Peter John Tavner Wilkey (b.1891) was a lorry driver and the son of Charles Ambrose Wilkey (b.1862) and Martha Caroline Williams (b.c1869). Charles parents were William Tavenor Wilkey (christened 1821) and the former Mary Anne Jones (b.c1839) who had moved from St. Mary's Parish in Bathwick, Bath to Limehouse in the parish of St. Anne's, Stepney around 1858.

Peter was the fourth of six children and grew up at 11 Ricket, Limehouse before moving to Piggot Street where other members of the family were located. One of Peter's sisters, Lily E Wilkey married a William G Adams in the December quarter of 1912. He was a plantation worker and lived in Singapore, where they were interned for a period during the First World War. The reason for the internment is not known. They had one child, a daughter.

A younger brother, Robert Henry Wilkey (known as Bob) lost a leg during the First World War but happily married an Edith C Godden in the June quarter, 1920. They also had one child, Dorothy Wilkey, born in the September quarter of 1926.

Another brother, Charles John F Wilkey married Ethel M Burton in the December quarter of 1920, they had two children, Iris (b.1922) and Leonard (b.1924). Charles died at the early age of 57 in the December quarter of 1945 at Romford, however, Ethel outlived by a number of years. She died at the age of 70 in the March quarter of 1963 in Newton Abbot, Devon.

Charles' oldest sister and Charles and Caroline's first born was Caroline Anne Wilkey, named after the mother and born in the September quarter of 1886, known to the family as Aunt Carrie, it is not known whether she married and had children.

Before returning to Peter's story it is important to mention the last child to be born to Charles and Caroline Wilkey (Martha Caroline preferred and used the name 'Caroline'), was Frederick William P Wilkey born in the June quarter of 1900. He became a drayman with Taylor Walker Breweries and in the June quarter of 1921 (when he was 21) married a Julia Kelly in Stepney. It is important to mention this family because like Peter John Tavner Wilkey the couple had a large family of seven children and therefore with Peter's nine children contributed quite considerably to the Wilkey clan in Stepney!

Peter himself married Elizabeth French on the 18 August 1912. Elizabeth (b. 20 February 1892 at Mile End) was the daughter of Frederick George French and Louisa French (nee Day), whose other children were Walter, Edward (known as Ted), William (known as 'Bill', he settled in Adelaide, Australia), Jack, Sid, Annie and Florence. Ted fought at Ypes during the First World War and suffered terrible injuries to his face, losing part of his jaw and face from shrapnel wounds.

Following their marriage Peter and Elizabeth Wilkey settled at 54 Winterton Street, Limehouse and the first of their nine children, Elsie, was born in the first quarter of the New Year. Over the next seventeen years a further eight children were born, they were Florrie (1915), Charles (1916), Frederick (1919), Peggy (1920), Phyllis (1922), Louie (1923), Peter (1928) and Sydney (1930). The children went to St Anne's School, Limehouse.

The family then moved to 1, Ropner Place, Limehouse which was later blitzed in the early part of the Second World War and necessitated a further move, out of Limehouse and this time to Bushill Park, Enfield. Luckily, the intervention of the war meant that many of the family were away from home. Elsie and Florrie, the two youngest children were already married (both in 1938) and the next two children, Charles and Frederick were of conscription age.

Following her marriage to Joseph J Cane, a soldier in the Coldstream Guards in the March quarter of 1938 Elsie Wilkey had three children, Anne, John (b.1944), and Janet. The second daughter Florrie married a Frederick T Baldwin in the Jun quarter of 1938 and they had one son, Roger Baldwin. The third child, Charles P Wilkey lives in Fairford, Gloucestershire and married May Collins in the Jun quarter of 1948. They had one son, Robert Wilkey.

Before joining the Royal Navy at the outbreak of the Second World War, Frederick Sidney Wilkey, born on the 22 February 1919 was a rep for a millinery company called Walter Webb & Baker in the city by the time he was 14 (in 1933). Later taking up an opportunity to travel within the trade he met his future wife, Edith May Jones in Caerphilly, and they married in East Glamorgan on the 1 February 1941. However, Frederick was lucky to be there as only six months before, the warship he was serving on was torpedoed off Bardia in East Libya, and was holed up in Devonport Dockyard undergoing extensive repairs (find out more).

After the war, around 1948 Frederick went into partnership and for approximately ten years ran a menswear shop in Caerphilly called 'The Man's Shop'. When the partnership ended Fred continued to work in the trade, becoming a wholesale sales manager for Debenham's. Sadly his life partner Edith died on the 12 October 1990, however Fred met and married former shop assistant Eileen Ruth Wallace on the 12 March 1994 and they now live in Eileen's home town of Swindon.

From his first marriage Frederick has three children. Dianna Elizabeth Wilkey, the eldest, was born in Grimsby on the 29 April 1942 and now lives in Langland Bay, Mumbles, on the Gower coast. She married Neil Harding in 1963 and they have five children, all boys. Alexander, the eldest is married and is a GP in Topsham, Exeter; Gareth has a partner and is a journalist living in Brussels; Daniel is a teacher and his partner Cecile is of French origin; Ben, another journalist in the family is getting married in Italy in April 2005. His future wife is Angela; Tom, the youngest of the family is working for Westminster County Council.

Frederick's second child, Christopher Frederick Wilkey was born in Caerphilly on the 9 June 1946, he married Gillian Wien. Christopher runs a factory and is managing director of ID&C Ltd, a security company on the Colebrook Industrial Estate in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. There are three children: Richard Wilkey, married to Kate, is a solicitor in Birmingham, they have one child, Molly; the middle child, Rachel Wilkey is nursing in London, and Christopher and Gill's third child Matthew helps his father in the security business in Tunbridge Wells.

Frederick's third child is Jonathan Paul Wilkey, born on the 2 October 1953, again in Caerphilly where Frederick was in partnership. Jonathan is a solicitor and travels to work in Coleford and Cinderford from his home in Caerphilly. Jonathan originally married a Heather Youd but this relationship was dissolved and Jonathan now lives with his partner Wendy Maher. There are two children from Jonathan's marriage: Rebecca Wilkey who is at university and studying law, and Katie who is still at school in Caerphilly and is keen on gymnastics.

Peter and Elizabeth's fifth child was Margaret L Wilkey, known to the family as 'Peggy'. She married Frank W Pye in the September quarter of 1941 and they had two children, Janet and Peter. Phyllis, the next child born in 1922, married Ernest C Knott in Edmonton in the March quarter of 1944, they had one child, Kenneth. Phyllis later remarried a Mr Herring and lives in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.

Louisa Wilkey, born 26 November 1923 is known to the family as 'Louie' or 'Aunt Louie'. She married Sydney W Baker in the December quarter of 1942 and they had one child, Jean.

Peter E Wilkey, named after his father was Peter and Elizabeth's eighth child and was born in 1928. He married a Shirley Allbut in the December quarter of 1955. Following her decease he remarried again but his second wife has also died it is believed in 2003. Peter now lives in Norfolk. He has two children by his first marriage; Linda who now lives in Martham, Norfolk, and Peter who is now married (wife's name Kay) and lives in Wimbourne, Dorset.

Peter and Elizabeth's ninth and last child was Sydney Walter Wilkey who was born on the 3 August 1930. He married Dorothy M Norman in Edmonton in the December quarter of 1954. He latterly moved to Bristol where he worked for the Will's tobacco company. He lived at Nailsworth just outside Bristol. Following his death in Stroud in the Jun quarter of 1990 his wife Dorothy (known as 'Dolly' to the family) moved to Cirencester. There are two children, the first, Paul, runs a pub in Bristol and the second is Christine who lives with her mother in Cirencester.

Peter John Tavner Wilkey lived to the good age of 90 years and died at Enfield on the 3 November 1981, however his wife, the former Elizabeth French sadly predeceased him by a 28 years when she died in October 1953 at the age of 61.