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My Grandmother never married - but the 'story' was that Grandfather was too ill when back from the war - and unable to come to Scotland - and from the History it seems likely the soldier in the labour corps was him. He worked as a gardener in Huntingdon as a young amn according to 'Annie' and presumably had to do outside work if his chest/lungs were bad from birth. I have absolutely no other info on him- and nowhere. They had known each other before the war I think - and I thought that my Grandmother may have met Annie (James's sister) up in Scotland as she may have been in service too. There was an Annie Brooker in service not far from where my Grandmother was brought up in Lasswade., I am very sorry to be so vague - but I was never given any info when my Mum was alive really - and wish now I had been more persistent. I guess it will have to remain a bit of a mystery. I think my Grandmother had my mother when she was in her 30s+ - and she was a very tiny bird like woman -my mother used to say I looked like HER Mother - I wasn;t too pleased about that ! Sorry to be such a pest. I might help if I knew that part of the UK> I did phone Hinchingbrooke house where one of the Post cards came from and was told YES they were a hospital for troops in 1918 - but there are now no records.
Thanks again everyone.
Pat

I know it's frustrating

Just thinking out loud!

Are you certain your Mum's father was James Brooker? Or have you assumed this as she has Brooker in her name and you have postcards from James Brooker? Could her father be a relative of James? Eg. James may be looking forward to seeing the baby- but it doesn't necessarily mean it's his child (maybe his brother's child?).

James Brooker, that married Annie Fox, had a brother John- he (as far as I can tell) remained single. Jane may have been in service with Annie Fox and maybe how she met James (or family member). Annie was a similar age to your Grandmother.

Thanks again. No Father was definitely James (Jim0Brooker - talks very fondly to my Grandmother and looks forward to see ''our darling 'lass' etc - not much doubt there.
I don;t think he ever made it though. N3ever heard anyone mention the surname Fox at all. Thanks again.
Pat

(came across below, just adding!)

Chris :)

Cambridgeshire Marriages Transcription (Find My Past)

First name(s) JAMES
Last name BROOKER
Birth year 1882
Marriage year 1903
Marriage day 27
Marriage month Dec
Spouse's first name(s) ANNIE
Spouse's last name FOX
Place PAPWORTH ST AGNES
Groom's first name(s) James
Groom's last name BROOKER
Groom's marital status bac
Groom's age 21
Groom's occupation groom
Groom's residence otp
Groom's father's first name(s) Simeon
Groom's father's occupation lab
Bride's first name(s) Annie
Bride's last name FOX
Bride's marital status sp
Bride's age 21
Bride's occupation [blank]
Bride's residence otp
Bride's father's first name(s) Amos
Bride's father's occupation decd
By licence or banns by banns


Cambridgeshire Baptisms Transcription (Find My Past)

First Name ANNIE
Last Name FOX
Year Of Birth 1882
Birth date 18 Aug
Baptism year 1882
Baptism date 17 Sep 1882
Abode otp
Place PAPWORTH ST AGNES
Mother's Given Name Julia
Father's First Name Amos
Father occupation lab


(below for reference/Siblings, Annie with family 1891)

1901 (Find My Past)
Amos Fox Head Married Male 51 1850 Yardman On Farm Eltisley, Cambridgeshire, England
Julia Fox Wife Married Female 42 1859 - Papworth St Agnes, Cambridgeshire, England
Sarah Fox Daughter - Female 10 1891 - Papworth St Agnes, Cambridgeshire, England
Herbert Fox Son - Male 7 1894 - Papworth St Agnes, Cambridgeshire, England
Edith M Fox Daughter - Female 3 1898 - Papworth St Agnes, Cambridgeshire, England
Beatrice Fox Daughter - Female 0 1901 - Papworth St Agnes, Cambridgeshire, England
Parish Papworth St Agnes
County Cambridgeshire
Registration district Caxton
Archive reference RG13
Piece number 1520
Folio 25
Page 4


Marriages Sep 1881 (>99%)
------------------------------------------------
FOX Amos Caxton 3b 741
Thompson Julia Caxton 3b 741


(and reference for family of James Brooker)

1911 (Find My Past)
Simeon Brooker Head Married Male Farm Labourer 54 1857 Wrestlingworth Beds
Charlotte Brooker Wife Married Female - 52 1859 Tadlow Cambs
Florence Brooker Daughter Single Female Blind Was Afflicted At The Age Of 10 Years Born 26 1885 Wrestlingworth
John Brooker Son Single Male Farm Labourer 23 1888 Beds Wrestlingworth
Simeon Brooker Son Single Male Farm Labourer 18 1893 Beds Wrestlingworth
Herbert Brooker Son Single Male Farm Labourer 16 1895 Beds Wrestlingworth
Walter Brooker Son - Male School 10 1901 Beds Wrestlingworth
Daisy Brooker Daughter - Female - 6 1905 Beds Wrestlingworth
Address Mill End
Wrestlingworth Sandy
County Bedfordshire
Census reference RG14 PN8892 RG78 PN468 RD175 SD1 ED7 SN44A
(says Married 30yrs, 11 children born, 9 living, 2 died)


Marriages Jun 1882 (>99%)
---------------------------------------------------------------
BROOKER Simeon Biggleswade 3b 626
Harben Charlotte Jane Biggleswade 3b 626
Harbon Charlotte Jane Biggleswade 3b 626

(and just to add wording from below article mentioned earlier, in case Patricia hadn't seen, or doesn't have subscription)

Chris :)

National Roll Of The Great War 1914-1918 (Find My Past)

Brooker, J. Corporal 2nd Bedfordshire Regt.
He volunteered in January 1915, and, after his training, was retained on important duties at various stations around England until 1918. He was then drafted to the Western Front, where he saw much severe fighting, and was wounded in action. He was invalided home, and was for a considerable period in hospital, before being discharged in September 1919 as medically unfit for further service. He holds the General Service and Victory Medals.
Great Northern Street, Huntingdon.

Well, that's definitely James Brooker No 290271, mentioned by Mary earlier - the dates of enlistment and discharge match 290271's date.

And of course, he's also the James who was married to Annie, as he lived in the same street.

Thanks again for all your work - but my Mother was born July 1918 which means James must have been 'available' in UK around October/November 1917. I THINK my Mother would have known if he had been married to anyone - but I have no way now of knowing.
I will keep all the things you have uncovered very carefully. Thanks again.
Pat

He (James Brooker 290271) WAS in Lincolnshire for all of 1917 up until May 1918.

If your Grandmother had a daughter by a married man, I'm not sure she would have shared that information.
----------------------------

Do you have Jane's Will?

BOURHILL, Jane Ewart Reid, 4 Lindon Place Loanhead Midlothian died 24 June 1933 at Edinburgh, testate Confirmation Edinburgh, 15 August to Eliza Bryant Bourhill or Lumsden, West Mill Lasswade, and Thomas Smith, Painter, 28 Douglas Crescent, Bonnyrigg, Executors. Will Dated 28 April 1924 recorded Edinburgh 14 August 1933. Value of Estate £539

You may well be right Austin Q - and the Jane Ewart Reid Bourhill was my Grandmother. I recently found her headstone in cemetery near Edinburgh - jus t'beloved Mother' of - Left everything to her daughter - my Mother - no mention of James. She must have done quite well with her little sweet shop !
Thanks
Pat

(came across below yesterday, when looking at things again!, wasn't sure if added on other 'Thread')

Chris :)

27 June 1933 - The Scotsman - Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

Death
BOURHILL - At the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh , on the 24th June , after a short illness, Jane Ewart Reid Bourhill, daughter of Elizabeth Ann Bryant and the late Robert Bourhill, Loanhead . Funeral from Linden Place to Loanhead Cemetery, on Wednesday 28th June at 3.30. Friends please accept this (the only) intimation and invitation.

Yes that was my Grandmother Chris - headstone (although totally untended as far as I know) still legible. My Mum always reckoened her Mother had connection to the Bryant family - Bryant of Bryant and May the mtch company ! My Mum would have been just about 15 when he Mother died. She died in a flu epidemic I think - got pneumonia. I do wish she had been more forthcoming to my Mother about her Father - but don't think they ever spoke about it. No-one left to ask now.
Thanks
Pat

Apparently I own the cemetery plot !

I can't see a connection to Bryant and May but there were Bryants in Alford Lincs who were Drapers and went to Huntingdonshire where some Bryant familys were there in 1841.
Could that be the reason Jane went from Scotland to Alford Lincs and had the links to Huntingdon?

Maryb

HI Mary
Don't think there was a direct connection - may have been a bit fanciful - but her Mother - my great Grandmother had Bryant in her name ! Her Morther was Eliuza Ann Bryant. I think my Grandmother may have worked for a succession of Army Officers as cook/housekeeper and cerainly some in Huntingdon - or Alford - I have no reason to think my Grandfather was Scottish really or came from Scotland.
Thanks
Pat

(yes, was looking at her yesterday, but as Scotland, unable to see image, for Birthplace!)

Chris :)

1891 (Find My Past)
Eliza Bryant Head Widow Female 55 1836 Paper Mill Worker England
Robert Bourhill Son-In-Law Married Male 32 1859 Coal Miner Musselburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Elizabeth A Bourhill Daughter Married Female 28 1863 - England
Eliza Bourhill Granddaughter - Female 9 1882 Scholar Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland
Jane Bourhill Granddaughter - Female 7 1884 Scholar Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland
Thomas Bourhill Grandson - Male 6 1885 Scholar Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland
Elizabeth A Bourhill Granddaughter - Female 3 1888 - Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland
Margaret Bourhill Granddaughter - Female 0 1891 - Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland
House name Downie Place
Parish Lasswade
County Midlothian
Registration district Lasswade
Archive reference RG12

Thanks Chris
Yes I had all that info - and my Mothers family was not helped by the fact that there were several Elizabeths., Lizas, Elizas, not
to mentions Janes known as Jean etc. Most of her folk were either miners - or worked at a large paper mill. I visited a few elderly Great Aunts as a child and the papermill stench was awful. No famous or rich folk there.I wonder why we don;t think to ask more questions of our parents when we are young. I only found out that my Grandmother and Grandfather were never married by sheer chance when I was a teenager -- as my mother was very ashamed of it all.
Thanks again
Pat

I have spent most of the afternoon going through ALL the papers I have printed off over the last 10 years and I really thought I had found my Grandfather - James H Brooker - born around 1886 0r 1887 lived Croydon - with a sister Annie 5 years older than him.= who was in 1901 a waitress in a coffee shop. Fathers name James W Brooker Mothers name Edith. This was the nearest I could get - based on census records. But after that ? My Grandmother was born 1884 - Lasswade near Edinburgh and was a bit older than James -quite possible. It is after that is all seems muddled. So I still haven;tfound out where or when he died - IF that was indeed him - but thanks for all your help
Pat

For that one, below details...

Chris :)

1939 Register (Find My Past)

19 Lansdowne Road , Coulsdon and Purley U.D., Surrey,
James H Brooker 05 Aug 1886 Male Chimney Cleaner Married
Sarah Brouper 16 Mar 1884 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married


All Surrey, England, Church of England Baptisms, (Ancestry)

James Henry Brooker
13 May 1888 Purley, Christ Church James William Brooker,
Edith Brooker (Born 5th Aug 1886)


Marriages Jun 1908 (>99%)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
BROOKER James Henry E. Grinstead 2b 305
Holman Sarah E Grinstead 2b 305


1911 (Find My Past)
James Henry Brooker Head Married Male Chimney Cleaner 24 1887 Surrey Purley
Sarah Brooker Wife Married Female - 26 1885 Sussex Worth
Eliza Lacey Visitor Married Female - 32 1879 Sussex Worth
Address 3 Commerce Place High Street Purley
Parish Coulsdon
County Surrey
Census reference RG14 PN3273 RG78 PN124 RD39 SD1 ED2 SN247


(if him)

Deaths Mar 1961 (>99%)
----------------------------------------------------------------
BROOKER James H 73 Surrey Mid.E. 5g 346


Burial Register summary

Brooker James Henry
Burial date 19 January 1961
Authority Bandon Hill Cemetery
Location Bandon Hill Cemetery (Sutton)

https://www.deceasedonline.com/


(also Bandon Hill, below)

Deaths Sep 1949 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------
Brooker Sarah 65 Surrey Mid.E. 5g 221

(Bandon Hill Cemetery was opened in 1900 by Croydon Rural District Council and, due to boundary changes, later became a joint burial authority for the Corporation of Beddington and Wallington and the Coulsdon and Purley Urban District Council. With the formation of the London Boroughs in 1965, the cemetery became jointly run by the London Boroughs of Croydon and Sutton.)


(Sister)

Births Dec 1882 (>99%)
------------------------------------------------------
Brooker Annie Edith Croydon 2a 214

Hi Chris
Oops - looks lik eI got it wrong then !
Thanks though.
Pat

Well, think it will perhaps remain a mystery evermore!, and seems all postcards/correspondence stopped at 1924?...

(did find below snippets, Cambridge Daily News)

Chris :)

1939 Huntingdon. J. Brooker (Freemason) was among others attending a Funeral service of local Councillor.

1918 St. Ives. A group of Boy Scouts visiting in neighbourhood, were invited by the St. Ives troop, through J. Brooker jun., to the Cinema, and the proprietor kindly gave admission free, and handed round refereshments.

Thanks Chris
I fear it will stay a mystery - shame really - I would have liked to have known a little bit about him.
BUT thanks for your hard work and help
Pat