a personal scrapblog

No.8

Is this our very own Coat of Arms?

When we began the task of researching our family history, we had a lot of help from other folk, including quite a few who lived abroad, who had already gathered information about the Jaaps.

Among those people there was a correspondent from Germany who told us about the Coat of Arms. He had read about it in a local newspaper in 1931. He believed that red signifies love, blue means loyalty and gold is faith. He suggested that the twelve segments could represent the twelve apostles, the mitre meaning holy power and the breastplate worldly power.

He mentioned that he intended to visit "the heraldic place" in Berlin to find out more, but that was the last we heard from him. Of course there are many examples of these things which are not authentic; they are actually family crests and ours is probably one of those.

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PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

In the early 1930s it was a rare occurrence to see an aeroplane flying over. If one did appear, we children would stop our games, gaze up to the sky and chant “An airy-plane, an airy-plane!”

A few years later we had the opportunity to see planes in the air and on the ground, when Sir Alan Cobham’s Air Display came to a field just outside our town. What excitement! There were stunt pilots performing all sorts of clever manoeuvres, including looping the loop, the falling leaf, sweeping down to pick up a cloth from the ground, and some brave airmen doing a wing-walk. I envied the lucky children who went up in a plane that day.

But my turn came later. We were on holiday at Prestwick where small aircraft were making short flights from the sands. I expect I pestered my father into taking me up. I’m not sure if he enjoyed the experience - my mother watching from the promenade certainly didn’t. Needless to say, I was thrilled!

Our pilot was a young girl, Winnie Drinkwater. Not so long ago, I was surprised to learn that she had later become famous in aviation circles. She died in 1996 and The Herald (Glasgow), announcing her death, reported that in 1930 she had become the youngest aircraft pilot in the world and that she was the first woman to fly the Glasgow to London service. The plane shown here is similar to the one we flew in; room for two passengers sitting together and the pilot in a separate cockpit behind.

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In those days travelling by train was always exciting for children. Many folk who worked in Glasgow used the railway rather than buses, and there was a frequent service from our town.

When we went on holiday it was by train. A few days before we set off, a railway lorry would call to collect our luggage, usually a big hamper, and, when we arrived at our destination, our hamper would be there waiting for us at our digs.

There was a downside to rail travel however. Smoke and soot from the engine could penetrate the carriages and you could arrive at your destination with a dirty face!

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In those far-off days there was very little motor traffic in our town. Most vans and lorries were horse-driven and there were very few cars.

Car engines had to be started by means of a handle inserted into the radiator grill. On each side of the vehicle, stretching between the front and the back wheels, was the “running board” which you stepped on when boarding and alighting. There were no indicators and the driver had to use certain hand signals through an open window to show his intentions. And of course there was the horn which produced that honking sound!

I presume car brakes weren’t all that reliable, for I often saw cars parked on an incline, with a brick placed in front of the nearside front wheel.

This is a picture of a 1915 Vauxhall. You’ll notice the spare wheel at the driver’s side.

Taxis were rarely seen. I imagine they were used only for weddings and funerals and I’m pretty sure that on such occasions most people would walk.

There were fire engines of course. I don’t remember seeing police cars, though there was the "Black Maria", a big black vehicle that took you off to jail if you misbehaved. And there was another vehicle from which we children hid - the dreaded “fever van," - a common sight in the 1930s when the infectious disease scarlet fever was rife.

As time went on the number of vehicles using the streets continued to rise, it became clear that certain “rules of the road” would be needed.

So it was that in 1931 the government issued a booklet which detailed instructions and regulations for road traffic. The illustrations it contained are rather amusing and here are a few from that very first edition of THE HIGHWAY CODE.

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A Skeleton in our Cupboard?

I can't remember the source of the the following story, but it was checked and found to be true. In 1775 a Mrs Japp (sic) was a well-known proprietor of a certain type of establishment in Edinburgh. It was in that year that the “Ranger’s Impartial List of the Ladies of Pleasure” was published, compiled by James Tytler, the editor of the second edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The book which included a pull-out map gave names and addresses, and Mrs Japp’s place seems to have been highly recommended. (If you've £43.49 to spare, the book can be obtained from Amazon)

Apparently Edinburgh had around 100 such houses at that time and by the 19th century that figure had doubled.

As far as we know, none of our ancestors lived in the Edinburgh area, but if there is a link to our Jaaps, we can always say that she was a Jaap by marriage!!!

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GALLERY

My Parents