Primrose USA All posts by this member | 1 of 38 Mon 10th Sep 2012 1:54pm Member: Joined Sep 2011 Total posts:191 Where did your families or you yourself come from and what brought you here? Usually work, I would imagine, but maybe love or some other reasons I can't think of. Are they the same reasons that you've stayed there or left?
My mother's side of the family were weavers and shoemakers in the city as far back as I can reliably trace them - the late 1700s. Another branch came to Coventry from Prescot, Lancashire, as watchmakers in the 1860s.
My dad's side were agricultural labourers in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, and they arrived in Coventry around 1900 for work of any type.
By the 1911 census, almost all of the family regardless of origin were in the cycle industry or some kind of factory work. Eventually, of course, this became the car industry, which was the situation when I left in the early 1980s for work.
We know our forum members have interesting stories - let's hear some family history. |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
Tony1 Coventry All posts by this member | 2 of 38 Tue 11th Sep 2012 5:48pm Member: Joined Apr 2012 Total posts:59 It's a good question you raise "where do we come from". I have traced my family to the late 1700s. In the early days the family were split. One side had come from coal mining, agricultural and domestic duties. The other side were ribbon / silk weavers. In the late 1800s the the family were associated with the cycle / motor cycle, watchmaking through to the motor car industry. So where do we come from? |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
mn757 Coventry All posts by this member | 3 of 38 Tue 11th Sep 2012 10:45pm Member: Joined Dec 2011 Total posts:26 I left Watford (Herts, not Gap) in 1996 to come to Coventry University. My Dad's family had lived in Coventry (Ryton) until the early 1950's and it seemed fitting I ended up in the same place. Sixteen years later I'm still in Coventry ![]() |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
Primrose USA All posts by this member Thread starter | 4 of 38 Tue 11th Sep 2012 10:46pm Member: Joined Sep 2011 Total posts:191 I would say you answered your own question, Tony. Your family history sounds very like mine. At some point, our families became part of the fabric of Coventry and we would say we are Coventrians.
I doubt any of us would be on this forum if we didn't identify with the city, no matter where our ancestors came from or how long ago. |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
LdeMain Nuneaton, Warks All posts by this member | 5 of 38 Thu 13th Sep 2012 9:57pm Member: Joined Nov 2011 Total posts:36 My mother's side of the family have been in Coventry for several generations (the Hutts of VC fame!), my father family have been here since approx 1880's, before that Yorkshire - this may be wrong as my great grandfather changed our surname and I haven't got round to obtaining birth certificates yet. Our family made the huge move to Nuneaton (!) in 1994 so that it was closer for my dad's work and we moved to a bigger house, they were cheaper over this way!
My husband and I are planning to take our family to North Devon in a few years. Why? Because we love it there!
Leanne |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
Stringer Washington DC USA All posts by this member | 6 of 38 Fri 14th Sep 2012 9:21pm Member: Joined Sep 2012 Total posts:3 What brought my family to Coventry? As far back as I can tell, Sam Stringer married the widow Alice Eld at St. Laurence's, Foleshill in 1801 and that's how we got here. What's taken us away? Mom went through the Coventry Blitz with my older brothers while dad was away in North Africa, Italy, etc. with the Royal Engineers and after I was born in 1946 we emigrated first to Australia and then on to the US. Can I still call myself a CovKid? ![]() |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
Rob Orland Historic Coventry All posts by this member | 7 of 38 Fri 14th Sep 2012 10:13pm Webmaster: Joined Jan 2010 Total posts:1651 On 14th Sep 2012 9:21pm, Stringer said:
Can I still call myself a CovKid?
You most certainly can, especially while you're contributing this sort of thing to the site! ![]() |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
Stringer Washington DC USA All posts by this member | 8 of 38 Sat 15th Sep 2012 12:02am Member: Joined Sep 2012 Total posts:3 Thanks, Rob
Not sure about Alice Eld's married family relationship to George Eld, but suspect there is one. Her maiden name was Birch and it looks like her family came from Bulkington. She must have been a recent widow to Thomas Eld of Corley when the banns were read at St. Laurence's in 1799, since she and my 3x great grandfather Samuel Stringer didn't marry until two years later in 1801. I understand that a two year widow's bereavement was customary in the 1700s into the early 1800s. Sam was a silk weaver and died in 1826. Alice outlasted him by 10 years and died in Holbrooks, Foleshill in 1836.
By the way, our Coventry Stringers don't seem to be related to the famous Sidney Stringer.
Paul |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
flapdoodle Coventry All posts by this member | 9 of 38 Sat 15th Sep 2012 4:44am Member: Joined Nov 2010 Total posts:884 Came here to study at the Poly. Moved away to do some post-graduate studying, but came back in 1997 as I was offered a job at GPT. My two kids were both born here.
I like where I live in Coventry, and like the city's history, but having lived in other cities, I find Coventry a pretty mediocre city in many respects. Especially when you take into account its a fairy major 'economic sub region' or well over half a million people. If job circumstances change, I would not hesitate to look elsewhere.
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What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
PhilipInCoventry Holbrooks All posts by this member | 10 of 38 Sat 15th Sep 2012 6:08pm Moderator: Joined Apr 2010 Total posts:4231 Hi all ![]() ![]() ![]() |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
morgana the secret garden All posts by this member | 11 of 38 Sun 16th Sep 2012 12:37am Member: Joined Nov 2011 Total posts:1932 Hi Philip such a sad story yet fortunate, but glad your here and not elsewhere :+)) |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
Dreamtime Perth Western Australia All posts by this member | 12 of 38 Sun 16th Sep 2012 1:52am Member: Joined Jan 2010 Total posts:3477 On 15th Sep 2012 6:08pm, PhilipInCoventry said:Please make no mistake. If I had my start all over again, other than not knowing my real mother, I would not change a thing. I consider myself very fortunate to have been raised by two devoted parents in Coventry.
ps. I often wonder if my interest in transport comes from the fact that my adopted mother & also my real father were closely related to the Fearnley family of Sheffield, who were transport people. Ronald Fearnley was CCT manager, his father was Sheffield transport manager. What a pip!
A lovely story with a happy ending then Philip. Here's to you and yours ![]() |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
scrutiny coventry All posts by this member | 13 of 38 Sun 16th Sep 2012 10:13am Member: Joined Feb 2010 Total posts:752 My mum was born and bred in Coventry.
My dad came from the darkest depths of Wales when he was 17 because of no work (that takes a bit of doing). The year, 1926. First he worked in a bicycle shop in Nuneaton then found work in Coventry with the council. He met my mum in 1929 at the local fairground, or rather I should say, because my dad was to shy, that my mum fancied him and chatted him up ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
Old Lincolnian Coventry All posts by this member | 14 of 38 Wed 19th Sep 2012 10:30am Member: Joined Sep 2012 Total posts:518 I came down to Coventry in 1972 for a six month placement at Courtaulds as a research chemist, which is much more boring than it sounds. At the time Coventry was a boom town compared to the North where companies were already beginning to lay people off in large numbers.
I found the people here really welcoming and friendly and finding a cheap bedsit was easy. There were plenty of live music venues, some great pubs and top class football, rugby, speedway and cricket teams all playing in Coventry.
For the remainder of my University course I lived in Coventry at weekends and hitched to Manchester on Sunday evening and back down again Friday evening, something you probably couldn't do now.
Forty years later I'm still here and although Coventry has changed greatly it's still home and I still have many friends from when I first came down.
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What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? | |
PhilipInCoventry Holbrooks All posts by this member | 15 of 38 Thu 20th Sep 2012 9:18pm Moderator: Joined Apr 2010 Total posts:4231 Hi Old Lincolnian & welcome to the Historic Coventry Forum,
I am a retired Courtaulds accountant. I worked in the engineering subsidiary from 1965 to 1999. ![]() |
What brought us to Coventry, and what took us away? |