Some time ago my kind sister Averil sent me from Canada a box full of place marker cards. They are a set of Japanese, hand-coloured card figures, each with a person's name on the base.
Where had they come from? Almost certainly from my parents - my father had been working in Japan. So, first question answered.
But was this dinner party before his and my mother's return in 1936 or after? There are no place settings with their names on, so the initial response might be that it was before 1936 and that the place settings had been sent to England as a gift by them. On the other hand on their return from Japan they lived first in Hampshire, then in North Wales, then in Somerset. These are all places far from Newcastle upon Tyne, where evidence suggests the meal took place. In those days before or during World War II, before every family had at least one car, the railways were the only was of travelling round the country. A long cross-country journey might involve several changes of train, often involving long waits in station waiting-rooms for the next train. Perhaps my parents were actually back in England and just unable to join the others because of the distance involved. So, this question unanswered.
Looking at the names, they were almost all family members of my father's and grandfather's generation. Was there a story behind that meal?
Let's have a look at those place marker cards - and don't forget you can see a larger image by clicking on the original.
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| Daddy |
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| Mother? |
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The first one is labelled 'Daddy'. Since most of the rest of the family names were those of my father's generation, I am fairly sure that 'Daddy' was my paternal grandfather Frank Piercy.
The next one is a little more tricky to read as it looks as though one name has been over-written by another. One interpretation could be 'Mary'. Another could be 'Mother', in which case it would refer to my paternal grandmother Alice Wingrave PIERCY née RICHARDSON. The latter sounds most likely, but which name was written first?
Alice Wingrave was known to her own generation as 'Winnie' - to the younger generations she was always known as 'Granny Piercy'. Averil pointed out to me that the writing looks like hers (Winnie's) - I concur.
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| Willlie |
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| Elsie |
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The next card has the name 'Willie' written on it. This would have been my grandfather's brother, William PIERCY Like my grandfather he was an engineer in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north east of England and I have dim memories of him driving his Lanchester (I think) car round Jesmond where he and my parents lived.
'Elsie' was William's wife, Elsie Marian PIERCY née PLOWMAN. Her father was a bottled beer wholesaler according to the 1891 and 1901 census - interesting, as William's father, also William, was a teetotal Methodist. I wonder how that went down in the family!
Elsie was born in Hackney, William in Dalston nearby.
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| Kathleen |
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| Frank |
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'Kathleen' was Alice Kathleen PIERCY née PIERCY, my father's eldest sister and Frank's eldest child. She had trained as a teacher, like her mother, but in domestic science. Also like her mother she left the profession when she married her first cousin, Frank PIERCY (yet another Frank in the family!), William and Elsie's son. He took over his father's business of Cromil and Piercy, graphite factors. They had no children.
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| Maurice |
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| Grace |
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The next name was 'Maurice', William Maurice PIERCY, my father's younger brother. He was always known as Maurice and after attending the Royal Grammar School at Newcastle became an accountant. After the war, when he served in the Royal Artillery, he left England to work with the accountancy firm
Price, Waterhouse in Singapore. I was told he was the official receiver to the Malta Dockyard. Oral tradition, so no doubt some truth in it but not perhaps the whole truth...
'Grace' was Grace PUMPHREY. Grace's family were Quakers, so when Maurice came back from Singapore to marry her at the end of 1950 they were married at the Friends Meeting House in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, before returning to Singapore. Her brother Owen ran the
Pumphreys Coffee business, started in 1750 and still trading.
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| Muriel |
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| Mary |
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Next I found the name 'Muriel', Maurice's twin sister Elsie Muriel PIERCY. Muriel trained in Domestic Science and never married. She spent most of her life in the north east of England.
'Mary' was Mary RUNCIMAN née RICHARDSON, my grandmother's youngest sister. An amazing character, she survived being torpedoed during World War 2, was awarded the
Military Medal for bravery in World War 1, and between the wars was adopted by
Sir Walter RUNCIMAN. That's a story in itself!
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| Jean |
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| Spence |
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'Jean' was Jean MALLEN née PIERCY, William PIERCY's daughter, Frank and Stanley's sister. She married 'Spence', Spence MALLEN.
Spence had been an estate agent, and qualified for his Royal Aeronautical Aviator's Certificate at Newcastle Aero Club in June 1939. He was killed in action while flying a
Handley Page Hampden bomber as a Sergeant Pilot with
44 Squadron on 28 August 1941.
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| Stanley |
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| Eric |
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Of the first two names, 'Stanley' is easy to identify - Stanley Edwin PIERCY, second son of Willliam PIERCY and Elsie Marian PIERCY née PLOWMAN. He became a very successful veterinary surgeon in Kenya after getting his PhD at London University's Royal Veterinary College.
But who was Eric? So far I cannot identify him as a PIERCY family member. Perhaps he was a family friend. The puzzle remains.
So there you have it. Over seventy years ago the PIERCY family gathered for a meal. Meals can be practical, simply feeding the body; meals can be social, cementing relationships; and meals can be ritual, celebrating events. Surprisingly, after all those years, we still have these few hints about this meal and its circumstances.
From the evidence of the place settings, it seems to have been a family gathering and might have been celebrating a birthday or perhaps a festival. It certainly occurred before 28 August 1941 when Spence was killed. It probably occurred before 1940 as by then Stanley was married to Eleanor and there is no place setting for her - though there may have been one, lost over the years. Almost every person named had their home in Newcastle upon Tyne; if 'Daddy' and 'Mother' were the hosts then the meal would have been at
26 Graham Park Road in Gosforth.
So we can have a good guess for the era of the meal; its location; and the reason for the gathering. The chart below shows the relationships between most of those present.
We still don't know who 'Eric' was, though...
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| The Newcastle PIERCY family - click to enlarge |
'Any celebration meal to which guests are invited, be they family or friends, should be an occasion for generous hospitality.'
Julian Baggini
