Herbert was born at East Molesey in Surrey in 1896 to parents William Yeo and Annie Cooper. He married Elsie Rose Burgess (according to a pedigree researched by Sheila), and he had sisters Dorothy and Nellie Yeo and brothers Herbert and William Yeo. Nothing else is known about him, although we do know a great deal about his parents. His father might have been a gardener at Hampton Court.
William Yeo had been born at Bishop’s Tawton in 1838 to parents Henry Yeo and Elizabeth Vicary, his birth registered at Barnstaple in the third quarter of the year. Annie had been born as Ann Maria Cooper at West Molesey in 1865.
The 1871 records William Yeo as an indoor servant in the household of Thomas Yeo at Dennington Barton, Swimbridge, but within ten years he had moved to Surrey, where he married Mary Ann Conibear in 1873. The 1881 census records him in Bridge Road, East Molesey, just the other side of the River Thames from Hampton Court Palace. He is the head of the household, a gardener aged 44, and is living with his wife Mary Yeo, also 44.
In 1881, Annie M. Cooper is living with her parents William and Ann Cooper in Spreighton Road, West Molesey. She, her sister Jane and her mother are all shown with the occupation laundress. She has younger siblings Alice, Clara and Edward. Her father is described as a labourer.
In the 1891 census return, William Yeo and Annie Cooper are living at the same address, with William recorded as the head of the household and Annie as his housekeeper. The address is still Bridge Road. William is described as a 51-year-old widower, occupation gardener, place of birth at Bishops Tawton, Devon. Annie as a 26-year-old spinster and dressmaker, born at West Molesey.
William Yeo and Annie Cooper married shortly afterward, the marriage recorded in the Kingston registration district in the second quarter of 1891. Their son William Yeo was born in 1891 and their son Herbert 1896. William died in 1896 at the age of 56.
In the 1901 census return for Thames Ditton, Annie is shown as Annie M. Yeo, widow and head of household, occupation laundress. Living with her are William Yeo (age 9), Herbert Yeo (age 5) and Dorothy Yeo (age 2). The address is 4 Ivy Cottage, Queens Road, Thames Ditton, only a few hundred yards from Bridge Road.
Dorothy Yeo’s place of birth is shown as Hampton Court and her birth was registered at Kingston in the third quarter of 1898. She died in 1903 at the age of 5 (death registered Kingston in the second quarter), which suggests that the family were still in the area then.
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