Tuesday 27th February 2018
Advert for Foreman & Worthingt0n in the Warminster Directory of 1932.
Julian Worthingt0n, who lives in Yorkshire, writes ~
Dear Danny Howell,
Like a lot of people these days I’m researching my ancestry and a lot of it stems from Warminster. Whilst my surname is Worthington it is really my paternal grandmother’s family that I, along with my two elder brothers, know virtually nothing about – other than what I’ve uncovered so far from the various websites available. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Foreman – known as Ethel – who was born in Warminster in 1886 and died, also in Warminster, in 1962. She married my grandfather Albert Leonard Worthington, who was originally from Kingston-Upon-Thames, at the Independent Chapel in Warminster on 26th December 1911. He died in 1964. They had one son, my father, Arthur Alan Worthington (known as Alan) who was born in 1921. He married my mother, who was originally from Kent and he’d met at the beginning of WW2, in 1947, and they lived in Warminster until August 1963; they had three sons of whom I am the youngest born in 1956. My father had taken over, from his parents, the soft furnishing business Foreman & Worthington in George Street but it failed in 1963. At that point we all moved to Kent but, of course, there is a possibility there are still people living in Warminster who vaguely remember us. Naturally, of course, there is also a distinct possibility we have distant relatives still living there. In fact, somewhat sadly, we now know we did until very recently (a matter of days) as I had just traced my father’s cousin Monica Foreman only to find she sadly passed away a short while ago.
At this point I would like to briefly digress as I’m able to fill in a couple of bits on your excellent website. Firstly, you have no-one living at 109 Bath Road between 1961 and 1963: it was us! Secondly, in a similar fashion, you have a blank for 95 Pound Street before 1961: again, it was us.
Returning to my paternal grandmother Elizabeth (Ethel) I note her parents were Edwin Foreman (1857 – 1939) and Sarah Foreman (1851 – 1918). My grandmother was, as far as I can tell, the eldest of three children from that marriage: Elsie born 1886 and Edwin Stanley (I believe later known simply as Stanley) born in 1889. At that time, certainly for the 1901 census, they lived in Sambourne Road. It appears Elsie subsequently married Alfred Foot and they had one son – John Foot – and Stanley married Florence Trollope and they had two children: William and Monica Foreman. Therefore John Foot, William Foreman and Monica Foreman were all my father’s first cousins. It is sad to mention that until my research neither my brothers nor me were aware that my father had cousins who were almost certainly living in Warminster at the same time as us. We do not know why we were never aware of this but if there are any living relatives of those three people living in Warminster I would really like to hear from them. After all, we clearly share the same great-grandparents!
There is also the question of the shop – Foreman & Worthington – which failed in 1963. Once again my brothers and I are unaware of its origins. What we do know is that Edwin Foreman (our great-grandfather) is listed as an upholsterer and his daughter Ethel (our grandmother) listed as a dressmaker. But who started the shop and when? Was it Edwin, and then Ethel joined him, or was it actually Ethel who we know lived in Guildford for a while, working as a dressmaker, returning to Warminster to start her own business? And when Ethel married Albert Leonard Worthington was it he who became the partner in the business? Or was the “Worthington†part actually Ethel using her married name? We have many questions and perhaps keen researchers in Warminster may be able to unearth some answers. One final pointer may be the fact that it would have been normal in those days for a son to work in his father’s business. Clearly, however, in this case it didn’t happen that way as Stanley Foreman – Ethel’s younger brother – was not, as far as we know, involved in the business in any way. Hopefully that doesn’t invoke any upsetting memories for anyone reading this letter.
I look forward to hearing from you, or anyone in Warminster, who wishes to contact me.
___
If anyone has memories of, or information concerning Foreman & Worthington in Warminster, please email: dannyhowellnet@gmail.com
