Charles Hockley and Annie Crow

Halfway House Farm, near Great Dunmow, Essex
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Robert Edwards - geograph.org.uk/p/231844

Charles Hockley (b. 27 Apr 1876), son of William Hockley and Charlotte Cock, like generations of the family grew up at Halfway House, married Annie Crow, daughter of James Crow and Ann Newcombe, who had lived virtually next door at Philpot End, in Great Dunmow, on 29 Mar 1902.

Charles and Annie Hockley had four children:

1. William Charles Hockley b. 7 Sep 1903 D Quarter in DUNMOW Volume 04A Page 869, bap. 18 Oct 1903, in Great Dunmow
2. James Hockley b. 24 Oct 1909 D Quarter in DUNMOW Volume 04A Page 842, bap. 28 Nov 1909 in Great Dunmow
3. Annie Hockley b. 14 Jan 1912 M Quarter in DUNMOW Volume 04A Page 1696, bap. 25 Feb 1912 in Great Dunmow
4. Charles Francis Hockley b. 25 Mar 1915 J Quarter in DUNMOW 04A Page 1630, bap. 2 May 1915 in Great Dunmow

At Halfway House in 1911 were Charles Hockley (35) Farm Labourer, Annie Hockley (33), William Charles Hockley (7) and James Hockley (1).

None of the baptism records say where, but they do all confirm the family's residence at Halfway House. On the last baptism for Charles Francis in 1915, his father's occupation is given as Army Service Corps Serving in France. 

Despite about 60% of soldiers’ Service Records being irretrievably damaged or lost completely as a result of enemy bombing in 1940 during the Second World War, Charles Hockley's record survives. Charles Hockley, Service number T4/041670 of Halfway House, Great Dunmow, Essex, had volunteered, age 38 years and 8 months, for 3 years service on 18 Jan 1915, at which time he was 5 ft 4¼ with a 37" chest. The record confirms the dates of birth of his four children, which it says were verified by certificates, but he'd incorrectly remembered the date of his wedding anniversary.

Charles was attached to the 452nd Horse Transport Company (he'd have been used to working with horses on the farm). See: Army Service Corps Horse Transport Companies. According to the list, pre-war, this was the 46th (North Midland) Division and his record does show him with the 46th Division Train - "the ‘workhorse’ of the Division in terms of carrying stores and supplies". Charles' embarked in Southampton on 18 Feb 1915, arriving in Le Havre the following day. It is recorded that the Division spent the first months in the Ypres Salient. Charles was in France until he was discharged on 22 Mar 1919. He received a British War Medal and a Victory Medal.

In 1939, at Halfway House Cottages, Great Dunmow, were Charles Hockley, Labourer Stockman; Annie Hockley; James Hockley, Farm Labourer and Charles Francis Hockley, Heavy Tractor Driver (Agricultural Contract Work).

Charles Hockley died, aged 76, in 1953 J Qtr in BRAINTREE Vol 04A 283.

Annie Hockley died, aged 77, in 1955 J Qtr in DUNMOW Vol 04A Page 540.

• William Charles Hockley of Church Cottage, Tilty, had married Jessica Emma Trott, daughter of Robert William Trott, on 11 Feb 1928 in Tilty, Essex. In 1939, William C Hockley, Gardener, and Jessie E Hockley were living at The Fields, Stansted Mountfitchet. William Charles Hockley died, aged 86, in Bishops Stortford, in 1989. Jessie Emma Hockley died, aged 92, in Harlow, in 1998.
• James Hockley, of Halfway House Cottage, Ongar Road, Great Dunmow, died on 2 Oct 1979. He does not appear to ever marry.
• Annie C Hockley (she didn't have a second name, but the birth date agrees), married Fred Hardy in Great Dunmow in 1937. In 1939, Fred Hardy, Horseman on farm and Annie Hardy were living at Tolliday Cottages, Stebbing, Great Dunmow. Fred Hardy died, aged 80, in 1985 and Anny Hardy, aged 77 in 1989.
• Charles Francis Hockley died on 5 Sep 2012. He'll have been 97.

Benjamin Tompson Soppit and Ida Lily Hepworth

St Nicholas Church, Durweston, Dorset

Benjamin Tompson Soppit (b. 13 Nov 1884 in Bromley, Kent), son of John Soppit and Louisa Tompson, married Ida Lily Hepworth (b. 16 Sep 1891 in Exeter), daughter of Vincent Hepworth and Mary Ann (Annie) Rogers, at St Mary Major, Exeter, on 2 Jul 1913. Ida Lily Hepworth gave her residence as 3 Cathedral Yard, Exeter (now the address of Al Farid restaurant). Witnesses were Annie Adams (Ida's mother who remarried in 1908), H W (Henry Wood) Adams, her step-father, and John Soppit, presumably Benjamin's father.

The Church of St Mary Major, Exeter, formerly Exeter Minster, stood in Exeter Cathedral Yard, between the west front of the cathedral and next to The Three Gables, the building which now houses Al Farid restaurant. Having been rebuilt several times, St Mary Major was demolished in 1971.

In 1911, Ida Hepworth was a Hospital Nurse at The Croydon Borough Hospital for Infectious Diseases (Waddon Hospital). The Hospital was extended in 1911 to include two isolation pavilions and a Nurses' Home.

Benjamin and Ida had two children: 

1. John Vincent Soppit b. 15 Jul 1914 S Quarter in YORK Vol 09D Page 27
2. Ida Louisa Soppit b. 1916 M Quarter in PLYMPTON ST. MARY Volume 05B Page 293

In March 1916 Benjamin Tompson Soppit M2/115307 was serving with the Royal Army Service Corps in Salonica [Thessaloniki] on the Macedonian front. He ultimately achieved the rank of Second Lieutenant and Adjutant. 

In 1939, Benjamin and Ida were living at 46 Cambridge Drive, Lee, Lewisham.

Final resting place of Benjamin Tompson and Ida Lily Soppit

They later moved to 43 Barrack Row, Durweston, near to their daughter. 

Benjamin Tompson Soppit died on 28 Jan 1969, aged 85. Ida Lily Soppit died on 3 Jun 1995, at the age of 103 years 9 months (DOR Q2/1995 in NORTH DORSET (4301) Reg 54 Entry Number 140). They're buried together in the churchyard at St Nicholas Church, Durweston, Dorset. 

The inscription reads:

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

BENJAMIN TOMPSON SOPPIT

WHO FELL ASLEEP 

28th JAN 1969

Faithful in all things

ALSO OF HIS WIFE

IDA LILY

3rd June 1995

In her 104th year

• John Vincent Soppit married Olive Constance Archer in 1943 in Bromley, Kent. Listed in the 21 Jun 1945 edition of The London Gazette is Lieutenant-Colonel (temporary) John Vincent SOPPIT (124996), Royal Army Service Corps (Beckenham, Kent). They had one daughter, Amanda Janet Soppit, born in 1946. John Vincent Soppit died in London in 1990. Olive Constance Soppit of 54 Greenways, Beckenham, Kent, died on 1 Dec 2010. Amanda Janet Soppit appears not to have married and died on 9 Apr 2015.
• 'Betty' I L [Ida Louisa] Soppit married Alfred Ernest Woodley, in Deptford, London in 1938. In 1939, Alfred E Woodley (b. 22 Jan 1913) School Master, and Betty I L Woodley were living at 77 Salisbury Street, Blandford Forum, Dorset. They had one son, born in Carlisle, Cumberland, in 1942. Alfred Ernest Woodley of The Old Bank House, Blandford, died, aged 30, on 17 Feb 1943 at Bewaldeth Village, Cockermouth, Cumberland. Betty I L Woodley then remarried to Harold Greenleaves in Blandford, Dorset in 1944. They had one son in 1945. Harold Greenleaves, born 1904, died in North Dorset, in 2003. Betty Ida Louisa Greenleaves died, on 29 Jul 2014. Both sons appear to be still living.

Frederick John Bridle and Florence M L Coleman

Medjez-El-Bab Memorial Verity Cridland, CC BY 2.0

Frederick John Bridle, youngest child of John Lucas Bridle and Alice Brewer, married Florence Melita Louisa Coleman, in Bristol, in 1934. 

They had a daughter in 1935. And in 1939, we find them in Wells Road [Totterdown], Bristol, with Frederick working as a "Labourer Arp Shelters". 

Frederick John Bridle (30), Driver, Royal Army Service Corps, son of  J. and Alice Bridle; husband of Florence Melitia Bridle, of Totterdown, Bristol, died on 9 Feb 1943. He is buried at Medjez-El-Bab War Cemetery, near Majaz al Bab, Tunisia. (Tunisia was the scene of Operation Torch (8 Nov 1942 – 13 May 1943), the Allied invasion of North Africa. CWGC Commonwealth War Graves in Béja & Medjez-el-Bab, Tunisia, North Africa.)

Frederick's widow, Florence M L Bridle, died in 1988, at 78, in Bristol.