The Common where the Swain family lived | Family tree - please contact me with any corrections |
There seems to be some confusion as to whether these two boys were brothers or cousins. The Wilks family (Robert and Sarah Wilks) came from Oxfordshire and
they must have settled in this area whilst their children were still young. Their sons subsequently went on to marry local girls. The Wilk(e)s men went on to make a
name for themselves in the village, owning land, shops and farms. Arthur Wilks, descended from Robert, the boys' uncle, is remembered today for Wilks Park, the local
football ground which was originally part of his farmland. This he placed in village hands so that the local men had somewhere decent to play.
With so many local Wilk(e)s boys killed in WW1 it is not surprising that Arthur wanted the Wilks name to be remembered in the village.
(Arthur married Mabel Savill, sister of Leonard Savill. Leonard is also on the war memorial).
It is not clear where in the village these two Wilks boys lived because the earlier census records have them living in High Wycombe, but after Martha's death in 1899
John married again, to Anne Maria Kingdon in 1907, and they appear in the 1911 census as residents of Wycombe Marsh. By this time Harry was lodging with the Swain famiy in
Flackwell Heath and Albert Edward is in India.
Wilks descendants still live in the village today.
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