GIBRALTAR

A British colony occupying a narrow peninsula of Spain's southern Mediterranean coast, just northeast of the Strait of Gibraltar. It is 3 miles (5 km) long and 3/4 mile wide and is connected to Spain by a low, sandy isthmus that is one mile long. Its name is derived from the Arabic Jabal Tariq (Mount Tarik), honouring Tariq ibn Ziyad, who captured the peninsula in AD 711. The colony's total area is 2.25 square miles (5.8 square km).

Gibraltar is a city steeped in history. It has no springs or rivers, and 34 acres of sand slopes above Catalan and Sandy bays have been sheeted over to provide a rain-catchment area. The water is stored in a number of tanks blasted into the Rock. The rainwater is then blended with water pumped from wells on the isthmus or distilled from the sea. Sea water is supplied for sanitation purposes. Gibraltar has hot, humid, and almost rainless summers; mild winters during which there is usually adequate rain; and warm, moderately rainy transitional seasons.

Two thirds of the population (approx. 30,000) are Gibraltarians  i.e. those born in Gibraltar before 1925 and their descendants. About one fifth are resident aliens, and the remainder are the families of ex-British military personnel. Only Gibraltarians have the right to live in the colony. All others must obtain residence permits. Most Gibraltarians are of mixed Genoese, British, Spanish, Maltese, and Portuguese descent. The alien community includes Indian shopkeepers and their families and workers from Morocco.

With this background it perhaps not surprising therefore that the name of Munford should turn up in the Colony being the descendants of military personnel posted there. One such family which we have traced is that of Charles Munford a sapper in the Royal Engineers DOB 1871, the third child of six born to Alfred Munford a Plumber and Martha Crocker from South Petherton in Somerset, who on 3rd October 1894 married Ana Guzman a cook at the local Lunatic Asylum in the City of Gibraltar Registrar's Office. Charles was sent off to fight in the Boer War (1899-1902) with his Regiment and was killed but before this the couple had three sons, Charles Jnr, John and Alfred John. The descendants of this union are resident in Gibraltar to this day.

The records of Ellis Island indicate that the said Alfred John Munford aged 24 years from Gibraltar, of British origins arrived in the USA in 1920.