16 August 2019

Where are the descendants of Mary Ann Rose Smith ?

by Sheila Dawes (& others)
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Her descendants are dispersed worldwide.

From her first husband William Thomas
Her son James married Elizabeth Pritchard in Wales.  They had four children; the eldest born in Carnarvon in 1927 was Mary and was followed by George, Geoffrey, and Alec.

Mary married Tony Clarke in Newborough Church on the 15th February 1947.  She and her family emigrated to Australia following her father and brothers.  James Thomas died at Praham in Victoria in 1977.  George his son died in 1987 in Ballarat, Victoria.   Of Geoffrey nothing is known but Alec is still alive in Melbourne.

Mary Clarke had three children.  Tessa the eldest born in 1948 now lives in Canada with her family.  Richard lives in Connecticut USA and Tricia moved to France where she died in 2010.  She is survived by two daughters.

From her second husband George Richardson [Gladys, Ilene, Grace, Gordon, George]
Gladys married Cable and Wireless employee Frank Wheelock in Rodrigues in 1926 where their first daughter Patricia was born in 1928.  Two further daughters Gillian (1930) and Jean (1932) were born in Harrow.  Gladys and Frank remained in England for the rest of their lives together with their children.  Gladys looked after her mother Mary for a period of time as she lived next door to her in Elmstead Avenue, Wembley.  After Mary’s death Gladys and Frank moved first to Guildford and then retired to Minehead to be nearer to the Wheelock family later moving to East Wittering in Sussex.  Gladys died in March 1982.

At the time of writing Patricia and Jean are still alive living in Tunbridge Wells, Kent and West Mersea, Essex and are grandparents and great grandparents.

Ilene (Mauritian born) married Richard Stuart in Vigo 1928 and remained in Spain after the family returned to England as a result of George’s early retirement.  Both their two children were born in Vigo Spain; Richard in 1929 and Sheila in 1933.

Richard is now living in Florida where he moved to work with his wife Alicia and now enjoys retirement and playing tennis.  He has a daughter and a son who live nearby together with grandchildren.  Sheila married Pedro Rodriguez Roda in Madrid where she still lives.  She had five children (four sons and a daughter) who live in Spain and Majorca. She enjoys the company of her grandchildren and helps support many charities.

I was born November 13, 1929 in Vigo, Spain.  World War 2 started September 1939.  In August 1938 my parents sent me to boarding school in Harlow, England which is about an hour northwest of London.  In June or July 1939, in view of the impending start of hostilities my father pulled me out of school and brought me back to Vigo.  Since there were no English schools in Vigo I had a tutor (Mr. Fitzgibbons) who came to the house 2 or 3 times a week.

After the Nazis occupied France my father became concerned that they might invade Spain and put us all in a concentration camp.  The Spanish Civil War ended early 1939 and left Spain totally morally and financially bankrupt.

Franco however was pro Nazi so a Nazi takeover was a good possibility.  Accordingly, my father sent my mother, my sister Sheila and me to Lisbon, Portugal so that we could get on a waiting list of flights to the U.K.  After about 6/9 months we were put on a Sunderland flying boar that took us first to Shannon Airport in Ireland and after re-fueling, to Southampton.  The 3 of us stayed with Granny (Mary Richardson, my mother’s mother).  At some point, my mother got a job at the local General Electric plant in Wembley, my sister went to Kindergarten and I returned to Harlow.  Eventually my mother and Sheila went back to Madrid to where my father had been transferred by the Bank of London & South America (BOLSA).

In 1948 I was called up and did 20 months in the British army, the Royal Army Pay Corps.  In 1950 I joined BOLSA and was sent to Madrid as a Management Trainee.  In 1952 I accepted a position in Santiago, Chile under a 5 year contract which among other things stipulated that I was not allowed to marry.  (The guy whose job I inherited had been fined for intoxication!)  When I saw Alicia Campusano it was “love at first sight” so I decided to ask the Manager of BOLSA for permission to marry.  Luckily he had met Alicia earlier at a bank gathering.  He agreed to send my request to the Head office in London, which to our relief approved it.  Shortly after our marriage I was transferred to the Concepcion Branch to complete my formal training to become the Assistant Manager.

Our daughter, Marie-Ilene Whitehurst was born in Concepcion (a Penquista) in 1953 and in 1955 we sailed from Valparaiso on the “Reina del Mar” for Southampton to enjoy 5 months of vacation in the U.K. and Spain.

In September 1955 we flew from Madrid to New York where I had accepted a position with J. Henry Schroder Banking Corporation in their Latin American Division.  Our son, Richard was born in New York on August 18, 1959 rounding out our small family here in the US.

In 1972 the lure of warm weather beckoned as I joined the First National Bank of Miami (later known as Southeast Banking Corp) as Vice President, Latin America.   In 1975 I joined Standard Chartered Bank  (SCB) and assisted in the formation of the Miami Branch, actually known as an International Bank Agency.  I closed out my banking career as the Miami Representative of a major SCB customer.  My beloved wife sadly passed away in January of 2007 but I am lucky to live within a 10 minute drive to both of my children.  I am also the proud grandfather to Christina, 23 years old and Thomas 22 and to 7 lovely dogs.

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Grace and Len Wareham had one daughter Susan in 1947, born in Hampstead.  The family settled in Beckenham, Kent before moving permanently to Spain for work and then in retirement. Susan married in Madrid and had two children. Susan still lives in Madrid and enjoys the company of her grand- daughters.

Gordon (Mauritian born) returned to England with his parents and attended Fochabers School in Scotland and later Berkhamstead School, Hertfordshire. After his father died, he lived with his mother in Elmstead Avenue, Wembley until he married Isabella Dott in 1940.  He moved only a short distance away to Preston Road, Wembley. Gordon and Isabella had three children; Pender in 1942, Jaqueline in 1943 and Sheila in 1950.  Gordon retired early as Isabella had become blind and together they moved to West Mersea, Essex where Gordon died in 1995.  They enjoyed the company of his children and grandchildren and indoor bowling. 

All three of his children live in East Anglia; Pender in Essex, Jackie in Lincolnshire and Sheila who divides her time between Suffolk and Normandy in France.

George married Margaret (Peggy) Richards in 1946 in East Pennard, Somerset.  Shortly after their marriage they moved to Trinidad where George worked in the sugar industry.  They had three children Duncan, Keith and Jean.  George died in 1986.  Shortly afterwards his son Keith died.  Duncan now lives in Barbados with his wife Heather and his daughter is based in London.  Jean still lives in Trinidad.