Page 153 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

brother, William Edward (1861-1935). William Edward is Victor’s father and is absent from the 1911 census as he would almost certainly be working as missionary in China around this time. In fact, William Edward and Lucy had two children – Dorothea (b.1885) and Victor Farrar (1888-1956) – but only Victor is in the 1911 census. William Edward is perhaps the most important and the most famous of the Soothill tribe. Meanwhile, William Edward demonstrates just how far some of the family members had moved from the confines of Yorkshire. As already stated, the centre of gravity for this grouping had certainly moved from Yorkshire to the Home Counties, specifically the Wallington area of Surrey.
Using the information from the 1911 census, the average age of 35 years of the members in this grouping contrasts sharply with the average age of around 20 years of this grouping in 1861. However, it is the average age of the 1861 census which is more unusual reflecting how few persons were living to a good age in the mid-19th century. In 1911 this grouping – according to the census – had five youngsters under the age of 21 and four males in the reproductive window of 18 to 50 years. These figures demonstrate that the numbers in this grouping are on the rise, but they also mask two features. Firstly, there are Soothills in other parts of the world who would increase in the numbers of this grouping. Secondly, subsequent emigrations among members of this group will decrease the core numbers displayed in the putative censuses in England and Wales. This is certainly one of the groupings where the overall picture becomes clearer if considered on a world- wide basis.
So what happens to these families in the next fifty years? Both William and Lucy – neither of whom is in the 1911 census - die in the 1930s having retired to Oxford, but their children are still around. Dorothea (1885-?) has become Lady Hosie by marrying Sir Alexander Hosie in Richmond in 1913, but they had no children. Her brother, Victor Farrar (1888-1956), trained as a doctor and is shown as being entered on the Medical Register in 1913. He married Kathleen Helena Bradfield (1884-1962) in Marylebone in 1916. They had three children – Jean F. (1921-?), Edward F. (1923-?) and John F. (1925-2004). Jean who was born in Weymouth married Stanley Palmer in Norwich in 1948, but nothing subsequent is known.
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