Watkinson Family Tree - Clive and Di Stirling

WATKINSON Is not an English name. Dictionaries of surnames suggest that it came from
Flanders or from the Netherlands early in the 11th century. Records refer to ADAM filius
WATERKINI (Cantulary Rolls, Osney Abbey, Oxfordshire, c1200 AD), JOHN WATKYNS
(Subsidy Rolls, Suffolk, 1327), JOHN WATKINSON, son of WATKYN (Register of the Guild of
Corpus Christie, City of York, 1485).
It would appear that WATKINSONS were in America before the mid 17th century, wills are
recorded of descendants of the WATKINSON and Ackerly families (Library of Congress 2967,
'American and English Genealogies').
GEORGE FREDERICK (1788) was a Londoner, and was married in Christchurch, Newgate
Street, in 1809. It was from this church opposite Newgate Prison that two WATKINSONS had
been taken to Tyburn on a hurdle in 1580. The family, with nine children, lived in Fore Street,
near Cripplegate, and worshipped at the Church of St Giles Without. George was admitted to
the Guild of Clothworkers in July 1824, and was a Freeman of the City of London. JOHN
FREDERICK (1827) was baptised at St Giles, and married there on 25th December 1850.
GEORGE FREDERICK (1813) was twice married with two families, but we have no details.
Scant records of CHARLOTTE (1825) show that she took the veil and was still in the convent
when she died. MARIE LOUISE (1821), also a Catholic, went to live at Deal, Kent, following her
marriage to Prior. WILLIAM HENRY (1817) died in 1859 when his only daughter, Jane, was
aged eleven, and she was adopted by her uncle John (qv), joining a family which was to grow to
ten children.
HENRY JOHN (1851) was married three times, and his second and third wives were apparently
sisters. MARIA LOUISA (1821) married an amateur painter, Tavener, who was also Unitarian
Pastor at Ipswich, Suffolk.
FREDERICK GEORGE (1856) was apprenticed for seven years from the age of 12 to Thomas
de la Rue in Bunhill Row. He rose to Chief Engineer and eventually retired having had a hand
in developing machines for printing rail tickets, playing cards and stamps. He was a member of
the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and patented the first four-wheel drive with radial
steering. He also served on the first Council in Islington Borough, and in retirement in Billericay
he was 'Guardian of the Poor' responsible for the workhouse, also a District Councillor and
Churchwarden.
SAMUEL SUMMERS (1862) was also a printer, and went to work in Windsor, Ontario. From
there he went to the Klondyke with the Gold Rush, and in a later photograph he is seen outside
his general store in Payallup, Washington State with two sons.
LEONARD HENRY (1892) married in Kandy, Ceylon, and was buried six days later in Colombo
after a car accident. KENELM FREDERICK (1881) joined the Indian Geological Survey in 1913
and was based in Calcutta for many years.
THOMAS (1887) lived to almost 100 despite smoking 40 Capstan Full Strength every day.
CLEMENT HENRY (1883) went to Moscow in 1908 for Union Cold Storage. Married
during this spell, Barbara (1913) was born at home, but Peggy (1917) was born at Kosloff.
Mother and children had to flee Russia as refugees, Clement was imprisoned by the
Bolsheviks and many of his colleagues were shot. He was repatriated in 1920 on the first
prisoner exchange, and was content to spend the rest of his working life commuting to the
City.
PERCY JOHN (1885) left home aged 17 for Toronto, worked his way across Canada
doing logging and some gold prospecting. Eventually settled in Kodiak Island, Alaska and
ran a successful business for some years. Subsequently moved to the USA and started
another business, in building components, and lived into his nineties.
Another nonagenarian was HAROLD EDWARD (1889), who had three careers as an
architect and Chartered Surveyor: he worked on the First Garden City at Letchworth, then
was District Surveyor for the London County Council until the age of 65, when he started
in practice in North London; he was active as senior partner to the age of 92.
WATKINSONS lived in or near Fore Street for over 300 years, and worshipped at St Giles
Without. Before the 1939 war ROBERT WATKINSON'S tombstone could be seen by the
west door. He was Churchwarden in 1614 and again in 1617. After the Plague and the
Great Fire people began to move away from the City, but the fire missed Cripplegate, and
JOHN FREDERICK (1827) was still living in Fore Street in 1860. His five elder children
were baptised at St Giles, and the four younger ones at Holy Trinity, Hoxton. This
suggests that he moved before the Metropolitan Railway came in 1862/3, when over 70%
of the population was displaced.
An old map of the City dated 1550 shows 'Crepplegate' between Alders Gate and Moor
Gate in the City wall. Cripplegate, a postern gate, was getting old in 1244 when the
Brewers in Chiswell Street carried out major repairs (Notes on the History of St Giles
Without - pamphlet from the church). The first church was Norman, 1090, rebuilt in the
perpendicular style 1393, gutted by incendiary bombs in 1940, and again restored.
Famous men buried here include John Milton and Martin Frobisher. Oliver Cromwell,
aged 21, married Elizabeth in August 1620. For a time William Shakespeare lodged in
Silver Street nearby, and in 1604 attended St Giles for his nephew's baptism.
Others living nearby and worshipping at St Giles include Sir Thomas More (1478-1535),
John Foxe (1516-1587), Ben Johnson (1573-1637). The restored church surrounded by
the vastness of the 20th Century Barbican may yet be just as quiet today after midnight as
when the patrolling Watchman intoned the hours over 900 years ago.
Researched and described in 1966 by
PHILIP GEORGE KENELM WATKINSON (1908-1995)
Charted and updated September 2004 by Clive Richard Stirling, to whom please send
any corrections and additions: clive@clivestirling.com or +44(0)1372 279501

1790 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 Jayne Houston 1980 b1968 1990 2000
George
Frederick
Watkinson
1788-1827
=1. Mary Ann Munday
1790-1858
Mary Ann Watkinson
1810-?
George Frederick Watkinson
1813-?
Elizabeth Sarah Watkinson
1815-?
William Henry Watkinson
1819-1859
= ?
Charles Watkinson
1819-?
Marie Louise Watkinson
1821- ?
= Frederick Prior
James Alfred Watkinson
1823- ?
Charlotte Watkinson
1825-?
John Frederick Watkinson
1827-1902
=1. Elizabeth Eldridge 1826-1894
=2. Mary Ann Smart 1840-1915
George Frederick WATKINSON
b1788, and his descendants.
Key
Green boxes are Watkinsons,
descended through the male line
Yellow boxes are descendants of
female Watkinsons
The page has gutter space across and down
the centres, for printing on four A4 sheets (2
x 2) if your printer driver offers this option.
Last updated: 6 th September 2004
Jane Watkinson
1848- ?
= Joseph Hughes
Henry John Watkinson
1851-1924
=1. Ann Page
=2. Sarah Sharp
=3. Alice Sharp
Maria Louisa Watkinson
1854-?
= Lucking Capping Tavener
Frederick George
Watkinson
1856-1938
= Emma Welch 1849-1934
Charles James Watkinson
1858-1935
= Jessie
Alice Hughes
Louise Hughes
Samuel Summers Watkinson
1862-?
Lydia Elizabeth Watkinson
1865-1946
=Samuel Arnold
David Eldridge Watkinson
1867-1897
=Clara
Eric Watkinson
Herbert Tavener
Horace Tavener
Grace Tavener
Florence Tavener
Wallace Tavener
Leonard Henry Watkinson
1892-1923
= Mary
Kenelm Frederick Watkinson
1881-1962
=1. Penelope Mary Matilda Clarke
1876-1922
=2. Mary Florence Venner Clarke
1878-1932
=3. Dora Gentle 1904-1981
Clement Henry Watkinson
1883-1947
= Alice Eliza Swann 1883-1981
Beatrice Mary Watkinson
1884-1939
Percy John Watkinson
1885-1977
=1. Maud Victoria Cairns 1885-1942
=2. Edith 1894-1985
Harold Edward Watkinson
1889-1981
= Eleanor Maud Tanner 1886-1960
Thomas Watkinson 1887-1986
Samuel Watkinson 1889
Ernest Watkinson 1890 = Edith
Grace Watkinson 1895
Gertrude Watkinson 1897
and up to seven more sometime prior to 1903
Charles James Watkinson b1903
= Elsie Atha
Frances Lydia Arnold
1892-1944
= William Tyrrell 1890-1948
Elsie Louisa Arnold
1893-1919
Bernard Marcus Arnold
1895-1916
= William Tyrrell 1890-1948
John Stanley Arnold
1898-1985
= Ida Viola Weight 1895-1991
Martin Henry Samuel Arnold
1903-1946
= Annie Miles 1906-1983
Kathleen May Watkinson
1905-1913
Olive Mary Watkinson
b1907
= Walter Houston 1896-1972
Philip George Kenelm Watkinson
1908-1995
=1. Elizabeth Epworth b1920
=2. Sonja Hunnes b1928
Veronica Helen Watkinson
1910-2001
= Cyril Houston 1902-1981
Winifred Agnes Watkinson
1913-1966
=1. Ernest Robert Gunner ?-1986
=2. Edgar Stirling 1905-1973
Barbara Alice Watkinson
1913-1988
= George Cocks b1910
Peggy Florence Watkinson
b1917
= Herbert Collister b1908
Percy John Watkinson
1916-1980
=1. Betty Lou Grant 1916-1974
=2. Lois b1927
Clement Henry Watkinson
b1917
Marjorie Eleanor Watkinson
b1916
=1. Edward Alexis Symmons 1909-1972
=2. Duncan Thomas Russell 1917-1981
John Arnold Tyrrell
1923-?
=1. Lesley Giles b1922
=2. Norma English b1921
Joyce April Arnold
b1927
=1. William John Callow
=2. Dennis Merifield
David Michael Houston
b1933
= Margaret Moore b1939
Jessie Watkinson
= Henry Bohill Peter Bohill
Simon John Tyrrell b1948
=1. Verity Measures b1947
=2. Catherine
Sarah Frances Tyrrell b1950
= Neil Southerden
Linda Joy Callow? b1952
= David Isgrove
Jill Diana Callow? b1954
=1. Colin Bargery
=2. Graham Terry
Heather Caroline Merifield? b1965
= David Isgrove
Rebecca Isgrove
Bethany Isgrove
Mark Isgrove b1985
Ernest Prior Watkinson
Frederick Watkinson
Eleanor Watkinson
Valerie Anne Arnold
Graeme Merifield? b1971
1869-?
b1937
=Adelaide Hendey
Edgar Ernest Watkinson
= Alexander Henry Sowerby b1926
Katherine Anne Sowerby b1962
Dora Adelaide Watkinson
Andrew John Sowerby b1965
1790 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860
Douglas Watkinson
Grace Watkinson
1870 1880 1880-? 1890
Alison Jane Sowerby b1965
Geoffrey Martin Arnold
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 b1941 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Stella Houston
b1944
= John Hughes 1939-2000
Michael Kenelm Watkinson
b1941
= Gene Elizabeth Gomes b1953
Helen Rosemary Houston
b1936
= James Carroll b1933
John Henry Watkinson
b1943
=1. Anne Denise Martin b1944
=2. Heidi Suter b1946
=3. Cecilia Dorothy Foster b1942
=4. Elizabeth Rand b1956
Penelope Mary Houston
b1939
= Gerald Taylor b1933
Robert Alan Stirling b1937
= Doreen Reffell b1937
Cristina Mary Stirling b1940
= Richard William Orr Munro
Gina Barbara Cocks b1938
= Charles Wenham 1939-1989
Clive Richard Stirling b1945
= Diane Liddell b1946
W Grant Watkinson b1941
= Diane b1943
John Watkinson b1943
= Sandy b1938
Margaret Jean Collister b1955
=1 David Hodgeson 1949-1981
=2 Richard Ongley 1944-1991
Pegi Watkinson b1948
Jennifer Carole Anne Symmons b1943
= Andrew Ramsay b1937
Marilyn Marjorie Symmons b1947
= Christopher Humphrey b1942
Charles John Watkinson b1946
=1 Patricia Joy Micklethwaite
=2 Laura Teo Lee Keow
Heather Watkinson b1950
= ? Browne
= Andrew Lucke b1968
Clare Houston b1969
Thomas Houston b1972
Stephen Houston b1977
Scott Philip Watkinson b1969
= Marianne
Anne-Marie Elizabeth Watkinson b1980
Wendy Gene Watkinson b1985
Adam John Dorian Watkinson b1972
= Debra MacKenzie
Veronica Joy Carroll b1966
= (Larry) Laurence Scott Newnam b1956
James Martin Carroll b1969
= Victoria Williams b?
Kirk Albert Suter Watkinson b1981
Andrew Watkinson b2000
Carter Watkinson b2001
Alexander Michael Suter Watkinson b1986
Alison Francis Taylor b1964
Christopher Andrew Stirling b1976
Alexandra Munro b1975
= John Albert Trevino b1974
Paul Charles John Wenham b1964
Jane Elizabeth Wenham b1966
Katharine Susan Mary b1968
Nicholas Munro b1979
Brett John Watkinson b1971
Tara Diane Watkinson b1973
= Samuel Sean Sumner b1976
James Duncan Ramsay b1965
= Caroline Johnson b1964
Louise Ramsay b1968
= Patrick John Maxwell Rogers b1968
Steven Richard Ongley b1988
Claire Margaret Ongley b1991
Erin Elizabeth Watkinson b1977
Katherine Grant Watkinson b1979
Christopher Charles Watkinson b1968
Thomas Browne
Keira Browne
Phillip James Watkinson b1969
James Oliver Carroll b2001
Jessica Rose Ramsay b1999
Frederick Charles Humphrey b1988
Ryan Tomas Watkinson b2002
Alexis Diane Sumner b2004
Amelia Francesca Ramsay b2001
Isabel Molly Ramsay Rogers b2004
Charles Watkinson-Teo b1997