Hi Sophie,
does that mean your Charley was Charley Stephen Constance - son of Theophilus H (Harris ?) Constance who I think died abt 1918 ?. Not being nosey, just checking as I see there were a few Theophilus' (sp?) and indeed Charles' through the generations and I like to be sure I'm looking-out for the right people.

Re the Constance family in general, do you know the excellent "New Regard" Journal, published annually by the FoD Local History Society ?. It seems an article abt the Longhope Constances was included in their very first Journal, Volume 1, published 1985. It's details can be found in this index to all the articles; http://79.170.40.163/forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/New%20Regard%20Index%20(Combined)%20vol...
I suspect you've already seen this if you've searched the name on tinternet, as I just have, sorry if stating the obvious. If you're in the Dean area Cinderford and Coleford public libraries appear to have copies, hope this link to their online catalogue works,
http://capitadiscovery.co.uk/gloslibraries/items/380379?query=new+regard&resultsUri...

Alternatively you may be able to order reprints of the article, see their website homepage
http://79.170.40.163/forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/LHSnrprevious.html

Re searching the name on the net, I see another Charles Constance of Longhope was unfortunate enough to be in Westbury workhouse in 1881, I mention this in case you hadn't thought to perform this type of general search - it can be quite surprising how often this can give interesting finds.
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/WestburyOnSevern/Westbury1881.shtml

I also found this handy summary of the Longhope census for 1851; I knew there were a lot of Constances in the village but hadn't recalled there being quite this many ! Compare that to just the one of my line, and a "vurriner" from t'other side of Gloster to boot. Glad he was clearly made welcome and stayed for life despite this "fault" ;-)
http://www.oocities.org/fedgeg/long-records/long51.html
Further reading shows this site carries lots of interesting history about the area, including details of some local families back to the 1500s.

This search also reminds me that the National Archives c/o Gloucester Archives hold records related to James Constance et al, as this link (hopefully) shows
http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=DServeA.ini&dsqApp=Archi...

I'm particularly pleased I've revisited these Archives, as I see they now have the Mill Apprenticeship papers for my GGrampy, now I really MUST visit them !

So, hope this is of interest, THANKS so much for helping with my research too !

Hi again Sophie,
thanks for posting the Longhope photos, I see my grandmother in the Choir photo and possibly her mother too, need to ask my mum.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/latest_additions/pages/page_2.html
I see that's from a newspaper, do you know which one, I presume the Gloster Citizen or more probably Journal ?.
I've searched the BNA site but cannot see the same article, although there are several mentions of Longhope Choir, Drama groups, Womens Institute neetings etc thro the 1920s to the 50s, our foremothers were quite prominent in both it seems. I'm pleased to see the BNA has recently added some more Gloster/Cheltenham papers to it's database, great stuff.
http://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2014/03/06/7-5-million-newspaper-pages-now-on...

Actually, thinking again, the text below the photo suggests this is an old photo which has been posted in a more recent newspaper !

Have you seen this photo of Longhope Special Police from WW2, with some of yours in, you probably have but it's new to me. None of my ancestors are there, perhaps they were too shady !.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/glosterspecials/pages/page_7.html

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I hope you saw my mention of John Constance c1935 in the recent thread about the Order of Foresters, if not see
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=43408.
I will email you (and this site) the whole article if you like, again downloaded from the BNA site.

Re the Foresters while searching the BNA site tonight I saw this mention of another Constance

" ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS. Mr. C. Harris, District Secretary of the Herefordshire Free Foresters, with Mr. E. S. Constance (Longhope ..."
Saturday 20 September 1924 , Gloucester Journal

Finally for now, also from the BNA search pages, a young sporting relative of yours. Does anyone know what this J.I.P. event was, please ?

"J.I.P. RALLY AT MINSTERWORTH “... High jump (juniors): 1. Mary Harvey (Minsterworth ; 2, L. Constance (Longhope); 3, T. Miles (Longhope) ... ”
Friday 24 July 1931 , Gloucester Citizen

Was it the Junior section of the Young Farmers, perhaps ???

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Finally apologies for not having emailed you direct as I'd planned, I will soon, meanwhile I hope the postcards arrived safely and were worth the effort.

atb J

Good evening Alec, and a belated welcome from me to this great forum.
As you may have gathered by now I don't have a full family-tree for the various Constances of Longhope, far from it, mainly because I'm not linked to the family as such, my interest is in the Saw Mills business and more recently it's Cricket club wrt my Wright ancestors. However I do know there were quite a few James Constances judging by this site's PRs, although I cannot see a Burial Record for yours from 1896 ??.

Anyhow, the James Constance who owned the Steam Saw Mills is detailed within this local newspaper report of his Funeral, which I downloaded from the excellent BNA site. This should help you to place this James within your own tree.

"LONGHOPE.
The Late Mr. J. Constance.— The funeral of the late Mr. James Constance, of Springfield House, Longhope, head of the firm Constance and Sons, wood turners, took place on Tuesday. The pall bearers and under-bearers were workmen employed by the firm. The Foresters' Friendly Society, of which the deceased was an hon. member, were largely represented. The mourners consisted of the three sons, Messrs T.H., G.W., and J.J.H. Constance, with Masters Bertie and William Constance, grandsons of the deceased, and Mr. H. Cooper, Gloucester. The burial place was at the parish churchyard. The officiating minister was the Rev. F. C. Guise, vicar. Mr. Henry Hampton, Chief Ranger, read the Foresters' Oration at the residence of the deceased, while the concluding part of the fraternal address was read by Bro. S. Chambers, Manor House. In the evening a muffled peal was rung on the church bells."

Saturday 26 April 1890 , Gloucester Journal.

The relevant Burial Record from this site's PRs is;

Record_ID: 22188
Entry_Number: 379
Year: 1890
Month: Apl
Day: 22
Surname: CONSTANCE
Forenames: James
Residence: Longhope
Age_at_death: 84
Officiating_Minister: F.C. Guise Vicar
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P206 IN 1/11
Page_No: 48
Parish_Chapel: Longhope
Soundex: C523

This would appear to be his Baptism Record, again from this site's PRs;

Record_ID: 392078
Entry_Number:
Year: 1805
Month: Sep
Day: 15
Parents_Surname: CONSTANCE
Child_Forenames: James
Fathers_Forenames: Theophilus
Mothers_Forenames: Mary
Mothers_Surname:
Residence:
Occupation:
Officiating_Minister:
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P206 IN 1/3
Page_Number: 128
Parish_Chapel: Longhope
Soundex: C523

So this man is indeed the James Constance I'd identified as the likely original owner of the Longhope Sawmills business in this prior thread;
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=41445

Baptisms for the son's named on the Funeral Report include;

Record_ID: 36054
Entry_Number: 490
Year: 1834
Month: Oct
Day: 12
Parents_Surname: CONSTANCE
Child_Forenames: Theophilus Harris
Fathers_Forenames: James
Mothers_Forenames: Sophia
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Longhope
Occupation: Rake Maker
Officiating_Minister: Cha[le]s Day Curate
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P206 IN 1/4
Page_Number: 62
Parish_Chapel: Longhope
Soundex: C523

NB, so by 1835 if not earlier James was working in the "family business" in Longhope, but why can't I find them in the 1841 Census, or his marriage which was presumably? in Sophia's home area in Essex ?.

Record_ID: 135397
Entry_Number: 73
Year: 1851
Month: Aug
Day: 24
Parents_Surname: CONSTANCE
Child_Forenames: James John
Fathers_Forenames: James
Mothers_Forenames: Sophia
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Longhope
Occupation: Woodturner
Officiating_Minister: Vernon G Guise Vicar
Event: Baptism
Memoranda: Son
Notes:
Register_Reference:
Page_Number: 10
Parish_Chapel: Longhope
Soundex: C523

Ancestry has James' Will dated 27th May 1890, which shows "woodturner and farmer" James died 17th April 1890 with a personal estate of almost £6500, his son Stephen Constance was one of the executors. I cannot yet find James & Sophia in the 1841 Census, neither can I find their marriage. However by 1851 he was definitely in business in Longhope employing 20 men at his saw mill.

1851 Census in Longhope;
Given Name Surname Relationship Age Estimated Birth Year Gender Birth Place
James Constance Head 44 1807 Male Sawmill owner, empl 20 men. Longhope, Gloucestershire, England
Sophia Constance Wife 44 1807 Female Woodham Walter, Essex, England
Theopilus Constance Son 16 1835 Male Longhope, Gloucestershire, England

This 1975 article detailing the history of the Forest's water-powered Mills includes the following brief mention of another Constance Mill in Longhope, which I don't think has been covered before in this forum;

"An isolated reference of 1821 refers to a paper mill in Longhope,worked or owned by Benjamin Constance. In 1840 Benjamin Constance owned some small fields in Veldt House Lane, Longhope. The site of the mill is a mystery..."

http://www.gsia.org.uk/reprints/1974/gi197408.pdf

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So Alec, it seems that this James is not your grandfather. However it's still possible of course that your Grandfather James may also have owned another mill or similar business ?. (On his return from WW2 my brother-in-law's father rebuilt his father's sawmill business on Ruardean Hill; within a few years his two brothers also owned their own mills, giving three Coleman mills within that small area.)

If you can please give more details about your grandfather and his father Thomas, then hopefully we can add to them.

Hoping this helps, Jeff.