Tuesday 26 November 2013

family history

...Great Aunt Jessie was my father's aunt. When she was quite young she was on a train in France and met this Hungarian countess who was very taken with her and asked her to teach her daughters English. Great Aunt Jessie went back the following year to teach English and stayed in Hungary until after the war. She would return to England occasionally and visit my parents but they never knew what to expect. There was the time that an Hungarian count proposed to her on Skegness Sands, my father said he was desperately, desperately in love with her but she wouldn't have him. During the war she stayed in Budapest and she told us that she went out for fresh air every day, whatever the weather. I suppose she was probably working for the Secret Services. After the war she stayed with us for a while and there was a slight problem when she used forged bank notes, they were very good forgeries, probably from the German camps. I don't think it was her fault but we did have a visit from Scotland Yard which was quite something in a small Lincolnshire village. One night we were coming back from a magic lantern show and we could see her silhouetted on the bathroom curtains reaching up into the lavatory cistern...well, she must have hidden something there. I can remember my father saying "Good gracious, whatever is she up to now?" Great Aunt Jessie was such a strong character that it all got a bit much for my mother so she moved out after three years. Of course, she may or may not have left a son in Hungary...

6 comments:

  1. Fascinating Alice. Do you have some Lincolnshire ancestry? Have you tried to follow any of your family lines. I have spent the last 9 years researching my lot, it is one of the most interesting and rewarding things I have ever done. x

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  2. Did they meet....? Please don't stop.

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  3. Now you have us all on the edges of our seats. From a sweet sewing great Aunt to a possible INternational spy. Keep this on please!

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  4. What a lovely voice is coming through here.

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  5. I hope that there will be further episodes. I am enjoying this.

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  6. I am just waiting for the tale of Tommy Tucker and the Rats ...

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