The Elusive Mary Awdry
The first quest on my intrepid travels through genealogy was to find the marriage of Mary Awdry and James Bailey, prior to James’ birth in 1874, but this proved not to be as straightforward as I had first imagined. After hours of scouring through the St Catherine’s index of births, marriages and deaths, I could find no record of their marriage for the 11 years prior to James’ birth. Undaunted, I tried exploring different avenues until I eventually found James Bailey residing at his Aunts house in Chippenham, in the 1881 census. His aunt was called Elizabeth Russell Matthews born in Marlborough, Wiltshire in 1844. She was married to Edwin Matthews, who was 25 years her senior and a boot maker. This was a great find and made me eager to find out more.
After further research, I was surprised to find that Elizabeth was not an Awdry by birth, but a Bailey, and that James Bailey senior was her brother, thereby making her the paternal aunt of James FW, rather than his maternal aunt. Spurred on by intense curiosity, the plot then thickened even further and my next revelation was that 4, Orange Grove Court, Abbey Bath where James was born was in fact, a hotel and not a private residence at the time of his birth. This prompted the question - why had he been born in a hotel rather than a house? It was now imperative that I find out who this elusive Mary Awdry really was.
Would the real Mary Awdry please stand up
My next plan of attack was to search through various records for a Mary Awdry, who would be of childbearing age around 1874 and as Awdry was an unusual name, I thought this would be a relatively easy task. Not so. After scouring through numerous microfilms, microfiches, church records and public record registers for Mary, I found, what I thought were 5 possible candidates as being the mother of James FW. The best way of finding the real Mary Awdry seemed to be through a process of elimination, delving deeper into their lives and researching each Mary in turn.
Suspect Number 1 – Mary Awdry, Born 1856, Daughter of John Wither & Frances Ellen Awdry
I spent countless hours winding my through endless roles of microfiches, wondering why on earth I was spending so much time on such a mundane task. Part way through one such monotonous evening, I could hardly believe my luck, as there, staring at me from the microfiche reader was Mary Awdry, born in 1856 and daughter of John Wither and Frances Ellen Awdry.
This was more than I could have hoped for, as John Wither, her father was a pensioned Indian Judge and had actually been knighted! Mary had a brother who was attending Oxford, another brother who was an Officer in the P&O Steam Fleet, whilst yet another brother was a member of the Bombay Civil Service. They had a host of servants including butlers, footmen, governesses, housekeepers, ladies maids, kitchen maids, under house maids and various nurses to attend to their every need. This certainly held the wow factor for me and I could hardly contain my excitement as I drove home that night with my head swimming with images of an aristocratic life and dreaming of what could have been.
John Wither Awdry and his family lived in what can only be described as a mansion, named Notton House, situated in a picturesque village called Lacock, in Wiltshire. Shortly after this revelation, and with the help of fellow researchers in Wiltshire, I was delighted yet again to find a newspaper cutting from 1814, advertising Notton House to let. It was advertised as being suitable for ‘the residence of a family of respectability’, fully furnished and standing in about 4 acres of lawn. It boasted of an entrance hall, library, breakfast parlour, dining room, an office, a drawing room, 7 principle bed chambers, 8 dressing rooms, a water-closet and the like number of inferior bedchambers. There was even an additional 40 to 50 acres of adjoining pasture land, if required.
The house stayed in the possession of the Awdry family until at least 1965, after which it lay derelict for a number of years. It then became a nurses training home, and around the 1970’s it was purchased in an auction by Wiltshire County Council, where it is, at present, a residential special school.Suspect Number 2 – Mary Olivier Awdry Born 1843, Daughter of West and Mary Remington Awdry
Although I was excited at finding my first Mary Awdry, I still had to carry on trawling through the streams of records to ensure that I had information on all possible Mary Awdry’s. The next Mary I came across was Mary Olivier Awdry, daughter of West and Mary Remington Awdry. West struck me to be an odd name, but it appeared to be a name that was handed down through the generations of this family. West was a solicitor and landowner, as were 3 of his brothers. His father was a vicar, as again, were 2 of his brothers and also at least 1 of his sons.
Astonishingly, I found that West Awdry had left an incredible £16,032:4s in his will, the benefactors being Justly William, one of his brothers who was also a solicitor, and his eldest son, the Reverend William Henry. When I compared the relative value of this amount to prices in 2002, it was equivalent to a staggering £1,131,729.03.So, again I was looking at the possibility of being related to yet another prestigious line of Awdry’s.
Suspect Number 3 – Mary Catherine Awdry, Born 1842, Daughter of Henry Goddard and Mary Awdry
Mary Catherine was the 4th of Henry’s 7 children, and although I did not find much information on this family, I did find that he and his family lived at the Lodge in Notton. Although it was called the Lodge, I am unsure if this meant it was the lodge to Notton House, or whether it was just the name of the building. When I delved further into this, as it seemed coincidental that he also lived in the same village as John Wither Awdry, I did find out that Henry was actually one of John Wither Awdry’s younger brothers. I also found out that West was actually John and Henry’s 1st cousin once removed (West’s grandfather, Ambrose, was brother to John, who was John Wither and Henry Goddard’s father - phew!) So, so far all my Mary Awdrys were related – Mary and Mary Catherine were cousins and Mary Olivier was their 2nd cousin once removed.
Suspect Number 4 – Mary Awdry Born 1839, Daughter of Charles Roston Eridge and Jane Awdry
Charles was the Rector at Draycott in Wiltshire and Mary was the 1st of his 12 children. 2 of his children were bank managers, one was an accountant, another was a schoolmaster, whilst yet another was a medical student. I assumed that Charles was obviously a poor relation, as he only left a paltry £450 in his will, equivalent to £25,926.22, as of 2002. But then, after yet more searching, I found the will of his father, Jeremiah Awdry, who left an astounding £20,000 (equivalent to £1,248,658.14 in 2002) and John Wither and Frederick Awdry (his ½ brothers) were executors of the will.
Charles was the son of Jeremiah Awdry, who was only child of John Awdry and his 3rd wife, Sarah Susannah Roston. John Wither and Henry Goddard were John’s sons from his 1st marriage to Priscilla Goddard, so Charles was their ½ brother, making Mary another one of Mary and Mary Catherine’s cousins, and not forgetting, 2nd cousin once removed to Mary Olivier. All this was getting very complicated, but I still had one more Mary to go.
Suspect Number 5 – Mary Sophia Awdry, Born 1856, Daughter of Walter Herbert and Mary Llewellyn Awdry
Walter Herbert was, surprise surprise, yet another brother of John Wither and Henry Goddard, adding a 4th Mary to the list of cousins.
What I had found from delving into the lives of these Awdry’s was that they were in fact a rich and prestigious family that were even mentioned ‘Burke’s Dictionary of the Landed Gentry’. There were generations of Judges, Q.C.’s, Lawyers, Solicitors, JP’s and even Imperialist Majors, Generals and Colonels in India. All this seemed to be worlds apart from James’ humble beginnings. Confusion reigned for some time as I dug deeper into the family history of the Awdry family, the more I found out, the more exciting it became, but I had still not got any further in finding out which one of these Mary’s was James’ real mother.
After further research, I was surprised to find that Elizabeth was not an Awdry by birth, but a Bailey, and that James Bailey senior was her brother, thereby making her the paternal aunt of James FW, rather than his maternal aunt. Spurred on by intense curiosity, the plot then thickened even further and my next revelation was that 4, Orange Grove Court, Abbey Bath where James was born was in fact, a hotel and not a private residence at the time of his birth. This prompted the question - why had he been born in a hotel rather than a house? It was now imperative that I find out who this elusive Mary Awdry really was.
Would the real Mary Awdry please stand up
My next plan of attack was to search through various records for a Mary Awdry, who would be of childbearing age around 1874 and as Awdry was an unusual name, I thought this would be a relatively easy task. Not so. After scouring through numerous microfilms, microfiches, church records and public record registers for Mary, I found, what I thought were 5 possible candidates as being the mother of James FW. The best way of finding the real Mary Awdry seemed to be through a process of elimination, delving deeper into their lives and researching each Mary in turn.
Suspect Number 1 – Mary Awdry, Born 1856, Daughter of John Wither & Frances Ellen Awdry
I spent countless hours winding my through endless roles of microfiches, wondering why on earth I was spending so much time on such a mundane task. Part way through one such monotonous evening, I could hardly believe my luck, as there, staring at me from the microfiche reader was Mary Awdry, born in 1856 and daughter of John Wither and Frances Ellen Awdry.
This was more than I could have hoped for, as John Wither, her father was a pensioned Indian Judge and had actually been knighted! Mary had a brother who was attending Oxford, another brother who was an Officer in the P&O Steam Fleet, whilst yet another brother was a member of the Bombay Civil Service. They had a host of servants including butlers, footmen, governesses, housekeepers, ladies maids, kitchen maids, under house maids and various nurses to attend to their every need. This certainly held the wow factor for me and I could hardly contain my excitement as I drove home that night with my head swimming with images of an aristocratic life and dreaming of what could have been.
John Wither Awdry and his family lived in what can only be described as a mansion, named Notton House, situated in a picturesque village called Lacock, in Wiltshire. Shortly after this revelation, and with the help of fellow researchers in Wiltshire, I was delighted yet again to find a newspaper cutting from 1814, advertising Notton House to let. It was advertised as being suitable for ‘the residence of a family of respectability’, fully furnished and standing in about 4 acres of lawn. It boasted of an entrance hall, library, breakfast parlour, dining room, an office, a drawing room, 7 principle bed chambers, 8 dressing rooms, a water-closet and the like number of inferior bedchambers. There was even an additional 40 to 50 acres of adjoining pasture land, if required.
The house stayed in the possession of the Awdry family until at least 1965, after which it lay derelict for a number of years. It then became a nurses training home, and around the 1970’s it was purchased in an auction by Wiltshire County Council, where it is, at present, a residential special school.Suspect Number 2 – Mary Olivier Awdry Born 1843, Daughter of West and Mary Remington Awdry
Although I was excited at finding my first Mary Awdry, I still had to carry on trawling through the streams of records to ensure that I had information on all possible Mary Awdry’s. The next Mary I came across was Mary Olivier Awdry, daughter of West and Mary Remington Awdry. West struck me to be an odd name, but it appeared to be a name that was handed down through the generations of this family. West was a solicitor and landowner, as were 3 of his brothers. His father was a vicar, as again, were 2 of his brothers and also at least 1 of his sons.
Astonishingly, I found that West Awdry had left an incredible £16,032:4s in his will, the benefactors being Justly William, one of his brothers who was also a solicitor, and his eldest son, the Reverend William Henry. When I compared the relative value of this amount to prices in 2002, it was equivalent to a staggering £1,131,729.03.So, again I was looking at the possibility of being related to yet another prestigious line of Awdry’s.
Suspect Number 3 – Mary Catherine Awdry, Born 1842, Daughter of Henry Goddard and Mary Awdry
Mary Catherine was the 4th of Henry’s 7 children, and although I did not find much information on this family, I did find that he and his family lived at the Lodge in Notton. Although it was called the Lodge, I am unsure if this meant it was the lodge to Notton House, or whether it was just the name of the building. When I delved further into this, as it seemed coincidental that he also lived in the same village as John Wither Awdry, I did find out that Henry was actually one of John Wither Awdry’s younger brothers. I also found out that West was actually John and Henry’s 1st cousin once removed (West’s grandfather, Ambrose, was brother to John, who was John Wither and Henry Goddard’s father - phew!) So, so far all my Mary Awdrys were related – Mary and Mary Catherine were cousins and Mary Olivier was their 2nd cousin once removed.
Suspect Number 4 – Mary Awdry Born 1839, Daughter of Charles Roston Eridge and Jane Awdry
Charles was the Rector at Draycott in Wiltshire and Mary was the 1st of his 12 children. 2 of his children were bank managers, one was an accountant, another was a schoolmaster, whilst yet another was a medical student. I assumed that Charles was obviously a poor relation, as he only left a paltry £450 in his will, equivalent to £25,926.22, as of 2002. But then, after yet more searching, I found the will of his father, Jeremiah Awdry, who left an astounding £20,000 (equivalent to £1,248,658.14 in 2002) and John Wither and Frederick Awdry (his ½ brothers) were executors of the will.
Charles was the son of Jeremiah Awdry, who was only child of John Awdry and his 3rd wife, Sarah Susannah Roston. John Wither and Henry Goddard were John’s sons from his 1st marriage to Priscilla Goddard, so Charles was their ½ brother, making Mary another one of Mary and Mary Catherine’s cousins, and not forgetting, 2nd cousin once removed to Mary Olivier. All this was getting very complicated, but I still had one more Mary to go.
Suspect Number 5 – Mary Sophia Awdry, Born 1856, Daughter of Walter Herbert and Mary Llewellyn Awdry
Walter Herbert was, surprise surprise, yet another brother of John Wither and Henry Goddard, adding a 4th Mary to the list of cousins.
What I had found from delving into the lives of these Awdry’s was that they were in fact a rich and prestigious family that were even mentioned ‘Burke’s Dictionary of the Landed Gentry’. There were generations of Judges, Q.C.’s, Lawyers, Solicitors, JP’s and even Imperialist Majors, Generals and Colonels in India. All this seemed to be worlds apart from James’ humble beginnings. Confusion reigned for some time as I dug deeper into the family history of the Awdry family, the more I found out, the more exciting it became, but I had still not got any further in finding out which one of these Mary’s was James’ real mother.
A Process of Elimination
Now that I had established possible candidates as James FW’s mother, I now had to start the process of eliminating them one at a time. I was secretly hoping that the first Mary I found would be the real one, as I loved the Indian connection and the wonderful mansion she was brought up in. But this was not helpful, I should be ‘keeping an open mind’ and not allow such feelings to cloud my judgement.
So, armed with copious files that were overflowing with chaotic notes, lists and records I set off with renewed vigour to delve even deeper into the fascinating world of the Awdry’s. The first Mary that was easy to eliminate was Mary Olivier, daughter of West and Mary Remington Awdry, as she married Thomas Awdry in 1872, which was 2 years before James was born. This meant that it would be highly unlikely that this Mary would be James FW’s mother. Next, I found that Mary Catherine, daughter of Henry Goddard and Mary Awdry, actually died in 1888, at which time James would have been no more than 14 at the time. This did not seem to fit in with my grandmother’s stories, as there was no indication that she died whilst James was still a child.
I then found that my favourite Mary actually married as well and I was bitterly disappointed. She married Reverend Frederick Daustini Cremer in 1878 and had children – again, this did not fit in with the stories Gran had told me. This left 2 possible Mary’s in the running, Mery, daughter of Charles Roston Eridge and Jane Awdry, and Mary Sophia, daughter of Walter and Mary Llewellyn Awdry. Mary Sophia would have been 18 at the time of James’ birth, and the other Mary would have been 35. As neither of these 2 Mary’s were married, it seemed to me to be more credible that an 18 year-old would have an illegitimate child and give it up (possibly forced by family circumstances?) than a 35 year-old. I found that Mary Sophia died in 1934, at the age of 78. This seemed, so far, to fit and so the next step, which would prove to be, by far, the most difficult, was to find some kind of link to connect this Mary as being my great-great grandmother.
Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry
Not only did I find that the Awdry’s were such a rich and prestigious family, but the icing on the cake was to stumble across the Rev. WV Awdry who wrote the Thomas the Tank Engine stories. The possibility that I could be related to a famous author was thrilling. The fact that he was also interested in genealogy and had actually traced the Awdry family history himself, back to Elizabeth 1 was like finding the Holy Grail! I decided to take the bull by the horns and write him a letter describing my conundrum over the different Mary’s I had found on the off chance that he might have some family knowledge that may help my research.
Although Wilbert never concealed where he lived and tried to answer all his own mail, I was very pessimistic about receiving a reply. He was, at this time, 84 and bed-ridden, needing an assortment of minders to care for him, with the aid of hoists, as he was ‘crutch-bound’.
I was absolutely delighted when, only a few days after sending my original letter, I received a reply from Wilbert. Although the letter does not give me any definite answers to my questions, it was full of interesting family anecdotes about family members, which was like gold dust to me, as finding such insights into the characters of ancestors is usually very hard to come by for genealogists.
He did, however, make at least one mistake in his descriptions that I know of, and that was he said Mary Sophia was the grand-daughter of his uncle Jerry, but it was actually Mary, daughter of Charles Eridge that was his grand-daughter. Interestingly, Wilbert describes Charles as ‘Pagan’, although he was the Rector at Draycott. All I can assume from this is that he was Rector of a church that was not Church of Engalnd or a similar main religion. The congregational movement was popular around the 19th century, particularly in Wiltshire and Charles could possibly have been part of this movement, or some similar ‘separatist’ type religion. As Wilbert was a reverend himself, religious beliefs would have been strong, and any deviation from his strongly held beliefs would have been difficult to accept.
The life of Reverand WV Awdry
The name Wilbert was derived from combining 2 of his uncles’ names, William and Herbert, resulting in Wilbert. His grandfather, Sir John Wither Awdry, was the Chief Justice of Bombay before the Mutiny and married twice, his second wife being a Bishop’s daughter, frances Ellen Carr and was born in India. John Wither had 3 children with his 1st wife and 13 with his 2nd. Vere Awrdry, Wilbert’s father, was the youngest male of the 2nd marriage.
‘Father passionately wanted to be a soldier, but grandfather made him a solicitor, as father’s then did; and when his partner ran off with his funds, father went into the church.’ (WV Awdry)
His father suffered much heartache during his life. Not only did he lose his money, but then his 1st wife, Margaret Man died giving birth to their son, Hildred, who died 2 years later. He then had a further 2 children by Mary Man, his 2nd wife, but Bridget, the 2nd child, died at the age of 8 and a few years later his wife also died. Then, their eldest son, Carol, was killed on the retreat from Mons on August 27th, 1914, just 2 weeks after war was declared. As Vere was very close to Carol; they did everything together, this was shattering for him.
Vere had married for a 3rd time, to Lucy Bury, and Wilbert Vere was born on 15th June 1911 at Ampfield in Hampshire. His father had been interested in railways all his life and many of his parishioners were railwaymen, and they were aware that Vere probably knew as much about railways and engines as they did themselves. Not only did he have a model railway in his garden, but he sometimes took Wilbert for walks along the track and visited the platelayers as they worked. By 1916, Vere had another son, George, they all moved to Box, Wiltshire, in 1917 and their house was within 200 yards of where the Great Western Line Railway main line climbed a steep gradient. Young Wilbert would lie in bed lat night listening to the engines struggling up the hill, imagining that they were talking to each other and that all steam engines had their own personalities and could express them.
He went to Dauntsey’s school in Wiltshire, then went to St. Peter’s Hall, Oxford, before training for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He taught at St.George’s School, Jerusalem for a while and later he married Margaret Wale, who was a teacher, who he had met in Palestine. He was ordained in 1936 and served in a number of parishes and he eventually moved to King’s Norton, Birmingham at the end of 1940 and it was there, two years later when his son, Christopher, caught measles, that the railway stories were first told.
Wilbert was trying to entertain his son while he was ill and told him stories about 3 engines called Edward, Henry and Gordon. He wrote down the stories on scraps of paper to ensure he didn’t make any mistakes on the numerous times he was required to re-tell them. He even made a small, simple wooden model engine out of odds and ends, and later christened it Thomas. Christopher loved Thomas and urged his father to make up stories about Thomas too. Wilbert’s wife, Margaret suggested that he did something about the stories, and in 1945, after sending the stories written in pencil on the backs of Parish circulars to many publishers. There was only one publisher interested in these stories, a boot manufacturer called Edmund Ward, who wanted some kind of diversion for his retirement. The first book, The Three Railway Engines, was finally published. Thomas the Tank Engine followed the next year and they were such a success that Edmund had to come out of retirement to cope with it. New titles followed almost every year until 1972, Tramway Engines became the 26th and last book in the series.
Wilbert had built several model railway layouts over time, which he took to exhibitions all over the country and was involved with railway preservation from its first days in 1950. He went into semi-retirement after he wrote his last book, but continued to make regular public appearances for many years to come. He was awarded an OBE in 1996, but by then his health had deteriorated and he was unable to travel to London to receive it. Instead it was presented to him at home by the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. He died peacefully at his home in Stroud, Gloucestershire on 21st March 1997, aged 85.
Back to finding Mary Awdry
Having spent numerous sleepless nights pondering the mystery of Mary Awdry over and over in my head, I suddenly had a brilliant idea. I had a copy of Mary Sophia’s will and it had her signature on it. It was a long shot, but if I was able to obtain her signature from registering James’ birth, I could have the signatures analysed to see if they could have been written by the same person! Finding a graphologist that was affordable was my next hurdle and it was beginning to look more and more unlikely. The 1st I contacted charged £50:00 plus VAT and the 2nd, was a snip at a mere £150:00 – I did not dare ask if this included VAT or not! Luckily, after discussing this with some friends at work, one friend told me she actually had a friend who was a graphologist and he carried out the analysis for me for £3:00 – a much better deal!
I asked the graphologist if the 2 signatures could have been made by the same person. I also asked him if the Mary Bailey signature was more likely to be that of a girl in her late teens, or a lady in her 30’s.
Results of the analysis
1. Mary Bailey Signature
He told me that the signature of Mary Bailey was immature, uneducated and difficult to determine their age, but he would probably say she was older than 30.
2. Mary Awdry
The signature of Mary Awdry, he told me, was written by a much more sophisticated and educated woman.
Could they be the same person?
He did not think they were written by the same person because:
The form level was totally different
The pressure was different
The lower loop of the ‘Y’ was very different
Conclusion
He told me that no matter how he looked at them, the difference between them was far too striking to be the same person. It could possibly be the same person, but not very likely, only if the Mary Bailey signature was Mary S. Awdry as an old woman, or if Mary Bailey married into a wealthy family. Neither of these possibilities were true.
So it seemed clear from the analysis that Mary S. Awdry was not the Mary I was looking for. Also, it seemed clear that the Mary Bailey signature did not come from a rich and prestigious family and all 5 of my possible Mary Awdry’s came from rich and prestigious families. With these being the only Mary Awdry’s I could find, and none of them married James Bailey, the birth certificate was beginning to look rather dodgy. Perhaps Mary Bailey, daughter of George and Sarah Bailey, born in Marlborough in 1850 and sister of James Bailey and Elizabeth Russell Matthews, could, in fact, be James WF Bailey’s mother, but how could I prove this, and where did the Awdry name come from? This was becoming far more complicated by the minute - which Bailey sibling was James FW’s real parent? Or, could it be that they were BOTH his parents - now that would certainly be one big skeleton well and truly buried in the cupboard!
So, now my dream of being related to the Rev W V Awdry or any of his rich and prestigious relatives was looking rather slim. Where would I go from here? My next step, I decided, was to find more information on James Bailey, to see if he could be James FW’s father.
(Please see the conclusion on James William Frederick Bailey to see my conclusions on this story)
So, armed with copious files that were overflowing with chaotic notes, lists and records I set off with renewed vigour to delve even deeper into the fascinating world of the Awdry’s. The first Mary that was easy to eliminate was Mary Olivier, daughter of West and Mary Remington Awdry, as she married Thomas Awdry in 1872, which was 2 years before James was born. This meant that it would be highly unlikely that this Mary would be James FW’s mother. Next, I found that Mary Catherine, daughter of Henry Goddard and Mary Awdry, actually died in 1888, at which time James would have been no more than 14 at the time. This did not seem to fit in with my grandmother’s stories, as there was no indication that she died whilst James was still a child.
I then found that my favourite Mary actually married as well and I was bitterly disappointed. She married Reverend Frederick Daustini Cremer in 1878 and had children – again, this did not fit in with the stories Gran had told me. This left 2 possible Mary’s in the running, Mery, daughter of Charles Roston Eridge and Jane Awdry, and Mary Sophia, daughter of Walter and Mary Llewellyn Awdry. Mary Sophia would have been 18 at the time of James’ birth, and the other Mary would have been 35. As neither of these 2 Mary’s were married, it seemed to me to be more credible that an 18 year-old would have an illegitimate child and give it up (possibly forced by family circumstances?) than a 35 year-old. I found that Mary Sophia died in 1934, at the age of 78. This seemed, so far, to fit and so the next step, which would prove to be, by far, the most difficult, was to find some kind of link to connect this Mary as being my great-great grandmother.
Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry
Not only did I find that the Awdry’s were such a rich and prestigious family, but the icing on the cake was to stumble across the Rev. WV Awdry who wrote the Thomas the Tank Engine stories. The possibility that I could be related to a famous author was thrilling. The fact that he was also interested in genealogy and had actually traced the Awdry family history himself, back to Elizabeth 1 was like finding the Holy Grail! I decided to take the bull by the horns and write him a letter describing my conundrum over the different Mary’s I had found on the off chance that he might have some family knowledge that may help my research.
Although Wilbert never concealed where he lived and tried to answer all his own mail, I was very pessimistic about receiving a reply. He was, at this time, 84 and bed-ridden, needing an assortment of minders to care for him, with the aid of hoists, as he was ‘crutch-bound’.
I was absolutely delighted when, only a few days after sending my original letter, I received a reply from Wilbert. Although the letter does not give me any definite answers to my questions, it was full of interesting family anecdotes about family members, which was like gold dust to me, as finding such insights into the characters of ancestors is usually very hard to come by for genealogists.
He did, however, make at least one mistake in his descriptions that I know of, and that was he said Mary Sophia was the grand-daughter of his uncle Jerry, but it was actually Mary, daughter of Charles Eridge that was his grand-daughter. Interestingly, Wilbert describes Charles as ‘Pagan’, although he was the Rector at Draycott. All I can assume from this is that he was Rector of a church that was not Church of Engalnd or a similar main religion. The congregational movement was popular around the 19th century, particularly in Wiltshire and Charles could possibly have been part of this movement, or some similar ‘separatist’ type religion. As Wilbert was a reverend himself, religious beliefs would have been strong, and any deviation from his strongly held beliefs would have been difficult to accept.
The life of Reverand WV Awdry
The name Wilbert was derived from combining 2 of his uncles’ names, William and Herbert, resulting in Wilbert. His grandfather, Sir John Wither Awdry, was the Chief Justice of Bombay before the Mutiny and married twice, his second wife being a Bishop’s daughter, frances Ellen Carr and was born in India. John Wither had 3 children with his 1st wife and 13 with his 2nd. Vere Awrdry, Wilbert’s father, was the youngest male of the 2nd marriage.
‘Father passionately wanted to be a soldier, but grandfather made him a solicitor, as father’s then did; and when his partner ran off with his funds, father went into the church.’ (WV Awdry)
His father suffered much heartache during his life. Not only did he lose his money, but then his 1st wife, Margaret Man died giving birth to their son, Hildred, who died 2 years later. He then had a further 2 children by Mary Man, his 2nd wife, but Bridget, the 2nd child, died at the age of 8 and a few years later his wife also died. Then, their eldest son, Carol, was killed on the retreat from Mons on August 27th, 1914, just 2 weeks after war was declared. As Vere was very close to Carol; they did everything together, this was shattering for him.
Vere had married for a 3rd time, to Lucy Bury, and Wilbert Vere was born on 15th June 1911 at Ampfield in Hampshire. His father had been interested in railways all his life and many of his parishioners were railwaymen, and they were aware that Vere probably knew as much about railways and engines as they did themselves. Not only did he have a model railway in his garden, but he sometimes took Wilbert for walks along the track and visited the platelayers as they worked. By 1916, Vere had another son, George, they all moved to Box, Wiltshire, in 1917 and their house was within 200 yards of where the Great Western Line Railway main line climbed a steep gradient. Young Wilbert would lie in bed lat night listening to the engines struggling up the hill, imagining that they were talking to each other and that all steam engines had their own personalities and could express them.
He went to Dauntsey’s school in Wiltshire, then went to St. Peter’s Hall, Oxford, before training for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He taught at St.George’s School, Jerusalem for a while and later he married Margaret Wale, who was a teacher, who he had met in Palestine. He was ordained in 1936 and served in a number of parishes and he eventually moved to King’s Norton, Birmingham at the end of 1940 and it was there, two years later when his son, Christopher, caught measles, that the railway stories were first told.
Wilbert was trying to entertain his son while he was ill and told him stories about 3 engines called Edward, Henry and Gordon. He wrote down the stories on scraps of paper to ensure he didn’t make any mistakes on the numerous times he was required to re-tell them. He even made a small, simple wooden model engine out of odds and ends, and later christened it Thomas. Christopher loved Thomas and urged his father to make up stories about Thomas too. Wilbert’s wife, Margaret suggested that he did something about the stories, and in 1945, after sending the stories written in pencil on the backs of Parish circulars to many publishers. There was only one publisher interested in these stories, a boot manufacturer called Edmund Ward, who wanted some kind of diversion for his retirement. The first book, The Three Railway Engines, was finally published. Thomas the Tank Engine followed the next year and they were such a success that Edmund had to come out of retirement to cope with it. New titles followed almost every year until 1972, Tramway Engines became the 26th and last book in the series.
Wilbert had built several model railway layouts over time, which he took to exhibitions all over the country and was involved with railway preservation from its first days in 1950. He went into semi-retirement after he wrote his last book, but continued to make regular public appearances for many years to come. He was awarded an OBE in 1996, but by then his health had deteriorated and he was unable to travel to London to receive it. Instead it was presented to him at home by the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. He died peacefully at his home in Stroud, Gloucestershire on 21st March 1997, aged 85.
Back to finding Mary Awdry
Having spent numerous sleepless nights pondering the mystery of Mary Awdry over and over in my head, I suddenly had a brilliant idea. I had a copy of Mary Sophia’s will and it had her signature on it. It was a long shot, but if I was able to obtain her signature from registering James’ birth, I could have the signatures analysed to see if they could have been written by the same person! Finding a graphologist that was affordable was my next hurdle and it was beginning to look more and more unlikely. The 1st I contacted charged £50:00 plus VAT and the 2nd, was a snip at a mere £150:00 – I did not dare ask if this included VAT or not! Luckily, after discussing this with some friends at work, one friend told me she actually had a friend who was a graphologist and he carried out the analysis for me for £3:00 – a much better deal!
I asked the graphologist if the 2 signatures could have been made by the same person. I also asked him if the Mary Bailey signature was more likely to be that of a girl in her late teens, or a lady in her 30’s.
Results of the analysis
1. Mary Bailey Signature
He told me that the signature of Mary Bailey was immature, uneducated and difficult to determine their age, but he would probably say she was older than 30.
2. Mary Awdry
The signature of Mary Awdry, he told me, was written by a much more sophisticated and educated woman.
Could they be the same person?
He did not think they were written by the same person because:
The form level was totally different
The pressure was different
The lower loop of the ‘Y’ was very different
Conclusion
He told me that no matter how he looked at them, the difference between them was far too striking to be the same person. It could possibly be the same person, but not very likely, only if the Mary Bailey signature was Mary S. Awdry as an old woman, or if Mary Bailey married into a wealthy family. Neither of these possibilities were true.
So it seemed clear from the analysis that Mary S. Awdry was not the Mary I was looking for. Also, it seemed clear that the Mary Bailey signature did not come from a rich and prestigious family and all 5 of my possible Mary Awdry’s came from rich and prestigious families. With these being the only Mary Awdry’s I could find, and none of them married James Bailey, the birth certificate was beginning to look rather dodgy. Perhaps Mary Bailey, daughter of George and Sarah Bailey, born in Marlborough in 1850 and sister of James Bailey and Elizabeth Russell Matthews, could, in fact, be James WF Bailey’s mother, but how could I prove this, and where did the Awdry name come from? This was becoming far more complicated by the minute - which Bailey sibling was James FW’s real parent? Or, could it be that they were BOTH his parents - now that would certainly be one big skeleton well and truly buried in the cupboard!
So, now my dream of being related to the Rev W V Awdry or any of his rich and prestigious relatives was looking rather slim. Where would I go from here? My next step, I decided, was to find more information on James Bailey, to see if he could be James FW’s father.
(Please see the conclusion on James William Frederick Bailey to see my conclusions on this story)