ALFRED HARRY McLAUGHLIN, BA (1852-1935) was educated at Downing College, Cambridge, which he did not enter until the age of 26. Previously he had been assisting his elder brother William, land agent to the Earl of Feversham.

Alfred is pictured at the top of the page facing Mary Letitia Salwey (1855-1905), whom he married in 1879. King Edward I was an ancestor of them both.

When Alfred graduated in 1882 and was ordained, he became curate of Yiewsley, Middlesex, until 1885 when he was appointed curate of Kilndown, Kent. In 1888 he obtained the vicarage of Bothamsall, Nottinghamshire, a living in the gift of the Duke of Newcastle, who was a lay rector.

A decade later Alfred became Vicar of Much Birch, in Herefordshire. The photo on the left, taken in 1902, shows him sitting in front of the Vicarage. he retired to Malvern in 1913.

Alfred and Mary had three daughters: Cecil (1880-96), Ownye Salwey (1885-1972), and Margaret Joy Crofton (1886-1972).

Alfred's daughter Cecil died of typhoid while a teenager. She had been nursed by Jessie Mabel (1865-1943), a family friend. May, as Mabel was always called, is portrayed left with Ownye and Joy. On her deathbed in 1905, Mary Letitia advised Alfred to marry May. He did so two years later.

May was the daughter of the Rev. John Bartholomew Vale, M.A. (1823-96), Rector of Crostwight, Norfolk, and Clara (1836-1919), daughter of Dr. T. W. Lanchester. John, who was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, had married Clara in 1855.

During World War I Ownye and Joy served in the Voluntary Aid Detachment, a voluntary organisation providing auxiliary nursing services.

Joy was awarded the Associate medal of the Royal Red Cross (left) for special devotion and competency.

Ownye married a structural engineer, Arthur John Martin, MInstCE, SE, FGS, in 1917. Martin died in 1940 while their adopted son Christopher was serving in the regular Army.

The image below is a composite of portraits from two snapshots taken in 1927. From left to right are May, Ownye, Joy and her husband Arthur.

© 2006 G. Harry McLaughlin.
Reproduction or transmission, in whole or in part, for other than personal use is prohibited without advance permission from Dr. G. H. McLaughlin.