The Glass family

Frederick Glass, aged 3

Frederick Orlando Glass was born on August 3, 1867 at 6 Diamond St, Haverfordwest.

Henry Edmond Glass

Frederick's father, Henry Edward Glass, was a Captain in the 37th Regiment 'Foot' (infantry).  He was born in Calcutta in 1835.

Frederick's mother was called Anna Evans Bridgeman, born in Tavistock, Devon in 1835.

Anna may have been a descendant of the Earls and Barons of Bradford, as the name Orlando is commonly used in the Bridgeman genealogy.  Henry and Anna married in Plymouth in 1862.



Anna died in 1869 when Frederick was just two.  His father left for India and married Katherine Julia Griffin in 1871.

They had a son, Harold Edward Lepel Glass who, like his father, joined the army.  He was recommended for the Victoria Cross in 1914 when he was seriously wounded and taken prisoner during the First World War, but was awarded the Star Ribbon.

Henry Edmond's father, Henry Harrington Glass, was born in Calcutta in 1800 and worked for the East India Civil Service during the early part of his life.

Hariet Glass with Charles in 1843

In 1861 Henry H was staying at the Kilin Hotel, Kilin in Perthshire.



In 1851 he was living at Court House, Wellington, Somerset, with his wife and three children.

Henry E was born in 1835 in Caluctta as was his younger brother Charles..



Possibly a young Matilda

Their older sister, Matilda A Glass, was born in Fife in 1832.

Colonel Andrew Glass

Henry Harrington's father, Colonel Andrew Glass, was born in St Andrews, Scotland in 1759.  He enlisted in the Bengal Artillery in 1878 and is believed to have been at the Battle of Seringapatam in India in 1799.

He retired from the army in 1807 and built  Abbey Park, which is on the outskirts of St Andrews. Col. Andrew Glass died in 1832.  His death was announced in the Schoolmaster magazine. He is buried in the grounds of St Andrews Cathedral.

Abbey Park

Abbey Park was once a girl's school, but is now derelict and there are plans to build housing on the site,

The Glass family crest

Col Andrew's father, Andrew Glass, was a merchant, born in Dundee in 1725.  The name Glass means Grey, Green or Blue in Gaelic.  The Glasses were a sept or sub-set of the Stuart Clan of Bute and the Frasers of Atholl.

The Glasses had three family mottoes.  One,  'Luctor, non mergor', means 'I struggle, but am not overwhelmed' another 'Energo', means 'rise up'.  

Andrew's father was James Glass of Dundee, born in 1695.  

Cintra Park, Croydon, London

In 1871 Frederick and his brother Henry A Glass were living with their grandfather and their Aunt Matilda at 27 Cintra Park, Croydon, London.

Newton College

In 1881, Frederick was a boarder at Newton College, Newton Abbot in Devon.

Some of Frederick's possessions 

According to Frederick's wife Hannah Gertrude, his father was an unpleasant man, constantly dissatisfied with his sons.  He sent his older son Henry A Glass to Australia and Frederick went to Canada as a young man.

This photograph of some of Frederick's possessions shows how extensively he traveled.  It includes gold from the Klondyke, a Brazilian bank note, a smelling salts bottle in a silver pendant container, a small Chinese ceramic box  He also had a Malay Kris

There is also a military button and a gold seal belonging to his great grandfather Colonel Andrew.  The seal has the Salmon family crest on it, with the 'Energo' motto.

Frederick went to Sandhurst Military College, but did not complete his officer training.  Instead he enrolled at the Chelsea College of Art..

Belvedere Rd, Penge
In 1901 Frederick was living with his aunt, Matilda at 12, Belvedere Rd, Penge, near London.

Matilda A Glass

Matilda was living on her own means, and Frederick was a  Portrait Artist.

Hannah Gertrude Gray

Frederick married Hannah Gertrude Gray, a dressmaker, sometime from January – March 1905.  Hannah was born in Sydenham, Kent, the daughter of a grocer, in 1877, but she was living in Lewisham in London in 1901.

Frederick sometimes worked as a portrait painter on cruise shops and the couple visited New York.

Nettleton Rd where Gladys was born

Their first daughter Gladys Irene was born at 12 Nettleton Rd, New Cross, London on September 7, 1902. 

Gladys was born premature and developed congenital cataracts probably because she was given too much oxygen in the incubator.

Gladys was one of the first people ever to receive transplant surgery.  She had a corneal transplant, which was at the cutting edge of medicine at the time.  This procedure did not even begin to be practiced widely until the mid 1950's.

Frederick, Hannah Gertrude and Phyllis 

By the 1911 Census, the family were living in Whitchurch Rd, Cardiff with second daughter Phyllis, born in 1906.

Frederick was able to live mainly off his family's wealth for most of his life, but he lost a lot of money in the 1929 Wall Street Crash.

Frederick died in 1933, and Hannah Gertrude in 1960.

Gladys Glass married Clement Salmon in the late 1920's.

They lived at 98 Glenroy Street, Cardiff until Clement's death in 1963.  Gladys died  in 1974.

Gladys and Clement had two children, Jean Rose in 1931 and Thomas William in 1937.

Jean Rose married Dennis Griffiths.  They had four children, Janet, Kevin, Sion and David.

Thomas William (Tom), was visually impaired.  He inherited his condition from his mother.

Like many disabled people Clement and Gladys found it hard to find work, so money was scarce.

In those days, the only way for visually impaired people to do O’, and A’ Levels, and go on to university was to attend one of two grammar schools for visually impaired people; Worcester College for boys and Chorleywood for girls.

In 1949 Tom sat the entrance exam for a free scholarship to Worcester but failed.  He tried again the following year and passed.

He went on the study History at Cardiff University, and in 1959 became the first blind person to gain a degree from that college.

Despite his achievements, and the 1960's economic boom when work was plentiful for most, Tom found it hard to find a job and spent his working life as an audio typist at the Commercial Bank of Wales, later Standard Chartered Bank.  A job he found dispiriting and boring.

But Tom found much to stimulate his mind outside of work.  He was a devout Christian and a member of the Plymouth Brethren, a strict protestant denomination.  He was a prominent ley preacher and studied Latin, Hebrew and Greek.

Tom also studied modern languages like French, German and Italian, and in 1976 won a trip to Germany, after finishing in the top six in a BBC correspondence course.

This was big news at the time, and Tom and his family appeared on the front page of the South Wales Echo.

Tom  married Nellie Dyer in 1966.  They had four children Lydia, Rachel, Deborah and Jonathan..

Tom Salmon died in 1993.