Lydney residents in the 1930’s

The people standing here are, from left to right, Edith Wilding (née Matthews) who ran the Bathurst Café with her husband from about 1939 to 1957 and later moved to Bournemouth; Hilo John Matthews who worked at Lydney Docks for 50+ years; Marjorie Matthews who left Lydney at some point in the 1940s and became a teacher in Bristol

The women seated in the middle are less certain but believed to be Rosa Knight and Susan Matthews (née Jones) who was at one time vice-president of the women’s section of the Lydney British Legion

The two men at the front are entirely unknown to us other than that the man on the left was named Padmanab and (we think) was a friend of my great-grandfather’s from his days in the Royal Navy

Alexandrina Wilson

A group photo at the wedding of Roland Matthews and Rosie Knight, my great-grandparents. Roland was a prominent Lydney citizen during the 1930s; he ran Matthews Brothers Stationers/Bookstore with his brother Sidney (known as Harry), and was involved in the Lydney Area Advancement Association and the Bathurst Swimming Bath Committee. He was a veteran of the Battle of Jutland, and an ensign he’d taken from his ship after the battle was donated to Lydney Grammar School – I’m unsure of its whereabouts beyond the 1930s.

Alexandrina Wilson

Click to see the known names:

1 – Clarice Knight (née Jones); 2 – Roland Matthews; 3 – Rosie Knight; 4 – Joan Hill; 5 – Marjorie Matthews; 6 – Annie Matthews (née Taylor); 7 – Susan Matthews; 8 – Edith Wilding; 9 – Sidney Matthews; 10 – Rosa Knight (née Price); 11 – possibly Wally or Bert Knight; 12 – Christopher Davies; 13 – Mary Ellen Matthews (known as Nell); 14 – possibly Wally or Bert Knight

This is a group of Lydney residents on a trip to Weston-super-Mare.
The back row consists of Marjorie Matthews and Edith Wilding; the front row is Roland Matthews, an unknown man, and Bill Wilding (who with his wife ran the Bathurst Café)

Alexandrina Wilson