Posted 19 Dec 1904, from Batum (Georgia) to Wirksworth.
Magenta 4 Kopek stamp, crown, double headed
eagle, post horns, lightning arrows,
Pochtovaya Marka (postage stamp)
 |
Postmarked Batum, Kutais, G(eorgia)
Pocht Tel Kont, 19 Dec 1904
 |
"Wien-Stefanskirche"
The mundane message reads:
"I hope you have no cold or chilblain."
|
A patent dated 1903 by Thomas Breakell (father)
|
Postcard from Russia
A postcard from Batumi in Russia, addressed to a pupil
"Master T.K.Breakell" at Wirksworth Grammar School,
posted 19 Dec 1904. The message is ridiculously short
for such a distance: "I hope you have no cold or chilblains".
It is not even signed, but must be from his father....
The pupil was Thomas K Breakell, aged 9 at the time of posting.
His father, Thomas aged 42, was a mining engineer from Lancashire,
living in Brassington. His wife Mary Elizabeth nee Knowles comes
from a Brassington farming family. Links in the Census can be found
on:
1901 and
1891.
In 1901 the Breakell family were living in "The Hall" at Brassington,
with his brother William, a miner's accountant. A Patent by Father Breakell
dated 1903 is shown below. See Brassington Hall on Google Earth by
entering 53.084104, -1.659757.
What was the mining engineer from Brassington doing in Georgia
in 1904, still ruled by the Tsars? He may have got there via
Vienna and Istanbul, then across the Black Sea to Batumi,
where the card was posted. After 1883 Batumi became
an important place for the shipment of oil. So did a
Brassington engineer get involved in the
Baku-Batumi kerosene pipeline which was under construction 1896-1906?
In 1904, Baku kerosene supplied 47% of the needs of Britain, and 71%
of the needs of France.
Other people are searching for Thomas K Breaknell, see
Message Board. Other people also have ideas, see
Emails
At the time
Alfred Berridge was headmaster of Wirksworth Grammar School,
Joseph Stalin was living in Batumi and organizing strikes, and a British
diplomat William Stuart would be murdered in 1906.
More information from Wikipedia.
Batumi (formerly Batum or Batoum) is a seaside city on the
Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic
in southwest Georgia. It has a population of 121,806 (2002 census).
Batumi, with its large port and commercial center, is also the last
stop of the Trans-Caucasian railroad and the Baku oil pipeline. It is
situated some 20 km (12 mi) from the Turkish border, in a subtropical
zone, rich in citrus fruit and tea. Industries include oil refineries,
shipbuilding, food processing, and light manufacturing.
Batumi is located on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Batis -
derived from the Greek words bathis limin meaning 'deep port'. It has
been known since the 11th century for its fortifications. A part of
Georgia since the Middle Ages, it came under Ottoman rule in the 16th
century and was annexed by Russia in 1878 in accordance with Treaty of
San Stefano between Russia and the Ottoman Empire (ratified on March 23).
In exchange, according to a secret Anglo-Ottoman agreement, the Ottomans
were to be allowed to occupy Cyprus - "Cuprum probatum". During these
early years of annexation Batumi functioned as a free port and was one
of the most important world exporters of wool, cotton and wood. After
1883 the city became an important place for the shipment of oil.
During 1901, 16 years prior to the Russian Revolution, Joseph Stalin the
future leader of the Soviet Union, lived in the city organizing strikes.
Unrest during World War I led to Turkey re-entering in April 1918,
followed by the British in December, who stayed until July 1920. Kemal
Ataturk then ceded it to the Bolsheviks, on the condition that it be
granted autonomy, for the sake of the Muslims among Batumi's mixed
population.
The climate in Batumi is subtropical. Palm trees, lemon and orange trees
all grow in the city.
The town is home to all the major religions of the Caucasus, with a
mixed population of Catholics, Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church,
Muslims, and Jews. There is an Armenian minority in Batumi.
William Horwood Stuart was a British diplomat who was murdered at Batum,
Georgia, in 1906. By the early 1890s, Stuart had moved to Batum, Georgia,
where he remained until his death. In 1904 he became American Vice-Consul
and in 1906 was also serving as acting British Consul. Stuart had been
named Japanese Consul but his appointment was deferred owing to
the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.
Enlargement. A young lad about 13 standing next to the back door of
Brassington Hall. Probably this is Thomas K.Breakell,
born 1895, who was living there in 1901,
"built a small plane in a field at the frontage of Brassington Hall"
and gave his address as Brassington Hall when in the Flying Corps about 1914.
If so, the photo was taken about 1908, which agrees with the fashion
of his clothing. He was the son of Thomas Breakell, a mining engineer
and Mary Elizabeth Knowles (daughter of John Knowles and Emma Webster,
both from Brassington families).
Dates:
Photo taken:
Size:
Source:
Click on photo for enlargement (on CD only)
Have any more information about this photo?
Please e-mail the author on:
|
...from a Message Board |
Someone else is tracking down Thomas K Breakell.
this info was taken off a message board of www.visualflight.co.uk
----------from Alan Trussell------------------------------------------
Dear All
I hope nobody minds me posting this mystery here.I know there are a lot
of Knowledgeable people on our site who maybe able to help.
For over 35 years I have been in posession of an early large Kodak Folding
camera that I have also seen similar in use on first world war aircraft
film and also turn of century documentaries in general.
This camera has the following written inside the original leather pig skin
case. Which after wetting is reasonably clear and says:-
T K Breakell
Royal Flying Corps
Rassington Hall
Derbyshire
My question is has anyone any advice on how to go about tracing more
information on the man, his job and location during the war or even
family members alive today?
I have tried tracing on the internet and have had no luck as yet.
It would be great to place it in a relevant museum where it probably
should belong or be able to return it to a better rightful place.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Description Medal card of Breakell, Thomas Knowles
Corps Regiment No Rank
Duke of Cornwalls Light Infantry
Royal Air Force Lieutenant
Royal Flying Corps Second Lieutenant
Date 1914-1920
Catalogue reference WO 372/3
Dept Records created or inherited by the War Office, Armed Forces,
Judge Advocate General, and related bodies
Series War Office: Service Medal and Award Rolls Index, First World War.
I wonder how long Visual flight scenery would have taken to aquire with
this camera?
Regards AlanT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear All
I am hoping to find a first world war Airport name or flying Corps centre
close to a "Rassington hall" in Derbyshire as the message in the case
gives but no luck here as yet.
On looking Closer at the writting in the pig skin case Rassington Hall
should read "Brassington Hall" for there is a less distinct B in front of
the R
Ideas anyone?
Also the chap I found seems to have been in a lot of services How come? -
Duke of Cornwalls Light Infantry
Royal Air Force Lieutenant
Royal Flying Corps Second Lieutenant
Regards Alan T
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan - it looks as if the postings have been sorted alphabetically rather
than by date.
Your man would have started in the infantry, transferred to the RFC and
survived to become a lieutenant in the newly-formed RAF.
Cheers (and Well Done)
MikeW
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear emfrat
Thanks very useful
Now found this....
BRASSINGTON CHURCH MEMORIALS 1674 -
SURNAME NAME/S BURIAL INSCRIPTION NO.
BREAKELL DAVID KNOWLES 1925 116
BREAKELL KATHLEEN RUTH 116
BREAKELL THOMAS 1936 117
BREAKELL THOMAS KNOWLES 116
So in fact means he died in ..... ? I am not sure
Still need to find where he was stationed which presumedly could have
been out of his home area altogether?
Regards AlanT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan - I seem to be following you round the Net
Those numbers 116, 117 are cross references to this page:
http://www.brassington.org/inscriptions02.htm
It seems clear that Thomas is the mining engineer who was 39 in 1901. The
infant David is surely the son of your man, ie the child of Mr and Mrs
T K and K R Breakell.
I looked at 192.com for Breakell Brassington for no result, but Breakell
Derbyshire shows three listings in the Electoral Roll. One has the first
name Ruth and the two males have the middle initial K.
Unfortunately they want a huge pile of money to release any detailed info.
I tried some online phonebooks but there didn't seem to be any in Derbyshire.
That just means they are ex-directory; but it crossed my mind that the
first 192.com listing might be a nursing home or similar.
Good Hunting !
MikeW
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan - It is no trouble at all. I enjoy using my Net skills in such a
worthwhile quest, and the timezone difference between Greenwich and
Brisbane makes it very convenient.
Things noticed in passing:-
Brassington Hall as a search string throws up nothing; it is clearly not
the noble pile it sounds like and it doesn't even make it as a name for
a GWR loco. A lot of RFC crew records were lost in the London Blitz.
Photo-reconnaissance was essentially invented in WWI and progressed
extremely rapidly. However, it would be an amazing coincidence to have
your home requisitioned as a training establishment, even if you were a
specialist technician, and any such establishment would have been closer
to a railway than Brassington ever was.
In any case the Peak District would hardly be the first choice for an
airfield.
So I don't know why TKB gave his address as RFC Brassington Hall - maybe
he was the RFC one at BH, as opposed to the Army one, but why would he be
allowed to take RFC equipment home ?
Anyway this is all speculation, and it might be best if we continued by
email, or John will be growling at us
Cheers
MikeW
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan.
This is becoming the most interesting book I've read so far! Don't stop
till the last page.
A slight tangent, I am a member of the British Kinematograph, sound and
television society. (Web www.bksts.com ), they are an invaluable source
of all things photographic and may well be interested in running an
article in their magazine. Certainly they will be interested.
Also, don't forget the National Photographic Museum (web nmpft.org.uk)
they are sponsored by Kodak and are sure to want to help and/or give it
a good home, if you decide not to give it to a 'RAF' Museum.
Another avenue is the Imperial War Museum (web www.iwm.org.uk). They
have extensive research facilities and recently did an exhibition on the
RFC.
Incidently a search of the British War Memorials project (web iwm.org.uk)
produced a nil return, suggesting that he survived the wars!
None of the records I have show any airfields in Derbyshire that were
operational before 1929, so my feeling is that Brassingham Hall was his
home address.
The most activity for air recon during the First world War was along the
Ypres Salient and the Somme. You could try Toc H (Talbot House in Poperinge),
who keep records of servicemen that passed through from Ypres.
Finally, would it be possible to make this an illustrated book and post
a sceenshot of the camera?
Best of Luck,
Des
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Des
Thanks for all the info.Very very useful again.
What a great Forum for help we have,thanks to all.
I have E mailed you with a request.
Alan T
Ps
I hope this quest is not a let down and it turns out our chap simply had
had plenty of money and used the camera only for personal use. Hence
putting his home address on the leather case..
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear All
Thanks again for all the responses.
I now have masses of information but still can't seem to be able to work
out how to obtain service details via the internet - perhaps this is
achieved only by visiting the National Archives physically?
Any help appreciated
Liet T K Breakell (Thomas Knowles Breakell)
Royal Flying Corps
(Home Address)
Brassington Hall
Derbyshire
Kodak No.3A Autographic Model B5
Regards AlanT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear All
For anyone interested.I now have a copy of T K Breakells' Royal Aero Club
pilots licence,record card and file photograph,RFC/RAF Casualty card,
Medical board card and officers Casualty Form.
These were obtained via the Royal Air Force Museum London NW9 5LL
They were received today in the post after contacting them by internet
on 11th Feb.
Anyone wanting a copy please can you E mail Me.
Thanks
Regards AlanT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From "Sprake" I have received a lot of information,some of which I put
below. His family seem to have a lot of connections with the Hall and
the Breakell family -
and in fact he is in contact with a son of our T K Breakell!
He says
"Thomas K Breakell lived at Brassington Hall up to joining the Flying
Corp..I have it on good authority from persons who remember him, that he
was a "dare devil" who owned a smal bi plane which he often landed on a
field belonging to the Hardy family Farmers of Brassington.
Jan tells me that his father Thomas was a friend of Douglas Bader who
often visited Brassington..Thomas K Breakell I have to tell you, only
landed the once at Hardy's field when Thomas's father Thomas Breakell
was about to breath his last breathe..
Thomas K had permission to fly from his base to Brassington and landed
at Hardy's farm.. Thomas Breakell also is recorded as having flown
under Tower Bridge as I believe Bader did
Apparently Thomas K Breakell built a small plane in a field at the
frontage of Brassington Hall, but it was never to fly..."
I will let you know more when it is possible.
AlanT
Thanks to imageshack for free Image hosting
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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E-mails |
======================================================================
From: Stuart G Flint
Subject: Breakell of Brassington
Date: Fri 23 Feb 2007 20:14
Hello John
Just to let you know that I am the Sprake on the Breakell site (Visual
Flight) who has met the son of Thomas Knowles Breakell and have informed
the son of the In Flight Camera once owned by his father Thomas Knowles
Breakell found by Alan T of Visual Flight.. The son lives near Wirksworth
today He informs me that Breakells were originally from Holland many moons
ago known as Van Breckell Thomas Breakell senior father of Thomas K was a
Mining Engineer from Preston his brother was an accountant to mines
both registered as Fellows of the Mining Institute (see Durham Mining Group
site listings)...
Brassington Hall has played a small part in my family history as the
Charltons and Halls who intermarried were of my distant kin..(Stephen Hall
my 5XUncle married Ruth Henstock 2nd wife.. first wife Anne Taylor of Lea
Hall Farm Bradbourne (actually on the Tissington side of Bradbourne Brook..
the farm now belonging to one of my friends family... Ruth was sister to
my 4XGrandmother Mary Hawley nee Henstock.. Stephen and Ruths son John
Hall married into Charltons..see Charlton v Hall v Fox Court case..John
Palmer's web pages Halls also of my/my wife's kinship) whilst in recent
years in my teens Frank Brown who was Pastor at Middleton Congregational
Church and a friend of my family lived at Brassington Hall..I an oft time
visitor to the Hall in my teens and into my 20s..
Frank replaced my father as a Deacon and Sunday School Superintendent at
the Congs Chapel Middleton when Dad had a Stroke in the late 1950s ..
When Frank and his wife Anne emigrated to Rhodesia as School Teacher's
I was inducted as Sunday School Superintendent and a Deacon in his
place previously being one of his teachers at the Congs Church he my
mentor.. Frank's family owned Browns Foundry Nottingham Road Derby..He
served as a Flight Lt in The Fleet Air Arm, he and I fellow Liberal Party
members
His mother was one time Conservative Councillor for Wirksworth. In
retirement she and her husband lived in a bungalow next door to
Brassington Hall..
Regards Stuart G Flint
======================================================================
From: Andrea Dean
Subject: Re: [DBY] Postcard to Russia 1904
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 07:59:53 +0100
John, I just saw on wikipedia that in the 1830s the Russian tsar sent
a guy as vice roy to Georgia who was educated in England, and who
apparently modernised the local economy and trade. I know it is well
before the time of your postcard but perhaps it was the basis for
British people coming to work in Georgia?
I also saw on a German website (I am German) information about an
exhibition in 2002 regarding the mining history of Georgia. Apparently
there were also Germans working in the Georgian mining industry in the
18th and 19th century. Georgia may not have been as remote to Western
people then as it is to us now ...
Kind regards,
Andrea
======================================================================
From: Carol Standish
Subject: Postcard to Russia 1904
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 08:51:40 -0800 (PST)
My 2xG.Uncle, Edward Isaac Eastwood went to St.Petersburgh in the
late 1800's - he was working for his father who owned the Eastwood
Wagon Works in Chesterfield - guess he was trying to 'drum up business'
for the company. He had the misfortune to die in St.Petersburgh though
in 1884.
======================================================================
From: Tony Burton
Subject: Re: [DBY] Postcard to Russia 1904
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 10:59:16 -0000
Hi John, just a bit of grist to the Mill. Tsarist Russia was
'westernising' at the turn of the century and employing many westerners to
help kick start their economy. My own Grandfather was a Lace Machine
Builder and was in St Petersburg at a similar time, building the machines
that would help promote the burgeoning Russian industrial base. It is more
than probable that your mining engineer was similarly employed. Best
wishes,
Tony R Burton. Scotland.
======================================================================
From: David Daniell
Subject: RE: [DBY] Postcard to Russia 1904
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 23:33:47 +1300
Hi John,
I think all those guesses are sensible. I don't understand why your
item has a tone of surprise. Who knows, you may turn up Master
Breakell's children and then I bet you'll find the card's from his
Mum, not Dad.
You do provide a truly marvellous site
with kind regards
David
======================================================================
From: David Daniell
Subject: RE: [DBY] Postcard to Russia 1904
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 14:37:24 +1300
John, it could (just possibly) be father's thought but it is Mother's
handwriting. David
======================================================================
From: John Palmer
Subject: [DBY] Postcard to Russia 1904
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 00:42:26 -00
Hello Folks,
You may be interested in a postcard I've just got
on Ebay. Sent from Georgia (Russia) in 1904, its addressed to a 9
year old pupil boarding at Wirksworth Grammar School, probably from
his father, a mining engineer, see:
http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/X485.htm
What was a mining engineer from Brassington doing in Georgia still
ruled by the Tsars? Could he have been involved in exporting oil, 100
years before the Baku pipeline was built, finishing at Batumi?
Anyone with ideas or more info, please contact me.
Best wishes,
John Palmer, Dorset, England
Author of Wirksworth website
http://www/wirksworth.org.uk
======================================================================
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