Katherine Willcox (buried 1924)

Katherine was born in Messina, Sicily, the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth. Her father was a London merchant who imported oranges. His warehouse was in Pudding Lane in the city. Katherine's sister Alice was born in Malta in 1850. Samuel had died by the middle of the 1860's, possibly in Malta. Katherine married here in January 1866. Her husband was Charles Edward Dring Willcox, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, serving on HMS Resistance. The couple were married by the Consul and also present was her mother and sister. They all applied for passports to travel to France and England in February 1866. The family settled in Nailsea, Somerset where Katherine gave birth to a daughter Katherine Beatrice and in 1870, a son, Edward Cecil. Geraldine Ethel was born in 1872 and Charles Lewis Dring in 1882. The two girls were baptised as Roman Catholics. By 1881, Charles was Commander of HMS Castor and the family had moved to Tynemouth in Northumberland. Elizabeth, Katherine's mother died in Bristol in 1886. Charles retired in 1885 and the family moved to Gosforth for a while before moving back south to Weston-Super-Mare. By 1901, Charles was ill and required nursing. He died on 26th January 1908. Of Katherine's two sons, Cecil became a doctor and Charles an engineer. Katherine and her two daughters, who never married, moved to Southsea and then to Worthing about 1920. Katherine died here on 5th July 1924. Probate was granted to Katherine Beatrice Willcox and Geraldine Ethel Willcox spinsters. Effects £417 1s 7d.

Beatrice moved to Portsmouth and died in 1939. Geraldine was a patient in Graylingwell Asylum, Chichester in 1939 and died here in 1947.