George Alexander Sheppard

George was the son of Thomas and Mary (née Anderson) Sheppard. George and Mary Ellen were married in Nottingham in 1895 (A/M/J) and had two children, George Alexander (b. abt 1896) and Elsie Mary Ellen (b. abt 1899). Mary Ellen had died by the time of the 1901 Census, although no record has yet been found of her death, as on the 1901 Census George was described as a widower and he and his widowed father, Thomas, were living at 56 Peas Hill Road with another of Thomas' sons, Joseph, and Joseph's wife and daughter. Both George and his father were employed by the council as gas fitters. The same year George's two-year old daughter Elsie was living in the household of May Crowther and her three adult children. Elsie was described as 'nurse child' on the census, suggesting that she is being cared for by May Crowther. The whereabouts of George Alexander in 1901 have not yet been traced but presumably he, like his sister, was being looked after temporarily by friends or family. George Alexander senior married Eva Heath in 1901 (O/N/D) and in 1911 they were living at 41 Claude Street, Old Lenton, Nottingham. The 1911 census records that George and Eva had had seven children of whom only five survived. Seven children were in the household on the night of the census: George Alexander (15) and his sister Elsie (15) and their half-brothers and sisters, Eva (8, b. 1903 A/M/J), Gertrude Alice (8, b. 1904 J/F/M), Blanche (5, b. 1905), Thomas Henry (2, b. 1908) and Albert (6 months, b. 1910).