John Jones was born in Walcot, Bath in about 1790, and learned the trade of a saddler -  possibly from his own father.  His wife Harriet Gibbs was born in the nearby market town of Midsomer Norton in about 1786.  They were married on 6 September 1813 at St Peter’s Church in Bristol, and had 5 children:

The 1841 census records John living at 4 Bridge Street, Bath with Harriet and the three younger children.  The family remained at this address until John's retirement in the late 1850’s, when he moved to 12 Hays Belle Vue, Lyncombe, Bath, and another saddler took over the Bridge Street address.

Harriet died at Belle Vue Cottage on 28 January 1864, and a coroner’s inquest decided that her death was due to “Visitation of God from Apoplexy”!  Her husband John probably died in Bath in 1870.

John and Harriet’s oldest daughter Esther Gibbs Jones (whose first  name was also frequently spelled Hester) was christened in Bath Abbey on 14 June 1814, and married George Norman, a travelling salesman, there in 1844.  George was christened on 30 May 1814 in Hucknall Torkard, Nottinghamshire, the oldest son of another George Norman and his wife Sarah. 

George and Esther had five children:

The family lived in London until the early 1850s, when they moved to Oxford, where the 1861 census records them at 14 Museum Terrace.  George is picturesquely described as a “Traveller in Tailoring”.  George and Esther both died in Oxford in 1870. 

George and Esther's daughter Harriet Norman married Francis Kenyon Parker, an architect from Sheffield, in Bath in 1880, but was left a widow at the age of 40, and went to live with her unmarried sister Emma in Portsmouth.

Frederick Jones was christened in Bath Abbey on 7 September 1815, and like his father John followed the trade of a saddler. He married Constantina Lear at St Mary Redcliff, Bristol on 6 January 1839.  Constantina was christened in Lyncombe, Bath on 13 December 1818, the daughter of a hairdresser named Thomas Lear and his wife Constance Bryant.

Frederick had a daughter, whose mother was presumably Constantina Lear:

However, Frederick and his wife are never shown living together on census returns, and their daughter's birth does not seem to have been registered.  (Civil registration only started in England in 1837, and although it was theoretically obligatory, not all births were registered in the early years.)  From Constantina Mary's age on various records, it appears that she was born either just before her parents' marriage or imediately afterwards.

On the 1841 census, Frederick’s wife “Constantia Jones” is recorded in her parents’ household at Cornwell Buildings, Bath, but Frederick and Constantina Mary are not with her. 

Frederick is equally elusive on the 1851 census, but in 1861, Frederic Jones (sic), a Bath-born saddler of approximately the right age, is living with his wife Jane Lusinda (born Bath c1834) in the parish of St Clement Danes, Westminster.  The same man is a widower in 1871, and disappears after that census.  It is, of course, a common  name, but it seems relatively unlikely that there were two saddlers named Frederick Jones born in Bath at roughly the same time. 

Constantina is a little easier to trace, and in 1851 she is living alone in St Dunstan, Stepney, listed as Constantine Jones, a married dressmaker.  Ten years later, on the 1861 census, she is shown living in Tower Hamlets with her "husband" Thomas H Jones, a bonnet maker. (His surname here is probably an error.)  She actually married Thomas Henry Trye much later, on 25 July 1871 at St James the Great, Bethnal Green, and the marriage certificate states that she was a widow.  A little earlier in 1871, however, the couple was already listed on the census under the name Trye.  Thomas was a bonnet presser, born around 1823 in Whitechapel, son of Hardwick Shakespear Trye.

The 1881 census shows Constantina and Thomas Henry rather sadly as inmates of Mile End Old Town Workhouse, living separately in the male and female sections.  Constantina died there in 1884, and Thomas Henry in 1898.

It seems likely, therefore, that Frederick and Constantina's marriage broke down fairly quickly, and the couple separated.  Divorce in England at this time was not only complicated, but prohibitively expensive, so subsequent relationships were inevitably unofficial, regularised only if (and when) the former partner died; in 1871, therefore, Constantina either knew or believed herself to be a widow. 

Harriet Louisa Jones, the third child of John and Harriet, was christened in Bath Abbey on 2 July 1817.  She had a long-term and somewhat mysterious relationship with Edwyn Dowding, a solicitor whom she named as her husband on her children's birth certificates.  Edwyn was christened on 28 April 1811 in Dodington, Gloucestershire, the youngest son of landowner John Dowding and his wife Sarah Chapman.

Harriet and Edwyn did not live together openly, and Harriet left Bath for the births of her first two children.  On censuses and street directories she is listed as Harriet James, a widow, while the children's marriage certificates give their father's name as either Edwyn Jones or Edwyn James, solicitor.  However, Edwyn seems to have provided for the family, and remained single until his death, so perhaps it was the Victorian class system which made a saddler's daughter an unacceptable wife for someone of his social standing.

They had five children:

Harriet, Helen and

grandson Robert Charles

Harriet went to London for the birth of her first child, and aparently left him there in the care of a foster-family.  In 1851, she was living with her parents under the name Jones, but within a short time she had her own home in Lyncombe, Bath, where she brought up her daughters.  According to the 1861 census, she had a private income ('fundholder"), and until Edwyn's death, none of the children worked for a living.

Edwyn died of a stroke on 16 May 1872, and during the following decade, Harriet and her three surviving daughters all moved to Manchester.  Harriet is recorded as a visitor in her daughter Louisa's household in Chorlton on Medlock in 1880, and although she was photographed in a Bath studio in the early 1880s, she died of chronic bronchitis in Thomson Grove, Ardwick, on 20 December 1887.  Her daughter Helen, who registered the death, was living at the same address.

John and Harriet's fourth child Emma Eliza Jones was christened in Bath Abbey on 13 June 1819.  She married Edward Sylvanus Appleby, a stationer, at St Thomas à Beckett, Widcombe in 1855.  Emma and Edward had no children, and when their niece Harriet Norman was orphaned at the age of 15, she came to live with them for a while.  Emma died in Bath in 1883, five years after her husband.

John Jones is a minor mystery: he appears on the 1841 census with John and Harriet as a saddler aged 20, but his christening is not recorded with those of their other children in Bath Abbey.  Bearing in mind that ages on the 1841 census were rounded down to the nearest five years, it is possible that "John" is an error for Frederick (born 1818), who is missing in 1841.

Having said that, however, the 1851 census lists a saddler and harness-maker called John Jones, born in Bath in about 1819, with a wife called Maria.  The couple is living in the parish of St Clement Danes, Westminster, where Frederick is recorded in 1861.  Maria was born in about 1820 in Barnstaple, Devon. 

William Matthew Norman, son of George Norman and Esther Gibbs Jones, was christened in North Hinksey, near Oxford on 3 May 1853.  He became a clerk, and moved to London, marrying Caroline Jane Marsh in Camberwell in 1877.  Caroline was born in Coventry in 1850, and was the daughter of William John Marsh and his wife Mary Ann.

William and Caroline started their married life in London, before moving to Walthamstow for several years, and finally returning to Lambeth.  They had five children:

Strangely, Stanley Norman seems to have been christened twice: firstly on his own on 20 January 1889 at St Michael and All Angels Church, Walthamstow, and then in the same church on 16 March 1891 along with his older siblings Horace and Muriel.  It is possible that the first christening was a private one (perhaps performed hastily because he was not expected to live) and the second a formal reception into the church: there is no death for a Stanley Norman in the area between the two christenings, and according to the 1911 census, his parents only had five children, all of whom were still alive at that point.

William died in Lambeth in 1919.

Constantina Mary Jones, daughter of Frederick Jones and Constantina Lear,  was born in Bath in 1838 or 1839 (although one census gives her birthplace as Bristol).  She was apparently brought up by her paternal grandparents, John and Harriet Jones, and is shown with them on the 1851 and 1861 censuses - recorded once as "Constance" and once as "Mary".  She married William John Higgs, a carpenter, at St Mary’s Church in Lambeth on 31 March 1866.

William was born in Old Sodbury, Gloucestershire on 19 September 1841, the son of Moses Higgs, a farmer, and his wife Hester Barton.  He and Constantina had 3 children, all born in London:

Constantina died in 1890 at the age of 52.

Edwyn and Harriet's first child, Edwyn Jones Dowding (also known as Edwyn Dowding James), was born in Vauxhall, Surrey on 12 August 1849.  His mother returned home to Bath after his birth, while Edwyn apparently remained with what would now be called a foster-family, appearing as a "nurse child" on the 1851 census under the name Edwin Jones.  Later he may have been fostered by a family named Winter, which he also used at times as a middle name.  The only time Edwyn is recorded with his mother and sisters is on the 1871 census in Bath.

Edwyn was living in Kingsmead St, Bath when he married Eliza Pople in Bath Register Office on 3 October, 1878; on the marriage certificate his occupation is given as Sheriff’s Officer.  Eliza was born in Bath in 1859, the youngest child of George Pople, a labourer, and his wife Ann Bullen. 

Eliza and Edwyn had four children, all born in Bath:

Around 1880, Edwyn started working as an auctioneer's porter, and continued in this line of work for the rest of his life.  Sadly, his two oldest children died young, and his wife Eliza died of pneumonia on 11 June 1894, aged just 35.  A year later, Edwyn married Elizabeth Emily Hutchings at St John's RC Church, Bath on 24 August 1895.  Elizabeth was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset in about 1853, and her father, William, was a cooper.  She was in a similar position to Edwyn, having been left a widow with several young children when her first husband William Harding died in 1894.

Edwyn and Elizabeth had one child, born in Bath:

Elizabeth died in 1901, and Edwyn found himself a widower once again.  It proved too difficult for him to look after his three surviving young children, so Amy and Ellen were sent as boarders to a convent, while Sydney remained with his father.    Ellen is believed to have died in childhood, but Amy remained in the convent for several years. She learned to repair lace, and went to the houses of the local aristocracy to mend their lace curtains, always remaining close to her brother Sydney.

Edwyn died of cancer of the tongue in Bath on 20 October 1907, having apparently lost touch with his mother and sisters since they moved to Manchester.  His survivng children had never known their aunts and cousins, and believed themselves to be alone in the world.  The Manchester branch of the family seems to have been equally unaware they still had relatives in Bath.

Sydney joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in WW1, and became a corporal.  His battalion was sent to Belgium in October 1914, and participated in the first battle of Ypres, as well as the battles of Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Festubert and Loos.  Sydney died of wounds at La Neuveville on 1 April 1916, just before he was due to return home on leave to be married.  He is buried in Corbie communal cemetery near Amiens.

Geraldine Jones Dowding was born in Beechen Cliff, Lyncombe on 2 October 1853, and was the first of Edwyn and Harriet's children to be born in Bath.  She grew up with her mother and sisters in fairly comfortable circumstances, and married Richard Brodribb Harding, a chemist, in Bath on 25 November 1875.  On the marriage certificate, her maiden name is given as Jones, and her father as Edwin Jones (deceased), a solicitor.  The couple were married in the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel, Vineyards – a chapel belonging to a Calvinistic Methodist denomination founded by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon in the second half of the 19th century, which is now home to the Bath Museum of Building. 

Richard was born in Bath, in the parish of St Swithin, in 1848, the only child of chemist Richard Osman Harding from Bristol and his wife Anna Maria Brodribb.  The Hardings were apparently a dynasty of chemists, as Richard Osman’s brother, Thomas Tuck Harding, is variously recorded as a “chymist”, druggist, and manufacturer of soda water in contemporary directories and census returns.  Another brother, John Alfred Harding, was also a chemist and druggist before attending medical school and becoming a surgeon.

Geraldine and Richard had eight children, but only the names of four born in Bath are known at present:

Lily and Frederick died in infancy, and in the 1880s the family moved to New Cross, Manchester, where Geraldine worked as a dressmaker.  Anna Florence (known as Florence) was not with her family on the 1891 census: she was living as a boarder in Wiltshire, probably at a small private school.  Richard died in Manchester in 1897 at the early age of 49, and Sydney Charles died in Manchester three years later, aged just 19. 

Geraldine died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 11 April 1912 in Prestwich Union Workhouse Infirmary, Crumpsall. The death was registered by her daughter Florence, and she is buried in Philips Park Cemetery, Manchester.  Geraldine was not a permanent workhouse resident at the time (her address on the death certificate is 30 Long Street), but either she could not afford treatment elsewhere, or the workhouse infirmary was the only local hospital for infectious diseases.  The Prestwich Workhouse Infirmary was built in about 1868, and the architect was Thomas Worthington, a Salford Unitarian committed to social reform and improvement.  Unlike earlier workhouse infirmaries, Prestwich was designed to provide plenty of light and ventilation for the patients, so Geraldine was luckier than many working class invalids of the time.

Louisa Jones Dowding, youngest surviving daughter of Edwyn and Harriet, was born in Beechen Cliff, Bath on 14 March 1856.  Like her mother and sisters, she is recorded with the surname James on  censuses, but gave her maiden name as Jones when she married John Robert Jennings, a musician, in the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel, Bath on 13 October 1875.  The witnesses at the wedding were Louisa's sister Geraldine and future brother-in-law Robert Brodribb Harding.  John was born in Bath in 1853, the son of John Jennings, a boot maker, and his wife Mary Hawkins. 

The couple left Bath very soon after their wedding, and two months later were living in Mornington Street, Chorlton on Medlock where their daughter was born.

Unfortunately Louisa and John's marriage did not last, and by 1881 they had separated or divorced: Louisa continued to live in Chorlton on Medlock (and later Hulme) with Amy, while John set up home with his second wife Mary in Salford.  After Amy's early death in 1893, her orphaned daughter Alice Maud lived with Louisa, and is wrongly listed as Louisa's daughter on the 1901 census.

Louisa died of acute gastritis on 12 September 1905 in Plymouth St, Manchester. The death was registered by her sister, Helen, and she is buried in Southern Cemetery. 

The strangely-named Car Harold Norman, son of William Matthew Norman and Caroline Jane Marsh, was born in St Martin in the Fields, Middlesex, and spent most of his childhood in Walthamstow before moving to Lambeth with his family.  He worked as a wholesale farrier's salesman, and married Edith Mabel Sage in Lambeth in 1909.  Edith was born in London in 1883, and was the daughter of William John Sage, a commercial traveller, and his wife Clara Hems.

Car and Edith had one daughter:

Edith died in Croydon in 1951, and Car in 1957.

William John Higgs, oldest child of William John Higgs and Constantina Mary Jones, was born in Kensington in 1866, and followed his father's trade as a carpenter and joiner.  He married Jane Caukwell in Chelsea in 1891, and the couple spent their married life in the London area.  Jane was born in Chelsea in 1865, and was the daughter of cab driver Frederick Caukwell and his wife Sarah Carter.

William and Jane had one daughter:

William died in Chelsea in 1937.

Elizabeth Rose Higgs, daughter of William John Higgs and Constantina Mary Jones, was born in Brompton, Middlesex in 1868, and learned the trade of a dressmaker.  She married George Edward Cordell, a widower, in Kensington in 1892.  George was born in Shoreditch on 26 September 1854, the son of plumber Thomas Cordell and his wife Ann.  He was an oilman and colourman -  someone who sold oils, paints, candles, hardware, brushes, cleaning materials, and so forth. 

George and Elizabeth had one child:

George Edward died in Fulham in 1909, and in 1911, Elizabeth's unmarried sister Mary was living with her and George William, who was a junior clerk in a shipping agency.  Elizabeth died in Wandsworth in 1914.

Amy Louisa James, daughter of Edwyn Jones Dowding (or James) and Eliza Pople, was born in Bath in 1892, and spent part of her childhood as a boarder in a convent after her stepmother Elizabeth Emily Hutchings died in 1901.  She was left an orphan at the age of 15, and her only surviving brother was killed in WW1, having previously made her promise that whatever happened, she would not remain in the convent and become a nun.

Amy went into service in London, and married William Henry Chambers in Chelsea in 1918.  William was born in Birmingham in 1886, and was the son of Robert Chambers, a gunsmith,  and his wife Sarah Ann Bernice Dixon.

William and Amy had seven children:

When Sydney was a baby, the family emigrated to Canada, where William died in 1966 and Amy in 1971.

Amy Louisa Jennings, only child of John Robert Jennings and Louisa Jones Dowding, was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock on 3 December 1875.  Her parents separated when she was a young child, and for a while her aunt and maternal grandmother lived with her and her mother.  Amy was just 17 years old when she gave birth to a daughter:

Alice's birth certificate states that her father was Reginald Jennings, a mercantile clerk, but no marriage is recorded between him and Amy.  Tragically, Amy died of acute peritonitis on 1 April 1893, when Alice was less than three months old, and her death certificate refers to her as the "widow" of Reginald Jennings, although there is no record of a death in this name in the correct time-frame.  

Alice was therefore brought up by her grandmother Louisa, and is wrongly recorded as Louisa's daughter on the 1901 census.  Louisa died in 1905, and Alice went to live with her great-aunt Helen, and later with Helen's son Charles and his wife.  

Like so many of her generation, Alice suffered the heartbreak of losing a fiancé in WW1, but she later met and married David Jackson, a nephew of Charles' wife Sarah Potts.