The 1939 Register for Leicester lists 54-year-old Frank H. Watts [note 1] at 38 Blanklyn Avenue. His occupation is shown as commercial traveller and there are two other people in the household: 55-year-old Blanche Y. Watts (‘unpaid domestic duties’) and 19-year-old Wm H. Y. Watts (chemist’s assistant).
At first glance, this appears to be a married couple and their son – but it is not. Blanche and Frank were not married, William was Blanche’s son but not Frank’s, and the initial ‘Y’ in each case stands for Yeo.
Blanche Huxtable (1888–1960) had married John Yeo (1887–1958) in Barnstaple in 1908. They had at least eight children:
– William John Yeo (1908–1986, emigrated to Canada, married Leta Agnes Boyt, son Douglas William Yeo, 1938–1968)
– Albert Yeo (1910–1996, married Lilian Mabel Lock)
– Walter Yeo (1910–1910)
– Reginald George Yeo (1912–1913)
– Muriel Blanche Rosina Yeo (1913–2002, married Frederick James Fitzer)
– Cyril Arthur Yeo (1914–2008, married Edna May Palmer)
– Phyllis May Yeo (1917–2004, married Leonard Smalley Wollerton and George Walter Percival Bland)
– William Henry Yeo (1920–1998).
John lived until 1958. As he re-married in 1929 [note 2] and as Blanche was living with Frank Watts in 1939 the couple clearly separated and might have divorced.
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Notes
1. Francis Henry Watts, 1880–1956.
2. John’s second wife was Gladys Victoria Rose Squire (1900–1984). They had one son.