Tookey clan in Thundersley and Benfleet

I’ve already put up a photo of my grandfather, Charles William Tookey (1885-1940) working as a very young man in a brickmaking gang.  Here are a couple more photos of him, again with lots of other local men; these were both probably taken in the 1920s some time. The first photo is of a road building gang; Charlie is 4th from the left in this photo. The other photo shows some kind of charabanc outing; my grandfather is the man with the long coat and the moustache standing 3rd from the right. I don’t know the names of any of the other men in these photos – but perhaps someone else will recognise some of them – if so, please share!

Tookeys have lived in or near Thundersley since about 1842, when three Tookey brothers (Joseph, John and William) moved from Stockerston in Leicestershire to Barling with their mother Elizabeth Shillaker, stepfather John Shillaker, and half siblings. The third photo shown here is of Joseph’s son Charles William Tookey (1858-1935) and Amy (nee Mayes) Tookey (1860-1953) standing outside Suffolk House on the London Road (the High Road?) where they lived with their large family for several years. Charles and Amy had at least 15 children born between 1882 and 1904, 8 sons and 7 daughters; my grandfather was their third child. This photo was probably taken around 1930. Is there anyone who can date it more accurately, or who knows when the house was demolished? It was still there at the time of the 1939 Register which lists Suffolk House between Little Tarpots and Brenda Cafe. In 1947 Amy was living with two of her grandsons, Charlie (my dad, William Charles Tookey) and his brother Sid, in Parkstone Avenue. Amy was quite a character and I’ll write some more about her in another post.