Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Birth21 Aug 1890, Aigburth, Lancashire
Death30 Oct 1969, St Stephens Cottage, Bridge, nr Canterbury
BurialSt Mary’s Patrixbourne, Canterbury, Kent
General2nd dau.
FatherThomas Main Patterson (ca1857-1915)
MotherMary Eleanor Carroll (ca1866-1923)
Notes for Irene Phyllis Patterson
m. (1) Geoffrey Borwick, (2) Charles Eustace Rooke.

But I have yet to find any English or Welsh record for the second marriage.  Nor on FindMyPast’s ‘World’ records with either her Patterson or Borwick surnames.  Nor with a very wide search, on Ancestry.

However I have found a 1970 second marriage of a Phyllis Irene Rooke (first marr - Fratangelo) to John Douglas Harritt on 2 Jan 1971 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.  Her names sounds as if she might be a daughter of Irene’s.  Her father was Charles Gardner Rooke, Jr.  Might Charles Gardner Rooke be a son of Irene?  Doubt it: his marriage with Irene Swarthout was in 1941 in Ney York State and his parents were then said to be Mr ^ Mrs Charles M Rooke, Lyons.

Later I found an account of the Rooke family in The Genealogist of 1921.  This included that she married her second husband in 1920 in Singapore; see his Misc. Notes.
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Her birth index:

Name:                        Mother's Maiden Surname:
PATTERSON, IRENE PHYLLIS     CARROLL  
GRO Reference: 1890  S Quarter in WEST DERBY  Volume 08B  Page 631
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Her baptism courtesy of FamilySearch:

Baptism: 23 Sep 1890 St Mary, Grassendale, Lancashire, England
Irene Phyllis Patterson - [Child] of Thomas Main Patterson & Mary Eleanor
Abode: Aigburth hall Rd, Aigburth
Occupation: Broker
Baptised by: Fred. Barker, Vicar
Register: Baptisms 1854 - 1905, Page 83, Entry 629
Source: LDS Film 2147880
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Her and Robert’s four children were:

Forename        Qtr    Year    District
Katherine H      2     1914   St Geo Han Sq
Dorothy          3     1916   Bridge
James H M        4     1917   Bridge
Miles H          4     1917   Bridge

I had assumed that James H M and Miles H were twins born at the same time.  But there is no further mention of this and subsequently I wondered what the registration information really meant on the index sheet:

  Name                Mother      District  Vol  Page
  Borwick, Jame H M   Patterson   Bridge    3a   1309a
  Borwick, Miles H    Patterson   Bridge    3a   1309

I have subseqently wondered if the ‘a’ suffix for the page number indicates it was ‘altered’.  And thus that the two children were in fact one where they changed the name shortly after the original registration.

This would make sense, then, of Complete Peerage’s statement that Irene and Robert only had the one son.  So I have deleted the apparent second son.
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I absolutely cannot trace her death or any probate.  No sign of any second marriage.  Complete Peerage says she died in 1979, the same year as her husband’s second wife died.  CP just gives the year, not the date.  I can find no evidence to support their claim and really do wonder if they had not got the second Mrs Borwick’s death (by then a baroness) confused with the first.
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Aha.  I found an entry on Geni about a second husband to her, namely one Charles Eustace Rooke whose probate index was:

ROOKE Charles Eustace of Corbeaux Puckle-land Canterbury died 21 July 1947  Probate London 9 January to Walter Mountford Boulton and Ernest Alfred Henderson solicitors and Irene Phyllis Rooke Widow.  Effects £7050 8s. 3d.

Dis she die as Irene Phyllis Rooke?
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Yes, Yes, Yes!  

Her death index, with her birth date:

First name(s)   Irene Phyllis
Last name       Rooke
Gender          Female
Birth day       21
Birth month     8
Birth year      1890
Death quarter   4
Death year      1969
District        Bridge
County          Kent
Volume          5F
Page            144
Country         England
Record set      England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007
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Her burial:

Record set     England Billion Graves Cemetery Index
First name(s)  Irene Phyllis
Last name      Rooke
Birth year     1890
Death year     1969
City           Patrixbourne
County         Kent
Country        England
Cemetery       Patrixbourne (Saint Mary's) Churchyard
Birth date     21 Aug 1890
Death date     30 Oct 1969
Image link     https://billiongraves.com/grave/Irene-Phyllis-Rooke/29465387
Category       Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
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And see her will Notes for her probate index:
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No births found with a Rooke surname and a Patterson mother’s maiden name between 1919 and 1939.

But there are reports and half confirmations that she had a son in 1930 in Cyprus.  They are buried in the same grave in Patrixbourne, Canterbury, Kent.
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Will notes for Irene Phyllis Patterson
Her probate index:

1969
ROOKE Irene Phyllis of St Stephens Cottage Bridge nr Canterbury died 30 October 1969  Probate Brighton 12 December.  £54772.

Her will has been ordered to see if any children can be found.  As has that of Charles Eustace Rooke.
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In her will dated 24 th August 1968 she appointed her son Giles Hugh Rooke as sole executor.

Her net estate was £51356 out of which was paid £17708-10-0 in Estate Duty.  The grant stated she died at Barham Nursing Home Barham near Canterbury Kent and died on 30th October 1969, and that the executor was Giles Hugh Rooke of St Stephens Cottage Bridge near Canterbury Kent, Barrister the son of the said deceased.

She listed:

1. Her daughter Hon Katherine Hilda Ashton Ulyate,
2. The Hon Phyllis Dorothy Borwick,
3. Her said son Giles Hugh Rooke,
4. Her son the Hon James Hugh Miles Forwick
5. Her godchild Joan Calland,
6. Phyllis Calland,
7. Her god child Iris Muries Joy,
8. ‘All the children of her said daughter [Katherine Hilda]”,
9. Explicitly: “If my said son Giles Hugh Rooke shall predecease me … my other three children
   Katherine, Phyllis and James…”
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Comments on the above:

1. The crucial intelligence in this will is both that Giles Hugh Rooke was her son and that she only had, Item 10, three other children, making four children in all.  The other three children are clearly identified by their birth registration index records but Giles Hugh as yet has no documentary evidence of his birth and parentage though his birth date is recorded on his gravestone and I have seen a suggestion that he was born in Cyprus, now made more likely by now finding that his father was working there on a railway project and then as the Railway General Manager.

2. I have not found any blood relationship with Joan and Phyllis Calland.

3. Iris Muriel Joy was her niece, being the daughter of her sister Eleanor Muriel Joy, née Patterson.
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Notes for Robert Geoffrey & Irene Phyllis (Family)
From the image of the register page from FindMyPast, the transcript, by me:

                    Page 194.
“1913. Marriage solemnized in the Parish Church of Littlebourne in the County of Kent
“. . . .
“NO:
“When Marriad:  
                     His                      Hers
“Name:          Robert Geoffrey Borwick     Irene Phyllis Patterson
“Age:           27                          22
“Condition:     Bachelor                    Spinster
“Profession:    Gentleman                   -
“Residence:     13 Hanover Square London W  Littlebourne
“Father:        Robert Hudson Borwick       Thomas Main Patterson  
“Father’s Job:  Knight                      Gentleman

Married in the Parish Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England after Banns by me, P.C.Joy, Vicar

This marriage was solmnized between us [signed]: Robert Geoffrey Borwick  Irene Phyllis Patterson
in the Presence of us: [signed]:  T.M.Patterson  J.G.Morris(?)
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Notes for Charles Eiustace & Irene Phyllis (Family)
See the biography extract in Charles Eustace’s Mptes.
Last Modified 26 May 2021Created 14 May 2022 by Tim Powys-Lybbe
Re-created by Tim Powys-Lybbe on 14 May 20220