Auntie Ruby!

 Doing some Family history. Looking at Auntie Ruby. (and her Stepfather)

a work in progress

Auntie Ruby, Uncle Vincent, Jayne Garner, Auntie Elsie, David Garner

In my youth, I was always slightly scared of Auntie Ruby. We met rarely at the great "Garner Christmas" party held most years in Cranleigh, the old Garner Family home. Occasionally we had an invite to her and Vincent's home in Wallington. She had what I would call a very "affected " voice and had a VERY "affected" manner. Their house was traditionally English with so many china and chintzy things and it was a rather boring place for a young boy. I do remember that birthday cards would arrive from them, often with a ten-shilling note or postal order.

I recall my mother saying Ruby came from an "Irish showman's family", which seemed surprising, and that Uncle Vincent had not worked since the war because of the eye injury sustained.

So that's what I had to start with - and it took a long time to get any further, and once I got a little more information it began to be more about her father and his "showmans" background.

The complication was that the first searches on the family history databases brought up a possible name as "Ruby Mae Halton De Vere Hunt" and nothing brought up a birthdate plus foolishly the death date I was working with was wrong....

After a lot of searching, I did find an Irish newspaper announcing the date of her wedding to Vincent which was in Dublin in 1948 and from that I found that her father was Francis DeVere Hunt. 

His name and a more correct version of hers featured in the 1911 census. The family was living in Hove at Marine View, 10 Kingsway. The house is either not there now, or considerably enlarged to become a care home but the illustration below shows the sort of property it most likely was.

They had two servants Eliza Grace Hylands (19) an Australian and Leonard Percy Webster (18) from London.

Living there was Francis himself  29, married to Lily Elizabeth Jane (28), and they had a daughter aged three called  Dorothy and what had been frustrating me, and in fact confuses me still, was his stepdaughter Ruby May Hatton aged four who had been born locally in Worthing.

Initially, the census showed Francis was working as a commission agent with his wife "assisting him in his duties". Apparently, a commission agent buys goods from a seller and then finds a buyer for them, usually this is accomplished between different countries. So my assumption was that he is either selling Irish products to England or English products to Ireland. Whatever it was, it allowed him to prosper as he lived well and as we shall see went on to great things in later life. 

In fact, this assumption is now likely incorrect as I later found this notice in The London Gazette.

If he was trading as a Turf Accountant and Commission Agent he was more likely a Bookmaker who worked with professionals in horseracing placing bets on their behalf. 

16 Powis Road is a residential address, but these pictures show a Turf Accountants in London with visiting clients and a telephone room that is busy receiving phoned in bets. 

Amazingly, a chance find in the local Salvation Army Charity shop was a history of Gambling in Britain. I didn't buy it but did skim the relevant chapters and then looked a few things up online.

Betting on sports and especially Horse Racing with cash was not legal till 1960 in Britain, but for those who were "well to do" there was the possibility of betting on credit. After providing proof of wealth you got an account with someone like Francis a "Turf Accountant" you placed your bets, usually by phone and a note was made of the amount, then any winnings were added to the account and at month end the Turf Accountant worked out how much you owed or how much he owed you. This tended to mean some sort of pressure might have been needed to persuade errant debtors to cough up. It should be stressed that in both Britain and Ireland, cash betting, though illegal was incredibly widespread and popular.

The new Free State of Ireland legalised cash betting in 1926 so Francis saw his opportunity to operate there even though there was fierce competition from the former ileagal guys now operating in the open. He prospered and diversified into all sorts of other entertainment:- Pubs, ballrooms, music venues and a roller skating ring amongst them.

A background like his in Brighton helps explain him having more than the average wealth to invest in opportunities in Ireland and  how he came into the "Amusements" business - which is shown in this comment about the new tenant at 7 Eden Quay, Dublin in 1926 right after the new law came in.

Of course, there have been some other major Irish events since 1911. One relevant event for anyone involved in "entertainment" in Dublin was the Anti-Treaty IRA's "War on Entertainment" in 1923.  During the Irish Civil War, with many executions of suspected members of the IRA, their leader, Liam Lynch, made a declaration that all sports and entertainment venues and sporting events were to close to "mourn" for these dead IRA members. 

The threats were backed up by attempted bombings and arson, which, for the first time, targeted innocent civilians. Many cinemas, dance halls, and pubs were caught between closing due to the threats or facing stiff fines from the authorities if they obeyed the IRA and did so. 

Another relevant event had been in the Easter uprising when British troops (or a gunboat on the Liffey River) had demolished several buildings on Eden Quay with artillery fire, and they were recently being rebuilt.

I believe this left many businesses in a bad state financially, so that someone wealthy like Francis de Vere Hunt could cheaply  purchase or rent somewhere on Eden Quays, an area rapidly evolving into an entertainment centre with bars, a cinema, and a ballroom. 

In 1940 he also applied for a license for a roller skating rink in Duke St in Dublin, I wonder if it was as grand as the one I saw in Norwich which is now an antique market. Here we see two happy patrons...

His company was called Irish Amusements Ltd and in various newspaper notices they are shown applying for other music and drinking licenses, initially from the fairly grand Albert House, Merrion Street in 1938, then in the late 40's from Richelieu, a huge house in the very posh Sydney Parade. Interestingly, these places are to be found mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses along with Mooneys Public House at 7 Eden Quay.

It is from Richelieu that the wedding announcement for Ruby May Hatton de Vere Hunt to Vincent Garner of Waddon is made in 1948. In 1947 a similar announcement had been made for another daughter Shelia Francis to Morton McClintock. I notice that the report for the weddings in The Tatler says Ruby is the daughter only of Mrs De Vere Hunt, while Shelia is said to be the daughter of "Mr and Mrs" 

And now came the help needed to discover the slightly obscure details of her birth. My good friend Dave worked it out using the free online database of births and deaths, and my cousin Jayne gave the same information.

Ruby was born in the last quarter of 1906 to Lily Elizabeth Burchell, who was unwed. Jayne believes the father was someone Lily met at University, meaning she was one of only about 500 female students at the time.  

Two years after the birth, Lily married Hubert Easton Hatton in the December quarter in Steyning and a late entry was made in the birth register to give her father as Hubert Hatton. 

Hubert was born in 1871 in Manchester and at age 30 was a medical student at Edinburgh University, so it seems possible that he was Ruby's father, and Lily had been at Edinburgh University with him.

Sadly, Hubert died soon after in the March quarter of 1909, and then in the December quarter of 1910, Lily married Francis De Vere Hunt again in Steyning. 

Francis continued to support his stepdaughter Ruby, throughout his life and a trust continued a payment to her monthly till her death.

Vincent was badly wounded in WW2, losing an eye, I believe this was in the desert, but I also have a memory of my father saying he "bumped into him" while he was serving in Normandy. I wonder how he came to meet Ruby, perhaps she was in England, maybe nursing or did something take Vincent to Dublin?

Francis died in 1950 and is buried with his wife in Mount Jerome Cemetary he left the sum of £48,000 in his will, the equivalent of 1.3 million pounds today. 

 

Sadly Ruby died in Sutton in June 2000 and her beloved husband Vincent in April 2005 in a Care Home in Brighton.

Things to discover:-

When Francis and his family moved back to Ireland and founded Irish Amusements.

What building was it in? Liberty Hall?

Vincent's war history, their house, and the B29 Liberator crash that demolished the next-door neighbours, the one interesting thing I remember hearing when visiting them....

Francis and Lily's history and connection to the famous de Vere Hunts, how many half-sisters has she got?

Pictures of Albert House, Richelieu, and Marine House.

Was Richelieu demolished to make Richeleau Avenue?

Other than that I think I always got a