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London, 1920.

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H (1865-), 55: Edric Thomas Appleby (RowenaRavenclaw)
W (1868-), 52: Myrtle Catherine Crenshaw (cher529s)

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S (1892-), 28: Alberic Edwin "Alby" Appleby (molly)
- W (1891-), 29: Clemence Margherita Bedingfield (Princess_Shireen)
-- S (1913-), 7: Cosmo Leonardo Edric Appleby Wordsmith

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S (1895-), 25: Dunstan Thomas "Dunnie" Appleby (Darkbone)
- Fiancée (1900-), 20:

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FN: a woman mentioned in the Iliad.
MN: ends in -dora.
LN: the maiden name of a famous English writer's wife.

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D (1895-), 25: Dorothea Marigold "Dolly" Appleby (Wordsmith)
- GF (1897-), 23:

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FN: after a cross-dressing heroine from English literature.
MN: one of the many names for the Lady of the Lake in the Matter of Britain (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake#Names_and_origins)
LN: comes from this list (https://en.m.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Middle_English_nouns&pagefrom=HARS%0Ahars&subcatfrom=H&filefrom=H#mw-pages)

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D (1897-), 22: Liberty Jane "Libby" Appleby (Princess_Shireen)
- BF (1893-), 27:

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FN: what you think would make a perfect name for a teddy bear.
MN: Scottish, and used only in Scottish (so for example not Alan, which is also used in English, French, etc.)
LN: Scottish, derived from a given name.

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S (1899-), 21: Horatio John "Harry" Appleby (molly)
S (1903-), 17: Ambrose Edwulf "Brosie" Appleby (Darkbone)
D (1905-), 15: Saffron Victoria "Ronnie" Appleby (Laura B.)

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The year is 1920, and Europe is at peace once more. Hopefully, this time it will last.

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After the war, Alby and Clemence moved to Oxford, where Alby works as a railway engineer and Clemence continues her father's legacy by cataloguing rare manuscripts for the Bodleian Library. Their son, Cosmo has a penchant for sketching fantastical trains with wings and wheels which delight Alby.

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Dunstan's Gothic designs have began to attract attention. He lives in London, where he shares a charming flat with his fiancée - a fact his parents are trying to overlook due to its blatant impropriety - a suffragist-turned-social-worker with an incisive wit. They plan a spring wedding in 1921, and Dunnie has designed a chapel for the occasion - an elegant, willowy structure with stained glass windows.

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After the war, Dolly moved to a flat not far from her twin brother's, from which she holds piano lessons. These are not quite enough to live in the middle-class comfort she is accustomed to - thus, it is only natural that Dolly has taken lodgings with a young woman she met during the war, when they were both working in a munitions factory. Her charming friend is an actress in a local theatre.

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Libby still works at Kew Gardens, where she is part of a team cataloguing rare plants from around the world. She has no plans for marriage just yet, much to Myrtle's occasional dismay, but she enjoys corresponding with a fellow botanist in Scotland, whose letters seem to make her smile a bit more than usual.

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Harry enlisted as soon as he could, in 1917. Now, he has returned to England from the trenches of France, and is studying mechanical engineering in Birmingham. He lives in a boarding house with several other young men, and while he is fiercely independent, he writes home often, his letters brimming with humour and warmth.

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Brosie has grown into a thoughtful, artistic young man. His sketches have become increasingly sophisticated, and Myrtle is convinced they will one day be exhibited in London galleries. He has taken to tutoring younger children in art to save for his studies at the Royal College of Art.

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Saffron is as vivacious as ever, though her stories of knights and fairies have evolved into tales of daring adventures in exotic locales. She insists she'll one day travel the world, though for now, she contents herself with devouring every book in the Appleby library.

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Edric and Myrtle, now both in their fifties, have grown sentimental. All but two of their children have flown the coop, and were all blissfully unharmed by the war. They dote on Brosie and Ronnie, and are delighted whenever their older children or Cosmo - their only grandson, so far - visit.

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masculine list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/191050/124079
feminine list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/191050/124080

This message was edited 1/16/2025, 8:23 AM