The Simms family of Hull part 1

So i'm now researching my paternal origins. The above photo shows  my paternal roots. This photo taken in Hull circa 1934 shows my great grandfather Frank Henry Simms centre back row and to his right my grandfather Harry Leonard Simms. Frank Henry Simms & his wife Amanda Matilda Eliassen married in 1914 and as you can see 20 years later they were the parents of 13 children. Although large families were the norm back then theirs still appears to be larger than normal as can be seen from this article taken from the Hull Daily Mail April 2nd, 1945 p.3

Clear the family as a whole committed themselves to the war effort during the difficult period of world war two. I note my grandfather who was their  eldest child Harry Leonard Simms born in 1914 was working in an aircraft factory in 1945. Several of his siblings were in service during the war......it would be interesting to do further research with the MoD regarding what my granduncles & Aunts did during the war.

Harry Leonard Simms I note married in 1955 his common in law wife Margaret Louisa Elizabeth Stella Dye (previous marriage dissolved).       

They had several children, their eldest child was my father Paul who was born in Hull in 1947 so clearly they had been together several years before they officially tied the knot. My father Paul married in 1971 to Christine Frizzell and my parents had three children in total, myself, Edward and Rosemary. Rosemary died as a baby. I'm effectively the eldest child of the eldest child of the eldest child leading back to Frank Henry Simms of Hull.

Interestingly Frank Henry Simms was born in Brailes in 1892, the son of Charlotte Simms my great great grandmother. On his birth certificate there is no father listed which did mean for decades there was no way of researching our paternal lineage.

Thankfully a distant cousin Mark has been able to shed some light on this closed area. It does now appear that the father is likely Frank Bloxham and to shed some light on this i have gone ahead with a DNA test with ancestry.co.uk to discover if this is the case. Results to be provided once they are available but as Mark has pointed out it seems very unlikely Charlotte Simms would have brought an Affiliation Case against Frank Bloxham if this was not the case. Attached is the news paper article that shows her case against Mr Frank Bloxham.

To be continued...