Talk:Leo Blair (senior)

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[edit] Hazel

it says she was catholic on tony's page

[edit] "middle class travelling entertainers"

I'd love to know what that was supposed to mean in the context of early twentieth century Britain. Flapdragon 03:05, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Simply that they were travelling entertainers who came from middle class backgrounds? I imagine many people might imagine a travelling entertainer to be from the working class i.e. George Formby. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 10:21, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

That would be quite unusual I suppose, and there might be a good story there. But since there's no clue offered, we're just guessing really. It might well be someone using the term in the American sense of "not rich, not poor, just middling". I'd have thought the lifestyle (as opposed to origins) of a travelling entertainer would be inherently working-class. According to thepeerage.com, "May Augusta Ridgway Bridson [Leo's mother] was born circa 1887 in Mickleton, Gloucestershire, England. She is the daughter of Augustus William Bridson and Maria Emily Montford. She married, thirdly, Charles Parsons. She married, secondly, Hugh Alexander Wilson. Her married name became Tordiffe. She was a dancer. Her married name became Wilson. Her married name became Parsons. May Augusta Ridgway Bridson used the stage-name of Celia Ridgway." I wonder why her birth-date is approximate: I'd have thought that by 1887 even a respectable working-class person would appear in parish registers etc. Also, why was she born in Gloucestershire if it's true, as the Times says, that "the daughter of a wealthy Sussex landowner". Unless anyone knows anything reliable about the family background of the Parsonses I'd say we should probably ditch the adjective. Flapdragon 11:23, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Hi I'm not sure why you say that middle class in the sense of "not rich, not poor, just middling" is an American term- I'm English and that's the way I and AFAIK most other people I have ever come across have thought of it. I don't think many (or any) details are known about the father Charles Parsons but more information is definitely availiable on the mother. Her family was very well off - I believe her grandfather Thomas Ridgway Bridson was JP for Lancashire. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 11:44, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

So really there's no such thing as class structure, just income brackets?! Anyone who has money is upper-class? Well I suppose this isn't really the place for that discussion but I'd have thought it was pretty uncontroversial that, in Britain at least, social class has almost nothing to do with money. Otherwise Wikipedia wouldn't need a whole big article discussing this thorny subject ("In the United Kingdom, social status has historically been linked less directly to wealth than in the United States, and has also been judged by pointers such as accent, manners, place of education, occupation and the class of a person's family, circle of friends and acquaintances", etc). Anyway, it seems that there is some kind of backstory here about Blair's grandmother rejecting a respectable or even privileged background, but quite what that was we don't know. Flapdragon 01:39, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Well I agree with the Wikipedia article in that class in the UK is less linked to wealth than in the U.S and is more to do with accent and education and perhaps the background of your parents or even more distant ancestry. I posted some more info on Blair's grandmother here- there are a couple of links there that give some info. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 11:58, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Good stuff. Might be worth incorporating some of it here assuming decent sources exist (there are some oddnesses as noted above but its seems sound). Flapdragon 12:55, 3 August 2007 (UTC)