Oliver Family	Robinson Family	James Family
Charman Family	Military

The Oliver Family of Mevagissey, Cornwall
The earliest recorded member I have found so far is Daniel Oliver, born in 1782. His son Thomas was born in Mevagissey, Cornwall so I am assuming for now that he was born in the same area.

Young Thomas married Jane Consentine and they 6 children. One of them, Thomas Jr, married Maria Hodge, daughter of Roger Hodge who was a master mariner of the vessel Ellen Frances.

Thomas and Maria moved to Kensington, where Thomas became a carpenter.They had 8 children.

Their fourth child, Charles Hodge Oliver was a tiler and slater. He married Elizabeth Charman and they had 9 children including Sidney Seymour Oliver, my Grandfather.

He went on to marry Daisy Christina Robinson.

The Charman Family of Horsham, West Sussex
The earliest member of the Charman family currently on my tree is William Charman born in 1746 in Rusper, Sussex.

His son William and daughter-in-law Sophia Jenden had 13 children. All born in Sussex.

William and Sophia's 10th child James, moved to Paddington, London and married Catherine Francis from the City of London. They, in turn, had 8 children. One of them was also called James.

James Jr was a plasterer. In 1875 he married Elizabeth Nicholas also from London. They had 8 children.

Their fourth child, Elizabeth went on to marry Charles Hodge Oliver.

The Robinson Family of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
James Robinson is the person I currently have as the earliest member of the family. I am still researching this.

James was born in the late 1700's in Suffolk. He married Deborah Vine and had a child called Henry Robinson.

Henry was born in 1826 in Bury St Edmunds. He was a shoemakers apprentice in the 1841 census, unlike his father and brothers who were bricklayers.

Henry married Maria and 5 children. One of them was Thomas Robinson born in 1851.

In 1879 Thomas married Elizabeth Cooke, also from Bury St Edmunds. This took place in Kensington, London.

Thomas and Elizabeth had 5 children, including Henry Herbert Robinson who later married Harriet Mary James.

The James Family of Portsmouth, Hampshire
The James family originated in the Portsmouth area.

William James married Ann Gater in 1818 at Portsea. Their son Edwin was born 5 years later. It is at the moment unknown if they had any more children.

William moved to Kensington, London and married Emma Fagg from Bridge in Kent. They had 3 children.

Their son William Jr. was born in 1865. William was a railway porter and lived in the railway cottages adjacent to the railway lines running out of Paddington by Barlby Road, London.

William married Christina Reed from Pimlico. They had 7 children, the oldest of which was Harriet Mary James.

Harriet married Henry Herbert Robinson in 1910 in Paddington, London.

They had at least 6 children. One of which was Daisy Christina Robinson, who later married Sidney Seymour Oliver.

They had 2 children, Tony, my uncle and Janet.

Janet Christine married John Allan Hancock in 1970.

These are my parents.

Military

I am finding it difficult to trace members of my Oliver family with military background.

I know my grandfather, Sidney Oliver (above right) served with the RAMC in the far-east, Burma and was in a Japanese POW camp. This I believe affected him severely.



Some of Grandad Sid's medals. The 1939-1945 Star and the Defence Medal



My Uncle, John Ryan served in WW2 with The Green Howards. He served with Sgt. Major Stanley Hollis, who was the only recipient of the Victoria Cross on D-Day.

Uncle John was one of the first troops to land on Gold Beach during the Normandy Landings on D-Day.

I also believe one of my great uncles served in the 2nd Boer War, but have yet to confirm this.

Sadly, I currently have no records or medal cards to speak of.



A recent find. This is a "On War Service" womans brooch distributed to women helping the war effort in 1916. I believe it belonged to one of my Great-Grandmothers, either Harriet or Elizabeth.