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The Lady From Dum Dum

Actongrumpy

Actongrumpy

The Quinton Kid
Thanks to the ‘Heads Up’ from jukebox concerning the five days of free ‘Find My Past’, I have discovered a new branch of my family tree - the Bergins. Michael Bergin, born in Ireland, joined the army and served in South Africa and India. While in India his wife, Catherine, gave birth to three children; Patrick and Richard in Bombay and Lydia in Dum Dum. The most exotic birthplace that any of my other ancestors had come from was Walsall so Dum Dum was a real plum. It’s a place I’d never heard of but, according to Wiki, it’s situated in modern West Bengal and it was at the nearby military arsenal that that lovely fellow, Captain Neville Bertie-Clay, invented the Dum Dum bullet - now banned by the Hague Convention for being ‘ too inhumane’, (unlike the atomic bomb which is perfectly okay).
When the family returned to the UK they lived in Birmingham and Lydia married my grandmother’s uncle, Vincent Isadore Hill while her brother, Oswald, (born in West Brom), married my grandmother’s sister, Florence. Oswald was a stained glass artist in 1891 as was my grandmother’s grandfather, Frederick Hill so perhaps that’s how the families met. Frederick Hill was a stained glass cartoonist who was taught by, and worked with, A W N Pugin the architect.

All this for free - so thanks jukebox.
 
Actongrumpy said:
Thanks to the ‘Heads Up’ from jukebox concerning the five days of free ‘Find My Past’, I have discovered a new branch of my family tree - the Bergins. Michael Bergin, born in Ireland, joined the army and served in South Africa and India. While in India his wife, Catherine, gave birth to three children; Patrick and Richard in Bombay and Lydia in Dum Dum. The most exotic birthplace that any of my other ancestors had come from was Walsall so Dum Dum was a real plum. It’s a place I’d never heard of but, according to Wiki, it’s situated in modern West Bengal and it was at the nearby military arsenal that that lovely fellow, Captain Neville Bertie-Clay, invented the Dum Dum bullet - now banned by the Hague Convention for being ‘ too inhumane’, (unlike the atomic bomb which is perfectly okay).
When the family returned to the UK they lived in Birmingham and Lydia married my grandmother’s uncle, Vincent Isadore Hill while her brother, Oswald, (born in West Brom), married my grandmother’s sister, Florence. Oswald was a stained glass artist in 1891 as was my grandmother’s grandfather, Frederick Hill so perhaps that’s how the families met. Frederick Hill was a stained glass cartoonist who was taught by, and worked with, A W N Pugin the architect.

All this for free - so thanks jukebox.
Click to expand...
My father was posted to India in the war and most of his time was spent as an office wallah in Calcutta where he was at Dum Dum airbase. I have assumed either rightly or wrongly that it was an actual base, although he often referred to it as Dum Dum Road. Like most of the men who went to WWII, he spoke very little of his time in the services, somewhere in the family archives there was the usual picture of him in uniform shooting a tiger (stuffed of course).
Bob
 
I don't think the equivalent of dum dum bullets are illegal now., but are used when it is required to bring down a target quickly .
 
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