OLD DEVONPORT . UK
 www.olddevonport.uk
 
©  Brian Moseley, Plymouth
Webpage created: January 17, 2017.
Webpage updated: January 17, 2018

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WHO WAS WHO IN OLD DEVONPORT

CHARLES FREDERICK HOCKING (1861-1947)

Mr Charles Frederick Hocking founded the pianoforte and music dealership in Fore Street, Devonport.

He was born at Devonport on April 28th 1861 to Mr Edwin and Mrs Ann Elizabeth Hocking (formerly Heard), pork butcher, of 3 George Street, Devonport.  He was baptized at Stoke Damerel Parish Church on May 12th 1861.

Mr Charles Frederick Hocking married Miss Selena Mary Hamley, of Bere Ferrers, at the Anglican Church of Saint Matthias the Apostle, Plymouth, on August 10th 1898.  They first boarded with Mrs Annie Williams at 19 Wolseley Terrace, Plymouth, where Charles was listed as a Piano Merchant, but had moved to 3 Thornhill Villas, Plymouth, by 1911, where they had the services of a Cook and a Housemaid.

Mr Hocking was a Councillor for Princes Ward on Devonport Borough Council in 1914.  He founded the Plymouth Amateur Operatic Society.

Charles Frederick Hocking died at 2 Russell Avenue, Plymouth, on Friday March 28th 1947.  He was 86 years old.  The funeral was held at Emmanuel Church on Tuesday April 1st 1947 and he laid to rest with his late wife (who had passed away on June 13th 1934) in Efford Cemetery.

As Mr Charles Frederick Hocking was a local Justice of the Peace, his funeral was attended by the Mr W Harry Taylor, the Lord Mayor of Plymouth.  Amongst the family mourners were his younger brother, Mr Ernest Edwin Hocking, and his Housekeeper, 64-yeras-old Miss Ethel Mary Lamb, who was the daughter of his one-time Bank Manager, Mr Robert Edward James Lamb.  Representatives from Messrs Parker and Smith and Messrs Moon and Sons (Pianos) Ltd, local music dealers, also attended.

Charles's younger brother, Mr Ernest Edwin Hocking, a Pianoforte Tuner, married Miss Edith Sobey at the Anglican Church of Saint Michael the Archangel, Devonport, on July 10th 1897 and they went to live at 55 Haddington Road and later at Rosery Lodge, Molesworth Road, Stoke.  He died in Plymouth in 1962 at the age of 97 years.