Knowsley Street, Bury.
Head of the household John Tonge, 46, is a life insurance superintendent for Royal London. Then comes his wife Mary, 51, followed by unmarried children Lily, 24, Lawrence (my grandfather), 23, a clerk at Hulton & Co’s newspaper office, and John, 19, a brushmakers’ apprentice for Mason & Co. So far, so good, so familiar.
But then, aha!…
