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Activity Holidays and Pamper Breaks Marbella Spain |
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El Sanctuario |
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Example Pages of Family History Books
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Ancestors of Phyllis Beryl Griffin |
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1. Phyllis Beryl Griffin, daughter of Robert Charles Griffin and Ethel Mary Martin was born on 5 June, 1916 in Reading, Berkshire and died in February 1993 in Burghfield, Berkshire.
Phyllis married Thomas Henry Thompson on 4 July 1943 in Reading, Berkshire. Thomas was born on 5 July 1913 and died in November, 1993 in Burghfield, Berkshire. There were no children from the marriage.
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First Generation |
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Second Generation - Parents |
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2. Robert ( Bob) Charles Griffin, son of Robert Henry Griffin and Matilda Bull, was born on 19 July, 1887 in East Hagbourne, Berkshire and died in Reading in 1976 at age 89.
Place of Birth: East Hagbourne - named after the Saxon chief Hacca who settled in the area by a stream which became known as - Hacceburna. The village was known only as Hagbourne until a fire in 1659 destroyed many cottages dividing the village into two - East and West Hagbourne.
Noted events in his life were: As Bob’s father died when he was a baby, he spent most of his childhood living with his grandparents in East Hagbourne & at Tudor Lodge in Reading. In the 1891 census, he is shown as Robert C.P. Griffin, aged 3, living with Joseph and Elizabeth Bull, grandparents, in Newtown, East Hagbourne.
War Service 1914-1918 : After joining the army, Bob was sent to Malta as a ‘gunner’ to help defend the ships that were based there and those that carried wounded from Gallipoli and Salonika to the island. Malta was not at the ‘front’ of the war but served both as a naval base and a military hospital giving rise at that time to its name of the ‘Nurse of the Mediterranean’.
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3. Ethel Mary Martin daughter of Albert Ernest Martin and Caroline Jacob was born 1st qrtr 1888 in Reading and died in May 1954 at age 66.
Noted events in her life were: · She helped in her parent’s grocery shop on the Tilehurst Road, Reading when she was a young girl. After leaving school, she worked as a clerk. A character reference to support her application for the positon was supplied by John Martin (no relation) in which she is described as an ‘industrious, capable, willing and painstaking person’. · An accomplished piano player, Ethel could play almost any tune ‘by ear’, entertaining the many visitors that used to come to the house. · Ethel had a real love of people and was always ready to help those in need. This included providing a home to relatives, children’s friends and anyone else in need of a place to stay.
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Robert Griffin c 1915 |
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Phyllis & Tom Thompson c 1955 |
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Ancestors of Phyllis Beryl Thompson |
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Third Generation - Grandparents |
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4. Robert Henry Griffin, son of Henry Robert Griffin and Elizabeth Waller, was born 2nd qrtr 1863 in Paddington, London and died on 5 November 1887 at the New Inn, Blewbury, Berkshire at age 24.
Noted events in his life were: · Between 1864 and 1871, Robert was sent to live with his aunt Mary who was married to Malachi Grace, Innkeeper of the New Inn. The New Inn was originally the King William Public House and Brewhouse, built with coach house and stables in the early nineteenth century by Thomas Britt, a carpenter. Before Malachi took over, the Inn had earned itself something of a reputation with allegations of lodgers being killed for their money and buried in the Orchard behind the pub.
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5. Matilda Bull daughter of Joseph Benjamin Bull and Elizabeth Bosley was born 4th qrtr 1865 in North Moreton, Berkshire and died in Reading. Noted events in her life were:
· She appeared in the 1881 census working as a housemaid at the Great Western Junction Hotel in Didcot.
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· Occupation: As he grew up, Robert helped his aunt and uncle with the running of the New Inn and their carrier business - which he continued to operate after Malachi’s death in 1884 until his own death from tuberculosis in 1887. In the 1881 census, Robert’s occupation is shown as carrier and assistant innkeeper. Malachi Grace was considered somewhat of a ‘character’ by the locals of Blewbury . One story has him being found asleep, and somewhat inebriated, in his cart by farmhands who then hid his horse to play a joke on him. On awakening, he is reported to have said “Be my name Malachi Grace? Because if it be, I’ve lost a horse. If it b’aint, I’ve gained a cart’. · During the course of his work as a carrier, Robert would have delivered goods and passengers to nearby Didcot Railway Station and the Great Western Junction Hotel. It is possible that this is how he met his future wife, Matilda, who was working there.
Robert married Matilda Bull, 2nd qrtr 1887, in Marylebone, London. The child from this marriage was Robert Charles Griffin.
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· By 1891, she was widowed, working as a dressmaker and living with her deceased husband’s aunt Mary, also widowed, at the New Inn, Blewbury. Also living at the New Inn was Mary’s bother Charles Griffin, a superintendent of an orphanage. In 1900, Matilda had an illegitimate son, Arthur Reginald but never remarried. Family and photographic evidence suggests that Charles was the father of Arthur.
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Character Reference written by John W Martin, Deputy Mayor of Reading
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Before and after World War I, Bob worked as a commercial traveller for M. Venners and Sons, Ltd, Bacon & Ham Curers, Wholesale Butter, Egg and Provision Merchants of Southampton Street, a family run company started by William Venner in 1856 and later run by his wife, Martha and her sons. The 1891 census shows Martha Venner, 52, of Southampton Street, Reading, and sons William, 31, and Richard, 25, as wholesale provision merchants.
Bob later worked a commercial traveller for the Royal Danish Bacon Company.
Bob married Ethel Mary Martin in 1913 in Reading. The child of this marriage was Phyllis Beryl Griffin. Bob next married Lucy Annetta Stone on 17 June, 1966 in Reading. Annetta was born in 1906 in Truro, Cornwall, the daughter of Joseph Stone. |
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Ancestors of Phyllis Beryl Thompson |
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Ethel Mary Martin C 1915 |
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A Venners Price List 28 Jan, 1931. |
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The car that Bob used to drive as a commercial traveller for Venners -(MVS). |
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Robert Henry Griffin c 1885 |
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The New Inn, Blewbury |
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Noted events in her life were: She worked as a ‘land girl’ for Suttons Seeds in Reading during the Second World War before going to work as office manager at ‘Markhams Motors’, a coach and car repairs business in Caversham, Reading. In the 1960s, she went into business with the owner of the company, opening ‘Marparts’ car accessory shop on the site of ’Markham’s Motors’ in Caversham Road. She worked in the shop until she retired in the 1970s. |
