Not sure where in England to begin?

[4LauraM]

OK, this is what I've got -

CLARKE, John Hawkins b. 28 Mar 1847 Bethnal Green
d. 20 Feb 1906 St. Mary's Watton

HARRIS, Isabella b. 17 Aug 1857 Mile End London
d. ?

They married on 2 Aug 1879 Parish Church Southend.

One of eight children born, CLARKE, Ernest Arthur b. 28 May 1894.
-> married Mabel ( maiden name ?)
-> four children, birth dates unknown
-Bruce
-Peter
-Joan
-Raymond

I do not know what area of England to start searching in or what area to request a look-up.

Anyone point me in the right direction, please?

[Manchester Rambler]

From FreeBMD:

Ernest A CLARKE m. Mabel G SELF, Sep Q 1919. (Norwich 4b 26)

There are births for all the children's names you mention with mother's maiden name SELF, but not all in the same part of the country.  (If they are still living, please could you remove their names?)

[miw]

Looks like Ernest died 1973 in Norwich, Norfolk if you get the death cert it should give place of birth(though not always correct)

1901 census Watton, Norfolk
John Hawkins Clarke  Dealer in earthenware age 53 born Bethnal Green, London
wife Isabella age 43 born Bow, London
sons Frank Chas  8 and Ernest Arthur both born West Ham, Essex
son Arthur Bruce 4 born Cambridge

So they have traveled from East London via Cambridge to Watton
hopefully that gives you some places to start looking

[[Ray]]

Take care.

There are at least 3 Uxbridge births (22,24,25) 3x Wayland births (20,34,39)
2x (male)Clarke+Self(female) marriages

Mabel born 1883 so 36 when she marries
Spread of those births stretch to 1920-1934 (!)
Inc a Bruce in 1922.

Any certificates?

[Mabel Bagshawe]

Isabella remarries v soon after the 1911 census

Isabel Clarke,     53 - father Alfred Harris
Albert Mallows,  56 - father Robert Mallows

Marriage  10 Apr 1911, Watton, Norfolk

he dies in 1928, but I lose Isabel

[4LauraM]

CLARKE, Frank Charles is my paternal grandfather.
My father, Bruce John CLARKE b. 29 March 1920 d. 09 March 1994
PARKER May Elizabeth is my paternal grandmother.

CLARKE, Ernest Arthur is brother to Frank.

I was aware of Isabella remarrying an A. Mallows but no dates.

And I have no dates or certificates for the four children of Ernest & Mabel.

I do not know Mabel's maiden name, date of birth or death.

SELF is the maiden name for Mabel?

[Manchester Rambler]

If you go to Free BMD http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ and enter Clarke in the "Surname" field and Self in the "Spouse/Mother surname" field, the four children's births will pop up - it's more fun to do it yourself!

(As Mabel says, there is at least one other couple with the same surnames, but as you know who you're looking for, you can ignore the other names.)

[4LauraM]

I have looked at the pages on FreeBMD until my eyes are crossed!
LOL
I guess I don't know how to decipher them.

I just see a list of names with no connection to the birth parents.

[miw]

Hi assuming you are looking at births 1911 onwards what you are seeing on freebmd is:-

Surname :  first name and middle initial : mother's maiden name : district : volume  :  page

These are listed under a heading of  March/June/September/December (quarters) and year

To get any more information on the birth you need to order a certificate from GRO Certificate Service - you will need to quote the quarter and most of the information from Freebmd

Alternatively if you don't want to pay for lots of certificates use the information to try to find baptism records