ARTHUR’S LITTLESTONIANS/ South Kent coast

QWe featured a photograph sent in by Pam Mayell in our March 2015 issue of a group of four musicians called the Arthur’s Littlestonians who she wanted to know more about.

AMary Clayton responded saying: “The picture shows Maddiesons Holiday Camp at Littlestone-on-Sea. I stayed there as a child in the early 1950s and the chalets in the background look familiar. The Romney Hythe & Dymchurch narrow-gauge railway ran along the edge of the site, separating it from the beach. I think the camp had its own railway halt. Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about Arthur’s Littlestonians. I suspect the young men were the equivalent of Butlins Redcoats.” We spotted an answer on our website’s forum ( whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/forum) posted by coopernicola. “The 1911 census shows the Hunters at 47 Clarence Avenue, Walthamstow. It states the couple have been married 22 years and have had 12 children, one of whom has died.”

Using FreeBMD, coopernicola found all 11 children listed in the query, registered under West Ham. “Checking West Ham births from 1885-1911, I found no Ginnie or Virginia Hunters born. There are three Jessies, one Janet and a Daisy J Hunter in the timeframe. However, these can all be excluded as they can be found with other families in the 1901/1911 census.

“Checking marriages for the older Hunter siblings shows three living away from home. George Edward appears to be in the army with 2nd Duke of Wellington Regt. His sister, Mary Eliza, is with a younger brother, William James, and still single. However, checking FreeBMD, in West Ham, for marriages between 1911 and 1920 shows Henry C Hunter marrying Jessie EE Fidgett in June 1919. Could this Jessie be Aunt Ginnie? She was born Jessie Eliza Ellen in 1899 in Parkston, Essex, so the age would be likely, too.”