The Hobbs Family

Albert Frank Hobbs

known as "Frank"

Birth: 1867, in Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire, England

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Catherine (Frampton) Hobbs

Hobbs & Chambers
Mr Hobbs and "Company Car" set off for a valuation.
Married: Susie Theyer

Notes: Frank was a founder of the company Hobbs & Chambers, auctioneers and estate agents in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. As well as disposing of the contents of some of the larger country houses in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire in the early years of the 20th Century, present day buyers might be amused to know that Hobbs & Chambers, Auctioneers once stood in Faringdon market place selling chickens and eggs!

Census:
1871: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1881: King Alfreds College, Wantage, Berkshire

Sources:

Anne Elizabeth Hobbs

Birth: 1856, in Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire, England

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Catherine (Frampton) Hobbs

Census:
1861: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1871: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1881: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire

Sources:

Catherine Hobbs

Birth: 1850, in Wantage, Berkshire, England

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Catherine (Frampton) Hobbs

Census:
1851: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1861: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1881: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire

Sources:

Charles Hobbs

Birth: 1822/3, in Buscot, Berkshire, England

Father:
William Hobbs

Mother: Elizabeth (Turner) Hobbs

Married:
Catherine Frampton in 1847. Catherine was born in 1821/2, in South Marston, Wiltshire. She died in 1877, in Cirencester district aged 55.

Kelmscott Manor Kelmscott Manor
Kelmscott Manor
watercolor [c1905] by Marie Spartali Stillman
Kelmscott Manor c1890
by Marie Spartali Stillman


Kelmscott Manor
Drawing Room at Kelmscott Manor
Kelmscott Manor today
The drawing room at Kelmscott Manor c1895
Children: Occupation: Farmer. In 1881, Charles was farming 818 acres in Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire, and employed 25 labourers, 5 women and 9 boys.

Death:
1893 in Cirencester district aged 70

Notes:
Charles farmed an 818 acre farm "The Manor" at Meysey Hampton from 1848. In 1867 he inherited Kelmscott, on the banks of the River Thames, from his mother. Charles retained the farmland but in 1871 he leased (and later sold) Kelmscott Manor to William Morris, a noted designer, who used Kelmscott as a summer home. Morris noted that it looked to him as if Kelmscott Manor had "grown up out of the soil" and he noted the "quaint garrets amongst great timbers of the roof where of old times the tillers and herdsmen slept". The manor is now owned and managed by the Society of Antiquaries of London. The Hobbses continued to farm the land with Charles's son RW farming the Home Farm in Kelmscott.

Census:
1851: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1861: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1871: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1881: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire

Sources:

Charles Hobbs

Birth: 1852, in Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire, England

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Catherine (Frampton) Hobbs

Married: Louisa Jane Plumbe

Children: Occupation: Farmer. In 1881, Charles was farming 340 acres in Bampton, Oxfordshire, and employed 10 men, 8 boys and 3 women

Census:
1861: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1871: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1881: Farm House, Bampton, Oxfordshire

Sources:
Ernest Hobbs
Charles Ernest John Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs

Charles Ernest John Hobbs

known as "Ernest"

Birth: 1876, in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Fanny Elizabeth (Plumbe) Hobbs

Married: Maud Davis. Maud was the sister of H. J. V. Davis who married Charles's half-sister Helen.

Census:

1881: Kelmscot, Oxfordshire

Sources:

Charles Ashton Hobbs

Birth: 1880, in Bampton, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Louisa Jane (Plumbe) Hobbs

Census:
1881: Farm House, Bampton, Oxfordshire

Sources:

Dorothy Kate (Hobbs) Jones

Dorothy Kate Hobbs
Dorothy Kate Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs
Birth: 1888, in Faringdon district, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Fanny Elizabeth (Plumbe) Hobbs

Married: W. J. Preston Jones

Sources:

Ethel Elizabeth Hobbs

Ethel Elizabeth Hobbs
Ethel Elizabeth Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs
Birth: 1875, in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Fanny Elizabeth (Plumbe) Hobbs

Census:
1881: Farm House, Bampton, Oxfordshire

Sources:

Frederick William Hobbs

Frederick William Hobbs
Frederick William Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs
Birth: 1878, in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Fanny Elizabeth (Plumbe) Hobbs

Married: Caroline Reading in 1907 in Faringdon district, Oxfordshire, England

Census:

1881: Kelmscot, Oxfordshire

Sources:

Harold Langley Hobbs

Harold Langley Hobbs
Harold Langley Hobbs c1905
(click for full photo)
photo courtesy of Peter Duffill
Harold Langley Hobbs and Mabel Sarah Cross
Harold Langley Hobbs and Mabel Sarah Cross
photo courtesy of Peter Duffill
Birth: 1882, in Witney district, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Louisa Jane (Plumbe) Hobbs

Married: Mabel Sarah Cross

Notes: Harold farmed in Argentina, where he was a breeder of Hampshire Down sheep.

Sources:

Helen Maud (Hobbs) Davis

Helen Maud Hobbs
Helen Maud Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs
Birth: 1893, in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Louisa (Heath) Hobbs

Married: H. J. V. Davis.

H. J. V. Davis was the brother of Maud Davis who married Helen's half-brother, Charles Ernest. He was a partner with Robert Hobbs and farmed Paradise Farm, Kelmscott Farm (for about 12 years), Mill Farm in South Leach and Aston Farm. He died in 1978.

Census:
1901: Kelmscott, Oxfordshire

Sources:

Henry Hobbs

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Catherine (Frampton) Hobbs

Notes: Henry lived for only a few hours.

Sources:

Henry Hobbs

Henry Hobbs
Henry Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs
Birth: 1886, in Faringdon district, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Fanny Elizabeth (Plumbe) Hobbs

Married: Edith Tayler

Death: 1971

Sources:

James Parnel Hobbs

Birth: 1858/9, in Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire, England

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Catherine (Frampton) Hobbs

Census:
1861: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1871: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1881: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire

Sources:

Kathleen Hobbs

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Louisa Jane (Plumbe) Hobbs

Sources:

Langley Hobbs

Langley Hobbs
Langley Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs
Birth: 1882, in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Fanny Elizabeth (Plumbe) Hobbs

Married: Evelyn M. O. O. Jenkyn in 1910 in Brentford district, London, England

Occupation: Farmer

Death:
1940

Census:
1901: Kelmscott, Oxfordshire

Sources:

Lillian Hobbs

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Louisa Jane (Plumbe) Hobbs

Sources:

Mary Anne Hobbs

Birth: 1848, in Wantage, Berkshire, England

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Catherine (Frampton) Hobbs

Census:
1851: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1861: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1881: Kelmscott, Oxfordshire

Sources:

Muriel Hobbs

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Louisa Jane (Plumbe) Hobbs

Sources:

Robert William Hobbs

R. W. Hobbs
Robert William Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs
known as "RW"

Birth: 1851, in Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire, England

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Catherine (Frampton) Hobbs

Married (1st): Fanny Elizabeth Plumbe in 1874, in Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire, England

Children: Married (2nd): Louisa Heath in 1892, in Pembroke district, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Louisa was born in 1862-3, in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.
Census:
1901: Kelmscott, Oxfordshire

Children:
Married (3rd): Lottie Goldby

Occupation:
Farmer. In 1881, Robert was farming 600 acres, and employed 22 men, 3 boys and 5 women. RW founded an agricultural company (RW Hobbs).

Census:
1861: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1871: Westham Farm, Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire
1881: Kelmscot, Oxfordshire
1901: Kelmscott, Oxfordshire
1919: Kelmscott, Lechdale, Gloucestershire   (manifest of the Adriatic 13 September 1919)

Sources:

Robert Hobbs

Bert Hobbs
Robert Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs
Birth: 25 June 1877, in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England

Baptism: 22 July 1877, in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England
Robert was baptised on July 22 1877, the child of Robert William Hobbs, a farmer resident in Kelmscott, and Fanny Elizabeth.

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Fanny Elizabeth (Plumbe) Hobbs

Adeline May (Elliot) Hobbs
Adeline May (Elliot) Hobbs
in a brochure from her lecture tour in the United States in 1919
Adeline May (Elliot) Hobbs at her home in Kelmscott
May Elliot Hobbs in the Rock Garden she made at her home at Kelmscott, in the same brochure
Married: Adeline May Isabella Elliot on 28 November 1906 in the church of Kelscott, Bradwell, Oxfordshire, England
Robert Hobbs is recorded as a bachelor, aged 29, a farmer, resident at Kelmscott. He is the son of Robert W. Hobbs, a farmer. Adeline May Isabella Elliot is recorded as a spinster, aged 29, resident at Fulham, Middlesex. She is the daughter of Walter Elliot, a farmer. The marriage was witnessed by Jessie Elliot and Robert W. Hobbs.
   
Adeline was born on 7 February 1877 in Galashields, Selkirkshire, Scotland, the daughter of Walter and Jessie Elliot. She was a professional musician, and in 1919 she undertook a lecture tour of the United States, speaking on topics of folk song and dance, Morris sword dancing and women's institutes. A brochure from that tour provides some additional insight to her life:
  After training in Weimar and Munich, under Bernard Stavenhagen, the famous pupil of Liszt, May Elliot was first heard of as a pianist in many countries of the European Continent and in Great Britain.
  As a child—the daughter of an eminent Scottish agriculturist—she had been brought up on the songs and dances of her native Scottish Border, the scene of the romantic legends and poetical traditions first made known to the world by Sir Walter Scott.
  After her marriage to a member of one of the oldest and most famous farming families in England, she went to live in the Thames valley village of Kelmscott, where the Manor House belonging to her husband’s family was rented to the poet, William Morris.
  At Kelmscott May Elliot Hobbs was brought into contact with Cecil Sharp, then in full swing of his English Folk Song and Dance collecting. From 1908 onwards she was his close friend and supporter.
...During the War, May Elliot Hobbs was Administrator to the Ministry of Agriculture, and she had the opportunity of helping on the formation of Women’s Institutes, now 4,000 string in Great Britain, and recognised as the most important agency for the development of community life and rural arts and handicrafts.
  May Elliot Hobbs is a woman who, in the phrase of her friend, General Smuts, has “raised the temperature” of life.

Gravestone of Adeline May Elliot Hobbs
Gravestone of Adeline May (Elliot) Hobbs in St George's churchyard, Kelmscott, Oxfordshire
photo posted by KGG at findagrave.com
Adeline died on 30 December 1956 in Witney district, Oxfordshire, England, aged 79.
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar Wills 1957 p505
HOBBS Adeline May Isabella Elliot of Kelmscott Lechlade Gloucestershire (wife of Robert Hobbs) died 23 December 1956 Administration Oxford 7 February to Barclays Bank Limited. Effects £1414 12s. 3d.
Census & Addresses:
1906: Fulham, Middlesex  (marriage record)
1911: Kelmscott, Berkshire

Children:
Occupation: Farmer. Bert took over the farm at Kelmscott from his father "RW". He was very well-known amongst the wider farming community in his day, since he was a pioneer breeder of Short Horn cattle. It's a breed no longer favoured, but his name will still occasionally raise a glint in the eye of an older farmer.

Notes: known as "Bert".

Robert and Adeline traveled to the United States aboard the SS Adriatic, arriving in New York on 13 September 1919.

Death: 26 December 1967, in Witney district, Oxfordshire, England, aged 90

Gravestone of Robert Hobbs
Gravestone of Robert Hobbs in St George's churchyard, Kelmscott, Oxfordshire
photo posted by KGG at findagrave.com
Buried: St George's churchyard, Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England
The inscription reads:
In loving memory of Robert Hobbs died Dec 26 1967 aged 90 years

Probate: granted on 14 May 1968
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar Wills 1968 p395
HOBBS Robert of Bradshaws Kelmscott Lechlade Glos died 26 December 1967 Probate Gloucester 14 May £16186.

Census & Addresses:

1881: Kelmscott, Oxfordshire
1891: Bedford, Bedfordshire
1901: Kelmscott, Oxfordshire
1906: Kelmscott, Oxfordshire   (marriage record)
1911: Kelmscott, Berkshire
1967: Bradshaws, Kelmscott, Lechlade, Gloucestershire   (probate)

Sources:

Stanley Hobbs

Stanley Hobbs
Stanley Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs
Birth: 1879, in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Fanny Elizabeth (Plumbe) Hobbs

Married: Emmeline Mary Badham in 1907 in Gloucester district, Gloucestershire, England

Census:

1881: Kelmscot, Oxfordshire

Sources:

Wilfred Hobbs

Wilfred Hobbs
Wilfred Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs
Birth: 1881, in Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Fanny Elizabeth (Plumbe) Hobbs

Married: Olsa Steele

Census:

1881: Kelmscot, Oxfordshire

Sources:

William Frampton Hobbs

Birth: 1859/60, in Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire, England

Father: Charles Hobbs

Mother: Catherine (Frampton) Hobbs

Married: Sarah Elizabeth Akerman in 1885, in Faringdon district, Oxfordshire, England

Children:
Notes: Farmed at Langford.

Census:

1861: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1871: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire
1881: Manor House, Meysey Hampton, Gloucestershire

Sources:
Winifred Hobbs
Winifred Hobbs c1898
(click for full photo)
scan courtesy of Liza Hobbs

Winifred (Hobbs) Lusty

Birth: 1884

Father: Robert William Hobbs

Mother: Fanny Elizabeth (Plumbe) Hobbs

Married: Frith Lusty in 1908 in Faringdon district, Oxfordshire, England. Frith was a banker.

Children:
Sources:
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