Why there's nothing to be handed down
In the family – on all sides – there are precious few mementos or possessions of my ancestors. The American side of the family does at least have the sextant of James Dorward Raitt which was recovered from the bottom of the sea – and therein lies a clue: the Raitt brothers, James Dorward and David Dorward, master mariners though they were, both kept wrecking their ships! It’s little wonder there are no captain’s sea chests or telescopes or cutlasses or marlin spikes or pieces of eight or other artifacts to hand down from generation to generation – they are all lying scattered on sandy seabeds around the world! (Actually, the cradle that their elder brother John, who didn’t go to sea, slept in as a baby is still used by descendants today.)
Of course, they were not the only ones. My grandfather was in the Grenadier Guards during the 1st World War and was demobbed with his complete scarlet uniform and bearskin cap. However, when the family moved from Yorkshire down South, my grandmother gave all his military paraphernalia away. Just like that! She also gave away all her Clarice Cliff pottery to the jumble sale – of course, in those days, Clarice had not yet made her name, but today her items command very high prices! And my granny’s brother, Alexander Lindsay, who lived with them until they moved, was a high ranking official in the local Masonic lodge. He stayed on in a boarding house after his sister and family moved – but when he died a few years later, all his ceremonial regalia and trappings simply disappeared (presumably purloined and sold by the landlady).
Things are ancestors possessed and used are our link to their past and it never ceases to amaze me how little descendants seem to care for the few remaining bits of previous generations. The various antique programmes are full of people wanting to get rid of great grandfather’s old pocket watch or maiden aunt’s whalebone corset because their kids don’t want them and they’d prefer the few pounds instead.
All the few items I have that belonged to my (unknown in some cases) ancestors I hold dear.
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
