I've just come across your post of April 2011, and have some information for you, if you have not yet tracked it down, six years later! My grandmother was Lillian Eva Brookes, sister of Frederick. My research has found the following about their mother and her (eventual) husband, Eva Annie Reed and John Edward Brook(e)s.
John Edward Brooks was born in Westfield on 12 February 1878 and lived in Westfield with his parents, as recorded in the 1881 and 1891 censuses. Eva Annie Read was born on 1 June 1881 at Brede, and lived with her parents at Sedlescombe.
It would appear that he formed a liaison with Eva Annie Reed a dressmaker from Sedlescombe at some time around 1898, as, on 27 February 1899, she gave birth to a son, Frederick Leonard Brooks Reed (as he appears on his Birth Certificate), ‘near the schools’, Sedlescombe. No father is named on the birth certificate.
A little over a year later, on 6 May 1900, John Edward Brooks and Eva Annie Reed married at St Paul’s parish church in Chatham, Kent. He is described as a labourer, and they were both living at 33 Otway Street in Chatham. Eva is described as the daughter of Mark Reed, a labourer.
Eva gave birth to her second child, Lilian Eva May Brooks, on 30 November 1900 at Stapley Cottages, Sedlescombe. This time John is recorded on the birth certificate as the father, described as a farm labourer.
By the 1901 census Eva is found living with her parents, Mark and Caroline Reed, at Sedlescombe. Frederick is recorded aged 2, as Frederick Reed, son of Mark, whereas Lilian is recorded as Lilian Brooks 4 month old daughter of Eva. Eva is recorded as being a dressmaker. I can find no entry for John in the census.
Eva’s third child, Archibald Hubert Brooks, was born on 27 July 1904 at Stapley Cottages, Sedlescombe. Eva is described as the wife of John Edward Brooks, a general labourer, but the name of the child’s father is left blank on the birth certificate, leaving me to assume that it was not John.
The 1911 census records Eva living with her parents at School Terrace, Sedlescombe, and children, Frederick, Lilian and Archie Brooks. She is recorded as being married, and a domestic housekeeper.
Again I can find no record for John, in fact I have found no further record for him. He may have been alive in 1920 and 1921, as the marriage certificates of Lilian and Frederick both identify him as their father and a market garden labourer or gardener, and generally marriage certificates indicate if the father is deceased. However in Eva’s father, Mark Reed’s will, dated 12 February 1921, he makes special provision for Eva which is revoked ‘should she at any time marry again’ , which implies that she is unmarried at that date.
It is intriguing to speculate on John and Eva’s marriage, as there is no documentary evidence which I have found for them living together, he is not the informant on the birth certificates of Eva’s children, or living with her and her parents in the 1901 and 1911 censuses.
