Tree J

Tree J consisted of just 4 families but a link has now been made with Tree M to which all the records have now been transferred. This will show on the next Tree update when Tree J itself will be deleted.

Frank Bryan HOOKINS (Tree Misc)

Frank Bryan HOOKINS was an isolated member on my Family Tree records. I had located a record of him as an acting Sub Lieutenant with the Fleet Air Arm in torpedo spotter reconnaissance in the 2nd World War. Thankfully the note I put about him in the blog has come to the attention of one of his few relatives and I am grateful to Jonathan for making contact and giving me more information and photographs.



Frank's aircraft was lost in June 1940 when it was operating from a Dutch airbase. Frank was only 20 and was buried in Holland. His sister and only sibling was due to be married just weeks after his death. I am delighted to have a photo of Frank in his Fleet Air Arm uniform.











His sister's wedding went ahead in the uncertainties surrounding them during wartime and I have also been given a copy of their wedding photograph which appears here.











From the initial record of Frank I have now details of their family unit which has led me to the 1911 Census after his parents had married in 1910. His father Frank Woollatt HOOKINS was born in 1883 in Sheffield and worked for only one employer throughout his life. He was with S & J Watts of Manchester which was a very large haberdasher and linens wholesaler where he eventually rose to their buyer in the Manchester warehouse. Before that he had been a Commercial Traveller with the firm which is presumably how son Frank came to be born in Northern Ireland. I am now proceeding to obtain his birth certificate to ensure that other members can be added to this small Family Tree or maybe can be added to one of my existing Trees. Thank you Jonathan for the copy of the photograph of his grandfather as well as each of the others and it is good to be touch with a descendant.

Poppy HOOKINS (Tree M)

An unbelievable addendum to the story of the discovered air-raid shelter.
George McCleish was the person who took the photographs and he had a son who was born just a months or so ago called Archie. I have just been informed that Archie's Mum is in fact one of the Plymouth HOOKINS'.

Poppy Hookins (Tree M)

 I reported some time ago about the sad occasion during World War II when newlyweds Ted HEMPKINS and Polly (Pauline Madge Louvaine nee HOOKINS) just 2 or 3 days after their wedding in 1941 took cover in an air raid shelter during a raid on Plymouth. They chose or ended up in a shelter apart from the rest of the family but whilst the rest of the family re-emerged from their shelter after the raid Ted and Polly's shelter took a direct hit and both were killed.
I am indebted to William Cuthbert a current relative by marriage of the Plymouth HOOKINS' who has informed me that the public shelters in Plymouth were filled in but that last month one of these was uncovered virtually intact in the grounds of what is now Plymouth University. The location of this shelter is adjacent to the one which took the direct hit (because that is well documented) but a member of the family is pretty certain that the location is that of the shelter he occupied as a young lad in the raid which killed his sister Poppy and her husband.
I am also indebted to George McCleish who was one of the workmen involved with the discovery of the shelter because he captured these images of the shelter so that we can retain this pictorial record to supplement this story.
It is sad that Plymouth City Council and the University have decided to fill this preserved shelter with concrete rather than save it as evidence of the city's past sacrifice and commitment to and involvement in the war effort.
As William has indicated, when you look at the pictures, you can imagine that the direct hit would have given Ted and Poppy no chance at all and would have brought shudders to those in this nearby shelter. However these pictures are significant because without them I would probably be not communicating with any HOOKINS folk in Plymouth or those linked to them by marriage like William.

Where have the Hookins Families lived?

I've recently completed an exercise going through all the records of families I hold to document separately where the Hookins families have lived throughout the years covered. In total they were found to be inevidence in 35 different counties in addition to London. The biggest number of instances were found to be in London where I have 139 different addresses with the most popular areas being Chelsea followed by Islington.
After that the largest gatherings are in Devon (66), dominated by Exeter and Plymouth, followed by Somerset (51), in no fewer than 28 different towns and villages, and Surrey (46), mostly in Mitcham.
If these addresses had been historical I would have posted them separately on the blog but as some are currently still occupied by Hookins folk I cannot make this publicly available. It is however the ideal tool for me to use to perhaps back up the written evidence with photos of buildings occupied by the Hookins' of the past which I could add as time goes on.

Tree 2W - Number of Trees Reduced by One More

Additional people have been located to add to Tree 2W but finding them has confirmed that the suname in the case of this family is actually HOOKINGS. Tree 2W has therefore been deleted from the list of Trees and all the records have been transferred to the Miscellaneous Tree records.

Tree 2I transferred to 2L

Tree 2I has now been deleted from the list of Family Trees as it has been amalgamated into Tree 2L. The new Tree 2L has now been updated on the blog.