Clark, Cook, London & Drage.. sutton, Suffolk

[Jan47]

Hi Mutley and may I thank you for all your research on this. i will try and answer your questions as well as i can.

Firstly, yes, Florence did have servants - this was when she was married to William Drage so i assume his army pay was good enough to support this quality of living!

Wilfred Drage was the son of William and was brought into the marriage from his previous marriage to a lady called Lucy who died in an assylum. She was quite young i believe.

Yes, i have all three marriage certificates and they are all genuine! i think maybe years ago they weren't too fussy about checking backgrounds which is why she was able to put Spinster when marrying Charles London. I knew the children of the second marriage - I was very young but remember Babs and Ethel, Selwyn's half sisters. Neither of them married and they lived together in chester until they died. i believe there was an upset when Charles London died as he left nothing to Selwyn, only his children.

Lastly, i have a copy of William Drage's Will and it leaves everything to Florence. No mention of Selwyn. I have always thought he died in Chester - all my research points to this. Selwyn and his wife, Doris, settled in chester and that is where my father was born. I actually have William's death certificate which states he died 4th March 1924 aged 64 in Chester.

All in all I dont think I am ever going to find out who Selwyn's father was. I did find out about a lady who lived in Sutton, Suffolk, who was still alive and knew of the Clarke family. Unfortunately, by the time i got there to visit, she had passed away, taking all the secrets with her!!! So near and yet so far!!!!

Just to recap Florence had Selwyn by father unknown - Babs (Millicent), Ethel and Charles with Charles London and Madge, Winni, Dorothy, Alan and Ivan with William Drage. I am unsure if Madge was born with Charles London or William, its unclear. Wilfred was born to William before he married Florence. Quite a family!! Alan died at a young age in a motorbike accident. I am actually in touch with Madge's granddaughter who is also researching the family tree.

Thanks again for all your help in this. I shall be pleased to hear anything else you find out now you have a little more background information.

Thanks

[Jan47]

Hi ,me again, thought you might like to see a couple of pictures I have of Florence and Selwyn. The one outside the house is Florence with her servants and Selwyn (the older child) and one of his half brothers. this was on a postcard which was originally sent to William Drage whilst he was abroad. the other picture was taken around 1916 and is of Florence and Selwyn. I have more but would probably take up the whole forum lol. thanks again for your interest...

[Mutley]

Thank you for the further information. The photographs are wonderful, you are lucky to have them.

I did wonder if Wilfred was born of an earlier marriage of William's seeing as Charles F London and Wilfred F Drage are both enumerated as born in 1906.

Seems the probate for William Drage died Jan 1921 with the two sons as Army Colonels is not this William, I thought he was rather old for Florence but do you think he was related to your William?

If the Madge you are unclear about is Marjorie then there is a birth registered in 1909 in Woodbridge as a Drage. The only one for a Marjorie London is in Windsor, so I doubt she is your lass.

Good Luck and if I trip over more information I will post again as I did enjoy the search, it was interesting.

[Jan47]

Hi thanks again for your reply. I don't think the two William's are related - in fact i am not sure if he had any brothers or not. I have found out that he definitely died on the 4th March 1924 aged 54 and he died of bronchitis. He seemed to have always been away from home, even when he died. Quite sad really.

We were always lead to believe that Madge (Marjorie) belonged to William, but with their chequered history, who knows lol . I have been trying to find any mention online of a Will for charles London dying in 1905 in Tadcaster aged 30 and i did come across a record on Ancestry.com. Maybe one day I will join and see exactly what he did leave behind when he died. Could explain a lot.

Thanks again for you interest ..I love talking about my family history lol

Jan

[Coromandel]

I have been trying to find any mention online of a Will for charles London dying in 1905 in Tadcaster aged 30 and i did come across a record on Ancestry.com. Maybe one day I will join and see exactly what he did leave behind when he died. Could explain a lot.

I had a look at that entry on Ancestry. It is from the National Probate Calendar for 1905:
Charles London of 8 Cypress-villas Wakefield-road Garforth Yorkshire died 14 July 1905 Adminstration Wakefield 15 September to Florence Mahala London widow Effects £251 0s. 10d.
Note that it is not referring to a will, but to a grant of administration.
(For future reference, you can't see the wills themselves on Ancestry anyway, just short entries with details of when probate was granted. In themselves these can be very informative, but to see the actual wills you need to buy a copy. There are details in other posts.)

P.S. thanks for posting the photos, it makes so much difference to be able to visualise people!