As readers of this blog will know, last week, I discovered the youth of my Great Aunt and Uncle and found out that they were intrepid travellers, regularly visiting Europe and Africa in the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.

A couple of images however reveal a family mystery which I hope, over the next few weeks, to uncover, (currently pulling on my Holmes deerstalker).  I know we have smugglers somewhere in our past but not I thought until this moment, any august figures.

The first is a photograph of a very young Great Aunt and my Grandmother with their family in Nova Scotia, Canada (above).  Does this mean that my roots are Canadian or, more to the point probably, was my Great Grandfather working in the Royal Naval Dockyard in Canada? Who are these two male children?  Hmm. Tricky Watson.

The other image I have is of a grand naval funeral for my Great Grandfather in Dartmouth, his coffin being pulled on a gun carriage with ranks of sailors walking alongside. So how did we get from Nova Scotia to being honoured with a naval funeral?  Clearly, more investigation needs to be done.  Family gossip says that said Great Grandfather was the Admiral of the Isle of Wight and was in charge of Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth. Now I wonder if that’s true or wishful thinking.  Watch this space for a new investigation into the past …

Contributor:  Sue Lowry

Follow A3Traveller on Twitter: @A3Traveller and Sue Lowry on Google +, YouTube, Linkedin, Flickr and Pinterest. I also operate another blog for my company, Magellan PR – http://www.magellanstraits.com. They can be followed on Twitter: @MagellanPR, on Google+, on YouTube, on Pinterest and on Facebook.