Wife of William Wilson Douglas (1880 - 1923)

[Tom Jenks]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to find more information about the wife of William Wilson Douglas (1880 - 1923). They were my great grandparents.

I've found the marriage certificate and have the name Elizabeth Hicks (about 1879 - ?) However, all that tells me is that her father was William and he was a carter. Has anyone done any research in this area and know anything more about her? According to the 1911 census she was born in Bristol.

Kind regards

Tom Jenks

[William Douglas]

Ah!  Born in Bristol was a good clue!
William Wilson Douglas was the son of the founder of the famous motorcycle firm; he took over the company. He had taken part in the 1911 Isle of Man T.T. Races and after the Great War was in the U.S.A and Canada promoting the firm. In 1923, at the age of 43, William Douglas tragically died and his family moved away from the area.

http://www.douglashistory.co.uk/famgen/getperson.php?personID=I3275...

and
http://www.douglashistory.co.uk/history/Businesses/motorcycles.htm

[Jeannine Darling]

na

[William Douglas]

Tom,

I have further information on the family and am working on it at the moment, so it should be ready for publishing around the end of the month.
Yours aye,

William

[Tom Jenks]

Thanks, William. I managed to find a bit more information recently. As far as I can tell, when they met, Elizabeth Hicks was a boot machinist. They married in a registry office so there's a possibility the marriage wasn't approved of. It'll explain why there are so few records of her after they're married. I believe I've found her in the census records before marriage. If you use ancestry.co.uk you can find everything I have here:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/69287442/family?cfpid=3...

[William Douglas]

If you look in Photos in this forum you will find three recent posts of census returns.

In 1891, several listed were boot manufacturers.  Presumably Miss Hicks worked with them?