Rayner family timeline

Preface

I'm not sure where this came from; presumably JERS sent it to me. The file is dated 2004-03-19. --Woozle 16:25, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Text

1861	Montague Stephens born
1871	Edith Bailey born
1892	MS @Jersey&Gorey
1894/5	MS @Rio/Montevideo/Belem
1896	Montague Stephens marries Edith in Falkland Is.
1896-99	M&E@Canobie Canada Maurice born
1899 Feb 2	Biddie born in Esquimault BC
1902 Sept 30	Eric Rayner born Thaton Burma Clive born (?)
1903 Oct 27	Phyllis born at Saltash Cornwall
1905	Stephens’@Bermuda
1909 July 23	Daphne born Whitchurch Tavistock Devon
1918 October	E.’s father dies (Stella Lodge 49th.St.Rangoon) “When I saw him I had a shock. I hadn’t seen him since the previous Christmas holidays when I had made a bullock-cart trip with him to Shwegyin, to which he had just been posted - our last cart-trip together...now he was gaunt with a wasted smile and a weak voice..” “He was buried the next morning...in the Cantonment Cemetary. I carried one corner of the coffin. I remember that the sun shone and that I thought how odd it was that I should be helping to bury my father, to whom only the day before I had been reading the war news out of the morning paper. He was thirty-nine at the time of his death.” [quotes from E’s ‘Journal’ written between 1939 and 1942]
1921 Jan	E.starts teaching at Church School in Mandalay then to family in Rangoon
1922 July 1	Biddie marries Maxwell Staniforth at Hayling Is
1923	Edith & Monty seperate
1925 April	E.to Calcutta to join “The Statesman”
1928 April 4	Rosamund Staniforth born
1929 October	E.marries Elma Glassup (Bonnie) in Calcutta
1933	May : E.to England(with Bonnie) July 28: Phyllis marries E.P.Appleby in Trincomali Sept.16: D. to Colombo(with Elizabeth Kenning to visit her mother) E. to Calcutta - both on board B&I Domala: “The people on board were the usual crowd on any India-bound ship - sahibs and memsahibs, with a sprinkling of sahibs and memsahibs to-be, people going out for the first time, to jobs or to be married. It was deadening, till I met Daphne. We usesd to sit near each other on the deck, without speaking...then one day when we were in the Red Sea I spoke to her and after that we were always together...we knew each other for ten days on that ship and at the end of that time we had decided that we had to make a new life together.” “She came to me as an equal. I was 31 unsatisfactorily married with a consciousness of intellectual gifts that were wasting in a society I hated and despised...I sneered..inevitably.. I posed. But Daphne cut through all these barbed-wire entanglements that surrounded me..[we] wanted to be with each other always.” “The obstacles seemed so great and we were seperated, that was the worst to bear, the seperation.” “We had made a decision, she and I, and it was a decision that had to be carried out in the face of all obstacles...It never occured to either of us to think of wavering.” “When I think of that time now[Sept 17th.’39]my feelings are a mixture of wonder and fear and gladness...” [D in a letter to Marjorie] Commisioner’s House Trincomali Oct 1933 On the top verandah..it is fairly cool & undisturbed, though the people going by along the road are rather distracting. I can see the sea, a placid whitish blue & a hot strip of sand. The house is hemmed in by trees & mother has a regular jungle of shrubs in pots. I have had a bathe this morning before breakfast & Elizabeth has been sketching. She is very brave: the other day we went to the market with Augustine the cook & she started sketching. The whole market rose as one man & clustered round at her elbow! Augustine came along & let out a few oaths & the crowd thinned a bit.......We dined on board the Colombo their last night. Elizabeth & I feel like film stars trailing up & down companion-ways & in & out of launches with masses of handsome(?) white clad officers saluting all over the place!
1934	Jan.: D.returns UK [March 6 Craven Hill Gdns?] July 22: E.returns UK on the Comorin from Bombay arr.Portsmouth via Marseilles (in his journal he recalls: July 22. Then “The Orchard” Hotel nr. Marble Arch for 6 days, “How wonderful London was that July!” Then at the end of the month to DH’s cottage at Vron). April: Edith&Solomon take house in Bromley May 26: Claire Appleby born June 25: Applebys to Woodcote Close Epsom Sept 28: D&E retn London Sydney St?
1935	Easter-June: D&E @ ‘Cornerways’ Thorns Beach (Easter Ros&Bids visit) by August: D&E @ ‘Ivyroost’ East Boldre Sept: Bids&Max&Ros at ‘Foundry Cottage’ Haslemere December 4: Benedick born in East Boldre
1936	Aug 19: Daphne & Eric Rayner married @Wandsworth Registery office “But the day we took as our wedding day is the 22 July 1934 when our new life began..” August 29: James Appleby born [Oct Dulcee&Irene Rayner arr.UK from Rangoon] Oct: D&E&B @ KingswoodRuffs,Greyshot nr.Hindhead
1937	[Jan 1 D&I take Lavender Cottage] Sept 25: D&E&B @ 20 Greville Place
1938	B&M&Ros @ The Potteries Graffham nr.Petworth Sept 23: Phyl,Ambrose&James to Colombo Oct 9: Clare Appleby dies
1939	D&E&B @ Upper Park Rd March 2: Applebys retn UK Sept 1: Ben evacuated to Timsbury nr.Bath Sept 3: WW2 declared “I had visualised swarms of bombers, showering death and destruction on London and thought gladly of Benedick safe in SDomerset. We had waited in the hall downstairs, the apprehension in our hearts. A lorry driver had stopped his lorry in the street outside and came in to shelter in the hall. He had said, ‘I didn’t think Hitler would start as soon as this’. Later we had walked across

	Hampstead Heath to Jack Straw’s Castle to catch 						the bus, feeling very self-conscious with our new gas-masks in 				their cardboard boxes slung across our shoulders. Hampstead 				Heath had looked much as it had always looked on a Sunday. The 				anti-aircraft guns, the allotments, the rubble of London’s bombed 			buildings filling the sandpits by the Spaniard’s Road were yet to 			come.”     
     November	Ben back to London then to
      December          Aspley Guise
1940 June 		D&E&B @Liverpool,Croxteth Grove,Sefton Park.
		then D&B @Vron										“that was a wonderful summer, it was difficult to imagine the				horror of the war.But the army had taken over part of 					the New Brighton beach, there were hundreds of French 					sailors in Liverpool’s streets looking a bit forlorn; there were 			tank barriers and barbed wire on the roads to Chester and into 				Wales and later in the streets of Liverpool itself, round the docks 		and the Mersey Tunnel entrance. We went to a fire station to hear a 		short lecture on fire bombs and to learn how to use a stirrup 				pump. (Benedick liked working the hose!) One night the sirens went 			and we sat in the cellar of the house - Benedick enjoyed that too! 			- feeling a little tense and helpless and nnot knowing quite what 			to expect. A plane droned somewhere and we waited...and then the 			sirens sounded the all-clear	and we went to bed. Yes, the sun shone 		that summer on the yet unmarked face of England. The force that had 		smashed the face of Europe was gathering for the crowning 				blow..but we did not know...the vicious strength of that blow nor 			the inadequacy of our own strength. How could we? The sun had shone 		on England so long and we were warm	with it, drugged. Our awakening 		was to come.”(April 25 1942)

      August	D&E&B @Canfield Gardens, Finchley Road
     Sept 6th.	      move to 15 Cannon Place, Hampstead.
		“The next day the Germans flew up the Thames and set the London 				docks ablaze...There were sometimes vapour trails patterning the 			London sky, and once or twice we stood in the streets and watched 			British fighters flying regimented and purposeful in the autumn 				sunlight.”

		Staniforths @Bognor Regis
1942 Oct 22	Annabel Rayner born
      		Staniforths @Flimwell
     November	Rayners move to Well Walk Hampstead

1943		Maurice‘Molly’Stephens dies
		James to Cleeve Crt prep-school Malvern Wells


1945 		Rosamund @Well Walk
     Sept		Ben to PR at Gorehambury St Albans

1946 Sept 22	Rosalind Rayner born 
		Staniforths @Bexhill
1947 Feb10		Applebys move to ‘Windyridge’ Reigate
1948 Feb 28	Linda Appleby born
1949 Sept		Ben to Bryanston
   		James to Eastbourne College

1950 Dec 10	Edith Grundy dies at Redhill 
      Dec 19	Montague Stephens dies at Bexhill

1951		Staniforths @Sixpenny Handley
      July 28	Rosamund marries Tony Du Cane

1954 March 12 	Leslie DuCane born at Forest Cottage Pilley Bailey
     May 6		Ben starts National Service

1955 May		E to BBC
     June		B to BAOR
     Sept 29	James starts NS (RASC)

1956 May		Ben de-mobbed
     Aug 7		Jane DuCane born at Pilley Bailey
1957 Sept		James de-mobbed
      Oct		Ben to Technicolor
    		Rosalind to Sth.Hampstead High School
1958 May 29		Daphne to Italy with Elizabeth Kenning
		B. to Worldwide(Clapham) 
1959		& Summer of the 17th.Doll
1960		James to Philippines
      March 26	Louise DuCane born at Pilley Bailey
1961 [Jan 14	Carol Corbett to Well Walk]
      Aug 26	James Appleby & Esther married in Manila
		Linda Appleby dies
1962 June 29	E&P move to ‘West Point’ Reigate Hill
1963 July		B to Lonsdale Sq. Islington

1964 Sept.21	Ben Rayner marries Kate Leahy at St.Mary’s 				Lewisham
      Feb		Aaron born to AR

1965 April 30	Emma born to RR

1966 Sept 3	Rosalind marries Christopher McClure at Christ    		Church Hampstead 
		
		Rosalind & Chris to Compagne Gdns

		James&Esther rtn UK - Horley Surrey

1967		D&E move to Maze Hill Greenwich
		
1968		B&K ‘on location’ in Paris
		R&C to Knockholt

1969 June 29	Vanessa McCure born
     August		B&K to Rippingale
		James starts at British Olivetti

1970 Jan		R,C&V move to Plumstead
     March 25  	Biddie dies at ‘Greenacre’ Pilley Bailey		
     May 8		D&E to Corby Glen

1971 Feb 17	Rachel McClure born
     May 26	Cassius Rayner born     
     August		B&K&C to 4 Kingswood Rd Shortlands
     Dec ?		Bel to Spitalfields

1972 Jan 6		Vanessa Appleby born
1973		B&K&C to South Street Greenwich
1974		J,E & V move to Pound Hill Crawley     
1975 June 16	Charlotte Rayner born
     October 10	E’s mother Irene dies in Cricklewood
      Oct/Nov	(B @120 Palace Rd.Tulse Hill)
		James starts at Southern Water
1976 July 17	Leslie DuCane marries Alison Carus at Harborne 				nr Birmingham
     August 9	D&E move to Spitalfields
     Sept 10	Eric Rayner dies (London)
		D.writes in her diary - brief & to-the-point as usual:
		“SAT 18 left 7.30am for E Boldre, scattered the ashes on moor opposite Ivyroost
		Back by 6”		 
     October 18	Daphne moves to Ramsgate (50 Addington St)

		B&K divorce
   		Kate,C&C to Hastings 
1977		B.to Glenton Rd.
1978		E&P move to ‘Cedar View’ Reigate
    		R,V&R move to Addington St Ramsgate
1979		James starts at Honeywell Hemel Hempstead
		and moves to Caddington nr Luton
		Rosalind & Chris divorce

1980 July		B starts “Dance Craze”

1981 Feb?		B.back to BFCS
1982 May 1		Louise DuCane marries Glen Sutcliffe at Boldre
1983		Annabel marries Daniel Swain @ Limehouse
1984		Ben to Deptford  (and “Blue Pearl” bought)
1985 June 25	Daisy born
     Dec 26	Max Staniforth dies at Hawkhurst cremated at 				Tunbridge Wells and buried alongside Biddie at Boldre

		R,V&R move to Bradley Rd Ramsgate

1987 July            	B.leaves BFCS
1988 Jan 20	Daphne dies at Margate
     Oct 8           Ambrose Appleby dies
     Dec 5		B.starts @Lexington Post
1991  Nov 7	Jane DuCane marries Terence Michael Ryan at 				Boldre


1995 Jan		B.lvs.Lex.Post and moves(partly)to The Gambia
1997 Jan		Rosalind moves to Albert Rd Ramsgate 


1998 Oct.		B.returns to UK
1999 June 8	Esther dies


2000 August 8        Phyllis dies