The Aston families ...

I've been three weeks laid low -- really low -- by the Jacinda Ardern influenza epidemic. Never felt so ill in all my 76 years. Unable to eat, or even face the thought of food ... 10 kilograms disappeared from my bodyweight in just ten days. What hours of the day were not spent in bed, were passed in my LaZyboy, by the fire, surrounded by unsympathetic and joyous kittens. Feeling that "this is the way the world ends". A gradual fading away into inability to move, insufficient energy to do, or even think about doing, anything at all ... just "sleep some more" ...

Well, its Day 23 now, and I think I am on the mend. Wendy has persuaded a little food into me -- mashed potato was the breakthrough, then boiled eggs, a beautiful cheese omelette, white beans and garlic... I'm no longer repulsed by the sight of a crumpet, a little pasta ... but I'm not pushing it. I have the odd culinary whim, like a pregnant woman ... 

And milk has finally made way for wine ...

So, where's the energy? I may have to force it back. To get to my office I have to pass by the fire and the LaZyboy. Most of the time, I still flop into that chair. I mustn't! I must DO something. No matter how useless or insignificant... So I decided to play the game of 'Victorian photos'. Pick an old, ill-identified mid-19th-century photo from ebay and winkle out its background.

Just a easy one to start with. Not too much effort. Ah! Four little siblings photographed in Kensington:

Edith [Margaret], Eccles, Lucy [Alice] and Walter Aston. The four eldest (surviving) children of Mr James Jones Aston, barrister, QC, of the Middle Temple (and inventor of a mechanism for the propulsion of steamships), and his wife Sarah Margaret née Eccles of Walton-le-Dale. A little Arthur Thomas had already gone before ...

'One of my brothers ...'. There were to be several more. "S A"? I suspect that the penman here, or at least the initialler, was youngest brother, Stafford Aston (b 16 September 1875; d Barnet 15 November 1959). But the original inscription is, I believe, by an older sibling.

Anyway here they (almost) all are.

The Judge (1822-1885) ...

The Judge's sisters, Alicia Elizabeth (1839-1908) and Ellen Charlotte (1842-1898, Mrs Hadlow)

And, of course, the Judge's wife (I assume) (1835-1912)

and again, with her son Lawrence (1865-1951)

Right. One by one.

First, Edith Margaret. Spinster (b 11 November 1852; d 13 February 1945). Pictured above, and also

Second came Eccles (b 3 February 1858; d 15 August 1927), who seems to have wandered around the country clerking before marrying in 1913 and dying as anonymously as he had lived

"my eldest brother" .. OK, we'll get on to that later.

Then came little Arthur, who did not survive, followed by Lucy ...

Alas, Lucy did not have a long life. She died 21 October 1886 'at 8 Elsworthy Terrace, Kensington' aged 25. I wonder why. She left a will, not normal for a girl of 25, with sister Edith and brother Lawrence as executors. I suspect her other siblings were less reliable.

The next sibling was Walter (d South Africa 12 April 1909), pictured above. It is always unkind to lumber a child with a famous name ... and Walter followed the trend. He seems to have clerked here and there and ended up in the Cape Colony as a railway clerk. The Judge's sons were not upholding the family name.

Gerard didn't do much to help. He was intriguingly 'drowned in the Thames' aged 30.

There were some daughters thereafter, who were apparently connected with nursing, but the last son, Stafford, around whom this collection seems ultimately to have been axed, by inscription if nothing else, gave a taint of achievement to a family sadly, it seems, in decline from its days of QCs and barristers and a well-staffed house. This handsome wee chappie became County Chemical Analyst for Middlesex.

So, we can see that the collection ranges from the 1850s, and the childhood of Edith, to 1890 and Stafford aged 15. Somebody -- or more than one somebody -- hoarded the family photos through four decades and more ... 

Anyway, not a difficult family, it seems, to sort out. But.

Is this just a coincidence or ....

This group of photographs, for all that it has seemingly no connection with France or the French, was posted on ebay by a French dealer of high class who features a stock largely, naturally, French. So what was I to think when his offerings turned up five more Astons? I mean, 'Aston' isn't that common a name. So, are the two lots connected? The handwriting is different, the style is different, the second lot are from Birmingham rather than Kensington ...

George Lyttleton Aston (1839-1902), buttonmaker, and his wife, Sarah née Chippindale, banker's daughter.

And their children

[Emily Lucy] Ethel Aston (b 25 July 1865; d Solihull 13 March 1933) Mrs John Howard Heaton

[Georgiana] Maude Aston (b 30 June 1867; d Weymouth 29 April 1945). Mrs Hubert Wells Bayly Shewell

William Chippindale Manskopf Aston (b 1868; d Weymouth 20 April 1938)

Mary Augusta Meredith Aston (b Bennett's Hill, 7 December 1871; d Rowington 27 March 1921) Mrs Charles Madeley.

Well, I have looked. But I have found no connection. Perhaps I haven't looked hard enough ... 

But now I'm headed back to my LaZyboy. That's enough 'effort' for a first outing.