Elizabeth Smeed was the seventh child of Edward Smeed & Sarah Ann Hayward born April 12th, 1870 at East Grinstead & christened March 17th, 1871 at St Swithun’s Church, East Grinstead.
In 1871 Elizabeth was living at Fairlight Cottage, East Grinstead with her parents & 1 brother & 3 sisters.
Elizabeth & her family were living at Fairlight Farm in 1881 where her father was a farmer.
Elizabeth married John Frederick Ford on April 20th, 1898 at the Parish Church, Withyham. Witnesses at the wedding were Elizabeth’s sister Caroline & brother George. John was born on April 6th 1868 at Liskeard, Cornwall.
In 1901 Elizabeth & John were living at Aldershot Military in Stanhope & Wellington Lines, Hants. John was a 2nd class Staff Sergeant in the Royal Army Medical Corps & served in Africa & Gibraltar. They had a 1 year old son, John Frederick.
By 1911 John & Elizabeth were living at 13 Cambrian Rd, Tunbridge Wells, Kent with their 3 children, John Frederick, Kathleen Victoria Elizabeth (9) & Oliver Stanley (7). John was now an army pensioner, having left the army after 25 years service & having been promoted to sergeant major.
In 1924 son John Frederick, a sergeant, married Ethel Dora Humm in Brentford, Middlesex.
In 1929 son Oliver, a school master, married Gwendoline Irene David in Gillingham, Kent.
Daughter Kathleen married Wallace Walter George Flood, a customs & excise officer, in Elham, Kent.
The 1939 register shows John & Elizabeth living at 57 Joyes Rd, Folkestone, Kent & John was described as a captain retired.
John of 100 St James Rd, Southampton died of heart failure on May 23rd, 1946 at the Borough Hospital, Southampton. Probate was granted to daughter Kathleen Victoria Elizabeth Flood (wife of Wallace Walter George Flood) & his effects were £878.1s.5d.
Widowed Elizabeth of 57 Joyes Rd, Folkestone, Kent died on February 27th, 1949 at St Augustines Hospital, Chartham, Kent. Administration was granted to son John Frederick, an Army Major & her effects were £178.6s.10d.
The children of Elizabeth Smeed & John Frederick Ford were:
sm.11.7.1 John Frederick Ford born October 5th, 1899 at Woowich, Kent; died January 1995 at Crawley, Sussex
sm.11.7.2 Kathleen Victoria Elizabeth Ford born April 13th, & christened May 23rd, 1901 at Garrison Church, Aldershot, Hants; died Oct 1988 at Brighton, Sussex
sm.11.7.3 Oliver Stanley Ford born August 16th, 1903 in Gibraltar; died November 1995 at Chatham, Kent