Kites of Springfield

[gardener]

I have been looking through some old letters and stuff and found this, written by my father. As far as I can see, the Gladys Kite it mentions was the daughter of this William https://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/t ... ver=494933

1939
William E Kite born 9 Apr 1907

Gwendoline Kite born 8 Dec 1900

Gladys J Kite born16 Jul 1927 (later Whittle)

name deleted as living.

Dad was writing about a visit in 1932/33 and if if there are any relatives of the Kites on here then they may be interested - and if they had a photo of the house from that time then I would love to see it. Dad was staying with the Wesson family.


"This aunt’s house where I stayed just had a living kitchen downstairs with a bedroom above and a second bedroom which was above an entry. The door into the house was in the entry. Along the entry was a communal wash-house and lavatory and communal water tap. There was an enamel bowl which stood on the table in the living room and it served as the kitchen sink. The room had one fireside chair, three ordinary chairs, a sideboard and corner cupboard in which were kept my cousin’s (aged 3) rusks and milk and a tin of biscuits. I seem to remember we fed well by my home standards. the small bedroom over the entry was accessible through my aunt and uncle’s bedroom. It belonged to another, maiden, aunt who was in service in Birmingham, and she lived there, coming “home” once every month for a half-day.
...
The maiden aunt’s bedroom where I slept at Springfield had a single bed and a big mahogany chest of drawers with a needlework box on top. She showed me once what she kept in the box – a small tin which her father – my grandfather – filled with tea leaves and sugar and took to work. He worked in a foundry and died from a heart attack at work and the tin was his sole memorial, except for a photo of him, a stern looking but kindly man with a big moustache.
...
The time I stayed at Springfield and slept in the maiden aunt’s bed, there was an old couple who lived in the back-to-back house at the other end of the entry. The woman always dressed in black silk Victorian period clothes, and he wore a black coat, fawn drain-pipe trousers and, when he went out, a bowler hat. Even then, they seemed frozen in distant time and I never knew who they were, though they must have been retired. They both had vicious tempers and chased us out of the entry where we played when it rained. On the other side of the entry were two more back-to-back houses. The one on the roadside was used as a shop and Mrs Kite and her daughter, with whom I used to play and who was called Gladys. The shop must have closed because of the depression, but it still had a lot of sweets in stock, though they were getting sticky. But Gladys had access to them and she was a generous girl, so she was very popular. In the house behind the shop there lived another old woman who owned the houses either side of the entry. I went along the entry one day to the lavatory and her door was open. I heard her say: “Fetch your auntie, I’m dying”. And she did, the next day, following a stroke. Her husband didn’t work either. Perhaps they lived on the rents from the property. He used to carry out repairs to the houses. They were very jerry-built. I saw him working at a dividing wall. He lifted the bricks, and they came clean away from the rubbishy mortar. He could have demolished it by leaning on it. In the days the houses were built, they used coal slurry instead of sand with a small amount of cement for the mortar. Gravity did the rest."

[gardener]

Only I am a bit confused because elsewhere Dad says that the girl is Gladys Barnet and stepdaughter of Mrs Kite.

Anyhow, these are the girls in the 1939 list, so they could added to William Kite https://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/t ... ver=494933

Births Sep 1927
Kite Gladys I Tromans Stourbridge 6c 14




Mmm, I just clicked on Gwendoline Tromans and note that she married William Kite
Marriages Jun 1927
KITE William E Tromans Stourbridge 6c 122

which is after Gladys's birth registration, but Gwendoline's father is down as Barnabus/Barnett Tromans, so perhaps that is where the confusion arose? Don't quite understand it though.

[Rob]

My 2x ggrandmother is Eliza Kite b.1857 from Brickhouse Springfield she married Joseph Ruston b.1854. I'd been misled in the beginning of my research because she had been transcribed and registered as "Quoit" and i could find no other record of this name. It was only a chance remark by Dennis Wood RIP that made me realise it should be Kite ! Local dialect when getting married had caused the transcriber to write Quoit instead of Kite ! A very interesting story Gardner thank you.

[Northern Lass]

If born 1920 or over a date of death is needed before being added to Bcc.

[Northern Lass]

It would be great to have that info on Bcc though Gardener

where do you want it going ...re from you Dad....on his Dad?

or can we add your dads info ?

[Northern Lass]

My 2x ggrandmother is Eliza Kite b.1857 from Brickhouse Springfield she married Joseph Ruston b.1854. I'd been misled in the beginning of my research because she had been transcribed and registered as "Quoit" and i could find no other record of this name. It was only a chance remark by Dennis Wood RIP that made me realise it should be Kite ! Local dialect when getting married had caused the transcriber to write Quoit instead of Kite ! A very interesting story Gardner thank you.

So you link here Rob as does Lulu
to Joseph Kite b 1817

https://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/t ... ver=495072

Yours Rob goes down Eliza Kite
and
Lulu to Wm Kite bro to Eliza

https://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/t ... ver=495072

[gardener]

If born 1920 or over a date of death is needed before being added to Bcc.

.

I assumed that since the names were open in the 1939 register then that was because they had already died - if not then I apologise, especially to Lulu.
Best check that William did actually live at Springfield? And you can put the story connected to Dad if you want - a cousin entered his birth on there at least.

There may be a few other Springfield anecdotes that I could pass along, mostly from the about 1932 when Dad went back there to stay. I'll see if there are any names to attach them too but they tend to be just "old person"

[kdwoodie]

On Free BMD

Births Jun 1931
Kite William Tromans Dudley 6b 1413 Any connection?

Death
Name: Gladys Irene Whittle
Death Age: 51
Birth Date: 16 Jul 1927
Registration Date: Jul 1978
[Aug 1978]
[Sep 1978]
Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration district: Stourbridge
Inferred County: West Midlands
Volume: 33
Page: 0729

Deceased Online
Name: Gladys Irene Whittle
Register Type: Cremation
Death Date: 9 Jul 1978
Burial or Cremation Date: 13 Jul 1978
Burial or Cremation Place: West Midlands, England

[peterd]

only ones hidden on the 1939 register are minor and people with health issue I think any other are on alive or dead

[gardener]

Findmypast say "Individuals’ records remain closed for 100 years from their date of birth (100 year rule). Records remain closed for people born less than 100 years ago until proof of death is verified. "

[gardener]

As I said, something seemed not quite "right".

So here is the 1939 entry

1939
17 Park Street Blackheath
William E Kite born 9 Apr 1907
Gwendoline Kite born 8 Dec 1900
Gladys J Kite born16 Jul 1927 (later Whittle)


and then there is this one

1911
46 Dudley Road, Springfield, Nr Dudley
Samuel Kite 48 gen labourer Rowley Regis
Martha Kite 30
Martha Ann Kite 10
Samuel Kite 6
Rose Hilda Kite 3
William Edmund Kite 10/12

and also the one on BCC
1911
26 Hackett Street, Blackheath, B'Ham, Staff
Frank Kite 32 labouring (tube works) Blackheath
Mary Kite 31
William Kite 3
Sarah Kite 2

Anyhow, in 1939 "my lot" were here

1939
49 Springfield Lane
Frederick Wesson
Elsie B Wesson
Eric Michael Wesson
Edith L Wallace

and

1911
31 Dudley Road, Spring Field, Nr Dudley
Thomas Millard 53
Hannah Millard 63
Frederick Millard 21
Daniel Millard 18
George Henry Wesson 16
Frederick Wesson 9
Mary Ann Millard 25

So mine were on Dudley Road, Springfield in 1911, close neighbors of Samuel Kite and family.
Then mine were on Springfield Lane in 1939, and a few years earlier had neighbours Gladys Kite/Barnet and her mother/stepmother Mrs Kite

I'm very confused now

There are these four births
Births Sep 1927
Kite Gladys I Tromans Stourbridge 6c 14
Births Jun 1931
Kite William Tromans Dudley 6b 1413
Births Sep 1943
Kite Raymond Tromans Stourbridge 6c 53

and one marriage
Marriages Jun 1927
KITE William E Tromans Stourbridge 6c 122

Birth for William Edmund
KITE, WILLIAM EDMUND KITE
GRO Reference: 1910 J Quarter in DUDLEY Volume 06C Page 26

and the other one

LEWETT, WILLIAM EDWARD VALENTINE -
GRO Reference: 1907 J Quarter in DUDLEY Volume 06C Page 78 Occasional Copy: A
(changed later to Kite)

[gardener]

Just noticed these




1939
51 Springfield Lane
Beatrice A Kite born 13 Mar 1879
Gladys Rock (later Cutter) born 26 Des 1920

So perhaps that is them?

with mine
1939
49 Springfield Lane
Frederick Wesson
Elsie B Wesson
Eric Michael Wesson
Edith L Wallace

and this birth
Rock Gladys Rock Dudley 6b 1767

I'm leaving it at that. Feel free to archive this.

[Northern Lass]

Adding some of this
as we don't have it on.

1911
46 Dudley Road, Springfield, Nr Dudley
Samuel Kite 48 gen labourer Rowley Regis
Martha Kite 30
Martha Ann Kite 10
Samuel Kite 6
Rose Hilda Kite 3
William Edmund Kite 10/12

poss
Birth for William Edmund
KITE, WILLIAM EDMUND KITE
GRO Reference: 1910 J Quarter in DUDLEY Volume 06C Page 26

Marriages Sep 1900
Barrington Ernest Edward Dudley 6c 44
Kite Martha Dudley 6c 44
Kite Samuel Dudley 6c 44
Saunders Edith Mary Dudley 6c 44

could this be Samuel

https://www.tribalpages.com/tribe/brows ... =462736041

[Northern Lass]

So your fathers grandmother Sarah Jane Wolloxall
https://www.tribalpages.com/tribe/brows ... =363783830

had daus
Florence May Wallace ...your line marrying Rose- Downs
and
Elsie Blance Wallace marrying Frederick Wesson...

and your father is staying with the Wessons as rellies

he played with a Gladys Kite in 1932/33 and they had a sweet shop

so which Gladys Kite is this?

I have lost the plot...

I can hyperlink the story and Gladys if we can find out who she belongs to...

I love a connection

[Northern Lass]

So you say this
So mine were on Dudley Road, Springfield in 1911, close neighbors of Samuel Kite and family.
Then mine were on Springfield Lane in 1939, and a few years earlier had neighbours Gladys Kite/Barnet and her mother/stepmother Mrs Kite

so that must be this one then
https://www.tribalpages.com/tribe/brows ... onnections

will hyperlink