Return to family history top page
Contact:
According to the census Florence Blanche Franklin was five on 3rd April 1881. According to the register she was sixteen when she married on 10th February 1892, and if both are accurate she must have been born between 4th April 1875 and 10th February 1876. That fits in with her age at death, which was ninety-one at some point during the June quarter of 1967. [1881 census, Hougham, Kent; GROS Statutory Marriages 1892 055/AF 0063; Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales: deaths in June quarter 1967, East Ham Vol. 5b Page 125] She was born in Gibraltar the daughter of William James Franklin, an Englishman, and Caroline Ellen Franklin née Walsh, born in Cork of mixed English and Irish parentage.
At the time of the 3rd April 1881 census Florence Blanche was five and was living with her mother Caroline Ellen Franklin Her elder brother William George Elliot Franklin and her younger sisters Lillian Edith and Ethel Maud Franklin at the Grand Shaft Barracks, Hougham, Kent. Her father William Franklin, a Colour Sergeant in the 31st Regiment of Foot, was on a course of some kind at the School of Musketry at Hythe, near Elham, Kent. [1881 census, Hougham, Kent; 1881 census, Elham, Kent; GROS Statutory Marriages 1892 055/AF 0063]
The Grand Shaft Barracks were perched on the cliff-top above Dover and had many amenities to amuse the men and their families. More information on this can be found in the section on Florence Blanche's mother Caroline Ellen.
By the time of Florence Blanche's marriage in February 1892 her father had left the army and become a prison warder at the garrison prison in Gibraltar. [1881 census, Elham, Kent; GROS Statutory Marriages 1892 055/AF 0063]
Florence Blanche married George Shirran, a Sergeant in 1st Battalion The Black Watch, in Gibralter on 10th February 1892, aged sixteen. [GROS Statutory Marriages 1892 055/AF 0063] Their address was given as South Barracks, Windmill Hill. They had four daughters and a son, viz.:
Florence Caroline Jessie Shirran (a.k.a. Florence Jessie Caroline a.k.a. Jessie) born 4th May 1893 in Gibraltar [GROS Statutory Births 1893 048/AF 0087]
Lillian Christina Edith Shirran born 29th June 1895 in Mauritius [GROS Statutory Births 1895 048/AF 0114]
Edith Blanche Shirran (a.k.a. Blanche) born 7th January 1898 in Sitapur [GROS Statutory Births 1898 048/AF 0148]
William John George Shirran born 12th April 1900 in Benares [GROS Statutory Births 1900 048/AF 0175]
Ethel Maud Shirran (a.k.a. Elisa Maria) born 10th January 1904 at 13 George Street, Doune, Perthshire [GROS Statutory Births 1904 362/00 0006]
Apart from Christina, and Jessie which was the name of her husband's mother, all the names of Florence's daughters are shared with her sisters. Her son William could have been named for her brother, or for her husband's. It is possible that she herself usually went by "Blanche" rather than "Florence", as she is named as "Blanche Shirran M.S. Franklin" on her daughter Jessie's marriage certificate [GROS Statutory Marriages 1917 692/02 0176]: however she is referred to as "Florence" on other documents. Academy Street in Leith, formerly Morton Street: n° 9 is the is the third gate along, the house with the floral windowboxes on the 2nd floor Seeing the birthplaces of her children and how they match up with George's postings (see George Shirran of Greeness: a chronology) it's clear that Florence followed her husband to his postings in Gibraltar, Mauritius and various towns in Uttar Pradesh as well as eventually returning to Scotland with him, sleeping in barracks and sailing on troopships. There is no evidence whether or not she went to South Africa with him for the Second Boer War: as she had by this point four small children it's possible that she did not in fact take them into a war zone, and either remained in India or returned to Scotland ahead of her husband. Looking from Buccleugh Street towards the main entrance to Boroughloch Square, with Boroughloch Lane diverging off to the right George Shirran was discharged from the army on 30th June 1905, but he officially commenced working with what was then the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Scottish Branch on 1st June, so it's not clear when exactly he really began working for them but it must have been either in June or July of 1905. Initially the family lived-in at the Children's Home at 235 Corstorphine Road, at least until August 1906 when George became an Inspector. Thereafter the family seem to have lived in at the Children's Shelter at 142 High Street, before moving to 9 Morton Street (now Academy Street) when George was transferred to Leith in February 1911. 2 Boroughloch Square is the dark blue door, and the white double door next to it is Children 1st N° 125 Buccleugh Street at the junction with Gifford Park in 1929, from National Library of Scotland: there is now nothing between n°s 119 and 137 except the turning to Gifford Park and a block of Art Deco flats It was probably when George was transferred back to Edinburgh in November 1912 that the family moved to 2 Boroughloch Square where they were to remain until at least 1923: they were certainly there by autumn 1913. Boroughloch Square is a small, split-level triangular yard tucked down a side alley off the major thoroughfare of Buccleugh Street, edged by high buildings most of which at that time belonged to a working brewery, with its vans rumbling in through the side entrance to the lower corner of the yard. At that time the whole yard would have been cobbled, although now only the lower section is. The flats at Boroughloch Square have no gardens or private yards but they look directly out onto the complex of parkland and playingfields called The Meadows, which was put in place in the 18th century when the Borough Loch was filled in. A map of 1914 shows that a strip of ground alongside the east side of the path leading south across The Meadows from Boroughloch Lane, directly behind n°s 1 and 2 Boroughloch Square, was designated "Drying Green". The householders from the Square must have hung their washing out on lines there, on fine days. George re-enlisted in November 1914, but came through the war unscathed. Their son William John George, however, survived the trenches (was probably too young even to have seen them) only to die of rheumatic fever at the family home in December 1919, just before the New Year. George himself, Florence's husband, died in July 1945 at the flat belonging to their daughter Jessie: on the first anniversary of his death, Florence placed an In Memorium notice in The Scotsman, commemorating both her husband and her son. [GROS Statutory Deaths 1919 685/04 1668; GROS Statutory Deaths 1945 685/02 0421; article in The Scotsman 15th July 1946 p.6] Florence also outlived both her son-in-law Alexander Caddell, drowned in his bath in 1938 [GROS Statutory Deaths 1938 685/03 0143], and her daughter Lillian Christina Edith Currie, who died in 1961 [GROS Statutory Deaths 1961 597/00 0170]. Following the death of her husband George in July 1945, Florence lived for a while with Lillian's family in an upstairs flat at 11 Barbadoes Road, Kilmarnock. Florence's grandson Rory (my father), the son of Ethel Maud, had also lived with the family at Barbadoes Road for some time, probably between 1930, when he was three years old, and age six when he went away to a boarding school on the South Coast. As a child, Lillian's future daughter-in-law Roberta Johnstone lived for a while in the downstairs flat, and remembers "Granny Shirran" well. Roberta's grandmother was a friend of Florence's and after the Johnstone family moved away, Lillian still used to bring Florence over once a week to visit. Roberta's own child Hudcorp remembers his/her great-grandmother as "small, slender, and active to a very great age". Later - probably following Lillian's death in 1961 - Florence moved south to live with her daughter (Edith) Blanche Houghton in England, in the West Ham area. Her sister Ethel Maud Franklin had been working near West Ham in 1911 and might still have been in the area. In March 1965 her grandson, my father Rory, was reported killed in a car crash in Assam. Florence Blanche herself died in the June quarter of 1967, aged ninety-one. Death was registered in East Ham, Essex - that is, two miles from West Ham where Edith had been married. [Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales: deaths in June quarter 1967, East Ham Vol. 5b Page 125]
Seeing the birthplaces of her children and how they match up with George's postings (see George Shirran of Greeness: a chronology) it's clear that Florence followed her husband to his postings in Gibraltar, Mauritius and various towns in Uttar Pradesh as well as eventually returning to Scotland with him, sleeping in barracks and sailing on troopships. There is no evidence whether or not she went to South Africa with him for the Second Boer War: as she had by this point four small children it's possible that she did not in fact take them into a war zone, and either remained in India or returned to Scotland ahead of her husband. Looking from Buccleugh Street towards the main entrance to Boroughloch Square, with Boroughloch Lane diverging off to the right George Shirran was discharged from the army on 30th June 1905, but he officially commenced working with what was then the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Scottish Branch on 1st June, so it's not clear when exactly he really began working for them but it must have been either in June or July of 1905. Initially the family lived-in at the Children's Home at 235 Corstorphine Road, at least until August 1906 when George became an Inspector. Thereafter the family seem to have lived in at the Children's Shelter at 142 High Street, before moving to 9 Morton Street (now Academy Street) when George was transferred to Leith in February 1911. 2 Boroughloch Square is the dark blue door, and the white double door next to it is Children 1st N° 125 Buccleugh Street at the junction with Gifford Park in 1929, from National Library of Scotland: there is now nothing between n°s 119 and 137 except the turning to Gifford Park and a block of Art Deco flats It was probably when George was transferred back to Edinburgh in November 1912 that the family moved to 2 Boroughloch Square where they were to remain until at least 1923: they were certainly there by autumn 1913. Boroughloch Square is a small, split-level triangular yard tucked down a side alley off the major thoroughfare of Buccleugh Street, edged by high buildings most of which at that time belonged to a working brewery, with its vans rumbling in through the side entrance to the lower corner of the yard. At that time the whole yard would have been cobbled, although now only the lower section is. The flats at Boroughloch Square have no gardens or private yards but they look directly out onto the complex of parkland and playingfields called The Meadows, which was put in place in the 18th century when the Borough Loch was filled in. A map of 1914 shows that a strip of ground alongside the east side of the path leading south across The Meadows from Boroughloch Lane, directly behind n°s 1 and 2 Boroughloch Square, was designated "Drying Green". The householders from the Square must have hung their washing out on lines there, on fine days. George re-enlisted in November 1914, but came through the war unscathed. Their son William John George, however, survived the trenches (was probably too young even to have seen them) only to die of rheumatic fever at the family home in December 1919, just before the New Year. George himself, Florence's husband, died in July 1945 at the flat belonging to their daughter Jessie: on the first anniversary of his death, Florence placed an In Memorium notice in The Scotsman, commemorating both her husband and her son. [GROS Statutory Deaths 1919 685/04 1668; GROS Statutory Deaths 1945 685/02 0421; article in The Scotsman 15th July 1946 p.6] Florence also outlived both her son-in-law Alexander Caddell, drowned in his bath in 1938 [GROS Statutory Deaths 1938 685/03 0143], and her daughter Lillian Christina Edith Currie, who died in 1961 [GROS Statutory Deaths 1961 597/00 0170]. Following the death of her husband George in July 1945, Florence lived for a while with Lillian's family in an upstairs flat at 11 Barbadoes Road, Kilmarnock. Florence's grandson Rory (my father), the son of Ethel Maud, had also lived with the family at Barbadoes Road for some time, probably between 1930, when he was three years old, and age six when he went away to a boarding school on the South Coast. As a child, Lillian's future daughter-in-law Roberta Johnstone lived for a while in the downstairs flat, and remembers "Granny Shirran" well. Roberta's grandmother was a friend of Florence's and after the Johnstone family moved away, Lillian still used to bring Florence over once a week to visit. Roberta's own child Hudcorp remembers his/her great-grandmother as "small, slender, and active to a very great age". Later - probably following Lillian's death in 1961 - Florence moved south to live with her daughter (Edith) Blanche Houghton in England, in the West Ham area. Her sister Ethel Maud Franklin had been working near West Ham in 1911 and might still have been in the area. In March 1965 her grandson, my father Rory, was reported killed in a car crash in Assam. Florence Blanche herself died in the June quarter of 1967, aged ninety-one. Death was registered in East Ham, Essex - that is, two miles from West Ham where Edith had been married. [Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales: deaths in June quarter 1967, East Ham Vol. 5b Page 125]
George Shirran was discharged from the army on 30th June 1905, but he officially commenced working with what was then the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Scottish Branch on 1st June, so it's not clear when exactly he really began working for them but it must have been either in June or July of 1905. Initially the family lived-in at the Children's Home at 235 Corstorphine Road, at least until August 1906 when George became an Inspector. Thereafter the family seem to have lived in at the Children's Shelter at 142 High Street, before moving to 9 Morton Street (now Academy Street) when George was transferred to Leith in February 1911. 2 Boroughloch Square is the dark blue door, and the white double door next to it is Children 1st N° 125 Buccleugh Street at the junction with Gifford Park in 1929, from National Library of Scotland: there is now nothing between n°s 119 and 137 except the turning to Gifford Park and a block of Art Deco flats It was probably when George was transferred back to Edinburgh in November 1912 that the family moved to 2 Boroughloch Square where they were to remain until at least 1923: they were certainly there by autumn 1913. Boroughloch Square is a small, split-level triangular yard tucked down a side alley off the major thoroughfare of Buccleugh Street, edged by high buildings most of which at that time belonged to a working brewery, with its vans rumbling in through the side entrance to the lower corner of the yard. At that time the whole yard would have been cobbled, although now only the lower section is. The flats at Boroughloch Square have no gardens or private yards but they look directly out onto the complex of parkland and playingfields called The Meadows, which was put in place in the 18th century when the Borough Loch was filled in. A map of 1914 shows that a strip of ground alongside the east side of the path leading south across The Meadows from Boroughloch Lane, directly behind n°s 1 and 2 Boroughloch Square, was designated "Drying Green". The householders from the Square must have hung their washing out on lines there, on fine days. George re-enlisted in November 1914, but came through the war unscathed. Their son William John George, however, survived the trenches (was probably too young even to have seen them) only to die of rheumatic fever at the family home in December 1919, just before the New Year. George himself, Florence's husband, died in July 1945 at the flat belonging to their daughter Jessie: on the first anniversary of his death, Florence placed an In Memorium notice in The Scotsman, commemorating both her husband and her son. [GROS Statutory Deaths 1919 685/04 1668; GROS Statutory Deaths 1945 685/02 0421; article in The Scotsman 15th July 1946 p.6] Florence also outlived both her son-in-law Alexander Caddell, drowned in his bath in 1938 [GROS Statutory Deaths 1938 685/03 0143], and her daughter Lillian Christina Edith Currie, who died in 1961 [GROS Statutory Deaths 1961 597/00 0170]. Following the death of her husband George in July 1945, Florence lived for a while with Lillian's family in an upstairs flat at 11 Barbadoes Road, Kilmarnock. Florence's grandson Rory (my father), the son of Ethel Maud, had also lived with the family at Barbadoes Road for some time, probably between 1930, when he was three years old, and age six when he went away to a boarding school on the South Coast. As a child, Lillian's future daughter-in-law Roberta Johnstone lived for a while in the downstairs flat, and remembers "Granny Shirran" well. Roberta's grandmother was a friend of Florence's and after the Johnstone family moved away, Lillian still used to bring Florence over once a week to visit. Roberta's own child Hudcorp remembers his/her great-grandmother as "small, slender, and active to a very great age". Later - probably following Lillian's death in 1961 - Florence moved south to live with her daughter (Edith) Blanche Houghton in England, in the West Ham area. Her sister Ethel Maud Franklin had been working near West Ham in 1911 and might still have been in the area. In March 1965 her grandson, my father Rory, was reported killed in a car crash in Assam. Florence Blanche herself died in the June quarter of 1967, aged ninety-one. Death was registered in East Ham, Essex - that is, two miles from West Ham where Edith had been married. [Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales: deaths in June quarter 1967, East Ham Vol. 5b Page 125]
It was probably when George was transferred back to Edinburgh in November 1912 that the family moved to 2 Boroughloch Square where they were to remain until at least 1923: they were certainly there by autumn 1913. Boroughloch Square is a small, split-level triangular yard tucked down a side alley off the major thoroughfare of Buccleugh Street, edged by high buildings most of which at that time belonged to a working brewery, with its vans rumbling in through the side entrance to the lower corner of the yard. At that time the whole yard would have been cobbled, although now only the lower section is.
The flats at Boroughloch Square have no gardens or private yards but they look directly out onto the complex of parkland and playingfields called The Meadows, which was put in place in the 18th century when the Borough Loch was filled in. A map of 1914 shows that a strip of ground alongside the east side of the path leading south across The Meadows from Boroughloch Lane, directly behind n°s 1 and 2 Boroughloch Square, was designated "Drying Green". The householders from the Square must have hung their washing out on lines there, on fine days.
George re-enlisted in November 1914, but came through the war unscathed. Their son William John George, however, survived the trenches (was probably too young even to have seen them) only to die of rheumatic fever at the family home in December 1919, just before the New Year. George himself, Florence's husband, died in July 1945 at the flat belonging to their daughter Jessie: on the first anniversary of his death, Florence placed an In Memorium notice in The Scotsman, commemorating both her husband and her son. [GROS Statutory Deaths 1919 685/04 1668; GROS Statutory Deaths 1945 685/02 0421; article in The Scotsman 15th July 1946 p.6]
Florence also outlived both her son-in-law Alexander Caddell, drowned in his bath in 1938 [GROS Statutory Deaths 1938 685/03 0143], and her daughter Lillian Christina Edith Currie, who died in 1961 [GROS Statutory Deaths 1961 597/00 0170]. Following the death of her husband George in July 1945, Florence lived for a while with Lillian's family in an upstairs flat at 11 Barbadoes Road, Kilmarnock. Florence's grandson Rory (my father), the son of Ethel Maud, had also lived with the family at Barbadoes Road for some time, probably between 1930, when he was three years old, and age six when he went away to a boarding school on the South Coast.
As a child, Lillian's future daughter-in-law Roberta Johnstone lived for a while in the downstairs flat, and remembers "Granny Shirran" well. Roberta's grandmother was a friend of Florence's and after the Johnstone family moved away, Lillian still used to bring Florence over once a week to visit. Roberta's own child Hudcorp remembers his/her great-grandmother as "small, slender, and active to a very great age".
Later - probably following Lillian's death in 1961 - Florence moved south to live with her daughter (Edith) Blanche Houghton in England, in the West Ham area. Her sister Ethel Maud Franklin had been working near West Ham in 1911 and might still have been in the area. In March 1965 her grandson, my father Rory, was reported killed in a car crash in Assam. Florence Blanche herself died in the June quarter of 1967, aged ninety-one. Death was registered in East Ham, Essex - that is, two miles from West Ham where Edith had been married. [Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales: deaths in June quarter 1967, East Ham Vol. 5b Page 125]
