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Brentford Families - Skilton

The Kentish Skiltons

William's son was born in Hoo, Kent. He married Mary Barnett in 1872, Medway Registration District. The couple were living at 21 London Road Isleworth by 1881, their two children Richard (1876) and Elizabeth (1877) being born in London and Brenford respectively.

Richard's daughter Elizabeth married Arthur James Hockaday in 1902: see a wedding photo.

Quentin adds 'the earliest I can go back is to William Skilton's parents, Joseph Skilton (1781-1851) & Mary Elvy (1786-1859). Joseph was a labourer in Eastling Kent, and Mary was a schoolmistress. I have the names of Joseph & Mary's children (from the family bible)'.

'My grandmother's father (ie Richard Skilton of Brentford) was a baker, as was his father William, his brother Joseph and Joseph's son William Joseph.'

'There are several Skilton graves (eg Joseph Skilton d 1851 & Mary Elvy in Eastling churchyard (a very small village SW of Faversham) - I have some photos. There are also Skilton graves in Frindsbury churchyard.'

My grandfather told me that our branch originally spelt their name 'Skelton', but had to change it to 'Skilton' in order to be beneficiaries in a will; however, I now wonder if this was just family mythology! I have a fairly full family tree of all of this if anyone is interested.'

Please get in touch if you are interested in the Skilton family, I will forward to Quentin.

The Surrey Skiltons

John's son James Skilton married Emma Harris (also from Kingston) in 1864 and their children included Emma (1866), Elizabeth (1868/9), James W (1870), Annie (1872), Charles (1877), John Harris (1878) (all born Kingston, baptisms not found)

James's daughter Elizabeth was a domestic servant in Teddington in 1881, age 13.

Jan adds 'My grandmother, wife of John Harris Skilton 1878-1913 was from a family of watermen and her ancestors all lived up and down the river-Petersham, Putney, Kingston, Brentford so the fact she had a greengrocers on Brentford dock is easily explained.'

'I think I’ve traced back further to John 1807-1888 who was born in Cobham and his father, John 1779 and grandfather, Richard 1740 both came from Leigh which is about 8 miles away and lived their lives in the vicinity as farm labourers So maybe a real co-incidence that their descendants ended up neighbours with Quentin's family. Although maybe someone went hop picking!'

'John Harris Skilton is buried with his wife and my parents and sister in the family grave, purchased by Edith Mary Ann, wife of John Harris, on 22 Sep 1914 for the princely sum of £1 11s 6d. The graveyard is in Park Rd, Isleworth, opposite Syon Park.'

Skilton surname distribution

The surname profiler website at http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/ includes distributions of Skilton and Skelton in 1881: Skilton has a south eastern focus, whereas Skelton appears more widely spread.

Page published January 2012