The earliest record I currently have to our family line is with Robert Lock . This is from a marriage record from Lingfield Parish records in 26th September 1674, Surrey. This marriage is between Robert Locke and Suzanna Baldwin.

This record I currently have to our family line is with Robert Lock . This is from a marriage document in 1715. But to get there, I had to start with Margaret Lock.

Using a combination of findmypast.com and Ancestry.com I was able to move through the births deaths and marriages, following the family line. I began by asking family members for names and dates of birth. I gathered all the information of all relatives going back to my great grandfather. This was largely thanks to my Great Uncle and Auntie who are still living in Tonbridge.



It turns out that my whole family as far back as 2nd May 1838 were all born, lived and died in and around Tonbridge. This made accessing births deaths and marriages incredibly easy.



From the Register records of 1939, I was able to see my grandfathers home address with his siblings and parents names. This gave me the information to track down births and marriages. From here I focused on my great grandfathers name to find his parents.



I contacted Tonbridge general registry office and ordered a copy of William Alfred Locke’s Birth Certificate born 1903. This gave both parents names. His father Albert Alfred Locke and Constance Mabel Locke (formerly Goldfinch). To go back further, I needed to look for Albert’s Birth Certificate which meant I needed his date and location of birth.

To do this, I used the mothers maiden name ‘Goldfinch’ to look up marriage records as this would have more information and potentially give parents names. There didn’t seem to be anything published online and there were a number of different possibilities of Albert. This is where most family in the past had got stuck.



I contacted the Tonbridge GRO again and they told me they had the marriage records for Constance and Albert. They don’t tend to provide this information over the phone, so I had to order a copy. This gave Alberts age, but also his fathers name. Theophilus Locke.

This name Theophilus made it really easy to find all the family members through the census records. Theophilus was found on all the census records from 1891 to the 1851 Census. This is where I initially got stuck. I found on all of the Census records, that Theophilus lived with his mother Margaret Locke and eventually cared for her into old age. But I couldn’t find any information on his father.



I first began looking for the mothers maiden name to see if I could find a marriage record. I was unsure as there were no more Tonbridge records I could find. This is where I set the search wider as a friend had pointed out that there was a Margarett Hodge in Otford and have a feeling it was her.



I contacted Otford parish to ask about Margaret Hodge. It turns out there was a marriage between Margarett Hodge and a William Lock. I noticed that Locke was spelt ‘Lock’. I looked into the census records changing the spelling to ‘Lock’ and it revealed a census record from 1841 showing William Lock born 1778, Margarett and Theophilus as well as a brother to Theo, also called William Lock 1832 with 2 sisters Eliza and Joanna. But Theophilus was spelt Theophs. I then began to focus on William Lock 1778 to find his records and look for his parents. I also ordered a copy of Theophilus Birth certificate to confirm information. Also as it was the oldest surviving copy of our family line.



Discovering the name spelt ‘Lock’ I began searching for both ‘Locke’ and ‘Lock’.

As there are no further birth certificates before 1830s. I turned my attention to parish records. I found that a William Lock was baptised in Eynsford in January 1778. This record shows that he was the son of James Lock and his wife Ann. But there was no other information. I began to focus on the marriage records for James lock and Ann around the date 1778.

I found a number of marriage between a James Lock and an Ann that were in Kent. But none of the dates matched up with the dates of their children and they possible life spans. All births and deaths surrounding them all weren’t close enough to conclude they were correct. I was stuck on this for some time until I decided to cast the net a little wider.

In 1772, there was revealed a marriage between James Lock and Ann Walklyn in Surrey. The transcript showed as Limpsfield. I looked at a map of the area at that time and it showed it was fairly close to Eynsford and the dates also matched up.

With this, I concluded that James and Ann must have moved to Eynsford to start their family. The chances are, James may have been a farm hand looking for work.

As I was looking into James Lock’s baptism/christening records, I found a record for a James Lock 20th February 1747 in Lingfield and all the dates matched. I noticed on the map that Lingfield was very close to Limpsfield. I checked back onto the marriage record or James and Ann, and it is highly likely that the transcription was wrong. On the original document, it looks like it could well have in fact been Lingfield. There didn’t appear to be any record of a James Lock in Limpsfield. Nor an Ann walklyn. But there were in Lingfield.

James Lock’s baptism record showed his parents to be Thomas Lock and Elizabeth Lock. The records also show that there were two other baptisms around that time with parents of the same names. This would highlight the siblings of James as Sarah Lock 03 December 1749 and Thoms Lock 08 September 1751.

There was also a baptism record for Thomas Lock 12 December 1722 in lingfield at the same church. This showed his parents as Robert Lock and Mary Lock. There was another baptism around the same time with the same parents. This is likely showing a brother of Thomas to be John Lock 13 June 1721. I also found a marriage record on 22 April 1746 between Thomas Lock and Elisabeth Storer.

I began looking into Robert Lock and Mary. This revealed a marriage in Lingfield 1715 between a Robert Locke (spelt with the ‘e’) and Mary Peirce. Again, all the dates match up with all the other information. The only other information I have found on Robert was 1705 a poll registry in Lingfield.

I then got stuck as there was no further information.



I then contacted the local family society of Lingfield who had earlier records that hadn’t yet been transcript. The Lingfield parish held Baptism records of Robert Lock born 27th February 1686. He later married Mary Peirce. This records also shows his father is also a Robert Locke. That is the Robert Locke showing in the earliest record available. But the marriage record doesn’t show any other information. Just the names of the bride and groom and the date the marriage took place.

As there is no further information around Lingfield for Robert Lock(e).

The next step is to look into Hearth Tax records. I am told that in the 1600’s these would show names of people within the household. But finding the correct record will be difficult as they are not listed by name. Only locations.



I know the location is

Hundred : Tandridge as I found a poll tax registry of Robert Lock from 1705. So the next search begins there.

If you have any further information on Robert Lock(e) or any of the Lock(e) family line connections here, why not get in touch with me and/or comment below.