I recently spent a weekend in Winchester, and took the opportunity to try to solve a mystery in the life of Emilia Vincent, the subject of my first book. Emilia spent the first half of her long life in Westminster, and most of the second half in Reading, except for two short periods.

An evening of Felix Burns music in Carlisle

Back in 2008, after a complete change of career, I went to work in a care home in Reading. Helena House was a Victorian building, well-worn and shabby in places, but as I settled into the routines and got to know the residents - 10 adults with learning disabilities - I soon learnt that it was a place with a lot of laughter and love.

It was great to be asked to contribute an article to The Lion and The Dragon, the magazine of the friends of Cumbria's Museum of Military Life.  

The New Year of 1920 would be Felix Burns' last. He had been struggling with his health for some time; in 1914, he had been found unfit for active war duties, but had served as recruitment sergeant at Carlisle Castle, as well as bandmaster of the 4th Battalion, the Border Regiment. In 1916, Sergeant Drummer Burns was discharged from the territorial army, probably on health grounds.

December is a busy month for musicians; so many balls and parties, concerts and church services, winter festivals and carol singing.

In 1905, Felix Burns published a piano solo called Mignonette.

One aspect of historical research can be quite annoying; that is, the tendency to disregard the life and contribution of women. On censuses, for example, the family will be listed in hierarchical order; man, then wife, then children in order of age, then servants. The man's occupation is given, and usually the occupations of any male children of the household; young sons and sometimes young daughters are given the occupation of "scholar."