The Sole Society, a Family History Society researching Sole, Saul, Sewell, Solley and similar names

Letters and Messages

from Members

This article was originally published in the August 2003 edition of Soul Search, the journal of The Sole Society

From Fred Sole - A Sewell MBE

Fred Sole spotted that Warrant Officer Colin Paul Sewell, RAF, was awarded an MBE in the 2002 Queens Birthday Honours List. 

Do any of our members have any further information

- please let Diana Kennedy know?

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From Janet Hurst (Member No 1) - SOOLE connections

I have been meaning to write to you since January, as I have a snippet for publication in the journal. This results from a letter I received from Mrs G. Andersen, 25 Esplanade, Golden Beach, Caldundra 4551, Australia. I think she got my name from the Members Interests' booklet of the Cambridgeshire FHS.

Soole kept cropping up in her family in a sideline of her KEMPs, namely Prudence. She was a sister to Mrs Andersen's ancestor Jabez Kemp (1789-1861) who married Catherine xxx? at Babraham in 1788. Prudence, Jabez and another sibling Richard were the children of Richard and & Ann (HILLS?) Kemp.

This Prudence seems to have led an exciting life as she had four illegitimate children (Mary Ann, Jabez, Harriet and William) followed by two legitimate offspring after she married Richard Bright - Richard and Simeon. On 3 January 1839 Jabez Kemp, bachelor, fullage, son of Ruben Moore, miller, married Harriet SOOLE, spinster, full age, daughter of Thomas Soole, carpenter. Witnesses: Charles & Emma Soole. On 27 October 1839 the couple had a child baptised (she doesn't say where) - Charles Soole Kemp, son of Jabez, miller and Harriet.

Mrs Andersen wanted to trace the child Charles as she has an English photograph of a boy which is labelled 'English Charles'. Her ancestor who emigrated to Australia in 1855 was also a Charles Kemp.

I wrote back to Mrs Andersen that Harriet was the eldest sister of my husband's ancestor, Fanny Soole of Ickleton, who married James Hurst, and gave her a copy of the Ickleton tree. However, I heard no more from her. Probably Maureen has got chapter and verse on this Kemp connection, or maybe it will be on the CD-ROM! Anyway, someone might be interested.

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From Lois Rekowski - More advice on preserving records

I have been meaning to comment on your article, Preserving Memories.

cd-romI am a librarian, received my degree in 1977, but in 1999 went back to school and took a wonderful preservation course. You are absolutely on target with your comments.  They are finding the lifespan of a CD-ROM is about 7 years.  The more your "read" the disc, the more the light hitting the particles of metal embedded in the disc will cause micro erosion over time. 

The woman who taught the class said the best way to preserve anything was to use black & white photography or photocopying on acid free paper. (Colour fades, and think of those wonderful old photos that have survived from the middle of the 1800's.) She was adamant about back up copies made in black and white.

Furthermore, unless you really want to pay a lot of attention to migrating your various electronic forms of information, don't entrust information to any e-format.  Think of the old 8-track tapes.  Many folks still have their old tapes, but the equipment to play them no longer exists!  Even now, CD's come in 4x, 16x, 32x, etc.  Although manufacturers seem to be keeping them compatible, how long will that last?

So I just thought that I would pass on the information I gained from the class.  I am doing what you are doing; making electronic documents, but also printing them out onto paper for long time preservation.

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From Norman Saul - A Saul hero on HMS Hood

When I first took an interest in my family tree in 1998 I decided that I would not go further forward than my own father Norman Saul who was born in 1905 in Nelson, Lancashire.

However with computers coming more into their own and playing a much larger part in Genealogy these days, I took another look at that decision. The internet introduced me to an extended family in Canada and we are now in regular contact. Cathie wrote to me to say she was always told by her mother that her Great Grandfather David Saul (1855-1912) was at Rorkes Drift. I found that he was indeed a regular soldier who was awarded the South African Campaign Medal with three clasps for 1877-8-9. Whilst he served in South Africa he was not in fact at Rorkes Drift.

The need to draw a line under some of my relations who were born in the late 1800's also brought me into the middle of the 20th Century. A look at various web sites brought to my notice the following.

On 24 May 1941 in the Denmark Strait at 5-52am HMS Hood and the Bismarck came into action with each other. Some eight minutes later at 6am HMS Hood was wracked with a thunderous explosion and sank within two minutes with huge loss of life, there being only three survivors. The Hood was launched towards the end of the First World War on 22 August 1918 and carried a normal crew of 1,421 personnel. The ship was very popular with the general public and the loss was a bitter blow to the Country.

Two days later on 26 May 1941 the Bismarck was sunk by the Royal Navy.

The Rolls of Honour to the Memory of those lost on the Hood vary in the details of individual crew members. The name of Charles Saul, Leading Stoker, P/KX 79804, Royal Navy is brief in its entry as that is all the information it gives. There is no date as to when he joined the ship or anything else about him.

Is there any member of the 'Sole Society' who can throw any light on this brave sailor? I would dearly like to be able to expand the brief knowledge there is on him which could be added to his memorial.

If anyone has anything further to add would you please contact me at 7, Catherine Road, Romiley, Stockport, SK6 3DQ. I must emphasise that Charles Saul is not in my family tree and is therefore not related to me.

More details of HMS Hood can be found by using the Google search engine and Typing in HMS Hood.