My father (Gordon Dinnis) was eight years old in 1931. He was living with his parents (Joseph and Annie Dinnis) and his brothers and sister in the basement of number four Charlotte Street, Brighton. The family lived here from 1931 to at least 1933. Recently my cousin Sue went for a walkabout in the area, and took some great photographs. Here are three of them.
Charlotte Street, Brighton beach is at the bottom of the road.
Number 4 Charlotte Street
The family of parents and four children lived in the basement.
I have this photograph of the children from August 1931, when Jack was 11, Nancy 9, Gordon 8 and Ron the youngest was 6.
Left to right: Nancy, Ron, Gordon and Jack on Brighton beach
I’m not sure how many rooms were in the basement of number 4 Charlotte Street, but it must have been a bit of a squash to say the least. The children were no longer babies or toddlers and I wonder how they all managed to live together in a basement.
From stories Dad used to tell me I know that he spent a lot of time with his younger brother Ron walking along Brighton seafront. He loved playing football, and would kick stones around, which would wear out his shoes very quickly! They would often need repairing and his mother would see to this without trying to let her husband know. The brothers also used to look out for men who were smoking, and ask if they could have their cigarette cards from the packets.
Looking on the website http://www.mhms.org.uk it is possible to access Kellys Directory which shows in 1932 the occupants of 4 Charlotte Street included Janes Woolf, Mrs Fitzgerald, Miss A Ledward and Joseph Dinnis (my grandfather). Obviously Joseph Dinnis had a family, so perhaps the other residents also had family living with them.
Many thanks to Sue for letting me use her photographs.
Meeting my family 