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Elizabeth Passingham – “Umbrella Bet”
by Christine Swan This week, I decided to focus on Isaac Crudgington’s wife, Elizabeth Passingham, as she had featured in at least one of his audacious crimes. The more I read, the more I…
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Isaac Crudgington -Desperate ruffian
By Christine Swan Sometimes, it is hard to know where to begin. During my family history research, which has extended over twenty years, a name leaps out from the page, and conjures an image.…
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Henry Welch Apthorp – butcher
By Christine Swan As I have discovered with other families, my Londoner roots did not begin there. On my maternal side, the name Apthorp has a long history. Up until a few years ago,…
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A visit to Delft
By Christine Swan During the recent half term break, I visited the Netherlands as another of my flight-free, European forays. I had wanted to visit Delft because I had discovered an ancestral link in…
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A trip to Rotterdam
By Christine Swan During the half term break, I had planned another trip to the Netherlands for a break, but also to visit Delft, where the Blanchet family lived four hundred years ago. I…
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William Nelson Sloper – World War I soldier
By Christine Swan It is at this time of year that we remember those who served their country during various conflicts, including, the supposed war to end all wars, The First World War. My…
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The hearth is where the heart is
By Christine Swan As a small child, we had one coal fire in our rented house, and no central heating. I remember my bedroom being freezing during the wintertime, and I disliked walking across…
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A wander around Hammersmith and Chiswick
By Christine Swan When I was studying biology at the University of London, our electron microscopes were located in a mundane office building in King Street, Hammersmith. We took the Tube, and trudged the…
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Simon Pettet – ceramicist
By Christine Swan In May 2023. Dennis Severs’ House was transformed for a few weeks for an exhibition of Simon Pettet’s beautiful reproduction Delftware ceramics. It was a sad time in my life but…
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At Tessa Hunkin’s Hackney Mosaic Project book launch
By Christine Swan For thirteen years, The Hackney Mosaic Project has engaged its volunteer artists in numerous projects, some of which are on a considerable scale. Tessa Hunkin’s community of mosaicists do not need…
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A trip to the Open House Festival 2025
By Christine Swan I have travelled to London for the last three years to take part in Open City’s annual Open House Festival. Each year, I optimistically take part in ballots to tour rarely…
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A campaign for joy
By Christine Swan This week, my group of trainee teachers have been planning teaching sessions based around the theme of Esafety, which fits well with another general session, delivered by colleagues, on the topic…
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