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Old 12-08-19, 23:13
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Kate Winslet was born in Reading in 1975, the second of four children. Her father Roger Winslet was an actor. Her mother Sally nee Bridges died about two years ago. There were family rumours of Scandinavian ancestry on Sally's side of the family. Kate's uncle Mark Bridges sent her a photograph of his parents, her grandparents, Archibald Bridges and Linda Plumb and a photo of Linda with all their children. Linda's parents died before Mark was born, but he remembered meeting her great-aunt Lilly and being told that she was Swedish. Mark also sent Kate Lilly's death certificate - 29th Jul 1964, Lilly / Lilian Hellquist, widow, age 84, with the informant "causing the body to be buried" giving their address as Swedish Church, Harcourt Street, London W1.

Kate visited the Swedish Church where she met an historian who told her that Lilly was buried at Brookwood Cemetery, in the Swedish section. Also buried there was Alfred Lidman, Kate's 2xg-grandfather and brother of Lilly. An attestation record from the Swedish Church gave his full name as Alfred Johanson Lidman, a tailor, born in 1857 in the Halland region of Sweden, married in 1884 in London, father of 3 children. The 1891 census showed Alfred living in Great Pulteney Street.

Kate went to the Halland region in southern Sweden, where she visited a country estate called Sperlingsholm. A genealogist told her that it was a small palace built in 1820, and showed her the 1826 birth record of Alfred's father Johan Christian Andersson, who was born at Sperlingsholm, the son of stable groom Anders Jonsson and his wife Anna Eriksdottir. The old stable block has since been demolished and a new block built, but it is similar to the original. Kate was told that the servants at the estate in Anders' time were paid in tokens which could only be spent in the estate's shop.

An 1831 death record showed that another of Anders' and Anna's children, Gustav, died of malnutrition, aged 3 months. Kate was told that there was chronic crop failure in Sweden at that time, similar to the Irish potato famine. She was then shown an 1832 letter to the local circuit judge asking for an investigation into the arrests of Anders and of Bengt Svensson, who were arrested for stealing potatoes and sent to the prison at Halmstad Castle.

Kate visited Halmstad Castle, which is now a private government residence. The prison block has been demolished, but she was shown an etching done by one of the prisoners at the time of Anders' imprisonment. She was also shown an account of Anders' trial, which gave his age as 42, and stated that he and Bengt were also charged with the theft of three bee-hives, which they admitted as honeypots had been found at their homes. They were sentenced to "35 pairs of whipping" each, i.e. 70 strokes, but Anders' death record showed that he died in prison of "nerve fever" i.e. typhus, aged 43, and probably before the sentence could be carried out.

Kate then met an historian who showed her the marriage record of Johann Christian Andersson and Anna Johannsdottir, dated 23 May 1847. This stated that Johann was a soldier in the Swedish Navy, and the historian said that he and his family would have lived on a small croft (i.e. smallholding). The marriage record also gave his nickname, which translated as "young cuckoo". Kate and the historian went to see a similar croft which was preserved as it was in the 1840's. Records showed that Johann and Anna had three children: Anna Britta in 1850, who died aged 17 days, Edward who died of smallpox aged 7 months in 1853, and then Alfred in 1857. Johann's military record showed that he was discharged in 1859 and flogged 40 times for "embezzling several of the Crown's belongings" and then became a tailor.

Kate then went to visit her father in Reading, first looking at the house where she grew up. Roger showed her photos of himself and his parents, Charles Winslet and Blanche nee Sims. He also showed her the marriage certificate of Blanche's parents, George Robert Sims and Florence Edith Bick, with their fathers named as Henry Sims and Thomas Bick, of "independent means". Kate met a genealogist who had drawn up a family tree which showed that Thomas Bick was a soldier and horseman, and said that "of independent means" probably meant that he lived on his army pension. The tree showed Thomas's wife as Marian Colquhoun, one of 11 children of William Colquhoun and Eliza nee O'Brien. William was a soldier, the son of William Colquhoun Sr, also a soldier. The genealogist had not been able to find army records for William Sr, but William Jr's records showed that he was in the Grenadier Guards.

Kate went to Wellington Barracks to see the Grenadier Guards and to meet a military historian who showed her William Jr's army records. They showed that he joined the Grenadier Guards as a drummer boy in 1810, when he was 11 years old, and that about 20 years later, he transferred to the 30th Foot as a Drum Major. Kate was told that part of the Guards' duties was that they had to deliver corporal punishment to errant soldiers, and that William would have had to do this or supervise it. In 1839 he left the army, aged about 40, suffering from chronic rheumatism. The 1851 census showed that he was Principal Warder at Dartmoor Prison in Devon, while his family lived in Westminster. Kate went to Dartmoor and met an historian who told her about the history of the prison, and showed her an article from the "Daily News" dated 2 Oct 1851, about the "experimental prison at Dartmoor" which was doing "great work". The journalists had been shown around by William Colquhoun. Kate then visited William's grave at Ford Park Cemetery in Plymouth. He died in 1856, age 56, of asthma.
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