Page 212 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

year before the census in 1960. However, his son, Henry Hooper (1899-1983) and his wife, Ethel (1901-1963) were both alive and they had produced two children – Vera (1930-?) and Derek (1933-?). Vera had married in 1954 and Derek seems to have remained unmarried. In fact, Colonel’s brother, Arthur (1882-?) and his wife, Alice (1883-1971), were still around in 1961 – certainly this is the case with Alice but not so sure about Arthur – but, anyway, they had no issue. Certainly it seems that this line from Thomas and Elizabeth’s daughter, Hannah, will have ended by the latter half of the 20th century.
Thomas and Elizabeth’s eldest son William (1826-1866) had representatives in the 1961 census through William and Mary’s youngest child, Arthur (1858-1939) who had married Esther in Wakefield in 1881. In turn, Arthur and Esther’s oldest child, William (1882-1917) had married Mary Elizabeth Hirst in Wakefield in 1907. Of their two sons, Haydn and Leslie, both had children in the 1961 census. Haydn (1909-1941) who had married Margaret L. Matthewman had one child, Anne (b. 1939). Anne became Anne Nichol by her marriage in Lower Agbrigg in 1965. However, Haydn’s younger brother, Leslie, who had married Edith, had produced Michael Leslie E. (b.1945). Michael who married June Taylor produced Karen Lesley in 1971, so again, unless Karen decides to use her maiden name of Soothill if she has a child, this is another line of Soothills which is likely to have dried up in the latter half of the 20th century.
Meanwhile, Arthur and Esther’s second son, Percy (1887-1957), had married Gertrude (known as Gertie) Stringer in Wakefield in 1912. Gertie was probably pregnant at the time for she had Eric (1912-1977) on 22 April 1912. Eric, in turn, married Alice Mays in Wakefield in 1939. They had two children – Peter John (b. 1941) and Kenneth Alan (b.1942) who both feature in the 1961 census.
Peter John who married Thelma (Burke) in Leeds in 1973 seems to have had no issue, while Kenneth Alan who married Gillian Rosemary Berridge in Wakefield in 1968 has three boys, namely, Simon Kenneth (b.1969), Christian Edward (b.1973) and Thomas Oliver (b.1977). Christian Edward is the only one of the three boys who
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