Foster Family Chart no. 170

	Gordon Thomas LONG		Doreen Katie DUDLEY
	b. 10 Mar 1912 at 26 South Road Englefield Green SRY		b. 16 May 1919
			m. 7 Oct 1939 at Feltham MDX
	d. 1983 Surrey N RD SRY, aged 71		d. 19 Jan 1998 Surrey N SRY, aged 79
	Grocery Shop Assistant (1939) Gunner Royal Artillery (1940 - 1946)

Children of the Marriage

Valerie Ann Dudley	Jennifer
b. 22 Oct 1941 at Waterloo Crescent Feltham MDX	b. 1946 Staines RD MDX
m. Roy Frederick HUNTER 1963 Middlesex South RD MDX
d. 22 Feb 2015 Surrey RD SRY

Who They Were

I do not remember my grandmother (Victoria May Hudson) ever mentioning her husband's first wife, nor the existence of Georgina's first son Gordon. By the time she married Henry James Foster in 1930 and took on his three children, Gordon was already 18 years old and well able to fend for himself. Nevertheless, in 1934 and 1936, Gordon Thomas LONG can be found living with Jim and Victoria, although he was named in the Electoral Register as Gordon Thomas ASPLIN, the name he had in the 1921 census.

I later learned a little from my aunt Margaret and was able to put together some sort of profile of Gordon. He was the first child born to Georgina Annie LONG, out of wedlock, so no hint of who his father was. However, it may be possible to speculate. Gordon was born on 10 Mar 1912, and it is reasonable to assume that he was conceived around June 1911. The 1911 census was taken on 2 Apr that year, and in it Georgina was listed as a housemaid at Hawke House Sunbury on Thames, the home of Thomas Croysdale and his wife Beatrice. The Croysdales were well off, with three maids and a cook living on the premises to serve Thomas, Beatrice, son Percy (aged 24), and daughter Sylvia. Two months after the census, Georgina fell pregnant, and presumably left her job, moving back home to have her son, Gordon.

Gordon Thomas served in the Royal Artillery as a gunner, from 1940 to 1946. His service number was 1700881.

Where They Lived

1921 - Gordon Asplin lived with his grandmother Annie and her second husband John ASPLIN in Egham. Gordon is described as a son even though he was 9 years old, and John and Annie were 57 and 68 respectively! Interestingly, living with them as a lodger was James FOSTER, aged 21, born Dorchester OXF, a gardener in the employ of Mr Tollemache of Englefield Green.

1925 - Georgina, Gordon's mother, was living at 55 Harvest Road, Englefield Green when she married Henry James Foster. This is the address Georgina also gave on Cecil's birth certificate the previous year.

1934 - 1936, Gordon Thomas LONG lived with Jim and Victoria, although he was named in the Electoral Register as Gordon Thomas ASPLIN.

Family Group Identifiers

Family: FOSOXF1
Family Group: foster170