Tags
Bilston, Devon, First World War, Goldthorn Road, James Corke, Mount Road, Oak Crescent, Shropshire, Special constables, St Leonard's Church, St Peter's Church, Tettenhall Wood
James Donald Corke was born in Wolverhampton on 23 April 1881, the son of James and Janet Louisa Corke. He was baptised at St Peter’s Church on 15 May 1881. By the 1891 census, he was living with his parents and siblings Maria L., Elsie, Grace D. and Nora L. in Oak Crescent, Wolverhampton. The family had moved to Goldthorn Road, Wolverhampton by 1901, by which date James was working as a Jewellers Assistant. Visiting the house at the same time was James’s future wife, Alice Maud Walton, who was working as a draper’s assistant. On 9 February 1905, the couple were married at St Leonard’s Church in Bilston. They had three daughters – Phyllis Maud (born 1906), Isabelle Marvin (born 1907) and Janet Enid (born 1909). By 1911, they were living at “Woodcote” on Mount Road, Tettenhall Wood, and James was now a Jeweller Dealer. They had two further children, Hazel M. (1913) and William James (1916).
During the First World War, James served as a Special Constable, and his name is listed in the illuminated volume we have at the Archives. James appears to have become a travelling jewellery salesman so on the 1939 Register he appears at the Old Bush Hotel in Albrighton, although the rest of the family appeared to be living in Watford, Hertfordshire by this point. James died on 12 May 1951 at the Ilfracombe and District Tyrill Hospital in Devon. His home address by then was Old Tree Cottage, Lyncombe Lee, Ilfracombe. The value of his effects was £13018 3s. 9d.
**********************
Thank you very much to David Ingham, who shared these details with us.