Albert Dunnell (1887-1941)
Billy Bennington mentioned a player called Elijah Ladbrooke, and also said another member of the family, Albert Dunnell, played: I have now identified him as Elijah Ladbrooke’s half-brother, the son of Harriet Dunnell (Elijah’s mother) and her second husband, John Henry Dunnell.
The family were from Colton. Albert Dunnell worked in agricultural engineering, and after spending his early married life in Edgbaston (his wife’s family home), by 1921 they were back in Colton, where they were living at the Horse and Groom although not listed as the licensees. They did run the pub from 1922 to 1929 and in the 1930s seem to have moved to the Broads where they ran the Queen’s Head in Acle whilst his brother John ran the Colton pub. As early as 1915, Albert had diversified into the motor trade, and in the 1939 register he was listed as blacksmith, motor fitter and driver.
Nothing at all is known about Albert’s dulcimer playing; it is only because Billy Bennington mentioned him that I believe him to have been a musician.
However, more is known about his half-brother Elijah Ladbrooke, and we saw his dulcimer in 2008 – photographs and more information on Elijah Ladbrooke‘s page.
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