Letter from the Editor

Dear Cousins,

It is with a certain fear of the unknown that I take over from Jack as editor of our newsletter. His will be a hard act to follow and the following appreciation by Peter illuminates just how lucky we are to have Jack Blencowe actively in our Association. He will now have more time to enjoy himself without the worry of the newsletter and I wish him well.

To introduce myself, I am the daughter of Harold Blencowe who was born in Leicester, England and came to Australia as a small lad in 1919. It wasn't until the late 1980s that I realised that his ancestors had actually migrated in 1830 and that I had quite a family history in Australia of which I knew very little.

The English part of my tree had been well research in the 1970s by Wilfred Blencowe and in the 1980s by Maurine Work so my emphasis has been on filling out the Australian branches of the family. John & Mary Blencowe migrated from Brackley to Tasmania then South Australia and had ten children. Six of those children married and had families and it is those branches that I am researching with the plan of one day writing a book about them. The six siblings were pioneers to various parts of our country and successfully faced many trials along the way. I have contacts with all bar one branch and they appear to be thriving though I suspect that the Blencowe name itself is starting to dwindle.

I must also admit to dabbling in the Brackley part of the family, trying to fill out the branches of my ancestors' siblings. I am gradually building up contacts with the Brackley connection.

Jack has been sending me snippets form the enquiries he receives for a column entitled News from Oxford so he will continue to have a large input in the newsletter. Peter Blencowe has offered to regularly provide a short piece on the history of our family in the UK and I'd like to invite any one else to send in articles of Blencowe interest.

Anne Burton
Australia, July, 2006