The late James Oram and Arthur Oram
Without the our Uncle Arthur’s research this website would have called “Isaac Oram of Ditcheat”. Arthur 1916-2005 and our grandfather James 1890-1964 visited Ditcheat on 11th April 1939 and noted the vital comment by the birth of Matthew Oram, born 1747 “Son of ‘Isaac Oram of Castol Carry'”.
Arthur left detailed notes of their visit to Ditcheat where Rev HH Tripp spent half an hour locating the key to the safe that held the parish records. Arthur and James, with the Rev Tripp’s help searched the birth records for about an hour and a quarter. Arthur did not mention any charge for the search, but Carolyn remembers a family story that in the 1930s our grandfather James had once been charged a lot of money for accessing some parish records. The charge had been determined by a large stopwatch that was started as soon as the registers were opened and ticked away during the search. We do not know if the Rev HH Tripp was the culprit. Luckily in the 1960’s our parents were not charged, but their donations to the churches were graciously received.
The late John and Daphne Oram:
Our mother Daphne Oram 1922-2002, daughter of an architect always liked to have a good project or two on the go. During our 1961 family holiday in Ireland she was fascinated by the Oram family stories related by her father-in-law James Oram 1890-1964. Soon this developed into her ten year “Oram Family Saga” project that is the starting point for this website.
Our father John Oram 1920-2007 and his great uncle John Samuel Oram 1847-1913 were both inventors. We understand from a colleague of John’s that during the ‘Second World War’ 1939-1945 while he was working for RAE Farnborough, John helped in the final preparations for the famous Dambusters raid. Like many of his generation John obeyed the Official Secrets Act and never spoke about this during his lifetime.
Both Daphne and John were born and lived in England, spending most of their married life in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.
Carolyn and Chris:
Chris who lives in Vancouver, Canada concentrates on the technical aspects of the site and is ‘The Webmaster’. If he is tardy in responding to your comments and queries he is probably with Margo bike touring around the world.
Carolyn inherited the Oram Family Archivist portfolio from her mother Daphne. Recently she has made sure that all the important diaries and documents relating to the family’s time in the West of Ireland are safely stored in a national archive in Ireland.
Carolyn is responsible for most of the detailed research for the site. Living on the western edge of The Yorkshire Dales in England she tends to stay at home with Colin, walking their Border Terrier Amos or tending their flower garden and vegetable allotment.
