Who knows where life will take you? - REPORT
Linda gave us a fascinating, illustrated talk about the life of Alice Brett, her relative who had been born in Sandwich, Kent. She started with her maternal Great Grandmother Clara Jane Brett who was born in 1861 in Sandwich and lived in and around the town for most of her life; sadly she died aged only 49.
Clara’s parents were James Brett, a bricklayer, later a builder, of Sandwich and his wife Rebecca Mount Brett neé Harris. The family lived in Strand Street for many years then Market Street before retiring to St Bartholomew’s almshouses by 1911. Linda discovered a family photograph from around 1890 showing Rebecca and James, probably celebrating 30 years of marriage, surrounded by many of their children. The names were written on the back of the photo and next to one name ‘Alice’ was (Canada) in brackets. Alice was about 18 in the photograph and she was the seventh of 11 children that the couple raised. Linda had never heard anything about a relative living in Canada and so began investigating the life of Alice Brett.
Alice Brett married James Knight, a draper, in Sept 1892 and the couple had 2 children, James and Constance but by 1900 Alice was a widow. James, her husband, had been in the Brompton hospital, which specialised in consumption and diseases of the chest but died in Jan 1900 and was buried in West Norwood cemetery; he was only 36 years old. Because of his father’s occupation, James jnr. was given a place at the Warehousmen, Clerks and Drapers’ School at Purley, which provided him with a good education. By 1911, Alice, Constance and James were living in Richmond, Surrey and all were working but by 1912 James had decided to emigrate to Ontario, Canada near the USA border. In 1918, James was drafted into the tank regiment and wrote a will, leaving everything to his mother.
James returned to Britain for his sister Constance’s wedding to Robert Humphrys in Oct 1919 and then he and his mother Alice returned to Ontario on the SS Scandinavian in Sept 2020, intending to stay in Canada. In 1928 Alice’s mother Rebecca died aged 90 and Alice returned to Sandwich to look after her father and stayed 11 months at St. Barts. By 1931, Alice and her daughter Constance and son James plus their families were all living in Ontario, Canada and when they died, all were buried there.
To the group’s astonishment, at the end of the talk a visitor came forward who was related to the Brett family. The lady was a descendant of the eldest son of Rebecca and James Brett, Albert, so it turned out that she and Linda Chapman are related. She had come to the talk in the hope that it was actually a member of her branch of the Brett family that was giving the talk and she was not disappointed. I’m not sure that this has happened at a Deal family history talk before!
Report by: Lesley J Smith
Secretary, of Deal Branch, Kent FHS