What does someone who is having loft insulation put into their loft in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, an author and poet in the USA, and a dean based in central London, have in common?
The answer is Henry Ellis Hoad (1897 – 1917).
Let me explain….
During the recent holiday, I became engrossed in using family history and related websites to track down my family tree. There are lots of free and also subscription-based databases which enable you to track your family. I quickly managed to track my relations back to the early 1880s. On my father’s side, my family all come from Northumberland and Durham. I discovered that I had a set of relations with the surname ‘Hoad’ and they had lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
For some reason, I googled one of them, ‘Henry Ellis Hoad (aka Harry), and discovered references to him (dated 2007) in the LiveJournal site which is a social network where individuals can keep a blog or diary. Someone had found items which were clearly related to Harry Hoad and this included a letter of reference from his headmaster which stated:
“Harry Hoad has recently left the above school. He is a capable and intelligent lad and occupied a high position in the Seventh Standard. He has ability more than the average in sketching and geometrical drawing. His conduct was always excellent and I can most heartily recommend him for employment.”
A R Shaw, Head Master, 09/02/1911
I was fascinated and I am currently trying to make contact with the blogger to see if there is further information available about this distant relation.
At the same time, I discovered that an author and poet living in the USA (I think) who on reading this blog entry was inspired to write a poem about Harry Hoad . Sadly, Harry Hoad died in the World War at the age of 20 years.
So, this little excursion into my family history has led me to be moved by the plight of one of them and the way in which a report from his headmaster survived and then online discussions inspired a poem. Connections were made across the globe. It is quite amazing and I am looking forward to sharing this story with the rest of my family as soon as possible but I couldn’t resist writing this item first….
