Dear „slowhand“,
Thank you so much for this information. This actually is way more than I could find myself so far …

Deaths Sep 1982 (>99%)
SKIPP FLORENCE AMELIA S 14SE1898 TRAFFORD 39 1595

1911 45 Helmet Row E C, St Luke, London
Henry William Sewell Head Married Male 37 1874 Carman Staffordsdhire
Florence Sewell Wife Married Female 32 1879 - Bow
Florence A Sewell Daughter Single Female 12 1899 - Finsbury
William Sewell Son Single Male 10 1901 - Holborn
Richard Sewell Son - Male 4 1907 - Shoreditch
Hester Higgs Grandmother Widow Female 78 1833 - Holborn

1901 34, Grays Inn Road, St Andrew Holborn
Henry Sewell Head Married Male 28 1873 Packer fancy goods Staffordshire, England
Florrie Sewell Wife Married Female 23 1878 Housekeeper Bow, Middlesex, England
Florence Sewell Daughter Single Female 2 1899 - St Luke's, Middlesex, England
Sarah Fry Sister Single Female 14 1887 - Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England

Births Dec 1898 (>99%)
Sewell Florence Amelia S Holborn 1b 756

This needs further work :-
1891 163, Tiverton Road, Tottenham,
Richard Sewell Head Married Male 39 1852 General labourer Oxfordshire, England
Frances Sewell Wife Married Female 25 1866 - Oxfordshire, England
Henry W Sewell Son Single Male 17 1874 General labourer Staffordshire, England
Elizabeth Sewell Daughter - Female 9 1882 Scholar London, Middlesex, England
Emma Sewell Daughter - Female 7 1884 Scholar London, Middlesex, England

1881 5, Eagle Court, Clerkenwell, Holborn,
Richard Sewell Head Married Male 30 1851 - Oxfordshire, England
Sarah Sewell Wife Married Female 25 1856 - Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Henry Sewell Son Single Male 7 1874 - Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England
Phoeby Sewell Daughter Single Female 1 1880 - Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England

1871 Eagle Court, St James Clerkenwell,
Ri??? J Sewell Lodger - Male 19 1852 - Oxfordshire, England

1861 Tetsworth, Thame, Oxfordshire,
Joseph Sewell Head Married Male 60 1801 Agricultural labourer Thame, Oxfordshire, England
Rhoda Sewell Wife Married Female 58 1803 Labourers wife Dinton, Buckinghamshire, England
George Sewell Son Unmarried Male 18 1843 Farm labourer Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, England
Emma Sewell Daughter Unmarried Female 16 1845 - Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, England
Richard Sewell Son - Male 10 1851 Scholar Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, England

1851
Emma Sewell Daughter - Female 5 1846 - Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, England
George Sewell Son - Male 8 1843 - Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, England
Alice Sewell Daughter - Female 13 1838 - Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, England
James Sewell Son Unmarried Male 19 1832 Ag lab Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, England
Phebee Sewell Wife Married Female 45 1806 - Dinton, Buckinghamshire, England
Joseph Sewell Head Married Male 51 1800 Ag lab Thame, Oxfordshire, England

--
Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>

1939 Dehva Deen Hillside Road, Coulsdon,
Charles V Skipp 22 Jun 1897 Male Lie Press Manufacturer Married 243 1 rtd 2nd Lieut Rifle Brigade
Florence A S Skipp 14 Sep 1898 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 243 2
The record for this person is officially closed.
The record for this person is officially closed.
Donald G L Skipp 26 Jul 1932 Male At School - 243 5
Florence M Sewell 30 May 1878 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 243 6
George V Sewell 03 Mar 1918 Male Printer's Machine Minder Single 243 7

Hi again Michael,
thanks to Slowhands we know that Charles Victor SKIPP was a Retired 2nd Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade when the 1939 Register was taken on 29 September 1939 shortly after the start of WW2. You will also note the Register gives his precise birthdate of 22nd June 1897, so he'd have been about 41 years old in 1939.
The !939 Register wasn't a routine census like the 1921 etc before it. The information it gave was used to produce identity cards and, once rationing was introduced in January 1940, to issue ration books. Information in the Register was also used to administer conscription and the direction of labour, and to monitor and control the movement of the population caused by military mobilisation and mass evacuation. Serving members of the Armed Forces were not included, altho clearly many of the civilians who were listed would later serve. By the way, where entries in the Register are shown "closed", this is for reasons of privacy to those persons, as these records invariably refer to very young children at the time, so may still be alive nowadays.

Unfortunately I'm not currently subscribed to any of the big family history research websites, but this doesn't stop the Ancestry site giving a few hints. Again, it seems to prove there was only ever one "Charles V Skipp", the advantages of such an unusual nameset means the following results most probably do relate to your Grandfather Michael.

Firstly, it has an image if his Medal Index Card, as issued to everyone who served in the British Army and some other services during WW1, and was produced towards the end of the war to help administer the various service medals each person might claim. This particular card isn't as informative as some are, but it does state;

Name Charles V Skipp
Military Date 1914-1920
Military Place England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, United Kingdom
Regiment or Corps Machine Gun Corps
Regimental Number 65866

It also shows he'd risen to Sergeant, and was entitled to two of the basic three medals, namely the British War medal and the Victory Medal. The fact he wasn't entitled to the Star medal, and the lack of other details, shows Charles' service started after 1916. I can send you a pdf file of this card image if you're interested Michael, just email me via the envelope icon against my user name. More info about these cards here
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-arm...

The Machine Gun Corps was seen as something of an elite unit, a new unit needing men who were particularly good with their hands and the understanding of complicated mechanisms, and also mathematics and geometry too. This may be an indicator as to Charles' own interests and hobbies, and why in his later years he worked at an engineering company making presses in Coulsdon, south London. The MGC was also considered to be a suicide company, as they were so disliked and keenly targeted by their enemy !
https://www.machine-gun-corps-database.co.uk/intro_page.html

Sadly only about 2/3 of the individual Service Records for British Army WW1 soldiers still exist; as the Ancestry site doesn't mention them by now it appears that Charles' records are among those lost.

-------

The Ancestry website also suggests Charles had been awarded the Military Medal. The MM was awarded for acts of special devotion or bravery under fire, and was specifically for non commisioned officers and lower ranks. See https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/research-award-military-medal-mm/

All such awards were recorded (or "gazetted") by the London Gazette newspaper - using their free-to-use website we can search Charles by name and find images of the pages that show his award of the MM, published 25th July 1919 - which explains why it wasn't mentioned on his Medal Index card. Sadly the record doesn't tell us precisely what he did to gain the award, but this might possibly be mentioned in the War Diary for the MGC. Hopefully this link will work for you Michael and lead directly to the page.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31475/supplement/9534

The second mention of Charles in the Gazette comes from 19th July 1940, so just after the Fall of France and the Dunkirk Evacuation. It tells us that he has been made a full 2nd Lieutenant, confirms he nas an MM, and also states he is now in the East Lancashire Regiment and his Army number is 136601.
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34902/supplement/4496

Given the date of the award, and the fact the East Lancs Regiment was serving in France with the B.E.F. during the Battle of France until being part of the rearguard at Dunkirk, it seems possible that Charles had played an active part in this campaign.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Lancashire_Regiment

Does the fact Charles was with the East Lancashire regiment explain why his children were married in that same area, and his wife Florence died there (Trafford, Manchester) ?.

Sadly researching the detailed service records for individual WW2 soldiers is quite difficult, only proven descendants/family members can undertake this, and only by applying to the Brtish M.o.D.

I hope this is of interest Michael. I'm not a "supporter" of war in any form, but it has always interested me both historically and technically, and has been a large part of my engineering career.

atb J

Dear Jefff,
Thank you so much for your long and detailed reply. This definitely helps a lot!
Unfortunately, this really IS the only information I have. Because of that, actually all Threads regarding the Skipp family are relevant or at least COULD be relevant for me.
Thanks a lot for the link to the freebmd website. I will check on that asap.
Also thanks A LOT for the info on the two Charles V. Skipp you found on the web. I hope that by combining the infos here (and maybe finding family members living in the Forest of Dean area), I can find out about my British family.
Concerning Forest of Dean, we plan to visit next summer, when we will bring our Land Rover „Home“ (it has been our home for more than a year when we traveled from northern Germany to Cape Town in 2015/2016) and travel Britain (also the „place“ where my wife and I fell in love and got engaged) … So, we will travel back to our roots in many ways and for sure will visit Forest of Dean (our daughters being absolute Harry Potter fans is just one reason).
Again, thanks for your help (and also for not deleting this thread ;-) ).
All the best, Michael

Births Sep 1925 (>99%)
Skipp Victor H T Sewell Holborn 1b 965

First name(s) Victor H T
County Cambridgeshire
Last name Skipp
Country England
Marriage quarter 4
Volume 4A
Marriage year 1971
Volume as transcribed 4A
Registration month -
Page number 732
Record set England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005
Spouse's last name Ankcorn (Patricia)
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
District Cambridge
Subcategory Civil Marriage & Divorce
District number -
Collections from Great Britain, England

First name(s) Victor Henry Thomas
County Suffolk
Last name Skipp
Country England
Death year 2010
Document type Grant and will
Death date 24 Dec 2010
Number 3640159
Probate year 2012
Record set England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019
Probate date 21 Mar 2012
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Probate registry Ipswich
Subcategory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Skipp

--
Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>

This may be Victor's sister needs further investigation ( feels right given the DoB and Florence as a second name)

Births Sep 1925 (>99%)
Skipp Olive F R( or H) Sewell Holborn 1b 965

Marriages Sep 1951 (>99%)
SKIPP Olive F E HOLBROOK Middleton 10e 1371

First name(s) Olive Florence Emily
Postcode area WA
Last name Holbrook
Postcode district WA15
Sex Female
Postcode sector WA15 0
Birth year 1926
County Cheshire
Birth date 1926
Country England
Age 81
Record set England & Wales Deaths 2007-2021
Death year 2007
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Death date 21 Aug 2007
Subcategory Civil Deaths & Burials
Residence Altrincham
Collections from England, Great Britain, Wales

First name(s) Olive Florence Emily
County Lancashire
Last name Holbrook
Country England
Death year 2007
Document type Grant and will
Death date 21 Aug 2007
Number 2651902
Probate year 2008
Record set England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019
Probate date 18 Jan 2008
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Probate registry Manchester
Subcategory Civil Deaths & Burials
Residence town -

--
Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>