John Knowles.net
Askew...
Bidston Lighthouse is where Florence Mary was born (in 1882) and her mother Esther was born (in 1861). Esther was the youngest child of James Adams the lighthouse and signal station keeper at Bidston. James Adams was born in Kilkhampton in Cornwall. His family had lived in the Morwenstow / Kilkhampton area of Cornwall for hundreds of years. There were at least three Adams families in the area at that time and it is difficult to separate them out from church records alone. The name Grills is easier to track and Sue has found church records on that line back to the 1500s (all in the parish of Morwenstow). Sue, Beryl and I visited this area of Cornwall in May 2019.
Bidston Lighthouse - Web
If you would like to know more about the lighthouse keepers and the telegraphers in the family this summary is on the Bidston Lighthouse website:
http://www.bidstonlighthouse.org.uk/history/people/
All the Adams' at the start of the list are our relatives as well as James Askew. A book called "Lighthouses of Liverpool Bay" is in print and includes information about the lighthouse families. The person currently living at the lighthouse has helped me get in contact with the authors. I have asked them if they can advise on accessing relevant family archive material.
Hilbre Island...
Hilbre Island is where Florence Mary ASKEW lived. At a recent open day Sue McMillan made the trek across the tidal beach path and as a result became a volunteer helper with the Friends there. James and Esther Askew, James jnr and Florence lived there from 1883-88. It was a bit chilly and breezy (more like October than August) when Sue went but lots of people made the low tide trek out to visit the island. We did a roaring trade selling hot drinks and snacks. All proceeds raised by the Friends of Hilbre pay for projects to preserve the island environment (including the buildings) and provide facilities for visitors. Already committed to helping next month too!
This is a picture of Hilbre Island taken from West Kirby. Florence would have lived on this island between 1883 and 1888 when her dad, James Askew, was keeper of the signal station there. The signal station is still there and you can visit it (along with the many seals that live there). You can walk to the island when the tide is out.
This page holds images and information on the ancestors and descendents of Florence Mary ASKEW who changed her surname after 1905 to JEFFREYS and later HUNTER. Our thanks to the ASKEW family members who like us have been wondering for decades - what happened to Florence, who ran away from home. We know she was in Bidston in 1901 when she was 19 and that the ASKEW family moved to Llandudno later that same year but we do not know whether she ran off at that point or moved to Llandudno with them and lived there for a period after 1901. The ASKEW family knew something of Florence before she died that we were totally unaware of. Some time around 1934 she saw the name of her younger brother Paul, then working for the BBC, in a newspaper, contacted him and they met up. She told him she had children but would not tell him her “married” surname. When she died (in 1941) James Hunter contacted Paul to tell him, so James must have known that Florence had met up with her brother. Through the diligence of the ASKEW family and a stroke of luck we were able to connect. It happened when Sue McMILLAN met the owner of Bidston Lighthouse. He put two and two together after looking at information on Ancestry.com and made the connection. Sue McMillan later met up with Margaret ASKEW (the wife of George our mother Stella's 's first cousin) and Sue COOPER (second cousin to Sue McMilan, Alan GARDNER and me).
Florence Mary ASKEW (HUNTER)
Florence is seen here playing a 1930s Radiotone Resonator guitar. It is the best picture we have of her. Points for the Guitar Nerds... These guitars were made in the mid to late 1930’s in a place called Schönbach in the Czech Republic and marketed in the US and the UK by JC Dallas. In the UK they sold for 19s - 6d. This was a cheap price for a carved-top guitar made of solid wood. The cost would have been £45 in today's money. The company also made ukeleles, mandolins, tenor guitars and carved top guitars (non-resonator). I have a collection of four Radiotone guitars and a tenor guitar but have never managed to track down a resonator version as they are extremely rare. Peter Townsend of The Who learnt to play on a Radioton guitar in the 1950s owned by his uncle. Ultimate Nerd point is... Florence is playing the chord of either D or A7 (hard to see where the 'hidden' fingers are).
Here is Florence with our mother Stella in the garden at 14a Mosslea Road, Penge - close by the Crystal Palace park and gardens.
A birthday card from Florence to Stella dated 30 April 1941 she died on 24 July 1941 just three months later.
Sue McMillan was the person who made the breakthrough in finding Florence Mary ASKEW and her Family. Sue and I had both noticed that for the first time on a Census print it was recorded thet James Percy HUNTER was born in Brighton (we know now how true that was!) and that Florence Mary HUNTER (nee JEFFREYS) was born in Bidston. Sue realised that only a couple of hundred people could have lived at Bidston at that time and started looking at possible people born at or near the time our Grandmother, Florence Mary ASKEW was 'born.' Sue has done a tremendous amount of work on Florence and we have both visited Bidston Lighthouse where she lived with her parents and siblings and North Devon where earlier forebears came from - yes the ADAMS family! I will do my best to develop this page accurately based on what Sue has researched and provided. Florence ran away from home but we are not sure when.
Askew and Adams Family Trees
The ADAMS family in Cornwall...
The blue boxes are confirmed as our direct descendants. The grey are likely but not confirmed - there were at least three Adams families in the area at that time and it is difficult to separate them out from church records alone.
Margaret ASKEW, Sue McMILLAN and Sue COOPER
The lunch at Berwood John and Beryl KNOWLES meeting the ASKEWS.
With thanks to Sue Cooper and Margaret, here are Esther and James Askew, our great grandparents, the parents of Florence Mary and her brothers.
On the right at the back of this group photograph (see x) is Corporal Albert James Askew, Florence’s older brother. He was serving in Hong Kong when he tragically died of Yellow Fever aged 28 years.
This is Albert James ASKEW (known as James) in Hong Kong in about 1904.
This is Paul Reginald ASKEW (Florence’s brother/Sue, Margaret and Steve’s grandfather) started his musical career in the Royal Marines Band and later worked in music production at the BBC.
