How many children did your father have? Arthur’s father, Richard Corbett, was married three times, had seventeen children and Arthur was child number fifteen. When Arthur was born his two oldest brothers, Thomas and Richard, were both over thirty.

Richard’s first two wives had borne him two and four children respectively. Richard then married Arthur’s mother, Louisa Whitehouse, in 1856 when Richard was in his early forties and Louisa was twenty three. Richard and Louisa were married in Dudley which at that time was in Worcestershire. Arthur was born on 10 October 1870 in Tipton, Staffordshire, the ninth of Louisa’s eleven children, and in the 1871 census the family were living at 13 Gilbert Street, Tipton, Arthur, his parents and nine siblings.

Arthur was my mother’s paternal grandfather and when he was born his father’s occupation is recorded as Lime Burner. This is an occupation that has been around since about 1400 and involves burning limestone to make lime.

By the time Arthur was ten he was still living in Gilbert Street with his parents and seven of his siblings aged between twenty four and six. Ten years later Arthur’s occupation is recorded as a compositor but I don’t know who he worked for, a newspaper, a printer, a publisher … ? Maybe we will never know.

Aged twenty five Arthur married Sarah Harper on Christmas Day 1895 at St Michaels in Tividale. I have come across quite a few ancestors who were married on Christmas Day. Holidays were rare in those days and December 25th was an occasion when most friends and family could be at the celebration.

Arthur and Sarah had two sons, Percy Harper Corbett, my grandfather, born in 1896 quarter 4 and his brother Eric Rowland Corbett who was born on 19 March 1901. When Eric was a month old and Percy was just four the family were living at 131 Himley Road with their servant Annie Fellows, aged 60. Arthur was now a printer and compositor and clearly paid well enough to employ Annie.

Ten years later the family had moved from Dudley to 55 Westbourne Road, Handsworth and Percy, aged 14, was working with his father, Percy as a compositor (apprentice). It looks as though the family stayed in this area for a number of years as the pre-World War II register in 1939 shows Arthur, Sarah and Eric living at that 75 Westbourne Road, Arthur now being a printer roader, or should that be reader?

Arthur and Sarah were married for more than fifty years when Sarah died in 1948. Arthur lived for another seven years and although he died before I was three, I have memories of visiting him in a residential home in Birmingham.

In the middle of the twentieth century it was quite common to send out cards to let friends and family know that someone had died, years before emails and, for most people, it was easier than going to the red phone box at the end of the road, even if the people you were trying to contact had a phone.

Arthur died on 14th February 1955.