The 1911 census differs from previous censuses as it was completed by the householder rather than by the visiting census enumerator. Sometimes the information provided was not as intended.
The return for 7 Foxbeare Road, Ilfracombe was completed by the householder William J. Yeo in clear and legible handwriting. But he has not followed the instructions printed on the form [note 1] and has included two children who had died.
William gives his age as 40 and his birthplace as Marwood, has been married for 18 years [note 2], has had 8 children born alive of whom two have died, and works as a gas stoker [note 3]. Sarah is 28 and was born in Barnstaple. Their children as listed are:
– Sarah Lilian Yeo (age 17)
– Eva Mary Yeo (10)
– William Edward Yeo (age 7 months) [note 4]
– Olive Maud Yeo (7)
– Reganal [sic] Leonard Yeo (3)
– Dorothea Gladys Yeo (age one year 8 months) [note 5]
– Mary Victoria Yeo (10 months)
– Catherine Yeo (15, born in Devonport).
The birthplace for all the children except Catherine is entered as Ilfracombe.
William and Sarah had three further children after 1911. The following is known about them, and about the six surviving children listed in the census:
– Sarah Lilian May Yeo (1894–1966, married Richard Barns Lovering and David Hooper)
– Catherine Elizabeth Yeo (1896–1980, married Frederick Walter Fowler)
– Eva Mary Yeo (1900–1984, married William Edwin Schillers)
– Olive Maud Yeo (1903–1979, married Frank Duckett)
– Reginald Leonard Yeo (1908–1998, married Beatrice Mary Dyer, four sons)
– Mary Victoria Yeo (1910–1972, married Thomas Tuplin)
– Betty Louise Yeo (1912–1984, married Charles Henry Rooke)
– William Roy Yeo (1914–1997, married Irene Sandberg, two children)
– Iris Muriel Yeo (1918–1991, married Thomas Hanson).
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Notes
1. ‘NAME AND SURNAME of every Person, whether Member of Family, Visitor, Boarder, or Servant, who (1) passed the night of Sunday, April 2nd, 1911, in this dwelling and was alive at midnight, or (2) arrived in this dwelling on the morning of Monday, April 3rd, not having been enumerated elsewhere. No one else must be included.’
2. William John Yeo and Sarah Clemence married at the parish church of St Philip and St James, Ilfracombe in 1893. William was the eldest of four children of William Yeo and Mary Harris.
3. The enumerator has added ‘Ilfracombe Gas Co’.
4. William has altered ‘7 months’ to ‘7 weeks’. The enumerator has crossed through the entry and has written ‘Dead’. (The boy’s birth and death were registered in the second quarter of 1902 and the age given on the return is his age at death.)
5. The enumerator has crossed through the entry and has written ‘Dead’. (The girl’s birth was registered in the fourth quarter of 1905 and her death in the second quarter of 1907. The age given in the return is her age at death.)