Robert Arthur

Robert Arthur Barkley (1839-1910) married Kate Hildyard (1845-1935)

Robert Barkley married Kate Hildyard in 1867 at her father's church in Swannington, Norfolk. Kate Hildyard was the daughter of Rev Frederick Hildyard (1803-1891) and Letitia Shore (1814-1896).

Robert Barkley lived most of his life in Palgrave, Suffolk. He joined his brothers in their railway building ventures (his firstborn child died as an infant in Bucharest) but does not seem to have developed this as a career in the way that they did. Censuses record him as being a ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Living on his own means’.

Robert and Kate had five children.

1. Jessica Louisa Barkley (1868-1868) died in infancy in Bucharest.

2. Lettice Kate Barkley (1869-1936) never married; born in Norfolk, she died in Norfolk.

3. Hilda Barkley (1871-1956) married Ernest Barkley Raikes (1863-1931)

Hilda married her cousin, son of Martha Barkley and Rev Francis Raikes. See Martha Barkley.

4. George Hildyard Barkley (1873-1952) married Mona Kathleen Hall (1889-1973) in Bransgore, Hampshire in 1917.

Mona Kathleen Hall was the daughter of Rev Edward John Hall (1855-1928), Rector of Bransgore, and Edith Mary Smallwood (1863-1918).

George Hildyard Barkley farmed in Hampshire; there is reference to him being a poultry farmer.

4.1 Vivien Hildyard Barkley (1919-1929) died in childhood.

4.2 Robert John Barkley (1923-2006) married Constance Joan Phillips (1924-1978) at Fort Jameson Church, Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) in 1951. Fort Jameson is now known as Chipata.

Robert John Barkley was a policeman in Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia from 1946 to 1965. He died in Hove.

5. Frederick Hildyard Barkley (1879-1955) married Audrey Margaret Bruce Gardiner (1882-1953) in Hartismere, Suffolk in 1911.

Audrey Margaret Bruce Gardiner was the daughter of medical practitioner Bruce Hubert John Gardiner (1851-1918) and Blanche Townley (1850-1908).

Frederick Hildyard Barkley served as a Captain in the Lincolnshire Yeomanry during the First World War. He would appear to have had led quite an itinerant life. He was farming in Suffolk in 1911. In 1925 he and his family sailed for a new life in Canada; two years later they were all on a boat back to the UK. In 1939 Frederick and Audrey and their older daughter were in Grange-over-Sands. Audrey died in Surrey. Frederick died in Hertfordshire.

Frederick and Audrey had two daughters who never married. They both lived in London for a few years. They both died in Lincolnshire.

5.1 Frederica Blanche Victoria Townley Barkley (1916-1997)

5.2 Hermione Audrey Hildyard Barkley (1919-2001)