William Dean Howells (1837-1920) published 'A Hazard of New Fortunes' in 1890. It deals with the lives of several inhabitants of New York, most of them connected in some way with the publication of a fortnightly review called Every Other Week. The owner, Dryfoos, was once a farmer but has made his fortune from natural … Continue reading A Hazard of New Fortunes – William Dean Howells
Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923-2014) published her second novel 'The Long View' in 1956. It tells the story of a middle class marriage in five episodes, arranged in reverse chronological order. We first encounter heroine Antonia Fleming in 1950, when her coercive husband Conrad has become almost completely detached. We trace their story back, through infidelities, … Continue reading The Long View – Elizabeth Jane Howard
Our progress along the North Downs Way continues, albeit slowly. We resumed towards the end of April 2023, some six months after completing the previous stretch, from Cuxton to Sandling. Sandling is some miles before the official end of the Cuxton to Detling leg, and we had needed a 101 Sapphire bus to connect us … Continue reading North Downs Way: Sandling to Hollingbourne
I intended my next book to be Maurice Baring's 'Cat's Cradle', but soon discovered that I'd read it already! So I switched to 'Marcella' by Mrs Humphry Ward, aka Mary Augusta Ward. This is her. Previously I'd read only her 'Robert Elsmere', which I very much enjoyed. 'Marcella' was written six years later, in 1894. … Continue reading Marcella – Mrs Humphrey Ward
As you can see from the cover, William Boyd (no less) rates 'The Polyglots' (1925) as: "The most influential English novel of the Twentieth Century." I would be inclined to award that prize to 'Ulysses', perhaps, or else 'To the Lighthouse'. Those are both great literary masterpieces, while this, emphatically, is not. The narrative, such … Continue reading The Polyglots – William Gerhardie
This is Mary Cholmondeley (1859-1925) whose novel 'Red Pottage' (1899) is, in my opinion, a neglected classic. It tells the story of two very different female friends, Rachel West and Hester Gresley. The main plot revolves around the consequences of adultery: at the husband's behest, he and his rival draw lots. The loser is honour … Continue reading Red Pottage – Mary Cholmondeley
Storm Jameson published these three novellas in the early 1930s - and they are heavily redolent of that period. Each examines the life of a woman who struggles to overcome her circumstances: First, a novelist, increasingly overshadowed by her less talented but more charismatic, beautiful (and promiscuous) childhood friend. Second, a wealthy heiress who, escaping … Continue reading Women Against Men – Storm Jameson
Here's my latest report from some of the less frequented avenues of literature. Boleslaw Prus was the pen name of Polish author Alexsander Glowacki (1847-1912). He first published 'Lalka' ('The Doll') in serialised form between 1887 and 1889. It is panoramic and ambitious, reflecting the development - and arguably the decay - of Polish society … Continue reading The Doll -Boleslaw Prus
This is Elizabeth Drew Stoddard (1823-1902). She published her first novel 'The Morgesons' in 1862. We follow the development of heroine, Cassandra Morgeson, and her unworldly sister Veronica. Cassandra develops a taste for the wrong kind of man, falling in love with her married cousin Charles. After he dies when their carriage overturns, she becomes … Continue reading The Morgesons – Elizabeth Stoddard
The final week of March saw our first visit to the Coast Path in 2023. We were returning to Par, our endpoint last time, hoping to see its better side. This was a wet week in a very wet month. While dodging the rain as much as possible, our minimum target was to reach the … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Par to Plymouth (Mount Batten Point)
Leonard’s story is a particularly sad one. It reflects several prominent themes in wider Dracup family history, including musicality, migration and mental health. Leonard was the third of four children. After an apparently uneventful childhood, he joined the Australian Navy at the tender age of 17. But, within a few years, he found himself marooned … Continue reading The Short, Sad Life of Leonard Dracup (1902-1932)
It took four months for us to return to Cuxton, this time to attempt the majority of the leg from there to Detling, some 12.5 miles distant. I knew we would be unable to complete the full distance, especially since we had a further mile from Cuxton Station to the beginning of the walk proper. … Continue reading North Downs Way: Cuxton to Sandling
In September we made it a hat-trick of Coast Path visits during 2022. This time we began at Helford Passage, on the opposite side of the Helford ferry crossing from where we’d left off in June, and finished beside the industrial wasteland abutting Par Docks. Our base on this occasion was the splendid harbour town … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Helford Passage to Par
Since we arrived in Oxford in the first week of August 2021, it has taken us just over a year to return to the Thames Path. On this occasion we based ourselves in Abingdon, travelling out on Wednesday and returning on Saturday. On the Thursday we walked the nine miles or so from Oxford to … Continue reading Thames Path: Oxford to Wallingford
This post is about the descendants of William Dracup (1832-1910), principally his son Arthur Dracup (1872-1962) and his grandson Norman Dracup (1905-1944). It describes part of the Dracup family that established itself in the district of Shipley, a few miles to the north of Bradford, initially in the model village of Saltaire towards the north … Continue reading Arthur and Norman Dracup: From Salt’s Mill to the Middle Classes
Back in 2017, when my wife Kate died, I went through probate for the first time. It was a complex and extended process I navigated only with some difficulty. So, following my mother’s death in January 2022, I was delighted to learn that a far simpler online system had been introduced. There seemed no obstacle … Continue reading Online Probate Application: A Slow, Flawed System.
By mid-June of 2022 we were already back in Cornwall, having completed St Ives to Marazion only three months beforehand. We devoted our week to the Lizard Peninsula, restarting at Marazion, continuing down the western side and rounding Lizard Point before ascending the eastern side to reach the Helford Estuary. Our base was a small … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Marazion to Helford
Monday 4 July 2022 would have been Kate’s 61st Birthday. And Wednesday 13 July 2022 will be the fifth anniversary of her untimely death from breast cancer, at the Princess Alice Hospice, Esher, in the summer of 2017. As the years pass by, increasingly I prefer to commemorate and celebrate her birthday, allowing her death … Continue reading #Kateday22
Six weeks after reaching Wrotham, we were back at Borough Green Station, ready to walk the eleven miles or so to Cuxton. We had travelled via Clapham Junction and London Victoria, catching the Ramsgate train, which reached Cuxton shortly after 10AM. It was a Saturday in mid-May and perfect for walking. There were blue skies … Continue reading North Downs Way: Borough Green and Wrotham to Cuxton
It wasn’t until early April that we managed to resume the North Downs Way. The Guide had suggested that the previous leg, starting in Oxted, should conclude in Otford. But we had fallen slightly short, finishing instead at Dunton Green. It now proposed that the subsequent stage should stretch all the way from Otford to … Continue reading North Downs Way: Dunton Green to Borough Green and Wrotham
Almost six months after our last visit – when we walked from Holywell Bay to St Ives – we found ourselves back on the train down to Cornwall. It was late March: we had timed this trip to help us get ‘walking fit’ for our impending Channel Islands holiday. This time our destination and base … Continue reading South West Coast Path: St Ives to Marazion
Towards the end of October 2019 we booked onto HF Holidays’ Channel Islands walking tour, scheduled for April 2020. Then Covid arrived and our holiday was postponed for two years in succession. So, as the date of the 2022 trip approached, we couldn’t quite believe it would go ahead. It was quite a shock to … Continue reading Channel Island Hopping, HF Holidays, April 2022
This family history post explores how, after the death of pioneer Jacquard loom maker Samuel Dracup, three subsequent generations of his male descendants continued to manufacture them in Great Horton near Bradford, West Yorkshire. It builds upon part of a previous post, in which I described how Samuel converted himself from a traditional joiner and … Continue reading The Legacy of Samuel Dracup: Samuel Dracup and Sons
Maureen Dracup, my mother, died on 14 January 2022. She was ninety-one and succumbed to dementia. My brother and I finally managed to extract her from hospital in the autumn of 2021, by which point she required palliative care, but could at least spend her last days at home. She had been taken in after … Continue reading Saying Farewell to Mum
This Dracup family history post records the mostly unfortunate life experiences of Emily Dracup (1857-1919), my first cousin, three times removed. From a very early age she earned her living as a piano teacher, managing to avoid throughout her life the unremitting toil of service or manual labour. But she seems never to have performed … Continue reading The Explosive Misfortunes of Emily Dracup
Seven Seagulls
We resumed the North Downs Way towards the end of October, travelling to Oxted on the East Grinstead train from Clapham Junction, where we met Jacqui. On our way we breakfasted on coffee and pastries bought from the platform cafe. This leg crosses the Surrey-Kent border. The official guide suggests one finishes at Otford but, … Continue reading North Downs Way: Oxted to Dunton Green
TD November 2021
TD November 2021
TD Oct 2021
Every family tree contains broken links – people who aren’t yet reliably connected to any particular branch - and the Dracup family tree is no exception. This may often be because a child was born out of wedlock, or simply because records are missing, or as yet unpublished. I find the records pertaining to Dracups … Continue reading The Picaresque Life of John Leslie Dracup
This Dracup family history explores the life and times of Ernest Dracup (1854-1931) and his immediate family. Born in Lincolnshire, he joined the Royal Marine Artillery at the age of 18, rising steadily through the NCO ranks. Then, for a further six years, he served as sergeant major in two Royal Artillery volunteer corps, in … Continue reading Ernest Dracup: The Singing Sergeant Major
So I've had these Padouk boards for about thirty years now. I've used a few of them for fingerboards. I have about fifteen left. I found them in a skip in Manchester. I couldn't believe it. WTF? I picked up as many as I could carry. There were loads more that I had to leave … Continue reading Confessions of a Scavenger
We returned to Cornwall towards the end of September 2021. The omens weren’t good, as I’d been struggling with a prolonged (but thankfully rare) bout of exercise-induced asthma. Unfortunately this didn’t respond brilliantly to extended mask-wearing or GWR’s aircon. We’d opted to base ourselves in St Ives, at the end of the section we planned … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Holywell Bay to St. Ives
We completed this 8-mile leg on August Bank Holiday Monday, meeting Jacqui at Clapham Junction where she was already breakfasting on a bacon roll. We bought pastries which we saved for the Merstham train. Leaving Merstham Station half an hour later, we quickly found our way back to Quality Street, which was named after J … Continue reading North Downs Way: Merstham to Oxted
We returned to the Thames Path just two months after completing the Lechlade to Newbridge leg. This time we based ourselves in Oxford, travelling there on Wednesday and back home on Saturday. We devoted Thursday to the Path and Friday to Oxford. This leg, from Newbridge to Oxford, is 14 miles long. That’s close to … Continue reading Thames Path: Newbridge to Oxford
. Only three weeks after completing Shalford to Westhumble, we were back at Box Hill and Westhumble Station to start the next 10-mile leg to Merstham. We arrived by the same route, changing at Wimbledon on to the SWR Dorking service, arriving soon after nine in the morning. . Morning Light rain was falling as … Continue reading North Downs Way: Westhumble to Merstham
. In June 2021, after almost 18 months away, we finally managed to renew our acquaintance with the Thames Path. Back in January 2020 we had completed the second leg, from Cricklade to Lechlade, though with a substantial diversion to avoid flooding. On that occasion we were celebrating Tracy’s 50th. This time round we had … Continue reading Thames Path: Lechlade to Newbridge
. The second stage of the North Downs Way is roughly 13 miles. We began with the intention of completing the stage in one go, but gave ourselves the option of finishing early at Gomshall and completing the walk at a later date. In the event, this is what happened. We walked from Shalford to … Continue reading North Downs Way: Shalford to Westhumble
Sunday 4 July 2021 would have been Kate's 60th birthday. It was the day she planned to join me in retirement - and we had vague notions of relocating somewhere more tranquil and beautiful. We would have thrown her a huge party of course; given her another special day to remember for the rest of … Continue reading #Kateday21
. Covid restrictions meant another eight months had elapsed since we were last able to walk the Coast Path, so this trip was eagerly anticipated. We based ourselves in Padstow this time round, intending to walk at least to Newquay and ideally beyond. We had a full week, from Friday to Friday, though both Fridays … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Port Isaac to Holywell Bay
. We decided to adopt the North Downs Way as a walking project in winter 2020. Given lockdown conditions, we knew it might be some time before we could return to the South West Coast Path, or even to the farther reaches of the Thames Path. But the earlier stages of the North Downs Way … Continue reading North Downs Way: Farnham to Shalford
' This post encapsulates my further understanding and experience of bereavement, acquired since the third anniversary of Kate’s death. Three Years Bereaved (July 2020) explored my downward spiral into poor mental health, provoked by my father’s death so soon after Kate’s, which somehow extended and amplified my grief beyond my capacity to endure it. I … Continue reading Escaping our Bereavement Comfort Zones
. This is the story of just one of the Dracups who laid down their lives during the First World War. Canadian George Franklin Dracup was a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He had moved westward from Ontario to the prairies of Saskatchewan at the turn of the Twentieth Century and, after a few … Continue reading George Franklin Dracup: Observer, Royal Flying Corps
. According to Ofcom, ‘It’s never been simpler to switch your broadband’. But, for an unfortunate minority, the process is still mired in complexity, confusion and delay. I endured almost five weeks without broadband, at a time when Covid lockdown restrictions made me even more than normally dependent on what has become an essential service. … Continue reading Transferring from Virgin Media to Zen Internet: A Cautionary Tale
This is the life story of my father, George Henry Dracup. It was quite an ordinary life, given the tumultuous times through which he lived, and he was a very ordinary man. But this is an obituary of sorts, celebrating the small contribution he made to humanity. . Antecedents George was a great-grandson of Eli … Continue reading George Henry Dracup (1926-2018)
Regular readers find in me a relentless critic of this Government’s efforts to control Covid-19, because of its scant regard for the inviolability of human relationships. I do not find it acceptable to restrict non-cohabiting couples from pursuing their relationships, even in extremis, because that is a flagrant abuse of human rights. Back in June, … Continue reading Idiot Wind: A screeching U-turn on relationships under COVID-19 (Updated December 2020)
. We were last on the Coast Path in March 2020, just prior to lockdown, when we walked from Clovelly to Bude. This trip also felt as though it had been completed just in time. We were fortunate to catch Summer’s last hurrah - and more stringent lockdown restrictions seemed imminent. Cornwall was busy with … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Bude to Port Isaac
(Sorry, but this wasn't the end, merely a brief period of respite from Government Covidiocy. For the next episode in this sorry saga, read: Idiot Wind: A screeching U-turn on relationships under COVID-19, published in October 2020 with an update in December 2020.) …that blows nobody any good. I hope this post will mark the … Continue reading It’s an ill wind…
For what is (hopefully) the final part of this campaign, read It's an ill wind..., which described the English Government's low-key statement, on 9 September 2020, that 'established relationships' would henceforth be exempted from social distancing. . Two months ago I condemned the UK’s failure to introduce household bubbles to reunite non-cohabiting couples. This post … Continue reading Support Bubbles and Extended Households: A Dog’s Breakfast?
Kate would have been 59 on 4 July 2020 and the third anniversary of her death falls on 13 July, just nine days later. It feels timely to reflect on my bereavement again; something I last attempted more than two years ago. So much has happened between then and now – some amazing; much dreadful … Continue reading Three Years Bereaved
It's now almost three years since Kate left us. And, on 4 July 2020, she would have celebrated her 59th birthday. We always try to make Kate's birthday a celebration: a day for family and friends to raise a glass, remembering her fondly and sharing afresh all the fun, laughter, love and happiness she brought … Continue reading Happy #Kateday20!
. Three years ago I published the sad story of Derek Dracup, a young submariner who perished in 1944, aboard the ill-fated HMS Stratagem. Derek was almost certainly drawn to the sea by his grandfather – George Enoch Dracup – who must have told the young boy many tales of his life as a ship’s … Continue reading George Enoch Dracup (1869-1946), Master Mariner
A sequel to this post, describing the development of support bubbles and extended households up to August 2020 is here. . This post discusses the continuing failure to introduce household bubbles as part of the UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy. It condemns the Government’s: Discrimination against non-cohabiting couples, unfairly prohibiting their intimacy during the COVID-19 … Continue reading Household Bubbles: Another COVID-19 failure by the UK Government?
. Our previous segment of the Coast Path – from Barnstaple to Clovelly – had been completed back in June 2019 so, by March 2020, this next visit was more than overdue. We only just managed to squeeze it in before the Coronavirus clampdown on non-essential travel. That will delay our next trip too. If … Continue reading South West Coast Path: Clovelly to Bude
Five months on from our first engagement with the Thames Path – completing the trek from the source to Cricklade – we decided it was high time to undertake the second leg, taking us from Cricklade to Lechlade. We were killing two birds with one stone since it was also my companion Tracy's 50th birthday, … Continue reading Thames Path: Cricklade to Lechlade, January 2020
Following our second HF guided walking holiday in October 2019, three of our number became members of the HF co-operative. And the two of us booked two further holidays with them, the first being a four-day festive guided walking holiday in the Southern Yorkshire Dales, from 30 December 2019 to 3 January 2020. (An equivalent … Continue reading Southern Yorkshire Dales (HF Holidays, New Year 2020)
My post about the first wave of Dracup emigrants to the United States featured Zillah Fieldhouse, nee Dracup (b.1828) who followed the Mormon Trail from Bradford to Utah in 1866. She was descended from Nathaniel Dracup’s oldest son, John (1752-1824), her parents being Nathan (1802-1870) and Betty Dracup, nee Bottomley (b.1802). But she had a … Continue reading The Other Zillah Dracup (1830-1885)
Heartscratch
. In October 2019 four of the six bereaved friends who had, six months earlier, ventured on a 4-day HF guided walking holiday in Northern Snowdonia, repeated the experience, this time in the Western Yorkshire Dales. On this occasion the booking went without a hitch. We successfully reserved four separate rooms at Thorns Hall in … Continue reading Western Yorkshire Dales, HF Holidays, October 2019
. This is the colourful story of Arthur Herbert Dracup, also known as Herbert Dracup, who acquired an intimate and extended knowledge of prisons and penal servitude during the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras. His birth is veiled in some mystery. We know that an Arthur Herbert Dracup was born in Bradford in the … Continue reading Arthur Herbert Dracup (1862-), Career Criminal
. I went downstairs in a bungalow I went upstairs in a flat I went outside my prison I trod upon a cat. . The cat climbed up a tree The tree grew tall from roots The roots thrust in the earth The earth gave up its ghosts. . The ghosts were spooking me The … Continue reading Pointless exercise
. As our partners trace their graceful arabesques above They pause; stoop down to guide our own more rustic figure And thus we weave the skeins of new-found love. . Emerging from our past lives’ wreckage, our fondest dreams stove In; what should we do but grow love from grief? How else endure As our … Continue reading Dancing Partners
This is the story of Abraham Dracup (1805-72), an ordinary working man whose otherwise very ordinary life was marked by three life-changing experiences. It describes the rise and fall of a small dynasty of Bradford cloggers, headed by Abraham and encompassing his brothers, sons and nephews. Abraham was a contemporary of his slightly older … Continue reading Abraham Dracup, Clogger, and the Dracup Clogging Dynasty
This post tells the desperately sad story of father Amos Dracup (1818-1869) and son Richard Dracup (1854-1871) who both lived in Great Horton, Bradford and whose untimely deaths – within two years of each other - were causally connected. Amos was born in 1818, the fourth child and first son of Richard Dracup senior (1788-1853) … Continue reading The Double Tragedy of Amos and Richard Dracup
. We have decided to walk the 184 miles of the Thames Path, alongside our parallel and much longer project: the South-West Coast Path. Our journey began on a cloudy August morning, travelling by train and tube into Paddington to catch the 12:45 GWR departure for Swansea - and alighting at Swindon less than an hour … Continue reading Thames Path: Source to Cricklade, August 2019
We returned to the Coast Path towards the end of June 2019, intending to walk from Barnstaple to Westward Ho! - and potentially beyond. We had also returned to our customary pattern with a four-night Monday to Friday, schedule. On the way down on Monday – departing out of Paddington and arriving via the Tarka … Continue reading South-West Coast Path: Barnstaple to Clovelly
. In March 2019, some six months after the last foreshortened leg, I judged myself healthy enough to resume our journey round the South-West Coast Path. This expedition spanned Friday to Tuesday rather than our more customary Monday to Friday routine. We took the usual route down, though this time arriving at Exeter St Davids … Continue reading South-West Coast Path: Ilfracombe to Barnstaple
This ill-fated expedition took place in September 2018. Our original plan had been to walk through to Woolacombe, but the programme was curtailed following the sudden death of my father. My own poor physical condition also prevented progress beyond Ilfracombe: I was struggling with depression-induced fatigue. A GP appointment was completed in time for … Continue reading South-West Coast Path: Combe Martin to Ilfracombe
Eponymous 