Re: Surname - prottey
I am Colin Prottey, the son of William George Prottey and was raised at 65 Steyning Road, South Yardley. I am 67 years old, married with 2 children and 4 grandchildren. My father died in 1996 at the age of 84, and my mother (Annie Harriet Prottey) died in 2006, aged 92.
My father was one of, I think, 10 who survived into adult life. The siblings (in decending age order, as far as I can recall) were: Walter, Amy, William, Frank, Fred, Ernest, Violet, Ron, Leonard and Ivy (twins). Only Ivy is still alive. Most of them lived in the Yardley area.
They were a very colourful lot, none had more than basic education and I think all had either manual or 'blue collar' jobs. They were brought up under extreme hardship in the Small Heath area of Birmingham, and I recall my father telling me how poor they all were. I believe that more than one child died either shortly after birth, or when young, but I have no details. They were avid fans of dog- and horse racing, Ansell's Ale, allotment gardening and were very close to each other during their lives, dwespite contual bickering. There are now countless cousins most of whom had children and grandchildren. I am only in contact with a cousin Fred Prottey (son of Fred Prottey), though the granddaughetr of Walter did contact me via Friends Reunited some years ago. I would love to see any family history that has been compiled, as I cannot remember my father's father, but do remember Emily, his wife, my paternal grandmother. I think she died in the 1960's.
My father told me that the name Prottey (with the 'e') had derived from the Italian name 'Perotti'. He said that this originated with an Italian engineer that had come to Birmingham in the 19th century, which was booming due to the Industrial Revolution, but he sadly went bankrupt, so he changed his name - and the family were thereafter somewhat underpriviledged, and sadly seemed to have remained so. I don't know how reliable this information is.
I was always aware that there was also a number of 'Prottys' (no 'e') who were scattered around south Birmingam, but I never met any of them.
Should anyone have further information, I would love to hear of it. Equally, I am happy to try to dig deeper, should anyone feel the need. I am somewhat out of touch, as I left Birmingham when I was 25 and then lived and worked in many parts of the world until 2001.
Feb 17 2009, Cheltenham
it sounds like you may have to start all over again..i have been researching my ancestry for over 10 years now its never ending but what i have done is to write down any census years of interest and print off things like marriage and baptism certs then keep them in box folders...i have nothing saved on the pc... i know this way may be a tad time consuming but at least i know i wont lose the info....
