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Archiver > ELKINGTON > 2006-11 > 1164405200


From: "Chris Dixon" <>
Subject: Re: [ELKINGTON] Where are you all
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 07:23:20 +0930
References: <HPEBIDHJHHGOIGCFMCKHKEBFCHAA.relks@shaw.ca>


Judy found the passenger list for my grandmother - she left England on the SS Queen Elizabeth in 1946 bound for the USA. This is the info I have on her:

Gertrude and her husband Alfred James Dixon (Jimmy) had owned and run the Criterion Restaurant in Clacton on Sea, now a leather store. They became leading citizens, with Jimmy on the Town Council and Chamber of Commerce. Actually he didn't really work - he was a racing driver (having inherited quite a lot of money and property from his father. Gertrude ran the restaurant, Jimmy had a Tiger Moth based at Clacton airfield and would take passengers up fro scenic flights, and when there were no passengers did barnstorming and aerobatics and walked on the wing.

He contracted stomach cancer in the 1930s and died a slow and horrible death consuming vast quantities of morphine and brandy. This was a very hard time for Gertrude. They sold the business and retired to Frinto on Sea, where Gertrude cared for Jimmy till his death in 1935. Her widowhood was interrupted by the war, and Gertrude drove an ambulance during the war.

After the war, England was in such a depressed state, and her children were all grown up, she moved to Canada - not sure for how long. She stayed with her sister or brother. I've always wanted to know who that was.




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