Your Family Stories

I love old photographs. My aunt has my Nana and Grandad’s family album, and in it I found a beautiful wedding photograph in which my Grandad is the best man. As it is glued in, there is no way to see if anything is written on the back and, apart from Grandad, I didn’t recognise anyone in it. I asked all my older relatives about it, but nobody could shed any light on the bride and groom.

My Grandad

My maternal grandfather, James Frederick Edwards, was born in Runcorn, Cheshire, England, in 1907 and moved to Western Australia in 1966, arriving on Christmas Day with his wife, Cissie, and their two youngest daughters. I had arrived in Australia a few months earlier, as a toddler, with my parents and brother. There were seven children in the Edwards family, and most of them migrated with their families for a new life here in the sunshine.

Grandad died in 1987 and Nana died a couple of years later. I thought it was unlikely that I would ever discover the names and the story of those in the photograph.

My Uncle

Fast forward a few years, and I was visiting my uncle, who now lives in South Australia. As the eldest child, he had inherited all of Grandad’s paperwork when he passed away and had boxed everything up and taken it interstate with him. And when I say everything, I mean everything! It seems that Grandad hadn’t thrown anything away, and neither had my uncle.

With an avid interest in family history, I was delighted to look through the documents my uncle kept bringing out to show me—photographs, certificates, newspaper cuttings, title deeds, invoices, budgets, letters and more.

The Letter

As I was reading through one letter sent to Grandad by his cousin, Gordon Burrows (1924–2012), around 1980, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Gordon had written about attending the funeral of a friend or relative and said:

“John Whitby and Bet came to the crematorium. He wishes to be remembered to you, and was sorry you had been over and not seen him. He said you were best man at their wedding. I explained that we didn’t know where he lived, and apparently he now lives in Lymm. His daughter is the Mayor of either Hythe or one of the Cinque Ports.”
(Note: the Cinque Ports are a historic confederation of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex.)

Could this be the clue I had been looking for? I now had a name to investigate—well, two names: John and Bet Whitby.

My Ancestry Account

I opened my Ancestry account and began searching for a John Whitby who likely lived in Runcorn and was a similar age to my Grandad. And I found him.

John Forbes Whitby was born in Runcorn in 1906, and he married Elizabeth Clare on 8 June 1932 in Runcorn. He appeared on a family tree created by his daughter. In the gallery on his profile, I was staring at the same wedding photograph that I had wondered about years earlier. In the comments, it noted that the best man and one of the witnesses was James Frederick Edwards. Bingo!

The Daughter

I messaged the owner of the tree, explaining how excited I was to find her tree and solve a long-standing mystery. As many amateur genealogists know, messages often disappear into black holes, and you wait for replies that never arrive.

Thankfully, in this case, I did receive a reply. Jo, the daughter, was in her eighties. She wrote:

“My Dad, John Whitby, was at sea with Manchester Liners at the time of their wedding. In 1937 he came ashore and worked for them as a superintendent at Salford Docks. My grandfather, Joseph Whitby, lived at 43 Irwell Lane and was a tugboat captain. My Mum is Bet, and her Mum (my grandmother) had the corner shop at 5 Ellesmere Street. My Mum and Dad moved to Stretford when Dad came ashore, and that is where I was born. I remember Jim and his wife very well. Sadly, I can’t remember your aunties and uncle (although I know of them), but I know my Dad and Jim went to the football together, and I remember them playing cards during the blackout in the war. Thank you for bringing back such wonderful memories. Jo (as a child I was known as Josie).”

It was so exciting not only to solve this mystery, but also to correspond with someone who knew my grandparents and could provide fascinating snippets to help paint a picture of my Grandad’s early life.

Sadly, Jo passed away in October last year. Josephine Clare Kirkham MBE was the Mayor of Rye from 1979 to 1982 (when my Grandad received the letter from his cousin).

I found a newspaper article with a detailed obituary in which Jo was described as “the first lady of Rye” (Rye News, 23 October 2025). She was still a serving councillor at the time of her death at the age of 86. The article notes that she had served on Rye Town Council for 54 years.

Reading about all that Jo accomplished in her life, I really wished that I had had the opportunity to meet her. As well as being such a dedicated member of the local council, she was a JP, a teacher, an academic, an avid historian, a volunteer for numerous causes, a singer, a wife, a mother and a grandmother. She certainly sounds like an incredible woman.

I am very grateful that Jo had a public tree on Ancestry and was willing to share information about her family and its links to mine.

Now… on to the next mystery that needs solving.

Happy researching, everyone!