Author: Fred Gettings

[DrPaulLee]

Another suggestion is putting an appeal in a parish newsletter or magazine.

But...
I'd suggest that given the nature of his tragic death, his family might not wish to have that wound re-opened. Please tread carefully.
I think the best thing to do, other than his will, is to try and identify his wife's solicitor (he's mentioned but not named in the article). He will almost certainly know what happened to the estate.

 

[Marsyas]

yup! I recognise this boat we are both in

it's no problem to do this.

I see from your profile that you’re from “An Eochair” . . . and I have to confess I’m not sure what this means (I presume it is Irish?)

I come from Naarm, the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung (although I’m not indigenous)

 

[Marsyas]

Another suggestion is putting an appeal in a parish newsletter or magazine.

But...
I'd suggest that given the nature of his tragic death, his family might not wish to have that wound re-opened. Please tread carefully.
I think the best thing to do, other than his will, is to try and identify his wife's solicitor (he's mentioned but not named in the article). He will almost certainly know what happened to the estate absolutely will tread carefully

Parish newsletter is another good suggestion

And just to reassure you I absolutely will be sensitive in any enquiries I make

I’m not sure if I mentioned in a previous post but I’m an oncology nurse in my day job, which means a fair bit of talking to believed and traumatised people, and I won’t be insensitive in any enquiries that I make

 

[Frideswide]

I see from your profile that you’re from “An Eochair” . . . and I have to confess I’m not sure what this means (I presume it is Irish?)

I come from Naarm, the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung (although I’m not indigenous)

Scots rather than Irish Western end of the Central Belt which is the coast to coast lowlands between the hills of the border with England and the mountains to the north.

Oncology nurse? I now have total confidence in your discretion and discernement

There are a number of down under persons here.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Alumni office. Hmm, another good suggestion that I haven’t tried yet. I’ll certainly give that a try – although, as I think I mentioned, Mr Gettings if he was still alive would be something like 85 - 86 years old so it may be getting hard to find too many of his contemporaries.

That said, people do sometimes donate their papers to their alma mater? ETA: Ah it seems you gave them a try already.



Poor gentleman. I'd suspect, someone who died in these circs might be harder for you to follow up on, as loved ones may not want to speak to a researcher. You never know, though.

We used to do talks (nothing folklore/paranormal) in Skipton every year til the pandemic and I could even have subtly asked around for you, as many of those who attended were local arty types... and may well have been friends of friends or similar. Damn. We never go up there now. Or not for work.

Problem with this, Marsyas, is it's easier to do on the ground.

Have you tried:

https://www.yas.org.uk/

Also:

https://thoresby.org.uk/

Leeds archives generally are the sort you might need to be on the ground for, as well. I've worked in a number of them and indexing isn't always the best so you're less likely to find anything without physically being in the buildings where this stuff is deposited. I've spent a frightening amount of the past 15 years or so cultivating librarians and curators but that has to be done face to face.

I used to go on research trips, deliberately, with an extremely charismatic friend with an incredibly posh accent, who'd charm them to the point we could spend that extra couple of hours looking/documenting or they'd email us and invite us along. Will never forget the curator - not from Yorkshire but a neighbouring county - who beckoned us up to their library to see their latest acquisition, behind a number of alarm systems etc (since gone on display). It was a Turner. Original. Just propped against a book shelf in a backroom... Can't tell you how many trips that took to earn that level of trust! She'd schmooze them so I could just quietly work without them standing over me. It is an art and it's hard to deal with people and get their trust via email, sometimes. But in person and over time, you can get research paydirt.

 

[Marsyas]

Scots rather than Irish Western end of the Central Belt which is the coast to coast lowlands between the hills of the border with England and the mountains to the north.

Oncology nurse? I now have total confidence in your discretion and discernement

There are a number of down under persons here.

Ah, wonderful. And most of my ancestors are Scottish (although they came to Australia quite a few generations ago)

Some at least came as part of the Highland and Island Emigration Society, and apparently they still spoke Gaelic rather than English when they first arrived:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_and_Island_Emigration_Society

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Ah, wonderful. And most of my ancestors are Scottish (although they came to Australia quite a few generations ago)

Some at least came as part of the Highland and Island Emigration Society, and apparently they still spoke Gaelic rather than English when they first arrived:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_and_Island_Emigration_Society

One of my mum's ancestors went to Tasmania in 1840-something and never got the Ticket of Leave home... Another relative on the other side of the family, was a marine on the Third Fleet who became a farmer and left a load of horses behind, somewhere that became wild...

 

[Marsyas]

That said, people do sometimes donate their papers to their alma mater?

Poor gentleman. I'd suspect, someone who died in these circs might be harder for you to follow up on, as loved ones may not want to speak to a researcher. You never know, though.

We used to do talks (nothing folklore/paranormal) in Skipton every year til the pandemic and I could even have subtly asked around for you, as many of those who attended were local arty types... and may well have been friends of friends or similar. Damn. We never go up there now. Or not for work.

Yes, re: the alma mater I tried contacting Sussex, where he got his MA but unfortunately they don’t hold anything of his

I think you are quite right about the circumstances probably meaning it is less likely that family will want to talk with me, but I guess you won’t know unless you (sensitively) ask

My current problem is that despite quite a bit of digging I haven’t been able to find contact details for any of his family

I think his daughter would be about 62 and his granddaughter in her early 30s but I haven’t been able to find anything about either of them despite quite a bit of digging.

I guess this means it is likely they don’t use their own names when accessing the internet, and don’t have jobs that would give them an internet presence

 

[Marsyas]

One of my mum's ancestors went to Tasmania in 1840-something and never got the Ticket of Leave home... Another relative on the other side of the family, was a marine on the Third Fleet who became a farmer and left a load of horses behind, somewhere that became wild...

So interesting!

My ancestors who came as part of the Highlands and Islands scheme arrived in Portland (obv free emergents rather than convicts) and a couple of the sons of the family went on the become “horse breakers” between Victoria and South Australia, which I think means they’d catch wild horses and then “break them in” so they could be sold as riding horses.

 

[Iris]

Marsyas one of my grandfathers was supposed to have been a horse whisperer.

 

[Iris]

There's quite a bit of information on him on google.

 

[Marsyas]

There's quite a bit of information on him on google.

I’ve possibly got close to talking out the easily available internet

I’m aware of the angle that as well as the books he published under his own name there is quite a bit of speculation that he used several non de plumes to publish other work for instance

I say the easily available internet because I know some people block their websites from being accessible to normal search engines, but I’m probably not tech savvy enough to go scouring the dark web for information about Fred (or any of his aliases).

 

[catseye]

There is a group on Facebook called 'Yorkshire Writers' (I'm a member but very peripherally, most are self published, but they have a lot of get-togethers and do a lot of good work re publicity). It's a relatively new group (I think about ten or fifteen years old), but it may be that one of the older members might remember Fred - either knowing personally or having gone to readings or other writers' meet ups. It could be worth you asking them if anyone remembers him?

 

[Marsyas]

There is a group on Facebook called 'Yorkshire Writers' (I'm a member but very peripherally, most are self published, but they have a lot of get-togethers and do a lot of good work re publicity). It's a relatively new group (I think about ten or fifteen years old), but it may be that one of the older members might remember Fred - either knowing personally or having gone to readings or other writers' meet ups. It could be worth you asking them if anyone remembers him?

Excellent, thanks for the tip @catseye

I think maybe one of these community groups is probably my best chance of finding one or two people who have known Fred who might be happy to talk to me about him.

I think prior to him losing living in Hellisfield he may have lived in Haincliffe for a period of time but I have to admit I’m finding it very difficult to piece together a timeline for his life.

 

[queenofwands]

http://manmythandmagic.com/

click on the link in red that shows his vast collection of occult paraphernalia. Sire also says part of his collection was purchased by well known author Andrew Collins

 

[Marsyas]

http://manmythandmagic.com/

click on the link in red that shows his vast collection of occult paraphernalia. Sire also says part of his collection was purchased by well known author Andrew Collins

Amazing! Thanks for this!

I will certainly follow this up so see if any this information can be obtained through Andrew Collins or Rachel Ward.

m.

 

[Frideswide]

http://manmythandmagic.com/

click on the link in red that shows his vast collection of occult paraphernalia. Sire also says part of his collection was purchased by well known author Andrew Collins

stonking find there @queenofwands