Clan on the rocks at Looe, 1932

Looe in Cornwall was the regular summer holiday gathering place of Lorna, her parents, her brother, her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, known collectively as ‘the clan’. In the text blipped above, Lorna’s father Albert explains that the first such family trip was in 1894.

We know a little more about these holidays from the written memoirs of Lorna’s cousin Margaret. She explains that in the earlier years their grandfather (Gabriel) rented Looe island. In later years the family stayed in the town, and made day trips to the island. On these holidays the cousins fished for mackerel and conger eels, climbed on the rocks, played pirates, swam in the sea and - as can be seen from this photo - went on picnics.

Margaret also cites in her book the work of Charles Parsons Sunny memories of a long life (published 1914) in which the author (a family friend) describes two stays on Looe island with Lorna’s grandparents and their children in the late nineteenth century. As well as cataloguing the island’s features - including its two houses, a donkey, and two goats - Parsons also tells us that ‘daily [the family] had their alter and songs of praise - a loving father and devoted mother and brave lads [Lorna's father and her uncles Arthur, Arnold, Stanley and Percy] and maidens [Lorna's aunts Ethelene and Beatrice] and a little infant [Lorna's aunt Gladys].’

These summer clan gatherings continued into the late 1960s. Even in a third century the great grandchildren of Gabriel and Emily (Grannie) still organise family reunions in Looe, the most recent of which took place in early 2020.

We have several photos to blip of Lorna and the clan from the trips of 1925 and 1932 (as mentioned by Lorna’s father in his text above). Unfortunately, these photos are not all labelled so it’s difficult to identify individuals in the pictures. It’s especially hard to distinguish the 18 cousins from one another. In an attempt to do so, however, we have listed them and their parents below, giving the approximate ages of the children in 1925 and 1932.

Aunt Beatrice’s children (husband Uncle Percy W)
Cousin Margaret - 19/26
Cousin Miriam (1) - 18/25
Cousin George - 14/21
(Previously blipped with their half-siblings on 27th May 2020)

Lorna’s father Albert’s children (wife Lorna’s mother Topsie)
Brother Theo - 13/20 - the young man at the front here
Lorna - 11/18 - behind Grannie's tea cup here

Uncle Arnold’s children (wife Aunt Eveline) (featured in the war diary entry posted on 10th May 2020)
Cousin Arthur - 10/17
Cousin Naomi - 9/16
Cousin Miriam (2) - 7/14
Cousin Joan - 6/13 - the small girl peeking out from behind the girl in the dark bathing costume here
Cousin Helen - 3/10 - the girl in the patterned bathing costume here
Cousin Graham - 2/9
Cousin David - not yet born/6 - the small boy at the front here
Cousin Roger - not yet born/5

Uncle Stanley’s children (wife Aunt Gladys L)
Cousin Patrick - 7/14
Cousin Christopher - 5/12
Cousin Rachel - 3/10

Uncle Percy L’s child (wife Aunt May)
Cousin Diana - 6/13
(All three previously blipped on 2nd June 2020.)

Aunt Gladys W’s child (husband Uncle Joseph 'Nunkie')
Cousin Barbara - 4/12 - the girl in the dark bathing costume here

(Aunt Ethelene and Uncle Arthur did not have any children.)

The adults in this picture are Lorna’s Grannie (in the hat), with Lorna's mother Topise to the left of her. The man at the back behind the girl/woman with the parting is Lorna's Uncle Arnold.