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Funny where life takes you…

Stories from beyond the family trees

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Tag: Dibben

A Woman of Her Own Making

Catherine Dibben (1850-1934) rose from a poor Hayling Island childhood to running a successful boarding house and inspiring four generations of women

Natalie Mayhew Business, Trades & Professions, England, Women's Lives February 18, 2026June 24, 2026 2 Minutes

Luck of the Irish

Joseph Twohey (c1838–1913) an Irish-born soldier whose career spanned Crimea, India, and near-miraculous survival, honoured with Hayling’s first military funeral

Natalie Mayhew 🌐 Migration & Emigration, Earlier Conflicts, England, Ireland October 3, 2025June 24, 2026 5 Minutes

Poverty, Place, and Childhood on Hayling Island

Catherine Dibben (1850–1934) early family life in a hardworking yet impoverished rural community, where illness and loss were ever present

Natalie Mayhew Childhood & Family Life, England, Poverty, Hardship & Resilience December 18, 2024June 24, 2026 5 Minutes

Raising Children in a Changing World

Catherine Dibben (1850–1934) gacing displacement and relentless domestic work, she relied on ingenuity, thrift, and endurance to keep her household afloat

Natalie Mayhew Childhood & Family Life, England, Women's Lives December 18, 2024June 24, 2026 5 Minutes

Enterprise, Respectability, and Seaside Tourism

Catherine Dibben (1850–1934) returning to Hayling Island after twenty years, managing a boarding house amidst personal losses and the evolving social landscape of the late 19th century

Natalie Mayhew Business, Trades & Professions, England, Women's Lives December 18, 2024June 24, 2026 8 Minutes

Endurance Through War and Change

Catherine Dibben (1850–1934) faced significant personal and social challenges during WWI, managing her boarding house while mourning deeply for her family and navigating economic hardships

Natalie Mayhew England, First World War, Women's Lives December 18, 2024June 24, 2026 4 Minutes

Funny Where Life Took Them
Some of the surnames on this site — click one to find stories behind it

Bailey Baker Banfield Banfield aka Wackrill Barrett Baynes Booth Bovill Bowes-Lyon Brevoort Bristow Brock Carson Chaldecott Collingwood Conway-Gordon Coolidge Cooper Cotton Courtauld Daley Dibben Dowman Down Earle Finch Fitzgerald Gordon Hall Harvey Hill Irving Kirby Krug Lane? Levens Mayhew Mayo Napier Obee Payne Poulton Rose Saumarez Sheldrake Todd Twohey Wackrill Whetten

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