Eagles of Littledean area (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, June 04, 2014, 01:45 (3616 days ago) @ Mike Pinchin

Hi Mike,
good to see you're still enjoying the BNA site !
Not sure if you know but PC Henry Eagles at Littledean was discussed by Paul a while back,
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=27131

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Hi Paul,

I meant to contact you a while ago in case you knew of the following family ?. A few years ago I started some research for a family-friend from Cinderford, Phil Eagles. Unfortunately it wasn't finished or discussed further with Phil so I cannot verify my findings, but I think he said he descended from PC Eagles. I then found the above thread, and also that he is named as Constable for "Wollastone" in the 1897 Kelly's Glos Directory. As Mike says he does get a few mentions in the BNA.

Phil Eagles' father was Frank R. Eagles, he had an insurance business working from his Cinderford home very near ours, including covering Edwards' Buses of Lydbrook which is how our families first met. Phil's younger sister Gill went thro' Bilson & RFDGS schools in my year. By amusing coincidence given her quite unusual maiden name, Gill has lived and taught in SaarfEast London for 20+ years. Her family are football-mad and hold season tickets at the local club, Crystal Palace, aka "The Eagles"...

I see Frank may be an Eagles family name, wrt http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=24795

FreeBMD;

Marriages Sep 1950
EAGLES Frank R JONES Birmingham 9c 273
Jones Audrey M Eagles Birmingham 9c 273

I believe Audrey came to the Forest from Birmingham as a WW2 evacuee, this may be her;

Births Sep 1924
Jones Audrey M Bashford Birmingham 6d 306

Back to Frank,

Births Sep 1925
Eagles Frank R Mustoe Monmouth 11a 47

Which I think gives this Marriage from FreeBMD & GlosBMD, Frank's parents ?;

Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
EAGLES Albert Edward MUSTOE Beatrice Annie Cheltenham Cheltenham Emmanuel 1924 1 42

Hence this Baptism for Frank's father;

Record_ID: 1055647
Entry_Number: 581
Year: 1899
Month: Apr
Day: 2
Parents_Surname: EAGLES
Child_Forenames: Albert Ed.
Fathers_Forenames: William H.
Mothers_Forenames: Laura
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Cinderford East Dean Glos
Occupation: Collier
Officiating_Minister: C. J. Reskelly
Event: Baptism
Memoranda: Born Feb 6th
Notes:
Register_Reference: D6514 1/1
Page_Number: 34
Parish_Chapel: Littledean Independent
Soundex: E242

And his Parents' Marriage, also at Littledean.

Record_ID: 1020531
Entry_Number:
Year: 1894
Month: Mar
Day: 22
Grooms_Surname: EAGLES
Grooms_Forenames: William
Grooms_Age: 23
Groom_Condition: Bachelor
Grooms_Occupation: Collier
Grooms_Residence: Cinderford E.Dean
Grooms_Fathers_Surname:
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames:
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation:
Brides_Surname: PARRY
Brides_Forenames: Laura
Brides_Age: 26
Brides_Condition: Spinster
Brides_Occupation:
Brides_Residence: Little Dean
Brides_Fathers_Surname:
Brides_Fathers_Forenames:
Brides_Fathers_Occupation:
Licence_or_Banns:
Date_of_Banns:
Signature_or_Mark:
Witness_1: John Parry
Witness_2: Kate Parry
Other_Witnesses:
Officiating_Minister: C.J. Reskelly
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes: Wm expanded to William
Register_Reference: D6514 1/2
Page_Number: 3
Parish_Chapel: Littledean Independent
Soundex_Groom: E242
Soundex_Bride: P600

GlosBMD confirms this is William HENRY Eagles;

Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
EAGLES William Henry PARRY Laura Forest of Dean Westbury-on-Severn (FoD) Register Office 1894 10 76

My broad searches for "Eagles" also found;
Kelly's Gloucestershire Directories entries, ]
1914: "Wm Hy Eagles, Supt Britannic Insurance Company, Boxbush Rd, Coleford"
1923: "William Henry Eagles, Supt Britannic Insurance Company, St John St, Coleford."

I suspect this is the same gent, given the insurance business links. In fact modern directory sites still list "WH Eagles & Son", Insurance at Lydney.
??

My vague notes of my chat with Phil include mention of his "ancestors" who fought in WW1; one in the Royal Gloucester Hussars & then the Home Guard in WW2, the other apparently named on the Cinderford War Memorial as died on the Somme. These men are;
Pte A.W.Eagles, as per the Memorial, and I presume Bert Eagles. Curiously this website quotes they were both from Coleford rather than Cinderford, perhaps because this was their parents's(W.H.Eagles) home address ?.
"Eagles – A.W. – Glos R – Coleford
Eagles – Bert – RGH – Coleford"
http://glosters.tripod.com/graphic1.htm

(and yes, AW is on the Cinderford Memorial, see
http://www.memorialtranscripts.co.uk/Compressed/gloucestershire_ww1.html ? )

Searching the CWWG site gives;

Private EAGLES, ARTHUR W.
Service Number 5355
Died 23/07/1916
Aged 21
1st/5th Bn. Gloucestershire Regiment
Son of William H. and Laura Eagles, of 6, St. John St, Coleford, Glos.

https://www.cwgc.org

Also see this prior post re DV School Memorial http://www.forest-of-dean.net/fodmembers/index.php?id=43700

I don't know for sure if these definitely were Phillip's ancestors, or just names he found that he thought may be related, altho he does seem to know Bert's later Home Guard history so...
I've just checked this site's WW1 Database and both men are there, looks very much like they were related. Bert is named as Albert Edward, so he is in fact Phil's Grandfather. A.W. is Arthur William, Bert's brother;

Record_ID: 1055646
Entry_Number: 545
Year: 1895
Month: Feb
Day: 19
Parents_Surname: EAGLES
Child_Forenames: Arthur William
Fathers_Forenames: William
Mothers_Forenames: Laura
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Belle Vue East Dean Glos
Occupation: Collier
Officiating_Minister: C. J. Reskelly
Event: Baptism
Memoranda: Born Dec 15th 1894
Notes: Wm expanded to William
Register_Reference: D6514 1/1
Page_Number: 32
Parish_Chapel: Littledean Independent
Soundex: E242

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Paul, that's where my research stopped, I really should've finished it earlier, but I lost contact with Phil Eagles then forgot, sorry !. I hope it's of interest or even help to you in your researches. Phil still lives in the Cinderford area so can be easily found via search engine, I'm sure he'd enjoy discussing family history with you.

J.