BOOK  OF  SMITH  HODGSON  FAMILY  ILLUSTRATIONS

Family Smith in Falmouth, Cornwall, around 1890

Cath: Photograph taken around 1890.

Great Grandfather William Smith.

Great Grandfather William Smith. Oysterman in Essex, Merchant Seaman in Cornwall (see higher).

Cath: Great Grandfather William Smith seated (in the centre) and wearing a big beard in the Smith Family photograph taken around 1890. His surname was Gross-Smith when he was born in West Mersea, Essex in 1840. He worked the oyster beds there then moved to Cornwall as a young man, married a Cornish woman (nee Bailey) and had eight children over 20 years. The eldest Jack was our grandfather.
William became a merchant seaman and travelled widely. He was in Russia when his eldest daughter was born so she was named after the river Neva. (Neva, top right in photograph with her hand on William's shoulder).
William died in Falmouth aged 74.

Grandfather Jack Smith, Horticulturalist. Eldest son of William Smith.

Grandfather Jack Smith, Horticulturalist. Eldest son of William Smith.

Cath: Grandfather Jack Smith (standing behind his mother) was born in Cornwall around 1867.
He trained as a horticulturalist, worked in planning of public gardens and parks and travelled within Great Britain. For many years his unmarried sister Neva, acted as his housekeeper. He met his future wife Kitty, when he was working in Dublin, Southern Ireland. He converted to Roman Catholicism on his marriage in 1907.
Renting in Camberwell, London all his working life, he bought a new house in Kent on mortgage on his retirement. He died in hospital in 1939 during a typhoid outbreak. As the hospital was isolated he couldn't be visited. Self-educated, he read Shakespeare and could quote many lines from his plays. He also liked tongue twisters, one of which was: «What noise annoys an oyster? Any noise annoys an oyster but a noisy noise annoys an oyster most».

Great Grandma Coates.

Great Grandma Coates, wife of Jake Coates in Dublin, Southern Ireland, Mother of three daughters, Kitty, Lizzie and Ellie.

Cath: From her portrait she looked Spanish so we thought she may have descended from an Iberian fisherman who landed in Ireland in the 16th or 17th century.
She was a staunch Roman Catholic and brought her daughters up in the faith. She had a difficult life as her husband Jake Coates was probably an alcoholic. There are many funny stories of his eccentric behaviour. He liked to drag his coat behind him in the road when he was drunk saying provocatively, in a broad Irish accent "Who dares to tread on the tail of me coat?" He also used to weep because he thought his daughters' feet were too large! In fact they all had very small, dainty feet.

Grandma Kitty Coates.

Grandma Kitty Coates, youngest daughter of Jake Coates.

Chris: Katy or Kitty Coates was Joan's mother. A strong Irish Catholic from Dublin who went to Mass every morning of her life and expected others to do the same. This is why Joan made her three girls go to Convent schools - prayers before every lesson, Mass on Fridays. To survive I learnt not to listen. It's a rather bad habit that I keep up to this day. She also destroyed my book with a nude drawing in it.

Cath: Kitty and Jack Smith courted for five years as Kitty would not leave her widowed mother until she had died. Kitty and Jack had five children. The first and last died while Molly, Desmond and Joan survived.
Kitty had a history of book burning. Jack had an illustrated copy of Dante's «Inferno». The children found it and were pouring over the graphic images of people being cast into hell. Rather than hide the book which she thought might give the children nightmares, she cast it into the furnace. Jack was shocked beyond belief when he realised what she had done.

Young John (Eric) Hodgson - RAF-Officer, 1939.

John (Eric) Hodgson retired in 1974.

Joan Hodgson - John's wife, 1980s.

Father John (Eric) Hodgson (1909-1983) and Mother Joan Hodgson (nee Smith) (1912- 2004).

Chris: John, Joan's husband loved nature, George the cat, Merlin the black cat, lots of gold rings and mirror, mirror on the wall - who is the handsomest of them all? He always had a few glasses of sherry before his evening meal, sometimes a gin. He had a running hate campaign with bad weather. Every day he would write a full report and keep the diaries to refer to the next year. The battle was unending. His other arch enemy was earwigs. Every night he would fill small flower pots with straw and place them on sticks above his prize dahlias. Every morning the war began. He seemed happy whenever he caught them. When he got old, Mum used to phone me in London. 'Come and see your father and make him laugh and weed some of the flower beds, but don't let him see you as he doesn't like anyone working in his garden.' He also loved the hamster and cried and cried when the cat killed it.

Chris: Joan always loved drawing and painting. I think when she was young she was an evening student at Camberwell School of Art. Her paintings were landscapes and still life mainly. Joan loved everyone. She used to get so excited when people were coming to visit. She could get tipsy looking at a bottle of sherry without even having a glass! Her love of people continued right until the end. When the young priest visited her, she would grab his hands and not let go.

Cath: Joan was a clerk in the Soho office of Paramount Films from 1929 to 1939 when she married John (Eric) Hodgson. She attended drawing classes at the City Lit during much of this time. It was years later when her four children were older that she took oil painting classes and often sat in the countryside to paint Kent landscapes.

John and Joan on riverbank,..

...Chris in river.

John and Joan on riverbank and Chris in river, 1941.

Chris: John was stationed in Egypt, a country he loved. Grandma Kitty Coates told me that in 1941 or so, we moved from Kent to Hay on Wye to escape the bombs dropped by the German planes returning from bombing London. John and Joan were reunited and played on the river bank sexily - but Chris in river. They remembered! After a while I was missing.

Cath: This was another of Chris's exaggerations. She did fall into the water but was removed immediately. Grandma was angry when they returned and Chris had a wet dress.

Chris in Bed of Nettles.

Chris in Bed of Nettles, 1945.

Chris: We were evacuated during the war to Hay on Wye. After the war we couldn't return to our house as it had to be pulled down and rebuilt. We rented a house in Brookmead Avenue in Bromley. The Primary School was quite close so after a while I went there on my own. On the way there were overgrown plots where houses were destroyed. One of these plots was a massive field of stinging nettles - yes, two older boys from the school picked me up and threw me into the centre of the nettles. I was in total shock - the lumps began to appear all over my mostly bare skin. I turned from white to raspberry pink.

Cath: At the end of the war the whole country was in ruins. Fathers were coming home to children who were undisciplined as they had been allowed to roam free. There was a lot of cruelty and suspicion and scarcity of food. Chris was unlucky enough to be a five year old, alone and easy prey to feral children.

Joan Breast Feeding.

Joan Breast Feeding, 1940-1955.

Chris: Joan just loved having a baby. I remember her with a big smile on her face while she breast fed in the comfort of her pillows.

Cath: I have no memory of this as it may have been me or Caroline as a baby. I am surprised that Chris has drawn our mother so graphically as my memory of Joan was that she was quite modest although very flirtatious.
I think that as the eldest of four, Chris often felt resentful of her siblings. She remembers doing piles of ironing and washing up. She never wanted to bring friends home as there were always nappies drying in front of the fire in winter which embarrassed her.

Joan and John with their four children (Chris, Cath, Caroline and Mike), Kent, 1959.

John (Eric) Hodgson, former Civil Servant, 1980s.

John (Eric) Hodgson, former Civil Servant, 1980s.

Chris:John really wanted to be the only child^*. He found it very hard when baby after baby demanded and demanded everything. He sat in his chair and smoked.

Cath:John didn't know how to be a father as his own had died when he was four years old. He didn't like the name of Eric and preferred to be called John. He had been a choir boy at Westminster Public School where he and his older brother were badly bullied. They sang every day in Westminster Abbey. Brought up to be a gentleman, his manners were perfect. If he passed his daughters in the street, he would raise his hat to them and he always stood up and opened doors for ladies. He hated his job as an Executive Officer in the Civil Service and longed for retirement all his working life. He dreamed of emigrating to a warm country but never had the courage to make the move. The last ten years of his life were the happiest when his children had left home and he had his wife all to himself.
John used the family house, his only material asset, to guarantee a loan for me when I bought a dental practice in 1980. This was a huge leap of faith as he worried about money all his life.
John smoked from the age of 14 in 1923 until his death in 1983.

Cath with baby Caroline.

Cath with baby Caroline, 1955.

Chris: Catherine, aged 6, pushed Carol in the pram and also walked Bruin the dog while pointing her toe.

Cath: I was given almost total responsibility for my baby sister Caroline born in 1955. I was sent to do the weekly shopping, going to four or five shops, loading up the pram and returning with the right change. I had been taking ballet lessons from the age of three and it amused Chris that I was always willing to perform.

Caroline Hodgson.

Chris: Caroline loved playing with her plastic animals. She had so many horses that were a magic escape world for her.

Cath: Caroline was a very sensitive, thoughtful child. She never felt understood in the family and never got used to being teased which was the principal mode of communication of her older brother Michael. Our parents never intervened. Caroline loved animals, particularly horses but never tried horse riding.

Cath Hodgson in Kent.

Chris: Catherine was probably the perfect child, calm and positive she could do almost anything she set her mind to, the trouble was that too much was expected of her. It was good for her to study hard and become a dentist but how much childhood did she really have? Was she always the surrogate mum to Carol? There was bound to be some resentment in later life.

Cath: As far back as I can remember, I always felt responsible for myself, my siblings and my parents. I believed everything I was told uncritically. This included adhering to the Roman Catholic faith, being good at home and at school and always doing my best. At puberty I rebelled, read widely and wanted to experience as much as possible about what life had to offer.

Chris's first holiday job.

Chris: When I was 15, I got a holiday job at a holiday camp Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight. I worked in the cafe in the main hall serving teas, coffees etc. What the advert didn't mention was that the floor of the cafe had to be washed by hand before work began. No mops - a real waste of energy. I must have been so naive then. I was asked to get some stuffing from one of the chefs in the kitchen (there were loads of them) and yes all the chefs screamed with laughter and said they all wanted to stuff! I remember running, running back across the compound to the safety of the cafe, horrified. Working in the cafe I was shocked to see how the holiday makers were treated. On a very loud tannoy a voice would humiliate and abuse any unhappy campers. Campers were made to do forfeits if they were late but no one complained. It seemed that this was their fun holiday.

Cath: In the 1950s, holiday camps were popular in seaside towns, the most famous being Butlins. Our father never took us to one as he thought they were too working class. The humour was very sexist and misogynistic.
Stuffing as in stuffing a turkey before roasting it. Also used as a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

Chris in Yachting Accident.

Chris: I soon made friends when I was working on the Isle of Wight. One of them was Barry. His parents had two yachts. Barry invited five of us to sail with him. We were so excited and brought food and clothes. I even brought an alarm clock so we would get back to work on time. It was great fun for two hours until strong winds arrived. We had no experience and I don't think Barry had either. The boat overturned and we, clothes and alarm clock were at the bottom of the sea. No one was injured but the boat was too heavy to right so we all had to swim and push it to the shore. It took 6 hours because the tide had gone out and we had to drag the boat through and over thick sticky mud. Totally exhausted the mud men got back to the camp, too tired to work. We could only shower and collapse.

Cath: This adventure could easily have been fatal but Chris at 15 and since did not seem to have any fear. It is amazing that she has survived into her 80s. 😄

Chris's first Admirer.

Chris: The curious case of Fatty Freeman, was a friend of my brother Michael. All of a sudden he started to meet me on my way home from school with a stupid embarrassed smile on his face. Knowing looks and fat wet lips. It was quite awful. When I eventually asked my brother he laughed and said he had told Fatty that I was keen on him but shy. Michael could get us together if Fatty passed on all his comics every week!!!

Cath: This would have been in 1956 when our brother was 10 and Chris was 16. Michael was pimping his older sister shamelessly.

Aunty Teresa.

Chris: Aunty Teresa was one of Joan's oldest friends and a Catholic believer, totally devoted to her children. She talked about nothing but her five children so whenever we knew she was coming, we scarpered. She was like the ISIS of that time, come to destroy the brains of us four innocent children. We all rushed into the small bedroom to hide from her, keeping as silent as possible but she came in like a heat seeking missile to deliver the latest news about her children. Once a month, Teresa and Joan met with one child each to go to Saddlers Wells or Covent Garden. They both loved ballet and I got to love dance through them. Teresa was Michael's God Mother and always brought Liquorish Allsorts for him when she came.

Cath: Like Joan, Teresa had many children because they followed the Roman Catholic religion in which contraception was forbidden. Chris grew to like watching ballet although she never took lessons. I had ballet lessons every week for ten years but was not so keen on watching performances.

Caroline on a White Charger.

Chris: Caroline always wanted to be depicted riding a snow white horse. Just for you and your fantasies Carol!

Cath: Caroline was a Romantic from an early age. She never did take riding lessons as that would have been too practical.
She had an extensive vocabulary from two, wrote poems of great insight at six and was reading and understanding adult novels at seven.

Caroline washing up, 1961.
Chris: There was once a beautiful princess Caroline^* who lived with her two ugly sisters at 56 Cherry Tree Walk. Caroline had previously met a friend from gay Paris, Prince Jerome Bessac. She really fell for his charms, but she had to find a way to ensnare him. By the luck of the gods her sisters were told to tell her that if she did all the Sunday roast washing up by herself she would win the handsome French man. So she did it all and found out that the ugly sisters told porky pies!!!

Cath: 56 Cherry Tree Walk was our address in Kent. 'Porky pies' is rhyming slang for lies

Game invented by Chris.

Chris: Catherine and Caroline enjoy their now famous «breast of lamb fat» fight. They used up all the shampoo even the washing up liquid when the time came to wash their hair.

Cath: This was typical of the way Chris found to amuse herself when she was babysitting her siblings. The bowl of fat was her choice of ammunition when she had started the fight. We scooped it out by hand and smeared it on each other. In the end Caroline and I were both messy losers much to Chris's delight.

Nadir, brave «Mongol».

Chris: Nadir Khan - «Mongol» - Cath's first husband in a Muslim way,^* had a terrible temper and hated everything western. He wanted to become wealthy in the West but he didn't so he returned to his tribal roots.

Cath: Nadir Hussain Khan, a Shiah Muslim from Pakistan was introduced to the family in 1965. With their help he got his British passport in 1970 and returned to his family in 1978. He was the first person from the Orient I had encountered having read «The Arabian Nights» and the «Rubaiyat» of Omar Khayyam in translation. Nadir's tribe of Hazara Mongols came from Central Asia, converted to Shiah Islam in Persia, then settled in India. At the partition of India in 1947, that part of India became West Pakistan.
In the illustration, Chris has depicted me as a submissive Muslim wife after Nadir has symbolically beheaded Joan and John (our parents).

Post Card for Mum and Dad from Chris, 1965.

Chris: «Dear Mum and Dad.
No doubt you are wondering how the kids are getting on. Well, just to set your minds at rest, everything is normal and everyone sends their love:
Pinky plays with Rosy and Billy;
Further fun for Cath,
George and Merlin are waiting for you,
Caroline though half starved still manages to entertain Mr Hooper, Mr Fisk, Keith, Laurie, Mr Bushy Eyebrows, the Butcher, Roger and Fatty Freeman for you Mum^*.

Love, CHRIS.»

Cath: In 1965, Chris was living in London while John and Joan took a short holiday leaving their three younger children at home (56 Cherry Tree Walk in Kent). Chris sent them a hand-drawn card to let them know what was happening, all be it in her imagination.

Chris in Student Riots in Paris.

Chris: The first time I went to Paris with Ann Murphy ^**, the OAS were freedom fighters wanting independence from France. They were having battles with the French police who were outnumbered. I was told French convicts were let out of prison to fight. Our hotel was peppered with gun shot - we were stopped with guns all over the place - but somehow we were too naive to be worried. We just carried on enjoying Paris, boat trips, cafes, fantastic food I had never experienced before. We met a group of French students from the Sorbonne who took us to clubs and boat trips on the Seine, so we never bothered about the guns going off. We got used to showing our passports and carrying on.

^** Ann Murphy, the figure in the middle, was one of Chris's girlfriends.

Chris could have been any of the girls in the student riots picture. They were all hippies in those days. - Comments by Cath.

Students of the Sorbonne.

Chris: I met Jerome Bessac and Jean Paul when I was a student at Hayters Atellier in Paris. They were students at the Sorbonne, mid's 60s. They liked to test the public's reaction to shocking stunts which generally took place on the Paris Metro - it was easy to get away quickly! Here is one eating raw liver and letting it drip in front of people.

Cath: They were studying Philosophy and testing reality and social norms.

Shirin with baby Jack in 1983.

Chris: Chris and her daughter Shirin used to stay with me by the sea in Essex every summer holiday for six weeks. Shirin was ten when her cousin Jack was born. She loved to look after him when I was at work. Jack's father was a full time house husband at the time and was pleased to relinquish the care.
Shirin loved horses and horse riding and had dogs which she mothered with devotion.

Caroline and Stefan on a Boat.

Chris: Caroline and Joan went on a boat trip from Polperro. Joan caught them on camera. They also saw a whale.

Cath: Caroline and Ian left London when Stefan was four to live in Cornwall. It wasn't a sensible move financially but they felt it was more important to give their son a safe childhood. They stayed on in Cornwall after Stefan left home. Stefan works and lives in London but considers Cornwall as his home, visiting regularly

Chris with baby Jack in Essex, 1985.

Grandma Cath with Isabella and Oliver, 2010.

Grandmothers and Grandchildren.

Cath: I am proud that there are 37 years between my two degrees, one in science (BDS), the other - in history of art (MA).

Translator: Cath is modest and didn't mention that when she was 60, she entered SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), part of London University to study Arabic. She realised her ambition 44 years after she had first encountered Islamic Philosophy. From my view point, this is a bright example showing that learning is never too late for anyone.
Cath has one son, Jack. Jack has two children, Isabella and Oliver.
Chris has one daughter, Shirin, and Shirin has no children. Chris likes dancing and enjoying herself. She's a hippie , and it seems she has always been one. A couple of years ago when she was 78, she got an intricate tattoo on her hand.
Caroline has one son, Stefan. Stefan has no children yet.

Stefan as a Fireman in Polperro.

Chris: During his early years, Stefan became the self appointed fire officer in Polperro, a job he took very seriously. Indeed, he was always on duty. Back and forth he ran with a saucepan on his head and a vacuum cleaner hose held tightly. No job was too small or too large, a truly impressive sight.

Cath: Stefan was a sweet child, three years younger than my son Jack. As they were both only children, they were more like brothers than cousins. Although they did not live near each other, they often spent holidays together in Cornwall, Essex and Morocco.

Chris with Smugglers in Gibraltar.

Chris: Gibraltar on nights when the moon was not to be seen. I was on holiday in Gibraltar. I couldn't sleep so about midnight I went down to the beach and sat on the rocks. Suddenly loads of men in black wet suits and helmets, ran down past me and signalled to me not to speak. They jumped into their boats, no lights. I later learnt that these guys smuggle drugs from Morocco to Gibraltar, later to cross the bay to Spain. The British had given the Gibraltarians helicopters with powerful search lights to spot and gun them down. There are many, many young millionaires who made it with a quick dash at night!! I really liked Gibraltar - all different nationalities got on well together.

Cath: Chris always loved an adventure and was ready to accompany anyone who was going somewhere or doing something exciting.

Joan and Gerald Leck in Polperro.

Chris: Joan adored Gerald who could flirt to order with anyone.

Cath: Caroline, Ian and Stefan moved to Cornwall from London in 1987 to a small fishing village. When Joan came to visit from Kent, she made friends with the locals. Gerald, a local fisherman and lothario, was a favourite of hers as he could be lots of fun. He matched her gregariousness and told wonderful stories.

Cath and Chris in Goa.

Chris: We were in Goa when it was the anniversary of Joan's death so we decided to light some candles in the Cathedral. The stand for the candles was outside the main building. We each bought some. As soon as they were alight, an old Indian lady just leant over and squashed them saying they would burn the place down even though she had just sold them to us!

Cath: That was surprising behaviour but it didn't upset me as I didn't attach any spiritual significance to lighting candles for the dead.

Stefan as Economics Graduate.

Chris: Caroline and Ian's son.

Cath: Stefan loved growing up in Cornwall. He loved the sea, rowing and football. He did not like the relative poverty of his parents and determined to understand finance and become wealthy. His first and Masters Degrees were both in Economics.

Cath with spirit of Joan.

Chris: Cath and I were searching for tigers in the jungle of Rajistan. I called out something to her and Mum was there. She never liked missing out on adventures! I think the forest rangers had a roar machine.

Cath: After Joan had been widowed, I took her on several holidays to Europe and New Zealand. She died in 2004 so then I took Chris on holidays to Europe, the Middle East and India. It was while we were camel trekking in India that Chris had a vision of Joan. I didn't feel her presence but I am not as psychic as Chris.

Thurza Simmons was born in 1919, 2010.

Chris: Thurza was an artist with a great sense of fun. She produced some lovely pieces of work. She should have been a full time illustrator, instead she taught at an all girls Convent School for most of her working life so sadly her paintings and prints were seen by far too few people. Every lunchtime she would go over to Whiteley's in Kensington and have a glass of wine and a risotto that she only pecked at like a little bird. The staff loved her - she was a great flirt. This took place after her husband Clifford had died. She painted until the very end and flirted.

Cath: Thurza was my art teacher at the Convent Grammar School I attended from the age of 12. She was always very encouraging and her art classes were usually discussions on philosophy and psychology as well as art history. We lost touch for 30 years but when we met accidentally in London, we remained friends for the last ten years of her life. After she died, I carved a headstone for her and her husband. They are buried together in Brompton cemetery. I also produced a hard back book of her collected work - drawings, prints and paintings.

Jack with Isabella.

Chris: Jack and his daughter Isabella. Jack is a lovely, laid back dad. His kids adore him.

Cath: It is lovely to see what a loving relationship Jack has with his children. His own father and I parted when Jack was three. After that, Jack only saw his father on alternate weekends until he was a teenager. Jack was a kind older brother to his step brother and sister.