The CHATFIELD Family (original post 29 July 2009)

Jane Ann DAWES (1805-1851) married three times, the first to Thomas CHATFIELD (1797-1832). They had three children, William b. 1827, Henry b. 1829 and Alfred b. 1831. Of these, only Henry appears to have married and had a family, quite a large one which continues into the twenty-first century.

Henry was baptised in St. Bartholomew's Church, Maresfield on 09 August 1829 although his actual date of birth is unknown. In 1949 he married Phyllis Ann KENWARD (aka KENNARD) in Lewes and they had nine children as shown in the following charts.

The first chart displays the families of James, Alfred, Harriett and Warden. The second chart displays the family of only Eli who had fifteen children. The third chart covers the families of Harry, Agnes, William and Minnie.

James died young and all the rest married and had families except Agnes who has no children that I have found so far.

Alfred CHATFIELD married Mary Jane STUTOR in Hailsham 1873 and they had seven children.

Harriett CHATFIELD married Robert LANCASTER in Hailsham 1872 and they had six children.

Warden CHATFIELD married Charlotte SMITH in Uckfield 1877 and they had three children.

Eli CHATFIELD married Mary Ann STYLES in Ticehurst 1883 and they had fifteen children all with three letter given names.

Harry CHATFIELD married Elizabeth PLACE in Uckfield 1885 and they had one child.

Agnes CHATFIELD married Thomas STARTUP in Malling, Kent 1891 but I haven't found any children for them.

William CHATFIELD married Mercy SKINNER in Ticehurst 1891 and they had five children.

Minnie CHATFIELD married Albert PALMER in Uckfield 1893 and they had four children.

The photo below is of Leo Styles CHATFIELD and his wife Grace POTTER (Seated) with family members Leo and Ena standing directly behind. I have not identified the young ladies on either side.

View original post 29 July 2009

The Albert Henry DAWES Family

Albert Henry DAWES (1882-1944) and Jessie Elizabeth Ann WYATT (1879-1942) had two children, Winnifred Mabel born 27 July 1906 and Albert Cyril born 9 June 1909 both in Brighton. Winnifred married Thomas Alphonse RHODEN (1902-1944) of the Doncaster pork butcher's family famous for their pork pies. Albert Cyril known as Cyril married Molly REINER (1909-) in 1933 but later divorced her and married Doris Brenda Joan HAWLEY (1917-2000) known as Joan in 1946. Winnifred and Thomas had one child and Cyril and Molly had two all of which I am in contact with today.

Wedding of Winn DAWES & Thomas RHODEN

Wedding of Cyril DAWES & Molly REINER

Florence Ellen DAWES & Ada DAWES

To close this chapter of the Dawes family I need to explain what happened to two daughters. The first is Florence Ellen DAWES (1870-1870) whose birth was registered in Brighton during the June Quarter of 1870 and her death was registered September Quarter of the same year so she only lived for a few weeks or months at the most. She was baptised in St. Nicholas Church on the 5th June 1870 as were both of her older brothers Walter and Ernest.

Ada DAWES (1876-1908) was born 31 Dec. 1876 and died of peritonitis on 2 May 1908 at age 32. She is buried with her mother, Sarah BOXALL, and her father Thomas DAWES.

NOTE: See my earlier blog on Thomas to view the tombstone in Brighton Cemetery.

The Thomas George DAWES Family

After Sarah BOXALL died in 1890, Thomas DAWES re-married on 24 Sept. 1894, Sarah ROUST (1851-1928). On 22 Aug. 1895, Sarah gave birth to Thomas George, a half-brother to the other Dawes children.



When he was 31, "Uncle George" married Grace WOODING (1902-1982). He was an accomplished organist and played in many churches according to the memoirs of Reg BARNES.

He must have been well regarded by his siblings because he managed many of the houses they inherited from Thomas DAWES for them. Thomas George died on 4 Aug. 1974 leaving no offspring to carry on this line.

The Albert Henry DAWES Line

Albert Henry "Bert" DAWES (1882-1944) was the last child born to Thomas DAWES and Sarah BOXALL. He was born in Brighton on 16 October 1882 and became a commercial traveler (salesman?) according to the census returns. On 31 Oct. 1903, he married Jesse Elizabeth Ann WYATT (1879-1942) in Preston, Sussex.

Bert and Jesse had two children, Winifred Mabel (1906-1994) and Albert Cyril (1909-1989) both of whom had families with who I am in contact today.

An interesting development in doing the research on this family is that, through GenesReunited, I discovered that Jesse had a younger sister who was raised by her uncle because her mother died shortly after giving birth leaving her father with two young children and a baby. This sister was raised as part of her uncle's family and having the WYATT surname no one was any the wiser about it until now. As a result, a new second cousin to the descendants of Albert and Jesse has been reunited with the family although this has no impact on the other Dawes family members.

(L-R) Albert Henry Dawes and Jesse Elizabeth Ann WYATT

The Tom DAWES Line

This is my direct line and Tom DAWES (1880-1933) was my grandfather. Unfortunately, I never met him because he died before I was born.

Christened as Tom and not Thomas he was born in Brighton on 16 Dec. 1880 and became a cabinet maker. Family lore says that he didn't want to go into the family business but wanted to be a teacher. He left for Canada in 1906 and was followed a year later by his Brighton sweetheart, Caroline Wakeford GARDNER (1880-1966). His tool chest is stenciled with the address "Empress of Britain - Winnipeg via Quebec". That's the puzzle, why was he going to Winnipeg because he spent the rest of his life working as a carpenter in Montreal. He and Carrie were married on 14 Oct. 1907 which was the day after she arrived in Montreal. Neither of them ever went home and none of their relations ever came over to visit them.

Tom and Carrie had three children of which only my father went on to have a family.

The photo above is the only one that exists with Tom Dawes in it along with Caroline Gardner and one of their children.

The chart has been edited to protect living individuals.

The Minnie (DAWES) BARNES Line

Minnie was born in Brighton 18 Sept. 1874 as the fourth in a string of five daughters born to Thomas DAWES and Sarah BOXALL. In 1904 she married William Henry BARNES (1880-1962) and they had two sons, Reginald b. 3 March 1905 and Stanley b. 4 March 1908.

While Stanley married Gwen HEASEMAN (1910-1984) in 1936 they didn't have any children. Reg married Ethel Gladys Emma TILLET (1906-1990 in London on 28 October 1936 and I am in touch with their descendants today.

Minnie died 28 Jan. 1945 and William Henry BARNES re-married to Kitty ACKHURST in 1950.

Reg Barnes wrote a memoir of his early life with many references to the Dawes family which have been placed with the Sussex FHG library in Lewes and the Brighton Museum Local History Room.

The photo below is from the wedding of Alfred Stanley Barnes and Gwen Heaseman. Unfortunately, the labels don't display well. William Henry Barnes is on the left at the back and Reg Barnes is on the right at the back. Obviously, Stanley and Gwen are in front.

Updated 18 October 2009 (see post)

The Alice (DAWES) GOLDSMITH Family

Alice DAWES (1872-1949) was born 17 Dec. 1872 in Brighton. She married a grocer, Arthur Rowland GOLDSMITH (1880-1937) in 1902 and moved to New Zealand with him. Arthur died in New Zealand in 1937 and Alice returned home to Brighton where she died in 1949. They had no children so this ends the family line.

The Bertha (DAWES) TAMPKIN Line

Bertha was born to Thomas DAWES and Sarah BOXALL on 22 April 1871. Bertha married Charles TAMPKIN (1870-1657) in Brighton on the 15 Sept. 1892 and they had two sons, Charles b. 27 June 1895 and Sydney b. 29 Oct. 1899 who both served in WWI.

Bertha died of cancer in 1921 at the age of 41 and Charles re-married a Violet BROWN in 1930.

Charles Jr. went on to marry Dorothy Mable CLARK (1896-1960) and they had two daughters who had families that I am in touch with today.

Sydney went on to marry Alfreda May FRY (no dates) and also had two daughters, Barbara (1927-1977) and Norma (1931-1978). Norma never married but Barbara married a Canadian serviceman, Haig MONTGOMERY (1919-1981), whom she met during WWII and moved to Canada where she had four children.

Photo at left: Seated Charles Tampkin and Bertha Dawes, standing L-R Sydney and Charles Jr.

The Ernest DAWES Family

Ernest was the second child born to Thomas DAWES and Sarah BOXALL and was born 23 March 1866. He was baptised 5 June 1870 at St. Nicholas Church, Brighton on the same day as his older brother, Walter, and younger sister, Florence, who died shortly afterwards. Ernest became a carpenter following in his father's footsteps and eventually joined the family business, Thomas Dawes & Sons. On 4 August 1890 at the London Road Chapel he married Mary Jane WRIGHT (1865-1941) and they had one child, a daughter Gladys Kathleen born 19 Nov. 1897.

Gladys became a piano teacher and had a professional name of K. York-Palmer so must have had a career on the stage on in the theater. Gladys never married and died in 1979 ending the Ernest Dawes family line. Mary Jane and Ernest must have been estranged in their later years because he always attends family funerals with only Gladys and Mary Jane was very specific in her will that her property go to her daughter and not her husband as she feared he would try to get it.

I have looked extensively through the Brighton playbills for any mention of Gladys or K. York-Palmer without success. At the beginning of this post there is a photo labeled Mystery Photo that I believe is a Dawes family gathering for some sort of performance by a family member. The little girl in the front is wearing gloves (common among piano players) and is holding a Brighton Hippodrome playbill so she may be Gladys???

The Walter DAWES Family

Thomas DAWES (1840-1925) and Sarah BOXALL (1841-1890) were married 10 July 1864 at St. Nicholas Church, Brighton. Their first child, Walter, was born 16 Sept. 1864 but he wasn't baptised until 5 June 1870 also at St. Nicholas along with his younger brother Ernest and a sister Florence Ellen who was born and died in 1870. I suspect that they were baptising a baby who wasn't expected to survive and did the two boys at the same time.

Walter went on to be a part of Thomas Dawes & Sons and inherited the business on his father's death in 1925. He married Lucy Ann GASTON (1863-1918) in 1887 at the London Road Chapel (Baptist, I believe) and had one child, Walter Thomas, with her in 1889. Lucy died at 55 in 1918 and Walter re-married Edith Mary BINNS (1870-1954) in 1918 so he must have known her before Lucy died.

His only son, Walter Thomas (1889-1940) married Ethel Rose BANKS in 1920 but they had no offspring so the Walter DAWES branch died out in 1940.

Cousin Connection

This is the first post in a series of (I hope) posts with photos of cousins.

On June 23rd, 2009 I was lucky to be able to meet up with Mark Spalding for lunch in Port Perry, Ontario about an hour west from where I live. Mark and his wife were making a diversion to Ontario to visit old friends from the UK who had retired in Port Perry.

Mark is descended from Joseph DAWES (1835-1874) through his daughter Ann DAWES who married William Pettet GOLD and is a 3rd cousin, once removed to me.

(L-R Mark Spalding, Bob Dawes)

Uploaded with permission

The Two Elizabeths

Henry DAWES (1831-1864) married Sophia SANTER (1831-1914) on 11 Aug 1856 in Uckfield, Sussex. They had one child, a daughter, Elizabeth b. 1856 in Uckfield. Henry died in 1864 and his wife then married his recently widowed uncle George DAWES (1821-1869) on 19 Aug 1864 in Brighton. George brought 5 children with him into the union and then he and Sophia had 2 more, Elizabeth M. b. 1866 in Brighton whom I'll call Eliza and Charles William b. 1868 in Uckfield.

The census returns provide the following clues to their existance:

Elizabeth 1861 (age 4) born Uckfield
Elizabeth 1871 (age 14) born Uckfield
Eliza 1871 (age 5) born Uckfield (should have been Brighton)
Elizabeth 1881 (age 26) born Uckfield working as a cook
Eliza 1881 (age 14) born Uckfield (should have been Brighton)
Elizabeth 1891 (age 35) born Uckfield working as a cook
Eliza 1891 -- not found
Elizabeth 1901 (age 47) born Uckfield working as a cook
Eliza 1901 -- not found
Elizabeth 1935 (age 78) died in Uckfield

It is clear that there were two Elizabeth's because they are both in the same household with Sophia in 1871 and both identified as her daughters while George's children are identified as in-laws which was used for step children.

There are no deaths registered for either Elizabeth DAWES or Eliza DAWES beween 1881 and 1901 nor is there a marriage so what happened to her?

Check out the updated information posted Friday 18 Sep. 2009

Below is a photo c. 1908 of the first Elizabeth Dawes b. 1856

The Charles DAWES Line

Charles William DAWES (1968-1927) is the second child born to George DAWES after he re-married Sophia SANTER. Charles married Janet Mary STREETER (1872-1949) in 1899 Newick.

This is the family that branches into the COOPER and MUGRIDGE families through the marriages of Bessie b. 1912 to Frederick Carlisle COOPER (1910-1987) and Dorothy b. 1914 to Herbert William MUGRIDGE (1912-2005). Emmie b. 1906 married but had no children.

Jeanette b. 1900 and Charles b. 1904 never married.

Reginald b. 1910 had three children two of which have famililes of their own and with whom I am in contact. Reginald's wife is still living so is not shown here.

Charles William DAWES (1868-1928)

Charles & Janet with family c 1912

The Peter DAWES Line

Peter b. 1859 is the last child born to Esther COTTINGTON before she died in 1863. Peter married Fanny EDBROOKE (1855-1916) in 1883 Bedminister. Peter is the only child to really move away from the family and is found later in Gloucestershire and London.

Both James and Nathaniel are found in Gloucestershire in 1911 still unmarried but the GRO Index for 1912 London shows a marriage for Nathaniel to Gertrude Jessie CHENNELL b. 1887 with the birth of a son in 1916.

The George (2) DAWES Line

George b. 1857 married Charlotte Elizabeth CROWHURST b. 1858 in 1880 Uckfield. They had 5 children but not much more is known about them at this time. According to FreeBMD there are a couple of potential marriages for Ethel to either a CHATFIELD or POTTER in 1909.

The William (3) DAWES Line

William (1855 correction-1905) married Elizabeth Cloke ORGAN ( 1853-1901) from Cornwall in 1881 Uckfield. They had one child Esther Cottington DAWES b. 1882 and there's no doubt about her heritage based on her name. William would have been 8 years old when his mother Esther Cottington died and he must have been fond of her because normally the first daughter would have been named after the mother's mother which was Eliza.

Esther Cottington DAWES married in 1906 Uckfield to William Charles JEFFERY b. 1868 after losing both her parents, only in their late fourties, between 1901 and 1905. Esther and William had two sons as of the 1911 census.

The Harriett (DAWES) PANNETT Family

Harriett DAWES (1850-1901) was the first child of George DAWES and Esther COTTINGTON. She married George PANNETT (1849-1899) in Lewes 1870. They had a total of 8 children with Fanny (1871-1886), Albert (1879-1882) and Cecil (1890-1891) all dying young.

Nothing more is known about Emily b. 1873, Esther b. 1876 or Hephzibah b. 1887.

George b. 1875 had two children as of the 1911 census and Jesse b. 1883 had married but no children are listed in the census.

The Margaret (DAWES) TESTER Family

Margaret born 19 Feb 1848 was the last child of Thomas Dawes and Ann Langridge. She was baptised 18 May 1846 in Hold Cross Church, Uckfield and was only 3 years old when her father died.

Margaret Dawes cannot be found in the 1861 census while her mother and other siblings can. A closer look at Uckfield shows a Margaret WEAVER aged 16 living with a widow needlewoman, Maria WEAVER. I speculate that when Margaret's father died in 1851 the family dispersed to live with relatives and neighbours.

Margaret re-appears under the Dawes surname in 1866 when she marries George TESTER (1845-1896) on 25th March at St. Nicholas Church, Brighton. They had 7 children a lot of whom moved the family into the twentieth century as you can see from the chart. I am in contact with descendants of this line.

The Ann (DAWES) PHILLIMORE Family

Ann DAWES was born in Uckfield on 12 July 1843 and baptised at Holy Cross Church on 22 Oct 1843 the same day as her older brother Thomas. On 13 Aug 1866 Ann married James Phineas PHILLIMORE (1845-1921) of Brighton. In 1861, there are two Ann DAWS' found working in the Royal York Hotel, Old Steine, Brighton with one aged 16 and the other 20 so this Ann could be either since she should have been 18 which is squarely in the middle.

Ann and James had 6 children of which only George Ware PHILLIMORE (1874-1930) moved the family into the twentieth century and I am in contact with descendants of this line.

Ann died 03 Dec 1888 at age 45 in Steyning. Her husband remarried in 1913 to Kate MOULDING.

Correction: I just received a copy of Ann PHILLIMORE's death registration and she died on 03 DEC 1877 not 1888.

(L-R) Ann Dawes Phillimore and son George Ware Phillimore

The Thomas (2) DAWES Line

This is the main line that I descend through. Thomas "the builder" was born in Framfield on 14 Jan 1840 and was baptised twice in Holy Cross Church, Uckfield. The first time was 29 Aug 1842 and the second time 22 Oct 1843 along with his new sister, Ann b. 1843.

Thomas and his first wife, Sarah Ann BOXALL (1841-1890) had nine children. He remarried Sarah ROUST (1851-1928) in 1894 and had one more child.

Thomas worked his way up from wheelwright, to house painter, to house decorator and finally to house builder under Thomas Dawes & Sons, Brighton. His company built over 100 houses in Brighton.

Thomas DAWES "The Builder" c1890 and his final resting place.

The Lucy (DAWES) CHAPMAN Family

Lucy was a problem for a long time because she disappeared after her father died in 1851. A Lucy DAWES b. 1834 married a George WARE (1828-1873) in Newick on 22 Aug 1858 but she identified her father as Laban DAWES. Because of the age discrepancy and father's name I didn't pay much attention to her until I was researching her sister Ann. Ann married James PHILLIMORE (see The Ann (DAWES) PHILLIMORE Family) and in 1874 named a son George Ware PHILLIMORE. That brought me back to Lucy because her first husband was George WARE and he died in 1873, the year before young George Ware Phillimore was born.

I then found a marriage for Lucy WARE to William CHAPMAN (1833-) who listed her father as Thomas DAWES - bricklayer. William had 6 children with his first wife Deborah MOSCROP (1829-1875) and the youngest son (E.J. CHAPMAN b. 1873) was the informant on Lucy's death certificate where she was identified as the widow of William CHAPMAN so he died before 1917. In fact, he is missing from the 1911 census where she is found in the Aged Pilgrims Asylum, Islington, London so he died before 1911. Other than step-children, this line ends with Lucy.

The Ann (DAWES) GOLD Family

Ann DAWES was born 26 May 1863 in Brighton. She married William Pettet GOLD (1856-1918) 27 Feb 1884 in Brighton. They had 5 children and I am in contact with living relatives of this line. Ann died at age 61 on 14 March 1924 of a pulmonary embolism.

(Below: William GOLD & Ann DAWES)

The William (2) DAWES Line

William DAWES was born 02 March 1861 in Kemp Town, Brighton and married Mary Ann GOLDSMITH (1864-1933) on 28 Dec 1881 in Brighton. They had seven children with a gap of 9 years between the last two, Ernest and Leslie. All their children went on to have families except for William who died in WWI at age 23 and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery and Alfred b. 1896 who appears in the 1901 and 1911 censuses but for whom nothing further is known except that he was discharged from the army in 1916 as being "no longer physically fit."

(L-R below) William (1894-1917); Leslie Edward (1909-1964)

The Joseph DAWES Line

Joseph was the first child of Thomas DAWES (1809-1851) and Ann LANGRIDGE (1814-1876). He was born in 1835 (baptised 08 Nov 1835 at Holy Cross Church, Uckfield) but this was before civil registration started so his actual birth date is unknown. His parents were married a year before on 10 Nov 1834 in Lewes.

Joseph married Elizabeth WALLER (1836-1915) on 11 Oct 1856 in Ditchling, Sussex. They had two children, William b. 1861 and Ann b. 1863.

Joseph died on 01 Jan 1874 at age 39 in the Sussex Lunatic Asylum of Progressive Paralysis. Was this an early term for MS or ALS?

Elizabeth re-married William MANN (1877 - Brighton) but had no further children.

The BARTON Family

William and Elizabeth DAWES' other daughter who married was Charlotte (1838-1914). She married Thomas BARTON (1839-1927) 1861 in Uckfield. Jonathon and Thomas both married and added new BARTON's to the family while Elizabeth married a HOLFORD adding a new name to the mix.

The GURR Family

William and Elizabeth Dawes' oldest child Elizabeth (1828-1883) married George GURR (1831-1896) in 1850 in Uckfield. They had a family of 6 children several of which lived into the twentieth century.

George's death is still in question as the only match in the GRO index that makes any sense is an 1896 one in Sevenoaks, Kent where the George GURR who died is 68 putting his birth year 1828 vs. 1831 as indicated by the census returns.

Sons William and George produced a total of thirteen new Gurrs while Sarah Ann married George BILLINGS adding a new surname to the mix with their 7 children.

In the chart to the left you'll see some codes which are explained at the front of this blog but basically © followed by a year means that I have found the individual in the associated census. GRO is followed by the GRO Index reference to order the associated registration certificate.

The Three Unknown DAWES Women

There are three DAWES daughters of Thomas "the labourer" and Elizabeth for which no further information is known.




Susannah is the first b. 1807 in Hadlow, Kent. She doesn't turn up in any census records under Dawes although by 1841 she would have been 34 and likely married. There is no death registration for her either but that didn't start until 1837 so again a lot could have happened in the thirty years between 1807 and 1837. The next order of business is to search for burial records in Hadlow, East Peckham and Uckfield.





Mary was born in East Peckham, Kent in 1819 according to the parish church baptisms held a the Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone. No further information is known about her as she doesn't turn up in any census records or civil registrations.





The final unknown is Harriett b. 1829 Uckfield, Sussex which is 8 years after her brother George. Harriett is the only child to be born in Uckfield and would make her mother, Elizabeth, 46 years old at the time. Therefore, it is possible that Harriett is the child of another DAWES family or one of their children although my source for her birth is her baptism on 01 March 1829 to Thomas DAW (labourer) and Elizabeth at Holy Cross Church, Uckfield. It is also possible that she was born before 1829 and only baptised after the family settled in Uckfield. In the 1841 census, Harriett is shown living with the family of her older brother Thomas "the bricklayer" while her parents were living with her oldest brother William. By 1851, she is an under-kitchenmaid in service in the village of Glynde near Lewes.

The civil death registrations have a death for a Harriett Dawes in Hailsham in 1853. This is a case where her death certificate needs to be ordered to confirm her parents.

The Sarah DAWES Line

Sarah (b. 1811) was the last of the family to be born in Hadlow, Kent before the family moved to East Peckham, Kent. Sarah is believed to have had an illegitimate daughter, Eliza, about 1840 in Uckfield. Eliza went on to marry James MOON in 1857 Uckfield although there is no further infromation on this family. Sarah is believed to have died in Uckfield in 1864 still unmarried.