information on william brookes, mine engineer 1900's to 1950

[salee]

my grand father was william brookes, he worked as a mine engineer in the st helens area from the 1900's to retirement, & then came back as a volunteer in WW2,
born about 1883 probably in wigan or manchester his fathers name was Edward Brookes.

my grandfather william worked at most of the pits in this area, inc rainford, sutton manor, parr, peasley cross, he maintained the machinery.
he lived most of his life in a cottage near the railway in peasley cross with his 2nd wife ann or annie, before this in rainford? with his 1st wife margaret before she died in 1919, the 2 wives were sisters.

he had 5 surviving children, mary, nancy, nelly, (william & elsie died within days of their mother) then *maggie & edward.

*my mother.

william was 13th of 13 children, from a motherless childhood with a severe father, he lost contact with his family as most of them emmigrated before WW1.

my aunt mary tried to find out more but the internet was not available then, this is all the information i have, not a lot i know but can anyone point me at where to go next? i don't live in the UK now so i can't pop in to the library mores the pity,
thanks bye.

[MaryA]

Do you have the wives the right way round? I have found a marriage for William Brooks to Annie Davenport in Salford St George 1892 but this would mean that your estimated birth year for William is probably way out. The only other Margaret Davenport/Brooks marriage I see is for a Tom C Brooks, again in Salfordthis time at St Luke, in 1910.

Do you know the dates of birth for any of the children before 1911

I have William 1912, Nellie 1916 and Elsie 1919 (all with mother's maiden name Devenport) but it would be better to try and find the family in the 1911 census to pinpoint the parents ages.

[salee]

firstly thanks.
yes the wives are in the right order, my mother was the daughter of ann/anne/annie who married william some time after the death of her sister margaret (died 1919), ann lived to an old age i knew her as a child.

on the grave stone in rainford church it lists, margaret wife of william, william 8y son of.... & elsie 9 days daughter of.... all listed dead within 2 weeks in 1919
also ann wife of william ( my grand mother).

william junior = diptheria, margaret post birth complications, no cause of death know for elsie.

i do know ann was the older sister & she was a childrens nurse, i found a reccord for a william married to a margaret on the 1911 census, but i can't find a record for william to ann/anne/annie anywhere.

i have found links to an ann davenport to a frank davenport & a joseph davenport who may have been the brothers. but i can't find their parents?
nana told me they came 'off the farm' she told tales of riding farm horses to the fields with the mens lunches in a basket, from the tales i gather she was a kid to older brothers who she clearly hero worshipped, she could not talk much of them as she always cried but she did say they both died in WW1 one brother near the start & the other near the end of the war, she never mentioned any wives or children of them.

i can't find details for william brookes parents or place of birth though mum said she thought manchester/rochdale for them all?
bye

[MaryA]

We're mixing these threads together which is not good, bits of information will be missed from one thread to another.

I think you need to start from scratch - ie from the details on your mother's birth certificate. Her mother may have been married previously and so the marriage to William may be under a different name. Alternatively they may not have married.

[Tina]

The 3 deaths in 1919, I cannot find them.
Please could you send a link?
Both sisters were Davenport?
Margaret & Wm you found between 1910 & 1912, can we have a location please
Tks
Tina

[MaryA]

There are two deaths for an Elsie, one in 1918 age 1 and one in 1919 age 0, both in the Prescot district, so I suspect it is the second entry.

A William is aged 6.

Both of the above are spelt Brooks without the e.

Davenport/Devenport/Devonport beware of the spellings.

[dickiesam]

The 3 deaths in 1919, I cannot find them.
Please could you send a link?
Both sisters were Davenport?
Margaret & Wm you found between 1910 & 1912, can we have a location please
Tks
Tina

Hello ladies,
Noticed this thread has been dormant for some time, so thought I'd do some searches. Like Tina I can't see those 3 deaths in 1919, which is weird if there is a headstone with dates on it.

Likewise, no marriage for William Brook(es) and Ann Davenport 1919 to 1935. There's a dozen or so Lancs births for a Margaret but no maiden name D*venport.

As Mary says, we need the details from Salee's mother's birth cert.

In the relevant census there's a William [right occupation] and Maggie Brookes with a very young child Annie.... This is the only one that fits....
Births Mar qtr 1910: BROOKES, Annie - Barton I - 8c - 603.
Supposed to be married in 1910 but where?

To answer Tina's location question.... 7 France St, Pemberton, Lancs.

Dickiesam