Today the marriage certificate of Sidney Algernon Webb (junior) arrived in the post. This was the most significant development to the history of the family, in recent times.
Sidney was married in 1905 in Suffolk. Although the writing on the certificate is not easy to read, it looks like they were married in the Parish Church at Ringshall, possibly St. Catherines. He married Daisy Elizabeth Bugg. Now that really was a surprise. Given that my grand mother was Emma Bugg. The marriage took place on 12th June. Sidney was 21 and Daisy was 23. The certificate shows that Sidney was a carpenter living in Ringshall and his father was also called Sidney Algernon Webb (although the certificate gives him as ‘deceased’. We know he died in 1901.)
Daisy’s father Robert was present at the marriage because he ‘signed’ the certificate (or rather he made an X instead of his name.) He was an agricultural labourer and could not read or write. Not uncommon in the rural communities of those times.
The other witness to sign the certificate was Rose Agnes Bugg.
My records show that Sidney Algernon Webb (junior) was born in Chelsea in 1886 (although his age on the marriage certificate was shown as 21.) Following his marriage he had two children that I know of: Ivy and Beatrice. We know that he lived in Wangford, Suffolk, and was foreman to the Earl of Stradbroke, at Henham Hall from 1930 to 1939. He died in 1939 and is buried in Wangford at St. Peter’s church.
His father Sidney Algernon Webb (senior) was born in 1855 in Chelsea and was the son of George Webb and Elizabeth Margaret.
Robert Bugg, the father of Daisy, was born in 1838 at Bradfield Combust. I do not yet know the date of his death. He was present at the wedding of his daughter Emma Bugg in 1889 when she married Herbert Arthur Webb at St. Peter’s church, Fulham.
Master list of names completed
Today was also a milestone in the genealogical highway as I completed the master index of all names in the family tree.
Work on compiling an index of genealogical data for my whole family, started many years ago. When I began work on the project, I used a form I designed myself and completed one for each person for which I had a record.
The form recorded such items as date and place of birth, date of marriage and name of the person they married, date and place of death and burial and a list of the children from that person. It was important to annotate the source of that information with codes that referenced back to certificates, printouts and catalogues.
All these sheets were arranged in alphabetical order by surname. It was in August, of this year, that I started to digitalise this index, making it much easier to search for information because it was all in a document that could be searched on the computer.
Now that the index is complete, with well over 100 individuals, finding details of any one person takes only a few seconds. The master index can also be used to store the many notes from other research sources, such as the census returns, searches on the Internet and so on.
This is post was migrated from an old blog called Locke Family. Posts on that blog have now been imported into this one. The old blog will eventually be deleted.
My ancestors – on my mother’s side – were the Webbs of Chelsea and Fulham, areas in the south of what is now London. The Chelsea Webbs were not particularly wealthy people, they did not have high status, they were solid, ordinary people leading comfortable lives in Victorian society. Chelsea was in the county of Middlesex in those times and Fulham was emerging as a new housing estate, on the banks of the Thames.
The three generations, that I have traced, were born and brought up in Chelsea, a village in what was then the county of Middlesex. At the time of the Webbs, notably Francis, the village was beginning to be absorbed into the growing city of London.
In a strange twist of fate, the very first place in which I lived, when I moved to London, was Cadogan Square, literally a stone’s throw from the location of my great great grandfather’s carpentry business in South Street, Chelsea; although of course, I did not find this out until years later.
Chelsea
Three generations of Webbs were born and brought up in and around Chelsea. In 1894, Chelsea was a parish, the northern boundary of which was the Fulham Road and, in 1896, the majority of the houses in this area were small workmen’s cottages and it was very overcrowded. Many of ancestral Webbs were carpenters by trade.
The patriarch of the Webbs was Francis (1786 to 1860), born in the reign of George III. The census of 1851 shows that he was born in Reading, Berkshire. In 1816, when he was 30, he married Charlotte (1787 to 1860); between them they had seven children: George (born 1816 but died in infancy), George (born 1818), Charlotte (born 1821), Jane (born 1822), Elizabeth (born 1827), William (born 1829) and John (born 1831). It was from these members of the family that the later generations were descended. Most of them were born in the Parish of Saint Luke, Chelsea. In 1851, Francis and his wife Charlotte were listed in the census as living at 7 South Street, his occupation given as ‘carpenter’; also living with them was William, aged 21.
Francis’s second son, George Webb, lived in Chelsea and was also a carpenter. Born in 1818, his place of birth was Chelsea in the parish of St. Luke, not far from Fulham. As was often the case, he had a brother who was also called George, born two years earlier but who probably died in infancy.
George married Margaret Suter in the summer of 1846 in the district of Kensington. In 1851 they were living in rented premises at 11 South Street, Chelsea and by then they had two children: Dardanus and Athelstan. George carried on his business as a master carpenter and undertaker and was a master who employed two men. In those days, carpenters made coffins and often doubled as undertakers. Chelsea was an area of artisans and craftsmen; others living in South Street were shoemakers, dress makers, cordwainers (a type of shoemaker), boot binders and coachmen. By 1861 the Webbs appear to have moved next door to the building at 12 South Street, perhaps to accommodate their growing family; either that or the numbers of the buildings were changed.
It was George Webb (b 1818) who grew up to be a successful carpenter. He married Elizabeth Margaret Suter in 1846 in Kensington. Interestingly, Elizabeth was born in Portsmouth (if we have found the correct records). In 1851, George and Elizabeth were living in rented premises at 11 South Street, Chelsea, where he is listed as a ‘master carpenter.’ At this time, the neighbourhood in which South Street was located was one of artisans and craftsmen; the census shows shoemakers, cordwainers, boot binders, dress makers and coachmen. In 1863, George was listed at 12 South Street.
George and Elizabeth had five children: Herbert Arthur born 1864, Dardanus Lionel born 1847, Athelstan Frederick born 1849, Reginald Walter born 1854, Sidney Algernon born 1856 and Alice. George must have been running a successful carpentry business because, in 1853, he purchased a burial plot in the fashionable Brompton Cemetery for the sum of three pounds and three shillings. The purchase of the plot might have been prompted by the death of George’s sister Jane (1822 to 1853). By 1861, Dardanus was working as his father’s assistant and Athelstan was his ‘errand boy.’ George appears to have been a well to do artisan; his will, of 1888, shows that, when he died, he was resident in Leete Street, Chelsea; this might have been South Street given a new name. His will shows that he bequeathed five leasehold properties in West Maidenstone Hill, Greenwich to his son Sidney Algernon Snr. Francis died at 12 South Street and was buried in the family plot at Brompton. George himself was interred there in 1888.
The Webbs move to Fulham
A new generation then took up residence in Fulham in the early 1900s. Fulham is a place which dates back to Roman times and was mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086. In 1900, the area had grown to become a suburb of London and was given its own local government – the Metropolitan Borough of Fulham. New housing estates were being built and the area was attracting large numbers of working people.
One of George’s sons was Herbert Arthur Webb, my maternal grandfather. He also was a carpenter. When His father died in 1888 he inherited his estate, along with his brothers, and it might have been this that enabled him to move into the new housing estate in Fulham.
Herbert Arthur Webb
Herbert Arthur married Emma Bugg in December 1889 at St. Peters Church, Fulham. Emma was born in Suffolk in the village of Lawshall, the daughter of a Farm Bailiff called Robert Bugg. Herbert’s father George had died in May the previous year. At the time of their wedding, they both were living at 10 Rosaline Road. A great deal of house building took place in Fulham between 1870 to 1890 on land once famous for its market gardens.
The house at 10 Rosaline Road, Fulham, Herbert Webb lived here at the time of his marriage to Emma.
Herbert Arthur and Emma had seven children, two of whom died in infancy; they were: Edith (born 1893), Frederick Arthur (born 1895), Ellen Maud (born 1902), Violet (born 1904), Herbert Reginald (born 1905), George Robert (born 1908) and Doris Alice (born 1909). Doris was my mother. That is how my family tree came to include the Webbs.
The marriage certificate of Herbert Arthur Webb (born 1864) shows his address as 10 Rosaline Road, Fulham. In 1932, he lived at 40 Rostrevor Road, Fulham, still working as a carpenter. He died in 1934, aged 69, and was buried in Fulham cemetery.
Rostrevor Road house in Fulham, the home of the Webbs. Photographed in 1992.
It is thought that Herbert was a member of the late 22 South Middlesex Regiment and played fife and drum in the band.
When Doris Webb, Herbert’s daughter, was a young woman, probably before she married Leslie Locke, she was a member of a dance troupe. There is some suggestion that the troupe performed abroad, most probably in Malta, which might have been where she met my father. I believe this was in 1934. My cousin Eileen remembers being taken to a theatre in London to see her auntie Doris (‘doll’ as she was called then) performing on the stage. Doris also performed in Malta, judging from some old photographs that have survived from that time.
Doris Locke (5th from left) was a member of a dance troupe
Doris Webb was born in 1909 in Fulham. At the age of 27 she married Leslie Locke at St. Peter’s Church. They were my parents.
A newspaper cutting of the wedding survives but is in poor condition, although members of the family say they have the original photos of the event. On the far left of the photo below is Eileen Webb (as she was called at the time); she said that her bridesmaid’s dress was “sky blue”. Standing to the right of Eileen is Emma Webb, the bride’s mother. Also in the photo on the extreme right, is Herbert Reginald Webb.
Leslie and Doris’s Wedding in 1936.
The witnesses at the ceremony were George Robert Webb and Herbert Reginald Webb. We know that Doris lived at Rostrevor Road in 1936 and moved to Portsmouth in 1943. The young Webbs attended school in Fulham. They might have attended Sherbrooke Road School; built by the London School Board in 1898. It is close to the house they lived in at Rosaline Road.
Sherbrooke Road School was built by the London School Board in 1898. The young Webbs might have been pupils here.
When Herbert Reginald Webb married Ella Illsley, his address was given as 40 Rostrevor Road, Fulham. This was in 1932. In 1945, his daughter Sandra Ann was born (I believe she died in infancy.) By then, they had moved to Southall.
The door at Rostrevor Road house in Fulham, the home of the Webbs. Photographed in 1992.
(This article was substantially revised on 4th September 2016.)
This is post was migrated from an old blog called Locke Family. Posts on that blog have now been imported into this one. The old blog will eventually be deleted.
My material grandmother was Emma Bugg. She was born in 1869 in the Suffolk village of Lawshall near Sudbury. This family connection brings the Buggs into the wider family tree.
Emma Bugg in 1929. The boy is said to be her lodger.
Emma Bugg married Herbert Arthur Webb. He was born in 1864. They were married at St. Peters Church in Fulham.
Herbert Arthur Webb came from a large family and had at least four brothers and possibly one sister; their names were Edith, Frederick Arthur, Ellen Maud, Violet May, Herbert Reginald, George Robert and Doris Alice (my mother.)
I never knew Grandmother Emma because she died in 1948. Here she is (on the far right side of the picture) in Portsmouth with members of the Locke family:
Agnes, Ivy, Mary, Doris, Peter, Derek and Emma at the house in Tangier Road, Portsmouth in 1944
Herbert Arthur was a carpenter and lived in Fulham, in London. He was the son of George and Elizabeth Margaret Webb but George had died the year before Herbert’s marriage.
Many of Herbert’s brothers are buried in Brompton Cemetary.
George Webb was born in 1818 in Chelsea, then a village on the outskirts of London. He was christened at the parish of Chelsea St.Luke, an Anglican church in Sydney Street. When George was born, the village of Chelsea was expanding. It was a large and architecturally impressive building; the author Charles Dickens was married there in 1836 as were the parents of Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the scouting movement) in 1846.
George Webb was the son of Francis and Charlotte Webb. In 1861 we know that George was living at 12 South Street. He was a master carpenter. In 1846 he married Elizabeth Margaret Suter, his marriage being registered in the district of Kensington. George died in 1888 at the age of 70 and was buried in Brompton cemetery. At the time of his death he lived at Leete Street, in Chelsea. George purchased a burial plot at the Brompton cemetery in 1853 for which he paid the sum of three pounds and three shillings.
The Webb family grave in Brompton cemetery, photographed in 1992
Read about the Webbs of Chelsea and Fulham.
The Bugg family
Robert Bugg (born 1811 in Hawstead), married Louisa Farrow (born 1811 in Lawshall, Suffolk). Robert Bugg and Louisa Farrow are shown in the IGI index of February 1988, page 3, 100.
Robert and Louisa’s children were Robert (born 1838), Emma (born 1840), Charles H. (born 1842), Charlotte (born 1845), Jacob (born 1847), Ambrose (born 1850) and Lynetta (born 1852). Robert Bugg also appears in the above cited IGI index. The entry indicates he was christened on 4th March 1838 in the parish of Bradfield Combust.
Robert Bugg (born 1838) married Mary Anne Ive in 1850 at Hawstead. Their daughter was Emma Bugg, my maternal grandmother.
Margaret Bugg
Margaret Bugg otherwise known as Polly
Sometimes called Polly, Margaret Bugg was known to my uncle Bob of Leeds. She might have been born in 1863 in the village of Hawstead, Suffolk. There is a reference to a Margaret Bugg in the 1871 cenuses for Hawstead, given as Margaret, aged 8, born 1863 at Hawstead. She is shown as the granddaughter of Robert Bugg (Senior) who was 61 at the time (b 1810) an agricultural labourer of Hawstead whose wife was Louisa (nee Farrow). If this is the right Margaret, her siblings could have been Jacob and Ambrose. More data is required to verify this.
Arthur Bugg was born in Lawshall in April 1865. He was the grandfather of John Bugg a relative of Lynda Bugg who I corresponded with in the 1990s about the Bugg family tree. They, it appears, are descendants of Robert and Mary Ann. That would make me a distant cousin of Lynda. It seems that Arthur married Suzannah Taylor in 1888 (he would have been 23 then) and they had nine children. Lynda gave me the names of the children as Elizabeth Mary, Gertrude Mary, Edith, Arthur Charles, Harriet Ruth, George Edward, Frederick James, William John and Grace.
Suffolk
The English county of Suffolk contains several places of interest – Hawstead, Bradfield Combust, Hartest and Lawshall. The Stonhams lie four miles east of Stowmarket and include Little Stonham, Stonham Aspal and Earl Stonham. Census data and parish registers are held at the record office in Bury St. Edmunds. Lawshall in the county of Suffolk is in the registration district of Sunbury. In 1871 Lawshall had a population of 870; by 1881 this had declined to 799 and then down to 770 in 1891.
Unverified notes
The 1861 Census shows a Charlotte Bugg (aged 16, which would have been right given she was born in 1845) working as a servant in the house of William Snell, a farmer, of Hawstead.
The 1871 Census shows a Margaret Bugg (aged 8, born 1863), grand-daughter of Robert Bugg and Louisa.
Alice Bugg (born 1867) was the daughter of Robert, a labourer; her mother was Ann of Lawshall.
The problem of verification
I mentioned Jacob Bugg (above) as a possible brother of Margaret. In the census data that I have for the area there are three Jacob Buggs. One born in 1806 who married Eliza (1841 census), another born in 1847/8 at Hawstead (1851 census) and one born in 1803 (1851 census). This highlights the problem of verification. Persons with a name can be verified as a relative only if they have proven connections to known and verified individuals. For example, the 1881 census for Hawstead shows an address called The Flat at Hawstead. The people listed there were Robert Bugg, his wife Louisa, his son Jacob and his gandson William G. Nunn who was aged 6 at the time. These people were all born in either Hawstead or Lawshall, which places them in the right area. The dates of birth, calculated from the ages they gave, seem to tie up more or less.
The primary sources that verify a family connection are certificates of birth, death or marriage or an entry in a parish register that gives enough information to confirm their relationship to known individuals.
Leslie and Doris Locke (my parents) lived in Portsmouth, Hampshire, after they had moved there from Fulham (in London) in the 1940s.
Leslie and Doris Locke at a party in the 1940s
When I was born the family lived in a house on Tangier Road, in the Copnor area of Portsmouth
Here is the house in Portsmouth in which I was born in the 1940s
In 1960 we moved to house in Chichester Road, North End (a district of Portsmouth). I maintained the garden there.
The garden at the house in Chichester Road in 1963.
The circular object in the middle of the photo is a bicycle wheel; I placed it there for the Nasturtiums to grow up. In the bottom left of the picture you can see strawberry plants; they produced a good crop of fruits and where brought back from my visit to Surrey went I sent to stay with my Aunt Nell and Uncle George. On the left of the picture are the runner beans that I grew.
Leslie (my father) had parents who lived in Abbotts Ann near Andover, a village in Hampshire in England.
Abbotts Ann village around 1917. The village in which some of my ancestors were born and grew up..
His father was called Joseph, who married Agnes Florence Snook in 1903.
Joseph was the son of Thomas Locke, born 1828, married to Elizabeth Applegate (born 1828 in Monxton). They married in 1853 at Andover Parish Church. Thomas was born in Little London, near Andover and he lived there most of his life and worked as a shoemaker. Thomas Locke’s father was William Locke, born 1789 in Smannel, who married Charity Clarke in 1820. Leslie Locke lived in the Hampshire village of Little Ann, near Andover. In 1922 Leslie volunteered to enter the royal navy; he was 18.
Leslie Locke as a boy in navel uniform.
The above photo is not dated but could have been taken at around the time that my father entered the navy; he does, after all, have a navel uniform on. It is however the uniform issued to a naval rating, which is possibly why it is white in colour rather than blue. There no information with the photo. Leslie and Doris had their first child in 1936; he was called Peter.
Leslie and Doris Locke with their son Peter in 1938
Leslie was a CPO in the Royal Navy when Peter was born; Doris was working as a waitress in Southsea. They lived in Tangier Road in the district of Copnor, in Portsmouth.
Leslie Locke in 1982
Leslie’s Royal Navy records are in my family archive. They show that after he joined in 1922, in the port division of Portsmouth, he served in the navy until December 1960. Ships on which he served included Courageos, Victory, Despatch, Doulas and Dryad, among others. He achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer.
As a child I remember paying visit’s to my father’s shire base, HMS Vernon.
My mother – Doris Locke – worked as a waitress at the Savoy Ballroom in Southsea, the holiday resort at the southern end of Portsmouth.
The Savoy ballroom and cafe in Southsea, 1950s. Opposite South Parade Pier.
I spent many of my childhood days on the beach at Southsea and visited South Parade Pier, Canoe Lake and the Rock Gardens. Leslie and Doris Locke had two children: myself (Trevor) and Peter (born 1938)
Peter Locke c. 1939
The above photo shows my brother Peter in 1939; he would have been around a year old. The photo was taken in Baffins Pond, Copnor, I think. Peter died in 2003.
Here is my grandmother Agnes with my cousins Mary and Derek and my brother Peter. Taken in 1942.
