My Elusive Clara
MY MEMORIES FINDING CLARA'S MAIDEN NAME FINDING CLARA'S FAMILY A DIFFERENT APPROACH Charles William HENDON PECOVER THE ALL-IMPORTANT LINK IN CONCLUSION
MY MEMORIES
This is my great grandmother, Clara (left). She died at the age of 94 in 1960 and I remember her well. We used to make the journey once a month from Whyteleafe in Surrey to Twickenham in Middlesex to see her and this involved travelling on two trains and a bus. For me, the highlight of each visit would be the arrival of my Great Aunt Cecilia (right), Clara's daughter. She was my godmother and always had in her handbag, a large bar of Cadbury's chocolate - for me! This was during the 1950s and sweets had not long been 'off ration'. How I loved Auntie Cissie!
Clara lived in a large, terraced house at 29, Richmond Road, Twickenham. We entered through the front door, which had panes of red, patterned glass which fascinated me as a child. A modern photo (right) shows these have now been removed. Inside the front door, there was a passage that led to the kitchen. It had two doors on the left and a staircase going up on the right. At the top of the stairs there was a bedroom where I can remember sleeping one Christmas and a small landing, before a few more stairs which led to another passage and two other bedrooms.
Halfway along this upstairs passage on the left was another small door and this led, via yet more narrow stairs, to the attic where I loved to play. I don't remember there being anything in the attic but I know I loved being allowed up there! The large, front bedroom was where I would find my Uncle Gordon (left), who lived with his grandmother. He was normally still asleep. Uncle Les had also slept here before his marriage to Jean. I can remember jumping on both of them to wake them up! The beds were of the old 'hospital' design - made of iron with rounded poles for the headboard.
Clara was always to be found seated in a fireside chair in the first room downstairs. A large red velvet curtain hung behind the door and this had to be negotiated before entering the room. The room was stuffed full of furniture but my eyes would go immediately to the mantlepiece where there was a large,
white marble clock with pillars either side and in front of it, a miniature replica of the Coronation coach and horses, which I loved but was never allowed to touch! On the wall hung an old framed photograph of a man in First World War uniform - how I wish now I'd asked about that photo - or if I did - remembered the answer.
The second room downstairs was Clara's bedroom but I don't think I ever went in there. And all I remember of the kitchen is a very large white, stone sink. In order to reach into it, I had to stand on a wooden platform and there was only a cold tap. Hot water had to be heated on the stove. There was no bathroom and the toilet was in an outhouse which I hated as it was full of cobwebs and spiders.
But what did I know of Clara when I started my research? Very little, I realised! I could work out roughly when she had died and knew that her surname then was HENDON. According to my father, she'd also been known as LINLEY and MAY and there was a connection with PECOVER. I knew there was a distinct possibility that she hadn't ever married any of her 'gentlemen friends' and also that she had lived rent-free in the house in Richmond Road, courtesy of a previous employer. My mother gave me an old, newspaper-type photograph which showed Clara laying a wreath of white lilies at a war memorial with a crowd of other people, mainly women, in the background. They were all wearing what seemed to be 1920s or 1930s style dress. My mother knew this photograph had been taken in Twickenham and that it had been an honour for Clara to have been chosen to lay the wreath. She thought it might have been the first wreath-laying ceremony after the Memorial had been erected which would probably have been about 1920 when Clara would have been 55. She looked a lot older in the photograph.
FINDING CLARA'S MAIDEN NAME
My first task was to find and/or send for various certificates.
Death Certificate for Clara HENDON
This showed me that Clara had died on 19 July, 1960 in the West Middlesex Hospital, Isleworth, Middlesex, that she was 94 years old at the time of her death and the widow of --- HENDON, an Army corporal. So I now had an approximate year of birth, confirmation of the name HENDON and a connection with the Army.
The informant was her son, A C May. I presumed that this was my Great Uncle, Alf May, as he was always referred to by my parents. I knew of his existence but don't think I ever met him as a child. But I do remember a visit to his house, where I also met his wife, Alice and younger son, Ray, when I was in my teens. Possibly we had been invited after Alf and my father had seen each other at Clara's funeral? I now presumed he was a full brother to Auntie Cissie and to my grandmother, Maude Margery MAY (right), as they all had the same surname.
Birth Certificate for Maude Margery MAY
This showed me that Clara had had the surname MAY in 1895 and that Maude's father was Henry Edward MAY, a journeyman tailor. At that time they were living in Oxford Road, Ealing, Middlesex.
Marriage Certificate for Maude Margery MAY
This showed me that Maude had married John DOVASTON (left) on her 23rd birthday in 1918 and gave her father as Henry Ernest MAY, a tailor, who was by then deceased. It also gave the witnesses as A C MAY and W WINDLEY. I presumed that A C MAY was her brother, Alf, but had no idea who W WINDLEY might be. There was also a different middle name for her father - was he Henry Edward MAY or Henry Ernest MAY?
I knew Clara had had another daughter - my Auntie Emmy (right). She had married John DOVASTON's brother, Alfred Edward. I remembered visiting them in Worthing a few times as a child and was still able to contact their grand-daughter, who I had not seen for years. She very kindly sent me copies of the certificates she had.
Marriage Certificate for Emma Elizabeth HENDON PECOVER - Clara's daughter.
This showed me that Emma had married Alfred Edward DOVASTON in 1927 and gave me the link to PECOVER through Emma's father, Charles William HENDON PECOVER, a gardener, who was by then deceased. It gave Emma's age as 25 in 1927, so she had been born about 1902. Clara was presumably living with Charles HENDON PECOVER by then.
This last certificate also showed me that Uncle Alf had previously been married to Florence Elsie Marian WINDLEY. I had known that this was his second marriage and that the first had ended in divorce. But also included with the certificates, I was sent later details of the family and I was very surprised to see that Alf's grandson had the middle name of WINDLEY. Why had Alf's daughter by his second wife named one of her children after her father's first wife, from whom he had been divorced?!
I now had three mentions of the WINDLEY surname. And then the 'penny dropped'. My father's memory of Clara's surnames had not been correct. It wasn't LINLEY - it was WINDLEY! I wrote to the cousin who had sent the certificates to see if she knew anything further. She had little to add - except that her mother had left her some rings that had belonged to Clara. They had been labelled 'Clara HENDON, nee WINDLEY'!
FINDING CLARA'S FAMILY
I now knew what I hoped was Clara's maiden name and from her death certificate, that she had been born in approximately 1866. In 1895 she was living in Ealing, Middlesex - but I still had no idea where she had been born or who her family were.
1881 Census
A search of the 1881 Census discs gave me gave me several pockets of WINDLEYS in various parts of the country, but only one Clara WINDLEY born about the right time. She was living with her family in East London - promising!
IGI Site
A search of the IGI site again only gave me one Clara born about the right time - and this one was in Mashbury, Essex. She was included in an Ancestral File submitted by an Albert FIELD of Chelmsford, Essex. No email address was given but there was a snail mail address. So I actually wrote a letter - and remembered to post it! Uncle Bert (as I now call him) wrote straight back.
We exchanged several letters and Uncle Bert very kindly provided me with details of his research. His mother had been a WINDLEY and amongst the names he gave me was that of her sister, Florence Elsie Marian
WINDLEY married to an Alfred Edward DOVASTON (right) in 1913. Bingo! Uncle Bert believed this Alfred Edward had died in the First World War but I knew otherwise! We both thought it highly unlikely there could have been two sets of people with such unusual names marrying about the same time. As the marriage had ended in divorce, it seemed that there had been a 'cover up' within the WINDLEY family.
Uncle Bert contacted his cousin, who was a daughter of Florence by a later marriage. This cousin remembered visiting Twickenham as a child to visit Uncle John DOVASTON and Aunt Maude. She reminded me that John had worn a built-up shoe on one foot, something I had forgotten. And she also remembered that she had visited Whyteleafe some years later and described the house where I had lived with my parents (see left for how it looks now). She had gone there to collect a second-hand pram for when her first child was born. That pram must have been mine! My mother does have a vague recollection that we gave it to someone living in West Ham - and that would fit.
So, I now knew that although Florence and Uncle Alf had been divorced before 1927, other members of the two families had kept in touch with one another into the 1950s. There had to be more! Was Clara the connection? Uncle Bert had no knowledge of her, other than her birth. I went back to the 1881 Census. And at last I found Clara WINDLEY, born about 1865 in Mashbury, Essex. She was listed as Clarrie WENLEY and was living in Chelmsford, Essex as a servant. That solved one problem but left me no further forward in trying to prove that my greatgrandmother, Clara and the Clara born in Mashbury, were the same person. But I did have a connection between my DOVASTONs and the WINDLEYs of Essex. What else could I try?
A DIFFERENT APPROACH
Florence's father, Henry WINDLEY had married an Annie Laura WELCH, born 1864. I knew from Uncle Bert that Annie Laura's father was a baker called William Henry WELCH. I also had a Mary Ann WELCH married to Henry DOVASTON, John and Alfred Edward's father. Was there a connection here?
Marriage Certificate for Henry DOVASTON and Mary Ann WELCH
This showed me that Mary Ann had been born about 1860 and that her father was Henry William WELCH, a baker. Had the father's name been wrongly entered on the certificate? Were Annie Laura and Mary Ann sisters? This is a mystery I have yet to solve. Despite, now having five different Birth Certificates for a Mary Ann WELCH born about 1860 in various parts of London, I still haven't managed to get the 'right' one.
I searched the Essex Surnames list and came across the name and email address of another WINDLEY researcher. I contacted her and found she was the wife of a second cousin of Uncle Bert's. They had met at a family reunion. We exchanged information and she was able to give me more details of these Essex WINDLEYs. Amongst the names she gave me was that of a Charles Ernest WINDLEY, half brother to Clara by her father's second marriage. And this Charles had married a Rose Mary DOVASTON! Who was she? I wrote straight back asking how she knew of this.
Her source was the Boreham Parish Registers and they showed that the marriage had taken place in Boreham, Essex on 21 March 1908. Rose's father was stated as a labourer called Henry DOVASTON. I knew by now that there were very few Henry DOVASTONs. Was Rose a sister of John and Alfred Edward? I sent for her Birth Certificate.
Birth Certificate for Rose Mary DOVASTON
This showed me she had been born in 1886 in Lamont Road, Chelsea, the daughter of Henry DOVASTON and Mary Ann WELCH. I now had another DOVASTON / WINDLEY connection and again, in Essex. The plot was really thickening.
By now I was beginning to accumulate quite a pile of certificates thanks to RESEARCH UK, a company I have always found very quick and reliable. But they were unable to find any marriage certificates for a Clara WINDLEY or Clara MAY, which didn't really surprise me. Uncle Bert had mentioned that two of his Clara's sisters had been members of the Plymouth Brethren, quite a secretive sect to this day. And research into the Brethren showed me that marriages often took place in private houses and were not recorded officially. If Uncle Bert's Clara - and my Clara - were the same person, had she also been one of the Brethren? I had also been unable to find any record of a Henry Edward or Henry Ernest MAY. He still remains a mystery and is a very solid brick wall.
Charles William HENDON PECOVER
I decided to see if I could find out anymore about the War Memorial photograph I had of Clara. I believed the Memorial had been in Twickenham and there was a very good chance it was still there! The style of the photograph suggested that it maybe a copy of one published in a newspaper. The stamp on the back which was by now very faded, read '------- PHOTOGRAPH GRAPHIC PHOTOUNION TALLIS ST., LONDON E. _. 4. I emailed the Richmond Local Studies Centre who were most helpful. They searched old copies of the local newspapers for me but were unable to find a match. I discovered there are several Memorials in the Twickenham area but the one in Radlett Gardens was quite close to where Clara had lived. Was this the right one? Luckily my younger daughter had a boyfriend who lived not that far away. On one of her visits to see him I made sure she had a camera and the address! They found it, took photos and also photographed the War Memorial at St Mary's Church, Twickenham. Charles HENDON was listed on the latter. And 6 months later when the film was finished and developed, I was able to see both Memorials for myself.
A search of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site was interesting. It gave me a C HENDON dying in 1915 and buried in Twickenham. According to the record, although he was listed as HENDON, he had served as PECOVER. And next-of-kin was his wife, Clara HENDON of 29, Richmond Road, Twickenham! It also showed me he had been a corporal in the 5th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. A knowledgeable friend was able to tell me that this battalion had never served abroad. A search of the 'Soldiers of the Great War' CD gave his birth as 1868 in Deptford, Kent. A search of the 1881 Census CDs gave a Charles W PECOVER being born in Reading, Berkshire at the right time but none in Kent. But if C HENDON had died in this country there was a strong possibility there would be a death certificate. There was!
Death Certificate for Charles William PECOVER
It gave me Charles William PECOVER, aged 47. He had died of pneumonia, accelerated by sirrhosis of the liver and kidneys!
But where had the HENDON name originated? It seemed as if Charles' legal name was PECOVER - as shown by his War Service and Death Certificate. But the Army were obviously aware that he was also known as HENDON and his War Graves Memorial and Church Memorial show that name. His daughter, Emma had both names and gave Charles both names on her Marriage Certificate. Was HENDON a former name of Clara's and Charles had taken her name? Unlikely in the early 1900s. Did both Charles and Clara dislike the name PECOVER? No doubt at the time people with foreign-sounding names were suspect. Did they choose their own name - possibly after the area of London near where they lived - or had even met? Clara seems to have been known as HENDON since the early 1900s until the time of her death. But never as PECOVER. I can find no other mention of a HENDON name connected to Clara which is not also connected to Charles in some way.
THE ALL-IMPORTANT LINK
What else to try? I had to find Clara with some of her children in a Census that would also show her birthplace. I had been unable to find a birth certificate for Cecilia (Cissie) who, according to her Death Certificate had been born in 1890 in Acton, Ealing, Middlesex - as was my grandmother in 1895. Was it too much to hope they had been born at the same address? I sent for a copy of that page of the 1891 Census. No luck! It was by now early in 2000 and my only other hope was the 1901 Census which I knew was due to go live on the Internet at the beginning of 2001. I crossed my fingers and waited for the 2nd January 2001.
On 1st January 2001 word spread through genealogical circles like wildfire - the 1901 Census had gone live a day early. And there was one name that stood out at the top of my list - which was just as well, as it was the only lookup I managed before the whole thing crashed. I punched in the name MAY in Acton and up came Clara, Cecilia, Maude and Alfred C. Thankfully, I wasn't able to put in any credit card details to view the actual record but by highlighting the names I could see that their numbers were in sequence. And where had this Clara MAY been born? Masbury, Essex. That was good enough for me! I had found my Clara. And looking at the road where I had found her on an old map, I discovered there was a Plymouth Brethren Meeting House on the other side of the road!
IN CONCLUSION
So now I know that my Clara and Uncle Bert's Clara are one and the same person and I can acknowledge the Essex WINDLEYS as 'mine'! With help I can now take the line back to Henry WINDLEY born 1737 in Roxwell, Essex. Although there is a slight hiccup. The mother of my 3x great grandfather, Abraham WINDLEY, is given at his baptism as Frances WINDLEY and there are two possibilities. His mother could be Frances WINDLEY nee MOTT. In which case he was born four years after her husband, Thomas WINDLEY, had died - so his father is unknown. Or his mother could be Francis WINDLEY, daughter of Thomas WINDLEY and Frances MOTT - so, again, his father is unknown. Perhaps sight of the actual baptismal records might reveal more information.
As to Mary Ann and Annie Laura WELCH, that mystery has been solved, again by the 1901 Census. Uncle Bert had told me that Annie Laura had an elder sister called Jane Elizabeth WELCH. When I got round to finding her in Chelmsford, Essex, I also found living with her, Maud, eldest daughter of Henry DOVASTON & Mary Ann WELCH. And the relationship was given as Niece! The three WELCH girls were sisters.
I still have to find my great grandfather Henry MAY. There was a large extended MAY family in Essex in the 1800s which is worth investigation.
It maybe worth enquiring further into the Plymouth Brethren and attempting to gain access to their records.
And the story behind Clara's rent-free accomodation still intrigues me. Certainly she didn't pay rent during her lifetime and when she died the house was handed back - to whom I don't know - and all my attempts to find out have so far been in vain!
My WINDLEY Family | My DOVASTON Family
My DOVASTON Hunt | DOVASTONs ALL
My BURTON & DOVASTON Family Trees
