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According to her marriage certificate, Caroline Ellen Walsh was eighteen as at 9th June 1873. According to the census she was twenty-five on 3rd April 1881, forty-four on 31st March 1901 and fifty-five on 2nd April 1911. If we assume that the 1901 one was an error, then that gives her a birth-date probably between 4th April and 9th June 1855. She was born in Cork City, and her parents were John (as per her marriage certificate) and Caroline Walsh. Walsh is an Irish name and we can probably assume John Walsh was of Irish origin, but Caroline Walsh the elder, whom we see living with her daughter's family in 1901 and 1911, was born in Southsea, Portsmouth, round about 1825. In 1901 both Carolines, mother and daughter, were described as members of the Church of England, so we can also reasonably assume that the elder Caroline was English, as well as being born in England. 1862 painting of the Rock of Gibraltar by Frederick Richard Lee: from artnet. At time of posting the original painting is for sale. [Gibraltar Chaplain's Returns 1873-74 page 303; 1881 census for Hougham, Kent; 1901 census for Cork; 1911 census for Reading] We first see the younger Caroline at the time of her marriage to William Franklin, a widower and Colour Sergeant in the 31st Regiment of Foot, described in his army records as temperate and of very good character. The couple were married by an army chaplain, RJL McGhee, at the Garrison of Gibraltar on 9th June 1873. Although the marriage certificate describes William as twenty-five at the time, information listed on his own page shows that he was most likely thirty, and his full name was William James Franklin. [Gibraltar Chaplain's Returns 1873-74 page 303; 1901 census for Cork; 1911 census for Reading; GRO Statutory Deaths, September quarter 1922, Farnham, 21 143] The marriage certificate doesn't give her father's occupation, but the death certificate of her by-that-time widowed mother in 1915 would state that her late husband John Walsh had been a warder at a military prison. If this was already true at the time of his daughter's marriage then he was presumably working at the Garrison Prison in Gibraltar: if not then he may have been a soldier who was stationed there. [GRO Statutory Deaths, December quarter 1915, Reading, 2c 471] As detailed in the section on William Franklin, after his marriage William remained stationed at Gibraltar until May 1876, and Caroline was presumably with him the whole time. For most of their children I only have approximate birthdates derived from the census, but we know that some time before April 1974 the couple had a son, William George Elliot Franklin. Family information is that he was usually known as George. Between April 1875 and April 1876 they went on to have a daughter, Florence Blanche Franklin, my great grandmother. [1881 census for Hougham, Kent; WF Military History summary as at 1884] In May 1876 William was posted to Portland, an island of Dorset, and in July 1877 they were sent to Aldershot. Caroline Ellen was probably pregnant by this point: their daughter Lillian Edith Franklin was born prior to April 1878, so less than nine months after the move to Aldershot. They moved to Fleetwood in June 1878, and then in April 1879 to Chatham where there daughter Ethel Maud Franklin was born some time between April 1879 and April 1880. The family were relocated again to Dover in late October 1880. At the time of the 3rd April 1881 census Caroline Ellen Franklin and their four children were living at the Grand Shaft Barracks, Hougham, Kent, viz.: Caroline Ellen Franklin, wife of head of house, aged twenty-five and born in Ireland William J E Franklin, son, aged seven and born in Gibraltar Florence Blanche Franklin, daughter, aged five and born in Gibraltar Lillian Edith Franklin, daughter, aged three and born in Aldershot, Hants Ethel Maud Franklin, daughter, aged one and born in Chatham, Kent
We first see the younger Caroline at the time of her marriage to William Franklin, a widower and Colour Sergeant in the 31st Regiment of Foot, described in his army records as temperate and of very good character. The couple were married by an army chaplain, RJL McGhee, at the Garrison of Gibraltar on 9th June 1873. Although the marriage certificate describes William as twenty-five at the time, information listed on his own page shows that he was most likely thirty, and his full name was William James Franklin. [Gibraltar Chaplain's Returns 1873-74 page 303; 1901 census for Cork; 1911 census for Reading; GRO Statutory Deaths, September quarter 1922, Farnham, 21 143]
The marriage certificate doesn't give her father's occupation, but the death certificate of her by-that-time widowed mother in 1915 would state that her late husband John Walsh had been a warder at a military prison. If this was already true at the time of his daughter's marriage then he was presumably working at the Garrison Prison in Gibraltar: if not then he may have been a soldier who was stationed there. [GRO Statutory Deaths, December quarter 1915, Reading, 2c 471]
As detailed in the section on William Franklin, after his marriage William remained stationed at Gibraltar until May 1876, and Caroline was presumably with him the whole time. For most of their children I only have approximate birthdates derived from the census, but we know that some time before April 1974 the couple had a son, William George Elliot Franklin. Family information is that he was usually known as George. Between April 1875 and April 1876 they went on to have a daughter, Florence Blanche Franklin, my great grandmother. [1881 census for Hougham, Kent; WF Military History summary as at 1884]
In May 1876 William was posted to Portland, an island of Dorset, and in July 1877 they were sent to Aldershot. Caroline Ellen was probably pregnant by this point: their daughter Lillian Edith Franklin was born prior to April 1878, so less than nine months after the move to Aldershot.
They moved to Fleetwood in June 1878, and then in April 1879 to Chatham where there daughter Ethel Maud Franklin was born some time between April 1879 and April 1880.
The family were relocated again to Dover in late October 1880. At the time of the 3rd April 1881 census Caroline Ellen Franklin and their four children were living at the Grand Shaft Barracks, Hougham, Kent, viz.:
Caroline Ellen Franklin, wife of head of house, aged twenty-five and born in Ireland William J E Franklin, son, aged seven and born in Gibraltar Florence Blanche Franklin, daughter, aged five and born in Gibraltar Lillian Edith Franklin, daughter, aged three and born in Aldershot, Hants Ethel Maud Franklin, daughter, aged one and born in Chatham, Kent
Hougham is close to the cliff-side town of Dover and the Grand Shaft Barracks were almost on the cliff-top, close to the top of the Grand Shaft, a triple staircase built during the Napoleonic War to allow troops in the Grand Shaft Barracks and Western Heights fortifications to reach the town at the foot of the cliffs swiftly and safely in the event of an attack from the sea. It consists of a central vertical shaft which functions as a light-well, surrounded by three stairs cut into the rock and spiralling around the central well, with wide, barred windows every few yards to allow light from the well to illuminate the staircases. The barracks formed an extensive complex which as at a War Department report in 1893 was equipped with "a recreation room, reading room, coffee bar, ball court, skittle alley, wash house, cook house, workshop, meat store, library, gymnasium, latrines, officers’ quarters, and ... a stable block" (see Grand Shaft & Barracks).
William was away at the time of the census. In the same census we see him listed as currently residing at the School of Musketry at Hythe, near Elham, Kent. [1881 census for Elham, Kent]
In November 1881 Williame was transferred to the 2nd (South) Middlesex Rifle Volunteers, and the following June he was transferred as Colour Sergeant to 1st Volunteer Battalion The King's Royal Rifle Corps, which was possibly the same outfit under a different name. William's army records do not give his location after the move to Dover in 1880, but the 2nd (South) Middlesex Rifle Volunteers were based in Fulham and it is likely that the family were based in London at this point. [WF Record of Service]
On 25th September 1884 William was signed off from the army, then immediately taken on again for a further period of home service of nineteen days, possibly because his replacement wasn't quite ready. He was discharged in Winchester, the home base of the rifle regiments, but at the bottom of his records the address "N° 6 Cassidy Road Fulham Rd London SW." is written, and this was probably the address at which the family were living. [WF Record of Service; WF Military History summary as at 1884]
At some point prior to April 1889, the family moved back to Gibraltar, where William worked as a prison warden in the Garrison prison. William and Caroline's son Francis Arthur Franklin, known as Frank, was born in Gibraltar on 6th April 1889. We know that their daughter Florence Blanche, at least, was with them, because she married my great-grandfather George Shirran in Gibraltar in February 1892. [GROS Statutory Marriages 1892 055/AF 0063] William and Caroline's son Ernest Albert Franklin was born in Gibraltar the following year, on 12th November 1893.
It is noteworthy that nine years elapsed between the births of Ethel Maud and Francis Arthur. The census of 1911 stated that William and Caroline had had eleven children, of whom seven were alive as at the census. We know the names of the seven children who were alive in 1911, but the other four are unaccounted for, and may have been infant deaths occurring during this nine-year gap.
By 1897, the family were living in Cork City in Southern Ireland: the very palce where Caroline ellen had been born. Presumably they went there because of her family connections. William and Caroline's son Lancelot Thomas Franklin was born in Cork City on or about 27th October 1897 - calculated by working backwards from his claimed age on later joining the army.
As at the census of 31st March 1901, William was a warder at the military prison in the north-east ward of Cork City, and the family were living in House 4 of the warders' quarters. The couple had living with them their children Lillian E Franklin, twenty-three, Francis E Franklin, eleven, George E A Franklin (actually Ernest Albert), seven and Lancelot Franklin, three, and also Caroline Ellen's mother Caroline Walsh, who was probably a widow by this point. All family members could read and write (except for Lancelot, who could only read), so we know both Carolines were literate. [1901 census for Cork]
By about 1905 William George Elliot and Lillian Edith were both married. All of the boys in the family seem to have joined the army in their early teens. By the time of the 1911 census, William was an army pensioner and the couple were living at 4 St George's Terrace, Oxford Road, Reading along with their thirteen-year-old son Lancelot and Caroline's mother Caroline Walsh, a widow and old-age pensioner aged eighty-five. [1911 census for Reading; GRO Statutory Deaths, December quarter 1915, Reading, 2c 471]
The war must have been quite traumatic, for all four of the couple's sons were in the army (and all in the East Surreys, their father's old regiment), as well as two sons-in-law and at least one grandson. In addition, Caroline Ellen's mother died of general debility and bronchial catarrh, aged ninety, at the family home at 4 St George's Terrace and in the presence of her daughter, on 9th December 1915 [GRO Statutory Deaths, December quarter 1915, Reading, 2c 471].
William and Caroline's son William George Elliot not only survived the war but was still in the army and a Company Sergeant Major in 1922. Francis Arthur also survived: he was a Lance Corporal as at the 1911 census. Ernest Albert was a prisoner of war from the beginning of May 1917 until 9th December 1918, but he lived and rose to be Company Quartermaster Sergeant. But Lancelot, the youngest boy, who had never really settled into army life and was constantly in trouble for oversleeping and for coming and going more or less as he pleased, was declared missing presumed dead in spring 1918, and was subsequently determined to have died on 31st March.
The couple suffered another tragedy the following year. Their grandson Lance Corporal William John George Shirran of The Black Watch, the son of their daughter Florence Blanche, survived the war but died of rheumatic fever on 30th December 1919, aged nineteen. Their son-in-law Thomas Stone, husband of their daughter Lillian Edith, died in in the September quarter of 1920.
By 1922 the couple were evidently living at 58 Park Road, Aldershot. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry for Lancelot Thomas Franklin describes him as the son of Mrs C Franklin of that address, and Caroline Ellen's husband, William James Franklin, died there on 21st August 1922. Their widowed daughter Lillian Edith was present at the death, and may possibly have been living with them, or they with her. [GRO Statutory Deaths, September quarter 1922, Farnham, 21 143]
Caroline Ellen lived to a considerable age: a family photograph shows her, shrunken but upright, surrounded by family members wearing clothes of the 1930s. What appears to be the right Caroline E Franklin died, still in the Aldershot area, in the December quarter of 1938, having survived her husband by sixteen years: the registry entry says that she was eighty-two, but she was probably eighty-three. [GRO Statutory Deaths, December quarter 1938, Aldershot, 2c 243]
More information on William and Caroline's children can be found on a separate page.
