My middle name is Albert and as long as I can remember I have always known that this was the firts name of my dad’s favourite brother. I had already discovered that Albert was one of the crew of the Penstone and now started to wonder what else I could discover but unfortunately Aunty Mary’s notes revealed very little other than that Albert was born on the 5th of august 1927 and died 31st of July 1948: I hope he enjoyed his 20 years and 359 days.

To my amazement it seems he was married at the time of the disaster and that his wife was living at 40 Newstead road (where else!!!). He married Brenda Frances Prince at st. Clements church Toxteth on 15th of May 1948. This was just 11 weeks before the disaster. He was part of the crew of the Penstone and so I guess Albert and Brenda didn’t have that much time together as husband and wife.

At first I was amazed to read that before marrying Brenda was living at 12 Exe street. However this was quickly debunked by Jackie Andrews since grandma Smith (Bert Smith’s mother) was living at this address. I can only assume that Brenda and Albert were already living together at 40 Newstead road and wanted to “keep up appearances ” or that maybe the church st. Clements was strict on living together before marriage. Luckily their marriage certificate had enough clues to help me further and so I was able to discover that Brenda came from Birkenhead. Apparantly she returned to Birkenhead and remarried a certain Robert Smith there, four years later.