A series of unrelated events last night led me to find some previously unknown photos of my Great Granddad. Last night a book arrived in the post, Sir Ken Robinson’s “Out of our Minds”. My wife wanted to know who the author was and, being from China, what all the “Sir” business was about. While I was able to satisfy her curiosity about Sir Ken the education reformer, unfortunately, I failed dismally in attempting to bluff my way through the topic of Knighthoods. All I really know about the topic is that, back in the day, you had to have done something pretty special for King/Queen and Country, or in more contemporary times, have a coke habit but be able to sing. Void of this knowledge, Elsa and I asked Dr. Google… anyway, one thing led to another and I typed in my Great Grandfather’s name because I was aware that he was knighted some time ago… and to my surprise, Vola, photo’s of my Great Pop.
Visit of the East Africa Royal Commission on Land and Population, between February 1953 and February 1954. Sir Hugh Dow, GCIE, was the Chairman. Sir Frederick Seaford was chairman of Booker Brothers McConnell Ltd., major sugar producers. Mr Frank Sykes was an agriculturalist and farmer with interests in sisal estates in Tanganyika. Chief Kidaha Makwaia (extreme left of picture), from Sukumaland, a member of theTanganyika Legislative Council, was the only African member of the Commission.
Well, for those who know me, and especially my Dad, it is very easy to pick which one is the Great Pop. It’s the guy front and centre on the left. Uncanny…
Frederick Seaford was heavily involved in trade and governance in British Guiana, where my Grandfather was born. As mentioned atop, he was Chairman of Booker McConnell, to whom many people may know them today through the ‘Man Booker Prize’ for fiction.
I don’t know much more about the guy other than what my father has told me. He sounded like a character right out of a James Clavell novel, with money to boot. Unfortunately for my family, when my Great Grandmother passed, this Lusty Seaford married his secretary whom on passing several years ago decided not to leave a cent of his fortune to my family, against his wishes I am led to believe. Family finally got a pin drop back.
- Sir F. Seaford third from left
"I say old boy..."
Like this:
3 bloggers like this post.
I started looking into him a while back but got scared off when I discovered he was involved in repression of the local peaceful attempt to gain back control of Guiana and was hated by a number of them. Also how did he make his money? Plantations? Bit dodgy by todays standards, not sure I want any of that money. Although I think Robert did manage to get a reasonable amount back, he gave his share to Rory I believe to pay the deposit on his house and dad paid for his extension with it.
All interesting stuff though!
Love your sister x
*email from Dad.
Dear James
This was interesting. I’d not seen these before< I remember him in either black tie (we always dressed for Christmas dinner) or baggy cord trousers (he loved gardening).
Some mall errors in the words. While it is true Booker Bros. was big in sugar, the interest in east africa (Northern and Southern Rhodesia), was tobacco. He wasn't the Chairman he was the MD Lord (Jock) Campbell was Chairman.
LOL
Dad
Of course Peter is correct re Isadora. We knew her as ‘Aunt Dora’. Apologies Peter. I just blindly copied the ‘British Guiana Colonist Index’ without thinking. It says Seedorff, Isadora Meta Born abt 1885 BG Died aft 1911. She was VERY good to us she gave us our first TV in about 1957 and then left Carl (Cecil) sufficient to buy a house in North Devon, still called ‘Dora’s House’ despite changing hands many times. I thought though she died a little later than you suggest? She gave me a cricket bat for my 16th birthday – best I ever had – which was 1962 – when she was living in a service flat just off Sloane Square. I had cycled over, that summer, to The Gables she plus Carl Noreen & Fritz were there & I got my bat!. Amusingly, I remember Noreen always made extra Brandy Butter for Christmas dinner because most of it would ‘accidentally’ slip onto her plate.
Interestingly the List of BG colonists also spell Fritz’ father as Heinrick – K rather than H which, according to my German wife, is quite normal in Northern Germany?? Happy to stand corrected of course. I’m fascinated how many of the myths of our ancestors you are blowing away Peter. Chinese whisper I presume.
It is always interesting to try to remember the past. I have noted Robert’s comment about Fritz and Henry having been left 100,000 pounds each by their father (known as “Dad”), but my memory is rather different. I always believed that his wife (“Ma”) inherited nearly everything, as his two sons had good jobs and were well provided for. When Ma then died (1942?), I believe everything was divided equally between her five children. Calculating what my mother Olga inherited multipied by 5, I would estimate Ma’s worth at about 200,000 pounds. I don’t know what inheritance tax was then. I shouldn’t think anything like the penal rates later applied, but let’s assume that the gross value of the estate was 300,000 pounds. I suppose that would be something like 15 to 20 million in today’s money, a nice amount, Of course, it could have been more (I was told that Ma was using capital to live), but not all that much.
I can’t blame Robert for the £100,000 comment, it was I. Carl (Cecil) and I were having a conversation in 1973 (just after I left the Navy) about what I don’t remember but he said that ‘Daddy’ (Fritz) had really left no more than he himself had been left. He mentioned the £100,000. The comment being that Fritz had not been as clever with his money as his father had been. That evening on TV a programme mentioned that inflation since 1935 was 30 fold and that has just stuck in my mind.
On another note we used to see Harry Cressall quite often in Canterbury. I especially remember that. – The only other Harry I knew made him special to my 5-8 year old eyes. Jum didn’t count because he was really a Henry!
Sadly, Harry died in 2005, aged 79. He enjoyed his life, though (he was married three times!) Of the 12 Seedorff grandchildren (Cecil, Jum & Tony Seaford,Stella, June & Eve Seaford, Jack, Alan & Jimmy Burton, and Harry, Joan & Peter Cressall), only two are still around (my sister Joan & I), but don’t blink or you might miss us…
Peter
Might I tell you an amusing story. My wife’s father had a holiday apartment just east of Kiel – Laboe. While we were there on holiday, we decided we wanted to visit all the ‘Seedorf’ villages in Northern Germany. The first and nearest was the tiny village of Seedorf just outside Plön – a little further to the east. Carl (Cecil)had landed his Auster in one of these villages in the last days of the war.
When we arrived it was just a herrenhaus, about 6 cottages and a kneiper (pub to anyone else reading this). So we went to the pub. To both my and the publicans horror as I entered we found ourselves staring into a mirror! I usually say ‘he looked more like me than I do’! We all had over an hours chat – although we mentioned the Seedorff family name I didn’t mention about Carl’s visit. This man was months older than me and I was born in 1946!! So whether: the Seedorffs could trace themselves from Bremerhafen back to the village of their name & we are both throwbacks or if Carl took after his father as a lady’s man, I don’t know. We could have been twins!
It certainly made my wife and me giggle for week to come!
It probably runs in the family. Granfather Seedorff apparently left numerous progeny on the sugar estates in British Guiana. When he died, various people turned up at Avon House (the family home in Georgetown) claiming to be his children. One I believe bore such a resemblance to Fritz that the family nicknamed him Uncle Fritz. This went on until one turned up claiming to be Aunt Do’s son. This was so preposterous that he was turned away empty-handed.
Always dangerous to judge things by “today’s” Western standards. I suspect that in 50 years time folk will look back on the late 20/early 21st century in the West as decadent, corrupt and greed led. This was the reason for the greatest depression in world history which in turn led to the greatest fall of a ‘civilisation’ since the fall of the Roman Empire! So who are we to judge.
As far as getting left anything, the sons, Carl (Cecil), Henry (Jum), and Tony had their share held in trust to Noreen in her lifetime. As a result they all agreed that their shares go directly to their children. So the grandchildren received each son’s share of around £60k to share ie we robery harry Rosie and Jinny had a quarter (£15k), whereas Tony’s 2 children Peta and Michael had £30k.
To learn a little more about the background to his work and the company work ethic have a read of Jock Campbell, Baron Campbell of Eskan in Wikipedia. It’ll put Isobel’s comment in a different light.
Well, what do you know! Frederick (Fritz) Seaford indeed married Noreen Tarrant, but she was never his secretary! Fritz had a great (justified) reputation as a lady’s man. He was head boy at Repton, and I was told that the headmaster’s wife cried when he left…His money (which was certainly not a fortune) came from two sources: what he inherited from his widowed mother (her husband, Heinrich Seedorff, was a very successful engineering consultant in British Guiana), and from his earnings as an employee of Bookers. He gave me a very good piece of advice when I was young: never decrease your expenses. Always increase your income. My mother Olga was his youngest sister. He was knighted for services to the Crown, as he was for many years a member (unpaid, of course) of the five-man Executive Council that ran British Guiana.
Curiouser and curiouser! Noreen and first husband Reginald Tarrant had a daughter Felicity born 26 May 1941 guess where – Georgetown British Guiana!
Hard to believe that this is not when Noreen first met Fritz and then they married a year after Reggie was killed in Normandy in 1944. But what was Noreen doing in Georgetown in 1941?
Best wishes
John
Noreen and her first husband, Reggie Tarrant, were living in British Guiana when the war broke out in 1939. He returned to England to fight, and was killed as you say. After the war, Fritz Seaford was transferred to England by Bookers, and then married the widowed Noreen Tarrant in England. Fritz’ first wife died in B.G. during the war. Noreen’s daughter by her first marriage, Felicity, never married. She eventually went to live with Noreen in Jersey, where she died suddenly, a short time before her mother. Fritz and his first wife May had three sons, Cecil, Jum and Tony, and a daughter who died in infancy.
Many thanks for filling in the details – that also explains why I could not find any records of Felicity in England.
Best
John
Heinrick Seedorff was known also as Henri was born in Bremerhafen. He married Eugenie de Jonge 9/10/83. First child Isadora born 1885 died 1911. According to Carl (Cecil), my father, he left his two sons, Fritz (Frederick) and Henry £100,000 each which I suggest was quite a fortune. Heinrich was also for a time German Consul to BG and lived at Avon House in Main Street, Georgetown.(1904 British Guiana Directory).
Somewhere I have the 1904 Repton year book but that old bookcase is double banked. Repton, in those days, had both a Head Boy and a Head Prefect I’ll look it out certainly Fritz was one or ‘tother. He went on the London University Imperial College of which amusingly his eldest son later become bursar. Fritz was made OBE in 1937 and CBE in 1944 created knight in 1949. Interestingly Henry’s OBE predates Fritz’ you can tell because it has a purple ribbon and Fritz had the salmon pink later and current ribbon. His first wife Marguerite Winifred neé Hill Climo died after WW2 in 1948 in New York. They had been married in London on 19 Feb.1912.
Felicity Tarrant died in a car accident in Jersey but may have had a heart attack which caused her to veer off the road. She predeceased Noreen. Noreen must have had her own money because she herself and not Fritz bought a house in Canterbury in 1949 in her Seaford married name. Carl lived there from 1950-55.
Heinrich and Eugenie Seedorff had five children. Isidora (Do) born in 1884, Fritz born 1886, Henry born 1888, Irma (who first married Monty Burton, and as a widow married Colonel Peter Hope – a cousin of the Marquis of Linlithgow) and my mother Olga, born 1997. Do died in 1957 or 1958. During the Great War it became difficult to have a German surname, so Fritz and Henry changed their name to Seaford by deed poll.
From a (very) distant relative!
I found Noreen (nee Robinson) as married to Reginald Mowlam Tarrant. Reginald died in the Normandy landings (he was a para) and was awarded the MC.. Noreen married again in 1949 to Frederick J Seaborn – and if I have the right Noreen – she was presumably your great grand father’s secretary at the time. Reginald Mowlam Tarrant’s father (Reginald Frederick Tarrant) was my grand father’s brother born in 1874.
I think Noreen and Reginald had a daughter – Felicity or Fay – who was born just before the war.
Thought you might be interested in distant connections
John Tarrant
Dear John,
Amazing this internet-thingy, isn’t it? While I cannot say for sure, it does look like the shoe fits, and our families do indeed share a common bond through Noreen. She must have been a special lady.
Very interested to learn more about your Father’s cousin, Reginald. I’m also doing a bit of research into my family’s service to the Commonwealth, and also found an MC in the family.
Thank you for the comment, and sharing the family connection.
Sincerely,
James Seaford.
John – I think Felicity was born in 1940. I remember sending her a card for her 21st and I was at boarding school and, I think, 15. It was a toss up between that and forbidden copy of Playboy – I did the right thing! She was Godmother to my sisters Rosie and Jinny. I’ll check with Rosie – her husband was a genealogist. Felicity worked in the Foreign office. She had very high standards with regard to men and I’m afraid, in the end, they never quite came up to snuff! I remember one was discarded because he didn’t know how to order wine properly in a restaurant! Peter is right she had moved in with her Mum is St Brelade. Noreen left the great bulk of her estate to her ?distant? relatives in Australia – she had fallen out with Carl and Jum after Fritz died, over his will.
Great to hear this story – although I am only distantly connected. The Tarrant family was riven with disputes which may help to explain why Reggie was in British Guiana!
I have Felicity recorded as born 26 May 1941 in a report, from I think the Times, of 2 June 1941.
I have also Reggie, Noreen and Felicity arriving in Liverpool on 28 May 1943 on the Rangitata from New York – Felicity is listed as aged 2 years.
I don’t suppose anyone has a picture of Reggie? Unlikely I suppose in the circumstances.
Best wishes
John
John
It’s vaguely possible that my brother Robert has a picture though I doubt it. When Noreen died he asked if the old Seaford/Seedorff family photographs could be given to him rather than thrown out. They would have been of no interest those to whom everything was left. I have pointed out this blog to him this morning and he may add his ha’penny worth.
Harry
There should be a family blog. This is facinating stuff.
Great work everybody.
Work? Work? Ah, yes, I seem to remember that I came across the word many years ago…
Peter, Perhaps i should clarify who all these Seafords are??
I am Cecil’s younger son and brother of Robert. James, who owns this blog is the elder of my twin sons. He lives in Melbourne as does his brother Edward. James is 33, married and will come over to the UK briefly in June. Ewan, to whom you just responded about that 4 letter word, is Robert’s eldest and he also lives in Australia (Sydney) with his wife, Debs, and son, Saxon.
Robert has 2 other sons Rory and Giles, both married, to whom I’ve also copied this blog. Maybe when James is over we should pop along and say ‘Hello’ if you are not to far away?
Best wishes
Harry
Thanks for steering me through the Maze! I live in Argentina. I saw Robert and Susanna when in England last May. We will very briefly be passing through London in April (arrive 2nd, leave 6th), so will probably not be able to see any of the family this year. My sister Joan lives in British Columbia (Canada). Three of my children live here, and one in Chile. Although we live in the Buenos Aires area, we spend a lot of time on our farm, about 500Km south.
I guess that’s a fraction too far away! Although our Spanish isn’t too bad – we live in Spain for 1/4 -1/3 of the year.