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James
Richard George
HAMMOND served in WW1
in the Queens East Surrey Regiment as Private
205644. The above photo seems to show him on duty
in France, where he was gassed in a manoeuvre and
returned to Britain.
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The HAMMOND branch of my family is the
most difficult to follow, since my grandfather
James Richard
George HAMMOND was a traveller
(tinker or didicoy), who settled in Kent around the early
1900's. Whether he and the caravan, were returning to an
area, where they once lived, or simply came to a convenient
stop, is uncertain. He may have ceased to be a travellor in
order to join in the war effort and volunteer. Other family
groups thought to be connected to these travellers are
RIPLEY, HOLLOWAY, STAVELY, LEVI & JACOB.
My Father
Albert R D
Hammond, recently told me that
the SHEEPWASH family, of the Isle of Sheppey, were also
formerly travellers or gypsies, who adopted the name in
preference to their original last name of "BASTARD" for
obvious reasons. He stated that other names chosen by this
family included the LITES, CROCKFORDS and
BRIGHTMAN,
He further thought that the BASTARDs
drew their name from a child of Nel Gynn, though from
historical sources these children were given the surname of
BEAUCLERK. He said that he thought all these families had
settled in Blue Town around the turn of the
century.
They settled in Blue Town, Sheerness,
Isle of Sheppey and James married a local woman
Hilda Florence
Gray of Cliff House, Minster,
Isle of Sheppey. James served in WWI and was gassed,
thereafter he developed TB, and died in Alyesford
sanatorium, in 1929.
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James
Richard George HAMMOND
(born abt. 1872, died 24th Nov
1929)
A saying of James
"Never buy
what you can steal, never steal, what you can borrow, never
borrow, what you can cadge, never cadge, what you can
scrounge."
Another saying attributed to James
"Never see,
your children go hungry, always look the other
way."
He ran a rag and bone service and
dealt in scrap. During the carnival season, he would buy a
large bag of confetti, which the family would sell in hand
cones to the public, who were watching the parade.
After the carnival had passed by, his
children were sent out to the street to brush up the used
confetti to sell it again, at the next
carnival.
James R. G.
HAMMOND was a thoroughly
disreputable individual, caught on one occasion selling the
civic flowers from the park gardens in bunches, outside
Sheerness train station and on another occasion caught
selling firewood, made from Admiralty furniture.
!!!!
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Hilda
Florence GRAY
Hilda Florence
GRAY (born 19th
November1885 Brickfield Cottage, Teynham, Faversham, died.
2nd June 1955, 43 Invicta Road, Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey
(C1S685979) Had children to (i)
William
Newton Married (ii)
James Richard George
HAMMOND (born abt. 1872,
died 24th November 1929) Her occupation was a Domestic
Housemaid. At 1914 she was living at Cliff House, Minster,
Isle of Sheppey
children
Hilda May
GRAY (born 18th August1906
Gun Lane, Strood Intra, Rochester , died 20th May1967 at
Hammersmith.) (note, described as general servant of
Cliffe.)
Stewart Lesley GRAY
(changed last name to
HAMMOND) (b. 1st August 1914, d. 25th October 1951 at H.M.
Dockyard, Sheerness, Kent following a tragic
accident)
(ii) children
Naomi
HAMMOND (infant
death)
George Arthur Liel
HAMMOND (born 20th March
1917)
William Ernest Newton
HAMMOND (born 26th December
1920)
Albert Richard Douglas
HAMMOND (born 25th February
1925)
Frank Ronald Charles
HAMMOND (8th June
1926)
Freddie
HAMMOND (born 1929/30)
(Infant Death)
When my Grandmother,
Hilda Florence
Hammond (nee
Gray),
needed to replace her old upright, fireside, chair, she
asked one of her eldest sons, to saw off the back struts of
it, turning it into a stool, as she had with every previous
chair, to ensure that she was forced to sit upright, her
back as straight as an arrow. I am told that when she
visited relations she never sat with her back against the
wood of the chair. Posture and the condition of her back was
always important to her, after stretching she would say
"That's one thing that's good for you, and it's
free!"
I suspect, that not all of Hilda's
family's births may have been registered, as my father
related a story of Hilda's daughter also named Hilda.
When she died her son was almost
refused a burial, because a birth certificate could not be
produced, from any official source. He only managed to
change this official postion, when he threatened to put the
body on a trolley and push it round London with a sign
telling people of the predicament.
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On Linsdale Hike with the 2nd Sheppey Scout Battalion
circa 1935, Albert Richard Douglas Hammond (right).
SHOPS & SHOPPING
Shopping wiv me mum, she's always in a
hurry,
Picking up or putting down, making sure she's got
her pound,
Pot veg for Wednesday, scrag end goes a long
way,
Saturday, the day of joy, hap-nee for each good
boy,
While Mum got the beef, the sprouts and
dripping,
We to Millways all went skipping,
There wiv nose to glass we viewed the grand
repast,
Gob-stoppers, big and round, locust beans, long and
brown,
Trebor chews a farving each, and the sticky jelly
sweets,
Sherbet dabs for noses tingling, liquorice string
for all untangling,
Tiger nuts to keep you munching, treacle toffee for
the crunching,
Coconut ice like lots of snow, bubble gum for yer
to blow,
Iced mice, pink or white, trying to keep out of
sight,
Striped humbugs, big and small, or rough brown
aniseed ball.
They're all gorn na, those days, me Mum, the magic
and Millway's,
Shopping can never be for me the treasure seeking
pleasure
That it used to be.
Albert R. D. Hammond
Hilda
Hammond & family -
George
&
Albert
in the back row,
Frank
on
Hilda's
knee with
Bill
sitting.
Frank's
head is bandaged following a serious accident which resulted
in a metal plate being fixed to his
skull.
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