William Lister Bramwell was born on Thursday 24 February 1898 to William Lister Bramwell and Ann Brown at 48 Brunswick Terrace Gateshead Durham.
William was the youngest son of fourteen children, 9 boys and 5 girls.

Mary Isabella Logan was born on Friday 12 September 1902 at 58 Duke Street Jarrow Durham, the youngest daughter of George Logan, a labourer and Mary Agnes Logan formerly Reay

On the 17 July 1918, William and Mary were married at The Parish Church of St. Cuthberts, Gateshead.
Both William and Mary stated their age as 21 although William was only 20. Mary was in fact six weeks short of her 16th birthday.
During the 53 years they were together they had 7 children including my Father, Sidney Bramwell.

In order of birth, the children were;

Name of Children	Photo	Birth	Marriage	To	Photo	Death
Stanley George Lister Bramwell		25 Sep 1920	11 Oct 1941	Mary Drummond		14 Apr 1971
John Rowley Lister Bramwell		17 Dec 1922	1943	Elizabeth Amelia Rickwood		22 Aug 2001
Joshua Lister Bramwell		26 Mar 1925	14 Nov 1969	Maureen Messum		27 Apr 1987
Ronald Lister Bramwell		22 Mar 1929	1949	Sadie Hartley		15 Feb 1997
Doris Mary Lister Bramwell		17 Dec 1932	1951	Clifford Smith		07 Feb 1967
Sidney Bramwell		06 Oct 1936	11 Feb 1959	Joyce Patricia Waterman		10 Jan 2005
Isabel Ann Bramwell		22 Oct 1942	1963	Ronald John Turner

During his working life William was a fish merchant while also running his own fish'n'chip shop, while his brother Thomas also ran a fish'n'chip shop.
Rumour has it that William and Thomas fell out when Thomas started to give his customers a tot of whisky while they were queueing for their fish supper.

William and Mary emigrated to Australia from the UK, departing from Southampton on the MV Fairsea on the 22 July 1961 under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme.

Click here for information about the MV Fairsea.

They arrived in Australia on the 23 August 1961 disembarking at the Port of Melbourne. During their first spell in Australia, they resided at 564 Glenhuntly Road, which appears to be a room above a shop.
They chose to come back to the UK for a short spell in 1963, before leaving again and arriving in Australia for a second time on the 13 December 1968 when I was a mere toddler of 6 years old.
This time, they resided at 809 Heatherton Road, Springvale and also 36 Moonya Road Carnegie in the state of Victoria.

It was while living at 36 Moonya Road, that William passed away on Thursday 1st June 1972 aged 74 years. After William's death, Mary continued to live in the Greater Melbourne area at 21 Mons Parade, Noble Park Victoria.
She lived here until her death on the 21 June 1986 at the age of 83, passing away at The Bethlehem Hospital Caulfield after a short illness.

William and Mary are commemorated on a plaque in Springvale Botanical Cemetery in Melbourne Australia. Please click on the photo below to show a larger image of the commerative plaque.