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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Gloucestershire => Topic started by: AmandaP on Wednesday 06 September 06 06:55 BST (UK)
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Hi I'm looking for ancestors of the Walkley family in Gloucestershire. My GGG Grandmother was Hester (also known as Ester) Walkley born around 1804, her husband was John Gabb and they were married 15 Oct 1826 in Kings Stanley, Gloucestershire. Hester's parnets were listed on her death certificate as "unknown". John & Hester emmigrated to Sydney Australia around 1838 with their three children William, Charles and Emma. The only other thing I know about Hester is that she apparently had a brother named Thomas Walkley.
Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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There is a marriage for Thomas Walkley to Ann Cratchley in Rodborough Gloucestershire 24 December 1798.
Possible children:
Sarah
Thomas
Elizabeth
Hester
All have the christening date as 26 September 1802 Kingstanley. Also another couple of children including another Sarah at Rodborough, parents also Thomas and Ann. First Sarah could have died, renaming a later daughter the same name.
These from IGI which I suppose you may also have looked at for Hester's marriage.
Cazay
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Thanks Cazay,
That Hester seems to be two years too early to be my Hester. My Dad had an old pedigree with John & Hester's marriage date on it but we couldn't work out if it was 1826 or 1828 as it was too faint, I found them on www.familysearch.org so was able to confirm the year.
I've come across a few (H)ester Walkleys around that era in Gloucestershire, unfortunately I don't have anything else to pin her too, except that her middle initial was apparently "F".
The following is immigration information provided to me by a distant cousin:
Arrival Notice:
Vessel: "Layton"
Date: 18th Jan 1838
Engaged by: H.H. McArthur
On Board: John
Aged 30 Years
Read & Write
Parents (William, mother not known)
Native Place: Stonehouse, Glos. England
Ester (Hester)
Aged 34 years
Read, a little
Parents (not listed)
Brother: Thomas Walkley
Native Place: Kings Stanley, Glos England
Children on Board: William 10years
Charles 6years
Emma 1years
Thanks for your reply :)
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Hi,
my father's Aunt Hannah Bingham married William Walkley in April 1912.
My father tells me they were sand and gravel merchants in Tewksbury.
William and then Hannah were Majors in the Salvation Army.
They were also said to have spent some time in Australia.
I would love to here from anyone related to William and Hannah
Kind Regards
Shirley Sura
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Source: Glos Archives (GA) P190 IN 1/5, King Stanley, Baptisms, 1783-1808
This is the actual parish register.
The following children of Thomas & Ann Walkley were all baptised at King Stanley on 26th September 1802:-
Elizabeth, Hester, Sarah & Thomas.
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William Walkley was my Grandfather and Hannah Walkley (nee Bingham) my Grandmother. I am Stuart Walkley. I knew Hannah Walkley but William died before I was born. Nevertheless I know the family history very well. HEre is a little of it.
Hannah Bingham came from Cudworth in Barnsley and moved to Tewkesbury as a Salvation Army Officer in 1911 (she was a young Lieutenant, new to the work). In Tewkesbury she met William who was older, had been widowed and left with a family of 6 surviving children. He was a Sand a Gravel Merchant, a Log Haulier, the Local Horse Cab driver....and the Bandmaster of the Local Salvation Army. They married and had a number of children....Ada (who moved to live with Hannah's childless sister in Cudworth), Grace, Hubert (my Father), Sidney, Evelyn....all are now dead....... They were all Salvationists and William Walkley was Bandmaster for over 50 years...he was also a Town Councillor in Tewkesbury and died in 1939.
Hannah Bingham continued to live in Tewkesbury until her death in 1978 at the age of 88..she was a marvellous Salvationist and a recipient of the Maunday Money (in 1972) at Tewkesbury Abbey...I remember her well and visited with her the "Yorkshire relatives" when I was a child...I remember Aunt Ada (just) and I think a daughter of hers, Stella....some of the family moved to Sheffield.
There are now no more Walkley's in Tewkesbury. I live in a nearby town and visit sometimes. A Road was named afer William Walkley in memory of his work in the Town where he was greatly loved.... but his early years were grindingly poor...he was born on a barge, lived in a shed near the barges and like many people in Tewkesbury during the 19C was lucky to survive.
He was a marvellous Cornet Player and his son, Sidney, took over as Bandmaster in 1939 until he left Tewkesbury in 1988 --- I have continued the musical tradition of the Walkleys in Gloucestershire and am ORganist at a local Church further South in Gloucestershire...we can trace our musical tradition for Christian workship in Tewkesbury from 1987 (when William as a young man became Bandmaster of the Salvation Army there) through to the present day when I continue as Organist.....
There are many amusing and some sad tales of the family, as with all families. My Grandmother (Hannah Bingham) was deeply proud of her Yorkshire roots, was a very fine Baker, a great singer, and blunt ...she was a fervent agent for social justice once throwing out of the Tewkesbury Workhouse the slop buckets because they made conditions there unhuman...
I have some family records, not many --- this includes the Marriage Certificate for William Walkley and Hannah Bingham who married at the Congregational Church in Barnsley.....
Bless you, whoever you are and wherever you are....life is for living, enjoy it.
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Good Morning Stuart
thank you so much for replying to my query.
The information you kindly gave means so much to me, it made me smile and brought tears to my eyes. I have a great interest in history, especially family history and have been researching our family history for some time now.
I am Shirley Sura nee Bingham, one of your "Yorkshire relatives" although I am not sure if we ever met as I came to live in Birmingham in 1960. I am also very proud of my Yorkshire roots and although I have lived in the West Midlands for many more years than I lived in Bradford, I still consider myself a "Yorkshire Lass." My Grandfather was Alfred Bingham, Hannah's brother and sadly died the year before I was born so like you I did not know my Grandfather personally although my father has told me many stories. Alfred and his wife Elsie had three children, my father Henry who is now 83, and his sister's Emma and Marion who both died in 2004.
My father was very fond of Hannah and has described her as a "lovely lady". I recently had a copy of Hannah's obituary from the Salvation Army and he was pleased to see she was spoken of so nicely. I know the information you have sent will make him very happy.
I would love to hear more about our family and might (although you do have a good knowledge of our family history) be able to tell you about some of the other people and stories.
my email address is *
THANK YOU AGAIN SO MUCH AND GOD BLESS
Kind Regards from your second cousin
Shirley Sura
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Hello Stuart.
I hope you are keeping well. Have recently taken up an interest in our family history and only recently visited our grandparents grave in Tewkesbury cemetery. also visited the graves of my fathers brother and that of his son. I would love for us to be able to discuss some photos I have as I feel sure you may be able to identify some of the people in them. Hope you see this and contact me.
All the very best
Brian Cook
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Hello Shirley
Stuart and I are cousins. Grace Cook was my mother and was married to Frank William Cook. I am one of 3 Children, an older brother William [ deceased ] and a younger sister Marion. If I can be of help then please make contact.
Hope you have made good progress with your research so far.
Regards Brian Cook
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Hi Brian thank you for the message. Our tree is progressing very well and has many branches. As you can see Hannah Walkley nee Bingham was my father's paternal aunt. If there is any information I can help with please let me know, although Stuart gave me a lot of information.
Kind regards
Shirley
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Hi Shirley/Brian
I am Stuart's niece, Hannah Bingham was my great grandmother - my father was Terence Walkley (son of Hubert). I have a few newspaper articles about William Walkley if you are interested and some census data for the Bingham family. I think I may have a newspaper report of Grace Walkley's wedding too.
I did grind to a bit of a halt with William Walkley's line - I have his father as another William Walkley and his grandfather as Samuel Walkley as a coal merchant in Cheltenham.
Kind regards
Debbie
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Hello Debbie
How lovely to hear from you. My father is Hanna Walkley's nephew so I have more information about the Bingham side if you would like it.
Kind regards
Shirley Sura
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Hi Shirley
That would be great - I think I stopped with Hannah's father and mother - it was only recently I discovered she had a brother, although I did know about her sister Ada. I do remember Hannah although I was only about 14 when she died. Years ago, there was a game on the "Generation Game" where the participants had to identify events - one of those clips was the presentation of the Maundy Money and it was the one in Tewkesbury so Hannah appeared in it. I seem to remember that she often used a wheelchair at the time but she insisted on being told when the Queen was approaching so that she could stand. I do remember her showing me the Maundy money and explaining about the three purses. I also remember that she used to carry a handkerchief scented with 4711 Eau de Cologne and that she would give me and my brother pocket money - when my Dad told her that she should keep her money, she retorted "it's only a shilling"! I am sure that I have some photos of her in my Dad's paperwork - let me know if you would like to see them.
Debbie
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Hello Debbie
Its nice to hear from another family member especially when fond memories of my grandmother are rekindled. My mother Grace Cook nee Walkley was your grandfathers sister. I have some photos of Hannah, some of which I posted on Tewkesbury- The Good Old Days` in pictures, on Facebook.
One is of her waiting to meet The Queen in the abbey.
Will message you shortly as there are several things I would like to ask you about
Regards
Brian
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16.5 years since my original post and I was later successful in finding Hester's parents thanks to AngelaR who went to the Gloucestershire Archives and retrieved information from the non-conformist register at the Gloucestershire Archives. Hester's children's births were listed on the register along with her father's name. The information became available online much later. Hester was a couple of years older than we first thought, I have theorised that she might have lowered her age for the assisted immigrants program. She was born in Kings Stanley in 1798 to Samuel Walkley and Elizabeth Peglar, which has also been confirmed with DNA.