More about The Green

Responses to our request for information

When the gallery of photographs of The Green Past and Present was added to the Living History site, we asked for information about the people who lived there. We were delighted to receive this picture (picture 1) from David Tinkler and to hear from Cathy Dawson and her mother, Janet Peet (nee Tinkler), and from Brenda Turier (nee Sellers). Recently we have been able to add to this gallery, thanks to Sue Dunsmore, who has allowed us to publish this evocative picture of a Dunsmore-Tinkler wedding in 1935, and Ann Hewitt, who has supplied two more vivid scenes from the 1960s.

Picture 1 shows David Tinkler with his grandfather, Herbert Dunsmore. Mr. George Repton, a friend, is on the right. Mr Tinkler lived in one of these cottages until he was sixteen. We think the picture was taken on the grass in front of the cottages at The Green and that the building in the background is the outbuilding seen in  picture 2, taken today.

Mrs. Peet tells us that her grandfather, Herbert Dunsmore, owned the three cottages. The family lived in the end cottsge. In picture 3 the people outside the cottages are her grandparents and her mother. The lady in the doorway of the cottage in picture 4 is probably her great grandmother, Annie Dunsmore. The children are likely to be Mrs. Peet’s mother, Elsie and her sisters, Lucy and Ethel. The boy could be one of their brothers, Frank, Charles or Henry.

In picture 3 the lady on the left of the two on the bridge is Louie Dunsmore, wife of Frank Dunsmore and the baby in the pram is either Mrs. Peet herself or her brother, David.

Mrs Peet’s mother, Elsie Tinkler (nee Dunsmore) was a member of the operatic society and had a fine soprano voice. She can be seen in our pictures of the Operatic Society’s performances of The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore.(Topics Drama Event).

Mrs. Peet was born in the cottage in 1940 and lived there until 1959. Her grandfather lived in the end cottage on the right and the left hand cottage was rented by Mrs. Johnson. Later the two cottages were made into one.

Mrs. Turier tells us that her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Sellers lived in one of the cottages and that she ( Brenda Sellers) used to play with Janet Tinkler.

How old is Mr. Herbert Dunsmore in picture 1, dated 1951? The 1871 census gives a Herbert Dunsmore, aged 2, living in Belvoir Road, Woolsthorpe, with parents , Francis (38, born Redmile, occupation gardener) and Jane (35, born Woolsthorpe) and siblings Frank (1 month) Elizabeth (6), Joseph (8), Mary (10), Sarah Ann (12) and John (14) The 1881 census lists Herbert Dunsmore aged 12,  born in Woolsthorpe 1869,  living in Wright’s Yard (later Redford’s Yard, off Chapel Street) with his parents and siblings Francis (10), Jane (8) and Fanny (3).The older children had presumably left home.  By 1891 the family had moved to 19, High Street. Herbert, now 22 but still single, is an ironstone worker.Only he and Fanny still live with their parents.  The 1901 census (the most recent available) lists Herbert Dunsmore (32, born Woolsthorpe) as an ironstone miner, living in Muston with his wife Anne (27, born Woolsthorpe)  and two daughters Ethel (4) and Lucy (1), both born in Bottesford.Is this the Herbert Dunsmore in picture 1?

This page was added on 25/07/2007.

Comments about this page

  • Picture 4 I think the lady in the doorway could be mine and Mrs Peet’s grandmother and not Great grandmother as stated 27/07/07.

    By David Tinkler (27/07/2007)
  • Pcture 1 This is the Herbert Dunsmore.There were also three sons, Charles,Henry and Frank,one other daughter, Elsie, my mother,who married my father, Horace Wilfred Tinkler.The age of my Grandfather, Herbert Dunsmore, in 1951 would be82 years 11/08/07

    By David Tinkler (11/08/2007)
  • Thank you for confirming that. It is usually not too difficult to trace families through from 1851 or 1861 to 1901, but because the 100 year rule means there is no public access to census information after 1901, it’s easy to loose track of them after that. We would really like to be able to build up family trees with photographs and family stories for Bottesford’s longer established families.

    By Kate Pugh (12/08/2007)
  • My grandparents, Joseph (known as Laurie) and Eve Coogan, moved to the Green in the late 1920s with their four daughters, Elizabeth, Mary (my Mum), Barbara and Maggie. The family remained in the house for more than 60 years. After Granny’s death in 1964, Elizabeth and her husband John Hurn moved into the house with their children, Angela, Pip, Gordon and Juliet. Elizabeth retired to Elston in the 1990s after the main beam over the spare bedroom collapsed in the middle of the night, and she died there in 1997.

    My mother was married from the Green and both of my grandparents, my mother and her sister Maggie are buried in Bottesford.

    I grew up with Bottesford stories and have happy memories of our visit from Canada to the Green in 1960 and of a couple of return visits through the 70s and 80s. I remember paddling in the ford, climbing the apple trees and plane spotting with my cousins.

    My much loved recipe for Christmas cake, which has been a family wedding cake on several occasions, is labelled in Granny’s handwriting “Mrs. Tinkler’s Xmas Cake 1940”. Would this have been Elsie Tinkler, who I know helped Granny from time to time? And is this recipe still used in the Tinkler family?

    By Laura Hogg (05/03/2008)
  • Many thanks for these most interesting comments and memories of the Green. If you have time to pass on the the cake recipe (digital photo or written out) that would be a fascinating memento to add. It might be that others still use the same recipe within Bottesford in addition to any members of the Tinkler family. In fact the handing on of family recipes provides a further line of enquiry we could investigate more widely – the ones tucked away in old recipe books. Thanks very much for bringing this to mind. David.

    By David Middleton (05/03/2008)
  • With reference to the interesting article from Laura Hogg. This is the Elsie Tinkler who used the recipe,which was handed down from her mother Annie Dunsmore and now has been passed down to my sister Janet Peet (nee tinkler). I have spoken to my sister who informs me that she will be forwarding the recipe on to you. David Tinkler 13-5-08

    By David Tinkler (13/03/2008)
  • Many thanks – we look forward to adding it to the site

    By David Middleton (13/03/2008)
  • My mum Janet Peet (nee Tinkler) has this recipe and also an original written recipe for the cake as it was my nan Mrs Elsie Tinkler who used to make the cake. A cake which has been made many times over the years for weddings christenings and birthdays. I will try to get a digital photo of the recipe and also will get my mum to write it down here on the page.

    By Cathy Dawson (16/03/2008)
  • Many thanks for following this up. David

    By David Middleton (17/03/2008)
  • I was looking at the Bottesford History Page today Friday, 10th August 2018, when I noticed one of the photographs was of the wedding between Horace Tinkler and Elsie Dunsmore in 1935. I noticed my maternal grandparents Mabel and Martin (Patrick) Killeen were on this photograph. My Grandmother, Mabel, originated from the village and was a Tinkler before her marriage. I remember meeting her brothers Bernard and Jack and also her sister Frances. My mother’s name was Charlotte, or Lottie as she was normally called. I also remember my mother speaking of her Grandmother Marie, who I believe lived on Queen Street(?). What a total pleasure and a big surprise seeing my grandparents on this photograph. If anyone would be so kind as to let me have any further information on my family tree I would be very grateful.

    By June Rigby (nee Betts) (10/08/2018)
  • Dear June, Thank you for your comment about the wedding picture, which has come as a very agreeable surprise. Martin Killeen is one of the men commemorated in our study of WW1 servicemen, and you will find a lot about him via our WW1 Roll Call pages. He was living in Muston in 1911, so we have tentatively recorded him as a Muston WW1 serviceman. However, we have not known of any picture of him before now. Can I ask you to specify exactly which of the people in the 1935 wedding picture are Martin and Mabel, please? Can I also ask if you know any detail about his life during WW1? Our account is based on a bit of guesswork, and it would be wonderful to know if we have got his story correct or if we can change or improve it. With best wishes, Neil Fortey.

    By Neil Fortey (10/08/2018)
  • Dear Neil. Thank you so much for your quick reply. Unfortunately I do not know anything at all about my grandfather’s WW1 record. What I do know is that he was born in the townland of Corracrow in County Mayo about 3 miles from the village of Hollymount and baptised in Roundfort church. He was, I believe, an only child living with his widowed mother in the 1911 census.In 1928 he married my grandmother Mabel Tinkler, whom I also believe he met whilst working at Muston. They did reside at 13 Albert Terrace, Albert Street, Grantham, with their 3 children, one of whom was my mother Lottie. They later moved to 9 Albert Street, Grantham where he resided until his death in June 1950. He was a railway ganger. I am so I cannot help with his WW1 records. Kind regards June Rigby

    By June Rigby (10/08/2018)
  • The two lads on the frozen river, the one nearest the bridge is David Tinkler and the other the late Geoffrey Marston.

    By David Tinkler (08/09/2021)
  • Dear David, thanks very much for your most recent comment. Do you realise that it is some 14 years since you first commented on this picture, on the 27th July 2007! This must be a record, for which we are truly grateful. With best wishes, Neil Fortey

    By Neil Fortey (14/09/2021)

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