Reginald Douglas Askew

Reginald Douglas was the tenth child and second son of George and Martha Askew (née Wild).

George Askew was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, and Martha Wild in Pinxton, Derbyshire. They were married at Pinxton St Helen parish church, Derbyshire, on 29 June 1874. George was a coal agent at the time of his marriage.

The couple had ten children, one of whom died in infancy: George William Wild b. 1875 JAS (b. 29 May, bap. Pinxton parish church 11 July 1875), Ellen Bower birth reg. 1877 (JFM), Annie Elizabeth birth reg. 1879 (JFM), twins Marion and Edith Martha b. 1881 (OND), Florence birth reg. 1883 (JFM), Eliza Eyre birth reg. 1885 (JFM), Marion b. 1887, Eveline b. 1889 and Reginald Douglas b. 1892. The births were registered in either Barnet or Edmonton, Middlesex. Marion died in 1882 (JFM).

George, a coal merchant, and his wife were living on Leicester Road, Chipping Barnet, in 1881. In the household were two of their three children, George and Annie, both born in New Barnet. Their twin daughters, Marion and Edith, were born later that year but Marion died before her first birthday.

By 1891 George, a coal merchant and cartage carrier, and his wife were living at The Laurels, 3 Ballars Lane, Finchley, Barnet. In the home on the night of the census were four of their children, William, a tea grower's clerk, and Eliza, Marion (b. 1887) and Eveline who were born in Highgate. Also in the household were their nephews, William Wild (17) and Charles B Askew (16), both coal merchant's clerks, and a general domestic servant. Their four other children, Ellen, Annie, Edith and Florence, were living with their maternal grandparents, William and Ellen Wild, at Town Street, Pinxton, Derbyshire. Also in the household were their grandparents son, Samuel Bower, and daughter, Mary. Ellen.

Reginald Douglas was born the following year (Finchley, reg. Barnet).

His brother George, a secretary to a private company, married Ellen Annie Bawdon in 1895 (reg. Edmonton); they had four children, Gwendoline Mary (b. 1900), Leslie William, Hugh Ronald, who emigrated to Australia in 1927, and Stanley Cecil. In 1901 George, Ellen and their daughter Gwendoline were living on Mountfield Road, Finchley, Barnet; also in the household were a housemaid and nurse domestic. At the time of his brother Reginald's death, George and his family were living at 14 St. Mary’s Avenue, Finchley, and were still at the same address in 1921.

George snr. and Martha had returned to Nottinghamshire by 1901 although they were, temporarily, living separately. George, a colliery clerk, was a boarder at Victoria Street, Skegby, Mansfield, while his wife was living at 2 Croydon Road, Radford, and listed on the census as a shopkeeper (sweets). Only her two youngest children, Eveline and Reginald, were living with her.

Edith, a draper's clerk (Jones Bros.) was living at 23 Tollington Road, Islington, in 1901; she was sharing the house with a caretaker and his wife and two draper's assistants. No. 23 was one of three properties on the road housing Jones Bros. employees, the majority of whom were draper's assistants. Her sister Florence, was also a draper's assistant, with a different company, and living at 482 Holloway Road, Islington, in a house with three female draper's assistants and the shop owner's son, Horace Pryke. Horace's parents and his sister were living at 484 Holloway Road.

Marion was living with an aunt, Marianne Haslam (55) and her aunt's step-daughter, Frances (53), a music and language teacher, at South Terrace, Church Street, Eastwood, Nottingham. Ellen was living with her widowed grandmother, Ellen Wild, at Roe Villa, Town Street, Pinxton. Also in the home were two other grandchildren, Elizabeth Rolling (11) and Edith Rolling (7).

Annie Elizabeth, a nurse domestic, and her sister Eliza, a domestic servant, were living with an uncle and aunt, Francis (37) and Eliza Rolling, at Primrose Hill, Liberty, Rufford, in 1901. Francis Rolling was a farmer and the household included two farm servants (male).

Ellen married James Eyre Buxton in 1909 (Pinxton) and they and their daughter Vera May were living at 2 Upper Pleasley, Derbyshire, by 1911. A second daughter, Marion Esme, was born in 1916.

Eveline married Frank Murray Wood, also in 1909 (reg. OND Mansfield). Eveline and their daughter Bernice Marion (b. 1910) were living with Frank's mother, Catherine, and brother, John Harold, on Rothesay Avenue, Nottingham, in 1911. Frank, an 'electrical wireman and fittings', was a boarder in Sheffield.

George, a pedlar, and Martha were living together at 85 Beverley Street, Nottingham, by 1911. In the home were two of their daughters, Annie, who was assisting her mother in the home, and Marion, a neckwear machinist, and their son Reginald who was a confectioner's assistant.

Eliza was a domestic servant for Sarah Sanson, a widow, who was living with her daughter Anne Sanson, a palmist, and her grandson, Lewis Cooke, a clerk, at 195 Wollaton Street, Nottingham.

Edith has not yet been traced on the 1911 Census, but on 19 February 1912 she married Ernest Dickson Hebdon, a Post Office engineer, of 44 Tollington Road, Islington, at the parish church of St Barnabus, Islington; Edith lived in the parish.

Martha died at 85 Beverley Street on 19 October 1913 and her husband George on 25 April 1915; they were buried in Nottingham General Cemetery.

Their son Reginald gave his address as 85 Beverley Street when he enlisted in 1914.

Of Reginald's siblings:

George William, was living in Shalford, Surrey, at the time of his death on 28 May 1935. Probate was awarded to a solicitor and his two sons, Leslie and Stanley.

Ellen Bower and her husband James Buxton had moved to Stanton Hill, Sutton-in-Ashfield, by the time of the 1939 England & Wales Register. James (b. 1880) was a colliery fitter (incapacitated) and their daughter Marion Esme (later Pickard) was a draper's shop assistant. Ellen died in April 1945 aged 69 and was buried in Sutton-in-Ashfield cemetery; her husband James had predeceased her (1940, JFM).

Annie Elizabeth, who had been living with her parents in Nottingham in 1911, has not yet been traced on the 1921 Census or the 1939 England & Wales Register. She may have died in May 1959.

Edith Martha, who had married Ernest Hebden in 1912, died in hospital on 9 October 1960; the probate record gave her address as Lea Hurst, Holloway, Derbyshire

Florence has not yet been traced after 1901.

Eliza Eyre died on 27 April 1958; there is no record that she married. The probate record gave her address as Sheffield but she died in Sevenoaks, Kent (reg. Tonbridge). One of her two executors was Frank Murray Wood, who was her sister Eveline's husband.

Marion, a ladies neckwear designer, who had been living with her parents in 1911, was living in the household of John H & Else M Wood, and Sophie Caron (b. 1845) at Tilbury Rise, Nottingham, in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled. Marion married Ferdinand Eugene Julius Caron later that year (reg. OND). She died on 4 December 1954; one of her two executors was her unmarried sister, Eliza Eyre Askew.

Eveline and her husband Frank Wood, an electrical contractors foreman, were living at 21 Merlin Way, Sheffield, in 1939. Also in the home were their daughter Dorothy who was a shop assistant/cashier and also had two wartime roles, 1st Aid SJAB at work and ARP 1st Aid (Firth Park), and their sons Douglas (b. 1919) an engineers' apprentice and John Eric (b. 1922) a railway clerk (goods). Frank's entry on the Register is annotated 'Portsmouth Dockyard detached duties 1915-1919'. Frank died in 1967 and Eveline in 1973, both deaths were registered in Sheffield.

Eveline and Frank's son, John Eric, joined the RAFVR, 132329 Flight Lieutenant. He qualified as a pilot and served with 207 Squadron. He was reported missing presumed killed 'on or since' 18 December 1943 'on war service'. There is some information on various websites that describe how he was one of 12 crew flying a Sunderland III (DW106) with passengers (RAF personnel) from RAF Pembroke Dock, Wales, to Jui, Gambia, West Africa. The aircraft left RAF Pembroke Dock at 2345 on 17 December 1943, and was lost with all 19 onboard on 18 December. It was believed the aircraft had been attacked by German fighters in the region of Cape St Vincent, south of Portugal. No sign of the aircraft was found and no bodies recovered. (Runnymede Memorial) www.aircrewremembered.com/wood-john One website has a photograph of members of 207 Squadron, including John.