This post is for my family. Each of them. I have always felt it important to know where you come from. It is also important to be aware of health issues within the family that could be hereditary. I suppose these things are important to me, because at the age of 17, I realised my whole life had been a lie. It was shock and left me feeling lost and different from my siblings. To hear that William, my mother’s husband, our ‘dad’, was not actually my Dad, shook me to the core.So here I am , telling my family of their heritage. They don’t have to read it but if they have questions, I am the only one left now, the only one who can give them the answers and I hope they know, I will always tell them the truth. That has often been my downfall.
My siblings have all died in the past 10 years, the last of my sisters, Patricia, died on 11th September 2024. There is only me now, only me who can answer questions from my nieces and nephews, only me who can tell them of their relatives, their parentage. Tell them of my family, their family. Where each of them came from.
I will include references to blogs I have written about my sister June and my brother Tony.
So here goes.
Our mother Rosina Ellen Maud Bishop was born a Cooke, on the 8th of May 1916. She was an only child. Her mother Maud moved into the home of our great Aunt Rose French,in Tipner Portsmouth after my mother’s father went missing in action during the first world War. Aunt Rose had 9 children all of whom I knew until their deaths. My mother married Dad, William in 1935. He was an only surviving child of Amy Bishop from cornwall, his older brother, George, had been killed in an electrical accident on his 21st birthday. They had Georgina in 1937, June in 1939. Tony was born in 1944, then I was born, out of wedlock as they say, the result of an affair with William Musselwhite, while William was away fighting in the Second World War. 1945.Something my mother never forgave me for!! Rosina, lost a baby girl, stillborn, in around 1950 and had Patricia in 1953.Another stillborn baby boy in around 1956.
William died in 1985 from a heart attack during surgery for ulcers, at Haslar hospital. He had 10 Coronary episodes in 10 years, suffered ulcerated legs and although in great pain always managed a smile when I saw him.He was 77 years old.My mother died on the Isle of Sheppey in 2003 from a Pulmonary Embolism. She had reasonably good health and died at the age of 87.
As a family, we moved around a lot in the Bridgemary Gosport area. Life was not always good, especially for me but I have already written my story in my book, I DID TELL I DID under pseudonym Cassie Harte. My eldest 2 sisters spent a long while, at a residential home in Horsham Sussex, called Wedges Camp. It was for children who had suffered during the war years. They hated it there I know that. Georgina always had a hacking cough, for the whole of her life. Leaving her lungs quite weak. We would often be left with Georgina whilst our mother was out and she would read us stories. Happy times. Georgina worked at Gosport Memorial Hospital. She married David Neller from Petersfield, I was chief bridesmaid and it was a lovely wedding.After they married they lived until his death and for the rest of Georgina’s life, in a house that had belonged to David’s family for many years. They had 2 sons, Paul and Robert who still live in the family home in Froxfield. Georgina went on to develop breast and lung cancer and sadly died in 2014, in a hospice. I was in touch with her right up to the evening before her death. I am still in touch with her sons.
My sister June and I were very close as we grew into young women. June worked as a seamstress for a clothing factory. In a local laundry and then at Gosport Memorial Hospital with Georgina. We saw a lot of each other and against my mother’s wishes, I stayed in touch with June when she left home to marry Tony Slaymaker. They had a little girl Angela who sadly died of pneumonia when just a few months old. June and I were with her at the end and she allowed me to place a little gold crucifix around her tiny neck, it had been blessed at my confirmation. They had lived in Old Road Gosport but moved to Bridgemary soon after Angela’s death. June went on to have Simon and then Tina, now known as Samantha,who is my God daughter, then Wendy. June suffered a few Gynaecological problems as a young woman, having surgery in Gosport hospital at least twice.I was always in touch with Simon even after his moving to Canada but this came to an end for reasons only he and I know. After June’s husband Tony died from a complication of his diabetes, something his Mother had suffered before him. She met and married Keith and they moved into Fareham, where sadly June died in 2020 and Keith still lives there. When June was born, she developed Meningitis, twice and almost died. This left her a little different from her peers. Reading was difficult and some academical subject’s very hard for her but she was artistic, clever and a very good baker. June was kind, but gullible and some people including her youngest sister, took great advantage of that. Being with her, at times, was like being with an adult size child, with all the wonder that children have. It was a privilege to be part of her life. June and I were very close as we grew older, she died from heart issues and had suffered cancer of the uterus and lung cancer.My memories of June are many, funny, beautiful and heart warming. She holidayed with us in our cottage in Monmouth, for a few weeks, weeks I will never forget.She was very special and I loved her.https://wordpress.com/post/carolannwright.blog/8668
Then there was Tony. Tony was born February 3rd 1944. There were only 18 months between us and we grew up very close or as close as we were allowed to be. We both went to school in Bridgemary. Tony had Asthma all of his childhood and every time he was ill, I was so scared. He was my ally, my friend and I loved him so very much. We did a lot of things together, Woodcraft, etc. As he grew into a young man, I was worried he would leave home but at first, he worked for men’s outfitters in Southsea and for short time at the Landport Drapery store in Portsmouth. He then joined the royal Marines. We, Dad and I didn’t think he would get accepted because of his Asthma, but he did and the Royal Marines somehow made a man of him and the Asthma all but disappeared for those years. He had TB whilst in the Marines and spent many months in Haslar hospital, where I would visit and take the patients, fancy cakes etc. He married his first wife Linda lovely girl,in 1965, they had 2 sons but sadly Lin died when her youngest was a few months old, from Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Tony remarried another Linda and they went on to have 2 daughters, Tina and Alison. Tony’s second son Scott was raised by his first wife’s sister Jean. Tony sadly lost his fight against Lung cancer in 2018, breaking my heart.https://wordpress.com/post/carolannwright.blog/8016
My youngest sister Patricia, known as Trish for most of her life, was a tearaway and caused her parents many sleepless nights. Unlike the others, she was the most important person in her life. She was spoilt by my parents, our Dad adored her and she broke his heart many times. As a child I loved her dearly. As she grew up we grew apart. She left home many times in her teens, being brought home on several occasions by the local police. When I discovered she was pregnant at 14, and helped her tell her parents, our parents, we became close and she spent a lot of time with me. After the birth of her first son Brian, who was adopted, I had been to see them in Winchester Hospital,she came to live with me and my first husband Terry, on and off for many months. Then we lost touch again, nobody ever knew why. She would say there was a reason and I knew what that reason was. I didn’t and still don’t. Now I never will and that’s okay because I know I have never done anything to hurt any of my family so not sure why she chose this path. A waste of what should have been a close sister relationship. She married Micky Crooke who was the local telegram boy and they had a son Matthew. She did not suffer health issues that I knew of, until the smoking became a problem and I believe she developed COPD or so I have been told. We were estranged for over 40 years, her choice and so knew nothing about each other’s lives. I know she took our Mother to live with her and her 2nd husband husband Brian, on the Isle of Sheppey, where in phone-calls between our mother and myself, she would cry and say how unhappy she was. But Mum played games and I am sure she was doing this, just to upset me and that in truth,she was very happy with her youngest daughter. They were very much alike. I was still in touch with my mother and visited her on Sheppey and in hospital before she died. I have written about the complicated ‘relationship ‘ with my youngest sister here.https://wordpress.com/post/carolannwright.blog/9687
I have limited time here now. I am 78 years old and have poor health.I also have Asthma, well controlled. I suffer from FND, a legacy of my childhood apparently. I think it important that we know our heritage, health issues that might affect those who come after us. If there is anything my nieces and nephews want to know about their family, I am the only one left who can tell them. I don’t know why I have been estranged from those I love. I have tried very hard over the years to remain in touch with those in Canada and those here in Hampshire.When I have been able, I have been there for them, helped them when I could and always been honest and caring in my relationships. For their own reasons, and the lies of others, with no regress from me, I can do no more but give that information here. While I am still able.
So. I am here. I am willing to talk to any family member if they want or need to know anything of their past relatives.But they need to do that now.
Thank you for reading.
carolannwright 