The Family of Edward Jacob Walter of Cheltenham and Reading

A genealogical account of the family of Edward Jacob Walter and Eliza Gillett

Edward Jacob Walter

Edward Jacob Walter was the son of Walter Walter and Ann Leach Penny (see Walter Family of Babcary). Aged 12, he is listed in the 1861 census at Greenhill Farm.

Edward Jacob married Eliza Gillett (1840-1925 ) at the Presbyterian Church, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire on July 21 1874. She was a member of the Gillett family of Brailes. He was described as a grocer's assistant and they moved into what was probably a house owned by Eliza's family, 11 Albert Place, Cheltenham (subsequently re-numbered 16 and now a listed building).

By the 1881 census they had moved to 429 High Street, Cheltenham (Jacob's shop was at 430). Witnesses at the wedding were: Robert Scuse Gillett (Eliza's older brother), The Family of Susanna Walter and George Philip Hayes. Susanna Walter (Jacob's younger sister), William Allen Walter (Jacob's second cousin?), and Ann Elizabeth Walter (?).

Jacob and Eliza had one child, Edward Ernest Walter (1878-1938).

In 1891 they kept the 'Old Keinton Shop' in Keinton Mandeville, near Babcary, a village with a significant quarrying industry. Jacob was listed as a draper in the census. At some point between then and 1901 they moved to Oxford Road, Reading, Berkshire and subsequently to 29 Cannon Street, Reading by the time of the 1911 census when Jacob was an insurance agent.

In 1901 Edward Ernest was working as a draper in Fulham, living in a boarding house owned by Aberdonian George Mearns at 9 Upper Porchester Street, Paddington. Edward Ernest married Elizabeth Horne on September 12 1905 at St Stephen's, Careby, Lincolnshire (her father, Henry Horne was butler to the rector). Edward Jacob was a witness. Edward Ernest and Elizabeth lived at 80 Silver Crescent, Gunnersbury, London, W4 and had two sons: Edward Henry (1908-1982) and Kenneth Gillett (1911-1996).

Following the First World War, when he joined the Royal Flying Corps, Edward Ernest returned to the drapery trade in London. He died in St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex in 1938. Edward Henry married Katherine Bath in 1937 and had no children. Kenneth Gillett married Kathleen Prossl in 1947 and had two daughters, Elizabeth Clare and Jane Marian.

Last updated February 2010. Queries or comments? Contact us through editor@hrmguide.net

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