Hello, and thank you for visiting! 
This is the first time I have set up a website & I would recommend TRIBAL PAGES to you 
all - just click on the Tree Icon above if your want to try setting up your own website for FREE! 
 
I have found the process of tracing my family tree to be an amazingly healing experience with many wonderful and sometimes shocking surprises! Now we've included Tree verification using the added dimension of DNA Matching, we are reminded that it is the complexity of our genes inherited from the beginning of mankind that makes us what we are today, and accounts for the very nature of our being. I must give credit to my eldest son Steve for the larger very complex DNA Descendant Charts - he became more involved with Genealogical Research when I became very ill with COPD Stage 3 for 3-4 years recently... I could not breathe or concentrate or go on the PC, but I am now (2019) on a new medication which has given me a new lease of life - so I am back and we have already made incredible advances, breaking through barriers, by DNA Matching this year! 
I hope you enjoy browsing through this website - do let me know what you think! 
Please tell me if you find any errors, no matter how small, because I do want the information to be as accurate as possible; also tell me if you see any omissions of people or information on the Family Tree and any constructive observations would also be very welcome.  
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In the beginning of my genealogical journey back in 2004, tracing even my parents family was not easy, because my Mother, Rita Yvonne Leighton nee.POTTER, became a Missing Person when I was three months old and her parents Mr & Mrs POTTER nee.WALKER never wanted any contact with me or my Father - known as Anthony LEIGHTON, born Anthony SARGENT. There was a great deal of Name confusion and falsification which has made tracing my paternal blood line extremely difficult. 
My paternal grandmother, Dorothy May Leighton, formerly Sargent nee.HOSKINS, had died soon after I was conceived and My Father, a long distance lorry driver, could not look after me, so I was brought up in the family house at 46 Wellington Gardens where 7 adults lived who were all working, some were on Night Work, so I could be looked after during the day and during school holidays:
My paternal Grandfather known as Tom LEIGHTON, but born as Thomas Ptolemy Frederick HUTCHINS.
His Lodger - Bill Wynn - William Albert Wynn - no relation, but often looked after me after school.
Uncle Jack - John Arthur Joseph SARGENT.
Uncle Tom - known as Thomas Sargent LEIGHTON, but GRO Registered at Birth as Thomas SARGENT.
My Dad - known as 'Tony' - Anthony LEIGHTON, but GRO Registered at Birth as Anthony SARGENT.
'Mum' - Dad's half-sister Valerie Elsie CHURCHILL nee.SARGENT who I grew up to call 'Mum'.
'Unc' - William Samuel CHURCHILL married to Valerie and always like a Father to me.
I was never legally adopted and did not meet my mother until I was 25 and after my father had died.
Rita, my mother, had also ran away from her parents, so my maternal grandparents reacted badly on her return and told her that if she wanted to forge a relationship with me, then they never wanted to see her again, so this led to another 25 year separation from my mother, who could not see me until after they had both died by which time I was in my 50s... in fact Rita & I only met 6 times before she died unexpectedly. Consequently, no contact at all with my mother's side of the family resulted in me knowing nothing about them. As a child, Rita was estranged from her parents and sent to Boarding School as a child, so had very little knowledge to pass on about my maternal line; furthermore my father & I both had the fictitious LEIGHTON surname which was obviously completely untraceable. 

So, I cannot take the credit for tracing all the relatives listed here... without the input from several relations, most of whom I have come into contact with while researching, this tree would have been much smaller. So I would like to thank all the family members and people that have contributed information and photographs that has made this family tree possible. 
Special thanks goes out to: 

RON HOSKINS who initially did a  HOSKINS One Name Study;   

KAREN DAY nee.Hoskins who embellished Ron's work and contacted me via Friends Reunited...
Karen's priceless information & encouragement to so many HOSKINS relatives has culminated in her writing a book entitled: 'My Family - The Hoskins of Greenwich & Erith'  
Wonderful! Thanks so much Karen! 
 
Another HOSKINS descendant KAREN CHRISTLEY, has corrected some omissions & errors on my side of the Greenwich HOSKINS (my assumptions were incorrect!). Karen provided excellent HOSKINS Charts which have enriched the information I already had and she has now set up her own TRIBAL PAGES website!  
THE HOSKINS LINE is the blood line of my paternal Grandmother, DOROTHY MAY HOSKINS. 
 


'LOST COUSINS' with their wonderful FREE Buddies Service found that my Grandfather's surname had been changed from HUTCHINS to LEIGHTON! So it is no wonder that I could not find my 
LEIGHTON Family! 
The Leighton surname that I've had since birth has now lost its relevance, as my grandfather was actually born HUTCHINS!!! This was quite a shock in my 50s - my maiden name is fictitious! 
Despite many hours, days and months of searching, I still do not know WHY the whole family changed their name from HUTCHINS to LEIGHTON and this is still very much a mystery to me & my sister Paula.
Please let us know if you have any information for us. 
 
Well, Fourteen Years after that discovery, today on 1st June 2018 I've found out that my Maiden Name of 'LEIGHTON', should have Officially & Legally been 'SARGENT'!!!
 In all these years I have been unable to find my father Anthony Leighton's Birth Registration and I've never seen a Birth Certificate for him - Furthermore, Dad's brother, Tom, who was always known as 'Thomas Leighton' like their Dad, was named at Birth 'Thomas Sargent Leighton' - or that was what we all thought... however I looked again at his Birth Certificate and it looked as if it had been altered! The name 'Leighton' looked as if it was in a slightly different ink! It had been forged!
 
So, I decided to look up his Birth Registration & could not find his or Dad's in the name of 'Leighton'. 
 After all these years, we finally found my Dad and Uncle Tom's Birth Registrations were in the Name of 'SARGENT'... and after a time to allow the full realisation of this to settle, I sent off for their Birth Certificates... which I received through the post today. 
  Both boys Surnames were actually Registered at Birth 'THOMAS SARGENT' & 'ANTHONY SARGENT'.  
Consequently, Paula & I should have Legally inherited the SARGENT surname at birth too, but Dad & Tom were brought up to believe that their ancestral name and the Surname they were given at 
birth was 'LEIGHTON'. So we were all Lied to - It is Crazy!
 Traditionally, our direct 'Blood-Line' Ancestral  Surname should have been 'HUTCHINS'; on the other hand,  Officially our Legal Surname should have been 'SARGENT'; but we all ended up with the Fictional 'LEIGHTON' surname, which was invented by my Great Grandfather... FREDERICK JAMES HUTCHINS, who managed Hippodromes and used the Stage Name of 'FRED LEIGHTON'!  

I want to emphasise here that my Father and his brother Tom never knew that they were Registered at Birth with the Surname of 'SARGENT' - I know this for sure, because I saw their reaction after their father 'Tom Leighton' died (who was registered at Birth as Thomas Ptolemy Frederick HUTCHINS) when his real Wife - Ethel LEIGHTON nee.BRIAN turned up with their daughter Joy May LEIGHTON b.1918 (notably with the fictional LEIGHTON surname!), wanting to inherit the Family House at 46 Wellington Gardens where I was brought up. Fortunately my grandmother Dolly had the foresight to leave the house solely to Uncle Jack - John Sargent, knowing he would fairly share the proceeds, if it were ever sold, to them all. 

So Ethel Leighton was told the truth - that her husband Tom Leighton did not inherit the house - he was never the owner. However, that day she turned up was the day that the Truth hit Dad & Uncle Tom like a brick... their deceased parents, Tom & Dolly LEIGHTON, had never married! ~ Absolutely shocking in those days! ~ AND I clearly remember my Dad walking round the kitchen saying over & over... 
  "I'm a Bastard! I really am a bastard!" 

Who knows whether one day we will find a more sinister reason why my Great Grandfather FREDERICK JAMES HUTCHINS used the name 'FRED LEIGHTON'?  

For over 20 years, before running off with another woman, my Great Grandfather, FRED HUTCHINS had used the fictitious LEIGHTON surname and it had fraudulently been used on many BMD Certificates, before he reverted back to his birth Name of FRED HUTCHINS & started another family - Fred also had another son with his new partner - Reginald Frederick HUTCHINS b.1920 who got the correct legal ancestral surname on a fraudulent Birth Certificate. I doubt that my grandfather ever found out that his father had another son & that he had a half-brother who was two years younger than his own eldest daughter? ! 
 ...Then, when Fred's legal Wife Gertrude Francis HUTCHINS nee.COLMER - 'Gertie Leighton' died on the 9th and was buried on 15th May 1937 - the Truth about the Leighton name finally came out when the Registrar insisted that an Amendment was made to that Certificate regarding her Name at Death. 
  After Gertie's burial, Frederick James Hutchins was summoned by the Registrar to appear at the Registry Office on 27th May 1937 and make a Sworn Declaration, Witnessed in the presence of his daughter, Frances May Joyce nee. LEIGHTON... This is now the indisputable Proof we have needed to prove that Fred Hutchins and Fred Leighton are one and the same man... 
 The Death Amendment said Gertie LEIGHTON's Surname at death should read for LEIGHTON in Column 2: 'HUTCHINS otherwise LEIGHTON'; but Gertie's Married Name should be corrected in Column 5 "for LEIGHTON read HUTCHINS". 
 Fred didn't wait long to legalise his new Family - he made it all legal by marrying this younger lady, Louisa Frances GREEN, who was 25 years younger than Gertie... They were Married just 6 days later on 2nd June 1937 - Reginald, their son, must have been 16 at the time, but his fraudulent Birth Certificate already had them married back in 1920! Fred subsequently died & was buried, as were all his new family, in the HUTCHINS Name at Wimbledon; while my Grandparents Dolly & Tom died & were buried in Charlton Cemetery by their two sons, with the fictional LEIGHTON Name inscribed on their graves, because our side of the family knew nothing about any of this query regarding Gertie's Name until recently - years after Dad & Uncle Tom died. 

Over the years at least 25 people have unwittingly been affected with this fraudulent name of 
Leighton on their Birth, Marriage or Death Certificates. 
 
 Now returning to continue to thank those who have helped me find my true blood ancestors... 
 Contact with JOAN HAWKSWORTH and her daughter SALLY, both through PAUL DRAPER, has introduced me to an Aunt I never knew I had: PHYL JOYCE, the daughter of Grandpop Leighton's sister. These contacts are helping me to establish accuracy in the COLMER maternal line of Grandpop Leighton who was born Thomas Ptolemy Frederick HUTCHINS, his mother's maiden name was COLMER.
 

More recently I have been in contact with DAVID WALSH who had discovered new details about my
HUTCHINS & LEIGHTON FAMILY via information regarding their Wills & Probate. 
It was David's research that uncovered yet another HUTCHINS branch to my family and a step-brother for Tom Leighton, Reginald Fred HUTCHINS(1920-2002) ~ a brother that my grandfather probably never knew about!  So thanks very much to goes to David, who provided Probate references about my Father's Step-Sister he never knew... Joy May LEIGHTON(1918-1984) (another with the fictional surname!) 
 
My(half)sister, PAULA LEIGHTON & SUE MASON nee.Linda Susan ANSELL, BOB & MAYLEY CALVERT & 
JAMES JONES helped me to compile the Calvert/Jones Lines of my step-mother Joan CALVERT. 
Thanks and acknowledgement to GENES REUNITED where JIM JONES contacted Sue & I and where I made contact with BOB CODDINGTON who has helped me add the EMMA JANE HOSKINS nee.CODDINGTON branch.
 
A big thank you to my 'Cornish' Cousin KATHRYN Ellis nee.BOYNS who is helping me understand our
BOYNS/BOYENS family; Kathryn is in the process of putting together a website of all the Bowens/Boyens/Boyns information and she would be delighted to hear from anyone researching the family to exchange information. You will find Kathryn in the GUEST BOOK or alternatively you can contact her through me by email or telephone. 
 
DOREEN BERRY (RIP) & I persevered & struggled for over a decade to establish facts about our BOAST ancestors. Also a big thank you to ANN CHOWN who has more recently been sharing her research findings with us and helped Doreen & I to accurately fit together the BOAST Family Tree jigsaw puzzle - we are still trying to find out whether & how the Linstead Parva & Stradbroke BOAST Families of Suffolk and Norfolk are related. 
 
 
PETER SWINSCOE (husband of JEAN aka.RUBY RUMBLE) who has devoted many hours during retirement researching The Swinscoe's and The RUMBLE's, which is my husband's blood line. 


Thanks to VALERIE SARGENT & ANDREW SARGENT & BRIAN BAILEY who helped me with the Sargent line, which is the blood line of the father of my 'Mum' Valerie Elsie CHURCHILL nee.SARGENT 
 A big Thank You to ROBERT COTTRELL, Indexer of Thames Watermen & Lightermen, who provided affidavit proofs for my HOSKINS, SARGENT, STARKEY & many ancestors with Thames connections. 
 I am currently adding photographs and documents, more will appear very soon. You may like to view a 60 second Video Clip about THAMES WATERMEN - you will find it in the Navy, Watermen & Lightermen Album under 'PHOTOS'. 
 
 It's always good to receive feedback, so please record your observations and comments via 
the GUEST BOOK or email me through the Administrator 'Contact' link above.   
 PLEASE SIGN MY GUEST BOOKClick Here
I do hope you find a connection here... and if you do I'll be delighted to hear from you - please use the Guest Book. 
 If your name is on this site, you might find the 'Relationships' Tool useful and very interesting - find it under 'Tools'. 
 
The Churchill/Sargent branches more truly represent my upbringing family experience rather than my bloodline - and this can be seen in our photos. I was never legally adopted, but was brought up primarily by my father's half-sister Valerie Elsie Churchill nee. Sargent, who I always called Mum, because she was the only Mother I ever knew and she was a wonderful caring and loving Mum to me - always; and her husband, William Samuel Churchill was known by all family and friends as Bill, but I always called him Unc, because he was a caring father to me from 3 months old, but I could not call him Dad, because I knew my biological Dad - so Unc was a term of endearment that expressed my love for him in return for the love and acceptance he always showed me. As relatives of me and my father, Mum & Unc and their branches can be viewed in the Tree on this website via their profiles - see... 

William Samuel CHURCHILL and Valerie Elsie nee.SARGENT.  
 
Finally a big thank you to NEIL BOULTON (see Guest Book), who although unrelated, helped me to understand some of the military connections in our family

 Feedback is very important to me and it is really encouraging when I find that someone has 
signed the GUEST BOOK - so please remember to sign there before you leave - you will find the 
link above.
 
THANK YOU very much for your interest. 
 
Linda  
 



 
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