THIRD GENERATION

4. Thomas HOAD was born on 10 Nov 1870 in Brighton Sussex.⁽¹⁾ He died about 1950 in Brighton Sussex.⁽⁶⁾ Very little is known about the life of Thomas. The general feeling in the family was that he adored his wife Susan and he seems to have considered that his life was over after she died in the 1930s, remaining 20 odd years as a widower. He was quite tall, about 6ft with finely chiselled features and a booming voice which belied his looks. Like his father, who started out as a coachman, Thomas was a coachman all his working life, and the author has a vague memory of being taken to see two rather decrepit looking horses named Big Joe and Little Joe at a stable somewhere near the Railway Station in Brighton. He died in the 1950s in the home of his son Leonard and it is to the author's deep regret that she did not attend the funeral. I do remember being taken to see him sometimes, particularly when there was racing at Brighton race-course as he lived on the way to the course, but I feel that Flo was not accepted by the family, and therefore I saw very little, almost nothing of any other members of the family, knowing of them only by name. I bitterly regret that I never knew my only blood grandmother, Susan, who was held in great esteem by everybody. He was married to Susan Elizabeth WOOD on 13 Sep 1891 in Brighton Sussex.⁽³⁾

5. Susan Elizabeth WOOD was born on 3 Jun 1866 in Nonnington Kent.⁽¹⁾ She died in 1933 in Brighton Sussex.⁽⁶⁾ Almost nothing is known about Susan. Her marriage certificate shows that she was 4 years older than Thomas and that they were both living at 1 Boston Street Brighton, at the time of the marriage. It is realistic to assume that they were both in service at the same house, as it is known that Thomas was a domestic Coachman, as was his father before him. All that is known of her physical appearance is that she had red hair and carried herself very gracefully. Her sister Minnie Emily was a witness at the wedding, maybe she was also employed at the same house? It is with her marriage to Thomas that the Kentish connection appears for the first time.. Susan Elizabeth was a Makey through her mother's line, and it is the connection to the Dillnott's by the Makey's that takes our line right back to the 1400s. Children were:

i. Thomas HOAD was born in 1892 in Brighton Sussex.⁽⁸⁾ He died unknown in Brighton Sussex.⁽⁹⁾ The existence of Thomas was unknown to me, until I found him with the rest of the family on the 1901 Census, and asked my sister Rae what , if anything, she knew of him. It appears that she was told by our father that Thomas, or some member of the family, had died. Going by dates, and as the fate of the rest of the family is known to us, it can only have been Thomas. The boy must have died at home, as his body was laid out in his coffin in the front parlour. Also it must have been during the winter , as one of the other children, and I assume it to have been Uncle Len tried to take the body out of the coffin and over to the fire, as he said " Poor ....(?) is so cold " It seems horrific to modern ears, but is typical of a small child's approach, and at that time it was quite normal to have the body of a deceased at home for the time between death and funeral. I am much indebted to my sister Rae for this story and for giving Thomas his rightful place in the family..
ii. Leonard HOAD was born in 1893 in Brighton Sussex.⁽¹⁰⁾ He died c1970 in Brighton Sussex.⁽¹¹⁾
iii. Irene HOAD was born in 1897 in Brighton Sussex. ⁽⁸⁾ I had known, via my brother Norman, that there was one sister in the family who died young. When I first found the entry for Irene in the 1901 Census, something told me that this was the one. She was shown on the census with the name Irena, but I feel sure that the name should have been Irene, and I remember my father talking of his sister 'Rene' pronounced Reenee! After contacting my sister Rae I heard the story of Rene, which in point of fact I dimly remembered AFTER it had been retold me by her. Apparently Rene is the focal point of the 'family ghost story'! She died quite young in childbirth, and this must have been after 1927 when my mother and father married, as they both feature in the telling. She may have been the sister who married a garage mechanic from 'up North' somewhere and who was generally know as Uncle Spurs, from his accent when pronouncing the word 'spares'. The day she died must have been a cold one as there was a roaring fire in the bedroom and the heat was intense. At the moment of her death however, the room became unaccountably deathly cold. Some time after, whether days or hours I do not know, both my mother and my father, at the same time, saw a foot on the stairs which they both say was definitely Rene's. Whether they knew this from the shoe, or how they knew it I have no idea, but they both maintained it to be so, and I would add that they were not imaginative people.
2 iv. Hubert Robert HOAD.
v. Mornington HOAD was born after 1901 in Brighton Sussex. ⁽⁸⁾ Mornington is not shown on the 1901 Census, so his birth must have been after then. Neither he nor Rose are shown, they must have been the two youngest. He died Unknown. At this stage the exact date of Mornington's death is not known. However I am informed by my sister Rae that the cause of his death was the Spanish Influenza epidemic. Apparently he went back to work far too soon after having the illness and suffered a breakdown.

vi. Rose HOAD was born after 1901 in Brighton Sussex. ⁽¹²⁾ She died Unknown.

Return to Table of Contents