At last - a picture of my great-grandfather, George Richard Howlett

 Many of you will know that my biggest DNA surprise (so far), was discovering that my maternal grandmother's biological father wasn't her mother's husband.  

Her father was in fact, the game-keeper on the estate where her mother worked as a domestic servant, in the small village of North Elmham, in Norfolk.

I made this discovery several years ago.  But it was only in January this year, that I made contact with a new My Heritage DNA match, a second cousin in New Zealand, who also shares "the game-keeper" as his great-grandfather.  After exchanging several emails, he shared this magnificent photo of our great-grandfather, his wife and their legitimate children.


George and Sarah HOWLETT with their five children

Not only was I thrilled to receive the photo, to be able to see my great-grandfather, but I was also able to estimate that this photo would have been taken about 1912-1913.  Second daughter Minnie (top right in the photo) married in September 1912 and emigrated to New Zealand in November 1913.
I suspect that this photo was the last photo of the family together, before Minnie left England.

Looking at the clothing, I love the fact that Minnie and her younger sister Annie (top left in photo) are wearing matching dresses, and father George looks extremely distinguished, including his shiny boots.  Sadly, Minnie's left hand is obscured by her mother, so we are unable to see whether she is wearing a wedding ring. Seeing whether she was married in the photo, would help to more accurately date the photo.

I have much more research to do, building out the details of my Nanna's half-siblings, and also investigating my great-grandfather, the game-keeper.

So far, I have discovered the following, from the English census records - 
  • by 1901, George Howlett had moved from Norfolk where he was living when he fathered my grandmother, to Nottinghamshire
  • by 1911, he had moved to Buckinghamshire, still working as a game-keeper, but living with his brother-in-law James Weedon, who was a publican
  • by 1921, he was a beer house keeper at the Red Lion, in Amersham, Buckinghamshire
George Richard Howlett, my great-grandfather, died in 1928 in London.

I would love to know whether he ever knew of his daughter Clara, my grandmother.

Receiving this photo from my newly-discovered cousin in New Zealand, bears out just one of the benefits of collaboration with DNA matches, as pointed out by Christine and Veronica.

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