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Hugo Fleury (my great
uncle) was born at 252 Whetley Lane, Manningham, Bradford, Yorkshire on
23rd January 1893. His father was Hermann Fleury,
a portrait painter born in Frankenthal, a town near Mannheim, Germany.
His mother was Margaretha Schalck who was born in Wicker, a small village
near Frankfurt. Hugo was the youngest of seven children, the eldest three
of which, including my grandfather Robert, were born in Germany. The family
had emigrated to England in 1876.
By 1901 the family were
living in north London (apart from Hugo's married brother Carl, who remained
in Bradford). The census has them at 88 Pellatt Grove, Wood Green, with
Hugo aged 8. Hugo's brothers, Robert (27) and Hermann (24), are present
as Art Students, while brother Frederick (23) is Wood Carver.
Their father, Hermann senior, is described as Artist Picture Painter.
The father and these three older sons are all described as occupied "at
home", so the house must have been quite crowded and busy.
It was around this time
that Hugo's brother Hermann Fleury junior
began producing artwork for postcards, which were published by the companies
Misch & Stock's, and G.D.&D. of London. The postcards were signed "H.
Fleury junior".
I know nothing of Hugo's
education, or how he faired in a German family in London in World War
I.
At age 30, Hugo was married
to Henrietta Levy, on 14th April 1923, at Edmonton Register Office. My
mother described her Aunt Hettie as a German woman who was very deaf.
I think it likely that Hettie's father was, in fact, London-born, while
her mother was born in Holland (although I have not confirmed these details
yet). Her father was described as Cigar Maker in Hettie's marriage
document.
Hugo was employed as
a printer's designer at Waterlow & Son. A design of his was used for stamps
which commemorated the Silver Jubilee of the reign of George V in 1935.
In the same year (1935) his design was used for a 1000 escudos banknote
of Portugal. In 1938 his design was used for Cayman Islands stamps. He
designed Czechoslovakian banknotes circulated from 1945. In 1949 his design
was used for one of a set of Great Britain stamps commemorating the 75th
anniversary of the Universal Postal Union.
Hugo Fleury's wife, Henrietta,
died on 30th January 1963, at 69 Pembury Road, London N17. Hugo Fleury
died on 26th November 1983 at the same address.
The British Postal Museum
& Archive website (for which click here)
says this about Hugo:
"HUGO FLEURY
was first apprenticed to Waterlows as a lithographic artist in 1907.
As well as designing banknotes, he designed nearly 200 foreign and
colonial postage stamps, most famously the 1935 Silver Jubilee issue
with the view of Windsor Castle. The UPU 6d was, however, his first
successful British postage stamp design, a fact he recorded as giving
him much pleasure. Sadly, although he worked on many issues for the
GPO from the PUC stamps of 1929 up to and including the 1953 Coronation,
it was to remain his only success in this field."
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