My grandmother's brother : WILLIAM STEPHEN OFFEN (1909)

WILLIAM STEPHEN OFFEN was born on 28th April 1909 in Ramsgate to parents George Isaac Offen and Edith Jane Usher. (Click through to see their page.) He was baptised on 9th May 1909 at Holy Trinity, Ramsgate, son of George and Edith Jane, 66 Hereson Rd, lab (source : baptisms register, courtesy of Janet Todd).

On the 1911 census, aged 2, he was with his family at  10 Belle Vue Cottages Ramsgate.

He married  FRANCES ETHEL RAY in 1931 in Hastings, Sussex.

The children of WILLIAM STEPHEN OFFEN and FRANCES ETHEL RAY : 

GEORGE W  OFFEN (1932 ) - country & western singer

 PETER J OFFEN (1934)

KATHLEEN J OFFEN (1935)

FREDERICK S OFFEN (1943)

ALAN J OFFEN (1943)

WILLIAM R OFFEN (1947)

Census returns :

1911 census :
Dwelling : 10 Belle Vue Cottages Ramsgate

George Offen, head, 29, married, house painter/decorator, born Kent Ramsgate
Edith Jane Offen, wife, 22, married (for 5 years), 4 children born, 4 still living, born London Hammersmith
George Offen, son, 4 , born London Hammersmith
John Offen, son, 3, born Kent Ramsgate
William Offen, son, 2, born Kent Ramsgate
Edith Offen, daughter, 7 months, born Kent Ramsgate

My grandmother's brother : JOHN RICHARD (Jack) OFFEN (1908)

JOHN RICHARD OFFEN (known as JACK) was born on 9th May 1908 in Ramsgate to parents George Isaac Offen and Edith Jane Usher. (Click through to see their page.)He was baptised on 31st May 1908 at Holy Trinity, Ramsgate, son of George and Edith Jane, 13 Turner St, carman (source : baptisms register, courtesy of Janet Todd).

On the 1911 census, aged 3, he was with his family at  10 Belle Vue Cottages Ramsgate.

He was always out for a laugh as a youth and seemed to spend half of his life (and his money) being fined for his boyish pranks !

Hastings and St Leonards Observer East Sussex, England 4 Oct 1924

Hastings and St Leonards Observer East Sussex, England 1 Jan 1927

Hastings and St Leonards Observer East Sussex, England 12 Jan 1929

 On a more serious note, he is possibly the John Richard Offen who stumbled across a young man who had just accidentally shot himself at the miniature rifle range in Ramsgate - he was only 21 and later died of his injuries. Jack had ben in Hastings a few months earlier, but it's possible that he was back in Ramsgate as he still had family there.

Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser Kent, England

6 Sep 1929

He married MAY (MOLLY) WINCH in 1932 in Hastings. There are no more mentions of boyish pranks in the papers after this date so maybe she straightened him out !

Jack died on 22nd October 1987 in Hastings.

The children of JOHN RICHARD OFFEN and MAY WINCH : 

JOAN G E OFFEN (1932 - 1933)

 DOROTHY J OFFEN (1934)

PATRICIA E OFFEN (1935)

BRIAN J R OFFEN (1939)

JOHN R L OFFEN (1941)

SYLVIA M OFFEN (1943)

PAMELA C OFFEN (1945)

MICHAEL R OFFEN (1950)

Census returns :

1911 census :

Dwelling : 10 Belle Vue Cottages Ramsgate

George Offen, head, 29, married, house painter/decorator, born Kent Ramsgate

Edith Jane Offen, wife, 22, married (for 5 years), 4 children born, 4 still living, born London Hammersmith

George Offen, son, 4 , born London Hammersmith

John Offen, son, 3, born Kent Ramsgate

William Offen, son, 2, born Kent Ramsgate

Edith Offen, daughter, 7 months, born Kent Ramsgate

My great aunt : Alice Lilian Offen (1912)

ALICE LILIAN OFFEN (my grandmother's sister) was born in 1912 in Ramsgate, Kent.

Hastings Observer, 17 Feb 1945

She married CHARLES H A CUMMINGS (born 1906), a Canadian soldier, in February 1945. They both served overseas during World War II. Alice was in the ATS and served in Belgium. (The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 February 1949, when it was merged into theWomen's Royal Army Corps : source wikipedia)

Charles was injured on service in Italy and received a military medal. Unfortunately he was a bigamist and had a wife back home.

They had a daughter JACQUELINE A CUMMINGS, known as Jackie, in 1947. She married CHRISTOPHER J HAZARD in December quarter 1966. She was killed, pregnant with her first child, in the Hither Green train crash in 1967.

Wikipedia : "On 5 November 1967, a busy Sunday evening train service from Hastings to London Charing Cross derailed near the Hither Green maintenance depot in London, between Hither Green and Grove Park railway stations. Of the twelve coaches, many full of standing passengers, eleven were derailed and four turned onto their sides, resulting in 49 fatalities and 78 people injured.

The derailment was found to be due to a broken rail. The Ministry of Transport report criticised the maintenance of the line, especially following a recent increase of the maximum speed of trains over the route. Following the accident the maintenance of the line was improved and plans accelerated for replacing jointed track by continuous welded rail."

She married JOHN SOCRATES ASPROGENIS in 1960. He was a Greek Cypriot and they met at the restaurant where Alice worked as a waitress. He was born in 1908. There was a previous marriage listed for a John Asprogenis to Ruth Plowright in 1932 in Paddington, London. Ruth died in 1947, aged 62, in Wandsworth, London.

John died in 1993. Alice and John lived at Cornwallis Gardens, Hastings.