Sarah Rice and my other Rice ancestors

Sarah Rice (1791-1871). My 4th great-grandmother. Sarah was the first of the Rice family to join my family tree. She was baptised on 3 July 1791 at St Mary’s Church in Balcombe, Sussex, to parents George Rice and Mary Harman. She married William Budgen at St Nicholas’s Church in Worth, Sussex, on 2 November 1808. […]

Jane Bashford and my other Bashford ancestors

Jane Bashford (1806-1885).My 3rd great-grandmother. The first Bashford to marry into my Finch family was Jane Bashford, who was born on 13 May 1806 in the village of Chipstead, Surrey. She was baptised at St Margaret’s Church on 15 June that year. Her parents were James Bashford and James Harman (see below). She married Henry […]

Mary Bilcliffe and my other Bilcliffe ancestors

Mary Bilcliffe (1735-1783).My 5th great-grandmother. The Bilcliffe surname is a rare one in the UK and appears in several forms in the records (like many other surnames of the time), for example as Billcliff, Billcliffe, Bentley and even Bentlet. The first to marry into my Surrey-based Finch family was Mary Bilcliffe – but who was […]

Emmeline Louisa Wetherall (1872-1932) – widowed by a mill accident

Emmeline Louisa Wetherall (1872-1932) and Albert Robert Woods (1872-1917). My great-grand aunt and uncle. Emmeline was born on 2 June 1872 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and baptised in the town on 14 July at St Nicholas’ Church. Her parents were Benjamin Thomas Wetherall and Sarah Ann Elizabeth Green. Emmeline (pictured top with her children Leslie […]

Helen Daisy Wetherall (1885-?) – married in South Africa

Helen Daisy Wetherall (1885-?) and Frederick Davis.My great-grand aunt and uncle. Helen, or Daisy as she was usually known, was born on 8 April 1885 in Great Yarmouth and baptised in the town’s St Nicholas parish church on 23 June. Her parents were shipwright Benjamin Wetherall and Sarah Green. She grew up surrounded by her siblings […]

Agnes Louisa Finch (1869-1952) – shopkeeper in Scotland

The 1911 census

Agnes Louisa Finch (1869-1952) and Robert Hardie (1866-1920).My great-grand aunt and uncle. Agnes spent much of her life in Scotland but was born in 1869 and baptised on 21 November of that year in St Matthew’s Church, Redhill, Surrey, the daughter of Isaac Finch and Phoebe Ann Ward. The family lived in Chart Road and […]

Emma Budgen (1861-1925) – Mayoress of Reigate

Reigate in the First World War

Emma Budgen (1861-1925) and George Alfred Reynolds Ince (1863-1951).My great-grand aunt and uncle. Emma Budgen was the oldest of Thomas Budgen and Maria Dolamore‘s children. She was born in 1861 in Worth, Sussex, and baptised in the village on 1 September that year, but went from humble beginnings to become the Mayoress of Reigate. As […]

Peter Finch (1845-1891) and his well-travelled son Henry

The Aorangi

Peter Finch (1845-1891) and Eliza Esther Turner (1841-1895). My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt. Born in 1845 to parents Henry Finch and Jane Bashford, Peter could well have been the twin of his brother George as they were both baptised on 15 June that year at St Mary’s Church in Reigate, Surrey. And he ended […]

Henry Finch (1834-1919) – gardener and property owner

The 1911 census return

Henry Finch (1834-1919), Lydia Lambourn (1822-1891) and Eleanor Streeter (1845-1927). My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunts. Henry Finch was baptised in St Mary’s Church in Reigate, Surrey, on 9 March 1834, the son of Henry Finch and Jane Bashford. His father was an agricultural labourer and he grew up with the family in and around […]

James Finch (1831-1900) and his adventurous son Jacob

HMS Malabar

James Finch (1831-1900) and Mary Wicks (1831-1881). My 2nd great grand-uncle and aunt. James Finch was baptised on 13 November 1831 at St Mary’s Church in Reigate, Surrey, one of the sons of Henry Finch and Jane Bashford. After growing up in the town with his siblings, he following his father in working as an […]