Frederick George BYLES was born 26 January 1897. He married Elizabeth Kate AXTELL October December, 1919 in Woodstock District, Oxfordshire, England. He died October December, 1979 in Oxford District, Oxfordshire, England. Elizabeth Kate AXTELL, daughter of Thomas Bayliss AXTELL and Harriet Annie KNIBBS , was born 25 September 1897 in Yarnton, Oxfordshire, England. She died January March, 1948 in Ploughley District, Oxfordshire, England.


Children of Frederick George BYLES and Elizabeth Kate AXTELL are:
1. Harold James BYLES, b. 20 January 1926
2. Ronald George T BYLES, b. 21 May 1920

Notes for Frederick George BYLES:

Both the birth and death dates for Frederick are conjectured. I suspect he was born in Barnsley but moved south with his parents at the turn of the century.
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From the Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette - 24 September 1926:
MAINTENANCE ARREARS.
Frederick Byles was summoned by his wife, Elizabeth Kate Byles, of Yarnton, for maintenance amounting to £7 and costs.
Mrs. Byles said no payment had been made since the Court ordered her husband to pay by a certain date.
Defendant offered to pay £6 immediately. The magistrates accepted the £6 and adjourned the case to allow defendant time to pay the £1 owing.

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From the Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette - 22 February 1929:
KIDLINGTON.
A WIFE'S MAINTENANCE.
At the South Wootton Petty sessions at Woodstock Town Hall on Tuesday, before Mr. George Adams, and the Mayor (Mr. W. B. Turrill), Kate Byles, Kiddlington, summoned her husband, Frederick George Byles, for arrears of maintenance amounting to £l2.
Byles said be had been out of work until this week, and had now obtained regular employment.
Byles was ordered to pay the £1 a week maintenance and 5s. a week arrears, with the alternative of two months' imprisonment.


Notes for Elizabeth Kate AXTELL:

Also known as: Kate




Click to see Elizabeth Byles at the wedding of her sister Florence Axtell. Elizabeth is standing third from the left of the photo, holding baby Harold. Her other son "Johnny" Byles is sat in the front on the left.
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In 1901, Elizabeth was living at Yarnton, Oxfordshire:
Thomas Axtell Head Mar 34 Hay Lier Oxon Yarnton
Harriet A Axtell Wife Mar 24 Oxon Kidlington
Thomas H Axtell Son 4 Oxon Kidlington
Elizabeth K Axtell Daur 3 Oxon Yarnton
Mary Axtell Daur 1 Oxon Yarnton
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From the Oxford Journal - 07 December 1910:
YARNTON. PRESENTATION AT THE SCHOOL.
Last Thursday, Mrs. Parsons, accompanied by the chairman of the managers, made a presentation of a silver watch to Elizabeth Axtell for having made perfect attendance at school for over seven years. The watch was suitably inscribed and was the gift of the Oxfordshire Education Committee. Last year a brother of Elizabeth Axtell received a similar watch, which speaks well for the family and the school as regards regular attendance.

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Elizabeth married Frederick Byles in 1919.
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We see Ronald in 1939 living at 1 Kings Row,Woodstock R,Yarnton, Ploughley, Oxfordshire:
Thomas Axtell 20 Dec 1867 Old Age Pensioner Married
Harriett A Axtell 22 Jul 1876 Laundress Married
Ada A Axtell 24 Jan 1909 Daily (Cook) Single
Ernest J Axtell 31 Mar 1916 Male Plumbers Labourer Single
Bertha a Axtell 12 Aug 1922 Shop Assistant (Drapery) Single
Elizabeth K Byles 25 Sep 1897 Assistant Laundress Married
Ronald G T Byles 21 May 1920 Railway Engine Cleaner Single
Harold J Byles 20 Jan 1926 At School Single

Sources for Elizabeth Kate AXTELL:

  1. 1901 British Census,
  2. GRO England & Wales,
  3. Descendant of this line,
  4. Ancestry.com,
  5. FreeBMD,

Notes for Harold James BYLES:

From the Western Morning News - 26 August 1937:
The Fire Tragedy
Man's Body in Canal
Was To Have Been Witness
The body of Gilbert Dobson, the Oxford radiator polisher, who was to have been the principal witness on Mona and Molly Gibbons, two young girls who lost their lives in a fire at their home in Cavendish Road, Oxford, on Saturday night, was recovered from the canal near Yarnton, four miles from Oxford. on Wednesday.
Dobson, who since the tragedy had seemed strange in manner and very worried, was a lodger in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Gibbons.
When fire broke out, in which the two sisters were suffocated, he made desperate efforts to rescue the girls.
The parents were at the house of friends, where Mr. Gibbons, who is well known as a 8.8. C. farmyard's mimic, was entertaining guests with some of his imitations, and were unaware of the tragedy until two hours after their daughters' death.
Dobson was found in the water with a tie knotted tightly round his neck and looped round the handlebars of a bicycle he was riding when he disappeared. The dead man had a sister living at Portsmouth, and it was thought that he was making his way there. He lost all he possessed in the fire, and Mr. George Dolling, with whom he had been staying since the tragedy, identified him as the body lay in a shed of a public-house.
The discovery of the body was made by Harold Byles. aged 11, of Yarnton. who with nine-year -old Charlie Dawson. of Oxford, was fishing. "We saw what we thought was a motor cushion in the water," Byles said, "and we told a man further along the canal. He saw it was a body and went and fetched a lockkeeper."

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Harold married Betty Lilian Dean on 14 February, 1948 at the Oxford Registry Office, Oxfordshire.
He later married Olive Margaret Hearn on 25 July 1953 at Portsmoith Register Office, Hampshire.
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From the Portsmouth Evening News - 26 November 1953:
Sailor's Bigamy With Pen-Friend.
Harold James Byles, a 27 - year - old sailor, was bound ever to be of good behaviour for two years after pleading guilty at Hampshire Assizes yesterday to bigamy at Porsmouth Register Office on July 25.
Mr. E. T. Read (prosecuting) said Byles was legally married in 1948. but the marriage was unhappy and his wife left him. Subsequently while serving overseas he advertised for a pen-friend and after a correspondence with Miss Olive Margaret Hearn, went through the bigamous ceremony with her.
Mr. J. Marshall (defending) said it was an unfortunate aspect of the case that at the time Byles went through the ceremony with Miss Hearn, petition for divorce had been filed on the grounds of his wife's adultery. "If he had been patient and had waited, he would not have been in Court."
Mr. Justice Lynskev said he was quite satisfied Byles' wife had been unfaithful and that he had had every justification for leaving her. "On the other hand you had no justification for deceiving Miss Hearn by pretending you were divorced but, judging by the letter she has written, she seems to have forgiven you.


Note: at the time of his trial, Harold was seving at HMS Phoenix, a shore establishment at Portsmouth, Hampshire, primarlily used the Fire Fighting training within the Royal Navy between 1946 and 1993. .

Sources for Harold James BYLES:

  1. FreeBMD,
  2. Personal Contact with Dave Broughton,
  3. GRO England & Wales,
  4. Newspaper Article,

Notes for Ronald George T BYLES:

Also known as: Johnny

Sources for Ronald George T BYLES:

  1. FreeBMD,
  2. GRO England & Wales, gave middle name