Malcolm Smith's Family History Archive


Biography of

Leonard  Humble  SMITH

[Ref. Q.212]


Ancestors Profile Index for SMITH

 
Leonard Humble Smith was
born on 24 August 1886 in the village of Eynsford in Kent. He was a son in the eleven children of Thomas and Mary Smith and his name and date of birth are recorded on the Family Register that his parents kept. He was known as Len.

In 1891, he is shown as living with his family at 7 High Street, Eynsford. However, at the next census in 1911 he is found working at 80 East Street in Epsom as a boy in a grocers shop owned by Louisa Fleming who had been born in Farningham and was probably known to the Smith family.

The 1911 census records Leonard and his younger brother Frank living at Malt Shovel Cottages in Eynsford with their widowed mother, their father having died in January that year. Leonard was then working as a farm labourer.

On 24 July 1915, Leonard married Daisy Emily Cheary at St.Nicholas of Myra church in Southfleet, Kent. She was a daughter of Elvey and Mary Ann Cheary of Ash. Leonard's occupation was given as that of labourer on the certificate and at that time he had been living at 2 Elliot Terrace in Eynsford.

They had two sons, Leonard Frank Elvey born in 1916. Thomas Ivor born 0n 11 March 1923 and on his certificate, Leonard's occupation was shown as being a gardener at an hotel.

At some point, the couple moved to 5 Willow Terrace and that was their address when Leonard died on 21 April 1931. He had been engaged by the Rural Community Council to returf on the green in Eynsford during which time he suffered an epilectic fit and consequently fell into the nearby river Darenth and drowned. An inquest on 23 April, which was reported in detail in the Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser, confirmed the event as being accidental.

 


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