Gregory Hugh William Gaspar 1877'1964

Gregory Hugh Walter Gasper 1877-1964

GHWG 1877 - 1964 - from Nigel

I adored my paternal grandfather GHWG and I was named Hugh after him; I was 15 when he died. He was born in Portobello, Edinburgh . I have his photo album and glass plates from 1899 with some portraits of Queenie and Nicholas Malcolm and of what I suspect is an Armenian family; he went to Calcutta University to study engineering and managed an indigo farm at Bigoo Serai near?? Calcutta. He married in London in 1912, Queenie- his mother- dying while he was on honeymoon. The Armenian origin was never discussed; I think by the 1920s he was keen to appear fully 'British'. An Armenian family friend said GHWG had arrived in Manchester (c.1920 - but he was living there, aged 34, in 1912) with letters of introduction to the Armenian community there, so when my then wife was pregnant with Hugh I headed for the India records office in Blackfriars to try to make sense of the Gasper/Gaspar history.
Known as Hugh, GHWG was born in Edinburgh, but in early childhood attended a dame school in Hove – this was the Misses Thompsons also attended by his near contemporary Winston Churchill who remembered that particular school experience with pleasure (‘My Early Life’). GHWG enjoyed photography, and we next encounter him around 1900 living in and around Calcutta, his father’s base, photographing on glass plates friends and family, and scenes associated with his management of an indigo farm at Begoo Serai, Monghyr (now Begusarai, Bihar state). It also reflected travel to the well-known architectural wonders of Delhi and Agra, and to the Lucknow sites associated with the grim events of the ‘Indian Mutiny’ - they must have held a macabre appeal to the late Victorian tourist. He is said to have been appointed a magistrate at Begoo/Bigoo Serai at the age of twenty. He studied mechanical engineering, and after marrying in London in 1912 he moved to Prestwich, Manchester with, I was told, letters of introduction to the Manchester Armenian business community. By the 1920s he had founded a business based on the vogue for neon lighting; each unit is dependent upon a transformer, and he became a northern agent for General Transformers of London. The business really thrived, but I was told that at one point in the financial turbulence of the ‘twenties his bank collapsed and he lost all of his money. He was very straight in business, and he rebuilt from scratch, to the admiration of business associates. GHWG thrived once more, now in business with elder son MFWG (‘Mal’) as ‘GHW Gasper & Son Ltd’. He collected antiques including a longcase clock by Joseph Knibb (alas since sold), and through his photo albums we meet him with his wife and two sons enjoying cruises to Egypt, the Mediterranean and Scandinavia. His tastes were conventional; he loved music, and he enjoyed motoring, fearlessly driving the family by car to Edinburgh a decade before the 1939 war. His marriage was happy, but in 1948 GHWG experienced the quite unexpected disaster of his much younger wife being crippled by a stroke. He ‘downsized’ to a semi close to ‘Mal’, hosting family Christmases with the help of a housekeeper. He bought himself an MG Magnette in the latest, strikingly orange shade. In his early 80s he made the bold decision to take over a failing company, and this brought fresh financial triumph. His younger son, also Hugh, joined the business; ‘& Son’ became ‘& Sons’. He continued driving to work in Manchester every day, including Saturday mornings, to within weeks of his death in April 1964. He attended Church regularly and is buried with his wife at the medieval St Mary’s Church, Prestwich.

I was 15 when he died; I remember him as a very loving and indulgent Grandpa with a white moustache. He was the paterfamilias. We watched Muffin the Mule on his television, and in my early teens we went to concerts and we looked through his photo albums together. The Armenian background to the family history was not discussed; he may have fallen out with the community, and he had no personal history of Armenian Church worship. It has been left for me to breathe fresh life into the exotic history of a family based in suburban Manchester. -Details contained in this tribute have now been incorporated below into the passage of his life

Electric Mechanic & Consulting Engineer

Born Edinburgh but spent much of his childhood in Darjeeling

Ancestry Jordan family tree

ghwg1

- Nigel

1877. Gregory Hugh Walter Gasper was born 12/8/1877 at 2 Hope Park Crescent, Edinburgh, Midlothian to Nicolas Malcolm Gasper, pleader in small cause court, Calcutta & Hosannah Queenie Jordan. I suspected his father was working in the Edinburgh courts at the time , but, both in 1877 and in March 1879, he is given as working Calcutta , so seemingly no. So why did Hosannah live 4 years at least in Edinburgh??

1879. His brother, Frederick Paul Dwight Gasper, was born on 16/3/1879, at a different address in Edinburgh .

1881. Hugh Gasper was living 32 Melville Street, Duddingstone Portobello,Midlothian with his mother and younger brother. Hannah given as Hosannah on Ancestry entry . An elder sister. Ripsima, 10, was a boarder at a girls' "school" in Hove . Original Census entry available on SP, for 6 credits - search for Dwight Jasper!

A dearth of Gasp*r in 1891, 1901 or 1911C, ( Frederick P Gaspar ,22, solicitor's clerk, is living with the Galer family in Camberwell in 1901C)

Went to a private school in Brighton: "in early childhood attended a dame school in Hove – this was the Misses Thompsons also attended by his near contemporary Winston Churchill who remembered that particular school experience with pleasure (‘My Early Life’)".

Then to St Pauls College, Darjeeling: his advocate father moved from Calcutta to Rangoon by 1880 and then to Darjeeling maybe by ~ 1890

In 1864,St Pauls College, Darjeeling, at approximately 7,600 feet above sea level, was the highest school in the world

1892, surprisingly young, just 15, G Hugh Gaspar applied to take the entrance exam for Calcutta University. He reputedly went to Calcutta University to study engineering- but this not stated on his engineering apprenticeship record, so, I thimk he must have left without an end degree . Entrance exam was in February 1893- he then 15 & 1/2

~1897. He was said to be appointed a magistrate in Begooserai at age 20- Nigel

He managed an indigo farm at Bigoo Serai { Begoo Serai, Monghyr (now Begusarai, Bihar state) ) ~500k NW of Calcutta, E of Patna and near the Ganges} .- - maybe 1898-1900 , before starting an Engineering apprenticeship

1903-1907 . Took Honours exam in Electric Lighting and Power at City & Guilds of London. Worked Messrs Crompton & Co Salisbury House, London

1909. He is living at 67 Cambridge Gardens, Kensington, in the same house as his brother and mother, to whom he pays rent

1911C . ???Odd that he is not in the country . Have searched using wild cards

1912. Gregory H W Gaspar, 34, engineer, married Elsie F Heard , 23, on 10/6/1912 in Plumstead parish church, Greenwich. . Woolwich Jun 1912 . His address 66 Clyde Road, West Didsbury, Manchester: hers 60 Genesta Road, Plumstead. His father Nicholas Malcolm Gasper, advocate, deceased: hers John Heard, engineer.. His mother a witness, along with her father, J. Heard, and his elder sister, Ripsima Bennison

bridesmaid?, Dwight, Elsie, Gregory Hugh, Ripsima?, Hosannah, John Heard, Mary Heard?, bridesmaid Gladys? John F L Heard?

His brother Dwight identified by Nigel. Ripsima Bennison/Gaspar 1870- a witness on the m.c.- , his elder sister, surely in the photo- probably the lady to the right of him? .

His mother, Queenie, died, 22/6/1912, Paddingon, while he was on honeymoon in Iceland .-Nigel

1914. Malcolm Frederick William Gaspar was born Woolwich Jun 1914 to Gregory & Elsie. Baptised 6/6/1914 in St Margarets, Plumpstead: father engineer, address 60 Geneston? Road

Gregory seemingly did not serve in WW1- we assume his engineering prowess was necessary for the war effort

1912-1918. He returned to Prestwich . His wife might have travelled back to Plumstead specifically for the birth of Malcolm in 1914

Thought Malcolm was their only child from BMD, BUT, seems to be another, Hugh Stanley John Gasper born December 1918 :

NIGEL- do you have any more memories of your Uncle Hugh, or contact with his children??

By the 1920s he had founded a business based on the vogue for neon lighting; each unit is dependent upon a transformer, and he became a northern agent for General Transformers of London. The business really thrived, but I was told that at one point in the financial turbulence of the ‘twenties his bank collapsed and he lost all of his money. ( No bankruptcy found in the London Gazette or in FMP Newspapers) He was very straight in business, and he rebuilt from scratch, to the admiration of business associates. GHWG thrived once more, now in business with elder son MFWG (‘Mal’) as ‘GHW Gasper & Son Ltd’. He collected antiques including a longcase clock by Joseph Knibb (alas since sold), and through his photo albums we meet him with his wife and two sons enjoying cruises to Egypt, the Mediterranean and Scandinavia. His tastes were conventional; he loved music, and he enjoyed motoring, fearlessly driving the family by car to Edinburgh a decade before the 1939 war. His marriage was happy, but in 1948 GHWG experienced the quite unexpected disaster of his much younger wife being crippled by a stroke. He ‘downsized’ to a semi close to ‘Mal’, hosting family Christmases with the help of a housekeeper. He bought himself an MG Magnette in the latest, strikingly orange shade. In his early 80s he made the bold decision to take over a failing company, and this brought fresh financial triumph. His younger son, also Hugh, joined the business; ‘& Son’ became ‘& Sons’. He continued driving to work in Manchester every day, including Saturday mornings, to within weeks of his death in April 1964.

1930. He, 52, and his wife, 41, of Waveney, Prestwick Park Sth, Manchester, take a cruise from Liverpool to Madeira & the Canaries on the Ardeola. Address was Waveney-Ancestry

1939. Gregory H W Gasper, 62, ElectricMechanic & Consulting Engineer, is living at Waveney, Prestwich Park Road, Prestwich with his wife, 2 sons and father in law

1948. His wife was crippled by a stroke and they moved to a semi, 16 Circular Road, Prestwich, opposite his son Malcolm's house, with a housekeeper

1950. His wife, Elsie, died, aged 61, at 16 Circular Road, Prestwich,, Heywood Dec 1950. Probate of £ 1994.

After his wife's death he still went daily to the office in M/cr including Saturday mornings until about a month before his death on 9.4.1964. He took over another business with great success when he was in his 80s, still the Armenian businessman! Somewhere I've got a mechanical engineering certificate of his - didn't know Calcutta was not completed.

1964. Gregory Hugh Walter Gasper , 85, died 9/4/1964 at 16 Circular Road, Prestwich. He left £43183, executors his 2 sons, both electrical engineers, and a solicitor, Jacob Morris Levy . Heywood Jun 1964. Seemingly no Obituary in FMP Newspapers

He had attended Church regularly and is buried with his wife at the medieval St Mary’s Church, Prestwich.

His son, Hugh Stanley John Gasper, ~70, of 22 Chesney Av., Chadderton Oldham died 1989, lraving<£100000 -Ancestry probate

Hannah	Gasper	Head	Married	Female	30	1851	Wife Of Advocate	India
Hugh	Gasper	Son	Unmarried	Male	3	1878	-	Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Dwight	Gasper	Son	Unmarried	Male	2	1879	-	Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Mary	Hack	Servant	Unmarried	Female	31	1850	Nurse	England
Jessie	Crichton	Servant	Unmarried	Female	14	1867	General Serv (Domestic)	Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

Gregory H W	Gasper	12 Aug 1877	Male	Electric Mechanic & Consulting Engineer	Married	93	1
	Elsie F	Gasper	12 Jan 1889	Female	Unpaid Domestic Duties	Married	93	2
	Malcolm F W	Gasper	18 Apr 1914	Male	Electric Engineer	Single	93	3
	Hugh S J	Gasper	10 Dec 1918	Male	Apprentice Aircraft Engine?	Single	93	4
	John	Heard	30 Sep 1860	Male	Mechanical Engineer Retired	Widowed	93	5