Great Great Uncle Archibald Arthur Yeo Sandford (1st of his name)

My Great Great Uncle Archibald (1903 - 1904) was the next younger brother of my Great Grandfather George 'Len' Leonard Yeo Sandford (1902 - 1976).

Archibald Arthur Yeo Sandford (first of his name) was born in late April or early May 1903 in the district of Crediton (likely in the village of Bow), Devon, to Mark Sandford (31), a horseman and farm labourer, and Annie Sandford (nee Yeo) (35), a charwoman.

Archibald had three older half siblings, his mother's illegitimate children born before her marriage:

• Beatrice 'Beattie' Mary Victoria (or Beatrice Florence Victoria)  1886 - 1973 (87 years old)      
• Alberta 'Florrie' Florence W  1888 - after 1927  (at least 39 years old)                    
• Archibald John Weedon  1893 - 1899  (6 years old)        

Archibald was the second of five children (three boys and two girls) born to Mark and Annie:

• George 'Len' Leonard Yeo  1902 - 1976 (74 years)
• Archibald Arthur Yeo  1903 - 1904 (15 - 21 months)
• Archibald Arthur Yeo  1906 - 1906 (0 - 3 months)
• Pearl May Yeo  1909 - 1909 (0 - 3 months)
• Barbara May Yeo  1912 - 1927 (15 years)

Sadly, on 4th November 1904, Archibald passed away, aged only eighteen months old, in Bow. The cause of death was tubercular disease of the lungs. Mark and Annie would name their next born son after Archibald, but sadly he too passed away as a baby. In fact four of their five children passed away in childhood, which is a strikingly high amount.

Over twenty years after Archibald's premature death, the only Sandford sibling who survived into adulthood, Len, perhaps with brief memories of his short-lived younger brothers, would name his first-born son Archibald. Happily, this Archibald, known as Archie, would live to see the next millennia.