By Maureen Storey
By Maureen StoreyIn this journal we welcome new member Beverley Pollard and are also pleased to welcome back Roger Hobbs who rejoined the Society after an absence of a few years.
Beverley’s father was Cecil Frederick Sole who was born in Kelshall, Hertfordshire, on 2 April 1921. Beverley knew that her grandfather’s name was Frederick and that he had sisters called Ruth, Nell and Nora, but nothing further about the family. We were able to tell Beverley that her great grandparents were Edward Sole and Mary Ann Berry who married in Therfield, Hertfordshire, on 4 Nov 1883 and we’ve helped her take her direct Sole line back to John Sole and Sarah Pratt, who married in Therfield in 1756.
Roger is continuing his research into his wife’s Sole ancestry. Her family has been traced back to Edward Sole and Rose Hannah Drayson, whose twelve children were baptised in Woodnesborough, Kent, between 1823 and 1848.
Another query concerning the Kelshall family came from Bonnie Froggat in Australia. Bonnie said she has been told that her grandmother was adopted by Andy Sole (of the Sole Brothers Circus), and subsequently renamed Faith Ann Sole. Bonnie asked if we had any information about Andy and his family. There is no mention of an adoption in our records, so I asked Linda Butler, one of our Australian members and a distant relative of Andy, if she could find out anything. Linda has been in touch with Andy’s niece and is helping Bonnie find out about her grandmother’s life with the circus.
Blair Southerden wrote to say that he is trying to trace the descendants of Captain John Angus Dubs and Leita Mary Sole, who married in Winchester, HAM, in 1946. He had found that they had a son William F G Dubs in Hamburg in 1947 but he had been unable to find any mention of Leita or William Dubs after that. Blair’s quest is a little unusual. He is trying to find descendants of Captain Guy Rattray Dubs MC, who was seriously injured in an action near Hulluch, France, on 25 Sep 1915. While trying to help Guy Dubs, 18-year-old rifleman George Peachment was fatally injured. For his bravery that day George Peachment was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. A memorial to George is to be unveiled shortly and Blair wants to invite the Dubs family to attend the ceremony. Unfortunately we couldn’t be of much help, though we did give Blair some information about Leita (Sole) Dubs’ birth family in the hope that he might be able to find the Dubs through them.
We were also approached by Keith Brown, who is researching his Meredith family in the Co Mayo/Sligo area of Ireland. This family includes Ann Meredith who married lighthouse keeper Bradley Sole in Sligo in 1837 and Keith wondered if we had any information on Ann and her descendants or knew anyone researching them. We’ve given him some information and passed his message on to a family member.