William Henry Beckett

William Henry was the son of John Beckett and Eliza (also 'Elizabeth') Beckett nee Lunn. John Beckett was born in Coddington, Newark, in about 1838 and Eliza Lunn in Newark, birth registered 1847 (J/F/M Newark). They were married in 1865 (J/F/M Newark) and according to the 1911 Census when they had been married for 46 years they had had ten children of whom only seven were still living. Eight children were named on the census between 1871 and 1901: Christiana, Alice, Ellen, John, Agnes, Annie, Mary/May and William Henry who was probably born on 9 December 1886. His father, John, was initially an agricultural labourer and at the time of the 1871 Census he and Eliza and their two daughters, Christiana (5) and Alice (1) were living with his mother, Ann Beckett on Balderton Road, Coddington. Ann's occupation was given as landowner, a description based on a very small acreage of land ownership. John and Eliza were still living in Newark in 1881; John was working as a labourer. He and Eliza now had five children: Christiana (15), Alice (11), Ellen (8), John (5) and Agnes (3). John (53) was employed as a hay trusser in 1891. On the night of the census only he, Eliza and four of their children - John (15) an errand lad, Annie (8), Mary (5) and William (4) - were in their home at Newark. By 1901 the family had moved to South Muskham. John was described on the census as a hay trusser and employer. Apart from John and his wife only two of their children, Mary (15) a general domestic servant and William (14) a hay trusser, were in the home on the night of the census. Also in the household was Rebecka Wheatley (57), John's married sister, and a boarder, Kate Bunyan (27), who was a school mistress. Ten years later in 1911 John (73) and Eliza (64) were still living in South Muskham. John was described as working as a hay trusser on his own account. It is likely that Eliza died in 1915 (J/A/S Southwell) aged 68 and John in 1919 (J/F/M Southwell) aged 81. William Henry married Rosina Moul (also 'Mole') in 1907 (J/A/S Southwell). Rosina was born in Newark on 16 April 1883 (A/M/J Newark). They had three sons, Sidney Maurice b. Newark 9 June 1908 (J/A/S Newark), John William b. South Muskham 4 March 1911 (J/F/M Southwell) and Horace Henry b. 22 February 1915 (J/F/M Southwell). At the time of the 1939 England & Wales Register, the widowed Rosina was living on Crab Lane, Southwell, with her three sons. Sidney was a County Council road worker, John a rural postman and Horace an aero sleeve valve inspector. John and Horace were unmarried but Sidney was a widower; he had married Lilian Hough in 1932 (A/M/J Southwell) but she had died three years later in 1935 (J/A/S Southwell) at the age of 26. Rosina died on 23 November 1973 (O/N/D Southwell). The probate record gave her address as 45 Wood Street, Newark. Her second son John died on 20 May 1975 (A/M/J Newark) and the address on the probate record was also 45 Wood Street, Newark. Sidney died in 1977 (O/N/D Nottingham) and Horace Henry in 2003 (Jun Gloucester) aged 88.

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