Kingshott of Torpoint and Plymouth
There are currently a significant number of Kingshotts just down the road from me, in and around Plymouth, Devon, England. They have spread from here into Plymouth itself, and down to the very pointy end of Cornwall. This is very interesting for me as Penzance, on that pointy end, is where my parents currently live. It explains why mum mentioned seeing another Kingshott in her local Tesco store!
​
I have been in contact with one or two of the living members of this family and have managed to trace them back to a William Kingshott who was born in London.
​
Now, I started with this William Kingshott who married Laura May Laughton at Torpoint, just over the border in Cornwall, on 6th November 1915. According to the marriage certificate (see below) William was the son of an Edwin Kingshott.
I had no suitable candidate for Edwin Kingshott whatsoever and this stumped me for about two years. Eventually I started to look through the census for suitable candidates, as well as checking the Service Records for soldiers serving in the Royal Marines Light Infrantry. By cross referencing the various sources I was able to eliminate certain candidates and eventually found out exactly where William came from.
The upshot of all this is that it seems that the marriage certificate was actually wrong. William's father was actually Edmund Kingshott, not Edwin. This then allowed me to link him into the wider Kingshott tree where I can now state that he was my 6th cousin twice removed!
Edmund Kingshott was born in Warblington, Hampshire on 16th November 1856, one of ten children of Henry Kinchett and his wife Jane. He married Fanny Barnett in Portsea, Hampshire, in 1877 and had two children. Fanny died and Edmund, now regularly calling himself Edward (just to confuse matters further) married a lady called Sarah Ann Chatfield.
Sarah Chatfield had a daughter, father unknown, who was called Kate, and who was born in Kingston, Surrey on 29th January 1884. When Sarah married Edmund on 30th July the following year, Kate Chatfield became Kate Kingshott. This was confusing as Edmund already had a daughter called Kate Kingshott from his previous marriage!
Edmund and Sarah also had a son called William, who was born at some time between 1885 and 1887. I can find no trace of his birth, and the age varies depending on which particular source you look at. He was born in Thames Ditton, Surrey and went on to join the Royal Marine Light Infantry, part of the Royal Navy. This is how he came to be in Plymouth, a major British Naval city.
William went on to serve in World War 1, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his actions at Zeebrugge. He later rejoined, this time in the Royal Marines Police, retiring in 1935, before rejoining in 1939 and serving in World War 2 until 1945!
I have had a great deal of assistance with this family from Graham Woolgar who kindly provided me with a large number of certificates that proved many of the relationships mentioned.
Click here for a document showing Edmund Kingshott, his various wives and partners, and children, including William. I can't show any more descendants as many are still living or likely to be living. When it opens, just zoom in to read it properly.