Interview with Great Uncle Dick
Richard Roland D'Auvergne Bane born Dovercourt 1909
Great Uncle Dick was the oldest brother of my granny Isabelle, for which he knew more about the grandparents lives far away in London
My grandmother Maria Seagrove (Maria née Harrison) had children with black hair, white alabaster skin and beautiful features. My grandfather Thomas Seagrove was a tall man with ginger hair. He was a real tough Irishman, a waterman on the Thames working for the Thames Water Board. He worked with shipping transport. He was a pure bred Irish man. Granny Seagrove was on the stout side. The girls took after her in their beauty. She was really lovely, of broad build, jet black hair, and small height, about 5 ft 2 or 3. She had some lovely daughters who met and married Greenwich people. Thomas Seagrove had a boat of his own and he'd row out to his destination, but what his actual practical work was I don't know. I think they were Catholics, whereas the Bane grandparents were Church of England. Thomas Seagrove had auburn tousled hair. He was physically a fine man, but not well educated. There was a very strong tough strain in the family.
My father D'Auvergne was raised in Walthamstow, after being born in Plumstead. He was a grammar school boy. He courted a lady called Gladys, but something went wrong, and he met my mother Mary Ann on the rebound. He had a very good education. My mother was more practical, a good cook, mother and housewife. Dads first girlfriend Gladys was at grammar school, like him and they were going to marry but another man got involved. D'Auvergne got very disillusioned by this. He did electrical wiring work. When electricity was first being installed in this country he did a bit in London for a while and was nicknamed 'Electric'. My mum and dad went to live with D'Auvergne's parents in Dovercourt and then rented a house in Lee Road. Soldiers used to line up in Lee Road for drill during the first world war and were billeted in various houses in the road. They'd bring food tins to my mother and she'd cook and look after them. She'd get presents of food from them too. She was good to the soldiers. My father D'Auvergne was one of twins. The other twin must have died at birth. His parents were reasonably enough placed financially to put him in a grammar school, whereas working class people would do well then even to get an elementary education. My father should have done a lot better than he did, but he liked pleasure. He used to go to the races as a youngster. He had the wanderer spirit in him and liked to get out and about. Gladys was on his schooling level and she was a beautiful young woman and it broke him when they split up. My mother Mary Ann was a wonderful mother and we always had good meals. My father D'Auvergne was very houseproud, painting and decorating. He painted blue walls for my room. He used to put new soles on our shoes. 'I ought to be putting metal soles on your shoes!' he'd joke to me. They were a good father and a good mother. They looked after us children very well and brought us up nicely. There was always a beautiful white tablecloth, the food dished up hotel style, napkins in the neck and grace said before the meal. The Lee Road kitchen had an old black gas stove and a brick copper with a metal furnace pan in it. Fire burning underneath that was of wood with coal. The washing was done in there. In the yard there was a big ringer with wooden rollers and a big iron wheel with a handle to wring the clothes before hanging them on the line to dry, mangles they were called and it was as big as my mother. They worked hard in those days. It was a full time job looking after a family of children. There were no carpets in those days. We had lino on the floors. My father liked playing football and cricket when young. At school he was one of the top footballers.
One of the aunts, was it my grandfather Bane's sister? married a French composer called D'Auvergne Barnard. She went to live in France with him and they were lost track of. (This information seems muddled. It was a maternal aunt who married not the composer but his father and he was English though did have French-Indian colonial ancestry).
My grandfather Richard Bane was a big, strong built man. He and his son Roland were master tailors. I remember grandad making a ladies full length dresscoat, dark grey, marking it out with chalk. He'd work all night and be done in the morning, pressed and silk lined. He learnt tailoring from his own father. Grandad Bane was in a guards regiment and had a posh uniform. He was a sergeant majors tailor in the regiment. He spent quite a lot of time in India (Did he really thought? I haven't seen anything to support this, only that he was in Barbados in. the West Indies). Grandmother Hannah Bane was very distinguished looking and gave the impression of being a society lady. She seemed well educated. She wore ruffled neck blouses. She was lovely spoken. There was nothing coarse about her. She was homely. My Bane grandparents saw better times in their younger days, but the tailoring business brought them downhill. There was very strict discipline in their family.
My father's brother, Richard, was taller than the other brother Roland. He went to Birmingham in the electrical or mechanical trade, but nothing more was heard from him.
My sister Isabelle (my granny) was a fine swimmer. She was tall, slim and had a fine figure. She let herself go after her marriage started failing as it affected her mentally. As a youngster she was fine and intelligent, alert and quick minded. Something went wrong. She was very conscientious and a little bit inclined to be possessive. She got very disillusioned with hers and Lyall's relationship. They had been so in love. She had a tender nature and her nervous system became affected. She had a nervous breakdown and had to go into care for a while. No girl could be more conscientious. She had a lovely nature. If she said something she'd carry it out. She had a moral code and she was all for the family, striving to give them all she could, even to sacrifice herself, to give them the best she could.