Month: June 2023
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When Fred and George Came to Wales
When I was an adolescent taking an interest in family history I discussed the idea of searching family members at Somerset House with my Grandmother, Grace Wilcox. She warned me off from doing this saying that I might discover skeletons that I would not wish to know about. Such a wasted opportunity ! In recent…
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Henry Comes to Oxted
In last week’s post I described Henry Spillett’s arrival in Bognor after leaving home in Canterbury. Henry, my Great Grandfather, became the Licensee of The White Horse in South Bersted while also operating a Coachbuilding business at the back of the pub. In this post I explain his arrival and first decade of life in…
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Henry Leaves Home
In previous posts I have established the origins of my Great Grandfather, Henry George Spillett, in Canterbury, Kent. He was born in 1858 in Ivy Lane. He and his mother were living in her mother’s house with his older brother John and his Uncle Stephen. This is recorded in the 1861 Census return. Because his…
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Cheesemonger
The Wilcox family of which I am a direct descendant would be nothing without the Walker family. My Grandmother, Adelaide Wilcox was the daughter of an interesting London family who made their money out of provisions, importing and wholesale. The Walkers originated from Bermondsey in the parish of St. Mary’s, Rotherhithe, the almost peninsula shape…