5th Generation

Lilian May Higby  ( 1890 - 1982 )

30.          LILIAN MAY HIGBY was born in December 18, 1890 in Barrackpore, India.

From the GRO Army Birth Indices, we find:

On page 15 Army Returns. - Births. - 1886 to 1890

Surname. - Name. - Station. - Year. - Page.

Higby ……Lillian May …….Barrackpore ……….1890 ……293

Father:       Walter Higby      (No. 12)

Mother:      Lucy Scerri

Lilian Higby was born in Barrackpore, India while her father, who was a Corporal in the Royal artillery, was stationed there in 1890.

In 1891, the family was then stationed in Calcutta, India.   Lilian’s mother and sister died there.

Between 1891 and 1895, Lilian and her father went back to England.

While in Essex, her father got married again in 1895 and then they were living in Portsmouth, Hants. where her half-brother, Walter, was born in 1898.

In 1901, Lilian M. Higby, age 10, in school, was living with her father and step-mother in Guston, Kent.

From the 1901 Census of Guston, Kent, we find the following:

Broadlees [  ] No. 3 B

4 - Number of Rooms occupied if less than five

Name - Relationship – Married or Single – Age – Sex – Profession – Birthplace

Walter Higby           Head  M 35 M  Coy Sergt Major R. G. A.             S.X.       Canewdon
Susan A  do            Wife   M 33 F                                                    Sussex  Blatchendon
Lilian M   do           daur.  S 10 F      school                                     India      Barrackpore
Walter H. V. S. do  son    S  3 M        do                                          Hants.   Portsmouth

In 1911, Lilian Higby, age 20, was living with her grandparents, William Charles and Sarah Ann Higby, in Canewdon, Essex.

From the 1911 Census of Canewdon, Essex, we find the following:

Postal Address - Canewdon - Rochford - Essex
Number of Rooms in this Dwelling - 4
Signature - Mr Higby

Name - Relationship - Age - Sex - Married or Single - Years Married - Children born alive - Children living - Children died - Profession – Birthplace

William Charles Higby   Head               72 M  Married                     Old Age Pensioner         Essex  Eastwood
Sarah Ann Higby           Wife                68 F   Married    49  5  4  1                                      Essex  Canewdon
Lilian Higby                   grandaughter  20 F   Single                                                           India - Barrapour

More information about Lilian Higby - Resident Brit Sub by parentage

Lilian May Higby married JOSEPH HENRY GARNER on February 10, 1914 at the Register Office in Rochford, Essex.

From the marriage certificate, we have the following information:

Registration District:  Rochford
1914.  Marriage solemnized at The Register Office in the District of Rochford in the County of Essex

No. 177

When Married.  Tenth February 1914

Name and Surname.                                Joseph Henry Garner            Lilian May Higby
Age.                                                       26 Years                              23 Years
Condition.                                               Bachelor                              Spinster
Rank or Profession.                                 Petty Officer
                                                                       Telegraphist R. N.
Residence at the time of Marriage.           Canewdon Rochford              Vicarage Cottage Canewdon
                                                                                                                                    Rochford

Father’s Name and Surname.                  Joseph Garner                      Walter Higby
Rank or Profession of Father.                  Gas Engineer                       Sergeant Major R.G.S.

Married in the Register Office by Licence before me, W. Carter Wood Registrar

This Marriage was solemnized between us,
                           J. H. Garner    L. M. Higby

In the Presence of us,
                           G. A. Allent     X The mark of William Higby      William Gregson  Supt. Regr:

From the 1914 marriage certificate, you can see that Lilian was living in the Vicarage Cottage in Canewdon.  It may have been where her grandparents, William and Sarah Higby, were living in.

The Garners lived in the Vicarage Cottage until 1982 when a month or so before her death, Lilian became too frail to be on her own and died in the hospital.

Joseph Henry Garner was born May 22, 1887 and was a son of a Joseph Garner a Gas Engineer.

Joseph Garner was in the Royal Navy since the early 1910’s.   In 1913, he was a Petty Officer Telegraphist on the H.M.S. Vernon and he received recommendation that he is ready to be promoted to Warrant Telegraphist.

From Paul Cooper’s collection of family documents, we have the following:

H.M.S. “Britomart,” at Hankow,

12th February 1913.

Sir, I have the honour to submit that Joseph Henry Garner, Petty Officer Telegraphist, O. N. 226,386, is recommended for Warrant Telegraphist, and that his name may be placed on the Roster in accordance with Article 871a King’s Regulations and Admiralty Instructions (Addenda 1911).

Copies of Service Certificate and Wireless Telegraphist’s History Sheet are attached.

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your Obedient, Servant, [H ?] Darwall Lieutenant & Commander.  The Commanding Officer H.M.S. “Vernon”.

At the time of his marriage to Lilian in 1914, Joseph Garner was with the rank of Petty Officer Telegraphist.  Joseph was in the Navy throughout World War I.

In 1918, Joseph Garner recieved appointment to be Warrant Telegraphist on His Majesty’s Ship Hyacinth.

From Paul Cooper’s collection of family documents, we also have the following:

By Command of the Commissioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c.  C.W.

To Mr. Joseph H Garner R. N.

The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty hereby appoint you Warrant Telegraphist of His Majesty’s Ship “Hyacinth” for staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Ca[ ]e.  and direct you to repair on board that Ship.  Your appointment is to take effect from the 6th November 1918.  You will receive a further communication as to passage (see A.M.O. No 9. 1918)

By Command of their Lordships. O. Murray
Portsmouth Admirality, S. W. I.  6-11-18

Joseph Henry Garner when he was in the Royal Navy

Photograph from Paul Cooper of England

Joseph was in the Royal Navy until about 1928 when he placed himself on the retirement list.

With World War II starting, Joseph Garner, gone back to the Royal Navy and served out war.

He retired with the rank of Lieutenant Telegraphist.

In 1955, Joseph Henry Garner died at the age of 68 in the Vicarage Cottage Canewdon on August 20, 1955 and was buried August 27, 1955 at the church at Canewdon, Essex.

The date of death came from his Navy Service record.

From the Burial Register of Canewdon, we have the following:

Burials 1955 - Page 96 No. 766

Joseph Henry Garner  /   Vicarage Cottage Canewdon  /  August 27 1955   /  68  /  Christopher Ludlow

As mentioned above, Joseph Henry Garner is buried in the churchyard of Canewdon, Essex.

From the information on the stone in the churchyard, it says:

CHERISHED MEMORIE(S)
OF
JOSEPH HENRY GARNER
LIEUTENANT R. N.
1887 - 1955

Somewhere in the 1950’s, the memory of George Pickingill was revived - but to put it more specifically - he was not forgotten in Canewdon but now George Pickingill was becoming known to rest of the world.  It was said that he was a Witch and others says he was a Cunning man too.

In the early 1960’s onward, several authors, etc. visited Canewdon seeking more information about George Pickingill.  Lilian Garner was visited by some of these authors and she told them about what was known about George Pickingill.

From a website “Old George Pickingill and the History of Modern Witchcraft”, website constructed by Scott Bisseker for Bill Liddell, we have the following:

“Mike Howard visited Canewdon in 1977 and met ‘Granny’ Garner.  Lillian Garner was Eric Maple’s chief informant when he visited Canewdon in the winter of 1959/60.   He described Mrs. Garner, who was born in 1890, as the last of Canewdon’s ‘white witches’.  She told Mike Howard in 1977 that her mother had informed her that George Pickingill was the leader of the Canewdon witches, and that he had ‘many visitors’ who came seeking his knowledge of occult arts. (Bill Liddell, 1999)”.

From the book, “Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft” by Ronald Hutton, we have the followings:

Page 297 in the Chapter of “Old Craft, New Craft”

“…Such data certainly existed in the 1960s, when people still survived who had lived in Canewdon at the opening of the century and known Pickingill, One was ‘Granny’ Lillian Garner, who had been one of Maple’s chief informants.”

Page 458 in the “Notes to pp. 297-308”

“20….. Mike Howard, talking to Lillian Garner in October 1977, heard a slightly different account of Pickingill from her, notably the detail that he had visitors ‘from all over, including abroad’, which accords better with Bill Liddell’s portrait…”

From a new book, “Modern Wicca:  A History from Gerald Gardner to the Present”
By Michael Howard, 2010, we have the following:

Page 57 and 58 in the chapter of “The Pickingill Connection”

“In October 1977, a few days before Hallowe’en, I decided to visit Canewdon in the hope of finding out more about Pickingill…….  I called at the vicarage and asked the aged minister if he could help me in my quest…. he kindly suggested that an elderly lady called Granny Garner might be able to help me, and he directed me to her cottage in the lane leading up to the church.  Apparently she had been Eric Maple’s chief informant in the village and he had described her as the last white witch in Canewdon.

Lillian Garner was eighty-seven years old when I met her, but her mind was, as they say, “as bright as a button.”  She invited me in for tea, and told me that she remembered George Pickingill from her childhood as a village character and eccentric old gentleman.  She recollected when the first car came to the village that he had his photograph taken beside it.  She revealed that her own mother had told her that Mr. Pickingill was the leader of a local coven of witches.  Apparently her mother was actually a member of the coven and said that the witch master had “many visitors” from outside the village who came seeking his occult knowledge.  Before I left, Lillian gave me the original of the photograph of George Pickingill that was published in Eric Maple’s book Dark World of the Witches.  A photograph of Granny Garner herself standing at the door of her cottage was reproduced with Maple’s article on the Canewdon witches published in the encyclopedic work Man, Myth and Magic in the 1970s.”

Lilian Garner in September 1975, when she was 84 years old

Photograph from Paul Cooper of England

Lilian Garner died, at the age of 91, on November 16, 1982 in Shoebury Hospital, Shoeburyness, Essex.

The following is some of the information from the death certificate:

Entry No. 242

Registration District:  Southend on Sea, County of Essex

Date and place of death                         Sixteenth November 1982
                                                           Shoebury Hospital, Shoeburyness

Name and surname                               Lillian May GARNER
Sex                                                      female
Maiden surname                                    HIGBY

Date and place of birth                          18th December 1890  India
Occupation and usual address              Widow of Henry GARNER, Naval Lieutenant
                                                           Shoebury Hospital, Shoeburyness

Lilian Garner is buried in the churchyard of the church in Canewdon near her husband’s burial location.  There is no cemetery stone for her.  However, she is buried near the church’s tall bell tower.

From the emails from Paul Cooper, a great-grandson of Lilian Garner, dated Friday, December 4, 2009 and Sunday, December 6, 2009 ---- we have these bits about Lilian:

“…… I have many wonderful memories of my gran garner and though it was common knowledge in my family that she was a white witch I was too young to question her about it…”

“….. Yes ….. in 2009.  Visited Canewdon again because of your website for the first time since gran garners funeral when I was 16… brought back great memorys of a wonderful lady and her spooky house”.

We hope to hear more about Lilian Garner from the family.

The above pictures were taken by Paul Cooper in 2009 on his first return to Canewdon since the funeral of Lillian Garner in November of 1982.

The first two are of the Vicarage Cottage in Canewdon as it appears now.  The family lived in it since 1914 (or earlier) to about the late 1970's or early 1980's.

Then the pictures from the cemetery.  As you go through the main gates of the church in Canewdon, its to the left between the church main entance and the bell tower.  The Higby plot is the rectangular plot with a headstone that is to the right of the bench in the third picture.  You can see the headstone (flat on the ground) for Joseph Henry Garner between the bench and the Higby plot (there is some flowers set next to it).

The fourth picture shows in detail the stone for Joseph Henry Garner.

Lilian Garner is buried near this stone but she does not have a stone for her.

The information on the stone for Joseph Henry Garner is written above.

CHILDREN OF JOSEPH HENRY AND LILIAN MAY (HIGBY) GARNER

34.          JOSEPHINE M. X. GARNER  was born in 1914.

From the England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, we find the following Birth entry from the Indexes:

Name:                              Josephine M X Garner
Year:                                1914
Quarter:                            Apr-May-Jun  (2nd Quarter)
Mother’s maiden name:      Higby
District:                             Rochford
County:                             Essex
Volume:   4a                     Page:  1353

Josephine M. X. Garner married ARTHUR NORMAN SAVAGE COOPER in 1937.

From the England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, we find the following Marriage entry from the Indexes:

Name:      Josephine M X Garner / Arthur N S Cooper
Year:        1937
Quarter:   Apr-May-Jun  (2nd Quarter)
District:    Rochford
County:    Essex
Volume:   4a      Page:  1669

A picture from the Wedding of Josephine Garner and Arthur Cooper in 1937, the couple being in the center.  Lilian is believed to be the lady in the back with the dark hat.  Perhaps the tallest person in the back is Joseph Garner.

Photograph from Paul Cooper of England

Josephine and Arthur have several children.  But because the children may be still living, they are not included in this history of the family.

35.          JOSEPH W. GARNER   was born in 1915.

From the England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, we find the following Birth entry from the Indexes:

Name:                               Joseph W Garner
Year:                                1915
Quarter:                            Oct-Nov-Dec  (4th Quarter)
Mother’s maiden name:      Higby
District:                             Rochford
County:                             Essex
Volume:   4a                     Page:  1202

Joseph W. Garner also died in 1915.

From the England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, we find the following Death entry from the Indexes:

Name:      Joseph W Garner
Year:        1915
Quarter:   Oct-Nov-Dec  (4th Quarter)
Age:         0
District:    Rochford
County:    Essex
Volume:   4a      Page: 746

Sources:

1.     Births, GRO Army Birth Indices (1881 to 1965) 1886-1890, http://www.findmy past.com.   Page 15 1890 Lillian May Higby.  December 25, 2008 Thursday 7:12 PM.

2.     1901 Census of England, Kent, Guston, District 17, Image No. 3, Ancestry.com.  Public Record Office reference: RG 13 / 840, Original Page No. 3, Stamped Page No. 74, No. of Schedule 12, Household of Walter Higby.   December 16, 2008 Tuesday 2:56 PM.

3.     1911 Census of England, Essex, Canewdon, No. of Schedule 85, Household of William Charles Higby.  http://www.1911census.co.uk .  January 17, 2009 Saturday 2:55 PM.

4.     1913 Naval Document concerning Joseph Henry Garner Petty Officer Telegraphist.  From Paul Cooper’s collection of Family Documents.  Scan attachment from email dated Sunday December 6, 2009 9:42 AM.

5.    1914 Marriage Certificate of Lilian May Higby and Joseph Henry Garner.  From the General Register Office, Southport, Merseyside, England.   Received December 1, 2009 Tuesday 10:00 AM.

6.     1918 Naval Document concerning Joseph Henry Garner Warrant Officer Telegraphist.  From Paul Cooper’s collection of Family Documents.  Scan attachment from email dated Sunday December 6, 2009 9:42 AM.

7.    Civil Registration Index, Birth of Josephine M X Garner, 2nd Quarter (Apr-May-Jun), Year 1914, Mother’s Maiden Name Higby, District Rochford, County Essex, Volume 4a, Page 1353.  Searched July 19, 2009 Sunday 8:22 PM.

8.    Civil Registration Index, Birth of Joseph W Garner, 4th Quarter (Oct-Nov-Dec), Year 1915, Mother’s Maiden Name Higby, District Rochford, County Essex, Volume 4a, Page 1202.   Searched July 19, 2009 Sunday 8:23 PM.

9.    Civil Registration Index, Death of Joseph W Garner, age 0, 4th Quarter (Oct-Nov-Dec), Year 1915, District Rochford, County Essex, Volume 4a, Page 746. Searched November 24, 2009 Tuesday 1:58 PM.

10.    Civil Registration Index, Marriage of Josephine M X Garner and Arthur N S Cooper, 2nd Quarter (Apr-May-Jun), Year 1937, District Rochford, County Essex, Volume 4a, Page 1669.  Searched November 24, 2009 Tuesday 2:00 PM.

11.     Joseph Henry Garner’s Navy Officer records, Page No. 992.   The National Archives, United Kingdom.  Catalogue Reference: ADM/196/156, Image Reference: 1301.  December 1, 2009 Tuesday 1:26 PM.

12.    Civil Registration Index, Death of Joseph H. Garner, age 68, 3rd Quarter (Jul-Aug-Sep), Year 1955, District Rochford, County Essex, Volume 4b, Page 529.   www.findmypast.com.  Searched June 6, 2009 Saturday 6:40 PM.

13.     Parish Registers of Canewdon, Essex, England.  Burials: Page 96 No. 766, 1955 Joseph Henry Garner.  Searched and extracted December 16, 2008 Tuesday.

14.     The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft By Ronald Hutton.  Page 297 and 458, Lillian Garner is mentioned.  From my copy of the book that I purchased in the Spring of 2009.

15.     Website “Old George Pickingill and the History of Modern Witchcraft”, website constructed by Scott Bisseker for Bill Liddell, http://bissekart.zoomshare.com/files/pickingill/begin.html.    It mentioned Lillian Garner.  November 24, 2009 Tuesday 8:15 PM.

16.    Modern Wicca: A History from Gerald Gardner to the Present” By Michael Howard 2010.  Page 57 and 58 in the chapter of “The Pickingill Connection”, it mentioned Granny Lilian Garner.  December 9, 2009 Wednesday 3:35 PM.

17.     Civil Registration Index, Death of Lillian May Garner, 4th Quarter (Oct-Nov-Dec), Year 1982, District Southend/S, County Essex, Volume 9, Page 2906.  www.findmypast.com.  Searched December 25, 2008 Christmas Day.

18.    1982 Death Certificate of Lillian May Garner.  From the General Register Office, Southport, Merseyside, England.   Received  December 1, 2009 Tuesday 10:00 AM.

19.     Photographs of the Vicarage Cottage and of the Higby and Garner Family Burial plots in the churchyard of Canewdon, Essex.  From Paul Cooper’s collection of family photographs.  Digital Photographs attached to three emails all dated Sunday, December 6, 2009, 9:42 AM, 1:18 PM and 4:02 PM.

20.     Photographs of Lilian Garner, Joseph H. Garner, and the Cooper - Garner Wedding picture.   From Paul Cooper’s collection of family photographs.  Digital Photographs attached to three emails all dated Monday, December 21, 2009 Yule - Winter Solstice, 3:30 PM.