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 1901 - 1980 (78 years)
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| Name |
Charles Stuart Norman GREGORY |
| Born |
4 Oct 1901 |
Faversham, Kent, England  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
Sep 1980 |
Busselton, Western Australia, Australia |
| Person ID |
I2387 |
Young Kent Ancestors |
| Last Modified |
27 Oct 2010 |
| Father |
Edward GREGORY, c. 5 Jun 1859, Faversham, Kent, England , d. 23 Oct 1932, 1 and 2 Abbey Fields, Faversham, Kent, England (Age ~ 73 years) |
| Mother |
Lydia Sarah SAVIN, b. Abt 1866, Faversham, Kent, England |
| Married |
1895 |
Faversham, Kent, England |
| Family ID |
F1010 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- Charles worked in the munitions factory in Faversham for a short while before emigrating to Australia at the age of 18. He eventually married and purchased a large sheep farm in Busselton, south of Perth. An article appears in the local Faversham paper on 11 August 1974, reproduced here, below.
"Farmer returns after 50 years down under.
A Faversham born man whose ancestors had roots in Faversham since the early 15th century [this claim has not been proven by my research] returned to the town after 50 years in Australia.
Mr. Charles Stuart Gregory was born at "The Brents" - he is 72 - the youngest of a family of three. His mother died when he was nine, and he worked in Faversham Munitions Factory until the age of 18. He went to Australia at the age of 21, and worked on the wheat areas east of Perth.
He now owns a 230-acre dairy farm in Busselton, 150 miles south of Perth, and his daughter Cynthia and her husband Kevin are running the farm during his stay in England. His other daughter lives in Sidney with her husband David.
Mr. Gregory, staying with his cousin Mr. Walter Gregory in Kingsnorth Road, sees many changes in Faversham - and England - since he lived here 50 years ago.
He sees a large increase in the number of houses, and the amount of land which has been used for building. And in one day on the motorway, he saw more cars than he sees in a year in Australia.
Mr. Gregory also says that the population has increased "beyond all proportion". While in Faversham, he is trying to trace his relatives before returning to Australia on November 18.
Ancestors on his father's side have been prominent in Faversham's history for hundreds of years. They were mainly freemen, one of whom fitted out a ship called "Hayarde" which fought and helped defeat the Spanish Armada in 1585, and for many years they owned their own ship. [The claim of involvement in the Armada likewise has yet to be proven through my research efforts.]
The Gregory ancestors obtained a concession for being watchmen of the sea, watching and helping to fight invading enemies.
They were also given certain fishing rights on the oyster beds at Whitstable and it is in fact with the oysters that the Gregorys were most involved.
Being freemen they bought their own ship, docked mainly at Sheerness and the Isle of Sheppey.
Not just anybody could have rights in the beds. One had to be admitted, it was the Gregorys along with the Jemmetts who dominated them from the early 1800s to the mid 1900s.
Mr. Gregory's father, Edward Gregory, who was one of the few Gregorys to be christened with only one name, was born in Faversham in 1860.
He had very little schooling and when his father died his education stopped completely. At the time he was apprenticed to the fishermen and inherited the rights of his forefathers as a freeman. The rest of his life was spent fishing on the oyster beds.
Edward was admitted to the oyster beds in 1880. His last ship was named the "Secret" and was found several years ago lying wrecked on a beach.
Unfortunately in 1922 the freemen and dredger men were sold out as it was impossible to find apprentices because of the hard work. The last member of the Gregory family to be admitted to the bed was Walter Greig [this should have been "Lynch"] Gregory in 1912. Mr. Gregory's mother, Lydia Savin [recorded in the news article in error as Favin], was born in 1865.
She, like all other Gregorys, was a dedicated churchgoer, and attended Faversham Parish Church regularly. Her first child, Mr. Gregory's sister, was born in 1897 and was baptised in the Parish Church by the Rev. Bonne. Until she was five Winifred Elizabeth went to Sunday School in Abbey Place.
Soon after that the family moved to "The Brents" and Winifred attended Davington Primary School. She later went to the William Gibbs School after winning a scholarship. When her schooling finished Winifred travelled all over Europe and in 1924 emigrated to Canada. It was in Saskatchewan that she married.
Mr. Gregory's brother, John Edward, was born in 1900. He went to the District School from the age of 2-1/2 years. At 15 he joined the Merchant Navy and went to Malta and Cairo.
In 1920 he went to Canada to see his sister and worked for a while on a farm in Saskatchewan.
In 1933 Mr. Gregory married his wife Lurlie, who is accompanying him on his visit to England."
A photograph of Charles Stuart Gregory and Lurlie appears with the above article. Unfortunately, there is no by-line with the article. It was received from Dr. Percival of the Fleur-de-lis Heritage Centre in Faversham.
Alternate date of death is 17 June 1985
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| Sources |
- [S73] Personal correspondence written by George Gregory to Susan Dara Young, George Gregory, (Not published), 27 Mar 1992.
"Charles Stuart Gregory who emigrated to Australia in the 1920s, John Gregory and Winifred Gregory, went at the same time to Canada. These were children of Edward, son of George, your great-great-grandfather's brother. Winifred became Mrs. Lumb. Her son, Roy who went to Houston, Texas, will, I am sure be writing to you before very long telling you of his relation to [Ontario]. John went eventually to Australia and as I have told you before, became the manager of the trout farm at Pemberton, Western Australia engaged on the strength of his experience in Alaska."
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