My father, Keith, had already done most of the research on the Retallick side of the family, so there was little I needed to add to it.  The earliest potential ancestor was called Robert Tallacke who was born in 1565. I haven’t found the evidence for this assertion, but I’ve left him in the tree in the hopes that I will be able to put some flesh on the bones at some stage. 

Several generations later and exactly one year after the Battle of Waterloo the marriage took place in St Eustachius Parish Church, Tavistock, of William Retallick and Thomasin Parsons.  He was a bachelor born about 1766, probably in the St Columb area of Cornwall. She was a widow and came from Sourton, near Okehampton and was baptised Thomasin May at Bridestow in 1781. They made their home about two miles west of Tavistock in a hamlet called Creber very near the copper and tin mine of the same name.  William was a labourer and probably worked at the mine.  They had a number of children the youngest of whom was Richard, born 1827 at Creber.  William died in 1836 and Thomasin in 1854.  Both are buried in Tavistock.

Richard Retallick married Mary Ann Bartlett in 1854 at Tavistock.  Mary Ann was born in Launceston, Cornwall, in 1828.  They settled near Creber and later moved to Newton, about a mile away.  They were blessed with five children, one of whom was John Retallick, born 1858 at Newton Mill Cottages.  Like his father Richard was a labourer, probably in the copper mines of the area.  When the West Devon mining industry went into decline in the 1870s, Richard and Mary Ann took their family to Kensington, London and began a new life there.  Richard died in 1899 and Mary Ann in 1903; both are buried in the Kensington Cemetery at Hanwell.

John Retallick married Emily Lydia Jolly in 1878 in Kensington. They continued to live there and raise a family.  There were seven children, the first of which was William John born in 1880.  In 1892 Emily died after the birth of twins, Arthur Thomas and Mary Rosa.  In 1898 John married again in Kensington, this time to Harriet Louise Beckett.  They had two further children.  He is believed to have been a member of the Baptist church and sang in the choir, which is where he met his second wife.  When John first married he was a labourer in a foundry but by 1881 had joined the Post Office, where it seems he continued until his retirement in about 1919.  He and Harriet emigrated to Australia where he died in 1922.  He is buried in Sydney New South Wales.  It is interesting to note that a few years after John died, Harriet married Harold Percival Retallick, her stepson who was 13 years her junior!  They remained in Australia.

My Great Grandfather, William John Retallick (pictured above left) married Jessie Jenkins at Kensington in 1901 where they also set up home. There were three children, William John (known as John), Jessie Elvina, and Richard Ernest Allan (known as Allan) born between 1903 and 1914. Great Grandad (who was also known as Jack) suffered partial blindness from about the age of 21. He was employed in the Post Office and during the first world war he was a clerk in the Army.  In 1928 the family moved to Littlehampton, Sussex. He remained there for the most of the rest of his life.  His son, William John, married about this time and did not move with the rest of his family.  Jessie died in 1952 and Gt Grandad married her sister Margaret a year or so later.  Margaret died in 1955 and finally Gt Grandad died in 1975 in Peacehaven, Sussex.

It is probable that the Jenkins family were active in the Brethren and for that reason the family joined the Brethren and continued so for the remainder of their lives.

During the period at Littlehampton Gt Grandad carried on business in a small way, first working with his brother-in-law, Harry Jenkins, who owned a woodworking shop. Then later he ran a sweet shop from his home and a printing and publishing house, the latter being operated by Allan.  There are six books listed in the British Library under his name.

William John Retallick Jnr (my grandfather pictured above right) was born in 1903 in Kensington and grew up there until he married Florence Caroline Ransom in 1928 and they made their home in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire.  There were three children, Gerald, Keith (my dad) and Muriel.  Grandpa was trained as an electrician and spent many years in the early days of wireless as a radio engineer.  For a short time in the late 1930s he worked for the London Underground as an electrician, then for the period of the second world war he joined the police service. After the return of peace he set up business as a printer and continued so until he retired.

The family remained in the same house at Iver Heath until retirement when John and Florrie moved to Willingdon, Eastbourne for most of the remainder of their lives.  Florrie died in 1981 and John in 1982.  They are both buried in Langney Cemetery, Eastbourne.