Inherited Craziness
A place to share all the nuts found on my family tree

Showing posts with label Solihull. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Solihull. Show all posts

Tuesday 24 September 2024

John Winship Soppit and Mary Ellen Bradley

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

John Winship Soppit (b. 1 Mar 1882 in Greenwich), son of John Soppit and Louisa Tompson married Mary Ellen Finch, at St Lawrence, Catford (built in 1887, demolished in 1968) on 24 Sep 1904. Born Mary Ellen Bradley in 1872 M Quarter in YORK Volume 09D Page 12, she was the illegitimate daughter of Mary Elizabeth Bradley. Following her mother's marriage to George Henry Finch she was known as Mary Ellen Finch. [Source]

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 Vol 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

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.

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 (39) Commercial Traveller was a visitor in the household of his brother, Joseph at 175, George Lane, Lewisham; while Mary Ellen Soppit (39ish) was living at 107 Reservoir Rd, Erdington, Birmingham with George Alfred Finch (41) Commercial Traveller (Brother), Dorothy Louisa Soppit (14), Hilda Mary Soppit (12) and Kate Winship Soppit (10).

Mary Ellen Soppit died, aged 51, in 1924 D Quarter in BIRMINGHAM NORTH Volume 06D Page 486 and was buried 13 Oct 1924 at the church of St Barnabas, Erdington, Birmingham.

John Winship Soppit (46), Widower, Commercial Traveller of 107 Reservoir Rd, Erdington, Birmingham, then remarried to Mary Baker (née Morrell), Widow (43), daughter of William Jabez Morrell and Sarah Waldron, at the Parish Church in Erdington, Birmingham (St Barnabas' Church, Erdington) on 8 Dec 1928. (Her first husband Samuel Horatio Baker had died in 1925 and she had at least two sons from that previous marriage.)

Second wife, Mary Soppit, died, aged 65, on 13 Jul 1950 (1950 S Quarter in BIRMINGHAM Volume 09C Page 15).

John Winship Soppit died, in Birmingham, on 6 May 1969. The death notice in The London Gazette gives his address as 15 Homecroft Rd, Yardley, Birmingham. It's ironic that growing up in Birmingham in the 1960's, at times we'd have been mere streets from there, while my mother felt as 'a fish out of water' in that city. If only she'd known she had blood 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 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.
It's evident, therefore, that neither Dorothy, nor Kate ever married.

These pages are my notes on work in progress. Follow That Page can monitor changes, as further research is done. Where something is unconfirmed, I've tried to make this clear, but include the information as it may provide further clues.

General Register Office (GRO) references for births and deaths, where appropriate, are quoted, so that you can more easily locate certificates. I do not routinely purchase certificates for any, other than my direct ancestors, which I'm willing to share.

If you have information, certificates, etc., you can offer, please get in touch.