My Dad's maternal grandmother Phoebe Caroline Gibson was born in Hornsey, a North London suburb, in 1877, the daughter of a Looking Glass Frame Maker. The few records from her childhood give little insight into what life was like. Can I find out more about the areas and houses she lived in? From Hornsey to … Continue reading Great grandmother Phoebe Caroline Gibson: A comfortable North London childhood?
Great grandparents
Tracing Great Grandad Frederick Ephgrave: A puzzle
My paternal great-grandfather was Frederick Ephgrave - or was he? Tracing his birth posed a big puzzle. I thought I knew his name from my grandmother Jessie Ephgrave's vital records, his marriage certificate and censuses. Apparently born in Luton 1872-3, son of 'Jessie' Ephgrave, he had various jobs in the dairy industry, but in earlier … Continue reading Tracing Great Grandad Frederick Ephgrave: A puzzle
Family at War: V2 rocket attack 1945
The Stocking and Hill families suffered losses in WW1. The last months of WW2 were to bring even more. My great grandfather Jim Stocking died at the beginning of the conflict; the family of his widow, Susan, were later caught in one of the worst V2 rocket attacks on London, an impact which must have … Continue reading Family at War: V2 rocket attack 1945
The Hills of London in World War I
My great grandmother was born Susan Caroline Hill in London in 1875. Two of her brothers, William and John, were wounded in action in WW1. One of her Stocking brothers-in-law was killed, and two were awarded the Military Medal. How did the conflict impact on their lives? She married in 1900, and while her husband … Continue reading The Hills of London in World War I
Where was ‘Churvey the Slough’??
The 1881 and 1891 census entries for my 2xgreat grandparents John Hill and Elizabeth Sarah Windebank are intriguing for the birthplaces shown. Unlike their children, they were not, it seems, Londoners. He was born in Elsted, Sussex,; her birthplace was variously described as Chalvey or Churvey, and 'Churvey the Slough', and variously Buckinghamshire or Berkshire. … Continue reading Where was ‘Churvey the Slough’??
Did James & Alice have 21 Stocking children?
Early in the 2000s, my father received a type-written letter from someone researching the ancestry of one Ronald Stocking. The letter claimed that Ron's grandparents - my 2xgreat grandparents James Thomas Stocking and Alice Mary Wales - had had 21 children "all of whom were known to have survived". I was intrigued to find out … Continue reading Did James & Alice have 21 Stocking children?
A big Stocking family photo c1904? [Updated]
After putting my family tree online with Ancestry.co.uk in the early 2000s, I was contacted by a second cousin once removed, who provided a poor photocopy of a photo purporting to show our 2xgreat grandparents and some of their 19 children, taken some time in the early 1900s. In 2025, a third cousin shared a … Continue reading A big Stocking family photo c1904? [Updated]
James and Susan Stocking: Later lives, Kings & Queens
My great grandparents James Aaron Stocking and Susan Caroline Hill were born in mid-1870s London, around the time Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. By the time they married on 3 June 1900, the old Queen had been dead for nearly six months. Their early married life played out under two new monarchs. By … Continue reading James and Susan Stocking: Later lives, Kings & Queens
Building Stocking heritage: A 20th century family business
My paternal grandfather James Aaron Stocking was born just after the turn of the 20th century into a family where most of the menfolk worked in the building trades, as brickies, builders, house decorators, plumbers, gas fitters, foremen and so on. He himself did many of these jobs through the housing booms of the 1920s-1930s, … Continue reading Building Stocking heritage: A 20th century family business
Great-grandad James Aaron Stocking: A South London boy
My Dad's grandfather, James Aaron Stocking, was born in Southwark in 1876. He spent his early years in one of the poorer parts of South London, abutting the Leather Market area, home to London's tanneries, glue and size factories and allied trades. Later, he and his ever-growing family of siblings moved to Camberwell, living cheek-by-jowl … Continue reading Great-grandad James Aaron Stocking: A South London boy
My Stocking Roots 