Alfred Beamer and Emily Luxton

Castle Street, Tiverton
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Roger Cornfoot - geograph.org.uk/p/6587133

Alfred Beamer (b. 28 Aug 1880 in East Stonehouse, Devon), Private RMLI of Cecil Street, Plymouth, son of Alfred Beamer and Mary Ann White, married Emily Luxton (b. 22 Jun 1882 in Tiverton), daughter of James Luxton and Hannah Maria Hawkins, on 14 Dec 1905, at St Paul's Church, Tiverton. Emily's address at the time was Heathcoat Square, Tiverton and her younger sister, Jessie Luxton, was one of witnesseses (bridesmaid perhaps).

Alfred and Emily had two children:

1. Alfred James Beamer b. 15 Mar 1908 (1908 J Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 05B Page 241), bap. 29 Mar 1908 at St Peter’s Church, Stonehouse, Plymouth. But the infant died, in 1908 S Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 05B Page 174, at bearly six months of age.
2. Evelyn Beamer b. 1909 S Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 365, who also died in 1909 S Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 227

Alfred Beamer, who had enlisted in the Royal Marines on 15 Aug 1896, just shy of his 16th birthday, was discharged, invalided, on 15 Oct 1908. On 7 Mar 1909, Alfred Beamer (29) Labourer of 40 Neswick St, Plymouth, was admitted to the Devon and Cornwall Sanatorium for Consumptives Didworthy. Consumption was another name for Tuberculosis. When he was discharged from the sanitorium on 15 Jun 1909, the record shows Alfred developed the disease 7 months previously, which ties in with the date he was discharged from the Royal Marines. In the notes it says, "light work - dead". What kind of light work the dead can do, is what I would like to know! Alfred Beamer died, at 29, in 1909 D Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 05B Page 183. 

In 1911, Emily Beamer (28), widow, was living at 1 Melbourne Street, Tiverton and working at the Heathcoat Lace Factory, as a spinner. Although she was a widow, Emily helpfully completed the fields on this census to confirm that she had two children born alive and that both had died.

In 1912, Emily Beamer remarried to a John Heard, in Tiverton.

In 1921, John Heard (49) Labourer from Oakford Devon, Emily Heard (39), and John's two children from his previous marriage (to Lily Holmes in 1901, who died in 1911), Beatrice Lily Heard (19) Lace Folder (at Heathcoat) and Sidney John Heard (13) were living at 125, West Exe South, Tiverton.

John Heard died, aged 59, in 1930 D Quarter in EXETER Vol 05B Page 94.

In 1939, Emily Heard, widow, was living with a single lady, Beatrice E Gollop, at 26 Castle Street, Tiverton.

Emily Heard died, in Tiverton, in 1962, aged 79.

Alfred Beamer and Mary Ann White

Adelaide Street, Stonehouse, Plymouth
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Stephen Richards - geograph.org.uk/p/6083118

Alfred Beamer (b. 29 Dec 1853 in Taunton, Somerset), son of James Beamer and Rose Anna Smith (half-brother of Loveday Jane Land and John Land), married Mary Ann White (b. 1851 in Plympton), daughter of Alfred Augustus Harker White and Mary Sorton, on 23 Nov 1879 at Saint George's Church, Stonehouse (bombed in WWII). Alfred Beamer's rank or profession was listed as Private RM (He'd enlisted in the Royal Marines on 29 Dec 1871.)

Alfred and Mary Ann had five children:

1. Alfred Beamer b. 28 Aug 1880 (1880 D Quarter in EAST STONEHOUSE Volume 05B Page 289) [a]
2. Ethel Annie Beamer b. 23 Feb 1883 (1883 J Quarter in EAST STONEHOUSE Volume 05B Page 299) [a]
3. William George Beamer b. 4 Jan 1886 (1886 M Quarter in EAST STONEHOUSE Volume 05B Page 303) [a]
4. Rosa May Beamer b. 7 Jan 1893 (1893 M Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 408) [b]
5. Frederick John Beamer b. 7 Jan 1893 (1893 M Qtr in TIVERTON Vol 05B Page 408) (Died 1896 M Qtr in TIVERTON Vol 05B Page 288) [b]

[a] Alfred, Ethel Annie and William George were all baptised, on 19 Jan 1886, at the Anglican Church of Saint Matthew, located in Clarence Place, opposite the former Royal Naval Hospital at East Stonehouse, Plymouth.

[b] Registered at the GRO as Rosa May, this twin was baptised Rosa Mary, when she and Frederick John were both baptised "privately" on the same day they were born, 7 Jan 1893, in Halberton, Devon. Their address at this time was Valley House, Halberton and Alfred was employed as a labourer. (Private baptism: "This means the child wasn’t baptised at Sunday service, usually because it was thought too weak to survive until then. [...] but it can mean the child was baptised by the priest visiting the family home, or by the midwife attending the birth. In fact, according to Anglican practice, in an emergency, a baptism may be performed by anyone who is already themselves baptised.")

In 1881, Mary A Beamer (29), Marines Wife, was at 47, Adelaide Street, East Stonehouse, with son Alfred (0) and her sister Mary J White (19). (Mary Ann, who's mother was named Mary, and her mother before her was also Mary (her parents married, on 15 December 1850, when Mary Sorton was a minor (19), at St Mary’s Church Plympton) had a younger sister, named Mary Jane!)

Again in 1891, Mary A Beamer (38) was listed as the head of the household "Supported by husband", with children: Alfred (10), Ethel A (8) and William G (5), and were living at Union Place, East Stonehouse.

Alfred completed 21 years service in the Royal Marines, with a final date of 6 Jan 1893, however, both William George and Ethel Annie were registered in the National School Admission Registers a Halberton by Nov 1892.

In 1901, they were back in Plymouth at 19, Cecil Street, Stonehouse, with Alfred Beamer (46), Labourer at Victualling Yard, wife Mary (49) and their two daughters, Ettie (Ethel) (18) and Rosa (8). Son Alfred was away, having joined the Royal Marines, while William was away training in the Royal Navy.

And in 1911, at 40 Neswick Street, Stonehouse, Plymouth, were Alfred Beamer (57) Pensioner Royal Marine Labourer Royal William Victualling Yard, wife Mary Ann (59), Rose May (18) (There are no records beyond 1911 for daughter, Rosa May) and Mary Jane White (51), Mary Ann's sister.

Alfred Beamer died, at 68, in 1920 D Qtr in PLYMOUTH Vol 05B Page 329.

In 1921, Mary Ann Beamer (70) Widow, Mother-in-law, was living in what had then become the household of her son-in-law and daughter, Edward and Ethel Priddle, but still at 40, Neswick Street, Plymouth.

In 1939, Mary Ann, widow, was again living with son-in-law and daughter, Edward and Ethel Priddle, at 2 Glendower Road, Peverell, Plymouth.

Mary Ann Beamer of 2 Glendower Road, Peverell, Plymouth, died on 17 May 1950 (1950 J Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 07A Page 600). She was aged 99. A notice of her death had appeared in the Western Morning News on 19 May 1950 and Mary Ann was buried, on 20 May 1950, at The Parish Church of St Gabriel, Peverell Terrace, Peverell, Plymouth.

Edward Priddle and Ethel Annie Beamer

St Peter's Church, Wyndham Square, Plymouth
Plymouth's five star-rated building a select few people have been inside of
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Tom Jolliffe - geograph.org.uk/p/2342746

Edward Priddle (b. 12 Apr 1875 in Hackney, London), Sergeant RMLI, son of James Priddle and Catherine Stevens, married Ethel Annie Beamer (b. 23 Feb 1883 in East Stonehouse), daughter of Alfred Beamer and Mary Ann White, on 14 Oct 1905 at St Peter’s Church, Plymouth. Witnesses to their marriage were Alfred Beamer and Emily Luxton, the bride's brother and his intended, who married exactly two months later in Tiverton, Devon.

Edward Priddle, at 16, was employed by his father, a shoe maker, as a Clicker (A boot and shoe clicker cuts the uppers for boots or shoes), in Shoreditch. Edward enlisted in the Royal Marines on 27 Jan 1896 and served for 22 years, until 3 Mar 1918, finally attaining the rank of Lieutenant.

Edward and Ethel had three daughters, baptised at Plymouth, St Peter:

1. Ethel Annie Priddle b. 13 Jul 1906 (1906 S Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 05B Page 250), bap. 29 Jul 1906 (Died, aged 2, in 1909 J Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 05B Page 169)
2. Winifred May Priddle b. 4 May 1909 (1909 J Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 05B Page 249), bap. 20 May 1909
3. Mary Caroline Priddle b. 29 Dec 1912 (1913 M Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 05B Page 399), bap. 2 Feb 1913

In 1911, Edward Priddle (35) Sergeant Royal Marines, Ethel Annie (28) and Winifred May (1), were living at 40 Neswick Street, Plymouth. On this census return they confirm that by this point they'd had two children, one of whom had died, and one still living, during their five years of marriage.

In 1921, at 40 Neswick Street, Plymouth were Edward Priddle (46) Retired Lieut Royal Marines; Ethel Annie Priddle (38), Winifred May Priddle (12), Mary Caroline Priddle (8) and Mary Ann Beamer (70) Mother-in-law.

In 1939, the family including Edward Priddle, Retired RM, Ethel A, and Ethel's widowed mother, Mary Ann Beamer were living at 2 Glendower Road, Plymouth. Winifred May Priddle was an Assistant Mistress at a Secondary School in Exeter and Mary C Hadley and her husband, John Harold Hadley (Retail Tobacconist Proprietor), were at 42 Chestnut Road, Plymouth.

Ethel Annie Priddle, of 2 Glendower Road, Plymouth, died on 12 May 1959, leaving £281 17s 9d to her husband, Edward Priddle, Retired Lieutenant RM.

Edward Priddle, of 2 Glendower Road, Plymouth, died on 21 Jun 1962. He was 87. He left effects of £2809 11s to his two daughters, Winifred May Mayner and Mary Caroline Tomkins.

• Winifred May Priddle married Stanley Edmund Mayner (b. 29 Sep 1909) on 25 Jul 1959 at Plymouth, St Gabriel. Winifred May Mayner died, in Plymouth, on 27 Feb 1982. Stanley Edmund Mayner died, also in Plymouth, in 1986.
• Mary Caroline Priddle married John Harold Hadley (b. 30 Mar 1913 in Bristol) at Plymouth, St Gabriel, on 19 Feb 1938. In 1939, John H Hadley, Retail Tobacconist Proprietor, and Mary C Hadley were living at 42 Chestnut Road, Plymouth. On 22 May 1940, the Western Morning News, Plymouth, reported that Mary Caroline Hadley brought an action against her husband John Harold Hadley, who by then was serving in the Army, for desertion and wilful neglect. Hadley, it appears died, in his native Bristol in 1965. Meanwhile, Mary C Hadley remarried Ernest Frederick Tomkins (b. 26 Dec 1915 in Gloucestershire), in Plymouth, in 1951. Mary Caroline Tomkins died on 22 Oct 1996 in Pensilva, Cornwall. Ernest Frederick Tomkins died on 15 Feb 2002.

William George Beamer and Elsie May Carver

HMS Impregnable in the Hamoaze off Devonport Dockyard

William George Beamer (b. 4 Jan 1886 in East Stonehouse), son of Alfred Beamer and Mary Ann White, married Elsie May Carver (b. 22 Nov 1894, bap. 16 Dec 1894 at Holy Trinity Church), daughter of Charles Frederick Carver from Clerkenwell, London and Frances Rundle, native of Plymouth, at the Anglican Church of the Holy Trinity, which church was located in Southside Street/Friars Lane, Barbican, Plymouth, on 17 May 1916. (This church no longer exists because it was was destroyed in the Second World War.)

At 16, in 1901, William George Beamer had been a member of the crew of HMS Impregnable 1st Rate (Training Ship For Boys), in the Hamoaze, Devonport off Maker, St Germans, Cornwall. (HMS Impregnable became the Royal Navy's second boys' training ship at Devonport in 1862.)

Having signed up for a further 12 years in the Royal Navy, on 4 Feb 1903, William was discharged, invalided, on 8 Jun 1905. Then on 9 Sep 1905, he enlisted in the British Army in the Devonshire Regiment. One wonders what condition was classed as invalid for the Navy, but still fit for the Army.

Next we find William George Beamer (26), in 1911, with the 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment, stationed at Saint Georges Barracks, Malta. (Part of the Pembroke Army Garrison, at Pembroke, Malta, near St. Julian's.)

William George Beamer was the recipient of a Silver War Badge, having been discharged from the Machine Gun Corps on 30 Mar 1917, under King's Regulation 392 (xvi) “No longer physically fit for war service". "He has a Ministry of Pensions record card which shows him as 22105 MG, residing at 13 Walsdon Rd, Plymouth. He was discharged on 30.3.17. Cause - deafness. He was entitled to the Silver War Badge number 197170." (The Silver War Badge was designed to be worn on civilian clothes after early discharge from the army. The accompanying certificate will have read, "Served with honour and was disabled in the Great War. Honourably discharged on ...")

Elsie's younger brother, Charles Frederick Carver (b. 1898), 5th (Prince of Wales's) Battalion (Territorials), Devonshire Regiment, son of Charles F. and Frances Carver, of 5, Artizan's Dwellings, Notte St., Plymouth, was killed in action on 20 Jul 1918 and is buried at Marfaux British Cemetery, France.

In 1921, William George Beamer (35) General Labourer for the Admiralty, and Elsie M Beamer (25) were living at 13, Wolsdon Street, Plymouth.

In 1939, William G Beamer, Skilled Labourer HM Dockyard, wife Elsie M Beamer and John F Carver (b. 1902), Road Repair Labourer (Elsie's brother), were still living at 5 Artizans Dwellings, Notte Street, Plymouth - buildings in that street were destroyed in the Second World War and demolished.

William George Beamer, of 5 Artizans Dwellings, Notte Street, died on 1 Jan 1956 (1956 M Quarter in PLYMOUTH Volume 07A Page 834).

Elsie May Beamer died in the 4th quarter of 1973, aged 79.