Johnson / Bryans Families

Tracing the ancestry of Pamela Murdoch Bryans and Maurice Alan Johnson

First Name Last Name
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Fanny Curtis "Fay" Mitchell

Fanny Curtis "Fay" Mitchell

Female 1895 - 1982  (86 years)


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  • Name Fanny Curtis Mitchell 
    Relationshipwith Marion Murdoch Johnson
    Gender Female 
    Birth 27 Mar 1895  Khandwa, Central Provinces, India Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Christening 9 Jun 1895  Khandwa, Central Provinces, India Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Census 1901  43 Church Road, Wimbledon, Merton, London, County of London, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3] 
    Census 1911  2 Thornton Hill, Wimbledon, Merton, London, County of London, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    Census 1939  Queensberry Hotel, Amesbury, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    Military Service Aft 1939 
    Residence 1945  Little Manor, Ashton Lane, Bishop's Waltham, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [6] 
    Travel 28 Dec 1955  Southampton, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Travel 27 Mar 1956  Tilbury, Essex, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Name Fay 
    Residence 1982 
    Residence Bef 3 Mar 1982  Winchester, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Death 3 Mar 1982  Winchester, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [7] 
    Probate 21 Apr 1982  Winchester, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [8] 
    Siblings 2 brothers 
    Last Modified 24 Jan 2021 

    Father Hugh McPherson Mitchell
              b. 24 May 1863, 88 Sloane Street, Chelsea, Kensington & Chelsea, London Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 18 Mar 1901, Lanauli, Mumbai, Bombay Presidency, India Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 37 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Mother Agnes Lockhart Nisbet
              b. 19 Oct 1866, West Hampstead, Camden, London Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 13 Jun 1955, Park House Nursing Home, Winchester, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 88 years) 
    Relationship Birth 
    Marriage 16 Jul 1894  St Andrew's, Khandwa, Central Provinces, India Find all individuals with events at this location  [9, 10] 

    Husband Maj. Henry Murdoch "Hal" Bryans
              b. 29 Jan 1892, Foots Cray Cottage, Foots Cray, Kent, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 3 May 1985, Winchester, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 93 years) 
    Marriage 13 Aug 1916  Wimbledon St Mary's, Wimbledon, Merton, London, County of London, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [11, 12] 
    Age at Marriage Fanny was 21 years old - Henry was 24 years old. 
    Children 
     1. Pamela Anne Murdoch "Lalla" Bryans
              b. 16 Nov 1917, Dorking, Surrey, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 24 Jan 2013, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 95 years)
    Last Modified 10 Mar 2018 

  • Notes 
    • Early Life
      Fanny ("Fay") Curtis Mitchell was born on the 27th of March 1895 in Khandwa, Bengal, India, to Hugh McPherson Mitchell and Agnes Lockhart Nisbet. At the time, her father was working as a civil engineer on the Great Indian Peninsular Railway. Her younger brothers Norman and Hugh were born in 1896 and 1898 respectively (though Norman died as an infant).

      In 1901, on the 18th of March, Fay's father died of pneumonia in Lanouli, Bombay; Fay was only six at the time. By the 1901 census which was taken on the 31st of March (just 13 days later) the family is listed as resident in Wimbledon, at 43 Church Road (this would have been Fay's grandparents' house), so they must already have been in England at the time of Fay's father's death. The census lists 8 people and 6 servants in the property. So it must have been either a very large house (unlikely, given that it appears to be a fairly standard terraced house) or a temporary squeeze to accommodate the new widow and her family until they got settled somewhere else.

      By 1911, Fay, aged 16, was living at 2 Thornton Hill, Wimbledon, with her mother and two servants. Her younger brothers may have been at boarding school as they are not listed at this address. She was still living here in 1916 when she married.

      Family Life
      Fay married Henry "Hal" Murdoch Bryans on the 13th of August 1916, at her local church Wimbledon St Mary's . Fay was 21 and Hal was 24. Their only daughter, Pamela Anne Murdoch Bryans was born a year later, on the 16th of November 1917. They apparently had no more children.

      Fay and Hal loved to travel. They would often go to Kenya to visit Fay's brother (Hugh) and other records show them going on a three month journey, leaving Southampton for Sri Lanka in December 1955 and returning from Australia in March 1956. For lots more on Fay and Hal, see Hal's own entry.

      2nd World War
      In the 1939 Register, Fay and Henry are listed as resident at the Queensberry Hotel, in Amesbury, Wiltshire. Perhaps this was a temporary posting, as part of her and Henry's mobilisation? She is listed as a member of the Women's Voluntary Service.

      Residences
      • 1901: 43 Church Road, Wimbledon. Home of her grandparents Harry Curtis Nisbet and Louisa Margaret Bruce. It looks like this building was knocked down and rebuilt, as the modern building looks way too small to house the 8 people and 6 servants described in the 1901 census.
      • 1911: 2 Thornton Hill, Wimbledon. This is the house at the very top of the road, just at the junction with Thornton Road.
      • 1938: Little Manor, Bishop's Waltham, Hampshire. It is listed as Fay and Hal's address in the wedding announcements for their daughter Pam.
      • ?: Lithend, Bishop's Waltham
      • Up to 1975: In 1975, at the time of drafting his first will, Hal and Fay lived at "Martins", Chilbolton, Stockbridge in Hampshire. This looks like it would have been a property on Martins Lane in Chilbolton; the exact house is not given. It may have belonged to Fay's brother Hugh.
      • From 1975 until her death: Flat 1, 92 St Cross Road (Stockholm Court), Winchester. This would be where I (Charlie) have the vaguest of vague memories of visiting them (I would have been aged between 3 and 6).

      Death
      Fay died on the 3rd of March 1982, in Winchester, three years before her husband.

      Memories
      From Aunt Helen:
      Hal and Fay were a devoted couple, uncommonly for that time, I should imagine. I think Pam’s upbringing was very sheltered and protected, and she absolutely adored her father, who was pretty well stone deaf, thanks to being a gunner in WW1. Fay had been a “beauty” when she was young, petite, vivacious and extrovert she also had an extraordinary talent for colour and decoration, and the ability to see the value of things like antiques. Fay was, admittedly, bossy and very much liked getting her own way (Lala said spoilt by her husband). I think that they were quite a quiet family, interested in gentle pursuits, certainly not loud, boisterous and keen on blood sports like the Johnson brothers. Though Hal was an avid fisherman and spent most of the summer pursuing fish in one river or another.


      The Mitchell surname
      Patronymica Brittanica1 has the following on the origin of the Mitchell surname:
      The Anglo-Saxon mycel, great, or mickle, would be a tolerably satisfactory etymon, and this may in some instances be the origin of the surname; but I think in most cases it is derived from Michael, a very popular baptismal name in many countries, through its French form, Michel. This view is confirmed by the existence of the surname Mitchelson.


      Footnotes
      [1] Patronymica Brittanica, A Dictionary of the Family Names of the United Kingdom, by Mark Antony Lower, Publ. London 1860

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 27 Mar 1895 - Khandwa, Central Provinces, India Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsChristening - 9 Jun 1895 - Khandwa, Central Provinces, India Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsCensus - 1901 - 43 Church Road, Wimbledon, Merton, London, County of London, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsCensus - 1911 - 2 Thornton Hill, Wimbledon, Merton, London, County of London, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 13 Aug 1916 - Wimbledon St Mary's, Wimbledon, Merton, London, County of London, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - 1945 - Little Manor, Ashton Lane, Bishop's Waltham, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - Bef 3 Mar 1982 - Winchester, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 3 Mar 1982 - Winchester, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsProbate - 21 Apr 1982 - Winchester, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Photos
    Fay Mitchell (c. 1953)
    Fanny Curtis Mitchell
    4 Generations of Bryans Women

    Histories
    Brief family sketches    		Brief family sketches
    Quick summaries of the families of my 2x great grandparents.
    The Magna Carta Barons and Me    		The Magna Carta Barons and Me
    The pedigrees linking this tree to the 17 Magna Carta Barons with living descendents

  • Sources 
    1. [S0400] FamilySearch, India Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947, (familysearch.org), 9 Jun 1895, Fanny Curtis Mitchell; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FG6N-LLR : 5 February 2020), Fanny Curtis Mitchell, 1895.

    2. [S0303] FamilySearch, England and Wales Census, 1901, (familysearch.org), 1901, Mitchell; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9XX-8GK : 20 May 2019), Agnes Lockhart Mitchell in household of Harry Curtis Nisbet, Wimbledon, Surrey, England, United Kingdom; from "1901 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images.

    3. [S0303] FamilySearch, England and Wales Census, 1901, (familysearch.org), 1901, Nisbet; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9XX-8GJ : 20 May 2019), Lousia Margaret Nisbet in household of Harry Curtis Nisbet, Wimbledon, Surrey, England, United Kingdom; from "1901 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, f.

    4. [S0313] FamilySearch, England and Wales Census, 1911, (familysearch.org), 1911, Mitchell; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW8T-BBV : 8 July 2019), Agnes Mitchell, Wimbledon, Surrey, England, United Kingdom; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing.

    5. [S0076] Ancestry, 1939 Register, (ancestry.co.uk), Reference: RG 101/7140I.

    6. [S0052] The Times, 15 Sep 1945, Wedding Announcements - Pamela Ann Bryans.

    7. [S0302] FamilySearch, England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007, (FamilySearch.org), 1982, Fanny Curtis Bryans; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZ3-71B1 : 4 September 2014), Fanny Curtis Bryans, 1982; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death Registration, Wi.

    8. [S0119] Ancestry, England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, 1858-1966, 1973-1995, (ancestry.com), Fanny Curtis Mitchell.

    9. [S0402] FamilySearch, India Marriages, 1792-1948, (familysearch.org), 16 Jul 1894, Nisbet; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FGJR-HMC : 5 February 2020), Agnes Lockhert Nisbet in entry for Hugh McPherson Mitchel, 1894.

    10. [S0045] Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/35684295/.

    11. [S0301] FamilySearch, England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005, (familysearch.org), 1916, Henry Bryans & Fay Mitchell; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:26FM-ZLF : 13 December 2014), Henry M Bryans and null, 1916; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1916, qu.

    12. [S0120] British Newspaper Archive, Dublin Daily Express, (British Newspaper Archive), 11 Aug 1916, Page 4.