Cambridgeshire
(See the site map of Cambridge and district, on which most of these villages appear, and also the site map of Ely)

Bourn
My grandfather Edmund Cornwell's grandmother Frances Huckle was born in Bourn in 1828. When she was young the family moved to Cottenham, and married into the Cornells of Histon.

Dry Drayton
Both sets of my grandmother Winifred Ellen Reynolds's grandparents were living in Dry Drayton when she was born there. Her mother's side of the family stretch back through the parish registers into the 16th century. Her mother, Alice Mary Anable, was born in Dry Drayton in 1882. Alice's parents were Samuel Anable, born in 1849, and Lydia Stearn, born in 1856. Samuel's mother was Rachel Rodgers, born in 1825. The Anable, Stearn, Rogers and Chapman families had been in Dry Drayton for at least 300 years.

Duxford
Duxford was the birthplace of my great-grandfather Thomas Reynolds, who was born in 1880. Both his grandfathers, James Reynolds and John Carter, had moved their families to Duxford Grange for work in the middle of the 19th Century, the Reynolds from Great Sampford in Essex, the Carters from Shudy Camps in Cambridgeshire. The Reynolds and Carter families lived next door to each other at Duxford Grange, and two of their children, my great-great-granparents Robert Reynolds and Mary Ann Carter, grew up there and married there in 1864. Robert and Mary Ann later moved their family to Dry Drayton, to the west of Cambridge.

Ely
See map. Two of my eight great-grandparents were from Ely families of long standing. They grew up in the poor Waterside district of Holy Trinity parish. Their daughter, my grandmother Phyllis Alice Page was born in Back Hill, Ely, in 1913. her father Arthur Page was born in Ely in 1879 and her mother Sophia Cross in Ely in 1882. Sophia's father was Thomas Cross, born in Ely in 1852. In the historic parish registers of Holy Trinity parish, Cross is by far the most common surname. Arthur's mother was Alice Wiseman, born in Ely 1855. The 19th century censuses for Ely contain the names of hundreds of my family from the Page, Wiseman, Cross and Carter families. You can see places significant to the Page, Wiseman, Cross and Carter families on the site map of Ely.


Grantchester
My great-great-great-great-grandmother Elizabeth Constable was born here in 1800. She married Henry Anable, and my great-great-great-grandfather William Anable was born in Grantchester in 1823. Two years later, his mother died in childbirth. Henry and William moved to Dry Drayton, where there were already other Anables, presumably relatives. William first married Ann Rutter in 1841, and after her death in 1847 he married Caroline Kester.

Great Shelford
My great-great-grandfather Henry Page was born in Great Shelford in 1851. When he was a child his father moved the family to Ely where there were already other Pages, presumably relatives.

Hardwick
My great-great-great-grandmother Caroline Kester was born in Hardwick in 1832.

Harston
My great-great-great-great-grandfather William Cornall was born in Harston in 1893. He was the first of the family to move to Histon, where they would spend the next century or more. On the other side of the family, my great-great-great-grandfather Robert Page, grandfather of Arthur Page who was killed in the Battle of the Somme, was born in Harston in 1819.

Histon
This was the home parish of the Cornwell family. They had lived here for generations. My great-grandfather William Cornwell, was born in Histon in 1864. His father William Cornell was born in Histon in 1819.

Needingworth (then Hunts)
Needingworth is an important starting point for the Mortlock and Mansfield members of my family. My great-grandmother Eliza Mortlock was born here in 1865. Her mother Eliza Mansfield was born here in 1839, as was her grandfather Abram Mansfield. Mortlocks and Mansfields still live in the parish today.

Oakington
My grandfather Edmund Stanley Cornwell was born here in 1903. His parents had moved from nearby Histon.

Prickwillow
On the outskirts of Ely, this was the original home for members of the Carter family, who married into my grandmother's ancestral Cross family. My great-great-grandmother Sarah Carter was born here in 1860.

Shudy Camps
My great-great-grandmother Mary Ann Carter, who married into the Reynolds branch, was born here in 1843.


Swavesey
My great-great-grandfather Thomas Mortlock was born here in 1842. The Mortlocks were an important Swavesey family of farmers and millers; they had arrived in the village in the 17th Century.




Essex

Great Sampford
This small parish near the Cambridgeshire border was the home of the Reynolds family. My great-great-great-grandfather James Reynolds was born here in 1819, and my great-great-grandfather Robert Reynolds was born here in 1842. They both gave their birthplace in census returns as 'Old Samford', but both their births were registered in this parish.


Radwinter
My great-great-great-grandmother Abigail *Reynolds was born here in 1814.




Kent
(See also the site map of the Medway).

Dartford
My grandfather Vincent Helgia Knott was born here in 1908.

Gillingham
My great-great- grandfather George Knott was born here in 1843.

Faversham
My great-great-grandmother Mary Ann Bowles was born here in 1844.

Halstow
My great-great-grandfather George Waters was born here in 1849.

Higham
My great-great-grandmother Mary Harrall was born here in 1850.

Upchurch
My great-grandfather William Knott was born here in 1869.




Wales

Denbighshire
My great-grandmother Mary Anne Waters was born in Llanferres to Kent parents in 1872.