William Drewe Oliver (1878 - 1954)

Born 2 Apr 1878 in St Thomas, Devon, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Alice Annie (Knight) Oliver — married Jun 1901 (to 1927) in St Thomas, Devon, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Sybil (Cox) Coleman — married Mar 1931 (to 1954) in St Austell, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom

Died 23 Nov 1954 at age 76 in Liskeard, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Richard Oliver [send private message]

Biography

Name William D Oliver Sex Male Age 22 Event Date 31 Mar 1901 Event Place Exeter St Thomas, Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom Event Place (Original) St Thomas The Apostle, Devonshire, England Sub-District St Thomas Registration District St Thomas Birth Year (Estimated) 1879 Birthplace St Thomas, Devonshire Marital Status Single Occupation BRICKLAYER Relationship to Head of Household Son Event Type Census Event Place Note Shooting Marsh Style Page Number 25 Piece/Folio 44 Schedule Type 173

Supplementary biography (by Richard Oliver, 2023) on adopting this Orphan Profile

This "adoption" is fully justified by William's middle name, "Drewe" being the maiden name of his now linked mother.

By trade William was a bricklayer, later builder. He made a first Marriage in 1901, in his home territory of St. Thomas, his spouse being Alice Annie Knight, and there are records of at least three children being born to the couple, though an only son, Reginald, died at 15; two daughters survived: Winifred Alice Oliver (1904( and Irene Mary Oliver (abt 1907).

In the First World War he served as a Private in the Devonshire Regiment. Alice died in Exeter in 1927, aged 52, and he was thus a widower. He met Sybil Coleman, herself a widow, and the pair married in her native Cornwall in 1931.

By this time his daughters had left home, and their stories are outside the scope of my research. William and Sybil seem to have had comfortable second marriages, at least to judge from its duration (24 years). He passed away in 1954

Sources

• GRO INDEX : Births Jun 1878 Oliver William Drewe St. Thomas 5b 71
• "England and Wales Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSW6-WXB : 21 May 2019), William H Oliver, Exeter St Thomas, Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom; from "1901 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing St Thomas subdistrict, PRO RG 13, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
• GRO INDEX : Marriages Jun 1901 Oliver William Drewe & KNIGHT Alice Annie St. Thomas 5b 140
• GRO INDEX : Marriages Mar 1931 Oliver William D & Coleman Sybil St.Austell 5c 167
• GRO INDEX.: Deaths Dec 1954 Oliver William D 76 Liskeard 7a 74