William and Sophia Waring
William Wheat Waring was born to Henry and Sarah Milnes Waring in Paris in 1861. He was their 5th child and only son. On various census returns, Henry describes himself as a Contractor of Public Works. In fact between 1841 and 1880, Henry and his two brothers, Charles and William, formed the company of Waring Brothers. Waring Brothers was a Civil Engineering company based initially in York although they had contracts across the country and the world. In the 1860s, some of their notable projects include the design and/or construction of the Pernambuco Railway, the North London Extension Railway, St. Pancras Railway Station, the Orel and Vitebsk Railway in Russia, extensions of the South Eastern Railway of Portugal, the construction of the line between Croydon and Groombridge, on the Surrey and Sussex Railway, the improvement and arching in of the River Senne in its course through Brussels, the construction of about 200 miles of the East Hungarian Railway between Blasendorf and Kronstaat, surveying of a proposed line between Cordoba and Tucuman, in Argentina, and the Honduras railway. Waring Brothers was dissolved in 1880, and shortly after that Henry Waring bought Beenham Manor, Berkshire where he lived for the rest of his life.
Sophia was born to Henry Sales Scobell and Catherine Sarah Jenner Bedford in London in 1856. On the 1861 census, the family were living at Abbey House in Pershore. Catherine died in 1869 and Henry in 1873, a year after marrying Susan Royds. and it seemed as if the children – Sophia, Henry, Melloney, George and Fanny -were split up between relatives, certainly on the 1881 census Sophia is shown with her uncle and aunt Higford and Ann Burr.
William Wheat Waring joined the 11th Hussars in 1881. In 1882 he served as a volunteer in the 4th Dragoon Guards in the Egyptian War and was present at the battle of Kassassin Lock in August 1882 for which he received the Egypt Medal and Khedive’s Star. William returned to England and married Sophia Annie Scobell in November 1882 at St Mary’s Church. Sophia was the sister of Henry Jenner Scobell who married Mildred Harriet Vaughan Willes Johnson – the sister of Mary Willes Johnson who married Arthur Lovett in 1890.
William and Sophia had 4 children – Melloney Mary (born 1887), Charles Henry (born 1888), Irene Margaret (born 1892) and Edward Robert (born 1893). Melloney and Charles were both born in London, whilst Irene and Edward were born in Markinch, Fife. This is probably a reflection of where William was stationed, although newspaper reports from the mid 1890s suggest that the Sophia and the children at least were living in Beenham. William resigned from the army in 1896 and upon his father’s death in 1909 took up residence at Beenham Manor and continued with the Stud Farm business.
Sophia died in November 1923 at Beenham House. The following year William married Hilda Marjorie Child, the daughter of a draper from High Wycombe, and sold Beenham House and Stud Farm. William and Hilda travelled to Cape Town aboard the Kenilworth Castle, departing December 5th 1924. They gave their address as Park Lodge, Bath Road, Reading. That was not the first trip in 1924 that William had undertaken – in April he had travelled to Genoa. In December of 1926, William and Hilda appear on a passenger manifest heading to Algiers, although their names have been crossed out suggesting that they did not board the ship. Instead, they rescheduled their trip to January 1927. On both manifests, their address given is The Moot, Downton, Salisbury. The Moot had been totally gutted in a fire in 1923 but had been restored https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000136.
William died in 1931 at Packham House, Fordingbridge, having moved there with Hilda around 1928. By the time of the 1939 register, Hilda had moved to 5 Buckingham House, Courtlands, Maidenhead. She is noted on the register as undertaking ARP duties. At some point Hilda joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She died on 5th April 1944 and is commemorated at Reading Cemetery https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2421899/HILDA%20MARJORIE%20WARING/ .
Melloney Waring
Melloney was born in Chelsea, but christened at Beenham Church. According to newspaper reports, Melloney was a student of Miss Fannie Fleming, a pianoforte teacher, and was noted as being part of recitals held in Beenham schoolroom. In April 1918, Melloney married her Beenham neighbour, Captain William Crawshay Loder-Symonds. The couple set up home together at Butler’s Farm, Beenham. Captain Loder-Symonds had received his commission into the Wiltshire Regiment in 1908, serving at home and in the East Indies. When WW1 broke out, Captain Loder-Symonds was posted to France. He was captured and taken prisoner in August 1914 and wasn’t repatriated until March 1918, due to refusing to give his parole. Tragically, only a few weeks after he was repatriated and married, Captain Loder-Symonds was killed in a flying accident http://www.beenhamonline.org/ww1/loder-symonds_william_crawshay.pdf. Melloney remained at Butlers Farm until her death in 1953.
Charles Waring
Charles Henry Waring was born in 1888 and joined the 18th Royal Hussars (Queen Marys Own) in 1908 after leaving Eton. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1911 but resigned his commission in 1913 and was placed on the Special Reserve list of officers. In 1916, he was appointed adjutant in the Royal Flying Corps and given the rank of Captain. Charles married Edith Annie Greenfield at All Saints Church, Marylebone in February 1917. Curiously, Charles’ wife’s name is given as Nancy in the newspaper write-ups of the wedding. His parents, William and Sophia, were witnesses to the marriage. On the marriage certificate, Edith gives her address as 80 Ashley Gardens, which is the address that Charles was using on his service records for the Royal Flying Corps. Their only child, Ronald, was born the following year on 16th April 1918. At the end of the war, Charles was moved to the Unemployed List, retaining the rank of Captain. The electoral rolls of 1925 show Charles and his wife (named again as Nancy) living in Rookley House, Hampshire. Around this time, there appears to have been a separation between the couple. Electoral registers for London show that Charles was living at 11 Ashley Place, Westminster between 1927 and 1928 before moving to 4 Middle Street where he lived until at least 1933.
Charles filed for divorce from Edith in 1930, citing Claude Dansey as co-respondent. Extensive investigations by members of Rootschat (https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=838926.0) suggest that this refers to Sir Claude Dansey, intelligence officer and former head of MI6. It doesn’t appear as if Claude and Edith married – Claude later married Mrs Frances Gurney Rylander in 1945.
In 1937, Charles can be found on the electoral register at 5 Brompton Square, in the same residence as Lancelot Charles Liddell and his wife Rosalie Anne. Around this time, Charles also takes up residence in Moyles Court, Ringwood, Hampshire. At present, I am not certain who owned Moyles Court, but certainly it seems that the Liddells and Charles were living there from the mid 1930s onwards. The connection between the Liddells and Charles is unclear at present. On a passenger manifest of 1932, the Lance and Rosalie Liddell are on the same ship as Charles Waring sailing to Cape Town. Both the Liddells and Charles give their English address as Packham House, Fordingbridge – the home of the recently deceased William Wheat Waring and his second wife, Hilda. On their return journey in 1933, Charles gives his address as Moyles Court, whilst Lancelot and Rosalie’s address is shown as “Dursley” Cooden, Sussex.
On the 1939 register Lancelot is at the Polygon Hotel in Southampton, perhaps waiting to board his next ship. Charles and Rosalie are at Moyles Court, Ringwood with Lancelot and Rosalie’s son and 8 other people – only two of which have a profession ascribed (footman and butler).
Lancelot died on 10 April 1954, whilst fishing on the River Eden near to Warwick Hall, Wetheral. On his probate record, his address is given as The Knoll House, Corfe Mullen, Wimbourne, Dorset. Lancelot and Rosalie were living there by 1947, as per a newspaper report of their son’s engagement.
A year after Lancelot’s death, Rosalie and Charles married. Charles died on 16th March 1962 at 16 Fitzroy Square, St Pancras. His address on his probate record is given as Le Californie, Avenue de Roi Albert, Cannes, an apartment that can be rented today https://www.gites.fr/gites_le-californie-cannes-deluxe_cannes_h3355865.htm Rosalie died on 14th July 1969.
Irene Waring
The second daughter of William and Sophia was born in Fife in 1892. By the time of the 1901 census, the family are back living in England and over the next couple of years there are sundry reports of Irene taking part in recitals and musicales. Often these events were held as fundraisers – the beneficiaries changing over the years eventually becoming more centred around the war effort. In March 1916, Mrs Waring gave a concert for wounded soldiers in Reading Town Hall. Both Melloney and Irene were on hand to distribute programmes and cigarettes to the guests.
In 1926, Irene married Stracey Montagu Atholl Murray. They settled in Buckinghamshire, firstly in Great Horwood and then in Little Linford. They had two sons – Fane and Edward. The family moved a short way north to Ashton, Northamptonshire, where Stracey was fined for breaking black out regulations in 1941. Two years later, and Stracey was being chased for bankruptcy. His address was given as 33 Knights Lane, Northamptonshire. All his debts were paid by February 1944 and the bankruptcy order was rescinded.
By 1959, when Edward married, the family had moved to Kent. Irene died in September 1972 with her address given as White Inch, Madeira Road, New Romney, Kent. Stracey predeceased her in January of 1970.
Edward Waring
Edward was the youngest child and, like his sibling Irene, had been born in Markinch, Fife.He attended Wellington College, until 1913 when he was gazetted to the 5th Battalion King’s Royal Rifles.Edward was mobilized to France in August 1914, and was killed in action on the 29th October 1914.He was 20 years old. A year to the day later, a memorial service was held in Beenham Church when a memorial tablet was unveiled by Brigadier-General E Northey, ADC, who had been Colonel of the 1st Battalion Kings Royal Rifles when Lieutenant Waring was killed. He is also remembered on the memorial at the Menin Gate.http://www.beenhamonline.org/ww1/waring_edward.pdf
Comments