I recently bought 2 postcards off e bay of Sidney J and May Witts (nee Leighton). The first one is of their wedding day on 30th May 1917 and the second one is a studio picture taken in Aug 1918. Sidney is pictured in WW1 Royal Field Artillery Uniform. Both pictures are embossed with the photographers' name...Martyn Bros, Cheltenham. Further research (courtesy of Cheltenham Reference Library) has revealed that Sidney was the son of Mr & Mrs Witts, from Taynton, Glos whilst May was the third daughter of Mr & Mrs John Leighton, from Pool Hill, Newent. These details were obtained from 'The Cheltenham Chronical and Glo'shire Graphic' dated Sat 7th July 1917. The photographers were based in Oriel Villas, Oriel Road, Cheltenham. Their wedding took place at St Philip's Church, Cheltenham.

Both postcards were sent to a gentleman called 'Frank' and the e bay seller came from Calne, Wiltshire.

I would love to be able to supply copies of these pictures to any surviving relative(s)

Wayne Finch, Cheltenham

1901 Census, Glos. Pauntley

Pool Hill

LEIGHTON

John - 48 - Farm Labourer, General, born Glos. Pauntley
Harriet - 45 - born Newent
Eva - 14 - born Pauntley
Annie - 12 - born Canterbury, Kent
May - 7 - born Glos. Pauntley
Emily - 4
Frank - 8 months (assume to whom the Postcards had been posted) - who is the only one at home with his parents on the 1911 census (Pool Hill, Newent)

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1891 Census, Newent, Culvert Street

Mary BEALE - Widow - 67 - born Oxenhall
Harriet LEIGHTON - daughter, married - 36 - born Newent
Eva G - grand-daughter - born Newent (baptism on FOD records at Pauntley - 4 July 1886 - Eva Gertrude)
Ellen A - 2 - born Canterbury, Kent

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Again Cheltenham connections....

1881

Harriet BEALE age 25, is a Parlour Maid at Alston Court, in Cheltenham to Elizabeth ROBINSON, School Mistress.

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1871 Census, East Dean Lydbrook

BEAL

Thomas - 63 - Labourer, born Clearwell
Mary - 58 - Home Duties - born East Dean
George - 28 - Collier
Sarah Ann - 26 - Laundress
Harriet - 18 - unemployed
John - 13 Collier
Tom - Grandson - 4

Amazing Info.....many thanks MPG,

Wayne

?

British Army WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards 1914-1920

Sidney J WITTS

Royal Field Artillery

Reg. No: 59176

Gnr.

Theatre of War: France
Date of entry therein : 28 July 1915

MEDAL

Victory: RFA/190B - Page 18014

British : ditto

15 Star - RFA/5 A & B - page 4486

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1901 Census, Newent

Anthony Cross

WITTS

Thomas - 31 - Stockman on Farm - born Castlemorton, Worcs
Ellen - 47 - born Eldersfield
Sidney J - 9 - born Longdon, Worcs

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1911 Census, Rents Green, Taynton, Glos (married 21 years)

Tom WITTS - 41
Ellen WITTS -56

Wow, this is great info. Did he survive the war? I truly hope so as the 2nd postcard is dated Aug 1918, only 3 months before the end of hostilities.

Still 'delving'- got the correct parents for Sidney, as they are living in Taynton 1911 - married 21 years - put the info on the other message.

'If they received the Victory Medal - wouldn't they have survived?' not good on military history

Looking at the births on Ancestry - it would 'seem' is middle name if John

???

England & Wales, Death Index

Name: Sidney John WITTS

Birth Date: 1891

Date of Registration: J-F-M 1975

age at death: 83

Inferred County - East Glamorgan

Inferred County: Mid Glamorgan

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?

Name: May WITTS

birth date: abt 1893

age at death: 52

Registration District: Gloucester Rural

Inferred County: Gloucestershire

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Looking at FreeBDM - for WITTS births - mother's maiden name: LEIGHTON

Phyllis M WITTS- 1920 - Newent District

FOD records

Baptism at Newent - 5 September 1920

Phyllis May WITTS

parents: Sydney John (farm labourer) and May

residence: Arthay (?) Cross Newent

----

???

Ancestry Death Index

Phyllis May WITTS

birth date: 14 April 1920

age 66

Plymouth District

FOD records

Baptism at Pauntley - 28 October 1900

Frank Herbert John LEIGHTON

parents: John (labourer) & Harriet

residence: Pool Hill Pauntley

memoranda: born July 31st 1900

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Ancestry

National Probate Calendar

LEIGHTON, Frank Herbert John otherwise Frank Herbert of 76 Keynsham Road, Cheltenham died 1 December 1959 at The General Hospital Cheltenham.

Administration: Gloucester 31 December to Kathleen Muriel LEIGHTON widow. Effects £879 15s 4d.

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Gloucestershirebdm

Marriage at St Luke's Cheltenham 1932

Frank LEIGHTON/Kathleen WILLIAMS

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Gloucestershirebdm

LEIGHTON - mother's maiden name WILLIAMS - (Cheltenham)

John M H LEIGHTON - 1934 - Ancestry - married Sheila M BEAL - 1959 Cheltenham
Mark P C LEIGHTON 1939 - Ancestry - married Mary E PENFOLD - 1971 - Plympton, Devon

Ancestry - Phone Books: 1974

Gloucester-Swindon

M P C LEIGHTON
16 Lavington Drive
LongLevens
Bellegate

This is truely amazing info MPG.....many many thanks

"'If they received the Victory Medal - wouldn't they have survived?' not good on military history"

NO, not necessarily. The main six Campaign medals such as this were actually awarded from 1919 onwards, in some cases to men "no longer living" #.

Some of these Medals referred to different time periods/parts of the War, whereas some such as the "Victory Medal 1914-1919" were more all-encompassing, essentially everyone who "served on a military unit in an operational theatre" earned the Victory Medal, usually alongside the "British War Medal 1914-1920" that could also be earned by civilians. Again the LLT site has it all including colour medal photos.
http://1914-1918.net/grandad/themedals.htm

Dependant on the individual's length of Service the Medal Card can be quite brief or an overcrowded "mess" of various handwritten entries, notes, symbols etc, almost a secret code in places !. However it's usually easy to see whether the man was wounded or even killed, as the righthand "remarks" box would have "K.I.A" for Killed in Action, for example.
http://1914-1918.net/grandad/mic.htm

# Sadly many serving men died after the War, some many years later, such as from major wounds that never healed properly(no plastic surgery or antibiotics then), or lungs damaged from gas poisoning, and so on. Many more died from the Spanish flu pandemic in 1919. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWinfluenzia.htm

Hope this helps, if not the Long Long Trail site will probably tell us.

Am I reading this correctly.....Sidney and May's daughter died as a spinster and didn't have any children?

Hi Wayne,
yes you're right she may have died a spinster although this lady may still have mothered children.
However, wthout wanting to doubt MPG, I think this may be the wrong Phyllis. This possible error is understandable as using the free Ancestry search page I see there are a surprisingly (to me) high number of ladies named XXX May Witts. I see there are some in Wiltshire, I wonder if this was why the cards' seller in Calne had them ?
Wayne, was the seller a Witts too, I'm sure they wouldn't mind you asking if they owned the cards while researching their Family History ?

The Ancestry search shows some quite recent Death Records for various ladies named XXX May Witts in Glostershire, could they be descendants ??
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=ROOT_CATEGORY&rank=1&new=1&...

Of course having a subscription MPG may know from the full details these people are not relevant to us. However it seems to me the name May could be a traditional "family" name in the Witts lines ?

Eitherway moving on;

From FreeBMD http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
I find this marriage in Gloster Rural district(includes Newent etc) which may be our Phyllis ?

Surname First name(s) Mother/Spouse/Age District Vol Page
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Marriages Sep 1948 (>99%)
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Mansell Frederick Witts Gloucester R. 7b 1299
Witts Phyllis M Mansell Gloucester R. 7b 1299

Happily GlosBMD http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/bmd/MainMenu.aspx
confirms this and with added detail, she is a May AND from Newent !

Marriage Details
Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
MANSELL Frederick WITTS Phyllis May Gloucester Newent St Mary the Virgin 1948 54 No 5 20

So seems promising....searching Fred on FreeBMD throughout UK gives several possible hits from 1948 back, Frederick's a popular Mansell name, but the majority are in the Midlands. This is a standout tho', right locality and age

Surname Given Name Mother District Volume Page Transcriber
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Births Jun 1922
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Mansell Frederick Booker Ross 6a 815 OurSmallCapital

Now of course no proof as such, but I think reasonable evidence to suggest Phyliss did marry and there may be decendants alive now still. Sadly I cannot find any subsequent births on this FoDFH site, FreeBMD or GlosBMD, not surprisingly as these sites rarely help post 1950 due to the confidentiality rulings etc re searching possibly living people.
Searching Ancestry may help, or I suggest a good start would be the Phone Books (altho they're so thin these days), or maybe best a letter to the local Newent newspapers, someone may know something or someone.

Please read http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=10668

I must say Wayne I think it grand you wanting to reunite these photos with the family, it always upsets me when I see old photos for sale apparently unwanted by the descendants; well done sir !

Wow, thanks Jefff. I'm tied up all weekend, so research will have to go on the back burner until next week....but I will send the seller of the postcards an e mail now and will be back on line next week. With very best wishes,

Wayne

???

England & Wales Death Index

Phyllis May MANSELL

birth date: 13 July 1920 (ties up with Phyllis May WITTS birth 1920)

Date of Registration: Apr 2005

age at death: 84

Registration District: Rhondda

Register Number 14A

District and Subdistrict 864/1A

Thanks a lot M, you're a star !
and there was me worried about knocking your suggestion she'd died in Plymouth.
What a shame she only died a few years ago...

I've tried Googling her name for more clues as to where she was buried but no luck yet.....but I see their marriage was reported in the Gloster Journal, according to the BNA site;

"Miss Phyllis May Witts, only daughter of Mr S. J. Witts and the late Mrs. Witts, Crown House. High-street. Newent, and Mr. Frederick ......only son Mr and Mrs. W ”
Sat 24 Jul 1948, Gloucester Journal, Gloucestershire, England

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results?region=south%20west%2c%20englan...

Hi All,

So a chance phone call to a Mrs Mansell in the Rhonda (the only one in the phonebook),
brought some more info. This very helpful lady owns a book, listing all the Mansells in the vicinity. It turns out that Phyllis was living in Mountain Ash in 1996 (the publication date of the book).

Actually, make that 6 Llanwonno Road, Mountain Ash, CF45 3LW

V/R

Wayne

Hi Wayne
thanks so much for the follow-up post, and what excellent news !
How lucky/inspired re your making the phonecall, thank goodness it wasn't a Jones or Williams etc you were searching ;-). Hopefully you're nearer finding a living relative, I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see the photos.

Could have been an Evans as well.....my Mum's maiden name ha ha!!!!!