Sarah Jane was the 3rd of 8 children of George & Philadelphia Williams, baptised at Beaminster Parish Church on 21 July 1848. The family lived at Shortmoor with Philadelphia’s mother Mary Chick, who is shown on the Tithe 1843 as owner & occupier of the house & garden.
The older children were Mary baptised 8 Oct 1845 and John 31 Jan 1847.
John died when he was 3, buried 12 July 1850. Younger siblings were:-
Elizabeth bap 13 Dec 1850,
Louisa 31 Oct 1852,
George 25 Mar 1855, buried 22 May 1856,
Benjamin John bap 27 Sep 1857 and
Edwin 8 May 1860.
Sarah’s grandmother died in 1862 at the age of 86 and the family continued to live in the same house. In the 1861 census, Sarah J Williams was a Scholar age 12, in 1871 she was a Straw milliner age 22.
On 22 Sep 1873 at Beaminster Parish Church, William George Locock married Sarah Jane Williams. He was on the shore-based HMS Excellent at Portsmouth for the first five months of their married life, then at sea for 4 years. We have no knowledge of where Sarah was living during this time.
Sarah’s mother, Philadelphia Williams died on 27 July 1876 and was buried on 30 July 1876 at Holy Trinity Church Closeby.
In 1878 Sarah was in Portsea, at 14 Clarendon Place, when their first child was born on 4 November and baptised at St Mary’s Portsea on 22 Dec 1878, named William George Williams Locock. He only lived for 2 years and was buried in Kingston Cemetery on 20 Jan 1881.
The 1881 Census shows Sarah J Locock, cousin, married, 32, milliner & dressmaker, born Beaminster, at 1 Ivy Street, Portsea, where the Head of Household is Mary A Apllin 46 born Poole, Dorset.
In May 1882 her husband William, now a Coastguard Boatman, went to Kilmore Coastguard Station on the Southeast coast of Ireland. Sarah went too and Ethel Louise was born there on 3 Oct 1883 and baptised at the Church of Kilturk in the Parish of Tomhaggard in the County of Wexford on 28 Oct 1883. In August 1884, they returned to England to Woolston Coastguard Station at the mouth of the River Itchen, Southampton. May Philadelphia was born there in Q3 1885.
When William was Shore Invalided on 9 April 1886 and Pensioned, the family returned to Portsea, living at Lumps Cottages, Eastney. He only survived for 9 months and died on 24 Jan 1887.
The Kellys Directories of Portsmouth dated 1890/1 and 1892 show the residence of Mrs Locock as 10 Buckingham Street, Portsea (but not in 1896 edition).
The family were there in 1891 Census:-
Sarah Jane Locock, Head, Widow, 42, needlewoman, born Beaminster, with daughters
Ethel L age 7 born Ireland, &
Mary P age 5 born Southampton.
Sometime in the next decade, Sarah and her daughters returned to Sarah’s birthplace, Shortmoor at Beaminster. Her father George Williams died on 14 Jun 1900 and was buried at Holy Trinity Church close by. Sarah Jane Locock widow was sole Executor of her father’s Will, proved on 1 Aug 1900., Effects £75.
The 1901 Census shows Sarah Jane Locock, Head, Widow, 52, dressmaker, born Beaminster, with her 2 daughters Ethel L 17 born Ireland, Killmore, and May P 15 born Dorset, Woolston. Also her 2 unmarried sisters Elizabeth 50 Carer of children and Louisa 48 Nurse. Sarah Jane, Elizabeth & Louisa all Work at Home. Also 3 Fearn children presumably in their care: Jack 8 born Croydon, Marie 6 born Gloucester, Arthur 4 born Portsmouth.
Sarah Jane died in July 1902 and was buried, like her parents, at the nearby Holy Trinity Church, Beaminster on 23 Jul 1902.