Great Great Half Uncle Percy Vernon

My Great Great Half Uncle Percy (1915 - 2002) was an under foreman at a dairy, father of one, and a younger half brother of my Great Grandfather Walter Charles Vernon (1892 - 1965).

Percy was born on 28th February 1915 in Whiddon Down, Devon, to Isaac 'Harry' Harwood Vernon (46), an agricultural labourer and farm carter, and Ellen Vernon (nee Tonkins) (39), a former domestic servant and now a housewife.

Percy had four older half siblings (one half sister and three half brothers) - the children of his father Harry and his first wife Lucy James - :

• Edith Ellen  1891 - 1971  (79)
• Walter Charles  1892 - 1965  (73)
• William John  1894 - ????  (?)
• Frank  1896 - 19??  (?)

And nine full siblings (seven brothers and two sisters):

• Frederick 'Fred' (born Tonkins, later Vernon)  1897 - 1915  (18)
• Mabel Ellen  1898 - 1993  (94)
• George  1900 - 1900  (0 - 3 months)
• George Henry  1901 - 1973  (71)
• Ernest Isaac  1904 - 1997  (93)
• Isaac Harry (went by Henry)  1906 - 1964  (58)
• William Harwood  1908 - 1972  (64)
• Florence Emily  1911 - 1993  (82)
• Sidney 'Sid'  1913 - 2004  (91)
• Percy  1915 - 2002  (86)

Percy was the youngest of his many siblings.

Around 1912 to 1915, the family lived at Turnpike Gate or Toll Bar House in Whiddon Down. A toll-house, which often had a gate across the turnpike road, was a cottage on which the charges for the turnpike were often displayed on the side of. Percy and his closest in age sibling, Sid, were both born at this house.

Percy was born in the middle of the First World War. His older half brother Walter and older brother Fred both served in the war. Whilst Walter, an experienced soldier survived; teenage Fred was not so lucky. He was killed on Thursday 30th September 1915, during (or just after) the Battle of Loos, aged only eighteen. His name appears on the Men of Dunsford war memorial.

Later in life, Percy and Sid recalled the family lived between Bow and Down St Mary, around 1919. By 1922, they have moved to Westwood, between Exeter and Cullompton.

In Apr/May/Jun 1936, Percy (21), an under foreman at a dairy, married Dorothy Studley (21), in Taunton, Somerset.

Though born 'Percy', on his record of marriage and the 1939 Census he goes by 'Percival'.

By the time of the 1939 Census, the young couple had moved to Oxford. It was the dawn of the Second World War and Percy was in his mid twenties - the age called up to fight. I wonder if Percy served? If he did serve, he survived.

1939 Census:

Ten years into their marriage, Percy and Dorothy had one son:

• Andrew H  1946 -

Their son Andrew was born back in Taunton, implying they may have moved back there come the mid 1940's, only to later return to Oxfordshire.

In Jan/Feb/Mar 2002, Percy passed away, aged eighty-six, in Oxfordshire.