I don't know whether anyone can help. I am researching my family tree and am trying to investigate some history of Elham and Folkestone.
My grandfather was born in Elham in 1908, and his sister also in 1907. Their mother, my great grandmother came from North Wales. Her name was Ellen Owens and she apparently owned, or ran, or worked in a guest house in Elham. She moved there from London, where she had been 'in service'.
She met my great grandfather there when he and his band stayed at the guest house. He gave her their 2 children.
My great grandfather was a dutch musician, born in the Netherlands in 1868. He was a violinist, and came to this country, touring Britain with various bands, including his own, eventually.
His name was Willem de Lange Wendels, and I know that he was asked to play with Herr Wilhelm Morgann and his Hungarian Blue Band around 1904/1905. I suspect that he may have known, or played with Herr Moritz Wurm and his Blue Viennese band, and White Viennese band.
I do know that he played around the Folkestone area, possibly with his own band, Herr Willem Wendels Original (or Famous) Viennese Orchestra. This would have been in the period leading up to 1913. For a short time, possibly between 1911 and 1913, he played on the transatlantic liners.
I have various photos of him in bands, and on his own, including a photo of a band that I can't identify, but looks as if it was taken on the veranda of a building, possibly on the south coast. I also have a photo of my great grandmother, possibly about the time that she was working in the 'guest house'.
My grandfather's sister was scarred when she fell into the fireplace of the 'guest house' where they lived with their mother. I have just read of the huge fireplace in Abbots Fireside, Elham, a very old hotel / Inn/ guest house which would have been around when my great grandmother was in charge. Could this place, Abbots Fireside, have been where she worked, and where she met my great grandfather?
Do you know of a good way that I could follow this up?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Jonathan Wendell jonathanwendell@btinternet.com
This is part of my site The Folkestone Gerald that I built in a fury of excitement when I first came here in approximately 2004. I'd been a frequent visitor for a while previous to that but I am technically one of those Down From Londons you get now. This site was updated more frequently with a calendar of events and voting for favourite places + things, and I know it was a handy resource for those who were moving to the area. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though only to Hythe) it doesn't get as much attention as it used to. Ironic really as Folkestone itself is now becoming the exciting place we knew it was just about to. My name is not Gerald BTW, this comes from the name of a pretend paper in an episode of Brasseye or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, + how there is a local paper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are great aren't they? Do contact me if you have anything to offer, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on Twitter.