“National Roll of the Great War” has this entry:
Tearle, G (RAMC)
This is the entry for Otho George Tearle 1882, service number 47279, 29th Btn Middlesex Regt and 331034, 335th Lowland Field Ambulance, RAMC, who married Ellen Yule nee Rogers. He seems always to have called himself George. He was at the above address for the birth of two of his children. Son of Jonathon 1862 of Stanbridge and Alice nee Kearns and g-son of William 1832 and Catharine nee Fountain. Another member of the Willesden cell. Brother of James Harry Tearle.
Pamela wrote to me, asking what I knew of Otho George. Here is what I wrote to her:
Our common grandparents were Thomas b 1806 and Mary nee Garner. Thomas was a son of Richard 1773 and Elizabeth nee Bodsworth. Thomas had two sons of interest to us, James 1827, the eldest, born in Toddington. If you have a look at my pictures site, http://www.flickr.com/photos/27466815@N03/ you will see recent pictures of Toddington. You could walk there from Stanbridge in a couple of hours, and I intend to do so. Chalgrave is at the end of the High Street, on the Dunstable road.
Thomas and Mary’s third son was William 1832, born Stanbridge. James married Mary Andrews from Eggington. They had Levi, my great-grandfather, but not so long ago that our dear Jennie Pugh still remembered him very well. Levi’s eldest was Arthur and he was my grandfather. I never met him, but I did see Sadie, my grandmother about 4 times.
When James died in 1887, Mary married Charles Shillingford in 1888. Both James’ and Charles’ headstones are still standing in the Stanbridge churchyard. When Charles died in 1891, Mary married your gg-grandfather William 1832, and he outlived her by some 6 years, dying in 1920. We’ve often talked about Mary marrying her husband’s brother, which might be illegal, but there must be some way round it. Perhaps because she was Mary Shillingford when she married William, she wasn’t still the widow of James. I don’t know, and I certainly don’t think she did anything wrong. Actually, neither did Levi Tearle, her son, who was a very staunch Primitive Methodist, because he was a witness at her wedding to William – in Watford. She died in Levi’s house and he signed the death certificate as “present at the death.”
Now, your William 1832 had a son Jonathon (always called, and spelt, John) who went to London and had your grandfather Otho George – and the rest is history.
So our gg-grandfathers were brothers. If you go to Stanbridge Church, you will see the side-by side headstones of my gg-grandfather James and another of his and William’s brothers, John.
The George Tearle who married Ellen Yule did so on this form – you might like to send away for it. The date is remarkable.
| Name: | Otho G Tearle |
| Spouse Surname: | Yule |
| Date of Registration: | Jan-Feb-Mar 1948 |
| Registration district: | Willesden |
| Registration county (inferred): | Middlesex |
| Volume Number: | 5f |
| Page Number: | 489 |
I had a look to see who the Yule girl was and her entry says:
| Name: | Ellen Yule |
| Spouse Surname: | Tearle |
| Date of Registration: | Jan-Feb-Mar 1948 |
| Registration district: | Willesden |
| Registration county (inferred): | Middlesex |
| Volume Number: | 5f |
| Page Number: | 489 |
So that means that Otho George Tearle and Ellen Yule were your father’s parents – and certainly that Otho George was your grandfather.
I have attached Otho George’s baptism. You can see that his parents were Johathon and Alice, and that he was born in Notting Hill, London.
Now, interestingly, there is an 18yr old George Tearle of Notting Hill in Pentonville gaol in the 1901 census, and he is our Otho George.
Jonathon Tearle is a son of William 1832 and Catherine nee Fountain. A very famous family on the Family Tree. This is the same William who married my gg-grandmother Mary nee Andrews when both of them were in their 70s. You can see her story on in the Tearle Stories section, along with William and Catharine nee Fountain’s story.
Your g-grandfather’s name is not John, but Jonathon – but they called him John anyway, even in the census returns.
George died in 1961, the form below would show you the address at the time.
- Name: Otho G Tearle
- Death Registration Month/Year: 1961
- Age at death (estimated): 78
- Registration district: Willesden
- Inferred County: Middlesex
- Volume: 5f
- Page: 214
I have come across a significant document that might help us to identify your grandfather.
An army document from WW1 shows your father, and some of his siblings with their birth dates and places, and George, and Ellen, and their address all on the same page.
Otho George lists his family on entry to the army.
Ellen is Ellen Yule, not Rodgers, which is most likely her maiden name, and she is described as a Platonic wife. Pvt George Tearle’s army number, by the way, was 331034
From Pat Field:
It does seem however that Ellen Rogers married William J A Yule and they had 8 children together, then William Yule disappears until his death in 1944. All the children except for one were in the Kensington and Chelsea Workhouse School in Ewell Surrey in 1911. Ellen was in North Kensington with one daughter, Ellen aged 7. It appears she then lived with Otho George/aka George and they had 3 or 4 children, one being Brian’s father Charles Walter Yule. There are military records on Ancestry that are very informative naming Ellen Yule as George’s Platonic wife and listing 4 children. Only 3 of these were Tearles because the oldest daughter was born a Yule.
I would think from this that William J A Yule was in some form of institution and this is why Ellen and George could not marry until 1948, after William Yule died.
