John Winship Soppit, Mary Ellen Finch and Mary Morrell

Sangley Rd
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © N Chadwick - geograph.org.uk/p/3162332

John Winship Soppit, son of John Soppit and Louisa Tompson married Mary Ellen Finch, at St Lawrence, Catford (built in 1887, demolished in 1968 to make a car park) [in Lewisham registration district] on 24 September 1904. 

John and Mary Ellen had three daughters:

1. Dorothy Louisa Soppit b. 18 Aug 1906 in LAMBETH Vol 01D Page 471
2. Hilda Mary Soppit b. 14 Aug 1908 in LAMBETH Volume 01D Page 477
3. Kate Winship Soppit b. 12 Oct 1910 in Lewisham 

The records for the first two girls show the mother's maiden name as Finch. Even though FamilySearch quote GRO references for Kate's birth, this record does not show up in searches on the GRO website.

In 1911, living at 78 Sangley Road, Lewisham, were John Winship Soppit (29) Joiner from Deptford; Mary Ellen Soppit (36) with birthplace listed as York; Dorothy Louisa Soppit (4) birthplace Brixton; Hilda Mary Soppit (2) birthplace Brixton and Kate Winship Soppit (0) born in Catford.

There wasn't a record of a Mary Ellen Finch born in York, around 1875. As she was also seven years older than her husband, my guess is that Mary Ellen was a widow at the time of her marriage to John Winship Soppit and that Finch is her previous married name. Without seeing the marriage certificate that might tell us who Mary Ellen's father was and thus her maiden name, I can't yet confirm.

In 1917, then actually 35 (not 33 as listed) John Winship Soppit enlisted (was probably conscripted) into the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) at the 4th General Hospital, Birmingham. [See more at: Birmingham’s Military Hospitals] At the time of his discharge he was a nursing orderly. [Source]

In 1921, John Winship Soppit is listed in Lewisham. As Joseph and Rachel are among other members in the listing's household, we can surmise that John was visiting his brother. While Mary Ellen (who appears to have got younger), Dorothy, Hilda and Kate are listed in the district of Aston, Birmingham. 

Mary Ellen Soppit then died in 1924 D Quarter in BIRMINGHAM NORTH Volume 06D Page 486. 

In 1928, John Winship Soppit then remarried to Mary Baker (née Morrell), daughter of William Jabez Morrell and Sarah Waldron. This time we know she was a widow - her first husband Samuel Horatio Baker had died in 1925 - and had at least two sons from that previous marriage.

Second wife, Mary Soppit, died, aged 65, on 13 Jul 1950.

John Winship Soppit died, in Birmingham, on 6 May 1969. The death notice in The London Gazette gives his address at that time as 15 Homecroft Rd, Yardley, Birmingham. It's ironic that growing up in Birmingham in the 1960's, at times I'll have been mere streets away from there, while my mother felt as 'a fish out of water' in that city. If only she'd known she had relatives so close.

• Dorothy Louisa Soppit died in DOR Q2/1989 in BIRMINGHAM (0611K) Volume 32 Page 1041
• Hilda M Soppit married James F Lawless, in Birmingham, in 1933. James Frederick Lawless (bap. Jacobus Fredericus Lawless at the Roman Catholic parish of Most Holy Sacrament & St Osburg, in Coventry, in 1908.) The couple don't appear to have had children. In 1939, they lived at 286 Chester Road, Hardwick (286 Chester Road, Streetly, Sutton Coldfield). James Frederick Lawless died in 1980 in Carmarthen. Hilda Mary Lawless of 15 Homecroft Road, Yardley, Birmingham died, aged 86, on 18 Mar 1994 (DOR Q1/1994 in WARWICKSHIRE SOUTH (7751B) Reg B24B Entry Number 279) at Lapworth Nursing Home, Chessetts Wood Road, Solihull and was buried at Yardley Cemetery & Crematorium, on 25 Mar 1994.
• Kate Winship Soppit died in DOR Q3/1998 in SOLIHULL (0731B) Reg B41F Entry Number 97.

It's evident, therefore, that neither Dorothy, nor Kate ever married.

John Winship Soppit (1882 - 1969)