Kate, the eighth child of my great grandparents, grew up with her many siblings in South London. Before marrying Tramways Engineer Charles Hall in 1908, she worked as a Shirt Machinist. They stayed together through two world wars, moving from London to Buckinghamshire to run The Crown Inn at Tingewick. But their family stories illustrate the turbulence of divorce and dispersal wrought by War.

A London childhood

Catherine Alice appears to have been known as Kate from a fairly early age, and later as Kit. According to The 1939 Register, she was born on 28 February 1885. She was baptised at St Mark’s, Camberwell, that June.

Extract from St Mark’s, Camberwell, baptism register (Ancestry)

Her parents had already had seven children since their marriage in 1874, and were to have 19 children in total. The 1891 census shows the family at 44 Bowles Road, Camberwell, with six year old Catherine and her siblings. The following year, on 10 October 1892, Ancestry’s school records show her (as Kate) at Rolls Road School.

Aged 16 at the time of the 1901 census, she is still living at home and working as a Shirt Machinist. In 1905, she was one of the witnesses to her brother John Arthur Stocking’s marriage. In the second quarter of 1908, around 18 months after her mother’s death, she married Charles Hall, who was born in London in 1887. Charles was the second witness to the 1905 marriage; I wonder if they were already courting, or whether their relationship blossomed from there? Unfortunately, I haven’t found a digitised copy of their marriage entry. However, FreeReg has a transcript of the parish record of St George’s, Perry Hill, Catford which shows that bride and groom gave her parents’ address (18 Beechfield Road) as their residence. He was 26, described as an Engineer, the son of Thomas William Hall, Builder & Decorator (deceased); she was 23, and her father James Thomas Stocking is a Builder. Their witnesses were Alfred Stevens and the bride’s sister, Lavinia Stocking.

A close family through two World Wars

By the time of the 1911 census, the couple is still living at 18 Beechfield Road, Catford, in the same house as Kate’s father and younger siblings. The form states that they have completed two full years of marriage, and have had two children, both of whom are enumerated with them: Catherine Alice Hall, aged one, and Charles James Hall, just four months old. Their father is working for London County Council Tramways as a Mechanical Engineer’s Fitter. They had two further daughters: Doris Hall, born in 1913, and Irene Emma Hall, born in 1915.

Charles would have been 27 years old when WW1 broke out, although only single men were conscripted at that time. Conscription extended to married men in 1916, but I have been unable to find any verifiable military records for him. He and Kate would, in any case, have suffered from the pain and loss caused through the service of others in the family, including her brothers.

Family ties are evident in a letter written to ‘dearest sister’ Kit by her brother Aaron Archibald Stocking in January 1916 from behind enemy lines. He describes his brave actions under fire which would lead to him being awarded the Military Medal in June that year, six months before he was killed in action. But the letter also shows his concern for his sister and her family, and their siblings and father. See his story for a transcript of the letter.

Kate’s father, my 2xgreat grandfather James Thomas Stocking, died at the end of 1920. Six months later, at the time of the 1921 census, they are still at 18 Beechfield Road, and Charles still has the same job, based at the LCC’s depot at 228 New Cross Road. All four of their children are living with them, as is Alfred Edmund Ilott Stocking, Kate’s younger brother, who was working as a House Decorator for the family firm of W Stocks & Sons. Members of the extended Stocking family are living elsewhere in the same street.

Their third daughter Doris Hall married in 1931, aged just 18. Her eldest sister Catherine Alice Hall married in 1936, the wedding covered by a local newspaper, and their brother Charles James Hall married in 1937.

Youngest daughter Irene Emma Hall married just before the outbreak of WW2. Her husband, Malcolm Stuart Gash, was a career soldier in the Kings Own Rifles. The 1939 Register shows her under her married name, living with her parents at 18 Beechfield Road, with sister Doris and brother-in-law Albert True. Sister Catherine Alice and her husband Sydney Ledger were not far away, living at no.9 Beechfield Road with her Aunt Lavinia Monk and family. Charles James Hall and his wife Dorothy were living half a mile away on Stanstead Road, so the whole family were living close together as WW2 began. The war perhaps changed everything for them, as for so many others.

To The Crown Inn, Tingewick, Buckinghamshire

When Charles and Kate’s daughter Doris Hall married Albert Arthur Ernest True in Lewisham in the last quarter of 1931, she was just 18. Albert was born in 1910, so was three years older than his bride. Their only known child, Royston True, was born in March the following year. Over the next few years, electoral registers show them at various addresses in South London, but by 1939, they are living with her parents at 18 Beechfield Road; Albert is working as a Car Examiner LPTB (London Passenger Transport Board). A photograph shared by another Ancestry member shows Albert in Army uniform suggesting that he served in the forces for at least some part of the war. He is wearing corporal’s stripes, but I am not sure which regiment his collar badge represents.

It seems that Charles and Kate Hall, and at least some of their family, moved to Tingewick in Buckinghamshire around 1942. Perhaps this was to escape the London bombing, or perhaps Charles was looking for a retirement job, although he was only 54. I can only speculate. Either way, on 7 March 1942, the local newspaper reported that the license of The Crown Inn, Tingewick, had transferred to Mr Charles Hall:

Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press (FindMyPast)

Later newspaper reports suggest that the whole family may have moved to Tingewick, as there are mentions of daughter Doris True and her son Royston True, their son Charles James Hall and his wife, and daughter Catherine Alice’s second husband Gordon Sinclair Thomas. Kate’s younger sister Susan Caroline Catlow nee Stocking also appears to have moved to Tingewick with her husband Harry and daughter Valerie around the same time, with Harry taking on the license of another village pub, The White Hart.

The Crown Inn stood on Main Street, Tingewick, and dates to the mid 1700s. It is a listed building, but was closed in 2013. Permission was granted to convert it to housing in 2016. This Ordinance Survey Map (Royal Library of Scotland, Buckinghamshire XIII.13 Revised: 1898, Published 1900) – see also header image – shows The Crown Inn on what was then called High Street.

This annotated photocopy of a 1943 family group in the kitchen garden of the The Crown Inn, Tingewick, was shared by descendants of Susan Caroline and Catherine Alice Stocking:

Kate Hall and her older sister Harriet Bishop (both nee Stocking) are seated at the front, with younger members of the family behind.

On 22 January 1944, The Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press (FindMyPast) reported that Doris True, (seen back left in the above photo) of Main Street, Tingewick, had been summonsed for riding her bicycle without the lamp being blacked out. The headline stated that ‘the majority’ felt the regulations no longer applied.

It seems that her first marriage did not long survive the war. Amongst others summonsed that day was one John Dunphy of The Crown Inn, Tingewick. Early in 1947, Doris married John Michael Dunphy in Buckinghamshire. Later newspaper snippets suggest that Mr Dunphy, landlord of The Crown Inn, was an accomplished singer and often sang at local church and village events. Her former husband, Albert True, married Doris Hazelwood early in 1947 and went on to have three children, ending his days on the Isle of Wight.

In a report of a licensing hearing in The Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Free Press on 8 March 1952, “Mrs Hall, wife of the licensee of The Crown Inn, Tingewick” stated that they had been at the Inn for ten years [ie 1942]. Her husband was now an invalid, but her son had previously delivered beer locally, and her son-in-law (John Dunphy?) could still do so if required.

By 1949, Doris’ son Royston was 17 and performing in the Aqua Show at Morecambe’s Swimming Stadium as a professional diver. He met his wife there and later moved from Tingewick, where he worked as a Lorry Driver in his 20s, to Morecambe on a permanent basis, working as an insurance agent, an occupation continued by his son.

A search at FindMyPast for a Charles Hall death record in Buckinghamshire, birth year 1887, showed that he was ‘of The Crown Inn, Tingewick’ and died on 11 October 1955 at Tindal General Hospital, Aylesbury. Probate was granted to his widow Catherine Alice Hall.

Extract from probate record (FindMyPast)

The local paper reported transfer of the license of The Crown Inn from Mr Hall (deceased) to John Michael Dunphy on 22 October 1955 (FindMyPast).

Catherine Alice Hall died at Buckingham Hospital on 18 April 1967, her usual address given in her probate record as 12 Buckingham Street, Tingewick. The family had, perhaps, given up running the pub by then.

Extract from probate record (Ancestry)

Administration of her will was granted to her married daughters Doris Dunphy and Catherine Alice Thomas. Her grandson (my second cousin 1xremoved) Royston True died in Morecambe, aged 92, on 20 April 2024. His stepfather, John Michael Dunphy died 20 years earlier in 2004. Both he and Doris Dunphy were registered to vote in Morecambe in 2002, but I have yet to find a death record for her.

More divorce and dispersal

In the Summer of 1936, Kate and Charles Hall’s eldest daughter married Sydney Harold Ledger. The Sydenham, Forest Hill & Penge Gazette published a photo (right) and description of the wedding on 25 September that year, the event having taken place the previous Saturday (19 September) at St George’s Church, Perry Hill, Catford.

The groom is described as the son of Mr Ledger of 192 Lordship Lane, while the bride is the daughter of Mr and Mrs C Hall, of 18 Beechfield Road, Catford. She was given away by her father and wore a dress of ivory satin with high neck and train and a satin and silver girdle. Very fashionable, and it is a shame that the photo doesn’t show the dress in detail. One of her sisters was bridesmaid, although she is ‘Miss R Hall’ – possibly a misprint for Miss I(rene) Hall; perhaps she was known as ‘Rene’. The bride’s mother also gets a fashion mention, wearing a dress of navy and white marocain with navy hat. A reception was held at the bride’s parents’ home.

Three years later, in 1939, the couple are living at 11 Beechfield Road with her maternal Aunt, Susan Caroline Catlow and the latter’s second husband Harry. Catherine’s husband Sydney Ledger is working as a Shop Assistant ‘Provisions’. Catherine Ledger is shown in the 1943 family photo above third from right in the back row. It seems that this was another marriage that did not long survive WW2, as by 1945, she is registered to vote at 203 Lee High Road, Lewisham, under her maiden name. I have not found a record of any children of the marriage.

In the first quarter of 1947, FreeBMD has a marriage index record which suggests that she remarried, in Marylebone, London, to Gordon Sinclair Thomas. I have failed to find anything much about him or their married life together. There are some records at Ancestry (1921 census, London Gazette) and FindMyPast (vehicle registrations, British Newspaper Archive) which suggest he was born in London in 1920, served in the RAF and may have spent some time in Northumberland. Catherine Alice Thomas died in May 2002 in Lancaster, the birth date on the death index record is confirmation that this is the correct woman. Gordon Sinclair Thomas may have died in Northumberland in 1998.

The second of Charles and Kate Hall’s children was Charles James Hall. He was born at the end of 1910, and appears aged four months in the 1911 census. He is at home with the rest of the family in the 1921 census. I ordered a digital image of his birth certificate from the GRO and found that his date of birth was 28 November 1910 – always helpful for comparison with other records.

Extract from GRO birth registration for Charles James Hall 1910

In 1937, in Lewisham, he married Dorothy Grace Wheeler, and they are enumerated together on The 1939 Register at 194 Stanstead Road, Lewisham, half a mile from his parents’ home. He is working as a Foreman Carpenter, Building Trade. It seems that they moved to The Crown Inn, Tingewick, with his parents and sister Doris True in 1942, when his father took on the lease of the pub. There are various newspaper articles mentioning him as a Builder and Decorator, in one case being fined for receiving stolen cement, in another, receiving a stolen battery. His wife was also implicated in the latter crime, and was reportedly working at The Crown Inn in the bar at the time. The couple do not appear to have had any children.

His wife died at the young age of 40 in 1956. There is a death index record at Ancestry in 2006 for a Charles James Hall, born 28 November 1910, in Chiltern, Buckinghamshire, which fits with his birth certificate, so it would seem that he stayed in Buckinghamshire for the rest of his life.

The youngest of the Hall children was born on 25 August 1915. Irene Emma Hall grew up with the rest of her siblings at 18 Beechfield Road, Catford and is enumerated there at the time of the 1921 census, aged five years and ten months. She is there on electoral registers, with her parents and older brother, in 1933, when she was 18, and subsequent years until her marriage in Lewisham in the Summer of 1939, to Malcolm Stuart Gash. She is listed under her married name at the same address a few months later, when The 1939 Register was taken. Her husband is not shown and was probably serving in the forces.

Ancestry has a digitised copy of an ex-Prisoners of War questionnaire completed by Sergeant 796143 Malcolm Stuart Gash of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. It shows that he originally enlisted in the regular army on 28 August 1933.

Extract from ex-PoW questionnaire for Malcolm Stuart Gash (Ancestry)

He was captured early in the conflict, less than a year after their marriage. He had been born in 1913 in Cairo, Egypt; his father was in the Army Pensions Service and his siblings’ birthplaces in censuses suggest the family moved around different Barracks in the UK as well as overseas. Military records at FindMyPast show that he first joined the Royal Artillery (Territorials) in 1929, when he was 16.

He was a PoW from 9 June 1940, after his initial capture at Calais, France, until 19 April 1945. He was held three times at Stalag XXA Thorn, in two different camps, as well as two other camps. ‘Thorn’ was actually located in German-occupied Torun in Poland. Around the time that the Halls moved to Tingewick, he was held at Camp 34. Wikipedia notes that this held prisoners engaged on major construction projects, and that British actor Sam Kydd was held there for five years. The PoW questionnaire shows that Malcolm twice attempted escape and made his way into Germany but was captured and returned to camp.

Irene Gash is shown in the 1943 photo above. I initially thought, from what I could find of birth index entries at FreeBMD, that she and Malcolm had two children: Janice Irene Gash, whose birth was registered in the first quarter of 1940 in Lewisham, and Raymond Gash, born there in 1947 (FreeBMD). However, there was a third: the daughter of Anthony Gash was in touch via this blog very helpfully to point out my omission. He was born in the Apr-Jun quarter of 1946, and I am not sure how I overlooked him. His daughter was writing from New Zealand, but I don’t know if others in the family also moved there.

When Malcolm Stuart Gash completed the PoW questionnaire in 1945, he gives his address as Tingewick, Buckinghamshire, so it’s likely that Irene and baby Janice moved with her parents in 1942. Janice undertook very extensive research into the family, and some of the photos and documents shared by Brendan, Valerie and Angela, Susan Caroline Stocking’s descendants, stem from her.

They moved back to London after the war; electoral registers show that they continued to live at 18 Beechfield Road until at least 1960. This photocopy of a photo is said to have been taken at the wedding of Janice Gash on 1 October 1960 at St George’s, Perry Hill, Catford.

Photocopied photo shared by descendants of Susan Caroline and Catherine Alice Stocking

Malcom Stuart Gash died in Lewisham in 1964, at the young age of 50. A digital copy of his death certificate is not available via the GRO, so I do not know the cause of his death. After he died, I lose sight of his widow until she (I believe) remarries in the first quarter of 1971 to Herbert H Morris in Lancaster. She had, perhaps, moved to Morecambe to be close to her older sister Catherine Alice (Kate) Thomas and nephew Royston True.