Steve's tree

17-05-2017

Brothers in Arms, a Family History story

Having recently posted an old photo of my mother, Lavender Ramus, in Ransoms record shop, 33/34 Bond Street, Brighton, in 1957, to the ‘Brighton Past’ group on Facebook, I received a comment from one member, saying what a lovely name she had, but also that her husband had relatives by the name of Ramus. This lady wondered, as Ramus is such an unusual surname, whether we may have a connection, she then mentioned her husband’s uncle, William Ramus, who is apparently in his 80’s, and his sister, Deirdre Ramus. This was enough information for me to get going, and while I already suspected our lines would not coincide, I knew of this particular family line from my earlier research, and enjoy a challenge.

The family line of William and Deirdre was soon unearthed in an hour or so, I had done much of the work a few years back, purely because so many of this family have names and dates similar to my own family lineage, and I wanted to be certain which name belonged where. Having happily given this lady the family line dating back to 1725, and a Louis Ramus, born in Cudrifin, Vaud, Switzerland on the 1^st May, I then began fleshing out the family info. Without going in to too much family detail, I’ll list the direct descendants here:-

Louis, (William’s Great Great Great Great Grandfather)married Ann Hibberd (1740-1782), and they had 4 children:

Joseph Ramus: Born 1766 Bungay, Suffolk

Ann Ramus: 1769 Bungay, Suffolk

James Ramus: 1771 Bungay, Suffolk (William’s Great Great Great Grandfather)

Joseph Ramus: 1772 Bungay, Suffolk

After Ann’s death, Louis married Sarah Ann Cobbet (1730-) on the 21^st Oct 1783. According to 1774, and 1780, UK Poll Books records, Louis was a ‘Cheesemonger’, in Charing Cross, London.

James Ramus (1771-1837) married Elizabeth Elmore (1869-1839), among their children, they had a son:

Charles: born 05-02-1800, Bungay, Suffolk

Charles married Sarah Rebecca Rudland (1802-1881), on the 6^th August 1822, at Walpole, Suffolk. (Charles is William’s Great Great Grandfather). They had four children that I have traced:-

Charles Henry Ramus: Born 28^th July 1823 Bungay, Suffolk (William’s Great Grandfather)

Rudland Ramus: Born 16^th March 1830, Bungay, Suffolk

Alfred Ramus: Born 8^th Jan 1832, Bungay, Suffolk

Ann Ramus: Born 22^nd July 1836, Bungay, Suffolk

Charles Henry Ramus married Maria Hall (1825-1903) on the 19^th July 1846, at the parish church of  Lambeth. (On the marriage record, both Charles Henry, and his father, Charles, are listed as, ‘Carpenter’s’, for their occupation). They had 9 children, one of which was:-

James Ramus: Born 22^nd April 1864, City of London. On the 1^st August 1886, James married Jane Hall (1866-1915), at the parish church of Christchurch, Southwark, London. James’ occupation on the wedding certificate was listed as ‘Tea Cutter’. (James is William’s Grandfather). He and Jane had 12 children, of which 9 had survived to the 1911 census report, which found them living at 62 Windsor road, Holloway. James’ occupation here was noted as ‘Printer’ in the newspaper industry.

Their children living with them at this time, were:-

James Ramus: Born 7^th April 1888, Islington. Occupation-  ‘Sorter’ Post Office

Charles Ramus: Born 1891, Islington. Occupation- ‘Musician’ Board Ship

Sidney Harold Ramus: Born 3^rd April 1893, Walton. Occupation- ‘Barman’ Public House

Mable Ramus: Born 16^th Feb 1895, Holborn, London. Occupation- ‘Dressmaker’

John Ramus: Born 25^th Sept 1896, Holborn, London. Occupation- ‘Messenger’ Post Office. (John is William’s father).

Lydia ramus: Born 1899, Holborn, London. School

Winnie Ramus: Born 1901, Shoreditch, London. School

Frank Ramus: Born 1902, Islington, London. School

Bessie Ramus: Born 1906, London. At home

Walter Ramus: Born 1907, London. At home

Doris Ramus: Born 1909, London. At home

When the 1914-18 war began,  James, Charles, Sidney, and John, all joined up.

James joined the 8^th City of London Battalion, Post Office Rifles. Regiment Number-2401

Charles joined the 10^th Battalion, Kings Liverpool Regiment. Regiment Number-4559

Sydney also joined 10^th Battalion, Kings Liverpool Regiment. Regiment Number- 4560

John joined the Royal Field Artillery as a Gunner. Regiment Number- 45717

On the 25^th May, 1915, James was killed in action at Flanders, and buried at Flers, Department De La Somme, Picaride, France.

On the 19^th November, 1915, Sydney was killed in action at Camiers, buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, Calais, France.

On the 21^st September 1916, Charles was killed in action in Flanders, buried at Flers, Departement De La Somme, Picardie, France.

During this dreadful time for the family, their mother, Jane, also died, within a month of her eldest son, James, death. She was buried on the 22^nd June, 1915, at St Pancras, Camden, London, Roman Catholic cemetery.

John Ramus survived the war, and was registered on the WW1 Service Medal and Awards Rolls, 1914-1920 as ‘Entitled to the Victory Medal and/or British War Medal granted under Army Orders’

In 1929, John married Alice Dorothy Lowndes(1902-2001), at Islington, London

Right mate, here's your tree in a direct line back from your dads dad. I'll leave it on this page for you for a couple of weeks, but if you'd prefer me to take it down straight away, DM me on Twitter, and apologies. Or you may already have all this info, in which case, once again, apologies! There's much more info available if you're interested, such as census reports etc, I just happen to have it all as I investigated this line in the early days of finding out about my own family tree.

Jack W Ramus, born 1924 Croydon
married-Enid D E Nicholls in 1947

William John Ramus, born 1895 Hackney
married- Elizabeth M Bird in 1926

Alfred J Ramus,(wood carver and furniture maker), born 13-05-1869 Hoxton
married-Mary Elizabeth Balding(born1870)

Alfred Ramus,(carpenter), born 1832 Bungay, Suffolk
married- Susan Elizabeth Longstaff(born1832)on 14-10-1855

Charles Ramus (carpenter), born 1795 Halesworth, Suffolk
married- Sarah Rebecca Rudland(born1802) on 06-12-1822