1911 census preliminary findings

I have had a preliminary look at the 1911 census, the beta test version of which was released for a week or so. I didn't purchase any vouchers to check full details, and only a few counties were available, but fortunately Devon was one of them. From the 484 Gidleys found so far, there are now extra people to add to most of the trees I have built up. A lot of the new names were of girls, so there have not been many families to follow through.

1) My own family: A daughter, Emily Bessie J Gidley, born 1908 and a son, James Albert Gidley, born in 1910 have been added to the family of Frederick James Gidley and his wife Lily of Exeter, making a total of 5 boys in the family. James Albert married in Wales, but I have not found any children. I have a newspaper article from about 20 years ago about this family in Exeter, which I shall post separately.

A son, Gerald Frederick Gidley, born 1910 in Devonport, was a surprise addition to the family of Frederick Samuel Gidley and his wife Elizabeth. Gerald's sister Dorothy was 15 years older than he was. Gerald married and had two daughters in Newton Abbot registration district.

There are two more children to add to those of Albert Samuel Gidley and his wife Annie Sophia in Birmingham. One was a daughter, Dorothy Lily Gidley born in 1902, and one was a son, Frederick Gidley, born in 1904. Frederick married in 1932 and had one daughter. He and his wife both died in the Penzance registration area.

Muriel Avis Gidley, born in the Totnes registration district in 1910, was the daughter of Frederick Martin Gidley and his wife Amy.

2) The Winkleigh (and Pedigree) family: another son for the children of William Osborn Gidley and his wife Etta, who later settled in Kingsbridge. This is William George Gidley born 1907 in the Okehampton registration district. I cannot find any marriage for him, but it looks as though he died in 1979 in the Plymouth area.

There are several girls to add to the tree, including two daughters of Sidney George Gidley and his wife Louisa Esther nee Chamberlain. There was no birth reference in England and Wales for the older daughter, Marjorie Dorothy Esther Gidley, so she may have been born in Scotland where both her parents were in 1901.

3) The South Devon family: Stanley George Gidley born 1908 in Greenwich registration district and his sister Olive Wilhelmina born in 1906 have been added to the family of Richard Abel Gidley and his wife Jane. Richard had died in 1910 and one daughter, Florence Irene, was in an "institution" in the Brentford area in the 1911 census, but I didn't check the details. Stanley George married in Lewisham in 1930, but I couldn't trace any family for him.

Another son for John Coulton Elliott Gidley and his wife Mary Adeline of Bristol. This was George Stuart Gidley born 1909, who married and had one daughter. There also seems to have been another daughter for John and Mary's family, Olive Gidley born about 1902, although I can't find a birth reference for her.

4) The "Plymouth James" family: William Henry Gidley and his wife Mary Esther had a son Arthur James Gidley born in Bristol in 1907. Nothing further is known about Arthur yet. There was also another daughter, Dorothy Winifred Gidley, born in 1905.

There are still some mysteries. Several children were found in households where there were no other Gidleys. A birth certificate may have to be obtained for Leslie Edward Gidley born in Greenwich in 1904, as in the 1911 census he is living in Surrey in the Kingston area, the only Gidley in the household. Ivy Whitmore Gidley born in Greenwich in 1895 could not be found in 1901, and in 1911 is also living in the Kingston area, again the only Gidley in the household.

There will be more to add to this 1911 thread as I continue to work my way through the entries, and as more counties are unrolled in the official release.

Visitors to the Gidley Profile page

I have recently installed StatCounter on the Gidley Profile page at the GOONS website. This has provided a wonderful source of information about visitors to the page, including how they were referred there - usually via Google of course. But their search terms are interesting - "churchwardens of Stoke Damerel", "Chudleigh family name", "Mrs Gidley MP", "Gidley Harold German" are some of them, also those who seek the meaning of the Gidley name (and one person who was looking for the meaning of the name Gidlow).
You can also see where the visitors are based and in the few daysI've had StatCounter installed, they have been from all over England, and also from Perth in Western Australia, and Montana, Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, California, and New Hampshire in the USA.
I wish more researchers would get in touch, as I'm sure they could add to the family trees.

The Gidleys of Shoreditch

More information has emerged on the Gidleys of Shoreditch, descended from Robert Pyne Gidley and his wife Ann Norton. Actually, nearly all the males of the family seem to have married an Ann, which makes life confusing. I know that there are several researchers interested in this family. Eight children have come to light so far, the first two being christened in Topsham, Devon. Then there was a move in about 1793 to Bermondsey, on the south bank of the Thames and a centre of the tanning industry, where Robert Pyne Gidley would have plied his trade as a cordwainer. A slight doubt exists over Fraser Gordon Gidley, christened in 1801 in Bermondsey, where his father's trade is given as "Excise, Dock Head". Caroline Snyeder Gidley was the seventh child, and I believe is the Caroline who married John James Brewer in 1826 in St Pancras. A mystery surrounds William Boyne (sometimes Bowen) Gidley, the fifth child, born in 1798. He married Ann Prosser in 1822, and Robert Gidley and Caroline Gidley were witnesses. This Ann seems to have been about 14 years older than her husband, and on the 1841 and 1851 censuses is possibly a female servant (1841) and living with a sister-in-law (1851). There is no sign of William Boyne/Bowen until a death reference in 1866.
At some point the family seems to have moved north of the Thames. The oldest child Robert, born in 1788, married Ann Knight in 1815 in St Anne's, Soho. His parents witnessed the marriage. No children have been found so far, nor any trace of this younger Robert and Ann couple.
Present Gidley representatives of the family descend from the eighth child, Bartholomew Gidley, who married Sarah Cox and whose children were all born in Shoreditch. He carried on the family trade as a cordwainer.
Robert Pyne Gidley died in 1846 and his wife Ann in 1847. Robert Pyne's address was given as 11 Cowper St, City Road, at his burial in Golden Lane Cemetery.