Identification of people in the photograph of the wedding of Reginald Thomas and Cecilia, provided by Gladys Hawker his sister:
Left to Right: Children at front: Eva, sister of Cecilia; Billy; Alice.
Front Row: Thomas Hawker (Father of RTH); Lilly; Reginald Thomas; Cecilia; unknown man (1); Anne Ward.
Rear: 5 unknown women; George Hawker (brother of Reginald Thomas); 2 unknown women; unknown man; Cecilia Shakespeare (mother of Cecilia Clarke); Aunt of RTH; unknown woman.
According to John Hawker (brother of George, Tom, Glad and Anne) Cecilia was born in Clee Hills.
Email dated 12/12/2002 to Graham George Hawker from Anthony John Haywood:
Hello again... I've listed some of the background details for Mom and Glad
and Charles, some of which you may have others you may no
1.Cecilia Ann Hawker ( note no e on the Ann on the birth cert ) 10/08/1908,
46 Wolverhampton Road, Walsall, Staffs. Birth registered on the 14th August.
2. Charles Fred Perkins 18/11/1903 at 20 Dalkeith Street, Walsall, Staffs.
Father Charles Perkins ( Tinner .. Journeyman ) Mother Sarah Perkins formerly
Cook, registered on the 13th January.
3. Gladys Jane Hawker 20/04/1906, 153 Bentley Lane, Walsall. Father and
Mother known, birth registered on 23rd. May 1906.
4. John Benjamin Haywood, 10.02/1907, Brunswick Park Road, Wednesbury,
Staffs.
Father, Benjamin Haywood ( Machine Fitter ), Mother Margaret Pamela Naomi (
nee Styles ), birth registered on 12th March.
5. Marriage of John Benjamin to Cecilia Anne ( e added now ), 06/09/1937 at
St Peters Church Walsall, John aged 30 years Anne aged 28 years. John lived
at 44 Oxford St. Wednesbury and Anne at 91 Pargeter St. Walsall. John's
father now an Engineer. Witnessed by Gladys and Reginald Thomas Hawker.
6. Marriage of Charles Fred to Gladys Jane at The Parish Church of St Andrew,
Walsall, on 15/08/1940. Gladys aged 34 Charles aged 36. Charles Fred was a
Progess Manager, from 20 Dalkeith St. Walsall. Father as above. Witnessed by
George Hawker and Winifred Mary Roster. Winifred is shown on the photos of
Glad's wedding as the one Bridesmaid the other was your Mom.
7. Death of Gladys Jane Hawker, 01/04/2000 at Field House Rest Home, Clent,
near Stourbridge, Worcs. Cause Old age and dementia. My name is the informant
on the certificate.
8. Death of Cecilia Anne Haywood, 05/04/1993 at Kidderminster General
Hospital, Cardiac failure, Gangrene of the small bowel.
9. Death of Giles Stewart Haywood, 02/02/1997 at Filletts farm, Six ashes,
Quatt, Shropshire. ( Born 06/08/1945 ) Cause by Asphyxia from hanging.
10. Death of John Benjamin Haywood, 01/04/1965, at Queen Mary's Hospital,
West Ham,aged 58 years. Cause Coronary Occlusion. Winessed by his brother
Email dated 12/12/2002 to Graham George Hawker from Anthony John Haywood:
Hello again... I've listed some of the background details for Mom and Glad
and Charles, some of which you may have others you may no
1.Cecilia Ann Hawker ( note no e on the Ann on the birth cert ) 10/08/1908,
46 Wolverhampton Road, Walsall, Staffs. Birth registered on the 14th August.
2. Charles Fred Perkins 18/11/1903 at 20 Dalkeith Street, Walsall, Staffs.
Father Charles Perkins ( Tinner .. Journeyman ) Mother Sarah Perkins formerly
Cook, registered on the 13th January.
3. Gladys Jane Hawker 20/04/1906, 153 Bentley Lane, Walsall. Father and
Mother known, birth registered on 23rd. May 1906.
4. John Benjamin Haywood, 10.02/1907, Brunswick Park Road, Wednesbury,
Staffs.
Father, Benjamin Haywood ( Machine Fitter ), Mother Margaret Pamela Naomi (
nee Styles ), birth registered on 12th March.
5. Marriage of John Benjamin to Cecilia Anne ( e added now ), 06/09/1937 at
St Peters Church Walsall, John aged 30 years Anne aged 28 years. John lived
at 44 Oxford St. Wednesbury and Anne at 91 Pargeter St. Walsall. John's
father now an Engineer. Witnessed by Gladys and Reginald Thomas Hawker.
6. Marriage of Charles Fred to Gladys Jane at The Parish Church of St Andrew,
Walsall, on 15/08/1940. Gladys aged 34 Charles aged 36. Charles Fred was a
Progess Manager, from 20 Dalkeith St. Walsall. Father as above. Witnessed by
George Hawker and Winifred Mary Roster. Winifred is shown on the photos of
Glad's wedding as the one Bridesmaid the other was your Mom.
7. Death of Gladys Jane Hawker, 01/04/2000 at Field House Rest Home, Clent,
near Stourbridge, Worcs. Cause Old age and dementia. My name is the informant
on the certificate.
8. Death of Cecilia Anne Haywood, 05/04/1993 at Kidderminster General
Hospital, Cardiac failure, Gangrene of the small bowel.
9. Death of Giles Stewart Haywood, 02/02/1997 at Filletts farm, Six ashes,
Quatt, Shropshire. ( Born 06/08/1945 ) Cause by Asphyxia from hanging.
10. Death of John Benjamin Haywood, 01/04/1965, at Queen Mary's Hospital,
West Ham,aged 58 years. Cause Coronary Occlusion. Winessed by his brother
James Samuel Haywood MBE.Worked at Elwells and was an accomplished cricketer
Was finance director of BSR (Birmingham Sound Reproductions)
Email received on Sunday 17th October 1999 from John Hawker by his brother Graham George, after John Hawker saw a copy of this GEDCOM file dated 15 October 1999 states:
"I talked the history through with Father and he had a few comments that may be of interest.
His grandfather Thomas lived with the Ellis family when he first moved from Gloucester to the
Midlands in the 1870's. Francis Ellis was a Baker who was married to Ellen. They had 3 sons,
Francis, Ernest and George and a daughter Ellen. I have a scrap of paper in Father's awful
handwriting that says they appear in the Walsall census return for 1881 at 51 Colmore Green. I
don't know how Thomas came to live with the Ellis family or whether they were already known
to the Hawker family before he moved."
1891 Census, looked up by Wendy Doyle:90 GREEN LANE WALSALL
HAWKER THOMAS H M 31 GROCER/BAKER WORCS ELDERSFIELD
ANN W M 34 " COALPOOL
REGINALD T. S 8 SCHOLAR WALSALL
GEORGE S 7 " "
LILLIAN B D 4 "
ELLAN A D 2 "
WILLIAM H S 1 "
JAMES S 2MO "
HILL FRANK SHOPMAN U 20 GROCERS SHOPMAN WORCS GUINTON
MALLARD ALICE SERV U 14 GENERAL SERVANT BONEY HAY
HADDON SARAH VISITOR M 41 - SHROPS. BROMSTALL HEATH
Email received on Sunday 17th October 1999 from John Hawker by his brother Graham George, after John Hawker saw a copy of this GEDCOM file dated 15 October 1999 states:
"I talked the history through with Father and he had a few comments that may be of interest.
His grandfather Thomas lived with the Ellis family when he first moved from Gloucester to the
Midlands in the 1870's. Francis Ellis was a Baker who was married to Ellen. They had 3 sons,
Francis, Ernest and George and a daughter Ellen. I have a scrap of paper in Father's awful
handwriting that says they appear in the Walsall census return for 1881 at 51 Colmore Green. I
don't know how Thomas came to live with the Ellis family or whether they were already known
to the Hawker family before he moved."
1891 Census, looked up by Wendy Doyle:90 GREEN LANE WALSALL
HAWKER THOMAS H M 31 GROCER/BAKER WORCS ELDERSFIELD
ANN W M 34 " COALPOOL
REGINALD T. S 8 SCHOLAR WALSALL
GEORGE S 7 " "
LILLIAN B D 4 "
ELLAN A D 2 "
WILLIAM H S 1 "
JAMES S 2MO "
HILL FRANK SHOPMAN U 20 GROCERS SHOPMAN WORCS GUINTON
MALLARD ALICE SERV U 14 GENERAL SERVANT BONEY HAY
HADDON SARAH VISITOR M 41 - SHROPS. BROMSTALL HEATH
Sister of Thomas Hawker's first wife. Marriage therefore void under the 1835 Lyndhurst Act. However, the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 made the marriage valid retrospectively.
The following extract was taken (1 Sept 2002) from "The Regency Collection" on the internet at address:
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~awoodley/regency/marry.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Marriage to Deceased Wife's sister
The prohibition on marrying your brother's wife comes from an Old Testament text: "If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an impurity: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless." (Leviticus xx,21.) Now you might well notice that this could easily mean don't take your brother's wife _while he is alive_, but the medieval church interpreted it to mean that people could not marry their deceased spouse's sibling, at all and because the church did grant dispensations from the prohibition.
There was no outright civil ban on these marriages in England although they were certainly discouraged, until the The Marriage Act of 1835. Up until this date these marriages were considered voidable (meaning either party could use the relationship as a reason to annul the marriage - or indeed anyone else might do so if they felt so moved) but were not void.
The case of Charles Austen, the younger brother of Jane Austen is an example of this. In 1814 his first wife, Frances Palmer, died in childbirth. Being a naval officer, he left his surviving three daughters in the care of his wife's older sister Harriet. In 1817, Charles was returned to shore for several years (he did not get another ship until 1826.) In 1820, he and Harriet were married, and remained married for 32 years, until his death in 1852; Harriet died in 1869. They had 4 children, three sons and a daughter. After his marriage, Charles continued to rise in the navy without prejudice because of his marriage; in fact he captained several different ships, was named a Companion of the Bath in 1840, became a rear-admiral in 1846, and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the East India and China Station in 1850. By then, of course, his marriage with Harriet had been officially sanctioned by the 1835 Marriage Act which closed the possibility of it being challenged under Canonical Law and made void. While it doesn't appear either her father or Charles' father opposed the marriage, it is suggested that the couple did go to France to be married.
Lady Holland perhaps best illustrates the situation commenting the Marquis of Worcester's marriage to his wife's half sister, Emily Frances Smith. They had to marry in Europe, but this was no guarantee that their marriage would not be voided. "The Duchess of Beaufort (Lord Worcester's mother) has had an amiable interview wtih Lord Worcester, & invited Lady Worcester to England. Her religious scruples have taken a turn; but the marriage is still libale to be dissolved any day by an ill-natured person." (from "Lady Holland's Lettters To Her Son". Edited by Lord Ilchester. John Murray, London, 1946. Page 26, April 21, 1824.)
There was not universal supprt for these marriages though, Maria Edgeworth's father was forced to wait for sometime to marry his deceased wife's sister in late eighteenth century Ireland while a clergyman was found who would marry them.
In fact there are instances of these marriages being voided. This is from the March 1810 issue of La Belle Assemblee, under Incidents Occurring In and Near London pp 152-155: "Feb. 27. This day a cause of nullity of marriage brought by Charlotte Aughtie, widow, late wife of William Aughtie, of the parish of St. Mary-le-bow, London by reason of affinity, was decided in the Arches Court. It appeared by the evidence produced, that Gabriel Aughtie, the former husband of Charlotte Aughtie, and William Aughtie (the party now proceeded against) were own brothers. It also appeared by the former marriage, there were issue ten children, five of whom were still living, and by the latter marriage one child. These facts together with other necessary facts, being satisfactorily proved, the court observed, it had no difficulty whatever in pronouncing this to have been an unlawful marriage and thereby pronounced it accordingly."
By the 1830's, eminent people who had contracted these marriages and feared they might later be declared void, sought to have their position stabilized and a bill was introduced by Lord Lyndhurst to regularize them. The bill that was passed in 1835 enacted that "all marriages which shall hereafter be celebrated between persons within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity shall be absolutely null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever." At the same time the act did legalize all marriages within the prohibited degrees of affinity (i.e. with deceased wife's sister) that had been celebrated before August 31, 1835. That meant that all those eminent people (and their children) were safe.
It was only any later marriages, after the date of the marriage act which were void. Beginning in the 1860's, bills were introduced in Parliament just about annually to allow marriage with deceased wife's sister; it finally passed in 1907. The issue prompted the classic line from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta 'Iolanthe' - "We will prick that annual blister, marriage to deceased wife's sister". In 1907 they finally managed to repeal at least half of it. The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage act of 28 August that year made it possible to marry one's sister-in-law. Yet it wasn't until 1921 that the Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Act was passed which made marriage to a brother-in-law legal.
(Reference "The Dictionary of Dates, Everyman's Library, JM Dent and Sons. 1940.) Charles Austen's case wasn't unique. There were a lot of widowers who wanted to marry their sisters-in-law-- it was often she who came to care for her nieces and nephews, and therefore was available.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The photo in the scrapbook was sent by Jean Wint, wife of Ron Wint, to Graham George Hawker on 10 March 2002 via her son-in-law Fraser Simpson
According to John Hawker (Brother of George, Tom, Glad and Anne) Jimmy Hawker had mental health problems.
Email received on Sunday 17th October 1999 from John Hawker by his brother Graham George, after John Hawker saw a copy of this GEDCOM file dated 15 October 1999 states:
"I talked the history through with Father and he had a few comments that may be of interest.
James (Jimmy) , Thomas's son by his second marriage, had some sort of tragic accident in
his late teens or early twenties which severely damaged one or both of his hands. He never
worked and was so traumatised by the accident he became rather strange. He never married
because of it, and lived at home with Thomas, and when Thomas died he lived with Alice."An email received by Graham George on 7 February 2002 from Jean Wint (wife of Ron Wint) stated:
"Ron says that the accident occurred when Jimmy had "pinched" a bottle of whiskey and running away, tripped over the shafts of a cart and cut an artery. Jimmy lived with his unmarried sister Alice until she died when he went to live with Bill Hawker's wife, Tot."
Email received on Sunday 17th October 1999 from John Hawker by his brother Graham George, after John Hawker saw a copy of this GEDCOM file dated 15 October 1999 states:
"I talked the history through with Father and he had a few comments that may be of interest.
...Alice Jane, Thomas's daughter by his second marriage, never married and lived at home with
Thomas and Anne Ward. She looked after them until they died and she lived at Park Road
near Skip Lane."
Email received on Sunday 17th October 1999 from John Hawker by his brother Graham George, after John Hawker saw a copy of this GEDCOM file dated 15 October 1999 states:
I talked the history through with Father and he had a few comments that may be of interest.
His grandfather Thomas lived with the Ellis family when he first moved from Gloucester to the
Midlands in the 1870's. Francis Ellis was a Baker who was married to Ellen. They had 3 sons,
Francis, Ernest and George and a daughter Ellen. I have a scrap of paper in Father's awful
handwriting that says they appear in the Walsall census return for 1881 at 51 Colmore Green. I
don't know how Thomas came to live with the Ellis family or whether they were already known
to the Hawker family before he moved.
Thomas's son George by his first marriage had a son Robert. Robert joined the Navy in the
War and by some extraordinary coincidence there is an elderly lady at Uvedale Court who
knew him very well and used to play tennis with him. She may have some useful background,
but I need to be sure that he really is the right Robert as she is very ancient and could be
confusing him with another, though interestingly she seems to know many of the Hawkers that
Father remembers who must be his Uncles and Aunts.
Lillian Blanche, Thomas's daughter by his second marriage married Benjamin Barrick.
Benjamin worked for Thomas and asked his permission to marry Lillian. Thomas was not too
keen and advised him to make his fortune before asking again. Benjamin moved to the US and
returned with sufficient income for Thomas to agree to the marriage. Lillian and Benjamin
moved to the US. I believe you may have made contact with their grandchildren.
James (Jimmy) , Thomas's son by his second marriage, had some sort of tragic accident in
his late teens or early twenties which severely damaged one or both of his hands. He never
worked and was so traumatised by the accident he became rather strange. He never married
because of it, and lived at home with Thomas, and when Thomas died he lived with Alice (see
below).
Arthur Cecil (pronounced Ceecil), Thomas's son by his second marriage, married Ivy Hall.
When Ceecil died Ivy married ( our Granny) Celia Clarke's brother.
Ellen Augusta, Thomas's daughter by his second marriage, married Harold Wint. Harold
worked for Thomas Hawker.
Alice Jane, Thomas's daughter by his second marriage, never married and lived at home with
Thomas and Anne Ward. She looked after them until they died and she lived at Park Road
near Skip Lane.
Father said that during the war he lost touch with a lot of his cousins. Interestingly he says he
remembers William Darke who was his grandfathers brother in law.
I have a press cutting of Thomas Hawkers obit from the local paper dated 1926 and a rather
good picture. He left £250,000.00. I have a good photograph of Father's Father Reginald
Thomas and his wife and Glad as a tiny baby. They look very Edwardian and very formal. I have
a very good photo of Reginal Thomas as a young man, late teens probably. He looks very
grand and obviously well off. I have another photo of Reginal Thomas taken just before the war.
He looks a lot like Father. I can send these as high resolution JPEG or TIFF's if you want.
Jean Tomkins should have a lot more detail.
See: http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/b/a/r/Ellen-R-Barrick/index.html
The caption on the photograph on Lillian standing by her son's car, which is in the scrapbook page for Lillian, was emailed to Graham George Hawker by Tom and Ellen Anne Barrick as follows:
"This photo is of Lillian standing beside George's (her son) Ford car in 1934 at their home in Lynbrook, Long Island, NY. Lillian wrote on the back, "Dear Sister, Just a snap of me standing by George's new car, it's a Ford. I must say it takes you long enough to answer a letter. Love, Lil".
We think she sent this back to her sister Alice, in England and then recovered it at a later date, perhaps when Alice died.
Enjoy!
Tom & Ellen Anne"