Hi
That's definitely her. Do you mean Leinster Gardens Paddington (as there is no Leicester Gardens)? I used to live near there. This fits because my father told me that Samuel Johnson (his grandfather) and Kate met whilst she was pushing a a pram in Kensington Gardens. Samuel was in the Coldstream Guards I'm told and may have been guarding the palace.
They married in Sheffield in 1891(!) I suspect that they had to run away for the usual reasons (!) but latterly they lived in 9 Putney Park Road near Barnes which I visited with my father a couple of years ago - he had spent a lot of time as a child with them. He last saw her in 1942 before he went off to South Africa for flight training.
A story that came through is that a) the family had owned land which was taken away from them by the Marlborough's and b) Winston Churchill used to pull her pigtails in church (presumably St. Martin's at Bladon) - he was 3 years younger so one can imagine an annoying kid doing that!!
I visited Woodstock about 25 years ago when I did a conference in Blenheim Palace and stayed at The Bear but had no idea I had family connections there at that time.
Re: James Prior - there are definitely 2 born in 1841. One married Harriott Hemmings the other married either Sarah or Frances Laughton. I am going to visit the Public Records Office in the next couple of weeks to get the relevant certificates.
Check out this reference:
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=1324 (do a find on Prior)
I am very keen to find out about this branch of the family and to meet any long-lost relatives and help their quest too where I can. My email address is: (*).
All the very best
Richard
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