Much research has already been carried out on the history of the Loosemore family, most notably by Victor and Ronald Loosemore. They have amassed many generations of Loosemores from the present day back to William Lowsemore who is the earliest known ancestor being born in about 1500 in Bishops Nympton in Devon. Records show that the family lived at Kerscote Farm at that time. This building still exists to this day and is currently offering bed and breakfast accommodation. It is located on the southern edge of Exmoor some two and a half miles to the east of the village of Bishops Nympton.
In preparing this site I have also drawn on the research carried out by Nigel Newbery into the Shepard and Benham families and their ancestors from whom our mothers are descended. The Shepards originate from Dorset and the Benhams from the Andover district of Hampshire. With the Loosemores coming from North Devon the West Country ancestry is clear but as will be seen later we do have historical links to one other part of the country.
I have not repeated the work already done by Nigel and others but have attempted to confirm it for my own benefit from census and Birth, Marriage and Death (BMD) records. I have then expanded those parts of the family tree relevant to the Loosemores of Dorchester which do not appear in the earlier research. Where information is included which has been quoted from other sources or has not been directly researched by myself it has been shown in italics.
The previous Loosemore research has provided me with an extensive family tree from 1500 to the present. Ronald and Victor’s research has been mainly centred on their branches of the Loosemore family. We represent a different branch and so the detail surrounding the dates relevant to our ancestors has not previously been researched to any great degree. This was one of my main challenges, to find out more about the Witheridge / Crediton Loosemores in terms of their lives and occupations and to journey with them away from the West Country and back again. Along the way I have visited and researched other family names as they married into the Loosemore ‘clan’
Another significant area where research had previously been lacking was that of the Coe Family, my paternal grandmother and her ancestors of whom I knew virtually nothing prior to starting this task. Unfortunately my father Albert was never quizzed by me about his family before he died. I knew that he had two cousins whom I had met during the 1960’s but I was not even aware to which side of his family they belonged. I had no knowledge of any other family members from my father’s childhood in London.
I have spent very little time on the recent stories of my sister Jane and myself. At some point it would be worthwhile taking the time to produce a record of our relationships and families for the benefit of future generations so that, should they be interested, they do not have to start with the relatively blank canvas that faced me in some areas.
The first lines of my research were, as indicated earlier, to add substance to the history provided in Ronald’s work and to find out the unknown details of the Coe family who were a totally unexplored area.
Census records from 1841 to 1911 and BMD records covering the period 1837 to 1937 are readily available on several websites. More recent BMD records between 1937 and 1975 are held online but are only indexed and not fully transcribed. Although indexes to BMD records can be viewed online, the detailed certificates must be purchased from the General Records Office and I did not intend to do this except for direct ancestors. I have, where they are available, shown the register index numbers for direct and non-direct ancestors which would allow anybody following up on this work to obtain a copy of the certificates if they wished to do so.
More recent data is not so easy to come by as census records of less than 100 years are covered by Freedom of Information Acts. The 1911 census has recently beome available and that has enabled me to provide some more confirmation of the whereabouts of my grandparent’s generation.
As for records earlier than 1837, to access these requires research into Parish and Probate Registers. This obviously means travel to view the records themselves. Nigel and his wife Ann have spent many months doing this and I am indebted to them for saving me a lot of time.
The approach I have adopted for detailing my research is to split the ancestry into clear family name groups and then to pursue the ancestry and descendants of each. This site deals with the direct ancestry of the Loosemore, Shepard, Coe and Benham families. If time permits I will add in the direct ancestry information regarding other families who have married into the above four names. These comprise the following surnames:
Addicott, Barter, Browning of Devon, Browning of Essex, Coward, Crouch, Froome, Goddard, Howard, Johnson, Slowley
In preparing this site I have also drawn on the research carried out by Nigel Newbery into the Shepard and Benham families and their ancestors from whom our mothers are descended. The Shepards originate from Dorset and the Benhams from the Andover district of Hampshire. With the Loosemores coming from North Devon the West Country ancestry is clear but as will be seen later we do have historical links to one other part of the country.
I have not repeated the work already done by Nigel and others but have attempted to confirm it for my own benefit from census and Birth, Marriage and Death (BMD) records. I have then expanded those parts of the family tree relevant to the Loosemores of Dorchester which do not appear in the earlier research. Where information is included which has been quoted from other sources or has not been directly researched by myself it has been shown in italics.
The previous Loosemore research has provided me with an extensive family tree from 1500 to the present. Ronald and Victor’s research has been mainly centred on their branches of the Loosemore family. We represent a different branch and so the detail surrounding the dates relevant to our ancestors has not previously been researched to any great degree. This was one of my main challenges, to find out more about the Witheridge / Crediton Loosemores in terms of their lives and occupations and to journey with them away from the West Country and back again. Along the way I have visited and researched other family names as they married into the Loosemore ‘clan’
Another significant area where research had previously been lacking was that of the Coe Family, my paternal grandmother and her ancestors of whom I knew virtually nothing prior to starting this task. Unfortunately my father Albert was never quizzed by me about his family before he died. I knew that he had two cousins whom I had met during the 1960’s but I was not even aware to which side of his family they belonged. I had no knowledge of any other family members from my father’s childhood in London.
I have spent very little time on the recent stories of my sister Jane and myself. At some point it would be worthwhile taking the time to produce a record of our relationships and families for the benefit of future generations so that, should they be interested, they do not have to start with the relatively blank canvas that faced me in some areas.
The first lines of my research were, as indicated earlier, to add substance to the history provided in Ronald’s work and to find out the unknown details of the Coe family who were a totally unexplored area.
Census records from 1841 to 1911 and BMD records covering the period 1837 to 1937 are readily available on several websites. More recent BMD records between 1937 and 1975 are held online but are only indexed and not fully transcribed. Although indexes to BMD records can be viewed online, the detailed certificates must be purchased from the General Records Office and I did not intend to do this except for direct ancestors. I have, where they are available, shown the register index numbers for direct and non-direct ancestors which would allow anybody following up on this work to obtain a copy of the certificates if they wished to do so.
More recent data is not so easy to come by as census records of less than 100 years are covered by Freedom of Information Acts. The 1911 census has recently beome available and that has enabled me to provide some more confirmation of the whereabouts of my grandparent’s generation.
As for records earlier than 1837, to access these requires research into Parish and Probate Registers. This obviously means travel to view the records themselves. Nigel and his wife Ann have spent many months doing this and I am indebted to them for saving me a lot of time.
The approach I have adopted for detailing my research is to split the ancestry into clear family name groups and then to pursue the ancestry and descendants of each. This site deals with the direct ancestry of the Loosemore, Shepard, Coe and Benham families. If time permits I will add in the direct ancestry information regarding other families who have married into the above four names. These comprise the following surnames:
Addicott, Barter, Browning of Devon, Browning of Essex, Coward, Crouch, Froome, Goddard, Howard, Johnson, Slowley