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My cousin, Jack Wallis, who now lives in Hayling Island, has written his own notes regarding his branch of the family. Some of the information he has gleaned I have included here.

Jack Wallis is the great grandson of John Sharp Wallis who was born in July 1825. John Wallis married Caroline Anne Millington in 1867. John was brother of my great grandfather, Sergeant Wallis.

Jack is a surveyor and worked in the East Indies and Kenya for many years. He married Patricia Antill, and they had three daughters. Their first daughter, Delia, became a well know opera singer and she married a well know Leading Violinist. Jack’s daughter, Marilyn, was in Nigeria with him when he was looking for a boat which Jack’s engineers required. They failed to find a suitable boat but found a husband for Marilyn instead, his name was John Blake, and he was involved in boats and deep-sea fishing.

That year there were three marriages and Jack gave away three brides. They included his daughters, Delia and Marilyn and one of Jack’s secretaries. This girl was an Australian whose parents were unable to travel, so Jack filled in His daughter Coral was married the following year bringing the total to four!

Marilyn’s father-in law, Raymond Blake, was involved in the management of a Boat yard in Southern England. John had his father’s interest in boats. He left Nigeria and returned to England where he first obtained work in Bristol. for his father’s boat yard on Hayling Island was not large enough to support more than one member of the family. However, when his father died in the late 1970’s, John took over the business.

An annex was built for his windowed mother and she lived there for the remainder of her life. John now runs the business, which involves a great deal of work. Although it is a great tie he hopes his son Richard, a very practical man, will be able to take over when he retires. At present John’s business is divided into two main branches: Maintenance and Storage that provides a regular income and a small amount of Boat Building. Boat building is a chancy business but the maintenance work ensures a regular work from the sixty moorings. The last few years have been a difficult time for the Boat building industry.

The third daughter, Corral, has a career in banking. She was working at the Bank of London and South America in London. When she met her husband, Clive. It was about this time that Marilyn met John, in the late 1960’s. Corral was a secretary at that time and is now a registrar at Farlington School near Horsham. Our granddaughter, Sophie attends this same school. Clive. Corral’s husband works with the City and Guilds on the administrative side. He looks after the planning and policy of examinations. The three marriages are all happy, quite an achievements these days.

Delia being in the musical world has a great strain on their marriage for they spend so much time in different counties. They are always on the move. The couple have two children, a boy, Alistair and girl, Sarah.

Jack and Pat spent three years in Nairobi and in 1973, when his project was completed, he returned home. This was his custom between contracts. Jack’s house ‘Paintons’ was sold at a profit. The house had belonged to a Vicar and was originally designed by Eddy Swan the wife of a doctor. It had seven bedrooms.

The vicar lived alone with his housekeeper. Jack had bought it over a cup of tea,

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