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Got the document thanks. Makes interesting reading and is official proof of the Rouse/Cosby name change.

Unfortunately the search for wills and probate on Ancestry stops at 1941 and we think John died in 1942.
You can search in person at First Avenue House, High Holborn (and buy it there for £5) or write to them asking them to look it up for you, or put a request on here to see if anyone is visiting and could look it up for you.
I'd wait for the death cert first to make sure you have the right John Cosby.

Here's info:

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1226.htm

i am emailing you document, i hope you can read it but there is a note about Arthur being called Rouse?
How do you go about finding wills?

its started to get really good now

If that photo was taken in 1947 we know Mary was still alive then. She had a very good innings, didn't she.

This is the most likely death for her for age and location, but Ted will probably know.

Name: Mary Cosby
Death Registration Month/Year: 1949
Age at death (estimated): 90
Registration district: Woolwich
Inferred County: London
Volume: 5d
Page: 1131

Mary probably went home to her mother to have the babies - quite common - which is why they were born in Ousden.

I doubt very much that John and Mary divorced - too expensive for ordinary people. And on the 1911 census, Mary says she has been married for 31 years which doesn't suggest a divorce.

If they had been divorced, there would have been no need for a name change as everything would be legal and above board. Plus, no one can find the marriage!!
Have you investigated whether or not John left a will? Now that would make interesting reading!!

Harold and Ellen had Harold J in 1922 and Edward R in 1926.

Doris possibly married a Percy Keightley and had a son Roy in 1932.

Hi yer, your so demanding, will email straight away.
A message from Ted, Marys relation, he confirms that John Cosby was married to Mary and lived in Torquay, even though the choldren were bn in Ousden.He seems to think they were divorced after the birth of son John, and then John snr remarried and lived in london, I need to get some more meat on the bone and strat askiong him some questions.
From the Harold Cosby entry on Gilbert tree, all I can conform is Harold snr was married to Ellen Euling and they had a son Harold bn 1922 dd 2002.

There's a 'Susan' who has Henry Cosby in her tree. An e-mail to her might produce something, see if she knows anything about the sons.

Cosby was John's proper/birth name; Rouse was something he adopted later in life. Maybe he wanted to go back to his real name and wanted to properly name his kids.

Arthur's birth was registered as Rouse, and he was baptised as a Rouse. Could it be something to do with that? Was the note in 1940 an official thing? It was during the war, so maybe it had something to do with ID during the war. Does your mum have any ideas - she was old enough to understand something like that.
Wonder if the 'Rouse' children knew their Cosby grandparents. Wouldn't that have raised questions? Maybe Henry disowned John for the way he treated Mary. Wonder if Henry left a will.

Rouse
This unusual name it is claimed, is a nickname for a person with red hair. Certainly it derives from the Old French pre 10th century word 'Rous' translating as red, but the precise meaning is open to some conjecture

dont ask me now, I am too tired, but something in the back of my mind, might be a dream, someone in CI Melanie Rioux bn France may have some connection, might be a total red herring but Rouse...rioux...tomorrows another day

but why did they change it back, then in 1940 have note written on Arthurs marriage cert, which was 1914, that he was to be known as Rouse, but my nan stuck with cosby

Oooh..... fingers crossed!

We know why John and Annie called themselves Rouse when they set up house together, but where did that name come from I wonder. Some random name plucked out of thin air or was there some link to someone with that name?

I need to go to bed this family are doing my head in.
Just realised that I emailed 'john' re florence-family tree, this the same guy I emailed re arthur rouse-family tree, it has to be the one. Strange thing, that his full name is John Murphy, might be nothing but my nan, arthurs wifes mum was a murphy, so may be just may be........

No. The John Cosby/Rouse/Cosby are the same person.

so am i wrong

Page 2 third one down

and in 1871 John is born Hants, living Guernsey. Portsmouth is in Hants so that's fine.

The reason for the dates for the name change is that Florence's birth (1895) is reg'd as Rouse, but Dorothy Alice(1898) is reg'd as Cosby.

That is done.
I think tomorrow I need to start to re write this out.
a few pages back, you mentioned that the name change was somewhere around 1895-1898 ish.
I am right in saying
1861 john cosby bn portsea
1871 john cosby bn and living Channel Islands
1881 john cosby bn Channel Islands living Newton Abbot
1891?
1901 John cosby bn portsmouth living in london with Annie R
is one of the same person? I dont see the rouse name, even his dad is cosby

Another e-mail.
The Florence Young born in 1921 in St Pancras, dau of Wallace and Florence, is on the tree of 'John'. He actually has the address there so must be well connected to her.

sorry nothing known, about Alice bn 1885.

What about Annie's oldest, Annie Rouse born 1885. Anything known about her?