[10] I must now proceed to tell more particularly of my own life.
My maternal grandfather, Samuel Swan, was by trade a hatter, and worked for Christies the famous silk and beaver hatters in the City of London; he was there employed for a number of years, but resided in Bermondsey (I don’t know which way it is spelt, sy or sey) (footnote 1). After a time his health broke down and he was advised to reside in the country, so he opened a grocery business at a place in Hampshire called Fleetpond on account of the large sheet of water over which the London & S.Western railway was built, but the latter part of the name was dropped and it is known as Fleet (footnote 2).
My Grandpa did not get better and the grocery business was too trying for him, and the Dr ordered him a sea voyage. [11] So my Father and Mother took on the business and Grandpa took a voyage to Spain, quite an undertaking in the days before steam, but thought nothing of now. However his health improved and he came back & got employment with a firm of builders in South London, as timber buyer. I remember later my father driving him round in our pony-cart to look for and buy timber if suitable, also he used to attend auction sales of timber. But to go back.
Transcriber’s footnotes:
1. “sey” was correct.
2. Clearly shown on the map (see diary page [22]); the pond no longer goes under the railway, although there is water on both sides of the main line.
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