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John Charles Woodhurst was born at Ore around early 1862 to parents John William (1) Woodhurst and his wife Agnes Elizabeth. The GRO reference is [Birth Index: Hastings 2b 15, 1862 (March)].
The 1871 Census finds him at age 9 living with his parents in Middle Road, Ore.
The 1881 Census finds him at age 19 lodging at 4, Stonefield Road in Hastings in the household of his sister Agnes Elizabeth and her husband Albert Edwin Douch. He was occupied as a grocer's assistant.
He first married in 1887 to Louisa Elizabeth Agnes Bigger. The GRO reference [Marriage Index: Hastings 2b 37, 1887 (Dec)] slightly misspells her name as "Louise Elizabeth A. Biggar". She was born at Rye in 1863 [Birth Index: Rye 2b 9, 1863 (Dec)] and appears to have preferred to be known simply as Agnes. They produced at least the four children listed below.
The 1891 Census finds them with two children living at 11, Hornly Road in St. Mary Magdalene, Hastings. John Charles was occupied as a grocer's assistant.
Louisa died aged 38 in Greenwich around early 1901 [Death Index: Greenwich 1d 664, 1901 (March)].
The 1901 Census finds him as a widower in charge of the Old King John Inn at Ore, occupied as a licensed victualler. The inn had previously been run by his father. Also in the household was an unmarried servant Minnie Elizabeth Speller aged 18, occupied as a domestic cook.
In 1903 he married Minnie Elizabeth [Marriage Index: Hastings 2b 98, 1903 (June)], and by her produced several children.
The 1911 Census finds the family again at the Old King John Inn and John Charles occupied as a beer retailer.
He died aged 52, by suicide, in 1914 [Death Index: Hastings 2b 12, 1914 (June)]. He had hanged himself in a locked lavatory of the Old King John Inn. Other persons had forced the door and attempted to resuscitate him, without success. Following a post mortem, a Coroner's inquest was held, at which it was revealed that John had suffered from ill health and had been worried about repaying debts to creditors. The inquest was reported at length in The Hastings and St Leonards Observer, issue of April 11th 1914.
His widow Minnie Elizabeth remarried in 1920 to William J. Willett [Marriage Index: Hastings 2b 93, 1920 (Dec)].
Dolly Agnes was born on August 23rd 1900 [Birth Index: Hastings 2b 9, 1900 (Dec)]. It is not absolutely certain that Louisa was her mother. She was in the care of a different (Campbell) family in Ore, as a "nurse child", at the time of the 1901 Census and it is not impossible that she had been born to John Charles' servant girl Minnie Elizabeth. In 1933 she married Reginald S. Harris [Marriage Index: Marylebone 1a 1744, 1933 (Sept)]. Electoral Registers show that in (at least) 1936 they were living at 23, West Bank in Hackney. She died aged "78" in 1979 [Death Index: Surrey S.E. 17 0857, 1979 (June)].
Minnie Agnes was born on January 12th 1905 [Birth Index: Hastings 2b 12, 1905 (March)]. In 1929 she married Frederick P. Tong [Marriage Index: Hastings 2b 97, 1929 (Dec)]. She died aged "86" in 1991 [Death Index: (12 Ja 1905) Hastings & Rother 18 706, 1991 (November)].
Ethel May was born in 1906 [Birth Index: Hastings 2b 11, 1906 (June)]. She did not marry. She died aged "62" in 1968 [Death Index: Hastings 5h 429, 1968 (June)].
John William (3) was born in 1908 [Birth Index: Hastings 2b 7, 1908 (March)]. He did not marry. He died aged "25" in 1933 at the Darvell Hall Sanatorium in Robertsbridge, Sussex [Death Index: Ticehurst 2b 162, 1933 (Dec)]. He had been living at 41, Middle Road in Ore. Probate was granted on November 30th to his mother Minnie Elizabeth, his effects being valued at £192.