Page 230 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

1961 there were five in this age window of 18 to 50 years. Hence, in the mid-20th century this Soothill grouping does seem to be moving upwards in terms of numbers. So what has happened in the fifty years following the putative 1961 census?
The decade or so following the 1961 census was a tough one for the descendants of John and Elizabeth Soothill. James Albert or Jim dies in 1963, aged 48. Lucy, Alfred’s widow, dies in 1969. Luther dies in 1972; Luther’s wife, Amelia, dies in 1977. But what of the others?
First, a focus on Jim and Hilda’s five children. Kenneth (b.1938), their eldest, had married Margaret Newstead in the New Forest in 1959 and subsequently emigrated to Canada and will be further considered in Chapter 6. June Margaret (b.1940) had already married in 1958 at the age of 18. Janet (b.1949) became Mrs Sheard after marrying in Huddersfield in 1971. There is no evidence of Geoffrey getting married until 2003 when he married Cynthia Speight in Leeds. Hence, Cynthia provides another Soothill in the 2011 census. It is not clear whether they are still together, but this is discussed in the next chapter. Finally, Valerie married Keith Fish, but the date of the marriage is not known.
Now let’s consider Jim’s brother Willie who had married Irene Crowther in Calder in 1940. Their two children are Thora (b.1942) and Philip David (b.1949). Thora became Mrs Carter by marrying in Bolton in 1966. Philip David has had two married partners. He married Alison Moorhouse at Huddersfield in 1972. Their union produced two girls – Rebecca Marie (b.1976) and Emma Jane (b.1978). Not much is known by the author about what has happened to the two girls, but we consider them in the next chapter. There is no evidence of Alison getting re-married following the apparent breakdown of her marriage to Philip David, so Alison is another likely Soothill in the 2011 census. It seems that Philip David is now in a common-law marriage with Kim L. who thus also uses the name of Soothill.
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