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Hello!

I appreciate that the last contribution to this thread was around 15 years ago but I thought it was worth commenting as I also have an interest in this family. The brother of Susanna Wiles (formerly Holmes, originally Squire) was the sister of my 4x great-grandfather, William Squire (1768-1837). Their parents were James Squire (1740-1825) and Mary Burder (1737-1816).

Another of James & Mary's children - John Burder Squire (1763-1841) - married Susannah Peppercorn (from the family of lawyers in St Neots). It appears that one of their sons, Peter Squire (1799-1884) was chemist to Queen Victoria and a pioneer of modern pharmacy.

There are a number of trees on Ancestry which include a portrait attributed to be James Squire, which is at Bassmead Manor. It looks like this property is still owned by the Squire family!

Thanks, KGarrad - I've just had a little 'walk' along there via Google Streetview. I've also located it on the Bristol Know Your Place website. Looks like I have another line of research opening up! It turns out it IS listed on Peter Higginbotham's website - link here: http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/MH/ and then click through to Gloucestershire. Given the nature of the institution and the background of the 'inmates' I can see why it might have been the chaplain to the home who conducted the baptism, rather than the incumbent vicar.

I'm trying to find out any information about Southfield Home, Westbury-on-Trym in Bristol. It is mentioned as the residence of someone I'm researching. Florence Brooks was baptised at St. John the Evangelist in Clifton, in October 1915. By this point she was aged 20; no parents names are given, and the baptism was performed by the chaplain of the home rather than the vicar.

My guess is this might have been a home for single women, given that as far as I know she was unmarried at this point in time. (She married in February 1916 in Devonport, Devon.) A little more than a year after she married she was prosecuted for soliciting and her husband imprisoned for living off immoral earnings!

I've looked through the listings on Peter Higginbotham's websites for workhouses and children's homes to no avail, and a basic Google search leaves me none the wiser. I'm hoping that by posting here there will be someone with local knowledge who can shed some light on this.

Hi Norman, welcome to Rootschat.

Since my original post two years ago I've discovered much more about Florence, working with jmzcollins who posted above (we're half second cousins) and another of her descendants who lives in Australia.

The children that Florence had with my great-grandfather were all registered with his surname of Bowdler, with her name of Brooks given as the mother's maiden name. As per my original post, they were: Peter William Oliver (Oct 1923, Cardiff), twins Patrick and Gordon (born and sadly died 1925, Cardiff); Marion (born 1926, Cardiff); Ruth (born 1927, Okehampton Devon, died 1928 same place); and Kenneth (born & died 1929, Okehampton, Devon). 

Florence and Oliver William were never married to each other: he was still married to my great-grandmother (who was in a mental hospital) and she was still married to her husband, John Ralph Hamilton. Florence and her husband had a daughter before she met my great-grandfather - Marjorie Hamilton, born in Cardiff in 1919.

Florence died in 1930 in Devon. While the newspaper reports of the funeral refer to the death of "Mrs O.W. Bowdler" her death certificate records her as Florence Hamilton. My great-grandfather was the informant.

The names, dates and location of Cardiff from your story certainly overlap with that of Florence, but I'm not sure that your father Peter would have been her son. As far as my research goes she originated from Devon, and married her husband John Ralph Hamilton in 1916 in Devonport, then moved to Cardiff. There is no known link between Florence and the Forest of Dean - it is my great-grandfather Oliver William Bowdler whose roots are there.

I've looked at births for a child named Peter Brooks in Cardiff between 1920 and 1924. Aside from Peter W.O.Brooks already mentioned above, born October 1923, the only other record is a Peter Brooks born Apr-Jun quarter 1923. Given there's only a maximum of six months between the two births they must have been born to different mothers.

I hope this helps!

Thanks again, daveyp!

The THD of 476 Bradford Road was my great-grandfather. He was quite a character from what I know, having played in a concertina band and being chairman of Huddersfield Ladies Cricket Club. He worked for Fisher’s Woollen Mills.

I’ve bookmarked the ‘Huddersfield Exposed’ website as it looks to be a very useful resource.