01 - Frederick William Clarke
16 Oct 1917 - 30 Jan 2004
This directory contains information and documents about the descendants of Willie Tony and Queenie Clarke. This is the line of both Roger Clarke and Anne Kratzmann, and is fairly prolific; so there's quite a lot in this branch of the site. There were 5 children:
There are over 60 descendants, as per this Summary.
01 - Frederick William Clarke16 Oct 1917 - 30 Jan 2004 |
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Fred was born 16 October 1917. His father was still in the Hampshire Regiment, and his mother was living with her parents at 4 Cleveland Road.
He left school at 15, during the Depression and when his father was out of work. A couple of bosses closed down or went bust before he completed his apprenticeships. He finally found a stable employer in the shape of H.M. Dockyards – where his father also worked from the late 1930s onwards. His primary qualification was as a cabinet-maker.
Fred married Mabel (May) De Prose in 1939. May was b. 7 May 1918.
He was unable to enlist during WWII, because he was in a protected occupation in the Royal Navy Dockyards.
The family (by then including 2 children) migrated on 29 Jan 1948, from Tilbury Docks, on one of the last voyages of the Orient Line's 19,000 ton S.S. Ormonde. (She was commissioned in 1918 and scrapped in 1952).
They settled in Kingaroy in South Queensland.
May was a music-teacher, and they were both very active in music in the district.
May was awarded an MBE in June 1982 "in recognition of service to music".
They later moved to Maryborough c. 1983, to Bundaberg c. 1991, and back to Maryborough c. 1998.
Fred passed away on 30 January 2004, aged 85.
May passed away on 19 March 2015, aged 96.
Here is a personal page for Fred, and a personal page for May.
Fred and May had 4 children, 12 grandchildren, and (as at Oct 2005) 15 great-grandchildren:
02 - Edward Anthony (Tony) Clarke29 Dec 1919 – 25 Dec 2010 |
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Tony was born when the family was at 4 Cleveland Road. He left school as early as the law allowed, and was apprenticed to a grocer in the mid-1930s. He spent WWII getting chased out of Dunkirk, Greece, Crete and (almost) North Africa.
In 1948, he married Irene (Rene) Gladys Whiteman. They migrated to Kingaroy in South Queensland in 1951 (where his elder brother Fred was already settled in), returned to England 1954-56 for because Rene's parents were ailing, and re-migrated in 1956, this time to Bundaberg.
They later moved to Sydney (1967-85) and on retirement to the Macarthur area (50km south of Sydney), and then to Camden a further 20km south-west. Rene passed away in 2004, at 78. Tony died in 2010, 4 days short of his 91st birthday.
Here are details of Tony's story, and of Rene's story.
Tony and Rene have 2 children, and 4 grandchildren:
03 - Enid Clarke10 Jan 1922 – 29 April 2007 |
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Enid was born when the family was at 4 Cleveland Road.
She was in the ATS during the War, and then worked in the Coop in Eastney.
She lived with Willie Tony and Queenie at 69 Hayling Ave. from 1930, and stayed there with Queenie until her death in 1968.
Enid then moved in with her long-time friend Pat Saunders, in Eastney, and c. 1990 moved within Eastney to a retirement village. Enid died in 2007, at the age of 85.
The second 'mad aunt', Pat, passed away on 2 July 2012 after a not-very-good-health during her last few years, including diabetes and a leg-amputation. We think she was 90.
04 - Kathleen Clarke-Smith10 May 1926 – 30 March 2013 |
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Kath was born when the family was at 4 Cleveland Road.
She was married to Alan Smith in 1945.
Alan was a naval shipwright, later a nurse, and they lived in Weymouth, Cyprus and Fareham.
Alan passed away in 2001.
Kath later moved back into Portsmouth, including North End, Southsea and finally Portsmouth, nr St Judes.
She passed away late in the evening of Easter Saturday, 30 March 2013, aged 86.
Alan and Kath had 3 children, 8 grandchildren and (as at August 2024) 11 great-grandchildren, 2 born before March 2013:
05 - Kenneth (Ken) Clarke8 May 1935 – 13 May 2018 |
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Ken was born 8 May 1935, when the family was at 69 Hayling Avenue.
Kenneth G. Clarke, Portsmouth 2b 652, Jun qtr 1935.
Presumably George, presumably after George Henry (Harry?) Haskins (1867-1943), who sent Willy Tony to his brother Fred, Queenie's father.
He worked in the Post Office, and met Rhoda there.
They married Jun qtr 1958 Portsmouth 6b 806.
Rhoda F. Ireland was b. 31 Dec 1926 (Mar qtr 1927 Portsmouth 2b 680), mother's surname Tuffin.
At marriage, Ken was a month either side of 23, Rhoda 32. This age disparity was not thought well of by conservative respectable working-class people!?
They spent a great deal of time together, at work, and ballroom-dancing, but also gardening (especially zonal pelargoniums), shopping together, bus trips, and listening to music, particularly opera – although Ken's hearing went in later years.
Ken lived in Copnor all of his life, first at 69 Hayling Avenue, presumably 23 years 1935-58, then a stroll away at 45 Stride Avenue, 60 years 1958-2018.
Ken died of a suspected aortic aneurism, watching highlights of the last games of the season on Sunday evening.
Rhoda died on 27 January 2022, aged 95.
Willie Tony and Queenie had 5 children, b. 1917-1935.
They had 9 grandchildren, b. 1941-1956 – 3 Smiths in England, and 6 Clarkes in Australia. All of them were born during Queenie's lifetime and all but one during Willie Tony's (although 2 were born in Australia, and didn't return to England during their grandparents' lifetimes).
They also have 24 great-grandchildren, b. 1966-1992 – 8 in England and 16 in Australia, 10 of them Clarkes. The first two were born in Australia shortly before Queenie passed on:
In December 2010, there were 37 great-great-grandchildren, b. 1991-? – 26 in Australia and 11 in the UK, only 6 of them Clarkes:
This a page within Roger Clarke's Family Web-Site
Contact: Roger Clarke and/or Anne Kratzmann
Created: 8 Oct 2005; Last Amended: 6 Mar 2013 (Misha Bail), 31 Mar 2013 (Kath Clarke/Smith), 14 Aug 2015 (May Clarke), 29 Dec 2017 (Darius), 15 May 2018, 12 Aug 2020 (Ken), 10 Nov 2020 (Xavier, new Smiths), 20 Mar 2021 (Xavier Wulfric), 10 May 2021 (some Smith details), 15-21 Aug 2024 (Smith and Sievwright details), 27 Sep 2024 (Maeve Waters)