Table of Contents
G6: George Smith and Ann Buckland
The Smith and Bukland lines have yet to be researched.
G5: Edward Roberts (1861-1900) and Mary Ann Smith (1848-1952)
Birth: Edward Roberts was born in Llanasa in around 1861. Accurately identifying his parents is difficult due to the extreme commonality of his surname in this part of the world. There was an Edward Roberts captured in the 1871 and 1881 census in Greenfield (his future home), who was the son of James and Miriam and born around 1860. However, the 1891 census cites his birthplace as Llanasa and the Edward Roberts born there on 1 June 1861 was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth.
Marriage: to Mary Ann Smith on 28 December 1887 at St Francis Catholic Church in Chester. He was aged 26 and she was 29.
Spouse history: Mary had been born in Llanasa on 23 October 1858. It has been suggested that her parents were George and Ann (nee Buckland), but again, due to the commonality of the surname further independent corroboration is required.
Children: (1) Annie in 1888, (2) Agnes in 1890, (3) James in 1891, (4) Martha in 1893, (5) Mary in 1895, (6) George in 1897, (7) Thomas in 1899.
Residences: at the time of their marriage Edward lived on Mostyn Road in Greenfield, while Annie lived on Queen’s Ferry in Flint. They moved to Holywell before their first child was born there in 1888, but by 1891 were back in Greenfield where they had one of the Marsh Cottages on Station Road, later moving to North View Villa on the same road. By 1939 the elderly Mary lived with her daughter Mary and family in their semi-detached house in Holywell.
- Edward: Marsh Cottages, Station Road, Greenfield (1891)
- Mary: Marsh Cottages, Station Road, Greenfield (1891-1911); 3 North View Villa, Station Road, Greenfield (1915-1921); 13 Dewi Avenue, Holywell (1939)
Occupations: Edward was a labourer in the large Abbey Mill papermill that sat at the end of their road. The had been founded during 1821 and taken over by the prestigious Grosvenor Chater of London in 1854. It was the largest paper mill in Wales, producing superior quality writing paper from Esparto grass imported from North Africa. The constant water supply and proximity to Mostyn and Greenfield Docks made it an ideal site. Papermaking continued until 1982 when the factory closed.
Deaths: Edward died in April 1900 when aged just 39 and was buried in nearby Bagillt. Little changed over the next decade, except that in 1911 they were joined by Elizabeth’s niece Elizabeth Smith and two lodgers. Mary died in Holywell in 1942.
Notes: Edward was bilingual in Welsh, while Mary could only speak English.
G4: Annie Mary Roberts (1888-1965)
Birth: Annie Mary Roberts was born in Greenfield on 4 September 1888. She was the first child of Edward and Mary.
Marriage: to George Davies during 1910 in Holywell. She was aged 21 and he was 22.
Spouse history: George had been born in the Greenfield area on 18 March 1887.
Children: (1) George in 1911, (2) James in 1916, (3) May in 1920.
Occupations: George was a police officer who had a successful career, rising to the rank of Inspector. He was retired by 1939.
Residences: the newlyweds moved south to Mold, where they lived in terraced houses on Brook Street and then West View. By 1939 they had moved to Holywell, where they had a house on Gwenffrwd Road, quite literally around the corner from Annie’s mother and sister Mary. They lived with their 16-year-old son James and someone else whose record is redacted. Annie moved to Glasgow, where she lived in a large bungalow on Park Crescent in the suburb of Bishopbriggs on the outskirts of the city.
- Annie: Marsh Cottages, Station Road, Greenfield (1891-1901); Fron View, Brook Street, Mold (1911); 8 West View, Mold (1921); 6 Gwenffrwd Road, Holywell (1939); 3 Park Crescent, Glasgow (1965)
- George: Fron View, Brook Street, Mold (1911); 8 West View, Mold (1921); 6 Gwenffrwd Road, Holywell (1939)
Deaths: Annie died in Glasgow on 27 April 1965 when aged 76. George’s death is not known.
G3: George Lawrence Davies (1911-)
Birth: George Lawrence Davies was born in Mold during 1911. He was the first child of George and Annie.
Residences: Fron View, Brook Street, Mold (1911); 8 West View, Mold (1921)
Notes: George possibly married Mary Cassidy in 1938 and died in 2000, but due to the commonality of his name more information is required.
G3: James Stuart Davies (1891-)
Birth: James Stuart Davies was born in Mold on 1 August 1916. He was the second child of George and Annie.
Occupations: in 1939 when he was aged 23, James worked as a shop assistant, possibly for a grocer.
Residences: 8 West View, Mold (1921); 6 Gwenffrwd Road, Holywell (1939)
Death: James died in Wales during June 2003 when aged 86. At the time he possibly lived on Fron Park Road in Holywell.
G3: May Josephine Davies (1920-)
Birth: May Josephine Davies was born in Mold during 1920. She was the third child of George and Annie.
Residences: 8 West View, Mold (1921)
Notes: May possibly married John Reilly in 1945 and died in 2001, but due to the commonality of her name more information is required.
G4: Agnes Roberts (1890-)
Birth: Agnes Roberts was born in Greenfield during 1890. She was the second child of Edward and Mary.
Occupations: in 1911 Agnes, now aged 21, worked alongside her sister Martha as a sorter in the same Abbey Mill papermill where their father once laboured. A decade later and little had changed, with the census confirming that she was a paper reamer.
Residences: Marsh Cottages, Station Road, Greenfield (1891-1911); 3 North View Villa, Station Road, Greenfield (1915-1921)
Note: another Agnes Roberts was born in Holywell in 1892 so we need to be careful when looking at other records.
G4: James Roberts (1891-)
Birth: James Roberts was born in Greenfield during 1891. He was the third child of Edward and Mary.
Occupations: in 1911 19-year-old James worked as a cotton cloth bleacher in a mercerising works, which was a finishing treatment that improved the dye uptake and tear strength of the cotton while reducing shrinkage. After the war he worked in the Courtaulds rayon factory and received a disability pension of 8/3 due to his wounds.
Military service: James and his younger brother George enlisted into the army together in November 1915, joining the 3/10th (Scottish) Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool Regiment). James had previously served for four years in the Territorial Force with the 5th (Flintshire) Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers. After a period of training the brothers embarked for France in April 1916. James’s service document is unfortunately rather faded and it’s not known what happened from here, but he served in France for only six months before returning to England in October 1916. James was sent back to the Western Front in April 1918 but shot in the hip/upper thigh just 9 days later and repatriated home to recuperate. He then joined the 546th Agricultural Company of the Labour Corps after the Armistice, moving to the 540th Home Service Employment Company in January 1919.
Residences: Marsh Cottages, Station Road, Greenfield (1891-1911); 3 North View Villa, Station Road, Greenfield (1915-1921)
Note: another James Roberts was born in Holywell that same year so we need to be careful when looking at other records.
G4: Martha Mary Roberts (1893-)
Birth: Martha Mary Roberts was born in Greenfield during 1893. She was the fourth child of Edward and Mary.
Occupations: in 1911 17-year-old Martha worked alongside her sister Agnes as a sorter in the same Abbey Mill papermill where their father once laboured. A decade later and little had changed, with the census confirming that she was a paper reamer.
Residences: Marsh Cottages, Station Road, Greenfield (1893-1911); 3 North View Villa, Station Road, Greenfield (1915-1921)
Notes: it’s possible that she married Herbert Jones in 1922, but since another Martha Mary Roberts was born in Holywell in 1896, and another six Martha Roberts within two years, we need to be careful when looking at other records.
G4: Mary Winifred Roberts (1895-1978)
Birth: Mary Winifred Roberts was born in Greenfield on 1 August 1895. She was the fifth child of Edward and Mary.
Marriage: to Thomas William Carney during 1925 in Holywell. She was aged 29 and he was 28.
Spouse history: Thomas had been born in Bootle on 23 September 1896 to Thomas Carney and Frances Conroy. They had moved to Holywell by the end of 1900, and when the census was taken the following year lived on Well Street. His father was a pawnbroker’s assistant. By 1911 he had been promoted to a manager, while Thomas was now his assistant. The pawnbroking business evidently paid well since they now lived in a big seven-roomed house further down Well Street, requiring a domestic servant to help manage it.
Children: four boys and two girls between 1926 and 1937.
Occupations: 15-year-old Mary worked as a dressmaker in 1911. A decade later she worked as a buttonhole machinist for the Gwalia Shirt Co. shirt manufacturers in Greenfield. Thomas had meanwhile left the pawnbroking business to work as a joiner for L. Selway. In 1939 he worked as a spinner in an artificial silk factory.
Residences: in 1911 Mary lived with her eldest sister Annie and husband in their small house on Brook Street in Mold. She was back home living with her mother in Greenfield by 1921. By 1939, the family of six lived in a reasonably new semi-detached house on Dewi Avenue in the southwest of Holywell, which would be their home for the rest of their lives.
- Mary: Marsh Cottages, Station Road, Greenfield (1895-1901); Fron View, Brook Street, Mold (1911); 3 North View Villa, Station Road, Greenfield (1921); 13 Dewi Avenue, Holywell (1939-1972)
- Thomas: 38 Well Street, Holywell (1901); 34 Well Street, Holywell (1911); 32 Well Street, Holywell (1921); 13 Dewi Avenue, Holywell (1939-1965)
Deaths: Thomas died at Lluesty Hospital on 1 June 1965 when aged 68. Mary survived him by seven years and died at home on 5 July 1972 when aged 76.
G4: George Edward Roberts (1897-1974) and Alice Lavinia Williams (1900-1974)
Birth: George Edward Roberts was born in Greenfield on 1 February 1897. He was the sixth child of Edward and Mary.
Military service: George and his elder brother James enlisted into the army together in November 1915, joining the 3/10th (Scottish) Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool Regiment). After a period of training the brothers embarked for France in April 1916. George’s service on the Western Front lasted only three months before he was wounded by shrapnel and repatriated home for a lengthy recuperation. He returned to France in March 1918. They settled into the familiar routine of manning the trenches in a relatively quiet area, suffering sporadic artillery attacks and a few casualties from enemy fire, intertwined with periods in reserve. This abruptly ended in October when the Germans began a withdrawal, and years of stalemate and trench warfare was over. The battalion fought throughout the Hundred Days Offensive, helping to secure numerous villages. George was gassed at the end of October and ended his war in a hospital bed. He was fit enough to return to his unit after the Armistice and remained in France until demobilisation in April 1919.
Marriage: to Alice Lavinia Davis on 28 March 1921 at St Winefride’s Roman Catholic Church on Well Street in Holywell. She was aged 24 and he was 20.
Spouse history: Alice had been born in Bagillt on 30 October 1900 and was the fourth child of Samuel and Elizabeth. The family lived in a pleasant cottage on River View. Her father was a manager for a grocery business. By 1911 they had a large 7-room property called Britannia House, very close to their old home.
Children: (1) George in 1921, (2) Joan in 1924, (3) James in 1926, (4) Alma in 1932, (5) Philip in 1938.
Occupations: despite only being aged 14 when the census was taken in 1911, George worked as a grocer’s apprentice. After the war he worked in the ‘Grocers & Provision Department’ of the Co-Op on Church Street in Flint. By 1939 he was an artificial silk worker in the viscose department of Courtaulds, at the heart of the rayon industry in the UK.
Residences: when the National Register was taken in September 1939, the family lived in a relatively new semi-detached house on Coronation Estate in Holywell, where they would remain until their deaths some 35 years later.
- George: Marsh Cottages, Station Road, Greenfield (1897-1911); 3 North View Villa, Station Road, Greenfield (1915-1921); 86 Coronation Estate, Holywell (1939-1974)
- Alice: River View, New Brighton Road, Bagillt (1901); Britannia House, High Street, Bagillt (1911-1921); 86 Coronation Estate, Holywell (1939-1974)
Deaths: George died at home in Holywell on 12 February 1974 when aged 77. Alice survived him for just 17 days and died at home on 1 March aged 73.
G3: George Leslie Roberts (1921-1967)
Birth: George Leslie Roberts was born in Holywell on 16 September 1921. He was the first child of George and Alice, and known all his life by his middle name.
Military service: from photographs it appears that he served in the RAF during the Second World War, and he was probably a mechanic specialising in wireless or radar equipment on the aircraft
Occupations: Leslie worked as a grocer’s assistant on the outbreak of war.
Residences: 86 Coronation Estate, Holywell (1939-1967)
Death: Leslie died on 14 June 1967 at Brynford Road in Holywell when aged just 45. He left his estate to his father, with whom he still lived.
G3: Joan Roberts (1924-2005) and George Edgar Hilditch (1917-1987)
The story of Joan and George is picked up in the Hilditch / Taylor family group.
G3: James Norman Roberts (1926-1996)
Birth: James Norman Roberts was born in Holywell on 16 August 1926. He was the third child of George and Alice, and known all his life by his middle name.
Residences: 86 Coronation Estate, Holywell (1939)
Death: Norman died in November 1996 when aged 70.
G3: Alma Winifred Roberts (1932-2017)
Birth: Alma Winifred Roberts was born in Holywell on 29 August 1932. She was the fourth child of George and Alice.
Marriage: to Philip Jones during 1953 in Holywell. She was aged 20.
Children: two boys and a girl.
Residences: the couple lived in a cottage called Llwyni along rural Pen-Y-Ball Hill between 2002-03.
- Alma: 86 Coronation Estate, Holywell (1939); Llwyni, Pen-Y-Ball Hill, Holywell (2002-2003); Tyn Y Caeau Bach, Lixwm Road, Nannerch (2005-2017)
- Philip: Llwyni, Pen-Y-Ball Hill, Holywell (2002-2003)
Deaths: Alma died on 25 May 2017 when aged 84, at which time she lived in Nannerch in a house called Tyn Y Caeau Bach which was adjacent to a farm off Lixwm Road.
G3: Philip Roberts (1938-2010)
Birth: Philip Roberts was born in Holywell during 1938. He was the fifth child of George and Alice.
Marriage: to Eunice Barnabas in Holywell during 1965. He was aged 27 and she was 23.
Spouse history: Eunice had been born in Holywell during 1942. The 1939 Register had captured her parents on Stand Walk and her father worked as an artificial silk spinner.
Children: their first child was born in 1967 and followed quickly by another daughter the next year.
Residences: from at least 2003 they lived in a fine semi-detached house on Pen-Y-Maes Road, literally around the corner from Philip’s childhood home on the renamed Pen-Y-Maes Gardens.
- Philip: 86 Coronation Estate, Holywell (1939); 35 Pen-Y-Maes Road, Holywell (2003-2010)
- Eunice: 35 Pen-Y-Maes Road, Holywell (2003-2012)
Deaths: Philip died in Glan Clwyd Hospital on 10 September 2010 when aged 72. Eunice survived him for five years and died at home on 30 September 2015 when aged 73.
G4: Thomas Bernard Roberts (1899-1970)
Birth: Thomas Bernard Roberts was born in Greenfield on 7 July 1899. He was the seventh child of Edward and Mary.
Military service: Thomas possibly served in the army during the First World War with serial number 77193, but I don’t have access to the records.
Marriage: to Myfanwy Griffiths in Holywell during 1927. He was aged 27 and she was 24.
Spouse history: Myfanwy had been born on 4 January 1902. This is not a particularly unusual name, with two girls born in 1902, and so further information is required.
Children: (1) Denis in 1928. Possibly two more.
Occupations: in 1921 Thomas worked as a grocer’s assistant in the Flint Co-Op. He had a long career and was still there in 1939.
Residences: in 1939 the family lived in a detached house on Cross Roads in the southeast of Holywell.
- Thomas: Marsh Cottages, Station Road, Greenfield (1899-1911); 3 North View Villa, Station Road, Greenfield (1921); 1 Cross Roads, Holywell (1939-1970)
- Myfanwy: 1 Cross Roads, Holywell (1939-1970); 17 Park Lane, Penwortham (1985)
Deaths: Thomas died at home on 30 April 1970 when aged 71. Myfanwy had moved to England by the time of her death on 23 March 1985 when aged 83, where she lived in a large detached house on Park Lane in Penwortham near Preston.
G3: Denis Stuart Roberts (1928-1997)
Birth: Denis Stuart Roberts was born in Holywell on 9 October 1928. He was the first child of Thomas and Myfanwy.
Residences: 1 Cross Roads, Holywell (1939)
Deaths: nothing is known except that he died in December 1997 when aged 69.
2 responses
Hi David
This was a total gift to find! I’d love to contribute to this – I am Phil And Eunice Roberts youngest daughter- Sian. I’m not listed on this but would love to be.
My grandfather:
G4: Thomas Bernard Roberts (1899-1970) known as ‘Bern’
Military service: Royal Welch Fusiliers, wounded by shrapnel near Cambrai/Awoingt November 1918. Lost one eye. Returned to work in Holywell/Flint Co-op grocery retired mid-1960s then had a small shop in the town. I have all his casualty tags from Casualty Clearing Station at Awoingt, hospital ship and onward to treatment near Chelsea Royal Hospital etc. A lovely man. Roman Catholic … married Myfanwy, a Calvinist Methodist …
Marriage: to Myfanwy Griffiths in Holywell during 1927. He was aged 27 and she was 24. Myfanwy was from Pen-y-Groes where her father was a slate miner at the Dorothea mine (Talysarn/Nantlle). She had one brother David Lloyd Griffiths. She moved to Holywell to work in a milliner/haberdasher. After Bern’s death she lived alone in Holywell. After decline in health she came to live with us in Penwortham, Preston. Died on my 23rd birthday in 1985. Funeral and burial back in Holywell.
Spouse history: Myfanwy. Born 4 January 1902 in Pen-y-Groes, Caernarvonshire or environs.
Children: (1) Denis Stuart Roberts in 1928. Yes. He married Rita and had two children, Mark and Judith. All lived in Flint. All dead except Mark who now lives in Yorkshire.
Second child (2) Francis Bernard Roberts born 26 August 1930. Architect. Moved to Preston, Lancs for work in late 1950s. Married Yvonne Elizabeth Anglesea whose parents had the Cross Keys pub in Connah’s Quay. Five children born in Preston: Philippa Ann, Jill Sian, Dominic David (me), Rebecca Lucy, Victoria Ruth. Eight grandchildren. Francis is 94 and lives in Penwortham.
Occupations: Worked at the Holywell Co-op and retired in mid-1960s.
House: No. 1 Cross Roads. Was also called ‘Traquair’ because a relation of the family had been housekeeper (?) at Traquair House in Scotland.