Update: Please scroll down to the end of this blog to read all the extra information kindly shared with me by the descendants of this family.

These are old photos given to me by my friend Diana again, she has some nice finds. So much information too!

It was fairly easy to begin a tree on Ancestry with all this information as I had a couple’s names who had married to start off with. I wanted to do a bit of family history about them but I also wanted to be able to identify the two people that had written all the information on the back.

The first person with initials that had written the most was B.W.J.P. The second who was very helpful was M.G.P. Saying “Millicent (Edith) has been crossed out, father’s mother”. So because the last initial for the surname of the second person is P, it’s likely that it had to be a female who married a chap with the surname beginning with P. Otherwise it would be a W for Whitehouse, her maiden name. So I looked through the children adding what I could paying a little more attention to the children and their spouses and offspring.

Millicent Mary Hinde was born on 13 October 1824 in Dublin, Ireland, her parents were Benjamin and Anne. She had four sons and two daughters with Alfred Whitehouse between 1858 and 1867. Millicent died on 5 August 1893 in Clutton, Somerset, at the age of 68, and was buried in Chilcompton, Somerset.

So working my way slowly through each child of the couple above I found spouses and children. First is Alfred Whitehouse Jnr who was born in 1852 to Alfred and Millicent. He married Edith Rhoda Mann on 1 September 1886 in New South Wales, Australia, Edith had been born in Australia. They had one child Alfred Edward Whitehouse born on 9 May 1888 in Stoke Damerel, Devon. Alfred Edward married Beatrix Inja Cawston in July 1916, the couple had no children. Alfred was killed in action on 4 October 1918 WW1 in British Waters at the age of 30. He was a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy. Story below.

All Info from Submarine Family UK “On 3 October 1918, HMS L10 (Lt Cdr A E Whitehouse) encountered German Torpedo Boats S34, V28 and S33 of 18th TB Half Flotilla which were engaged in escorting torpedo boats and U-boats from Flanders through British minefields, when S34 struck a mine and sank. S33 attempted to rescue the survivors. While doing so S33 was torpedoed by L10 but not sunk. Sometime later, possibly on 3 October, L10 surfaced close to the position of the attack and was engaged by S33 again and was eventually sunk by gunfire. L10 was lost with All Hands“.

The second born was George Whitehouse who was born on 26 July 1857 in London. George married Florence Cecilia Hyatt on 9 October 1895 in Stratton on the Fosse, Somerset. Lots more about George here including photos of him and Florence: Europeans In Africa Website They had four children during their marriage, with three sons surviving beyond 1911, George Cecil 1900-1970, Alfred Obre 1902-1984 and Frank Langford 1904-1980. George C married Hilda May Boaz in 1930. The couple had one daughter Patricia May. George C died on 5 August 1970 in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, at the age of 70. Alfred O was born on 10 July 1902 in Nairobi, Kenya. He was a Civil Engineer, travelled a lot, and as far as I can see he never married, he died on 26 May 1984 at the age of 81. Frank L was born on 10 August 1904 in Ashwick, Somerset, he was also in the Royal Navy being Paymaster Lieut: Comm: R N H M S Drake. He married Maisie Vivienne Rose who worked alongside him at HMS Drake, she was in the Women’s Royal Navy, and I haven’t found any children of the couple.

Next comes Benjamin Whitehouse who was born on 25 January 1859 in Plymouth, Devon, I’ve not found a marriage for him and on the 1939 register he is described as Single and is living with his widowed sister-in-law Florence Cecelia, brother George’s widow. His occupation was as a Captain in the Royal Navy retired.

Next born was Millicent Mary Whitehouse in 1862 in Weymouth, Dorset, she remained single and died in October 1944 in Sudbury, Suffolk at the age of 82.

Next another son, Francis Cowley Whitehouse was born in 1864 in Pinner, Middlesex. He had two sons and two daughters with Florence Philippa (Florry) Whittall. He died on 24 March 1946 at the age of 82. The couple first had a son Alfred Edward Leslie Edwin who was born on 4 March 1899 in Istanbul, Turkey, as far as I can see he remained single all his life. He died on 8 April 1975 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, at the age of 76.

Then a daughter Millicent Edith Whitehouse was born on 19 July 1900 in Moda, Istanbul, Turkey. She married William Jackson Perkins on 27 December 1922 in Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland. They had three children during their marriage. She died on 19 April 1977 in Newmarket, Suffolk, at the age of 76.

Thirdly came another daughter Kathleen Whitehouse, who was born on 23 February 1904 in Moda, Istanbul, Turkey. She married Arthur Ronald Vere Barker on 7 July 1928 in Epsom, Surrey. They had one son during their marriage. She died in January 1972 at the age of 67.

Arthur Ronald Vere Barker was taken prisoner during WW2 this is his record card from Ancestry.

1939-1945. Regiment 5th A.a. Regt. r.a. Service Number 78018. Mother Aimee Grace. Description 3: Japanese Index Cards of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees, World War II: Bakar-Bartsow.

Their last child was Francis Roger Whitehouse who was born on 21 August 1915 in Surbiton, Surrey. I can’t find a definite match for a marriage for him, so I don’t know if he had any children.

Alfred and Millicents sixth child was Langford Whitehouse who was born in 1865 in Pinner, Middlesex. He married Mary Dieudennéa Evans on 8 July 1913 in West Kensington, Middlesex. Mary had previously been married to Ronan Wollaston Humphrey, the couple had divorced in 1912. Langford and Mary were only married ten years before Langford died on 26 March 1923 in Middlesex at the age of 58. I can’t be sure if there are any children but there are a couple of possibilities.

Lastly came a daughter Anna Elizabeth Whitehouse who was born in 1867 in Dulwich, Surrey. She was 47 when she married Shelley Anstice Moore in 1914. She died on 10 January 1951 at the age of 84. She had no children.

Results of the initials.

My thoughts were that the last initial P just had to be PERKINS, it’s the only P that I had on the family tree. Millicent Edith Whitehouse married William Jackson Perkins in 1922. Frustratingly though I wasn’t able to find a first name for a son the couple had in about or after 1928, all I had found were two daughters Glen 1925-2004 and Phillipa 1927-2013 and both their marriage partners. They just had to be living outside of the UK. I do hate giving up and I’ve continued to follow many leads that have led nowhere.

The shorter initials MEP obviously is very likely to be Millicent Edith Perkins. But who was the BWJP, I was thinking maybe Benjamin as that is a name from other members of the family and ends with Perkins, but I just couldn’t find anything. So I googled William Jackson Perkins again but this time I added his birth and death dates and that’s what brought me this result below that was on the JISC website: William Perkins Collection

Scope and Content

“Papers relating to William Perkins’ work as a solicitor in Istanbul, including newspaper clippings relating to maritime legal cases and judgements of the Supreme Consular Court of Constantinople, as well as printed judgements of the Court, from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There are also several files relating to the court cases concerning the collision of the Turkish submarine ‘Dumlupinar’ and the Swedish cargo vessel ‘Naboland’ on 4 April 1953 off Nagare Point in the Dardanelles. There is also a collection of personal correspondence, comprising mainly of letters from William Perkins to his daughter Glen Perkins between 1933 and 1969. There are also several letters to Glen Perkins from other family members and friends, some of which refer to William Perkins“.

Perkins, William Jackson CBE, MC (c1892-1969)

“Lived and worked in Istanbul as a solicitor from at least the 1930s to the 1950s. Married to Millicent Edith Whitehouse, whose family had lived and worked in Turkey for some decades. Their eldest daughter, Glen, was born in 1925, the second, Philippa, in 1927, and a son, Benjamin, in 1932. Perkins had served as a captain in the First World War, experiencing the gas attacks at the Second Battle of Ypres in May 1915. Whilst in Turkey in the 1940s Perkins ran the British Information Office and served as Chairman of the Community Council. He also edited a bulletin that was regularly distributed to British subjects and many Turks in Istanbul. Perkins remained in Turkey for most of the Second World War whilst his family resided in England at ‘Slates’, the family home in Woking. In March 1954 Perkins was appointed a CBE. He left Turkey for good in 1955 and returned to live in England. His children Glen and Benjamin lived in England, whilst Philippa married James (Jim) Treadwell, a New Zealand-born diplomat, who served in various countries in Africa and the Middle East. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, William and Millicent often cared for Philippa and Jim’s three children, Simon, Nicholas and Luke, as small children in Turkey and later, at weekends and during the school holidays, in England. William Jackson Perkins died in February 1969“.

What an absolute gem of a find! Whoop whoop moment!

So now I am assuming that their son was named Benjamin W J Perkins, he was born in 1932. As I couldn’t find anything out about him I googled again Benjamin W J Perkins b 1932 and among the results was this astonishing photo album belonging to Philipa Treadwell (Perkins) If the Whittalls are your family then this is a wonderful find, lots of old photos and family history! Here’s the direct link: Whittall Family Album

This photo below was also with the first two but we’re not absolutely sure if it belongs to the same family. My thoughts are now that it definitely does! And is very likely a photo of William Jackson Perkins.

Here’s the link to the small public family tree I have compiled on Ancestry for these photos:Millicernt Hinde/Alfred Whitehouse Family Tree

Update 16 November 2024:

Bits from our correspondence over the last week from David & Corinne: “Alfred was Corinne’s Great-Great-Grandfather, and we have his handwritten leather-bound journal of the entire family history as he knew it here in the house. We also have many other family heirlooms. Corinne is the daughter of Patricia May Whitehouse, whom you mentioned“.
“It’s been a big year this year as we finally tracked down the final resting place of Alfred and Millicent after many years of searching. They are buried in Downside in Somerset in the Old Downside redundant church – which is now a holiday, unfortunately. The ever-meticulous Alfred designed the grave before his death and we had the additional surprise of finding his design documents and stonemason order had gone up for auction in Devon and was sadly sold to a dealer before we knew“.
“The photographs you have will have passed down the Perkins line and the writing on the back is clearly recognisable as that of Ben Perkins (MWJP). Ben Perkins was my second cousin and we regularly exchanged information and chatted on the phone until he died in Dec 2022 at the ripe old age of 90. He never once mentioned he’d seen the two pictures, and we often talked about putting faces to names“.

“Your research and article gave the reader a potted history in a small cross-section of a remarkable family: of men who married remarkable ladies from remarkable families themselves. The Hyatt family you mention being just one of those“.
“Looking back from Alfred, his father George was also a naval man, and shipmate and friend of the Duke of Clarence, later William IV. The Whitehouse family were blue glassmakers in the 17th century, originating from Bristol and operators of trading ships from the port of Bristol – inevitably leading them to Naval careers from the early 1700s for at least three generations before Alfred”.

“We would be beyond thrilled and grateful to take guardianship of the pictures. We use that term as they will pass down the family with Alfred’s fabulous journal and other documents etc“.

“The postman has arrived!  It’s simply amazing to see and handle the pictures and I can’t thank you enough“.

I am always thrilled to be able to put any old photos from my collection back where they belong with their family, a very happy ending!

Till next time then………