Alfred Loxston (1858-1921)
Alfred, born in 1858 at Spaxton near Bridgwater in Somerset, married Elizabeth Hill (1860-1957) in 1888 and they had four children (see later). In 1911 the family were living at 4 Frankley Buildings, Camden Road, Bath. Alfred and Elizabeth moved to Kingston around 1912/13 so he could take up the post of Foreman at the Estate Carpenter’s Shop.
During the Great War, Alfred played the organ in the Old Church until the regular organist, Gilbert Dorey had recovered from injuries sustained on active service. Alfred died in 1921 aged 63 and Elizabeth died in 1957 at the ripe old age of 97. Both are buried in the Old Lower Churchyard although only Elizabeth’s grave is marked with a headstone.
Children of Alfred & Elizabeth:
1. Mary Loxston (1889-?)
In 1911, Mary was an Elementary School Teacher in Bath.
2. George Hugh Loxston (1891-1978)
In 1911, George was an Assurance Clerk. He signed up in 1915 and initially served with the 2nd King Edward’s Horse Regiment and then later in the newly formed Tank Corps achieving rank of Acting Colour Sergeant. George was living at Kingston with his mother after his father’s death in 1921. George married Hilda Maisie Marsh (1902-1957) of The Square, Corfe Castle in 1926. He later moved to Cowley, Oxfordshire where he was a leading fitter. Three years after Hilda died, in 1960, George married Sarah Emily Bradshaw (1907-1995). George died in 1978 and his ashes were interred at Kingston in 1983. Sarah died in 1995 in her birth county of Derbyshire.
3. Alfred Gerald Loxston (1893-1985)
In 1911 ‘Gerald’ was a Builder’s Clerk in Bath. During World War 1, Gerald who was 5 feet 9½ inches tall, served as a Gunner with the Royal Field Artillery initially in France. After leaving service in 1919 he lived at 3 Sunnybank, Lyncombe Vale, Bath. In 1940, Gerald Loxston married Kingston resident Lilian Matilda Bartlett neé Allen (1900-1978), widow of the late George Edward Bartlett (1903-1939). George Bartlett’s mother, Georgina, was publican at the Eldon Arms for almost 50 years. Lilian’s mother was Beatrice Mary Allen neé Bydder (1871-1940) who taught at the School in Kingston.
Gerald and Lilian played an important role in the life of Kingston. Not only was Gerald the Clerk of Works for the Encombe Estate, but he was also:
- Secretary of the Kingston Reading Room
- Secretary of the ‘Kingston Cricket Team’, winners of the Dorset Cricket Cup Div II in 1929
- Treasurer of the Church Fête and Flower Show in 1935
- ‘Trinculo’ in the 1937 open-air production of ‘The Tempest’ at Encombe
- ‘Churdles Ash’ in the 1946 production of ‘The Farmer’s Wife’, while wife Lilian played ‘Sarah Smerdon’
Meanwhile Lilian was secretary of the Women’s Institute and during the Second World War helped serve refreshments in the Reading Room which had been converted to a canteen for troops billeted at Kingston House and Encombe House.
Gerald and Lilian lived in West Street opposite the School House. They did not have any children.
4. William Robert Loxston (1896-1976)
In 1911, William was an Auctioners & Estate Agents Clerk in Bath. In 1926 he married Hilda Grace Seager (1898-1956) and they had two sons, Alfred Robert Loxston (1928-2003) and Bernard George Loxston (1930-1997). William was a Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths from 1930 to 1942. Hilda died in 1956 aged 58 and William died in 1976 aged 80.
Photographs of the Loxston brothers together…
We are grateful to Neil Loxston, Gerald’s great nephew, for giving permission to publish all of these photographs.
If you have any further information, memories, photographs etc. about the Loxston family then please contact us.
Page last updated: 6 January 2016