Edward Margiotta’s grandfather was an iceman. Like many Italian migrants at that time, he worked for the hugely successful Carlo Gatti empire, loading great blocks of ice onto a horse and cart and distributing it around the Kings Cross area in the early 1900’s. Later, when Edward’s mother was born he moved to Hammersmith where he started a new life as an ice cream vendor. Tragically, his life was cut short when he returned to Italy to fight in the First World War.
I joined Edward, an amateur historian and author of ‘Postcards of the Easter Rising -1916’ at his home in North London and listened while he reflected on the life of his grandfather Oduardo Silva and the legacy he left behind.
Story by Lainy Malkani