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work, but from the Frenchjournee -a day - and described a day labourer or daily paid worker. In the nineteenth century the term also came to mean one who had not yet served an apprenticeship, but learned his skills less formally. In 1987 William Horace Davey had already died, but he was described as having been a lorry driver, William Horace Davey had married Kathleen Green at I1ford Register Office on 28th September 1957 and at the time he was a journeyman baker living in Green Lane, Ilford. Percy George Davey, his father, had already died by that time. Kathleen Green was aged 23 when she married and she was the daughter of Albert Green, a foreman builder, who had also died by the time his daughter married.
William Horace Davey was born on 9th May 1930 in Gibraltar, son of Percy George Davey and Amanda Davey nee Parody. Percy George Davey was then a grocer and it would appear that he was actually living across the Spanish border in Linea. His marriage certificate shows that his wife was actually Amanda Juliana Parody and this couple married in Gibraltar at the Registrar.s Office on 27th March 1924. Percy George was then working as a domestic servant and gave his address as Government House. His father's name was William Davey, a blacksmith. Percy George and his wife also had two more children born in Gibraltar - Lily Amanda Davey on 12th June 1925 and Louise Phyllis on 11th January 1929. At these births their father, Percy George Davey, was described as a charge-man and then as a shop assistant.
Amanda Juliana Parody was born in Gibraltar on 15th February 1895, daughter of Luis Parody and Ana Samignon Parody. Luis was a hotel waiter .
Percy George Davey's birth certificate shows that he was born at Borough Green, Wrotham, Kent on 8th September 1901, son of William Horace Davey and Phyllis Davey, late Hawker, nee Wells. This shows that Phyllis had previously been married to a Mr Hawker. William Horace Davey was described at this time as a master blacksmith. The term "master" had by the later nineteenth century become a generalised description to the effect that an individual was greatly experienced and produced work of a good quality. However, it was also still used in its original context to describe one who had served his apprenticeship and submitted his "master piece". This was an example of highly accomplished work, an indication that the skills of a particular trade had been learned to the full.
Percy George had a brother named Sydney, who had been born at Borough Green on 7th January 1897. This certificate did not mention the mother's previous married name of Hawker.
The final certificate was for the marriage of William Horace Davey to Phillis Hawker, on 15th September 1890 at Emmanuel Parish Church, Hastings. This was after banns had been called and the couple both gave their address as 53 St Mary's Road, Hastings. The groom was aged 34 and the bride was aged 30, she was a widow, as expected. William Horace Davey's father bore the same name as his son and he was also a blacksmith. Phillis did not remember the forename of her father, but he was described as a commercial traveller. There did not appear to be any family witnesses. It would appear that there was some confusion as to how Phillis should sign her name in the register. Unless this certificate has been incorrectly written by the Vicar, she wrongly signed her name as Davey.
We were also given some details of deaths and burials for family members.
We began our investigations by searching for evidence of the Davey family in census returns. Censuses of the population of England and Wales have been taken every ten years since 1801. These early national headcounts helped the Government to predict the level of income from taxes, for example, and to estimate the potential size of an army in times of war .
The 1841 census was the first to include personal details, recording each person's name, approximate age, o
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