The Prestidges : A Leamington Family

John and Rebecca Prestidge

John Prestidge was born in 1843 in the parish of Priors Hardwick in the district of Southam, Warwickshire. In the 1901 national census he is listed as an agricultural labourer. John married Rebecca who was born in Northamptonshire in 1837. They lived in Priors Hardwick for the duration of their lives. Their son Mark was born in 1877.

George and Elizabeth Newman

George Newman was born in Henford, Northants in 1841. George married Elizabeth Baylis in 1862. Elizabeth was born in 1839 in Horton, Oxon. They lived their married life in Fenny Compton where George was a boot maker. They had three children; Arthur (1865) William (1873) and Elizabeth (1876). Arthur and William became a groom and postman respectively

Mark and Elizabeth Prestidge

Mark Prestidge and Elizabeth Newman married in Southam in 1903. Early in their marriage they moved to Leamington Spa where Elizabeth gave birth to four children. Their children were; Marcia (1905), Grace (1908), Clara (1911) and Raymond (1913). All were baptised at the Holy Trinity Church in Leamington Spa.

Marcia Prestidge

Marcia Elizabeth Prestidge was born in 1905 and baptised in the Holy Trinity Church in Leamington Spa. In 1909 she began at Milverton School in Rugby Rd and subsequently attended Portland St Night School. At the latter she learnt bookkeeping and some English and French. In 1919 she began an apprenticeship in millenary at Cousins Department Store. From 1922-1937 she acted as a secretary for the law firm Burgis and Bullock, established at the turn of the century and located at 11 Waterloo Place. During this period she was actively involved in the Sunday School at Holy Trinity Church. She left Burgis and Bullock in August 1937 when she married Bertram Maurice Hobby. She had met him on a trip to Aviemoor in Scotland in 1933 and they became engaged in 1936. They were married at the Holy Trinity Church in 1937. They spent their married life in Oxford, where Bertram was an entomologist. Having discovered that they were unable to have children, they adopted a son, Roger Maurice, in 1945. Shortly before her death Marcia claimed that she felt as young 'as the little girl who used to play Cowboys and Indians at Fenny'. She died in 1991, Bertram having preceded her by a decade.

Grace Prestidge

Grace Mary Prestidge was born in 1908. Her best friend at school was Queenie Parsons whose father owned a jewellers shop. They shared an enthusiasm for amateur dramatics and can be seen here in costume (Grace is on the left). Grace trained as a schoolteacher at St Mary's College in Cheltenham where she met lifelong friend Rita Nanscowen. She taught at various local schools and was headmistress of Coten End Infants School in the 1950s. She married in 1958 to Horace Boyt Howes, a barber on the P&O Himalaya liner.  A number of her pupils attended the wedding at the Holy Trinity Church. In 1962 Horace set up a barbershop at 16 Victoria Terrace. For the majority of their marriage the couple lived at a property in Southlea Avenue. They had no children. They retired to Bournemouth in 1968 and died in 1983 and 1996 respectively.

Clara Prestidge

Clara was born in 1911. At the age of 10 she rode in the float of local coal merchants J&N Nadin & Co in a procession on Leamington Parade. When she left school she worked in a jeweller’s shop where she met her husband Frederick. They had two children Anthony and Eric in 1938 and 1955 respectively. Clara died in 1985.

Raymond Prestidge

Ray was born in 1913. He suffered from ill health throughout his life and mostly lived at home where he was cared for by his spinster sister Grace. His nephew recalls that his two great pleasures were port and standing for the national anthem-he was a great patriot. Following Grace’s marriage to Horace Boyt Howes, Ray moved to a care home where he died in 1972.