Gallery Samples Stories of our Ancestors | Page 46

legends began with Rebecca who shared some of her memories with Ruby and I believe some
information came from Ellen Hodgkiss as well. Ruby could never resist a family story and
collected as many as she could about their lives. We start with the earliest known Hodgkiss
ancestors who were:
JOSEPH MOLESWORTH HODGKISS who married ELLEN IRELAND: Ellen Ireland was born in
1825 but the date of Joseph’s birth is as yet unknown.
What we do know about this family is that Joseph Hodgkiss was an engine driver and so must
have been the envy of all the little boys in the neighbourhood. The family home was in the subdistrict of St John the Evangelist, Westminster, in the County of Middelsex. We don’t have his
date of birth but we do have his erstwhile address: 29 Carpenter Street, Westminster.
There were five children born to Ellen and Joseph; Joseph, George, Ellen, Elizabeth and the
youngest one, John James. The latter is the only one we know anything about:
JOHN JAMES (known as JOCK) HODGKISS: 29th April, 1863 to 1947

We know nothing of Jock’s childhood at all and we only pick
up the thread of his life in 1881 when he, at the age of
nineteen, joined the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, which was a
mounted regiment. Little did he know at that young age that
horses would provide him with an occupation all his life.
On the 4th of April 1882, the Dragoons embarked for South
Africa, arriving in Durban on the 24th of May. Over the next
five years they were sent to Pinetown then Pietermaritzburg
and were involved in many skirmishes in various parts of the
country. John eventually bought his discharge in June 1887,
now aged 24.
Here is the young soldier John James Hodgkiss, described as
being 5 ft 8 ¾ ins tall, with hazel eyes, dark brown hair and
an ‘Irish’ complexion.

JOHN (JOCK) HODGKISS OF THE 6TH
INNISKILLING DRAGOONS

CHAPTER 2: THE OTHER BRANCH OF THE FAMILY:

S

REBECCA ALMA LLOYD: 5TH MAY 1868 – 25TH JUNE 1951

adly, there is no story of the Lloyd family and the only person we know anything at all
about is Rebecca who became my Father’s Mother. Rebecca was born in Shrewsbury,
Shropshire, on the 5th May 1868. We know little about Rebecca’s family and nothing of
her ancestry.

I got to know Granny Rebecca slightly when in her early eighties she came to live with us after
Grandpa Jock died. Granny lived with us for only a few years until her death in 1951 at the age
of 83. I was only a child so had no regard for ancestral stories but she did sometimes talk to my
Mother, Ruby, about her life. Rebecca’s room opened onto a veranda and she seemed to spend
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