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William & Ann.jpg
William and Ann.jpg
WilliamDawson.jpg
AnnDawson as a girl.jpg

Ann Isabella Pratt
Above: drawing of Ann in 1875, aged 7 years, while at St Catherine's Convent, Edinburgh.

Below: Ann in 1937.

Grandma.jpg

Excerpt from 1881 census, showing Ann living with her parents (& 10 others) in Tynemouth in the North East of England.

Excerpt from 1911 census, showing William & Ann living with all but their eldest child in Whipps Cross in Essex.

new content
added March 2024

Of Thee.jpg
Ann Dawson prayer card.jpg

Ann survived William by almost 38 years, but they are buried together

in Ventnor, Isle of Wight.

Ann's burial service

was led by Fr Justin,

with Veronica & Anita in attendance.

JamesDawson.jpg

James Dawson, father of William
Taken at Blyth, Northumberland, in his garden.

James was born in Burnham, Norfolk, in 1834. His wife Esther was born in Bedlington, Northumberland, in 1832. They lived in Blyth in Northumberland - the 1881 Census shows the household included William's elder brother James (b.1863) and Todd (b.1856), listed as "Wife's Son Boarder".

 

James worked down the mines, but his eyesight was affected, so he became a 'knocker-up' - a human alarm clock, going round miners' homes and knocking on their bedroom windows to wake them up for shifts.

Isaac Pratt.jpg
EleanorMowbrayPratt.jpg

Isaac Pratt
Boot and shoe manufacturer in Blyth, Northumberland.

Taken c.1885.

Eleanor Mowbray Pratt
1839 - 30th August 1899

These are colour photographs, taken on glass and then hand-coloured.

ANN ISABELLA (b.1868) was the eldest of eight children of Isaac and Eleanor.

Isaac Pratt as a young man.jpeg

Isaac Pratt as a young man (picture undated)

Reunion 1937_edited.jpg

June 1937

(first family reunion since Edward married in 1912)

              Fabian       Raymond      Veronica         Edward          James

                        Vincent        Rosie        ANN        Lily       Ralph

                                                     (R's wife)                        (J's wife)  (I's husband)

             Anita                                   Laurence                                 Isabel

                                                                       (J&L's son)

Ann Isabella Dawson (R), her sister Helen & 'Happy'!, 1938.jpeg

We found this undated picture labelled

"Grandma (Ann Isabella), sister Helen & Happy"

"Uncle Ern, [Helen's] husband, was a little feller with a bald head and he used to have this little tuft of hair in the middle and he used to get hold of one them and he’d say he was just growing it long enough to curl round and cover the top of his bald head. He looked like Happy the Dwarf in the Snow White so we always called him Uncle Happy, not Uncle Ern"

Mary Matthews, reminiscing, in 2010

Jack Benson's Dawson get together (undated).jpeg

This was labelled

"Jack Benson's "Dawson" get together while I was in hospital"

We think "I" was Isabel ...

... many of the faces are familiar, but does anyone have date / a full cast list?

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