I am the direct descendant (great grandson) of Frederick Launchbury. Fred was born the sixth child of Henry Launchbury (1820 ? May 16 1829) and Hannah Wickson (March 03, 1822 - July 17, 1873) on November 10, 1856. He was born in a small village just across the Thames from the city of Oxford called North Hinksey. His father Henry Launchbury was the Miller there. Hinksey at that time was in the county of Berkshire, but during the 1930?s the boarders were changed and it now sits in Oxfordshire. Frederick (numbered 12 on my Ahnentafel system) was influenced by the building of the new Oxford to Reading Railway ? part of the Birmingham branch line- he had to be, his fathers mill was almost demolished to make way for the new railway line. (the mill burnt down in 1909 but the mill pond still survives). So he started work for the Great Westen Railway company.

The family were a very close knit cell in 1861, and the census shows that his parents, all bar the eldest son john, and the grandmother Mary Launchbury (nee Bason) were all living at the mill house. Frederick was only 13 years old when his father died (1869) , Mary died in 1872 and his mother Hannah the year afterwards. Young Frederick lived with his older brother Samson until he married at age 21.

Hannah Carter was the same age as Frederick, and the illigitimate child of Elizabeth Carter, of South Hinksey, Oxfordshire. The parish registers for South Hinksey show that she was baptised on May 02, 1858. The mill was actually built between the villages of North and South Hinksey, which are less than a mile apart. Hannah?s mother was in fact the illigitamate child herself of Charlotte Carter. In the victorian morality of Oxfordshire, that may have been a very bad thing in itself, but Hannah too had an illigitamate child, Alice, which Frederick adopted, so there might have been some desire on Hannah?s part to leave that small village. They did not move however immediatly. Married on August 16, 1875 at Holy Trinity Church Oxford, and for a while lived in Church Street, around the corner from his dads old mill.

The 1881 census shows (RG11 1284 / 65 26) Church St, South Hinksey, Berkshire.

Frederick LAUNCHBURY/Head/M/Male/24/Botley, Berkshire, England/Railway Servant
Hannah LAUNCHBURY/Wife/M/Female/26/Oxford, Oxford, England
Frederick LAUNCHBURY/Son//Male/4/Oxford, Oxford, England/Scholar
Minnie LAUNCHBURY/Daur//Female/2/Sth Hinksey, Berkshire, England
Alice CARTER/Daur//Female/9/Oxford, Oxford, England/Scholar

They are still there in 1891, however sometime before the 1901 census, they uproot to nearby Reading, or the Oxford side of the Thames, Caversham. Frederick?s address is 15 Kings Rd, Caversham, which was then part of ?Southern? Or ?Henley? Oxfordshire.
(RG13/1371 : Henley : Caversham : 6 Folio: 124 Page: 46 schedule number: 254. St Peter Caversham Oxfordshire)

Frederick Launchbury abt 1857 Batley, Berkshire, England Head Caversham Oxfordshire Checker Gt W Rly Worker
Hannah Launchbury abt 1856 Oxfordshire, England Wife Caversham Oxfordshire
David Launchbury abt 1882 New Hinckley, Berkshire, England Son Caversham Oxfordshire M Porter Gt W Rly Worker
Ada Launchbury abt 1885 New Hinckley, Berkshire, England Daughter Caversham Oxfordshire Laundress Steam Laundry Worker Berks
Charles Launchbury abt 1888 New Hinckley, Berkshire, England Son Caversham Oxfordshire
Hannah R Launchbury abt 1892 New Hinckley, Berkshire, England Daughter Caversham Oxfordshire
John Marsh abt 1896 Oxfordshire, England Grandson Caversham Oxfordshire
Albert E Street abt 1896 Caversham, Oxfordshire, England Grandson Caversham Oxfordshire
Minnie M Street abt 1879 New Hinckley, Berkshire, England Daughter Caversham Oxfordshire

Fredericks daughter Minnie had married a Richard Street, and was seen living with thier baby in the same household. John Marsh I assume to be the child of Alice Carter. His eldest son Frederick has escaped the nest, and set up home with his wife Annie Maud Mary Clark, but changed his name to Charles Launchbury, probally to stop confusion, as they were both working for the railway. Frederick was a Railway Foreman on the Great Western Railway.

Grederick and Hannah had 7 children in total,
Alice Carter (adopted) b 1872: m ? Marsh about 1894.
FREDERICK CHARLES LAUNCHBURY, b. 1877, North Hinksey: d. November 12, 1936, Caversham; m. ANNIE MAUD MARY CLARK
MINNIE MAUD LAUNCHBURY, b. 1879, North Hinksey; m. RICHARD STREET June 04, 1900, St Peters Church Caversham
DAVID LAUNCHBURY, b. 1882, North Hinksey; d, 1963, Woodley, m. EDITH EMILY PINNOCK, Nov 10, 1906, (St Peters) my granddad
ADA LAUNCHBURY, b. 1884, Hinksey; m. THOMAS CAREY PINNOCK, June 1903, Henley, Buckinghamshire.
CHARLES EDWIN LAUNCHBURY, b. 1888, North Hinksey: d. 1957, Farnborough; m. MARY EVA EVANS,
HANNAH ROSE LAUNCHBURY, b. 1890, Hinksey; m. ? BRILL.

Frederick and Hannah moved ready for Frederic retirement- and the Kellys Directory of Reading 1914 records his address as 12 East View Terrace, Star Road, Caversham. Unfortunatly for poor old Frederick, he died in July of that year at his house in Star Road, on July 09, 1914, he was buried at Caversham Cemetery. Hannah lived a little longer, and died in 1932 and she was buried beside her husband in Caversham Cemetery.