Life Guards of the Household Cavalry

Congratulations to:

Owen J. Gronow

for gaining a coverted place within the Lifeguards, as a Household Cavalry - Junior Entry - Mounted Duty.

Best wishes & Good luck with his chosen career from his very proud parents, his brothers & sister.

David R. Gronow

In Memoriam

David Rodney Gronow

1944 - 28th August 2014

David collapsed and died while watching his beloved Yorkshire Cricket Club. David from Huddersfield, was a popular figure in league cricket and was the former captain of Armitage Bridge Cricket Club. He was perhaps best known for his work as club historian for the Huddersfield Giants.

David was the Grandson of Ben Gronow who was one of the best rugby league forwards in the world during the mid 1920’s, and was the only player from an English club to move to Australia in the first 50 years of the game Down Under.
 Funeral Service at Huddersfield Crematorium on Wednesday September 10th 2014 at 10.00 a.m.
{First Published in the Huddersfield Examiner on 3rd September 2014}

The Way to a Name

When I stumbled upon Caroline Linden’s novel ‘The Way to a Duke’s Heart’, I was bemused by the appearance of a one Maria Gronow, a coquettish, “ethereally beautiful” woman whose family is “a bit dodgy, if you believe the gossip.” It would have been easy to take offence at her mother, the crowing Mrs Gronow, or indeed the “damned wrong” Mr Gronow, if it were not for the inimitable decency of their fair daughter. When I messaged Caroline Linden about her inspiration for the name Gronow, she explained that during her research (take note writers of historical fiction), she chanced upon the reminiscences of our very own Captain Rees Gronow, the Welsh Grenadier Guards officer, and took a fancy to the name. The Gronows in ‘The Way to a Duke’s Heart’ are entirely fictional, but it is nonetheless entertaining to discover that your surname has found its way into the pages of a bestselling book!

Find the novel at Caroline Linden’s site: http://www.carolinelinden.com

 

Recently acquired certificates:

BIRTHS:

Cordilia Maria Gronow June Qtr. 1877 Pontypridd Vol.11a page 347
Maria Gronow June Qtr. 1879 Pontypridd Vol.11a page 354
William Gronow March Qtr. 1881 Pontypridd Vol.11a page 342
Joseph Sydney Gronow June Qtr. 1892 Pontypridd Vol.11a page 599
Leonard Gronow June Qtr. 1892 Pontypridd Vol.11a page 663
Beryl E. Gronow September Qtr. 1925 Pontypridd Vol.11a page 1262

Royal Welsh Ladies Choir

A musical memory of:
Gertrude Martha Gronow

1883-1966

&

Lilian Gronow

1906-1989

"As long as we live, there is never enough singing"

~Martin Luther

Tours of Canada & The United States of America

Royal Welsh Ladies Choir here on Friday.

The Royal Welsh Ladies Choir a chorus of fourteen voices under the leadership of Miss Gertrude Gronow will give a concert at 8 o'clock Friday evening at the Eirat Methodist church under the auspices of the Seneca Men's class of that church. The singers have been appearing in various cities in the State and have been received enthusiastically whefever they have appeared. Among their recent engagements were concerts in Elmitra, Olean, Bradford, Scranton and Youngs-Town.
Miss Gronow assembled the choir and brought it to America from her native home in Wales and she is the conductor of the choir as well as organiser. The singers will appear in costume and will present a varied program including songs in welsh as well as operatic numbers and familiar folk tunes. Solos and duet numbers will feature the program.
The choir met Queen Marie of Roumania on her arrival in Toronto the past year and Miss Gronow was received by the Queen.Among the notables and royalty before whom the choir members have presented their program is the Prince of Wales. Miss Gronow and Miss Jennie Ellis, a soloist in the choir on one of their tours Sang for Charles Evans Hughes in the State House, Albany, during his term as governor of New York state.
[Geneva Daily Times; Wednesday 23rd February 1927]

Welsh Choir to Sing

A musical event of unusual importance is promised in the visit to Cuba of the Royal Welsh Ladies choir, which will sing at the Presbyterian church next week Saturday, Feb. 5th. It is conducted by Miss Gertrude Gronow of Caerphilly, Wales. She has performed under royal patronage, and the Prince of Wales has expressed keen delight in the music rendered by her choir.
As a child Miss Gronow attracted notice in musical festivals and at length was engaged by Madame Hughes Thomas, well known in Canada and the United States, to tour on this side of the Atlantic. During the War she took prominent part in concerts for soldiers and sailors and in hospitals.
Miss Gronow has gathered a combination of voices of rare quality. Those who have heard Welsh choirs will not fail to attend this concert, as the singers of her race are renowned for their quality.
[The Cuba Patriot. N.Y. Friday January 28th 1927]

 

Mme. Gertrude Gronow and her Royal Welsh Ladies Chorus will appear in a concert Monday night Jan 31st at the Binghamton Central High school, under the auspices of the Men's Billy Sunday class of the Boulevard Methodist Episcopal church.
This organisation contains 14 women singers, most of them from the town of Caerphilly, a musical center within a dozen miles of Cardiff, capital of Wales. The group has appeared in all parts of Great Britain and on the continent and have sung by command, before the Prince of Wales and other royal personages. His Royal Highness was so impressed by their singing that he sent a letter of appreciation to Miss Gronow, and the choir received many engagements to appear in exclusive circles. Its initial appearance in the United States is the result of a nationwide appeal from musical communities.
Choral singing by women has become quite the vogue in Great Britian, and the Royal Welsh Ladies include some of the best known women vocalists in Wales and surrounding territory. Among them are: Mme Gronow, conductor; Miss Jennie Ellis, soprano five times a blue ribbon winner. Miss Louise Davis, Welsh soprano twice blue ribbon winner; Miss May John soprano, semi national winner; Miss Annie Flook; Mme Benjamin Thomas; Miss Mary Evans; Miss Gwenno Jones; Miss Gwen Maddox; Miss Ida W. Stevens; Miss Gladys Horgest; Miss Lilian Gronow.
[The Binghamton Press, Friday Evening January 7th 1927]

Again on the 8th October 1927 the choir left Southampton England bound for New York aboard the Cunard RMS Mauritania: The ships log lists the following members of the Royal Welsh Ladies Choir, together with their (ages). Gertrude Gronow, conductor: (44); Catherine Gowe, musician (32); Henrietta Veale, musician (22); Sarah Lewis, musician (37); Annie May John, musician (26); Grace Battinan, musician (21) Phoebe Northall, musician (20); Gwendoline Jenkins, musician (25); Morfydd Davies, musician (23); Eleanor Williams, musician (18); Doris Richards, musician (23); Sarah Williams, musician (31); Lilian Gronow, musician (21); Dorothy Hambly, musician (25)   (Lilian Gronow was the niece of Mme Gertrude Gronow).

John Gronow

in remembrance of:

John Gronow
1942-2014

 
Son of the late Thomas & Gladys Gronow of Ely Cardiff, Glamorganshire.

Peacefully after a short illness John aged 72 years sadly passed away in hospital on May 3, 2014.
John will be greatly missed by all his family and friends.
Resting at R J Larcombe Funeral Directors, 477 Cowbridge Rd West, Ely, until the service to take place in the Church of the Resurrection, Grand Ave at 1.30pm on Thursday May 15, to be followed by a interment in Western Cemetery.

GRO Indexes 1837-2014

GENERAL REGISTRY OFFICE INDEXES

I'm pleased to anounce that the GRO indexes for:

 Births, Marriages & Deaths

 for:

 England, Scotland & Wales

 from July 1837 - 2014 have been completed for the surnames:

GRONOW, GRONNOW & GORONWY

(with thanks to the support of Keith Jackson & Emma Harringway)

The General Registry Office was founded in 1836 by the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1836.
Every three months, (starting from July 1837) at the end of March, June, September and December, the Superintendent Registrars send a copy of each entry of birth, marriage, and death registered by their office in that quarter, to the Registrar General in London. From these returns the General Register Office produced indexes to its records which are open to public inspection and the indexes can be used to order birth, marriage and death certificates.( Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths  in Scotland began on 1st January 1855. and are held at the General Register Office in Edinburgh).

"........who's danced with the Prince of Wales"

  "I've danced with a man, who's danced with a girl, who's danced with the Prince of Wales" was a song written in 1927 by Herbert Farjeon at the height of the popularity of Edward, Prince of Wales

The death has occurred during the week of a well-known resident of Wotton-under-Edge.It was the proud boast of Mrs Mary Caroline Gronow, whose death occurred at Hugh Parry's Hospital, Wotton-under-Edge, that she once danced with King Edward VII.(when Prince of Wales) at Berkeley Castle. Mrs Gronow was in her 94th year. Her maiden name was Nicholls, the family formerly residing at Symonds Hill Farm.

{First published in 'The Citizen' on Saturday April 19th 1930.}

Mary Caroline Robinson Nickolls married Willianm Rhys Gronow on the 28th September 1869 St Mary the Virgin. Wotton-under-Edge.
[TREE 10]
 

Recently Acquired Certificates:

BIRTHS:

Ernest Joseph Gronow December Qtr. 1894 Hendon Vol.3a page 229.

MARRIAGES:

John Grennow March Qtr. 1873 Newport M. Vol.11a page 196.

DEATHS:

William Gronow December Qtr. 1854 Bridgend Vol.11a page 297.

Moonlight Sketches

Up for bid recently was the Antique 1910 Sheet Music Book or Booklet titled "Moonlight Sketches For Piano-Forte" that was compiled by Esther Gronow. It was published by the Whtie-Smith Music Publishing Co. The selections included are To The Firefly, Nocturne, On The Water, To The Stars and Berceuse. As for condition, the cover is about to come off and the sheet music inside is also on the loose side. Someone wrote their name and a date in 1923 on the cover. The place of original purchase was lightly stamped on the bottom. Aside from being loose, the cover and the pages inside are basically in pretty good condition for being over 100 years old. This booklet measures 9-3/8 inches by12-1/8 inches.