Find Ancestors

I really am grateful for your input.
Following up the suggestion about electoral rolls, I have found:
1928 Edith Mills and William Mills living at South End, Sutton Courtenay
1929 Edith Mills, William Mills and Gladys Mills (Edith's daughter by her first husband, Frederick Beard) living at RAF Depot Milton Didcot
1930 As above
1931 As above, but with the addition of Gladys' second name (Leila) and Edith's second name (Alice) I therefore assume William had no second name. Bother.
After that, the trail runs cold. And I'm no further identifying the correct William Mills on the RAF lists. If only he had a really weird second name!
As always, any suggestions as to how to pin William down would be very gratefully received.
Rosemary

PM from Rosemary - it really is best if you add to the thread rather than send extra info off-board
........

Edith was both Edith Alice Woolf on 11 April 1878.
I guess William was roughly the same age - but you never know. She was a very young widow at 33. But with three children, maybe not much of a catch … although she was financially independent as her first husband had been a diamond merchant. They were all living in Manchester at the time of his death.
...........

She has also said that she will follow up on the Historical ER.

But we are trying to find something about William. Rosemary knows about Edith. Admittedly the location of Mr Beard's death may have some relevance in locating Willilam Hills.

Rosemary has said by PM that the 'children' she mentioned were from Edith's marriage to Mr Beard, but although she doesn't think Edith and William had any together, she'll have a look. All the children are now deceased.

i know she never married mills but was widowed by 1911 so beard must be her married name

As you have a year and address, try researching the historical ER. That should give you William's full name which is a start. Tracing forward, you might be able to find out when he left the property. Remember that there were no ER 1939-1945.

Try here - if Sutton Courtney isn't in their area, they may be able to tell you where the historical Electoral Rolls are held. Although general advice will be free, they are likely to charge to look up records for you.

https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/abingdon-library

Malyon, Rosemary has already said that Edith didn't marry William Mills. Thats why she was indexed twice, once under her partners name, the other by her (presumably) first husbands surname.

If she was 57 when she died, then it's a fair guess that William was born in that general period c 1880 give or take.

where did edith marry

is edith reg in both names when she died seems odd

Deaths Jun 1936 (>99%)
Mills Edith A 57 Hendon 3a 482

eaths Jun 1936 (>99%)
Beard Edith A 57 Hendon 3a 482

Are you in contact with the children or their descendents? Can you ask what they remember about their father/grandfather?

When was Edith born, not that we particularly need to research her, but his age might well be close to hers.

Thank you very much for all these helpful replies.
Unfortunately (as far as records are concerned!) Edith did not marry William. Indeed, her death vert records 'Edith Alice Beard, known as Mills.' Mystery surrounds why they did not marry, as she was widowed in 1911. Clearly the family accepted the relationship; by all accounts they visited often and William was know to Edith's nieces as 'Uncle Willie' and her three children changed their surnames to his.
Again, any thoughts as to how to proceed would be gratefully received.

OK ........ so Sutton Courtenay was aprt of Berkshire until boundary changes in 1974

that may help a little more!!

Actually, some of his records may be on Findmypast as they have the following data bases

British Royal Air Force, Airmen's Service Records 1912-1939
Royal Air Force Muster Roll 1918

There are c3 pages of results for William Hills, some with middle names, some without.
They do give years of birth, so if you can work out roughly when that might be based on Edith's, it would help to filter out some.

His records, if he served with them, would be with the RAF but how you could order a copy (£30) without a dob is problematic
http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/service_records.html

Were William and Edith married? If so, look for the registration of their marriage on
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
You can order a copy from http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/ at a cost of £9.25.
The certificate will give you his declared age, and the name of his father. From that information it might be possible to find out a bit more about him.

I'm looking for information about a William Mills, supposedly attached to RAF Didcot in the late 1920s / early 1930s. My late mother reports visiting him and her Aunt Edith when they were living at The Bungalow, Milton, Sutton Courtnay, Oxfordshire at this time. Edith died in 1936 (and my mother in 2005) Of William I can find no record. The only tangible memento I have is of a silver toast rack with the RFC insignia engraved on it. Any help gratefully received!