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Not sure if you are aware or not but there are still families called Jeal and Geal living in the Oxted area. My lot lay claim to the "G".

Claire

Hello,
Meliora,
Yes, Lily's father remarried and they are in the right area so I think this must be him, on the 1881 census return it does actually say Henry W now I look at it again.  Lilys sister Rose married a Mr Gosling, could that be the one you found?  Lily is definetly right for 1901 though.

bjo,
Not sure why Lily would have been in an orfanage in Devon but the Rose could well be the right one.  On the Census image I've been given what I want to read Lily actually looks more like Luby and is written up on Ancestry as Saiby.  I was rather hoping to find that Henry, Rose and Lily Steer were all living together somewhere and Saiby/Luby was either just a bad spelling mistake or another name that Lily could have been known by, I have heard that sometimes girls in service had their names changed by employers if there was another girl in the house of the same name....Can't imagine there'd be another Saiby out there though!  The probelm also arrises that Lily could have been spelt Lilly or even Lilley by the person filling in the forms.

Thankyou both for your help, I'll keep on it )

Just reading up some information on my childrens school and I saw the name you were interested in again....don't know if you've seen this or not but here is the quote:-

October 1899 History   Sir Henry Fermor Church of England School Fermor School 1744-1994
 On Friday, 13 October, one of the governors, Boys Firmin, hearing that Mrs Warmington had had to take urgent leave of absence to care for her now critically ill husband, took himself to the school to see what could be done. On the Monday following, 16 October, he returned. School had already begun. But in the early hours of that morning, Thomas Warmington had died. Boys Firmin gathered the teachers and pupils and informed them of the sad news. Soon after, the pupils and staff were quietly dismissed, and the school was closed at lunchtime.
Thomas Warmington was buried a week later in All Saints' churchyard. At the time of his death, he was just 38 years of age. He had been headmaster for 16 years.
 

Hi Chris,

When I click on the file names I get an error message:-
An Error Has Occurred!
It seems that you are not allowed to download or view attachments on this board. 

Is it me??

Hi Rod, It's a good thought and I'll pass it on to my mother in law who is doing this research.  We actually live in Crowborough which is the very close to Lewes so perhaps we should get in the car and do some searching without the aid of the PC!!
Thanks for your help
Claire