[Mark BONEHAM] [Phoebe WATTS] [Sarah Ann WALDEN] [Sarah Ann DILLWORTH] [Biography]
[Children by Phoebe WATTS] [Children by Sara Ann WALDEN] [Sources]

nb: Items in GREY are yet to be confirmed (TBC)

Mark BONEHAM

Born: Bap: Father: Mother: O1 October 1862 in Foleshill, WAR 21 March 1869 in Stoke, WAR John BONHAM Betsey LOMAS Married1: Spouse1: Married2: Spouse2: Married3: Spouse3:   05 November 1888 in parish church at Stoke, WAR Phoebe WATTS 04 September 1911 in Kenilworth, WAR Sarah Ann WALDEN 29 August 1925 in Kenilworth, WAR Sarah Ann DILLWORTH (wid.) née HARRISON Died: 22 March 1934 in Kenilworth, WAR

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Phoebe WATTS

Born: Bap: Father: Mother: Died: 14 March 1864 in Stoke, WAR 02 October 1864 in Stoke, WAR Isaac WATTS Elizabeth BULL 13 September 1907 at Kenilworth, WAR

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Sarah Ann WALDEN

Born: Bap: Father: Mother: Died: abt. 1875 ? Richard WALDEN ? Probably Q3 1917 Warwick 6d 660

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Sarah Ann DILLWORTH née HARRISON

Born: Bap: Father: Mother: Died: abt. 1858 ? William HARRISON ? Probably Q1 1933 Warwick 6d 1178

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Biography

1862: Mark Boneham was born on the first of October in the parish of Foleshill, Warwickshire. He was the son of John Boneham, a bricklayer’s labourer, and his wife Betsey, formerly Lomas. Betsey was well enough to register the birth on the thirteenth of October. 1864: Phebee (sic) Watts was born on the fourteenth of March in the parish of Stoke, Warwickshire. She was the daughter of Isaac Watts, a farm labourer, and his wife Elizabeth, formerly Bull. Phoebe was their fourth child, having two older sisters and a brother. Elizabeth registered her daughter’s birth on the nineteenth of March. Phoebe was baptised on the second of October in the church of St. Michael, Stoke. 1869: Mark Boneham was baptised on the twent-first of March in the parish church at Stoke. Also baptised at this time we his brothers James and John and also their sister Harriet 1871: John Boneham and family are living next door to his brother Mark in Stoke Row, Stoke (RG10/3174 folio 59 p. 6). John is working as an agricultural labourer, while his wife Betsy (sic) is listed as a silk weaver. They have five children living with them: Harriett (10), Mark (08), James (06), John (04) and George (01). The four eldest children were born at Foleshill, but George was born in Stoke. This suggests the move to Stoke row was recent. Isaac Watts and family are still living in Stoke, in Bulls Head Lane (RG10/3174 folio 76 p.8). Isaac is still working as an agricultural labourer, with Elizabeth making what money she can as a laundress. Their eldest daughter Lucy (14) is working as a domestic servant, but younger siblings Harriett (11), Walter (09) and Phoebe (7) are all at school. Two younger children are also at home, William (04) and baby Catherine (01). 1881: At the time of the census Mark (18) is living with his parents at 6 Stoke Row in Stoke (RG11/3065 folio 53 p.2). His father is working as an agricultural labourer, whilst Mark is employed as a gardener’s labourer. His brother John (14) is a silk dyer. There are six more children living at home: George (11), William A. (09), Thomas (09), Walter (07), Arthur (04) and little sister Ada J. (01). Of these six, the four older boys are at school. Phoebe is not with her family at the time of the census. There are no exact matches for her in the census, but she may the Phoebe Watts (16) working as a general servant to the family of Samuel J. Gale (RG11/057 folio 129 p.58). This Phoebe is said to have been born in Oxford, but since employers were notoriously vague about where their servants actually came from, this might just be her. The family are living at 3 Beauclerk Road in Middlesex. 1888: Mark Boneham & Phoebe Watts were married at the parish church in Stoke on the fifth of November after banns. Mark’s occupation is given as gardener, while Phoebe’s is given as domestic servant. Mark is living in Balsall, while Phoebe is resident in Stoke. Both parties signed the register, as did their two witnesses - George Boneham and Mary E. Middleton. 1891: Mark, Phoebe and their baby daughter Ada (01) are living at the Lodge in Allesley Road, in Coundon (RG12/2441 folio 168 p.1). Mark is still working as a gardener, perhaps for Richard Caldicott, a silk ribbon manufacturer, who is living next door in Coundon House. Mr Caldicott is wealthy enough to have five servants ‘living in’, including a groom and so may well have been grand enough to employ a gardener. Baby Ada is said to have been born in Balsall, which suggests that Phoebe may have gone to live at Mark’s home after the marriage and that their move to Coundon may have been fairly recent. 1901: The family have moved to Warwick Road in Kenilworth (RG13/2936 folio 77 p.5). Mark is working as a gardener, but this is specified as not being domestic. There were many nurseries and market gardens in Kenilworth at this time. This census gives Ada’s (11) place of birth as Berkswell and not Balsall. Her younger sister Lizzie (09) and brother William (04) were both born at Coundon, so the family cannot have been in Kenilworth for long. 1902: Probable death of daughter Ada aged just thirteen. 1903: Death of Mark’s mother Betsey. 1906: After a gap of ten years, daughter Lucy Ellen Boneham is born on the 23 February at home in Windy Arbour, Kenilworth.. The birth certificate confirms that Mark was working as a Market Gardener, and as it was he who registered the birth on the thirtieth of February, he ought to know! 1907: Phoebe died on the thirteenth of September at home in Windy Arbour, Kenilworth. She had been suffering from a range of severe lung problems, including asthma, bronchitis and pulmonary phthisis, better known as TB. Her death was reported by the newly widowed Mark on the sixteenth of that month. The death certificate confirms Mark’s occupation as market gardener. 1908: Possible death of Mark’s father John. 1909: Mark & Phoebe’s first grandchild, Maud Lizzie Leeson, is born at Lower Ladyes Hills, Kenilworth. Mark must have moved here sometimes between September 1907 and December 1909. A visit to Lower Ladyes Hills shows it now runs alongside allotments. It is believed that this was formerly a market garden specializing in Strawberries and may well have been the place where Mark worked.

Road Sign West End Houses at Lower Ladyes Hill Cottages at Lower Ladyes Hill East End

Lower Ladyes Hills, Kenilworth, WAR in 2006

1911: The census shows that the widower Mark was living in 1 Clifton Cottages, Lower Ladyes Hills, Kenilworth (RG78PN1120 RD393 SD3 ED8 SN50). His married daughter Lizzie and her baby daughter Maud (1), listed as Maudie in the census, are living with him. Presumably Lizzie is there to keep house and to help look after her brother William (14) and sister Lucy (5). Quite what her husband Harvey thought of this arrangement is unknown, though he was only living a few minutes walk away with his parents. The cottage was tiny, with just 4 rooms, so it must have been crowded with 5 people living there. Mark is still working a  nurseryman, perhaps on the nursery opposite the cottages. Even though William is young, he is working as an office boy in the local gasworks; probably the same gasworks as Lizzie’s husband. I’d like to think that Harvey put a good word in for the boy and helped  him to find employment. The census confirms that Mark and Phoebe had 4 children together, but that one (Ada) had died by 1911. Later the same year Mark, still a resident of Lower Ladys Hills, married his neighbour Sarah Ann Walden,  a spinster. Sarah, daughter of a watchman, was just thirty-six years old. So it’s perhaps no surprise that Mark knocked a few years off his age, claiming to be just forty-six at the time of the church wedding on the fourth of September, instead of forty-nine. Sarah had been working as a domestic servant. Mark’s occupation is given as a gardener. The marriage was witnessed by James Webley, who appears in the census of this year as a boarder at daughter Lizzie’s in-laws and Frances Mary Walden. The couple are thought to have had three children. (TBC) 1917: Possible death of second wife Sarah A. Boneham aged 42 in the third quarter of this year. (TBC) 1918: Possible death of daughter Ada M. Boneham aged just two. 1922: Probable death of daughter Lucy Ellen Boneham aged 16. 1925: On the twenty-ninth of August 1925 Mark married his third wife, Sarah Ann Dillworth, herself a widow née Harrison. Mark tells the truth about his age this time, since at 67 his bride is four years older than him. Mark is now living at 12 St. John’s Avenue in Kenilworth. Sarah had been living close by at 3 St. John’s Street. The marriage is witnessed by Archibald Hercules Dixon and Annie Maria Smith. 1933: Possible death of third wife Sarah A. Boneham age 75. (TBC) 1934: Mark Boneham died on the twenty-second of March 1934 at the age of seventy-one. He was still resident at 12 St. John’s Avenue, Kenilworth at the time of his death. After many years of working as a jobbing gardener, Mark appears to have finally just worn out. The death certificate records the cause of death as a combination of acute rheumatism, heart failure and senile decay. The death is reported on the day it occurred by son William Alfred Boneham, who was resident at 248 Browns Lane, Allesley, Coventry in Warwickshire.

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Children by Phoebe WATTS

Name: Born: Died: Ada BONEHAM 1889 in Balsall, WAR. Probably Q2 1889 Solihill 6d 590. Age 13 in Q3 1902 Warwick 6d 346 Name: Born: Died: Married: Spouse: Lizzie BONEHAM 18 March 1892 in Coundon, WAR 16 November 1925 in Mardy Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil, GLA 09 December 1909 in Abbey Hill Chapel, Kenilworth, WAR Harvey George LEESON Name: Born: Bap: Died: Married: Spouse: Note: William Alfred BONEHAM 30 December 1896 in Coundon, WAR. Probably Q1 Meriden 6d 486. 03 February 1897 at St. John, Coventry, WAR Probably January 1984 Coventry v33 p399 Possibly Q2 1925 Coventry 6d 1465 Florence N. WAGSTAFF Enlisted in the Warwickshire Royal Horse Artillery 25 October 1913, No. 614084. Demobbed 22 January 1919 after extensive service during WW1. Awarded the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the 1914 Star. Enlisted in the Warwickshire Yeomanry 02 December 1920, No. 539666. Demobbed 01 December 1921. Name: Born: Bap: Died: Lucy Ellen BONEHAM 23 February 1906 in Kenilworth, WAR Probably age 16 Q4 1922 Warwick 6d 730

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Children by Sarah Ann WALDEN

Name: Born: Died: Married: Spouse: Mark R. BONEHAM Abt. 1912. Probably Q3 Warwick 6d 1389 ? Possibly Q3 1941 Banbury 3a 5241 Nora L. JOHNSON Name: Born: Died: Married: Spouse: John T. BONEHAM Abt. 1914. Probably Q1 Warwick 6d 1653. May be 02 Dec 1913 Possibly My 2001Coventry E65A 041 Possibly Q1 1941 Meriden 6d 1443 Ivy A. OSBORNE Name: Born: Died: Ada M. BONEHAM Abt. 1916. Probably Q2 Warwick 6d 1579. Possibly age 02 Q4 1918 Warwick 6d 1487

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Sources

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