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T B Brydge – duettist
By Christine Swan T. B. Brydge began his career in the Music Hall business in 1863 as a solo comic and clever instrumentalist. However, he achieved more success in partnership than he ever did…
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Travels in 2023 – part 2
By Christine Swan The first six months of last year have been documented in my previous post on my travels. July saw the end of the academic year and time to travel further afield.…
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T.B. Brydge – comic vocalist
By Christine Swan Thomas Bold Bridge was born in 1842, the second son of Thomas and Elizabeth Bridge of Stockport. Up until a few years, I only Stockport as the last train station before…
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Travels in the first half of 2023
By Christine Swan 2023 marked a different kind of year for me. I lost my mum in 2022 which meant that I no longer had care commitments that had kept my movements curtailed. This…
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Elena Estelle – ballet mistress
By Christine Swan Elena Estelle was one performing name of my great great aunt, Elena Ann Crudgington. She was born in 1854 in Bethnal Green to Daniel and Ann Crudgington and had a sister,…
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2023 in review
By Christine Swan 2023 was generally an awful year. Grief is crushing and overwhelming. There have been times when I have stumbled but have been lifted up and given support by so many people,…
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Elena Estelle – premiere danseuse
By Christine Swan Elena Estelle was born Elena Ann Crudgington in Bethnal Green in 1854. After studying dance at Mrs Conquest’s English School 0f Dancing at the Royal Grecian Theatre, she had a successful…
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Christmas in Rosebery Avenue
By Christine Swan When I was very small, I lived with my family in Whitecross St, in the heart of the City of London. At some point my dad acquired an elevated position in…
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Elena Estelle – Academic dancer
By Christine Swan When I was a small child, I was bought a cream-coloured jewellery box with a red velvet lining and a model ballerina, forever en pointe. resplendent in plastic with white lace…
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James Cooke – Victorian carman
By Christine Swan I have found that some of my ancestors have been very easy to research. This is especially true of the famous and the infamous but, the ordinary present me with a…
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The emporer’s new supermarket checkouts
By Christine Swan Self-service checkout by Jay Gooby from Brighton, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons I am a complete technophile. I love gadgets and new tech, and I have been…
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The excitement of travel
By Christine Swan I love the concept of a Grand Tour conducted over an extended period, to broaden the mind and enrich the senses. After my first trip to Lyon, I came home and…
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