James HOOKINS was born on 4 November 1857 at Kings Brompton and was registered as HOOKINGS (unfortunately an all too frequent occurrence!). He was baptised later that month on the 29th at the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brompton Regis.
Blessed Virgin Mary Church Brompton Regis
James was the 4th of 11 children born to William HOOKIN(G)S and his wife Charlotte (nee FARMER) and 4 years later in the 1861 Census their address was Great Smallmoor, Kings Brompton where James lived with his parents and 4 siblings.
By 1871 the address is given as Smallmoor, Bury, Dulverton where the same family configuration existed but to date the family has not been located in the following Census in 1881.
However by 1891 James was serving as a Private in the Royal Marines stationed at the barracks in East Stonehouse, Plymouth.
On 5 July 1902 he married Ellen Jane KNOWLES at the Devonport Register Office although in the Census carried out in the previous year they are recorded as husband and wife living at 1 Willow Plot, Plymouth with Ellen shown using her 2nd Christian name. With them at that time were 3 of their own children + 1 son from Ellen's previous marriage who was also recoded with the HOOKINS name. She also had another son by that previous marriage although he was living with his maternal grandfather at the time of this Census.
The children that had been born prior to that Census were Lucy in 1894, Reginald William in 1896, James in 1898 although he died within the same year, and James Timothy in 1900. Other children were then born - John in 1903, Harry (Henry) in 1905, and Violet Mabel in 1907 although she sadly died the following year.
In 1911 James is with Ellen (now called Janey!) and James, William, Henry and John + Philip (Ellen's son by a previous marriage. The family were then at 1 Cambridge Street in Plymouth, whilst daughter Lucy was living elsewhere in Plymouth as a Servant.
Ellen died just a few months after that Census was taken. James' occupations up to that date had been as Private in the Royal Marines (1896), Labourer (1898), Carter (1901), Labourer and Naval Pensioner (1903-5) and Carter for the Corporation in 1911 and presumably he needed to continue working.
He married again in January 1914 to Elizabeth Ann DWYER again at Devonport Register Office where he had married Janey less than 12 years before. However Elizabeth's life was cut short as she died only 7 months after their marriage.
The next record of James is in the 1939 Register where he is living at 15 Richmond Street in Plymouth with his son William R (ie Reginald William). William's wife Lilian is also with them together with their daughter Irene. Entries for young children were usually blanked out in this register and there are 4 hidden entries in the record for this household. William and Lilian did have 4 children between 1929 and 1937 so these blanked out entries probably refer to them.
James died 4 years later on 17 December 1943 at 9 William Street in Plymouth recorded by William when registering the death as a Royal Marine Pensioner.
