Sunday, December 18, 2016

Arthur Lethbridge HOOKINS (Tree 3Q)

Arthur Lethbridge HOOKINS was born on 21st April 1859 at Larkbeare in Exeter which is probably not the current property of that name which is a building which had been used as a residence for Circuit Judges. There was I understand another dwelling on Holloway Street known as Larkbeare House which was, I believe, demolished or substantially altered in the 1870s.
Arthur was the 3rd of 5 children born to Henry Lethbridge HOOKINS and Mary Ann Brand HOOKINS (nee COCKERAM), Henry's 2nd wife. One of Arthur's 2 brothers born to this couple also bore the 2nd name of Lethbridge like their father but I have not yet established how that was important to them.
In the 1861 Census Arthur was living at 3 Lower Summerlands  in Exeter with his parents, a sister, a brother and their maternal grandmother.
By the time of the next Census in 1871 Arthur's father had become widowed for the second time and was living at Mont le Grand in Heavitree, Exeter with 3 of his children + Mary's sister Margaret COCKERAM. Arthur himself appears by then to have been at school in Christ's Hospital in London. By 1881 he was living at 92 Sumner Road in Camberwell at the home of step-brother Henry and his family and Arthur's brother Charles Lethbridge HOOKINS was also there although they had all been indexed as HOOKENS!
48 Hatcham Park Road, Deptford
On 24th January 1891 Arthur married Jessis Florence SLEEP at Greenwich Register Office although his Lethbridge 2nd name was excluded form the record. At that time he was what is called a Manchester Warehouseman which was actually a Wholesaler of linen cloths made in factories around Manchester and they were living at 48 Hatcham Park Road in Deptford where they still lived at the time of the 1891 Census.

57 Kestral Avenue, St Paul, Herne Hill



By 1901 they had moved to a more desirable residence at 57 Kestral Avenue, St Paul, Herne Hill and Arthur was recorded as being a Private Secretary.







The 1901 Census described Arthur's Private Secretary role as being in a Tramway Undertaking whilst Jessie is recorded as being a Boarding House Proprietor. The address was 1 St John's Road, Brixton and present at the property were an aunt of Jessie's, 1 servant and 4 boarders whose occupations were (1) a Warehouseman in drapery (2) a Swedish clerk with a firm of barge builders (3) a Customs & Excise officer (4) a German Foreign Correspondent for a Piano? Manufacturer.
Arthur appears to have died in 1917 in Lambeth and 12 years later there is a reference to a Mrs J F HOOKINS with an address in Herne Hill on the Passenger List of a ship sailing to South Africa when she was 69 years old with South Africa indicated as the intended future country of permanent residence. She sailed on the ship "Ceramic" which was boarded at Liverpool.