I have been saving this family tidbit for Halloween.
When I mentioned a few weeks ago that I did not know what my great-grandfather Francis Harry Greed did for a living, Mum said that among other things, he had been a coffin maker. That is brilliant. Not everyone can boast one of those in their family. Coffin makers were often skilled cabinet makers in those days - which was Frank Greed's profession, after graduating from being a carpenter and joiner - and so when he was working for J.J. Allen Ltd. in Bournemouth (est. 1899 to "carry on the extensive and old established business of Mr. J.J. Allen, House Furnisher, Carpet Importer, Cabinet Manufacturer, Upholsterer, Decorator, Warehouseman, and Funeral Furnisher"), that was one of the things he did.
I am sure that Frank Greed would like to be remembered for more than being a coffin maker. He is another one of the family members who sounds like he would have been great fun to know. Before settling down in Bournemouth, he and Alice seemed to like to move around a lot, and he was based in Yeovil during WWI, where he made wooden aircraft propellers. His parents had a sweet shop in Winton (I found them - Francis James and Harriet Greed - on the 1911 census living at 172 Wimborne Rd.), which is very near to where AR lives. I have walked right by this address myself, but did not know of the family link. The Greeds were all from Taunton, Somerset originally. I do not know what brought them to Bournemouth.
More on Frank and Alice and their children later.
And in another nod to Halloween: this is the skeletal view of your blogger's right hand. I thought I had broken the third metacarpal a couple of months back and had it x-rayed. It turned out to be a ligamentous injury, but I got the secretary of my favorite orthopedic surgeon to email me copies of the imaging.
info. on J.J.Allen: http://www.housefraserarchive.ac.uk/company/?id=c1575
coffin picture: an Edward Gorey drawing from one of my many E.G. books.
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