Gallery | John Elverson

It was whilst researching my family history that I learnt about Boris Vladimirovich Héroys/Gerua and his connection to my family via Dorothy and his exploits and career in Tsarist Russia.

Nancy Croker, Grandmother

My Grandmother Nancy Croker with the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand in St Moritz 1909. She was in his bobsleigh team, the Vendettas. The Archduke’s and his wife’s assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 triggered the First World War.

Captain Edward Croker

Captain Edward Croker, Nancy’s father. In 1878 he played for Ireland in the Rugby International against England. He was killed in an accident when leading the British Military Tournament at the Chicago World Fair in 1892.

My Grandfather

My mother’s father and his father getting a lift home from Holwell Manor in Dorset, owned by their relative Edmund Gadesden who refused to travel by motor car.

Dorothy

Dorothy, my mother’s aunt who is mentioned in my preface of To Serve the Russian Empire.

My Grandfather

My father’s father. His first wife was the granddaughter of Charles Stanley Monck, the first Governor General of Canada. His wife died in 1911 and to get over this he joined Sir Flinders Petrie’s archaeology team in Egypt. After the First World War he married his first wife’s cousin Nancy Croker.

My father and sisters at home on Galiano Island BC.jpg

My father and his sisters

My father with his sisters at home on Galiano Island, British Columbia.

Catherine Smith and Parents

My mother’s Great Grandmother, Catherine Hester Smith with her parents. Catherine was the 1st Cousin of Queen Elizabeth’s Great Grandmother, Frances Dora Smith. Her father worked for the East India Company’s Madras Presidency and later joined his family’s bank Smith Payne & Smiths.

My mother's uncle

First World War Flying Ace inventor of the Sutton Harness, Oliver Manners Sutton M.C. with his Sopwith Pup. He was killed age 25 in an accident in 1921 whilst test-flying a Bristol Braemar heavy bomber at Martlesham Aerodrome in 1921.

Ceramics

Some of my ceramic works