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what was the 'phony war'

The Phony War, in terms of the home front, occurred after war was declared on 3rd September 1939, when it was generally assumed that there would be imminent widespread bombing of the cities, so there was an evacuation plan put into place. In reality, there was very little bombing at all and so the evacuated children were called back home by their parents. In my grandmother's case they went back to London and then had to be evacuated again once the Blitz had started in earnest in 1940.

Thank you very, very much for that keyboard, I really appreciate it.

Right, I've had a chance to go through all the information that you found yesterday and I think it boils down to this:

John Heale married: 5 December 1795 Iddesleigh John Heale to Elizabeth Woodman

Caleb Heale baptised:  CALLEB Heale 19th February 1804 Iddesleigh Father John Mother Elizabeth

Also born to John Heale and Elizabeth:
Mary 1 September1799
Abel 19 January1806
William 4 September1808

Mary Weeks baptised:  11 March 1804 Iddesleigh Father Henery Mother Jane

Caleb Heale married:  18 April 1827 Iddesleigh Caleb Heale to Mary Weeks

7 October 1827 baptism at Iddesleigh John parents Caleb and Mary (it would seem that Mary was 6 months pregnant when they married)
23 December 1832 baptism at Iddesleigh Caleb parents Caleb and Mary

1851 census
Mary Heale 47 b Iddesleigh married smiths wife
William Heale 19 son b Iddesleigh smith
Jane Heale 10 dau b Iddesleigh
Grace Heale 7 dau b Iddesleigh

Caleb Heale buried:  7th March 1855 Iddesleigh aged 51 abode Middle Wick in the parish of Iddesleigh

Plus the various sightings of Caleb junior and also Mary as a widow in the censuses. I think the Grace Hawking that Mary stayed with was her daughter, as I found a record in the BMD index for Arscot Hawking (what a name!) marrying Grace Heale Jul-Sep Okehampton 5b 681.

The only thing that's not entirely clear to me is who this pair were
Caleb Heale married Grace Heale 2 April 1810 Iddesleigh
this Caleb must have been born in about 1790. Perhaps he was nephew of John Heale, born to one of John's brothers. He could have been the chap who died in 1839.

I do thank everyone for looking all this up, it's been really helpful.

I do have one further lookup request, actually it's sort of 2 in 1. The original couple I was interested in was Henry Humphreys and Jane Heale. I'm now interested in Henry's grandparents Robert Humphreys and Susan. From the censuses Robert was born in Cockington, Torquay, in about 1790, while Susan was born in Torquay in 1788. There's a marriage listed for a Robert Humphreys in 1811 in Cockington, Devon, and also a baptism in 1788. I'd be very grateful if someone could look those two up for me.

Aha, thanks Willow. I find that site has become really frustrating. I haven't used it for a few years now, having got as far back with my own family as I can, and the old site was so much easier to use. Maybe I just haven't learned all the functionality of the new site.

The family tree on Ancestry goes way, way back with the Heale family. Back when I was a beginner I'd have merrily put all of that into my own tree, but now I never feel I can trust other people's research, so it'll have to be an interesting footnote.

Wow, thank you for all this information. I had a look for Caleb snr last night, and came up with what I think is him and his family in Dowland, Devon. He's been mis-transcribed on Ancestry as Caleb Hall, he was born in 1807 and is living with wife Mary, and children William 9, Caleb 8, and Jane 4 months and is a smith. If you look at the image, the surname is Heale and not Hall, in my opinion, anyway. It's Registration District Torrington, piece 251, book 3, folio 6, page 7, if that helps to find it. I'd welcome the opinion of anyone here about whether it is the ones I'm looking for. From the other censuses of Jane in later life as Jane Humphreys, the year of birth does fit. I'd misread her age on one of the censuses and thought she was born in 1846, but it turns out it was 1840 or 1841.

I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment. I'll come back later. Thanks again.