JG Weston

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile managers: JG Weston [send private message] and Jane O'Sullivan [send private message]

Biography

This profile is part of the Weston Name Study.

JG Weston is a member of the Aspinwall Name Study Project.

JG Weston is a member of the Winn Name Study Project.

JG coordinates:-
Aspinwall One Name Study
Winn Name Study
Newick, One Place Study
Whitby, Yorkshire One Place Study

JG Weston is a member of the Hampson Name Study Project.

JG Weston participated with Roses during the 2021 Source-a-Thon, adding sources to 48 previously unsourced profiles.

JG Weston was born in Rochford, Essex, England.

JG was born on 7 November 1938 at Rochford Hospital, Rochford, Essex, England, United Kingdom. Map: [1] ^[1]. His parents were Geoffrey Weston and Norah Winn.^[2] who were living in Chelmsford Avenue, Southend at the time ^[3]. At that time Rochford was a general Hospital and served Southend and the surrounding area. When Southend General Hospital was built, Rochford became a maternity hospital. In the 70s or 80s it was sold for housing.

When he was still an infant the family, his parents and sister Mary, moved from Southend to Harold Wood, Essex, (thought to be safer than Southend due to the fear of invasion). In fact nearer to London and the coming Blitz. Though Harold Wood was not targetted it suffered from jettisoned bombs when the bombers were caught by the fighters..

He attended Gubbins Lane Primary School, Harold Wood, (now a neighbourhood centre) and from 11 he attended Romford Royal Liberty school at Gidea Park.

He won a County Major Scholarship and attended Queen Mary College London failing the 2nd year exams. After temorary jobs of hoeing cabbages and hospital orderly he joined Ford Moter Company at Avely Parts Depot.

On 12 August 1960 he married Thea (Davis) Kentish at St Peter's, Harold Wood, Essex, England, United Kingdom. Map: [2]^[4] with the reception at the church hall of All Saints Ardleigh Green ^[5].

They moved into a new house at Stanford-le-Hope, Essex and after a few years they moved to Hockley, Essex where their two children were born.

Together they had two daughters

1. Jane (1967) ^[6],
2. Ruth (1970) ^[7].

When Ruth was still a toddler they moved to Rayleigh, Essex.

They were later divorced in 1988 (Nisi: 20 July, Absolute: 5 September)^[8].

On 26 November 1988, aged 50, he married Carol Margaret (Donnison) Weston (1950-2019). aged 38, at Brentwood Registry Office. ^[9]. They were living at 5 Thorndon Court, Eagle Way, Warley at the time. The marriage was witnessed by Gillian Stockton and Iris Grimwood. This marriage ended on 6 February, 2019 on the death of his wife. In 1989 they moved to South Woodham Ferrers, Essex.

He moved to Oxfordshire in May 2022.

Autobiography

My earliest recollection is sheltering under the table with mum during an air raid. I have other fragmented early memories; coming round after gas at the dentists, standing guard in Mum's tin hat with a wooden rifle outside our air raid shelter, playing with my train set and dinky toys. I have a theory that we don't actually remember these memories, but we remember recalling these memories. The ones that remain are those that we have often recalled. Early memories were made permanent at the time through high emotions or later by viewing photographs taken at the time. Photographs are very important for retaining memories, Perhaps our memories will improve now that we have mobile phones with cameras and selfie-sticks and taking more pictures. One of the benefits of digital over film.

During the war we upgraded our shelters. We started under the table (wooden) so not much protection from a collapsing house but helpful from a nearby bomb perhaps. Later we used to go next door to their shelter when they had one put up until we got our own Anderson shelter. I have recollections of a Morrison shelter which I think was at the Doctors at the Drill , Gidea Park (mum used to do cleaning for them). The Morrison shelter was an indoor one, basically a metal table that would withstand a collapsing house so survivors could be rescued from the rubble.

Mum was a Civil Defence warden (a Fire watcher) and I still have her arm band. She also had a stirrup pump which we still had after the war and used to water the garden.

I remember fetes in the park run by the NFS (National Fire Service) from the top of Recreation Avenue, Harold Wood, (we lived at number 33 which backed on to the park). These were towards the end of the war and maybe after, but they died out, perhaps when the NFS departed. There was one fete where I was left in Mary's charge while mum went off to buy vegetables. I persuaded Mary that we needed to go the announcement tent and put out a lost child call. She was reluctant but I insisted. When I got there the chap on the microphone said "how can you be lost, you live over there", pointing at our house. Nevertheless I insisted and to pacify me he made the call. When mum arrived she was furious as she had to abandon the queue she had spent all that time in. The NFS had the famous Green Goddesses, I remember them all being taken away. The station was left there derelict and we used to play in it climbing up inside the boiler house to the roof.

During the war Mary was evacuated to Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire, but I was too young to go (I was only 1 in the Battle of Britain) and stayed with Mum. Mary came back after the worst of the Blitz was over and we had an air raid shelter by then. Towards the end of the war when V1s and V2s started we were evacuated again, and I went this time.

I attended Gubbins Lane Primary school and sat for entrance to Christ's Hospital, the Blue Coat school but didn't qualify. I also sat for entrance to Sir Anthony Brown's but none of us from Gubbins Lane qualified, we all went to the Romford Royal Liberty instead. I applied for an apprenticeship in the RAF when I was 15, but failed the medical due to colour blindness. I continued in to the 6th form taking Pure Maths, Applied Maths, Physics and Chemistry. In the upper 6th form I dropped Chemistry, getting A levels in the other three, and was awarded a County Major Scholarship.

I went on to Queen Mary's College, London University to study maths but dropped out after failing the second year exams. I then went to work for Ford Motor company at Parts Division, South Ockendon as a computer operator on their Leo II/4, transferring to a computer programmer after a couple of years. I was later transferred to Dagenham, programming their Leo II/13 and picking up 1401 programming from reading the manual. We were moved about, at one time working in Gants Hill, which was a long way to commute from Stanford-le-Hope, and parking was difficult.

I got fed up with the travelling and went to work at Regent Oil in Mayfair in 1963 where they had an IBM 1401^[10]. I enjoyed two and a half years there, but in the end the commuting got me down; the train wasn't too bad, it was the packed central line from Fenchurch Street (later Liverpool Street when we moved to Hockley) to Marble Arch. I left in 1965^[10] and moved to Marconi in Chelmsford who were going to get a KDF9, but I didn't like it, so after 9 months, on 15 November 1965 I went back to Ford, now at Warley Central Offices, an old Essex Regiment barracks. (sold for housing in 2019). My service date for pension purposes was set at 24 February 1963 due to my previous service ^[11].

Ford now had an IBM 7010 and four 1401s, located at Dagenham. Later they got an IBM system 360 located at Warley (subsequently 370s, 3032s, Amdahl, etc.). As the 1401s and 7010s were decimal machines every one could write simple programs, though computer programmers were used for the meaty stuff. When the 360s arrived they were binary and only the brightest could cope, many programmers had to transfer to systems analysis. Not only that, but the 360 had an operating system which had to be generated, this was considered a menial task and was delegated to the maintenance section where I was, and so I became a software programmer. The maintenance section was considered the bottom of the barrel, but in fact was the harder task as we had to look after the old 1401 programs which had been patched to keep them working, and had no source, just an object deck and some notes on bits of paper. We got used to reading the program code in the core dump. This was a skill I carried over to the S/360, even being able to read some of Cobol source code from a core dump.

I moved from software support to software planning around the time that micro computers first became available to the hobbyists and I bought an early Research Machines 380Z, then later a ZX80 and later still a BBC-B. At work we found that offices were buying their own because managers could sign them off on petty cash, they were so cheap. They were programming them in basic and then getting into trouble when the "expert" who had programmed them left and turned to us for help. Our answer was we don't support them, you bought it, you sort it out. To bring order to chaos we issued a standard that we would support Apple II using a range of software packages such as Visicalc, but not own code in Basic. We also supported Office computing via Wang Office, but that was a different department. When the IBM PC came out many 3270 terminals were replaced by PCs using a 3270 emulator to connect to the mainframe. We progressed through DOS, Windows 2, Windows 3, etc. I bought a PC clone and later Carol had one too. We progressed through many desktops and eventually moved on to laptops. Carol also bought an I-pod, then an i-phone and an i-pad. We also progressed through the painful process of Microsoft upgrades from Windows 3.1 to Windows 10. Carol had Vista and had no problems with it . I stayed with Windows 7 until Windows 10 came out. Windows 10 was fast when it first came out, but is now ponderously slow. Windows 7, (which I still have) is much better.

When CB radio was legalised my daughter Jane got interested and I got a set as well. I then joined the Rochford and District Radio Society passing the Radio Amateur exam about 1985, obtaining a class B license, G6XBM. In 1987 I passed the morse test at South Foreland and became G4XBM. My daughter Ruth passed the exam at the minimum age and took over G6XBM.

I retired from Ford under a voluntary redundancy scheme in 1985 and went to work for a consultancy firm that provided contract staff to Ford. I did this for a further two years. Since retiring I have satisfied my need to program by writing HTML and have my own website. I also used to maintain the website for the South Woodham Ferrers U3A at [3].

In the good old days, when we were members of CIX ([4], [5] Compulink Information Exchange), we were in the conference Grand_Hotel. I played the role of the Hotel manager, Mr Mortlake, whose trade mark was that he always got things wrong and when things were going badly would nip off to the kitchen for the chef (Ronfvs) to rustle up a plate of sausages, but they had to be the best. We are no longer on CIX, but I do miss Grand_Hotel. However, Mr Mortlake still loves good sausages.

I became interested in Genealogy after my Aunt (Margaret Weston) gave me a family tree that she had been obtained from her grand mother, hence was strong on the Medd side of the family. I started on Genes Reunited and then moved over to Ancestry and have now discovered Wikitree is even better. Things were going well until my wife died, so I have had less time lately. I am still stuck with my maternal grandmother, Lilian Ethel Ottoway (possibly Ottaway). I have a birth date of 22 March 1884 at Woking from her marriage certificate, but have been unable to find a birth certificate or transcription record, I have had some good tips from other Wiki genealogists but have not researched them much yet.

David Weston of Nova Scotia put me in touch with Stephen Weston who is my 3rd cousin, also descended from George Gibson Weston (1797-1878), but from [[Weston-4612|John Frederick Oberlin Weston's] elder brother; George Samuel Weston (1835-abt.1910). I did have a web site where I was developing our family tree, thomas-weston-1725.me.uk, but I let the domain lapse and concentrated on Ancestry. He also introduced me to DNA testing and I took the free Sorenson Y-chromosome test and obtained 16 markers [6]. Stephen had done the full test and had 37 markers. I later did an Ancestry autosomal test.

Ancestry prices keep going up, or functionality is moved to a higher price bracket, so we have let our subscription lapse and will be transferring all our data here. This is a much better system anyway with the concept of one profile per person and a strong emphasis on accuracy, rather than copying data from tree to tree and replicating other peoples mistakes. With separate records in individual trees, if a member updates any information, it is not propagated to any prior copies of that data, so in time the entire database ends up with inconsistences.

Although I was registered and christened as John Geoffrey, in later life I have adopted JG as my name (I have not made a formal deed poll). This came about when I was a radio ham, we were all "John's" on our morning mobile net so we adopted handles to distinguish each other. I used my initials as I couldn't think of anything else at the time. I then realised I had always signed myself as JG Weston, so it was de-facto my name. I have since always introduced myself as JG and people have got used to calling me that. It is handy, as if someone calls out "John", I don't have to ask "Do you mean me?".

I also go by the names of Charlie and Wab (sometimes Chuck or Wabbo), though these were Carol's pet names for me.  Our name for starlings was either wab or charlie (I have forgotten why, it goes back 30 years or so).  As I am an habitual mimic, copying any sounds I hear, I was called a starling which soon became wab or Charlie.

Dad wanted to name me Wellesley as three Vickers Wellesley bombers set a long range distance record to Australia when I was born. Mum said no! I doubt that either of my parents knew that Arthur Wellesley KG GCB (1769-1852) (The Duke of Wellington, after whom the planes were named) was 21 degrees from my father. The record was told to me by my father, it is not mentioned in Wikipedia on that day but is mentioned on the page about the bomber^[12]. However it does record on that day that Herschel Grynszpan shot the diplomat Ernst vom Rath at the German embassy in Paris which led to Kristallnacht on the 9th. ^[13]. At junior school I told my friend Bill Ashpole, about my near middlename and he promptly told everyone else, and I got the nickname Welsey which lasted throughout my school career, (Romford Royal Liberty).

I have a great fondness for music, mainly classical but also jazz and pop. My favourites are baroque and early classical, traditional jazz and romantic and protest pop. I first became interested in music when I joined the church choir as a boy chorister. We were all trebles, but I sometimes unofficially joined in with the altos. I can still remember the delight of discovering harmony in minor keys. and suspensions I remained in the church choir progressing through alto, tenor and bass, though I am really a baritone. As youngsters, both Mary and I took piano lessons but soon gave up. I later, around about 12, taught myself to play the piano having acquired a book of all Beethoven's piano sonatas. I could manage the 1st and 2nd movements of the Moonlight, but the third was too difficult. I also learnt Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D minor, playing it on the piano in my own transcription. Although I have played it on the church organ too.

At college I bought a clarinet and taught myself to play that. I reckoned I could get tune out of anything as I mostly played by ear, although I can read music but not fast enough to sight read, unless it is easy. I have played piano, organ, fife, harmonica, recorder, whistle, jew's harp, guitar, side drum, glockenspiel and didgeridoo, but I have never tried brass, violin, other woodwind or harp. I still play music a bit, but have lost my skills at the piano through lack of practice and the clarinet through lack of puff. While in the 6th form, I was the bell ringer for our church. A single person played all 8 bells via a rack with ropes that were pulled outwards to move the clapper.

I was brought up as C of E but am now an atheist and support Humanism. To me religion, together with Nationalism, are the prime cause of much of the world's problems. If asked for my ethnic origins my answer is human, if asked for where I live I reply Earth. We all live on the same planet. It is time we stopped fighting each other and make the most of our resources for the benefit of everyone. I used to say that the best that could happen to us would be to be attacked by aliens so that we would come to our senses and unite to defend Earth. I later discovered that Ronald Regan said much the same thing at the UN^[14].

I did a free 37 marker DNA test at Sorenson, so found 16 of my markers, with the help of David Weston (Canada). My 4th cousin, Stephen Weston, did the paid 37 marker test and thereby I was told the results, my markers would probably be the same as his. My 16 Y chr. markers are in the images attached to this profile. I have done the Ancestry sonomal test but there are almost 700,000 markers. I have uploaded the data to GEDmatch.

I am now retired, but I was a software programmer, later specialising in security. I retired in 1988 from Ford Motor Company at Warley, Essex, England. Map: [7].

On 1 December 2003 I became entitled to a pension from Regent Oil of £8 per annum which I commuted to a cash settlement. I forget how much it was and what I did with it but now 20 years later I would probably have been better off numerically taking the pension, especially if I had bought bitcoin with it. ^[10].

I have an innate curiosity so sometimes I can delve into things that interest me. I found my mother's secondary school maths book when in Primary school and was solving simultaneous and quadratic equations before I took the 11+. I am also a compulsive collector and had a stamp, match box, punched card, computer virus and mathematical puzzle collections, amongst others.

Connections

These are just some, those that I have come acrss. I havent done any research on this.

Related Notables

John Shelley MP (abt.1456-1527) 13th great grandfather.

Percy Bysshe Shelley Bt (1872-1953) 12th cousin twice removed.

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG OM CH (1874-1965) 14th cousin

Connected Notables

Priscilla (Buxton) Johnston (1808-1852) 19 degrees (4-5-2-3-6) Anti-Slavetrade

Ernest Rutherford OM FRS (1871-1937) 19 degrees (3-3-3-4-7) Nuclear Physicist

Francis Bacon MP (1561-1626) 20 degrees (4 17) poet and philosopher

James Thornhill MP (1675-1734) 21 degrees (13-8-1)

Alexandrina Victoria Hanover (1819-1901) 21 (1-12-8-1) Queen Victoria

Henry (Tudor) of England KG (1491-1547) 21 (1-12-8-1) Henry VIII

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) 22 (4-2-8=9) Lord Protector

Thomas Cromwell KG PC (abt.1485-1540) 22 degrees (2-12-8-1)

Arthur Wellesley KG GCB (1769-1852) 22 degrees (2-1-4-3-2-2-2-7) Duke of Wellington

Francis Thomas Bacon OBE FREng (1904-1992) 23 degrees (5-2-6-2-3-6) Developed Fuel Cell used in Moon Mission

Timothy Sidney Robert Hardy CBE FSA (1925-2017) 24 degrees (4-2-5-2-3-10-1) BBC Actor, Vet in "All creatures"

Hedwig Eva Maria (Kiesler) Lamarr (1914-2000) 25 degrees (1-1-2-2-4-5-2-8-1) Hedy Lemar Actress and Inventor

John Milton (1608-1674) 27 degrees (3-3-5-17)

Edward Lear (1812-1888) 27 degrees (3-4-3-4-14)

Related Wikitreers

Jane (Weston) O'Sullivan daughter

Pam (Mason) Mason-Smith wife of 2nd cousin

Jennifer (Watts) Weston wife of 3rd cousin

Susan Hector 3rd cousin of my wife

Aaron Gould (1757-1826) 7th cousin five times removed

Rose (Gibson) Ryan 11th cousin once removed

Carrol (Duncan) Fish 12th cousin

Linda (Carruth) Peterson 12th cousin

Kimber (Watson) Dascani 12th cousin once removed

Whitney Rapp 12th cousin twice removed

Chris Whitten 12th cousin twice removed

W A Hopkins 12th cousin three times removed

Stuart Bloom: 14th cousin once removed

D Lagette 14th cousin twice removed

Guy Proctor-Beauchamp 14th cousin twice removed

Loretta (Leger) Corbin 14th cousin 3 times removed

Lisa Dwyer 14th cousin 4 times removed

Clayton Martinez 14th cousin 4 times removed

Melissa (Mutimer) Jamison 14th cousin 4 times removed

Rebecca (Tucker) Morris 14th cousin 5 times removed

Marjorie (Fish) Luce 18th cousin

Stephanie (Beamish) Alakas 18th cousin once removed

Chet Ogan 18th cousin once removed

Cathy (Hunter) Arp 18th cousin twice removed

Vicki (Karl) Keller 18th cousin twice removed

Laurie (Snook) Hughes UE 18th cousin twice removed

John Vaskie 18th cousin twice removed

Languages

Wiki-Will

To aid WikiTree in the administration of my account should I be incapacitated, or in the event of my death, I hereby give permission for the following:-

1. All my private or unlisted profiles that are descended from my parents; Geoffrey Howard Weston (1907-1974) and Norah (Winn) Weston (1911-2010) to be transferred to my daughter Jane (Weston) O'Sullivan.
2. Any or all of my remaining private or unlisted Weston profiles to be transferred to Chris Weston should he wish to manage them, or failing that any member of the England project who wishes to watch over the profiles.
3. Any of my remaining private or unlisted profiles to be transferred to any of my WikiTree relatives who is/are willing to manage them (whether or not they are currently on the Trusted Lists).
4. Any remaining private or unlisted profiles may be transferred to any Leader or WikiGenalogist if that is not possible.

Please make all of my profiles as open as possible where appropriate including my own.

Any remaining open profiles I manage will just become orphaned and may be adopted by any WikiGenalogist.

I grant authority to the Wikiteam to settle any conflicts or uncertainties arising from this will, in any manner they see fit.

JG Weston

Sources

1. ↑ Ancestry England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2005
2. ↑ Citation Needed (1)
3. ↑ "1939 Register", Findmypast. Geoffrey H Weston in 1939, 49 Chelmsford Avenue, Southend-On-Sea, Southend-On-Sea C.B., Essex, England (accessed 26 April 2022)
4. ↑ Ancestry England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005
5. ↑ Personal knowledge of JG Weston
6. ↑ Jane (Weston) O'Sullivan
7. ↑ Ruth (Weston) Miller
8. ↑ certificate in my possession
9. ↑ Marriage certificate in my possession
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2} National Insurance Pension certificate in my possession.
11. ↑ Company information
12. ↑ Wikipedia
13. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "November 1938," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=November_1938&oldid=1056119507 (accessed April 26, 2022)
14. ↑ Flashback: At UN, Reagan wished for alien invasion to unite people on Earth. About 26 years ago, America’s 40th president brought science fiction to the floor of the United Nations. (nbcnews Accessed 30 July 2023.

• First-hand information. Entered by JG Weston at registration.

• Personal knowledge of JG Weston.

• Source: birth certificate JG Weston (1938) in possession of JG Weston.

• See also family tree (Familysearch Accessed 30 July 2023).