I'm starting with Charles because he's the one I've researched the most. What a fascinating man. He was born on 6th April 1884 in Oxfordshire and he's my Great Great Uncle. He began his life on a farm in Sydenham and by the time he was 17 he was working as a valet firstly in High Wycombe, then London then Chicago and Canada. He was valet to some new industrialists in the USA and then became Valet to Earl Willingdon. I have the passenger manifests for all the cross Atlantic journeys he did on the big streamer ships in the 1900's. He was a member of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in the World War and fought in France where he was wounded and returned to England to serve out the rest of the War in the supply camp in Kent. He married for the first time here and moved back to Canada as Willingdon's valet who had become the Governor General of Canada. He later moved with him to India when he became the Viceroy of India. On his voyage home, his wife died on board the ship and he returned to London where he later married for the second time and moved to Leeds Castle in Kent as the Head of the Household during the time a rich American socialite was restoring the castle and entertaining the big American film stars and singers. He retired to London after a failed stint as a hotel owner and finally died in 1951, having lived through 2 world wars, 2 marriages, countless journeys across the Atlantic, a life in India often in the presence of Ghandi and then spent his later life in a castle surrounded by America's rich and famous during the 1940's. What an adventure
