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Sunday, 12 September 2010

Sentimental Sunday: Hercules was my uncle

I have an Uncle Erks (actually, he passed away years ago, but I have a strong belief in an afterlife).  I searched genealogically for years for an 'Erks', until my mother told me this story of how he got his name:

When he was a small boy at school in the 1930s, George Henry Hubert BALL was a thin, weedy little chap.  His classmates teased him and called him 'Hercules', since he so obviously wasn't a strongman.  'Hercules' was shortened to 'Erks'; and that is how I knew him.  The name caused some confusion when I started working on my family tree!

His brother, Walter, was known as 'Wigs'.  How that one came about, I have no idea...

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