Elizabeth Gibbs (b.1839) & descendants

 Elizabeth (1839-94?)

1839 Elizabeth was born in  in Deddington
1861 Elizabeth is found in Thames Place, Putney, working for the house of William Aviss, retired builder, as a House Servant, aged 27.
1865, Elizabeth married Edward Harris in Oxford.
1871 census, Edward and Elizabeth Harris, have a son Fred of 9 months, and are visitors to Alfred Rabbitts, Cordwainer (boot maker), in Baughurst Hill, Baughurst, Hampshire. Edward is also a Cordwainer.
1881, Edward and Elizabeth are found in New Street, Deddington, and Edward is a Boot Maker. Their children are Fred 10 born in Tadley, Hampshire. Sidney 8, born in Baughurst, Hampshire. William 4, born in Baughurst, Hampshire. Ellen 1, born in Kingsclere, Hampshire. There is a daughter Agnes, aged 4, but she is with the family of Jesse Parsons, land measurer of Baughurst, Hampshire, who lives close to Alfred Rabbitts, mentioned above.
1891, Edward is missing, but Elizabeth is still shown as married, but is indicated aliving in Well Road, Souldern, Bicester. Son William is an Agricultural Labourer aged 14, Agnes 14, Ellen 11.
Edward is to be found as a lodger in Basingstoke, Hampshire, to the family of Charles Grant, and Edward is still a Boot Maker. Charles Grant is a Boot Trade Clicker. (The person who cuts the uppers for boots or shoes from a skin of leather. The 'Click' is made by the sound of the knife.)
1894, Elizabeth died in Bicester, aged 54.
1901 Edward is found as a Widower, living in East Shirfield, Berkshire. Working as a Bootmaker and lives next to a school, in School Green.
1908 Edward died in the registration district of Reading, Hampshire.

Fred & his Military Service  

1890 Fred signed up for the Army Service Corps aged 19. Previously he had been working as a Baker. Originally given the Regimental Service Number of 8646.
1891 Census - Fred is a soldier in the Aldershot barracks in Hampshire, in the Army Service Corp.
1893 he is promoted to Lance Corporal.
1895 he is sent to the Gold Coast and was involved with the Ashanti Expedition, and received the Ashanti Star.
1898 he is promoted to 2nd Corporal and given a new regimental number of 9559, he is sent to Egypt and is involved with the Sudan Campaign to control the Suez Canal, He obtained a Sudan medal relating to Khedives (Egyptian King forced to abdicate) and another called the Queens Medal.
1899 Promoted to Corporal. He was sent to South Africa, and was involved with the Second Boer War, located at Bloemfontein.
1901 Promoted to Sergeant. He was awarded the Kings Medal for those who completed 18 months service in battle, also the Queens Medal handed to all those involved.
1904 Fred married Ethel Ellen Gibbs, the daughter of Frederick William Gibbs on February 21st. Firstly in a Registry Office , then later in 1905 in a Church married by Banns. He is a Sergeant in the ASC, aged 33. Ethel is 24, previously living at 9, Isla Road, Plumstead. Fred's father Edward is described as a Commercial Traveller. Ethel's father Frederick is described as a Master Confectioner.
1905 Fred and Ethel have a daughter Hilda Ethel, born in the Army Service Corp barracks, Woolwich, London (Woolwich, allied with Aldershot was  a transport division supplying horses and supplies to the army.)
Mentioned in Fred's discharge papers, a child Percy Fred is born 7th July, in Woolwich, but...
1906 Percy sadly dies in October
1907 Fred and Ethel are sent to Malta and Fred is a Staff Quarter Master Sergeant. Malta was requisitioned as a military post for the British until 1910.       
1908, Reginald F Harris is born to Fred and Ethel in Malta. This explains why they cannot be found in the1911 UK census, as they are likely to have been abroad at that time.
1911 Fred was discharged on 4th September, after serving for 21 years, aged 40. He received a Medal for Long Service and good conduct. Disturbingly, in his discharge papers he admits that the location of his father Edward is unknown, although he gives his mother 's address as living in Souldern, so he may not have realised his mother had died in 1894, and father in 1908. Fred's address is given as 2 Belle Vue Road, Aldershot, Hampshire.
1924 Fred died in Romford Essex.

A full record of Fred's service can be seen on his Military Service Sheet

Sydney 

1891 Census Sydney is living in Souldern, Bicester, at Souldern Manor, Chapel Row, working as a domestic servant and groom. The house owner is not indicated, but once owned by Robert Kilby Cox who died in 1828, the property was handed down to Samuel who died childless, so was passed to Great Nephew, Robert Kilby Cox, who lived at Broxwood, Herefordshire.
1901, Sydney is found at Wycombe Lane, Wooburn, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Working as a Groom, and living with wife Clara (Denham) whom he married in 1898, and son Sydney aged 2.
1911 the family live at 2 Elizabeth Cottages, Wooburn Green, Buckinghamshire. Sydney works at a papermill, it is indicated that Sydney and Clara have had 2 children, son Sydney is still indicated, but one child has died.

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       2. Elizabeth b.1839 d. possibly 1894 - unverified
         + Edward Harris
            3.Agnes b.1866
            3.Fred b.1870 d.1924
              + Ethel Ellen Gibbs (daughter of Frederick Gibbs & Jane Smith)
                  4.Hilda Ethel
                  4.Percy Fred (died at 3 months)
                  4.Reginald F Harris b.1908
            3.Sydney b.1873
               +Clara Denham
                  4.Sydney (b. in or bef 1911)
                  4.Unknown (d. in or bef 1911)
            3.William b.1877
            3.Ellen b.1880