James Shopland and Loveday Jane Stone

Bridge and Uplowman church
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Smith - geograph.org.uk/p/4097757

James Shopland (b. 1885), son of James Shopland and Caroline Sydenham, married Loveday Jane Stone (b. 6 Apr 1884), daughter of Frederick James Stone and Loveday Jane Land, at St Peter’s Church, Uplowman on 2 Nov 1904. Witnesses were Mary Ann Stone and Frederick James Stone. 

James Shopland's father, James Shopland (1850-1908), was a Wheelwright and Carpenter of Chevithorne Village. In 1901, James Shopland (16) had been employed as a Dairyman's Labourer to Samuel B Thornton, residing at The Island Cottage, Lowman Green, Tiverton. Then, on 8 Jun 1901, adding two years to his age and claiming to be 18 years and 3 months, James Shopland, enlisted for Short Service in the Devonshire Regiment and served until 7 Jun 1913, when he was discharged at the end of his first period of engagement. James' record says he passed classes as Mounted infantry, Certified. From 23 Jul 1902 until 21 May 1903, James served in South Africa, in the aftermath of the Second Boer War. From 22 May 1903, until his discharge, he was assigned to Home, presumably actual home, as a reservist.

James and Loveday had five children:

1. Frederick James Shopland b. 19 Nov 1905 (1905 D Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 368), bap. 17 Dec 1905 at St Peter's Church, Tiverton, as the family's address then was 3 Adam's Court, Barrington Street, Tiverton. 
2. Loveday Jane Shopland b. 14 Feb 1907 (1907 J Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 373), bap. 17 Feb 1907 at Cove. 
   
3. Albert Geoffrey Shopland b. 21 Jul 1908 (1908 S Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 357). 
4. Sidney Arthur Shopland bap. 27 Feb 1910 at Bickleigh (1910 M Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 337)
5. John James Shopland b. 1911 J Quarter in WELLINGTON SOMERSET AND DEVON Volume 05C Page 226. 

In 1911, living at New Cottages, Seckerleigh Farm, Halberton, were James Shopland (27) Farm Labourer, Loveday Jane (27), Frederick James (6), Loveday Jane (4), Albert Geoffrey (3), Sidney Arthur (1) and boarder, Robert Charles Harris (38) Farm Labourer, from Penzance, Cornwall. 

In 1921, James Shopland (35) was working for the Great Western Railway at Temple Meads Station, Bristol, and was living at 34, Pylle Hill Crescent, Totterdown, Bristol, with Loveday J Shopland (37), Frederick J Shopland (15) Machanist (Printing); Loveday J Shopland (14) Out of work; Albert J Shopland (12) and Sidney A Shopland (11).

In 1939, Loveday Jane Shopland was still at 34 Pylle Hill Crescent, Bristol, with daughter, Loveday Jane Southcott. James was not listed. 

Loveday Jane Shopland died, aged 56, in 1941 M Quarter in TAUNTON Volume 05C Page 912. 

James Shopland died, at 69, in 1955 S Qtr in BRISTOL Vol 07B Page 68.

• Frederick James Shopland married Elizabeth A P Cox (b. 1 Mar 1906) in Bristol, in 1927. In 1939, were at 131 Eden Grove, Bristol, with three other people in the household. Frederick James Shopland died in 1971, in Weston-super-Mare.
• Loveday Jane Shopland married Leonard Southcott in Bristol in 1928. Their address in 1939 was 34 Pylle Hill Crescent, Bristol. Leonard Southcott died, aged 47, in 1950 S Quarter in BRISTOL Volume 07B Page 49. In 1952, Loveday Jane Southcott remarried to a James John Basten Rank (b. 1898 in Wandsworth), son of James Rank and Rose Basten. James J B Rank died, aged 68, in 1966, in Weston-super-Mare. Loveday Jane Rank died in Q1/1995 in TAUNTON (7241B) Reg B62B Entry Number 168. There's also a record of her death listed as Loveday Jane Southcott. 
• Albert Geoffrey Shopland married Annie Richards (b. 30 Sep 1911) in Bristol in 1930 and in 1939 they were living at 3 Chessington Avenue, Bristol. Albert G Shopland died, at 35, in 1944 S Quarter in BRISTOL Volume 06A Page 48.
• On 13 Jun 1929, Sidney Arthur Shopland enlisted in the Royal Artillery. Sidney A Shopland died, aged 58, in 1968, in Bristol.

James Wood and Mary Ann Melhuish

Broadhembury
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Stowell - geograph.org.uk/p/6855

James Wood (bap. 2 Aug 1857 in Kentisbeare), son of James Wood and Harriet Gollop, married Mary Ann Melhuish (b. ~1864) on 20 May 1883 at St. Mary’s, Kentisbeare. The spaces for Mary Ann's father are left blank on the marriage certificate who consistently said she was born in Clayhidon, Devon. (There was a Mary Ann Melhuish born illegitimately to an Elizabeth Melhuish, on 12 Mar 1863 (1863 J Quarter in WELLINGTON SOMERSET AND DEVON Volume 05C Page 445), but that birth was in Hemyock.) Were they connected to Mary Jane Melhuish, who James' elder brother Henry had married.

James and Mary Ann had 11 children:

1. Robert Wood b. 1883 S Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 404, bap. 12 Jul 1885 in Kentisbeare (Baptised at 18 months old.) 
2. Sarah Ann Wood b. 1885 S Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 405, bap. 12 Jul 1885 in Kentisbeare
3. Edith Maud Wood b. 24 Jul 1887 (1887 S Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 421), bap. 14 Aug 1887 in Kentisbeare
4. Harriet Mary Wood b. 23 Nov 1888 (1889 M Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 419), bap. 13 Jan 1889 in Kentisbeare
5. George Wood b. 30 Aug 1890 (1890 D Quarter in HONITON Volume 05B Page 13), bap. 5 Oct 1890 in Broadhembury
6. Unnamed male Wood b. 1893 M Quarter in HONITON Volume 05B Page 16 (Died 1893 M Quarter in HONITON Volume 05B Page 14)
7. Eldred James Wood b. 15 Mar 1894 (1894 J Quarter in HONITON Volume 05B Page 14), bap. 1 Apr 1894 in Broadhembury. 
8. Mabel Wood b. 1896 S Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 385, bap. 8 Aug 1896, marked P.B. Private Baptism, presumably at home. (Died at 21 days old (1896 S Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 257), buried 23 Aug 1896, also in Kentisbeare)
9. Roland Ashford Wood b. 25 Jan 1898 (1898 M Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 384), bap. 13 Mar 1898 in Kentisbeare
10. Reginald Leonard Wood b. 8 May 1901 (1901 J Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 378), bap. ? 1901 in Blackborough
11. Mabel Frances Wood b. 1904 M Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 380 (Died at 26 days old (1904 M Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 05B Page 307), buried 17 Jan 1904 in Blackborough)

In 1891 the family were living in Broad Road, Broadhembury, Honiton with James Wood (32) Agricultural Labourer, Mary A (29), Robert (7), Sarah A (5), Edith M (3), Harriet M (2) and George (0).

In 1901, they were back in Kentisbeare at Hollis Green, with James Wood (43), Mary A (39), Edith (13), Harriet M (12), George (10), Eldred J (7) and Roland A (3). I've been unable to find either Robert or Sarah Ann. 

In 1911, at Cobblers Hall, Kentisbeare, were James Wood (53), Mary Ann (49), Sarah Ann Wood (25) Servant Cook, and Reginald Leonard Wood (9). They confirm on this census that they had 11 children during their 28 years of marriage, with 8 still living and 3 had died. Harriet Mary Wood (23) from Kentisbeare, Devon was Cook in the household of James Browning Young (63) Retired Captain Royal Navy at Wimborne Minster, Dorset.

James Wood died at 61 on 11 Nov 1918 (1918 D Quarter in TIVERTON Vol 05B Page 833) and is buried in St Mary's Churchyard, Kentisbeare.

In 1921, Mary Ann Wood (58) Widow, was living at Downlands, Kentisbeare, Devon with Roland Ashford Wood (23) & Reginald Leonard Wood (20) Farm Labourers; Sarah Ann Edmond (36) Widow; James Roland George Edmond (8) Grandson; Arthur Cecil Ronald Edmond (6) Grandson; Constance Mary Helen Edmond (4) Granddaughter and Robert Wood (37) Visitor (eldest son).

In 1939, Mary Ann Wood, Widow, was living at 15, Blackborough with her youngest son, Reginald Leonard, then employed as a Rabbit Trapper. 

Mary Ann Wood died ~91 on 6 Jan 1955 (1955 M Qtr in TIVERTON Vol 07A Page 1000) and buried with her late husband at St Mary's, Kentisbeare.

• George Wood died on 29 Dec 1953 and is buried at St Mary's, Kentisbeare, with his brother Reginald and niece, Connie Edmond.
• Eldred James Wood served in the Devonshire Regiment during World War I and married Margaret Evans in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales in 1916. Eldred James Wood died on 19 Aug 1967 in Weymouth, Dorset and was buried back at St Mary's Churchyard, Kentisbeare. Margaret Wood died on 8 Jul 1975 and was buried with her late husband.
• Roland Ashford Wood married Cicely Butt in 1939. That year they were living at Bodmiscombe Wood, where Roland was a Farmer. Roland Ashford Wood died on 28 Feb 1975. Cicely Wood died on 23 Oct 1981. They are buried together at St Mary's, Kentisbeare.
• Reginald Leonard Wood of 15 Blaydon Cottages, Blackborough, 53, died on 18 Jun 1954 (1954 J Quarter in TIVERTON Volume 07A Page 725) at Tiverton and District Hospital. As he left his effects to his widowed mother, he probably hadn't married. 

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.