Henson family of Kettering

[Walter 63]

Hi all,

I am trying to find possible surviving relatives of Flying Officer Peter Huxly Looker, an RAF pilot who together with his two crewmates lost his life when their Blenheim bomber crashed near Aartselaar in Belgium on 26.06.1942.  For more details please see my thread "Flying Officer Peter Huxly Looker" on the Surrey page.

Peter's mother Elsie, née Henson, was born in Kettering and the 1901 census provides following info (thanks to Dave Francis):

1901 Census of Kettering, Northants
RG 13/1448 folio 179 page 16

29 Eskdail Street
Henry F Henson, head, 55, builder
Anne, wife. 57
Arthur, son, 24, bricklayer
Edith, daur, 21
Ella, daur, 14
Elsie, daur, 11
Ernest Rendal, nephew, 14

All recorded as born in Kettering.

Elsie married Charles Looker on March 8th 1913 and her residence at the time of marriage was 27 William Street, Kettering.

Peter was an only child so my hope is that he had some cousins (he had one aunt on his father's side and apparently 3 aunts and an uncle on his mother's side so some of them are bound to have had children).

I would welcome any information on Elsie's two sisters and brother!

Many thanks in advance and best regards from Aartselaar, Belgium.

Walter

Moderator comment: further background information in this thread (to avoid duplication of effort)
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,319587.msg2003359.html#msg2003359

[joyce341]

Hi Peter,
            to find liveing relatives,I would try "GenesReunited",free to register and put details on,but pay to e-mail if you find a connection,I pay £9-95 a year have been a member from start but apparently this price for six months for new members about i would say 80% of people have a connection on there,never failed me yet,even doing research for others.
Joyce

[seahall]

Hi Walter

Welcome to Rootschat.

It maybe an idea to link this to Armed Forces WW2.

Will do.

Or you could try http://www.ww2chat.com/
where someone might be able to assist.

Sandy

[Walter 63]

Thank you for those tips Joyce & Sandy!

Cheers,
Walter

[Walter 63]

Hi all,

I've been able to narrow down my research a bit and am assuming that the sister that Elsie Looker spent a lot of time with after her husband's death must have been Ella  (Ella Henson, Sep 1886, Kettering, 3b, 182).

Ella married Frederick William Loake in 1909 and together they had a son David H, born in 1911.   This David then was of course a cousin to Peter Looker.   I do not find trace of David marrying but did find a death registration "David Henson Loake, born 30.08.1911, died Oct 1985 aged 74, Kingstons, Surrey".   This has to be the one as his second name Henson was of course his mother's maiden name.

We in meantime know that Elsie Looker died in 1967 but I would like to find out if Ella survived Elsie because if she did then documents of relevance to Peter Looker may have passed onto Ella and from thereon to her son David H (all wishfull thinking of course!).

I am unable to find a death registration for Ella Loake (née Henson) however so if anyone out there could help that would be great.   Ella's husband died in 1926, aged only forty, but there is no trace of an Ella Loake marrying past that date either.

Finally, David H Loake's grandfather was co-founder of the Loake Shoe Company of Kettering which is still a family run business it would seem so I contacted them as well in meantime.

Thanks in advance & best regards,

Walter

[joyce341]

 Hi Walter,
               I would apply for the death certificate for David Loake and see who registered it.if you want full registration details,e-mail privately and i will give to you.
I did this after traceing a cousin in 1901 census,found death in 1980,s sent for certificate and found it was registered by his daughter,gave a name and address,found in 192.com and phoned,hence i recieved a lot of photo,s and info and in contact with another cousin.
Joyce

[Walter 63]

Hello All,

I did follow Joyce's advice and David Loake's death certificate did lead me to his still living daughter.    Sadly the lady in question did not show any interest in my little research project and all I found out was that Peter Looker's logbook did not end up with her family.    This all happened in December 08 and I then decided to put the looking for Peter's relatives at a rest for a while.

Back at it again now though!   Peter's mum Elsie Henson came from a big family and I already have three more cousins to look into :

Henry F. Bell              DEC 1913      Market Harborough  Vol 7a  Page 20
Eva Bell                     JUN 1924       Nottingham              Vol 7b  Page 810
Henry F. Henson        SEP 1915      Kettering                  Vol 3b  Page 271

I cannot find any death record on FreeBMD so if any of you might have some info on these three cousins to get me started off that would be just great.

Many thanks in advance for any assistance given.

Best regards,

Walter

[joyce341]

Hi Walter,
               There is a Henry frederick Henson,who died in Kettering in 1988 but his birth year is 1932.
          Joyce

[Walter 63]

Thank you Joyce!

He might very well be related too as Elsie Henson's father was a Henry F. and so were those two cousins in my to do list!   

Cheers,

Walter