The Family of Gaius Penny Walter and Mary Adelia Carter of Somerton and Southsea
A genealogical account of the family of Gaius and Mary Adelia Walter
New Street, Somerton - Broad Street is at the end
Gaius Penny Walter was the son of , Somerset, England.
He was a draper in New Street
and
in the 1880s. In 1897 he had a shop in .
He married Mary Adelia Carter (1870-1940) on 14th January 1891 in the Wesleyan Chapel, Somerton witnessed by his brother Jacob Walter and her parents and older brother.
Mary Adelia was the daughter of Alfred Carter (1839-1918)
(a Sergeant Instructor of Volunteers and then licensed victualler keeping the Red Lion in Broad Street, Somerton) and Annie Belle McLeod (born Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada 1851) from South Petherton
in March 1891.
Gaius Penny and Mary Adelia had children including:
- Dorothy Mary (Mary)(1891-1971; died Surrey)
- Ada Elsie (1892-1945)
- Lillian Kathleen (Lily) (1894-1962)
- Caroline Eveline (Eveline) (1896-1918; died S. Shields)
- Christina Irene (Christiana) (1900-1999)
- Hugh Penny Wesley (1901-1975)
- Harold Philip McLeod (b.1906; Castle Cary)
In 1911 the family lived in The Cottage,
North Street, Somerton (excluding Dorothy Mary). Gaius is listed in a 1914 directory for Somerton when he was described
as a draper (Broad Street) and a tailor
(New Street). When Lillian Kathleen married in 1920 she gave her
address as Waterloo House, Waterlooville, Hampshire. Gaius was described as a draper on the marriage certificate. Dorothy Mary's husband came from
Southsea and their children were born in Portsmouth District from 1917 onwards. Between 1923-1935 Southsea trade directories
list Gaius as a draper at 111-113 Eastrey Road. In 1927 administration of his grandmother Lucy Penny's will passed to
him from his brother, Jacob who had died in 1924. Gaius Penny, Mary Adelia and Elsie Ada died in Portsmouth District in 1943,
1940 and 1945 respectively. On his death certificate, Gaius' last address was given as 3, Chitty Road, Southsea, his occupation Master Draper
(retired) and the informant was his daughter D.M. Storey of the same address (see below). He actually died at 1,
Chitty Road. Probate was granted in May 1943 to his daughter Ada Elsie Walter (spinster) - value £342 2s 10.
Dorothy Mary Walter. In 1911 Dorothy Mary was living in Clapham Road, London, boarding with the Collingridge family and
working as a shop assistant. She married Fred George Storey (29) on 8th October 1916 in the Holloway Chapel,
Camden Road, Islington witnessed by G. and A. Walter (presumably Gaius and ?Mary Adelia). Dorothy was then living at
426, Holloway Road {426-436 were the premises of B. Davies & Co. Fancy Drapers} and Fred (a newspaper office collector)
was living in Southsea. They had children including: Granville L.G. Storey (b. June quarter 1917), Renee Mara Storey
(1918-1995; died Surrey) and John Walter Storey (1923-2002; died Southend-on-Sea) all born in Portsmouth.
Granville married Vera G.J. Barlow in Portsmouth in 1939;
Renee married Donald Maxwell V.D. O'Hanlon (1909-1988; died Surrey) in Portsmouth in 1940;
John married Betty E. Turner in Gosport in 1944.
Lillian Kathleen Walter married Royal Ivo Spencer Aldridge (1894-1982; died Portsmouth)
on 5th April 1920 in the Baptist Church, Waterlooville, Hampshire witnessed by members of Royal's family.
Lillian Kathleen died in Worthing aged 69 in 1962.
Royal Aldridge was the son of Thomas and Minnia Aldridge who lived in Waterlooville. He had an older
sister Ivy Grace. All the family were shop assistants.
Christiana Irene Walter married Norman Frederick Speck (1904-1986) in Portsmouth in 1927.
Norman was a tailor (N.F. Speck & Co.). In the Southsea trade dirctory for that year he lived at 2 Devonshire Gardens.
By 1958 they had moved to 163 Francis Avenue. Christiana died in SE Hants district in March 1999.
Hugh Penny Wesley Walter married Florence Alice Woolvin (1901-1986; b. South Stoneham, d. Southampton) in 1922 in Southampton.
They had a son John Harold Walter (1927-2005; died Aylesbury) who married Joyce Patricia Campbell
(1926-1998) in 1949 (both events in Southampton ).
Harold Philip Mcleod Walter married Edith Catherine Spahn nee Binden in St Giles on 14th September 1929.
Also on 14th September 1929 Harold McLeod Walter left on SS Pembrokeshire (Glen Line Ltd) travelling 1st class from
London to Port Swettenham (Port Klang) Malaysia. His marriage certificate gave his address as 16, Catford Hill,
Catford. However, the ship's manifest gave his address in the UK as 2 Devonshire Avenue, Southsea (the home and
business premises of his brother-in-law Norman Speck) and his profession as journalist. No reference was made to
his wife. There were 12 passengers on board and the vessel was bound for the Straits, China and Japan. He returned to
Southampton onboard the SS Patria from Singapore in 1931 giving his home address as 13 Newton Mansions, NW18.
Edith divorced him in 1934 and remarried in 1936. On 31st May 1947 Harold left Liverpool on board the Cilicia
(Anchor Line) bound for Bombay. India was given as his country of intended permanent residence and his UK
address as c/o Chartered Bank, Bishopsgate. On 23rd March 1958 he left Liverpool again on board the Cilicia bound
for Karachi stating that he was single and that his country of intended permanent residence was Pakistan. He gave his
UK address as c/o Mr N. F. Speck, 163, Francis Avenue, Southsea, Hants but his last permanent residence as Jersey,
Channel Islands. No trace can be found of Harold's death in the UK.
Edith Catherine Binden was born in December 1897 to Benjamin Tilt Binden (b.1865)
{an Indian Government Inspector at the time of her marriage} and Sarah Eliza Tickner (1867-1930; died Lambeth)
who were born in London and Nottinghamshire respectively and married in 1891. Edith first married John Leslie Spahn
in September quarter 1918 and had a child John L. Spahn in March quarter 1919. Both events (and her marriage
to Harold Walter) took place in St Giles District (Bloomsbury). John Spahn was probably from Buffalo, N.Y. and in
1902 married Helen May Butler (1867-1957) "The Female Sousa" by whom he had two children: Helen May (b.1903) and Leslie Erlander (b.1905).
According to her family , she was the leader of a rare all-female band.
John Spahn "discovered" them and renamed them "Helen May Butler and her Ladies Military Band" promoting them as an "Adam-less Garden of Musical Eves".
Although normally known as "Jack" he disguised his gender by signing his name J. Leslie Spahn. They divorced in
1908 and Helen remarried James H. Young in 1911.
John Leslie Spahn continued as a "music producer" specialising in all-female vaudeville.
His
went to Europe, including England, at the end of 1917. Edith's marriage certificate to Harold states that she was
divorced . There is no trace of Edith travelling to the USA or accompanying Harold on any of his known voyages as a
journalist. After divorcing Harold in 1934, Edith C. Walter or Spahn married Frederick W. Wallace in
Paddington in 1936. She died in Hove aged 62 in 1960.
Last updated December 2009. Queries or comments? Contact us through editor@hrmguide.net
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