5. Jane Meabry,Fifth child of John Meabry and Elizabeth Rishforth

Above: The baptism entry for my great-great-great grandmother, Jane Meabry, as recorded in the parish register of St. George, Bloomsbury.

Above: Marriage record of Jane Meabry and John Oakley, witnessed by Jane's sister, Martha Keysell, and her father John Meabry.

Above: This image both elates me and frustrates me beyond belief....it is a very poor copy of a daguerreotype photo taken of John Oakley, his wife Jane Meabry and one of their daughters-most likely elder daughter Jane. I last saw the actual daguerreotype in the 1990s, when I took this crude photo of it, and have not seen it since. The holders of the photo, my great uncle and his brother (my grandfather) have since died, as has my mother who held it after them. I am trying to track down the photo, but consider my chances very poor.


Jane Meabry was born on July 6, 1800, the fifth daughter of Broad Street grocer John Meabry and his Yorkshire-born wife Elizabeth Rishforth.

On June 2, 1827, 26 year old Jane married John Oakley, a grocer from Covent Garden, who had left his native Shrewsbury and travelled to London to establish himself in business. A year or so after the marriage, John moved from Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, to a prime position on the corner of 34 Parliament Street/Bridge Street, Westminster, and then in 1839 accepted a very lucrative partnership with Fortnum and Mason, grocers (or 'Italian warehousemen' as the term was then) of 183 Picaddilly, London. This partnership existed until John Oakley's death in 1861, and then his place in the company was taken over by his eldest son, John Jeffryes Oakley.

Jane Meabry Oakley would have lived a life of economic comfort both before and after her marriage, as both her father and husband were involved in very successful businesses. She had six children- two daughters and four sons- and all were very well educated. I have dealt with Jane's family in the Oakley segment of this blog, and so will only deal with them briefly here:

1. John Jeffryes Oakley: was born on July 16, 1838, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. Baptised October 1, 1838, St. Pauls, Covent Garden. Educated at Bedford House School in North Brixton, Lambeth, Surrey, with brother William. Worked with his father in the grocery business at Fortnum and Masons, then inherited his father's part in the partnership after John Oakley Senior's death in 1861. Married Harriet Eliza Moginie, daughter of cheesemonger Cornelius Moginie and his wife Harriet Eliza Woods, in 1854. Had a family of one son and four daughters- Alfred John; Edith; Gertrude; Beatrice and Constance. Alfred and Edith married but had no children; Gertrude and Beatrice remained spinsters, and Constance married and had a family in Shropshire with her auctioneer husband Harry Williams- Vera, Honor Cowell and Gerard Cowell Williams.

The Cowell middle name is from the maiden name of their paternal grandmother, Louisa Cowell. Vera Williams was born on January 30, 1894, in Watford,Herts. She did not marry, and died in 1958, aged 64. Her sister Honor, born 1899, married Sir Trenchard Craven William Fowle, the Indian-born son of Frederick Trenchard Thomas Fowle and Dorothea Martha Meade, in 1923. They had a son named John and a daughter named Margaret. Little Margaret was born in 1925 and died in 1929 of T.B., aged only 4. Honor died in 1987, her husband having predeceased her in 1940, aged 55. Only son, Gerald Cowell Williams,was born on March 30, 1906. He married Rose/Rosina Crighton on June 3, 1931, at Godalming, Surrey. Their children included Gillian Cowell Williams and Penelope Williams. Gerald died in 1984.

John Jeffryes Oakley died on December 29,1897, at 34 Warwick Road, Middlesex,aged 69 years. John had been the executor of many wills for various members of his family as well as people who were friends and acquaintances, but his own will was very simplistic. It was written on October 2, 1859, and bequeathed everything that he owned to his wife Harriet Eliza Oakley, who was also named as his sole executrix:

" This is the last will and testament of me, John Jeffryes Oakley, of 182 Piccadilly in the county of Middlesex, Gentleman. I devise and bequeath all the estate and effects whatsoever and wheresoever and of what nature or kind soever that I may died seized possessed of or entitled unto my dear wife Harriet Eliza Oakley. And I appoint her sole executrix of this my will. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 18th day of October 1859. John Jeffryes Oakley."

The gross value of John Oakley's personal estate was just over 18,620 pounds.

John's wife, Harriet Eliza Moginie Oakley, died on September 11, 1905, at Albion House, The Beach Clevedon, Somersetshire. Her usual address was 92 Prince Of Wales Mansions, Battersea, Surrey, where she had been living with Beatrice, one of her spinster daughters. Harriet's will named her executors as her son-in-law Harry Williams, (husband of her daughter Constance) and his brother Edwin Williams who was a solicitor. Her estate was valued at a little over 18,788 pounds.

2. WILLIAM ALFRED OAKLEY.

The second born of the children of John and Jane Oakley, William arrived around the time of his parents' move from Covent Gardens to Westminster in c. 1829-1830. His baptism has not been located in the registers of St. Paul Covent Garden, which was where elder brother John was baptised. It is believed that William was born and baptised at St Pauls Covent Gardens, as on two occasions this was specified on census retruns. His younger siblings Jane and Edwin were baptised at St Margarets, Westminster, which was the church closest to their new home in Parliament Street. Youngest child Fanny Fortnum Oakley was born at 183 Picadilly and baptised at St. James, Westminster.

Eldest son John Jefryes had been groomed to take over his father's interest in the business at Fortnum, Mason & Co., so William had to forge his own place in life, and he did this in the areas of auctioneering and real estate very successfully. Many advertisements appear in The London Times newspaper that were placed by William to advertise properties for sale and rent. He operated his business from Number 8 Carlton Chambers, regent St, London. The first advertisements placed by William in The Times occurred in 1852, and the last located in July 1864.

William Alfred Oakley married Jane Harriet Sharshaw on April 2, 1862 at St. Mary's, West Brompton. She was from Stratford Upon Avon, in Warwickshire, the daughter of Thomas Sharshaw the Younger, and his wife Harriett(maiden name probably Taylor).

William built a house in Hove, Brighton , for himself and Jane, and named it 'Wilbury Lawn'. It must have been impressive- in July of 1947 an advertisement in the Times stated the following:"The Gentleman's Residence, WILBURY LAWN, 44 Wilbury Road, Hove, an imposing and spacious detached house with a large garden and containing lounge hall, dining room, drawing room, billiards room, 15 bed and dressing rooms, 3 bath rooms and excellent domestic offices. With vacant possession."

Aged 51, William appeared in the 1881 census, living with his wife Jane in Hove, Brighton. The couple were living in Wilbury Street, Hove, Brighton, with William’s occupation given as ‘gentleman’. They also had two servants living in, 16 year old housemaid Elizabeth Weston and 31 year old cook Caroline Penith.

A decade down the track found the couple still living at 44 Wilbury Road. William was noted as ‘living on his own means’, which must have remained substantial as they have continued to employ two live-in domestic helpers. Elizabeth and Caroline have moved on, and been replaced by 22 year old Ada L. Philpot and 28 year old cook Harriet Morley.

William and Jane Oakley were not to be blessed with children, and when William died on September 20, 1891, his will left most of his estate, worth just over 6,158 pounds, to his wife, with several other specific bequests. Included amongst his beneficiaries were "My nephews George Hulm Beaman and Arthur Beaman"; "my servant Ada Philpott"; "My gardener A. Fowler of Reigate Road, Preston"; "My doctor Edward Irwin Scott"; and "My nephew Alfred Oakley now known as Alfred Cooper Oakley".His lovely home, Wilbury Lawn, at Hove, was left to his wife until she died or remarried. It then passed to his brother John Jeffryes until he died, and then on to his son Alfred Cooper Oakley. After Alfred's death, it was to be sold and the proceeds distributed as to instructions in Alfred's will.None of this came to pass, as Jane Harriet Oakley never remarried and outlived both her brother-in-law John and her nephew Alfred.When she died in 1907, the house was sold to Sir Sidney Wishart, a Lloyds of London insurance broker.

When Jane Harriet Oakley died on January 29,1907, she left an estate worth over twenty two thousand pounds. The "Times" newspaper reported that after making a number of private bequests, Mrs Oakley left her pictures in the dining room of Wilbury Lawn to the Mayor and Corporation of Brighton, and her statue of Dante and her oak writing table to the Dante Society. The residue of her estate was left to the Sussex County Hospital, an amount which was expected to exceed more than fifteen thousand pounds.

3. JANE ELIZABETH OAKLEY: the third child and first daughter born to John Oakley and Jane Meabry. Her exact date of birth and baptism have not been found, but census returns point to her as having been born c. 1831-32, at Parliament Street, Westminster, and baptised at St. Margarets, Westminster.

Jane married twice and had children by both marriages. Her first husband was surgeon George Hulme Beaman, whom she married at Finchley, Middlesex,on October 9, 1852.
George Hulme Beaman was born on February 24, 1825, and baptised at St. Pauls, Covent Garden, Westminster. His parents were surgeon George Beaman and Mary Ann Offley.

In the eleven years of their marriage, Jane bore her husband four children…two daughters and two sons. Emily Jane, their eldest child, was born in c. 1853. She was followed by a son named George Hulme Robins Beaman and a sister, Kate Julia Beaman ( born early 1861, London). In 1863, only months before the death of his father, baby Arthur Henry Beaman was born.

“DEATH: On the 29th of November, at Bridge Avenue, Hammersmith,
George Hulme Beaman, M.R.C.S., aged 38, the eldest son of
George Beaman, M.D., Henrietta St, Covent Garden.”
- Wednesday December 2, 1863.

At the age of thirty three, Jane Elizabeth was left a widow with four young children to raise, the eldest nine years old and the youngest only ten months of age.
Six years later, she married a bank manager by the name of Augustus Grain. They were married in the December quarter of 1869 in London.
Augustus was the younger son of William Grain and his wife Priscilla Ann Parker, who were married in 1817 at St. Dunstan, Stepney. Their first son, John Henry Grain, was born in 1820, and Augustus was baptised on November 25, 1825, at St. Dunstan.
Although Jane was in her late thirties at the time of her second marriage, she and Augustus had five children together, three of whom survived to adulthood:

1 & 2. Twin sons Henry William Wallis and Augustus William John born 1870. Augustus died in 1870, but his twin lived a long life. The birth notification in the local newspaper mentioned only the birth of one baby:

" GRAIN: On the 19th inst. at Petersfield,Hants, the wife of Augustus Grain Esq of a son." Remaining twin Henry bacame a Barrister-at -Law after being articled to his Uncle John Henry Grain, a Notary Public in London. Henry married Kate Smith in 1900, and had three sons-Felix William, Hugh Augustus and Anthony Ernest- and a daughter Barbara.

Henry Grain joined the Army on August 9, 1914. He was with the Middlesex Regiment, number PS/77, and as well as serving in Britain, served in France from 17 November 1915 until September 7, 1916. His physical characteristics were given as height: five feet six and a half inches; weight 12 stone 7 pounds; fair complexion, grey eyes and fair hair.

After his wife Kate's death in 1951, Henry remarried again to Dorothy Reeves,in 1952, and died in 1963.

3. August William Grain: born August 13,1871, died 1873. Birth notice read: "Grain- On the 13th inst. at Petersfield, the wife of Mr. Augustus Grain of a son."

On February 3, 1873, the Pall mall Gazette carried the following notice: "Deaths: Grain, Augustus W, infant son of Mr. A, of Petersfield, Hants, January 29." The local Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle on February 5, 1873, carried a slightly more detailed notice: "Deaths: On the 29th ult, Augustus William, the younger son of Augustus Grain Esq of Petersfield aged 17 months."

4. Ernest Augustus Grain: born 1874, died 1959. Emigrated to Australia in 1896. Shipping records for unassisted passengers to Victoria show Mr. E.A. Grain, aged 32 years, arriving in Melbourne from England in December of 1896 per the ship 'Orizaba'. He then appears in the 1900 Wise Directory of New Zealand as 'Ernest A. Grain, settler, Ngaire'. Lived in country NSW, dying in Gunnedah NSW on May 17, 1953. Electoral rolls show that he was occupied as follows from 1930-1954:

1930- two entries, one as a land agent residing at Winbourne Rd, Brookvale, Manly district, and the other as a fellmonger at Moree, country NSW

1936, 1937 and 1943: florist at Tamworth, NSW

1949: gardener, Stratheden, Manilla Rd, Tamworth.

1953: 38 Barber Street, Gunnedah, gardener.

5. JANE ANN GRAIN: born August 20, 1875, Petersfield. Married Reverend Jonathon Seaver in 1915, aged 39 years. Died in 1971, aged 95 years. Jane's husband was much older than her- a widowed Irish C of E vicar who had fathered two daughters with his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Stone. Mary Seaver had died in Paris in 1913. I can find no children of the marriage between Jonathan Seavers and his second wife, Jane Grain. Jonathan died on February 12, 1928, having been resident prior to his death at 4 St. Anne's Rd, Eastbourne. Jane Ann Grain Seaver died in 1971, aged 95.

Augustus Grain, second husband of Jane Elizabeth Oakley, died May 16, 1905, at "Westcott". Mayow Rd, Sydenham, Kent. Jane Elizabeth survived him by almost 15 years. She died on March 6, 1920, having continued to live in their home, "Westcott" in Sydenham. Her effects were valued at almost 3,279 pounds, and probate was granted to two of her children- daughter Jane Ann Seaver and son George Hulme Robins Beaman.

Following is a brief summary of Jane Elizabeth Oakley's children by her first marriage to George Beaman:

1. EMILY BEAMAN: born 1853, London. Was married in late 1877, Bradford district, Yorkshire, aged 23 years, to George Peter Harrison. Two children were born to the couple- Mabel in c. 1881 and Stuart in c.1884. Mabel married William Henry Hodgkinson in Manchester in 1902, and died aged 25 in 1905. Stuart Harrison married Grace Denton in 1906, and by the 1911 census had two sons, Stuart and George.

Emily Beaman Harrison was widowed some time between 1901 and 1911. In the 1911 census she was living alone at 30 Cowesby Street, Moss Side, Manchester. She was noted as being a 55 year old widow, and had given birth to two children, one of whom had died.

Emily died on February 17, 1940, at 39 Mayfield Rd, Manchester, aged 86 years. She left effects worth over 872 pounds, and probate was granted to the National Provincial Bank. Her son, Stuart Harrison, survived Emily by twenty years...he died in 1960 at the age of 76.

2. GEORGE HULME ROBINS BEAMAN:born c.1855, Westminster, London.Studied at Epsom College,Surrey. From the Epson college register: "Beaman, George Hulme Robins [Mrs. Grain, Petersfield, Hants.] ; b. 1855, 1. 1871. Drawing, Arithmetic, Divinity, History, and Geography Prs., several prizes." Was a surveyor and risk assessor for an insurance company.Married Eleanor Nicholls in 1881.The 1881 census showed the couple living at 11 Woodstock Rd, Hornsey, Middlesex. George’s occupation was given as ‘fire insurance surveyor’. George and Eleanor had three children, Sydney George Hulme (1887), Dorothy Eleanor (1889) and Winifred Gladys (1892). Son Sidney George Hulme Beaman became a very well-known author of English children's books, notably the Toytown series. S. G. Beaman married Maud Poltock in Fulham in 1913 and had at least two children: Geoffrey S. Beaman (b. Edmonton, 1914) and Betty Beaman (b. Barnet, 1918)

3. KATE JULIA BEAMAN:BORN 1861, Covent Garden, London.She was married twice, first to Robert Valentine Bayard in 1885 and then to widower Robert Henry Galway in 1904. Both of her husbands came from military families. Her first husband, Robert Valentine Campbell Bayard, was born in Richmond, Surrey, in 1859, the son of Lieutenant Colonel John Campbell Bayard and his wife Fanny Eugenia Wace. Robert Bayard was educated at Rugby School in Warwickshire, then attended St. Johns College at Cambridge University. In 1884 he was awarded his Bachelor of Arts, and in 1888 he obtained his Masters of Arts.In the 1881 census Robert Bayard was living and working in Sculcoates, Yorkshire,as an assistant school master, aged 23. In 1885 Robert married Kate Beaman. The notice in the newspaper read:

"BAYARD-BEAMAN: At St. Marks, Hamilton Terrace, Mr. Robert V.C Bayard, B.A, Cantab, son of the late Mr. John C. Bayard, J.P,Gwernydd, Manafon, Montgomeryshire, to Kate J., daughter of the late Mr. George H. Beaman, M.R.C.S, January 1."

Their only child was born towards the end of the year- John Campbell Bayard was named after his paternal grandfather and great-grandfather and arrived in the December quarter of 1885.The 1891 census was the only one in which the Bayards appeared as a complete family.They were living at Sea Bank Road, Liscard, Cheshire, where Robert was the 32 year old school master of 'Cambridge School'. His wife Kate was aged 30, and John C. Bayard, their son, was five years old.Five years later Robert was dead, leaving a wife and nine year old son to mourn their loss. He died on July 23, 1896, and although his wife Kate remarried eight years later, it appears that she never stopped grieving for her husband Robert. For years she would place memorium notices in the London Times on the anniversary of Robert's death. Initially, the person who placed the notices was not named, and they all read as follows, or very similar:

"In Memorium. Campbell-Bayard- In ever-loving memory of Robert Valentine Campbell-Bayard who fell asleep July 23, 1896. "To be with Christ, which is far better." This notice appeared in the Times on July 26, 1910. Another in 1912 finished off "Not lost, but gone before". In 1924, the notices started to be signed "Never forgotten, KATE". The last one I found was in 1927. Kate Julia Beaman Bayard and her son John can be found in the 1901 census living in Bath, Somerset. She was a 39 year old widow, living on her own means. John was 15, and also with them was a 21 year old servant girl, Rosina Burchell. Early in 1904, Kate Julia Beaman Bayard became the third wife of Robert Henry Galway. Robert was the son of Irishman John Robert Galway and his wife Frances Leticia Seaman, and had been born c. 1860 in India. John Galway was a non-commissioned officer in the Navy. He and Frances had nine children- three sons and six daughters, some born in India and some in Ireland. After retirement John Galway settled with his family at Farnham, Surrey.Eldest son Robert joined the Army and became a Sergeant Major. He married three times, the first two marriages taking place in India as he was stationed there:1. Married Jane Eleanor Louise Heywood in Bengal, 1883. Had three daughters- Daisy Ellen baptised Dinapore, India, November 24, 1883. Died Meerat, India, 1884; Ethelina May Galway born 1885, Peshawar, India. Married Rutherford Vincent Theodore Hoskins in 1908, India; Jane Galway born Dinapore, India 1887, no more information. Robert's wife Jane died in India in 1887.2. Agnes Gardiner Inglis, second wife, married Robert in 1888 at Makora, India. She gave birth to one son, Henry John Galway, in 1889.By the time the 1891 census came around, Robert Galway and his family were back in England.He was stationed in the District Calvalry and Artillery Barracks at St. Giles, Essex, with his wife Agnes, 23, daughter Ethel aged five and one year old John. Of daughter Jane, who was born to his first wife Jane in 1887, there was no sign.Agnes Gardiner Galway died in Farnham, Hampshire, in 1900. The 1901 census shows that widower Robert Galway was 40 years old and working as the Manager of Lipton & Co, Grocer.His daughter Etheline was working in Aldershot, Hampshire, as a 15 year old grocer's assistant.Eleven year old son Henry Galway was staying in Farnham, Surrey, with his grandparents, John and Frances Galway. John Galway died in Farnham in 1908 and his wife Frances died in 1914.3. Widower Robert Henry Galway married widow Kate Julia Beaman Bayard in 1904 when she was aged about 43 years.The 1911 census showed the couple at 11 Dorchester Rd, Weymouth. Aged 50, Robert was clerk in CRCG Office Red Barracks ( whatever the heck that means!), and Kate was 48 with nil occupation. Her son from her marriage with Robert Bayard, John Campbell Bayard, was living in Thetford, Norfolk. He was a 25 year old bank clerk, boarding with three other young male bank clerks in a house ran by a 48 year old widow named Eleanor Beales, who was also a baker and confectioner. John Campbell Bayard joined the Army after the Great War erupted in 1914. His stepfather Robert Galway died the same year. John joined in 1915, and his war records can be located on Ancestry.com. When he signed up he was a 30 year old bank clerk living at 18 Vicarage Rd, Thetford, Norfolk, and was descibed as being five feet seven inches tall, fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. His next of kin was his mother, Mrs. Kate J. Galway, of Dorchester. John was a Gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He survived the War and was discharged on November 18, 1919, with a nervous debility pension. He was soon working at Lloyd's Bank, Farnham, and in 1920 was married in Brighton, Sussex, to Edith C. Haggard. John Campbell Bayard died in 1951 at Brighton, aged 66 years.

Kate Julia Beaman Bayard Galway lived a long life.Her death notice in the Times of April 10, 1944, read: " GALWAY- On April 4, 1944, at Westbury, Mrs. Kate Julia Galway of 6 Nelson Place West, Bath, passed peacefully away aged 83 years."

4. ARTHUR HENRY BEAMAN: born January 12, 1863, the fourth and last child born to Jane Elizabeth Oakley and George Hulme Beaman. He was only ten months old when his father died in November 1863.In the 1871 census Arthur was eight years old and living in Petersfield, hampshire, with his mother, sister Kate, stepfather Augustus Grain and 8 month old half-brother William Grain. This is the last reference that I can find to Arthur Henry Beaman in official English records, as he emigrated to New Zealand in 1880.

The newspaper 'Bay Of Plenty Times' on October 5, 1880, reported that the New Zealand Shipping Company's ship 'Fernglen', under Captain J. Bubb, which left London for Auckland on July 19, 1880, had arrived, and amongst its passengers was Second Cabin passenger Mr. Arthur H. Beaman. Many advertisements appear in numerous newspaper editions for "BOWRON BROTHERS (London, Christchurch and Napier), Wool Merchants and Fancy leather manufacturers. Arthur H. Beaman, Manager, North Island, New Zealand."

Arthur Beaman married Ruth Emma Bishop in New Zealand in 1884. Amngst their children were:

1886: Alice Mary Beaman

1887: Ernest Beaman. Married Mary Jane Armstrong 1923.Died 1954.

1888: Florence Annie Beaman. Died 1889 aged eight months.

1889: Annie Ada Beaman. married Arthur Ernest Morris 1915.

1891: Name not recorded Beaman.

Arthur's wife Ruth Beaman died in 1943, aged 87 years. I could not for the life of me locate Arthur Beaman's death details anywhere, in any country that I searched. Very recently, I was contacted by a descendant of Arthur's, who very kindly shared information with me that solved, to some extent, the mystery of his death. Leslie Hayes, from Canada, is descended from Arthue Beaman, and wrote to me the following:

"Apparently, our Arthur Henry Beaman left his wife Ruth and moved here to Canada. I don't know if he got a divorce or if he even was married to what we thought was his wife Ida. She apparently was the daughter of some missionarys from Fuji. She came with him from New Zealand with two sons. One was their own son (he was just over a year old), the other was adopted in New Zealand (I think he was younger than the other). The story is that the adopted son's family was killed in a house fire but who knows if that is right or wrong. Once they landed here in Canada they started to use the last name of VERNON."

This is an intriguing story, and I very much look forward to future correspondence with Leslie that may add more details to the tale.

4. EDWIN THOMAS OAKLEY.

Edwin Thomas Oakley was my great-great grandfather, the fourth child and third son of John Oakley and Jane Meabry. His date of birth has not been pinpointed as I can't locate his baptismal record. He was born in Westminster and most likely baptised at St. Margarets, Westminster, which has not as yet published their registers online.

All other information suggests that Edwin was born in 1834. He is missing from two vital census returns-1851 and 1861. The 1851 census would have perhaps shown us where Edwin had attended school, or at least where he was employed prior to marriage. The 1861 census was taken a little over two years after his 1858 marriage to his cousin Jane Elizabeth Oakley. Living at The Grove in Wem, Shropshire, Edwin and his wife Jane were both absent from their home on the night that the census was taken, although their year old son John was there, as was Jane's 14 year old sister Margaret and three servants- nurse and cook Jane Lloyd, the groom Frederick Morris and his wife Elizabeth who was the Oakley's house maid.

Edwin and Jane Oakley had four children- three sons and a daughter.

a) John Griffith Oakley: born on October 8, 1859, 7 Hamilton Street, Birkenhead. In 1883 John Griffith Oakley married Sarah Elizabeth Williams in Newtown, Wales. Sarah Elizabeth Williams Oakley died in 1913, in Newtown, aged 49 years. She and John had no children, and John lived on in Newtown alone for another eighteen years. He died in Newtown in 1931.

b) HARRY MEABRY OAKLEY: born at Shooters Hill, near Clive, in Salop, on January 1, 1863. My great-grandfather. Harry was only a young boy when his mother died of ovarian cancer aged only 33 years, and after an inharmonious relationship with his father in his teens, he moved to Newtown in Wales to learn the brewing business from the Izard family. In 1887, Harry and his sister Amy Jane (known as 'Jean') emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, on the ship S.S. Orient. In 1904 Harry married Olive Jessie Bishop, eldest daughter of Henry Bishop and Bertha Hughan. They had two sons- Harry Gordon Oakley, born in 1908, and Norman Meabry Oakley, my grandfather, born 1909. Harry's wife Olive died in 1948 in her 80th year. Harry lived for another five years. He died on June 26, 1953, at Mulwala, and was buried with Olive and his father-in-law Henry Bishop in the Mulwala Cemetery.

c) AMY JANE OAKLEY: born on March 13, 1864, the third child and first daughter born to Edwin Thomas Oakley and his wife Jane Elizabeth Oakley. She was born at Shooters Hill, Clive, Salop, and although was named and baptised 'Amy Jane', she was known all of her life as 'Jean'.

Jean was a wonderful musician and teacher. She studied at the Leipzig Conservatorium of Music in Germany in the mid-1880s, and after she emigrated to Melbourne in 1887, earned her livelihood as a music teacher. Jean never married, and died in 1962.

d) EDWIN BURLTON OAKLEY: The fourth and final child born to Edwin Thomas and his wife Jane Elizabeth Oakley, he was born in the latter part of 1868. He was named for his father Edwin and his maternal great-grandmother Elizabeth Burlton. Baby Edwin died of convulsions aged three months, on December 13, 1868.

After losing his wife Jane Elizabeth Oakley of ovarian cancer in 1871, Edwin waited several years before marrying a second time. On August 13, 1874, at the Cathedral, Manchester, 39 year old widower Edwin Thomas Oakley, Gentleman, residing at 58 Cranworth Street, Ardwick, was married to 25 year old spinster Elizabeth Jane Turner of Bold Street, Moss Side, the daughter of John Turner, agent.

Edwin had three more children with Elizabeth- sons Albert and Percy, and a daughter Mabel.

e) ALBERT EDWARD OAKLEY : Albert was born in Manchester on September 11, 1875. In 1912 he married Victoria Isabella Parker, but divorced her in 1924 after she was found to have been having an affair with a man named Arthur George Wright. Albert married for a second time in 1925, to Florence Howes, and they had a son named Peter Oakley in 1926.

f) MABEL OAKLEY: born 1882,