Annie Elizabeth Cruwys and Frank Chilcott

Richard Chilcott has contacted me about the Cruwys family of Witheridge, Devon. Richard is the grandson of Annie Elizabeth Cruwys (1884-1966), the eldest daughter of John Cruwys and Sarah Quant née Chown. Annie married Frank Charles Chilcott in 1906. I had previously been unable to allocate Annie to a specific tree as she does not appear with her family in the 1891 or 1901 censuses, so I'm delighted that I've now found out where she belongs. In the 1891 census Annie, age 6, is living with her uncle and aunt, James and Anne Richards, at Clogsmoor in Templeton. The census was taken on 5th April and just one week earlier, on 29th March, Annie's four-year-old brother, George Herbert Cruwys, was killed in a fire. Annie had perhaps been sent to stay with her uncle and aunt while her parents dealt with the aftermath of the fire. Richard recalls that the story of the death of George Herbert was drummed into him as a child as a consequence of playing with matches.

Richard has sent me some wonderful photographs which he has kindly allowed me to reproduce here. The first picture below shows Annie Elizabeth Chilcott née Cruwys (standing upright) with her husband Frank Chilcott beside her. At this time Annie and Frank were living with her parents John and Sarah Cruwys at Jurishayes Cottages in Withleigh. The other people in the picture are believed to be Annie's brothers, her father John Cruwys (on the right) and her mother Sarah Cruwys and perhaps her mother-in-law. The second picture shows Annie's mother Sarah Cruwys née Chown (1851-1921). Sarah married John Henry Quant in 1871 and bore him three children. John died in 1881 and the following year Sarah married John Cruwys (1860-1919), a mason. She and John had eight children.