Antonio De Felice was born in Picinisco in 1868.  He was the son of Benedetto De Felice and Concetta Colarossi. Antonio worked as a farmer and joiner until his late teens when he and several other members of his family and some friends went to seek work in France. They reputedly did any jobs they were offered, including being artists’ models for sculptors in Paris (mid-late 1880s).

Having returned to the Cassino area, on 15 September 1892, Antonio married Annunziata Silvani who was from Atina.  She was the daughter of Achille Silvani and Loretta Melba.  Annunziata was 20 years old and Antonio was 24.  Soon after they were married, they left Italy to make their way to Britain.  Little is known of the journey they made from Italy but their destination was originally to be Middlesburgh in England.  They changed their plans, however, and continued northwards to Glasgow.

Annunziata’s brother, Carlo Silvani, came to Glasgow but soon left for America.  He settled there, marrying Leliah Melva Sykes and had three children, Bernice, (born in Alberta, Canada), Leonard and Roma.  Bernice (Hutson) died, aged 89, in February 2013.  Her husband, Blaine Frank Hutson died in 1993 and her son Michael David Hutson in 1999. She lived in Roseville, Sacramento, California and was survived by her brother, Leonard, children Barbara (Hanly) and Kim (Wilkinson), grandchildren  Jennifer (Wait) and Natalie (Wait Hiebert), Jessica Wilkinson, Holly Hutson, John Wilkinson and Tyler Hutson and great-grandchildren, Alexandra and Zachary Hiebert.  Annunziata also had a sister, Lina (Michelina) Morra (nee Silvani), who settled in New York, and had a son, Richard.

Antonio’s brother, Pietro (Peter) had two children, Benedetto (Benny) and Emily, who lived their lives in Glasgow. Neither married.

In their early years in Glasgow, Annunziata and Antonio lost two infant children, Guillermo and Michelangelo.  They subsequently had six other children in Glasgow: Alfonso (Alfie), born c. 1898,  John, (Johnny) b. 1899, Alberto, (Bert) b.1900, Elena (Ellen) b. 1904, George, b. 1910 and Margaret, b. 1914.  Antonio and Annunziata became naturalised British citizens.  Fortunately for the family, in light of future political events, none of them was drawn into the activities of the Italian Club in Glasgow, where young Scots-born Italians were sponsored by the Italian Fascist government to go back to Italy and learn the language, politics and culture.

By the late 1920s, the family had acquired several cafes – the original Cathkin Café in Cathcart Road, Crosshill, Glasgow, then the Buck’s Head Café in Clarkston and later the King’s Café in Elmbank Street. By 1930 they had moved into a recently built semi-detached property in Kingshouse Avenue in the developing southside suburb of King’s Park.

When World War 2 started in September 1939 and particularly as a result of Mussolini’s declaration of war on Britain and France in June 1940, times once again became very difficult.  A few weeks later, Annunziata took ill and, as bombs fell on the industrial sites of Clydebank and Polmadie, she died suddenly in July 1940.

The youngest son, George, by then almost 30, was called up to the British Army and joined the Royal Army Service Corps, posted to Sheffield in Yorkshire,  Chesterfield in Derbyshire and Yeovil in Somerset.  [A film script based on family events and George’s life in the army has just been written.]  George, a talented pianist, formed a band with four other musicians and played music in a variety of contexts, including a BBC Radio broadcast, sometime around 1941.

George married Veronica (Vera) McArdle, also of Glasgow, in September 1941 and their first child, Maria Cecilia, (Celia) was born in September 1942.  A month before her arrival, Alfie, the oldest son of Antonio and Annunziata, died.

Michael George De Felice was born to George and Vera two years later in June 1944.

John De Felice (Johnny) married Margaret Pacitti in 1946. They had no children.

Alberto (Bert) married Theresa Mulholland in 1947 and their first child, Marie Therese, was born in 1948.

George and Vera had their third child, Hilda, in February 1949.

A month later, in March 1949, Antonio De Felice died.

Bert and Theresa had five other children in the 1950s.: Brendan, Anna, Joseph, Loretta and Paul.

Neither of Antonio and Annunziata’s daughters, Helen and Margaret, married.

George and Vera’s older daughter, Maria Cecilia (Celia) married Stephen McConnell in 1964 and had four children: Jacqueline, Mark, Nicola and Lisa.

George and Vera’s younger daughter, Hilda, married Gordon Herriot in 1979 and had two children: Claire and Anthony George.

George and Vera’s son, Michael, died in 2005.

Bert and Theresa’s children also have children:

Marie Therese and Kerr Scott had Juliana, Catriona, Margaret Anne and Anita
Brendan and his wife Phyllis had Kerry and Joanna
Anna and Billy Mallett had Michelle, David, Carla and Irene
Loretta and Jim Watson had Stephen and Martin
Paul and his wife Jackie had Philip and Rona

Bert and Theresa’s son, Joseph, died in 1977.

Hilda De Felice