Early Gardiners
The story starts in a
village called Holbeton, Devon, in the early 18th century. Richard
Gardiner married Joan Scobel in 1719 according to Parish records. The Holbeton
Gardiners were the fruit of research that had taken me from Plymouth, to
Oreston, Newton Ferrers and finally to this out of the way village.
Other Gardiners were around
in the area, even earlier. Richard Gardiner married Joan Hooper from Modbury,
in 1704, in Holbeton. A small village like this – unlikely that this Richard
Gardiner isn’t related to the Richard Gardiner who got married in 1719, even if
he seems to be a bit young to be getting married. He may be a nephew of the
other Richard. Is there any chance that he was born before his parents’
marriage? But they had lots of kids – Richard in 1705, Ann in 1706, Richard in
1710, Henery in 1713. Two boys called Richard implies a death. Or these
children come from two sets of parents and I’m mixing them up.
There were two children,
baptised in Holbeton. Richard and Joan were together in Holbeton for at least
12 years having and rasing children. I found records of John being baptised in
1728 and Agnes in 1731.
Later in 1752, there was a
marriage between Agnes Gardiner and John Earle, in Newton Ferrers on 7th
May. She was aged at least 21 at the time, maybe older.
Her brother John got married
in 1749 to Bridget Barnes in Holbeton. He too was at least 21, and children
from that marriage were Nicholas (1752), Richard (1757), Joseph (1759), Ann
(1762), all in Holbeton.
But Nicholas moved to Newton
Ferrers – where his aunt lived – and married a girl called Elizabeth Lee in 1772.
They had quite a few kids, Elizabth (1776), Thomas (1787), William (1789),
James (1793), Agnes (1792), Jenny (1800), John Williams (1800).
Wiliam married Mary in
Newton Ferrers and started having children, Henry (1813), William (1816), Maria
(1818), Sarah (1821), James (1826).
Gardiners abounded in Newton
Ferrers and Holbeton – Jenny Gardiner was christened in 1800, married John
Treble in 1821 and had a large family in Newton Ferrers.
Eliza Gardiner married
William Bright in 1835, Newton Ferrers.
Margaret Mary Gardiner
married Samuel Harvey in 1750 in Holbeton – she may have been sister to Agnes
and John.
Sarah Gardiner married John
Louden in 1824.
All of this was pieced
together from Parish records held in London.
On the Origins of the
Howatsons
The Howatsons enter the
story during WW1, when my Great Grandfather married my Great Grandmother in
1919. The Howatsons were in London at the time, but had originally been
Scottish and only arrived in London during the 1870s.
Elizabeth’s Grandparents,
Lydia and Samuel, were born in Scotland in 1845 and 1843 respectively. They,
married in 1864, and had their first couple of children before moving to
London. Thomas, the first born, 1868. William came along in 1877, after they
had reached London. The pair originated in the Edinburgh region, MidLothian.
Lydia, maiden name Prescot, from the St Andrews area of Edinburgh, and Samuel
from nearby Dalkeith.
“1767 Building of Edinburgh New Town
starts
1810 Completion of the first New Town
1846 A rail link between Edinburgh and London is completed”
1810 Completion of the first New Town
1846 A rail link between Edinburgh and London is completed”
Samuel had a sister called
Williamina Scot Howatson, born 1840. Their parents were James and Elizabeth M.
Sime, who married in 1838 in Dalkeith.
Lydia seems to have been the
eldest of at least 5. Sarah, born 1861, Thomas born 1863, and Jane born 1865.
The parents were Jane and Thomas Prescot.
In 1901[1] they were living in
Glasshouse Square (?); son Thomas aged 33, still at home, and working as a
printer compositor. William aged 24 had had something terrible happen to him as
he is described as suffering from “paralysis”. Annie, 18, working as a
“football maker”. Jane, 16, with no employment and David, 14, working as/for
“Van Guard Carriers”. Their grandson Frederick Galwood aged 3 was also in
residence at the time.
Annie Mary Howatson was born
to Samuel Sime and __________ in 1906. Annie was in the company of her brother
Samuel, 12, Samuel David aged 11, Elizabeth Rose 9 and Jess, 5. Charles James
Howatson was born in 1907, Islington. Another son, George, didn’t survive.
Up to today
Annie and Jess grew up in
London and married two brothers, Desborough, according to my Grandfather.
Charles James Howatson died
in 1988, living at 38 Woodsome Road, London NW5 1RZ. His widow still lived
there in 1994 when I had a telephone conversation with her. I found his name
listed posthumously in a BT London telephone directory.
War
The great War came and tore through nearly every
family in Britain, with our lot being no exception.
Elizabeth Rose Howatson (23) and William James
Gardiner (25) from Devon wouldn’t have met but for his being drafted into the
armed forces. They got married after the war, in 2nd Quarter of
1919, Pancras, London. William was in the light infantry – discharged 1919 or
1920. Once married they went to live in Plymouth. Was this a great wrench for
the Howatsons? But for the Gardiners, the joy at the end of one war was to turn
to tradegy in the next.
Plymouth
John James, now elderly, died. Ellen Elizabeth
went to live with (or close by) William and Elizabeth. In 1923 they had a girl
called Constance Jessie. My Grandfather came along in 1920.
The Sleeps
Ronald Samuel met his wife just before the war
(?), Betty Alexandra Sleep. Her parents were called Maud Louisa [Bassett] and
Thomas Sleep, who had married in Devonport Plymouth. They had a fairly large
family, but typical of the times. Cyril 1908/09, Edward, 1920, Betty in 1921,
Edward, ??. The boys in the family were all given their mother’s maiden name as
a middle name – Bassett.
To trace the Sleeps, I started with the names of
Dad’s grandparents – Maud Louisa and Thomas.
There were difficulties with Maud as her
forenames seemed to be interchangeable, sometimes Maud Louisa and others Louisa
Maud. I had to be certain I was looking at the same person. I gleaned that she
was born in 1880, in the Stoke Dameral District of Plymouth, near Devonport
Dockyard. She married Thomas Sleep, a Cornishman, in 1906, in Devonport. Thomas
Sleep was in the navy. When?
Bassetts and Bennetts
Her parents were John Bassett and Mary T.
[Bennett]. Mary T. Bassett appeared on the 1881 census but John was absent.
In 1881 Hannah Bennett (52) lived at 46 Cannon
Street, which can be found on the OS map of the time, running in a dense grid
of streets alongside Devonport Dockyard. No partner was present, only children:
Mary T. aged 22 (not at this address in 1881), Rosina aged 14, Emily aged 10,
Flora aged 5, Albert aged 2.
Information I’d received from the family was that
the Bennetts worked for “Lascelles” family.
Mary T. was raising baby Maud Louisa in Stoke
Dameral. John could have been at work, on a ship, away. Unlikely he was dead.
Thomas’s origins were in deepest Cornwall. His
father Richard Thomas, and mother Emma [Andrews] lived in Newport, Callington.
Richard was a postman. They had at least one other son, James, born in 1873.
More War
An air raid on 30th April 1944 killed
three generations of women in a second. It was a bomb directly hitting the
shelter they were in that did it. Constance Jessie 21, Joan, 17, Elizabeth 48,
grandmother 79, all died. Constance had just married and was named Walker on
the death certificate. Their graves can be seen in Oreston cemetery to this
day. Ronald Samuel had lost his sisters, his mother and his grandmother; did
this unhinge him?
My grandfather in Italy towards the end of WW2 - and my last vivid memory of his was from a dream I had on the day he died where he appeared in my room young and dressed in his army uniform.
and my grandad again, on a donkey, in Italy in the early 1940s
Betty’s brother, Cyril, died in service, on board
the HMS Fearless in 1941. GRO index reads RATING: A/PO (Ty). His name can be
seen on the Plymouth Hoe War Memorial.
Betty’s children came during the War. Eddie,
1941, Maureen then Denna. Eddie, my Dad, married a girl called Janet Blight (my
Mum) in 1965.
The Blights
Shrouded in the mist of rural Devon and darkest
East Anglia, this has proved extremely difficult to trace, not helped by trying
to chase through the changing surnames of the female lines.
my mum in the 1950s with a sibling
Janet’s parents were Harold and Muriel. Muriel
was a Hutchison, the history of which I shall come back to later. Harold, a
carpenter, served during WW2, came home and started his family with Janet,
1945, Alan, Ann and Richard.
My grandmother with my mother around 1950
I had names from a family bible to guide me. This
led, eventually, to an entry from the 1901 Census. Horatio C. Blight aged 51,
and his family lived at 18 Mount Street, Plymouth. He was a blacksmith and an
employer. Horatio was born in Plymouth. His wife Eliza M Blight was from Devon
Meavy, aged 48. Edwin Oratio Blight, their son, my Great Grandfather, was 12.
Finches
Edwin married in 1918 – to a woman called Finch.
Her Christian name, again, is problematic, varying from Mahala, Mayla to
Amelia. The Finch family were from Horrabridge. The details are very sketchy.
Suzannah, the mother, and kids Mahala, Jemima and Bob (Robert). Mahala born
around 1885. A Robert Finch turned up on the 1901 CR aged 13, as a boarder,
born in Devon, Whitchurch, living in Horrabridge, with a couple called Westlake
on Sampford Road. Did Suzannah die young?
my mother's grandparents at 116 Southview Terrace
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