Relationship to me: Great Grandfather and Grandmother (paternal)
Victor Leonard Darwin JACOBS & Gertrude Maude “Gertie” MILES
Victor was born on March 17th 1897 in Masterton, NZ and died on June 9th 1984 in Otaki Beach, NZ. He was the 10th of 14 children (6 girls and 8 boys) born to Adnett John JACOBS and Alice Susanah ALDERSLADE.
Gertrude Maude “Gertie” MILES on April 14th 1902 in NZ and died on May 25th 1965 in Wanganui, NZ.
Victor and Gertrude married in 1919, when Victor was 22 years old. They had three children together – two daughters and a son (Iris, Nola, and Herbert). They divorced in 1933 (source: Archway Archives). Victor remarried Irene Lydia SMITH in 1934 although it is likely that they had already had two sons together before their marriage. Victor and Irene had three sons and a daughter together.
Victor worked as a draper, window dresser and display artist. He died on June 9th, 1984 at 24 Marine Parade, Otaki Beach, in New Zealand.
In 1908, Victor and his brother Roy were found guilty of theft and given six strokes of the birch when Victor was just 9 years old – he was likely 11 according to his birth record and the police gazettes got his age wrong (source: NZ Police Gazettes, 1908).
In 1916, Victor was called up in to the Reserves for WWI, living in Ravensbourne, Dunedin, but he does not appear to have been recruited to fight.
“Gertie” was born on April 14, 1902 in New Zealand to William Howard MILES and Gertrude Rose SHIELS. She was the oldest of four children and the only girl. After her divorce to Victor, Gertrude remarried Herbert Thomas Samuel “Thomas” MCCREADY in 1935 who was 12 years older than her. Thomas worked as a printer (source: Cemetery records).
Gertrude died on May 25th, 1965 in Wanganui, New Zealand. Thomas, her husband, died the following year in April 1966.
Irene, Victor’s second wife, became step-mother to my grandmother when Nola was just 12 years old. Given that Irene does not mention any of her step-children in her will, it can only be assumed that they did not have a close relationship.
Sources
Irene’s Will: https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE50081740
Victor Leonard Darwin JACOBS
b. 17 Mar 1897
d. 9 Jun 1984
m. 2 Oct 1919 (Gertrude Maude MILES)
m. 27 Feb 1934 (Irene Lydia SMITH)
Mother: Alice Susannah ALDERSLADE
Father: Adnett John JACOBS
Siblings:
Rose Ethel
Alice Jane
John William Henry “Jack”
Nellie Eveline Grey
George Adnett Bell
Henry Walter Benson “Harry”
Grace Florence Fowler
Ivy Myrtle
Roy Stanley Baldwin
Eva Muriel Victoria
Eric Huia Edward Kitchner
Clarence Hector
Raymond Joseph Wadman (MBE)
Gertrude Maude “Gertie” MILES
b. 14 Apr 1902
d. 25 May 1965
m. 2 Oct 1919 (Victor Leonard Darwin JACOBS)
m. 14 Feb 1935 (Herbert Thomas Samuel MCCREADY)
Mother: Gertrude Rose SHIELS
Father: William Howard MILES
Stepfather: Henry Joseph MORRIS
Siblings:
Howard Leslie Miles
Cyril Vincent Miles
Vernon Wallace Kincaid Miles
Half Siblings:
Reginald Morris
Vera Morris
Sylvia Doreen Morris
Children of Victor and Gertrude
Iris Gertrude (1920-)
Nola Lorraine “Min” (1922-2011)
Herbert Murray (1927-)
Children of Victor and Irene
Raymond Keith (1931-)
Reginald Victor (1933-2010)
Pauline Lucy (1935-)
Colin Edward (1937-)
