James Brock Genealogy Site
Recent BROCK History Page
Recent History
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James Brock Genealogy Site |
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Recent BROCK History Page |
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Recent History |
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| My Great great grandmother, ANN BROCK (1828 - 1877), had two children, JAMES OLIVE in 1845 (Who | |||||||||
| appended the name BROCK whilst serving in the Somerset militia in 1872), and JOSEPH ARTHUR OLIVE | |||||||||
| BROCK in 1851. She eventually married their father JAMES OLIVE (1825 - 1856), but the year they | |||||||||
| married (1856) he died from epilepsy. | |||||||||
| She remarried in 1859 to JOSEPH SMITH. A shoemakerand factory owner in Stapleton Bristol, but there is | |||||||||
| no mention of any name change. And indeed all the census's taken from then onwards, she was either | |||||||||
| OLIVE or BROCK as the fancy took her. JAMES OLIVE worked in his father's business in Bristol, as a wine | |||||||||
| and spirit merchant. But I have the original parchment document that awarded his father, JOSEPH OLIVE | |||||||||
| (1795 - 1854), the freedom of Bristol as a Burgess man in 1818, as an iron founder. I have not been able | |||||||||
| to find out why he changed from iron founding to business as a Wine & Sprit Merchant as yet. | |||||||||
| My great grandfather, JAMES OLIVE BROCK (1845 - 1899) retired from the militia after a full career, serving | |||||||||
| in Canada, India and Ireland. He and great grandmother, ALICE JANE SEABORNE (1858 - 1897) bought | |||||||||
| the Hop Pole Inn, in 1888, situated on Upper Bristol Road, Bath, from her father, JOHN SEABORNE (1820 | |||||||||
| - 1890) Cooper and Licenced Victualler) who had run the pub since the 1850's. One of his sisters, ANN | |||||||||
| SCULL (1815 - 1886) either bought or leased the pub first, then John took over and later owned the pub | |||||||||
| outright. | |||||||||
| They obviously didn't have a happy life. Their first child, JAMES ARTHUR JOHN BROCK (1879) was born | |||||||||
| in Twerton 1879, and died there three months later from convulsions. They progressed to have four other | |||||||||
| children, ALICE AMELIA BROCK in 1881. She died in a Brighton workhouse in 1902. My grandfather, | |||||||||
| WILLIAM JAMES OLIVE BROCK in 1882, ANNIE ROSE BROCK in 1885 and NELLIE FRANCIS | |||||||||
| BROCK in 1887. | |||||||||
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| My grandfather WILLIAM JAMES OLIVE BROCK lived rather a full life. He was in the Royal Navy in 1898 | |||||||||
| as a signaller, also trained as an engineer and a deep sea diver in Devonport. He married AGNES | |||||||||
| RUDMAN in 1905, who was an actress with Fred Karno's Circus playing the leading lady in 'THE NEW | |||||||||
| SLAVIES' as Agnes Roselia. They worked with Charlie Chaplin and his brother Sid Chaplin, | |||||||||
| EricCampbell, Tittie Collier and Little Zola, Sid Walker and Maidie Scott. | |||||||||
| As an engineer he wandered all over the world, working for railway companies in Hong Kong, Burma, | |||||||||
| China, Siam, Nova Scotia and Colombo to mention but a few. He was called up in 1917. Apparently he was a | |||||||||
| changed man when he returned and much given to mood swings, (he probably had shell shock). His sight | |||||||||
| failed him several times over the next decade or so, which meant his painting career took more of a hobby | |||||||||
| position instead of commercial as he was unable to work as a professional artist. | |||||||||
| They had four children; AGNES VERA BROCK (1906), (Married JAMES CHAPMAN 1935); VIVYAN | |||||||||
| NOEL BROCK (1907) (Married MURIEL GOVERD 1936, then EILEEN MARSHALL); RAYMOND | |||||||||
| WILLIAM BROCK 1910.(Married CEINWEN JAMES 1940) and my father DUDLEY BASIL BROCK born | |||||||||
| in 1914. | |||||||||
| Dad had two children from his first marriage to DOROTHY CLARE PATRICIA WILLIAMS (Married 1941); | |||||||||
| WENDY OLIVE BROCK (1944) and then ANNE PATRICIA BROCK (1947). The marriage ended with | |||||||||
| divorce, then later married my mother, JOAN WALKER (Born 1926) in 1949. | |||||||||
| He worked for many years as an accountant in the farming industry for Newcombe Brothers, which was | |||||||||
| bought out many times and renamed often, until it became Spillers, (and then Dalgety) whence Dad was | |||||||||
| made a Company Director. | |||||||||
| He died in 1986 after a short illness at the age of 71. | |||||||||
| My elder half sister Wendy married Wyndham CONNIFF. They have two children, (and a few | |||||||||
| Grandchildren!) Susan and Sharon. | |||||||||
| My other half sister Ann married William OULTON which ended in divorce, then married Ronald | |||||||||
| HARDWICK, then Denis Middleton. | |||||||||
| I married in 1972 to Gertraude Katherine YOKSHA, we had a son, Rhys James (1974).This marriage | |||||||||
| ended in divorce, whence I married Anna MEZCIEMS. This also ended in divorce. | |||||||||
| I married DAWN BEVERLEY TAYLOR in 2001. | |||||||||
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