<—Olga, Nursing & a Declaration of War Olga’s Diary (Continued) Life goes on: A strange thing happened this morning, a gentleman called out. “Nurse” It took a few moments before I realized he meant me. It was a bit of a shock, but a very pleasant one. Sister Tutor says even in wartime there [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Jamaica’
St Giles Cottage Hospital London 1940 – 1941
Posted in Family History, Family Saga, History of my ancestors, Jamaican Genealogy, Jamaican History, Memoirs, tagged Browney family, Carmen Browne, family, Jamaica, London 1939, London Blitz, nursing WW2, Outbreak of WW2, St Giles Cottage Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital on December 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
A Change of Plan for Olga – London 1939
Posted in Family Historian, Family History, Family Saga, Memoirs, tagged Jamaica, Joanne, London 1939, Olga Browney, Olga's diary, outbreak of war on October 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
<—London 1939 Aunt Martha, Chilworth Street, Paddington—> Even after all these years I still struggle to understand how my grandmother, Becky, thought it was safe to send my mother, Olga, to London in April 1939. The threat of war between Britain and Germany had not receded in spite of Neville Chamberlain securing Adolf Hitler’s promise that he would not invade [...]
London 1939
Posted in Family History, Family Saga, Genealogy, History of my ancestors, tagged Browney family, Jamaica, London, London 1939, Lyons Corner House, Martha Ross, Munich agreement, paddington, Ross family on September 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
<—-Kingston 1938 – A Dangerous Place A Change of Plan for Olga—-> My mother, Olga Browney, arrived in London from Kingston, Jamaica on 1st April 1939 intending to stay only a few months. The plan was that Olga would stay with her Aunt Martha in Paddington. Although in the months before there had been talk [...]
Kingston, 1938 – A Dangerous Place to Live
Posted in Family History, Family Saga, Jamaican History, Obeah, tagged Alexander Bustamante, Browney family, diary entries, Jamaica, Jamaica 1938, Kingston Riots 1938, Obeah, Olga, strikes and demonstrations, The Gleaner, unemployment on July 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
<—- Sydney Shoots a Burglar Christmas in Jamaica with John Canoe —-> 1938 was a very diffcult and dangerous time for the Browney family living in Kingston. In May of that year workers all over Jamaica went on strike and the unemployed joined them marching and demonstrations. The banana trade had declined drastically and unemployment was [...]
Sydney Shoots a Burglar
Posted in Family History, Family Saga, Jamaican folklore, Jamaican Genealogy, Obeah, tagged Browney family, Catholic religion, family story. roots, Holy Trinity Cathedral Kingston Jamaica, Jamaica, Obeah, obeahman, Olga's diary, Ross family, Sydney Browney on July 15, 2009 | 1 Comment »
<– More Spells and Obeah Kingston 1938 A Dangerous Place to Live—> Click to englarge image Once my Mum (Olga) started to talk about her family to me and what her life was like growing up in Jamaica, she told me about the two biggest scandals in the family (and there were quite a few!). [...]
Carlton
Posted in Family History, Family Saga, Memoirs, Tracing Ancestors, tagged Catholic religion, colour prejudice, Jamaica, Obeah, Olga Browney on May 14, 2009 | 1 Comment »
<–A Loose Cannon & Catholic Church Kingston Riots —> I regret I never met my Aunt Vivie but, unfortunately, she died just a couple of years before I made contact with Mum’s (Olga) family in Jamaica. I think I would have liked her even though there was one aspect of her character I would have [...]
A Loose Cannon and the Catholic Church
Posted in Family History, Family Saga, Genealogy, Memoirs, tagged Alpha Academy, Catholic religion, Jamaica, Jamaican families, Olga Browney, Vivie on April 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »
<–Pops, Aunt Martha & Marcus Garvey Carlton —> Olga’s Diary (Continued) Dear Diary Big Scandal: My very favourite nun, Sister Marie-Thérèse, told me one day when I was at Alpha Academy, that Jamaica has the largest number of churches per square mile in the entire world. Many are beautiful, old, stone buildings going back [...]
Pops, Aunt Martha and Marcus Garvey
Posted in Family History, Family Saga, History of my ancestors, Jamaican Genealogy, Marcus Garvey, tagged Annie Palmer, Browney family, family story. roots, Garvey, Jamaica, Jamaican society, Marcus Garvey, Obeah, Olga, Olga's diary, Rose Hall on April 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
<-Vivie, Sydney & The Den of Inequity A Loose Cannon & The Catholic Church–> Some might say that dysfunctional would be an appropriate word to describe my mother’s family, but I prefer the word colourful! Mum had described her family to me as high Catholics, a phrase I have never understood the meaning [...]
Olga’s Diary Continued : Siblings, Lodgers and a Gift from God
Posted in Family Historian, Family Saga, Genealogy, History of my ancestors, tagged Browney family, Browneys, Diary, family story. roots, geneology, Jamaica, Jamaican ancestory, Maroons, memoir, Obeah, Olga, slavery on April 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
<—Olga’s Diary Vivie, Sydney & the Den of Inequity—> Dear Diary When we were little, Mammie used to take in lodgers and we still have one, Mr Delgado who has one of the rooms downstairs. He is a salesman, from the Cockpit Country and a direct descendent of the Maroons, who, by the way, [...]
Olga’s Diary
Posted in Family Historian, Family History, Family Saga, History of my ancestors, Memoirs, tagged Jamaica, Jamaican diary, Kingston, Obeah, Olga Browney, Olga's diary, The Browneys on March 29, 2009 | 3 Comments »
<—The Browneys Siblings, Lodgers and a Gift from God—> Mum’s writing started back in Jamaica. Her oldest sister, Vivie (Viviana) gave her a green diary that had a little gold lock on it and came with its own special key. Growing up I remember so well how my Mum, Olga, loved to write. [...]
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Why I Wrote ”Olga – A Daughter’s Tale”
In 1994, my mother, Carmen Browne, was admitted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton in the UK seriously ill. As she slowly recovered I realized that had she died so too would the chance of my finding out about her past, her family in Jamaica and, of particular importance to me, who my father was information she had consistently refused to share with me. So I decided to find out for myself.My first discovery was that my mother’s real name was Olga Browney, born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica and one of eleven children from a close-knit, coloured Catholic family. A kind, naïve and gentle girl, my mother arrived in London in 1939 and lived with a malevolent, alcoholic aunt, intending to stay for only six months. However, world events, personal tragedy and malicious intent all combined to prevent her from returning home to Kingston.
"Olga - A Daughter's Tale" is based on a true story about cruelty, revenge and jealousy inflicted on an innocent young woman and about moral courage, dignity, resilience and, in particular, love. It is the story of a remarkable woman, who because of circumstances, made a choice, which resulted in her losing contact with her beloved family in Jamaica, until nearly half a century later, when her past caught up her.
What I discovered about my mother filled me with such admiration for her that I wanted her story recorded for future generations of my family to read so that they would know about this remarkable woman whose greatest gift to me was her unconditional love. That's why I wrote “Olga – A Daughter’s Tale”.
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