Kingston (near Corfe Castle)

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DORSET OPC

Families of Kingston

This section is especially for stories and photographs of the families who have lived in Kingston over the years.

If you have any information about Kingston which you would like to share, be it stories or old photographs etc., please email us at info@kingstonopc.org.uk

The White Family

There have been several ‘White’ families living at Kingston over the years. This article focuses on the ‘Bagwell’ White family from West Lulworth via Wimborne. There was also another White family from Bloxworth.

William White (1812-1885)

William was baptised at Wimborne on 24 May 1812. His occupation initially was labourer, then agricultural labourer, then gardener.

William married Mary Ann Roe (1812-1891) at Kingston in August 1839. Mary Ann was the daughter of Charles Roe (the tailor) and Charlotte Roe. Mary Ann was a laundress and could not write.

William and Mary Ann had 8 children: George (1840-1919), William (1842-1846), Emily Ann (1843-1845), Emily Sarah (1845-1905), Charles (1848-?), Mary Ann (1850-1881), William George (1852-1853), William (1855-1931). As you can see, they had three ‘William’s and two ‘Emily’s - when a child died in infancy it was quite common in those days to re-use the name for a subsequent child.

The family lived in South Street. William died in 1885 aged 73 of pneumonia and Mary Ann died in 1891 of bronchitis. They are buried together in the churchyard below the old church.

William White (1855-1931)

Charlotte Maud White (1886-1972)

Charlotte never married. She was a children’s nurse at Petersfield, Hampshire and later lived at Minehead, Somerset. She suffered a fatal heart attack in Minehead library aged 86.

Ethel Mary White (1886-1972)

Ethel was Charlotte’s identical twin sister. At the age of 25 she was still single, employed as a housemaid at Swanwick in Southampton by Revd. Orlando Spencer-Smith, brother of Kingston vicar, Revd. Spencer Compton Spencer-Smith.

Ethel married Harold George Preskett at Kingston in February 1915 and they had six children. She later lived at Dunster, Somerset, close to her twin sister and she died just 10 months after her sister passed away.

Leonard George White (1895-1975)

Andrew White (1819-1890)

Like George, Andrew was initially a carpenter and later became a shipwright, working at H.M. Dockyard, Portsmouth but he also served for a short while as a policeman. He married Betty Battrick Chaffey (1816-?) at Kingston in May 1839. Betty could not write.

Andrew and Betty had seven children: Andrew White (1839-1886),

Elizabeth White (1841-?), John James White (1843-?), Sarah White (1845-?), Emily White (1846-?), Clara Ann White (1848-?) and

Angelina White (1850-1921). Andrew was born at Kingston, whereas the other children were all born at Portsea, Hampshire.

Andrew died in 1890 aged 70 of bronchitis at the Union Workhouse, Milton and was buried at Portsea St. Mary.

sea St. Mary.

Andrew White (1839-1886)

Andrew was born at Lynch on 14 June 1839 and baptised at Kingston on 7 July 1839. At the time of the 1841 census Andrew aged 2 was living with the Chaffey family at Kingston. Ten years later the Chaffey family had moved to Wareham. Andrew was still living with them in 1861 at Wellington Row, Church Street, Wareham.

Andrew married Mary Ann Tollifield (1845-1926) at Wareham Lady St. Mary in December 1861. Andrew and Mary Ann had 12 children: Elizabeth Jane (1862-1924), Kate (1863-1888), Andrew John (1865-1887), Frederick George (1868-1869), Fred (1870-1964), Willie (1873-1887), Alice (1875-1964), Sarah Ann (1877-), Nellie (1879-), Frank (1881-), Edward Henry (1883-) and Arthur (1885-).

Andrew was a railway labourer at Wareham. He died in November 1886 aged 45 of phthisis (tubercolosis). Mary Ann married Joseph Norris in 1895 at Wareham. She died in Jul 1926 aged 81.

Angelina White (1839-1886)

Angelina was born on 1 October 1850 at 14 Somer’s Town, Southsea. Her father Andrew’s occupation was shown as ‘policeman’ on her birth certificate.

Angelina married John James Dunning Boyland (1848-1880) in March 1868 at Portsea St Marys. Angelina and John had four children: Henry Charles Boyland (1871-1905), Ellen Boyland (1873-?), Alfred Boyland (1875-?) and Albert Boyland (1878-?).

John Boyland joined the Metropolitan Police in January 1871 and served in Clapham and Lambeth. In April 1871 at the time of the census, John was lodging at Brixton whereas Angelina, described as ‘wife of Police Constable (Scotland Yard)’ was back home in Portsea with son John aged 2.

John then served in the Royal Navy from June 1873 to May 1876 and his character was described as ‘very good’ and ‘excellent’.

What happened next is a bit of a mystery but in May 1880 John married Rebecca Ware in Sydney, Australia! John’s occupation was shown as ‘detective police officer’ but his ‘conjugal’ status was shown as ‘widower’. However, Angelina was still very much alive and well back in Portsea and so John’s second marriage was quite clearly bigamous!

However, the marriage lasted only six months - he died in November 1880 of yellow jaundice. On his death certificate, Rebecca declared he had been in New South Wales for 10 years prior to his death!

Six years later back in Portsea, Angelina married again, this time to Henry Charles Boyland (1856-1931). Not only was Henry related to her first husband John through the Boyland line, but they shared the same mother! Angelina’s status on the marriage certificate was ‘spinster’!

Angelina and Henry had five children: Beatrice Alice (1886-), Bertie (1888-), Ernest Charles (1890-), Leonard (1892-) and Sidney John (1894-).

Angelina’s occupation in 1881 was ‘stay cottener’ and in 1891 was housekeeper. She could not write. Angelina died at home in March 1921 of cancer. Henry died ten years later.

John James White (1843-?)

John married Elizabeth Sarah Hammond and had five children:

Charles Frank (1861-1904), William Alfred (1862-?), John (1865-?).

Mary Jane (1874-?) and Henrietta Laura (1885-).

George Bagwell White (1783-1851)

George was baptised in West Lulworth in 1783. He was the son of Andrew White (1741-1807) and Anne White nee Bagwell (1749-1814).

At the age of 12, George was hired by his father to John Foot, a yeoman of West Lulworth, for £4 a year. At 14, George was then apprenticed to John Sanson of Winfrith Newburgh, a carpenter and wheeler, for seven years during which time he resided with his master. At 21, George went to Wimborne to apply for work with James Perman, carpenter and joiner. He was successful and his starting wages were 12 shillings a week. His wages gradually increased to 16 or 17 shillings a week.

George married Sarah Barrett (c.1781-1838) at Wimborne Minster on 17 September 1807. George and Sarah had six children, all born at Wimborne:

Mary Ann White (1808-?), Charles White (1810-?), William White (1812-1885), George White (1814-?), Sarah White (1816-?) and Andrew White (1819-1886)6

Towards the end of 1821, George (Senior) was taken ill for about a month and received 15 shillings poor relief but on 4 January 1922, George and his family were the subject of a removal order requiring them all to be removed and conveyed out of the parish of Wimborne Minster to the parish of West Lulworth. The ‘examination’ of George took place on 9 January 1822 and some correspondence was exchanged between the two parishes with the West Lulworth Overseers saying they had no objection to relieving the ‘Pauper’ and his family at Wimborne.

Whether the family were removed to West Lulworth is not clear, but they ended up in Kingston.  As well as being a carpenter, George was also a Sunday School teacher and we do know that William Morton Pitt had established a Sunday School at Kingston.

George’s wife Sarah died in 1838 of cancer and is buried in the churchyard immediately outside Kingston old church. The informant of the death was Sarah White (their daughter) who gave her abode as Scholes Farm.

When the church was decomissioned, Sarah’s headstone was moved and is now part of the paving surrounding the ornamental pond.

On 10 June 1844, George married for a second time, this time to Martha Worledge (c.1810-?) at St James, not at Kingston but at Westminster, London. Martha was the daughter of Edward Worledge from Oundle, Northamptonshire. It is likely that George met her while he was working up in London for Lord Eldon.

George and Martha had one son, Edmund Worledge White (1845-1911). George was 62 when Edmund was born. Edmund followed his father’s trade of carpenter and married Anne Poulter from Farnham, Surrey in 1871 at St Mary Magdalene in London, another church designed by George Edmund Street. Edmund and Anne had five children. A great-great-grandaughter of Edmund is now living in New Zealand.

George died on 9 April 1851 aged 70 at Kingston of debility apoplexy.

At the time of the 1861 census, Martha’s occupation was shown as grocer. Five years later in 1866, Martha married a neighbour, James Baker, also a carpenter, at Kingston.

George White (1840-1919)

George was born at Kingston on 4 August 1840 and was baptised the following day.

At the time of the 1861 census, George was an agricultural labourer.

In 1865 when he was aged 24, George was presented with a bible by his parents which includes a ‘family register’.

George, a groom, married Charlotte Bower (1846-1872)

at Langton Matravers in September 1866. Charlotte, a servant, was the daughter of Michael Bower, one of the many Bower families that quarried stone in the Langton area.

George and Charlotte had one son, Charles White (1867-1912) born at Kingston. Unfortunately, Charlotte died in 1872 when Charles was just five years old. Charlotte had diabetes and died of a brain haemmorhage. She was operated on shortly before her death on the kitchen table.  Her hair was shaved off and her husband George had this woven into a watch chain that he wore each day. This chain has been passed down through the family.

By the time of the 1881 census, George was coachman to the Vicar, Rev. Spencer Compton-Smith. According to Bob Dorey, while he was a small boy, on ‘Saturday mornings, at the Vicarage near the New Church, I had to chop enough fire wood to fill a large box. I would place the sticks loosely in the box to fill it quickly but White, the coachman, would press them down with his huge hands and I would have to get chopping again’.    

George married for a second time in May 1887 to Hannah (Anna) Dennis (c.1852-1911). We know ‘Mrs George White’ wore ‘No. 24 convex’ spectacles from a note made in the family bible by Rev. Spencer Compton Spencer-Smith in January 1897. George and Hannah lived at the Kingston Vicarage Stables.

Hannah died on 24 September 1911 of chronic alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver!

George possessed a bound volume of Kingston St. James parish magazines for the year 1914 which are reproduced on the ‘Parish Magazines’ page of this website. The covers bear his name.

George died on 16 November 1919 aged 79 ‘probably of heart failure’ and was buried three days later in the graveyard below the old church with second wife Hannah. Unfortunately the gravestone was knocked over by cattle in recent years and is now lying face down. George outlived his only son Charles by 7 years.

Charles White (1867-1912)

Charles was born at Kingston on 4 August 1867 and baptised on 1 September.  At age 3 he was attending Kingston School and was still there aged 13. By the age of 23 Charles had moved to Poole where he was apprenticed to Chinchens the stone masons.

Charles married Bessie Sartin (1867- 1915) in October 1892   

at Kingston. Bessie, originally from Corscombe, was a cook at Encombe House.

Charles and Bessie had six children all born at Poole, of which two died in infancy: Henry George White (1893-1988), Charles William White (1895-1950), Frederick Herbert White (1896-1968), Iris Bessie White (1898-1902), Violet Winifred Charlotte White (1899-1958) and Arthur Sidney White (1904-1905).

In 1905 Charles and Bessie were left a cottage at Acton in the will of Michael Bower (Charles’ grandfather). However, Charles and Bessie sold the

cottage for 50 guineas and are believed to have squandered the money on drink!

Charles died in 1912 aged 44 of a heart attack. Bessie died just three years later in 1915 of heart disease and ascites., which is usually a sign of severe liver disease.

At the time of her death, the family was living at 3 Salisbury Street, Poole. This is now much better known as Scaplens Court and was later discovered to be one of the oldest town houses in Poole dating from 1490 . However, in 1915 it was one of the poorest tenement buildings in Poole and its true identity was only uncovered after a series of masonry falls.

Charles and Bessie’s eldest son Henry George White (1893-1988) was my grandfather. The picture below, taken in 1982, shows four generations of eldest sons:

Left to right:

Andrew White

(1976-)

Raymond Walter White

(1925-1992)

Henry George White

(1893-1988)

Richard White

(1949-1984)

George White’s ‘In Memoriam’ card

She married Francis Brownett (1847-?), a whitesmith, in London in 1875. They had three children, Francis Brownett (1876-?), George Brownett (1878-?) and Mary Brownett (1881-1912). Mary Ann died in 1881 shortly after she gave birth to Mary.

Mary Ann White (1850-1881)

Mary Ann was baptised at Kingston in June 1850 and attended Kingston National School. At the age of 21, she was employed as a servant by the Earl of Eldon at his London residence at 1 Hamilton Place, Mayfair.  

The baby was then ‘adopted’ by Mary Ann’s elder sister, Emily Sarah. Mary Brownett lived in Kingston until her death in 1912.

Francis (senior) continued to look after his two sons and later remarried and had three more children.

Mary Brownett.(1881-1912)

Photo courtesy of David Cooper

Francis & Mary Ann Brownett (nee White).

with eldest son Francis

Photo courtesy of David Cooper

Emily Sarah White (1845-1905)

Emily Sarah was born at Kingston and baptised on 31 December 1845. She was a scholar at Kingston from before 1851 (age 5) to 1861 (age 15).  In 1871 her occupation was laundress.

She married David Hooper at Kingston in March 1874. David, a labourer, was the son of Thomas and Sarah Hooper (nee Tatchell).

David and Emily Sarah had six children of their own plus they also looked after their niece, Mary Brownett,  after her mother Mary Ann died in 1881 shortly after giving birth to her.

David & Emily lived next to the Post Office in West Street. Emily died in 1905 aged 59 of chronic bronchitis and David died in 1922.

For more information, please see the Hooper page.

David & Emily Sarah Hooper

(nee White)

Photo courtesy of David Cooper

William and Ann Eliza had four children, all born at Kingston: twin sisters Charlotte Maud White and Ethel Mary White (both 1886-1972), Reginald William Victor White (1887-1961) and Leonard George White (1895-1975). Kingston.

According to Bob Dorey, when mains electricity came to the village ‘William White wouldn’t use it at all; he reckoned it was likely to blow you up!’.

William married Ann Eliza Sartin (1857-1934) at Kingston in May 1885 and they also lived in South Street (believed to be no. 9). Ann Eliza was the older sister of Bessie Sartin (1867-1915) who married William’s nephew Charles White. She worked as a domestic servant and laundry maid at Encombe.

William was born at Kingston and baptised there on 12 August 1855. Although he was a gardener at age 15, by age 25 he was a carpenter/journeyman living with his parents at South Street.

William died in February 1931 aged 75 of myocardial degeneration. Ann Eliza died three years later in November 1934 at Mells, near Frome in Somerset of heart failure after a bout of bronchitis and pneumonia. They are buried in the churchyard surrounding the new church of Kingston St. James, on the west side beneath the trees.

Ann Eliza Sartin

William aged 61

& Ann Eliza aged 59

Reginald William Victor White  (1887-1961)

Reginald was a shepherd at the time of his marriage to Mary Jane Long at Woolland, Dorset in 1912. He then became a carter and worked for Blandford Corporation before moving to Alford, near Castle Cary, and then Mells, near Frome, as a farm labourer.

Reginald and Mary Jane had two daughters, Winifred Mary (1914-1996) and Lilian Dorothy (1920-2008). Contact with this branch of the family was made in 1985 and they very kindly handed the family bible over to Martin White so that it could be passed down to future generations bearing the family name.

Meeting of the White ‘branches’ near Encombe c. 1987

Left to right:

Nick Wylie, son of

Lil Wylie

Lil Wylie nee White

Ray White, son of Henry George White

Win Pascoe nee White

Maureen White, wife of Ray White

Martin White, son of Ray & Maureen White

Leonard George is shown on the admission register for Kingston School, attending from February 1898 (age 3) to February 1909 (age 14). Little is know about Leonard’s life, other than he was a cafe owner and married Margaret Tuffin much later in life. In retirement he was a caravan park warden at Foxhall Road, Ipswich.

Reginald (seated) & Leonard

George White (1814-?)

George was initially a carpenter, following in his father George Bagwell White’s footsteps, and later became a shipwright. He married Sarah Lucy Hodgson (1814-?) at Kingston in February 1835. Sarah, who was from Portsmouth, could not write. At the time of the 1841 census, they were absent from Kingston but were back by 1851. Ten years on they were living at Millbrook, near Southampton and were still there in 1871. They had no children of their own but did look after two of Sarah’s nieces.  

Henry Charles Boyland and Angelina

on their wedding day in 1886

A poor copy of the same photograph but it shows Angelina’s mother and father - Elizabeth and Andrew White