Ronald and Minnie Campkin

Probate record 1934

Sheila Stonehill is looking for information on her Great Grandparents Ronald and Minnie Alice Campkin who lived on the Island in the 20s and 30s. Ronald Campkin was born in 1869 in Hertfordshire to Thomas and Emily. Ronald was an Engineer Draughtsman. We are not quite sure when the couple came to Canvey but they do not appear in the 1918 Electoral Register. The first we have found on records is of a building application deposited at the Essex Record Office where Mrs Campkin is named as the owner regarding the plans for a Bungalow in Beatrice Avenue, Long Road, her address was stated as Butelands, Long Road, Canvey Island, it was dated 1925.

Their only son Reginald who had married in 1912 was killed in action in Arras, France on the 28th Mar 1918, he was a 2nd Lieutenant in the London Regiment (R Fus.) Artist’s Rifles Battalion.

The family were at that time living in Hertfordshire although Ronald had lived in London where he married Minnie and again in 1911 before returning to Hertfordshire.

Was it the death of their only son that brought them to Canvey? Was it a home for their daughter-in-law they were having built nearby in Beatrice Ave? The only other records we have found are the Electoral Register for 1929 where the couple are living at Butelands, Long Road and this was still their address when Ronald died in 1934.

We do not know when Minnie left the Island but we do know she was living in Westcliff when she died in 1948. We also know that neither Ronald nor Minnie were buried on the Island.

Unfortunately we do not have any photos of the couple or of their home Butelands. If anyone can recall anything about either Ronald and Minnie Campkin or their home Butelands please comment below.