So some research on an unusual surname led to additions to my family tree, a curious story, and discovering that a casualty buried in Botley Cemetery is a distant cousin.
The next time I'm passing Oxford I will go and pay more personal respects.
The final records are for her death on 9 March 1952 at the Auckland Mental Hospital. Her cremated remains were scattered at the Waikumete Cemetery, to the west of Auckland.
Sergei moved alone to New Zealand in 1929 at the age of just 16. In 1939 he married a Scottish emigrant. At some point after the 1939 census Maud joined her son in New Zealand.
A search for early female war correspondents begins with those from WW2, such as Clare Hollingworth, who reported German tanks near the Polish border just days before the invasion that triggered war.
Perhaps Maud Mayow was the real pioneer, over 25 years earlier?
So it would appear that Maud Mayow had a spell as a war correspondent. This would have been a pioneering role for a woman at this time.
The 1921 UK census lists Maud Mayow, along with her 3 children, as a private "Teacher of Languages".
The emergency census in September 1939 recorded Maud, Theodore and Nadja living in Archway in north London. Maud is a "Journalist now retired (Foreign Correspondent)".
A Wikipedia article on journalists of the Balkan Wars of 1912/13 includes a Maud Mayov, working for the Saint Petersburg Telegraph Agency, noting "His name is also written as Maud Mayow". I think this is Maud Dukhevitsky, working under her mother's maiden name.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal...
Their father died in 1921 and is buried in Hampstead Cemetery. A family tree note states he was a journalist and had been an official censor for the Imperial (Tsarist) government. That would have prevented a safe return to Russia after the revolution in 1917.
www.findagrave.com/memorial/211...
Spelling variations slowed the research e.g. Nadja / Nadia or Dukhevitsky / Dukhovetsky. Nadja's birth was registered under her father's name. However Theodore was registered twice - in Q3 1915 under Mayow and then backdated, by hand, to Q2 1914 under Chapman.
At some point Maud had a relationship, probably marriage, with Theodore Arkadievitch Dukhovetsky, a Russian who was 24 years her senior. This resulted in 3 children, Sergei (born 1912, Istanbul), Theodore (1914 or 1915, Willesden, NW London) and Nadja (1918, Croydon).
The CWGC records note that Theodore was the son of Theodore Dukhevitsky and Maud Mayow, which suggested his mother might have remarried.
I then remembered that one of the 10 children of David and Sarah was called Maud and things began to fall into place.
On 27 December 1876 a distant relative called David Chapman married Sarah Mayow at All Saints church, Newington - off the Old Kent Road in south London. Initial research didn't reveal anything linking Sarah Mayow to Theodore Mayow.
During a night time training flight out of RAF Stanton Harcourt, 6 miles west of Oxford, the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V, serial BD271, broke up and crashed in flames near Brightwell Baldwin, 10 miles south east of Oxford. All 7 crew were killed.
Warrant Officer Theodore David Mayow, 1262062, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Died 10 April 1944. Age 29. Buried in Botley Cemetery, Oxford.
Warrant Officer Theodore David Mayow, 1262062, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Died 10 April 1944. Age 29. Wireless Operator.
www.cwgc.org/find-records...
One of the casualties caught my eye due to his uncommon surname - unique in the CWGC database - as it's also the maiden name of someone who, nearly 150 years ago, married a distant relative of mine.
Botley Cemetery, on the western edge of Oxford, contains nearly 750 war graves. Around 75% are from WW2, with about 80% of these having served in a Commonwealth Air Force.
Alfred was born 28 Jan 1919 in Leicester to Frederick and Sybil Christmas.
www.cwgc.org/find-records...
Father Christmas served as a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery during the Great War, spending time on the Salonica front.
After extensive repairs H.M.S. Candytuft was transferred to the U.S. Navy as U.S.S. Tenacity.
After the war she returned to the Royal Navy but was sold on as a commercial vessel, the Maw Hwa, in 1947. There's some suggestion she later became part of the early fleet of the Chinese Navy.
While on convoy duty between Iceland and St John's, Newfoundland, H.M.S. Candytuft - also a Flower class corvette - suffered a boiler explosion that killed 19 of her crew, with others badly scalded. She was towed to St John's where the injured were treated.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Can...
Leading Telegraphist Alfred Herbert Christmas, C/JX 141902. H.M.S. Candytuft. Killed 10 September 1941, age 22. Remembered on Panel 46 of the Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent, England.
Leading Telegraphist Alfred Herbert Christmas, C/JX 141902.
H.M.S. Candytuft.
Killed 10 September 1941, age 22.
Panel 46 of the Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent, England.
#ww2 #rememberthem #cwgc
A first cousin once removed, Wheeler Staff Serjeant Peter Last, T/39, Army Service Corps, died on 21 October 1914, and is buried in Woodbridge Cemetery, Suffolk.
www.cwgc.org/find-records...
A first cousin, Private William Mayhew, 16806, 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, was killed on 6 September 1915 and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.
www.cwgc.org/find-records...
On 19 June 1944 Albert Jack Hawke, the husband of John's elder sister Ethel, was a civilian casualty of a V1 flying bomb exploding on Union Street, Southwark, London. The CWGC records at least 45 of the 49 casualties of this event.
www.cwgc.org/find-records...
Born 1 March 1915, Teston, Kent, England. John was the 8th of 12 children to Charles and Alice Annie Last.
In late 1937 he married Dorothy Clara Osborne in Cranbrook, Kent. They had no children and she did not remarry.
www.cwgc.org/find-records...
H.M.S. Snapdragon, a Flower class corvette, was sunk by Luftwaffe bombing off the coast of Benghazi, Libya, with the loss of 24 of her crew.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sna...
Able Seaman John Ronald Last, C/JX 237050. H.M.S. Snapdragon. Killed 19 December 1942, age 27. Remembered on Panel 55 of the Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent, England
Able Seaman John Ronald Last, C/JX 237050.
H.M.S. Snapdragon.
Killed 19 December 1942, age 27.
Panel 55 of the Chatham Naval Memorial
#ww2 #rememberthem #cwgc
There is a very comprehensive history of this ship and her wreck here:
maritimearchaeologytrust.org/wp-content/u...
The Maritime Fleet Auxiliary Eleanor, out of Immingham and bound for Malta, was carrying un-fused mines when she was torpedoed and sunk around 10 miles off the south west of the Isle of Wight by submarine UB-57, with the loss of all but one of her 35 crew.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_UB-57
Born 4 Dec 1897, Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. The youngest of 6 children to Samuel and Bertha Wham.
www.cwgc.org/find-records...
Ordinary Seaman George Ross Wham, J/70396. M.F.A. Eleanor. Killed 12 February 1918, age 20. Remembered on Panel 28 of the Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent, England
Ordinary Seaman George Ross Wham, J/70396.
M.F.A. Eleanor.
Killed 12 February 1918, age 20.
Panel 28 on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent, England.
#ww1 #rememberthem #cwgc