I thought I would take the reader through the journey of one of my old photos in my collection from buying to scanning and researching, and then writing a short blog about the family, always with the hope of reuniting the old photo with a descendant.

The photo I have chosen is a Cabinet Card photo taken by Photographer H Jenkins of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.

I bought this Cabinet Card, among many others, on 21 December 2024 at the Shoreham Postcard Fair. Next fair at this venue is Saturday, 28th June 2025. It is always good to go to a Postcard/Antique Fair or Fleamarket if you are looking for photos to research. It is also a great day out as you can choose from a huge number of Postcards or Old Photos. Plus, the people who sell and buy are lovely to chat to. More information on Postcard Fairs in your area here: https://postcard.co.uk/fairs.php

So now I have all my photos home it’s time for sorting into groups depending on what type of Photo…Postcards, CDVs or Cabinet Cards then larger framed pictures last. Now scanning them all, fronts and backs and putting in a file on my PC.

After this, I usually sort the postcards, CDVs, and CCs into small piles, depending on how much information is on them. Sometimes, I get lucky and come away with more than one with the same family name on it as I did this time. Scanning the Postcards, CDVs, and CCs also allows me to look a bit closer at the information written on them.

This one I’ve chosen is a gem as it states his full name on the back: George Francis Tester Born Nov 15 1898. Photo taken Jan 28 1899.

It looks like it could be a christening gown he is wearing, so that might be very helpful to match with a Baptism date.

I begin a small family tree with George Francis on Ancestry, father’s surname Tester. George’s birth year and born in Tunbridge Wells.

After leaving the tree for a while to gather hints, Ancestry came up with a possible family in the 1901 and 1911 census and also a single man in the 1921 census.

After looking carefully at the 1901 first, here below, it’s definitely a possible match with George as the eldest child and a younger sister Evelyn. Father George’s occupation is a Plumber and Painter and the family live at 84 Camden Road, (Paint Shop) Tunbridge Wells.

In 1911 we have the same family including George who now has two more siblings. The family are parents George aged 36 and Alice Mary aged 40 with their four Children George Francis aged 12, Evelyn Alice aged 10, Leslie James aged 6 and Robert William aged 4.

1911 Father George is a Shopfitter and the family lives at 17 Standen Street, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Among several hints that have popped up on the tree since I started, not all are correct I have to add, was also a Baptism record for young George, but only a transcription. I was lucky and found the actual image on Find My Past, it definitely states the Baptism was on the 8 January 1899, so whoever wrote on the back may have made a slight error with the date or they had the photo taken a little later than the Baptism. Nevertheless, with all the other information gathered, I’m sure I have the correct family as the Father’s occupation and their address fit too.

On the 1921 census (19 June 1921), George Francis Tester is now a young man of 22 years and 7 months, so that fits with his birth being November 1898. He is a boarder with his occupation being in the provision trade. Interestingly he is living and working at the premises of Sainsbury’s.

Sainsbury’s has a good online archive that has a little information and also photos for this branch, sadly not for 1921 but much later in 1955. The branch actually opened in 1888 and closed in 1955.

Moving on to the 1939 Register, young George is away from his family and is a Butchers Manager living at 28 Westway, Merton and Morden, Surrey. It also says he is married but all the entries below him are redacted, I’ll come back to that.

George’s parents are on the 1939 Register and now living at 9 Eastcliff Rd, Tunbridge Wells, Father George is a Builder.

Annie E Tester living with George and Alice above I’m thinking that she is possibly a daughter-in-law to the couple, wife to John Stanley their son at the bottom of the list living at the same address and the redacted entry below her could be their child. So searching on Find My Past, Civil Marriage and Divorce Records, entering surname Tester with possible spouse Annie Edith and it came up a match with Annie Edith‘s maiden name Adams. I did a search for any children on Find My Past, Civil Births with surname Tester and mother name Adams with one result a daughter called Amanda J Tester born 1935 in Hendon.

So now back to George, to find his mother’s maiden name, looking for his birth at GRO online with the result below. His mother was Alice Mary Lines before her marriage. Record below:

TESTER, GEORGE  FRANCIS  LINES GRO Reference: 1898  D Quarter in TONBRIDGE  Volume 02A  Page 715.

Was George Francis ever married? I believe he may have married twice, the first time to Doris Garner Plumtree in 1923, she was a Divorced lady by 1939 and died in 1943. Then a second possible marriage to Lily E Inchley in 1962. I cannot confirm either of these without marriage certificates.

This death record below from FreeBMD: Tester George Francis 15 Nov 1898 Maidstone Vol 16 Page 1555. With the crucial birth date.

Part 2 of the story of the Tester Family.

George Francis Tester, the baby in the photo, had one sister and three brothers. This second part is to give you a little more information about them and their parents.

Starting with father George Tester, born on 21 December 1874, the son of Elizabeth and George. George married Alice Mary Lines in the second quarter of 1898 in Potterspury, Northamptonshire. In 1901 with their first two children, he was a self-employed Plumber and Decorator. Then 1911 he worked as a Shopfitter.

In 1921 on the census George was a Builder and Decorator, an Employer. He died on 28 March 1950 at the age of 75.

The mother in the photo Alice Mary Lines was born on 27 May 1870 in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, her parents were William, who worked as an engine driver on the railway, and Mary. Alice lived a long life and died in August 1970 in Newton Abbot, Devon, at the age of 100 years and 3 months.

George’s Four Siblings.

The second child was a daughter Evelyn Alice Tester, she was born on 23 July 1900, in 1921 she was working as a Bookkeeper for a Butcher’s in Tunbridge Wells. In April 1925 she married Ernest Henry Jarrett. They had three children. Ernest was a Builder’s Manager in 1939. Evelyn died in December 1996 again like her mother she had a long life, she was 96. Ernest had died before her in 1970.

Next born was Leslie James Tester he was born on 8 July 1904. In 1921 he was an Articled Pupil at Stanley Philips Ltd Architects, Leslie did become an Architect and travelled to Canada and America during his working life. I’ve been unable to find evidence of a marriage for him. Leslie died on 28 July 1977 in Exmouth, Devon, at the age of 73. Did Alice move to Devon from Kent to be near her unmarried son Leslie in her later years.

George and Alice’s next child was Robert William who was born on 23 February 1906. He married Rose Kathleen Cox on 27 May 1934. Rose was the daughter of a Police Inspector and young Robert was a Police Constable. The couple had two children during their marriage.

Longevity definitely ran in the family as Robert lived to the age of 99 and died on 27 June 2005 in Brighton, Sussex.

A Terrible Discovery

While researching this small branch of the Tester family I came across a shocking and sad tragedy. I found it because I wanted to know why the couple’s eldest daughter Ann Christine Tester had died age 6 years old. But the digital death record for her was unavailable, strange? So I had to dig a little deeper. It’s often worth just Googling a name, it’s certainly been very helpful for me over the years and most definitely in this case. This is just one result from that search.

I started to follow all the different links associated with the bombing in Hastings during WW2 to build up a story of what had happened on the day Ann died.

It was a Sunday, so no school.

Blitz on the Coast: The Bombing of the Swan Inn, Hastings

“At 1pm on Sunday the 23rd May 1943, German fighter bombers, probably Focke Wulf 190s swept across Hastings and St Leonards in a ‘Tip and Run Raid’. They dropped 25 high explosive bombs and sprayed machine gun fire indiscriminately. The raid was the second worst for the town in terms of casualties, with 25 people killed in total and 85 injured, 30 seriously. Among the buildings suffering direct hits from the bombs were the Swan Hotel, Swan Terrace and Reeve’s Antiques, all on the High Street in Hastings Old Town“.

I was puzzled as to why Ann would be at a hotel? Eventually, I found out and it wasn’t just Ann that was killed but also her Auntie, her Mum’s sister Violet. Hastings suffered very badly all that week.

“Violet Cox and her niece Anne Tester, aged 6, were Clive Vale residents and lived next door to each other. On 23rd May 1943, Violet took Anne to the White Rock Pavilion.  They were walking home when they heard the siren and sheltered in the post office passage.  But the Swan landlord invited them to shelter in the inn“.

The Pavillion is on the left in the picture above.

Ann with her parents and sister lived at 55 Belmont Road, Hastings and Violet and her parents lived at no 53 they were half a mile from home when the siren sounded.

The Swan above took a direct hit, and Violet and Ann were killed instantly along with 15 others and many were injured, some seriously.

These were the casualties at the Swan.

The 17 souls that died at the Swan Inn were Violet Emily Cox age 32, a member of the Women’s Land Army (WLA) and her niece Ann Christine Tester age 6. Hilda Gummerson age 32 sister-in-law of Grace Rosina Gummerson age 31 who also died along with Grace’s son Trevor Ernest John Gummerson age 3. William Walter Hart age 47. Margaret Hayward age 79 and her son Henry Hayward age 43, a member of the Home Guard. William Roland Hilder age 57, a Lifeboatman, with an RNLI Bronze Medal. Joseph Pepper age 62. William Arthur Reed age 46. William Henry Roffe age 85. John Sommerville age 43. Thomas Winborn age 55 and George James White age 78.

Just the first part of the double funeral report for Violet and Ann in the Hastings and St Leonard’s Observer on Saturday 29 May 1943, the funeral was on 27 May 1943 at the Borough Cemetery, Hastings, Sussex.

A memorial service was held after WW2 had ended at St Clement’s Church on Wednesday 26th of May 1946 for those who lost their lives in the raid. Later, to commemorate the large loss of life on this site during WW2, the bombed site was cleared in late 1952 and converted into a memorial garden featuring a sundial with the names of those who had lost their lives on the pedestal.

If you want to read more about Hastings during WW2 there are several good websites to go on via Google. There are also nonfiction books about Hastings during WW2 written by excellent author Nathan Dylan Goodwin: Nathan Dylan Goodwin Books

The Borough cemetery where those killed in Hastings lie.

More Family History

The youngest child was also a son John Stanley who was born on 17 April 1911, John married Annie E Adams on 13 June 1934 in Tonbridge, Kent. It looks like they had one child. In 1939 John was a Solicitors Managing Clerk and the couple lived with George and Alice, John’s parents at 9 Eastcliff Rd, Tunbridge Wells, still there, see below, via Google Street, a large corner house.

John Stanley died on 12 December 1990 in Eastbourne, Sussex, at the age of 79.

Celebration of Life

There was a celebration of mother Alice Mary reaching 100 years old reported in the Kent & Sussex Courier on 29 May 1970.

Then when Alice Mary died 3 months later there was a report in the Torbay Express on the 12 September 1970. These give us a little family history too and confirm what I thought, that she was living with her son Leslie in Devon.

Are you a descendant of this Tester family? If you are please do get in touch either with a comment on here or via email to lynnswaffles@gmail.com. I would love for this fabulous old photo to return to its family.

This blog was originally shared on the Family Wise Blog earlier this year, in February and March, as a guest blog. Direct link here to Family Wise Blogs: Family Wise Blog