The Bower & Collier Family History
Research by Colin Bower
Contents
Website Contents
Welcome to our website which includes reports on a series of family history, local and military projects.
What's New?
There were the following new activities in 2025:
Family History
Research into our Family Tree:
The main content of our website is research into our Family History:
Bower/Collier Family History - Main Index including:
- a Family Tree with links to our 16 Great Grandparents- and their descendants
-My Life - Summaries by our Parents
-Football in the Family(Beckenham F C & Stanhope Rovers)
A number of Family History Projects have been undertaken - please see below.
Local History Projects
Madeleine Newland - Cassette Tape Recordings Queen
In 2016, I visited Maddy to learn about her Monday Morning Tape Service, where she provided recordings of light music to local Care Homes during 1989 -2004. Each tape had a commentary from Maddy (using the microphone shown) working from a script.
In 2021, I published the main findings of this extraordinary story:
List of Articles in the Project
Find the Lady!
A Local History Project where I traced a Victorian Lady, who lived in the Lymington area in 1883-1893 and kept a Calling Book, that my mother bought on Lymington market.
The Project is summarised in a series of articles with a Final Report:
The Lady met members of the St Barbe and in February 2016 I donated the Calling Book and Report to the St Barbe Museum, as planned:
The Extraordinary Cornwallis-West Family
When researching the Calling Book, I found that the Lady met a Mrs West.
It led me to the extraordinary story of the Cornwallis-Wests.
The Death of William II (William Rufus)
Near Minstead, there is the Rufus Stone, a memorial to King William II (William Rufus) who was killed in a hunting accident in the New Forest in the year 1100.
Living in the New Forest area, the death of William Rufus is one of the greatest stories/events in our local history.Though a King of England, there is little in the way of evidence/fact available, which has led to conjecture and conspiracy theories.
I plan to look at some leading books and publications to see what questions remain and what answers are offered, if any.
The Death of William Rufus - Project Index
Military History Projects
Sinking of the SS Britannia 1941
It is over 80 years since the SS Britannia was sunk by a German surface raider on 25 March 1941.
My father Frederick Bower survived the sinking and gave me his account:
Later, I inherited his memorabilia:
Goan Journalist Melvyn Misquita marked the anniversary by publishing a poignant summary of what happened and the aftermath:
Summary of the attack & the aftermath
My father was rescued from a lifeboat by the Spanish vessel Cabo de Hornos. Since when there has been an extraordinary amount of contact with descendants of others who survived the sinking:
Joan Hughes, Woman Aviator
Joan Hughes was a member of the ATA in WWII ferrying aircraft single-handed to where they were needed.
Joan was the subject of an iconic photo standing by the wheel of a Stirling:
I first became aware of Joan Hughes when Len Collier's cousin Ted told me that he had seen a TV programme, Forgotten Pilots. Ted took relatives to see Joan's memorabilia at a pub in Loughton, Essex.
Over the years since, I have conducted research into Joan and her possible link to the Gardiner/Hughes Family:
Family History Projects
The Big One!
Some years ago now, I decided to summarise/type up my family history records into a series of Family Research Project Reports starting with some of the names where there has been less research, before moving onto the main 16 names. This will be the biggest project I have ever undertaken and will take some years to complete.
At present, I have completed 13 reports including 7 of the 16 main family names.
Brecht One-Name Study
St Mary's Church, Islington where Heinrich Brecht married Mary Somes in 1808, one of the first pieces of information I obtained all those years ago
I have undertaken a detailed study into the name Brecht, my mother's maiden name, and the descendants of Heinrich (Henry) Brecht and his two wives Mary Somes and Harriet Piper:
Silk Weavers named Collier
Research into Silk Weavers named Collier (my wife Chris' maiden name) living in Shoreditch, Spitalfields and Bethnal Green in East London in 18th & 19th Centuries, with possible links to weavers of Huguenot descent (including Gaucheron/Kemp)
The Providence Chapel, Austin Street, Bethnal Green where Emma Collier (daughter of Charles Collier, Chris' 2x Great Grandfather) married William James Cordell, all Silk Weavers, the latter of Huguenot descent:
During this research, progress has been summarised:
Project Summaries
I have started to write summaries for each of my projects:
Visits to Places of Interest
We have made many interesting and enjoyable visits during the various projects :
Visits to Places of Interest - Main Index
This included two visits during a cruise of the Canary Islands in January:
Visit to an interesting Silk Weaving Museum in El Paso on the island of La Palma.
Visit to the beautiful city of Cadiz, where my father was taken after the sinking of the SS Britannia.
Photo Album
Collation of the photos that appear throughout the web site:
Progress Reports
A summary of progress made in each of the projects:
Contact Details
We hope that there is something of interest here for you and if so do e-mail us using our contact details:
Colin Bower
30 June 2025
