A Prize Book

Today we share a story from John Loosley who tells us about his Great-Grandfather through this book which he owned. John says:

Albert Joseph Hoskins was my Great-Grandfather.

Albert Joseph Hoskins was born on 1st April 1863 at Bowl Hill, Rodborough the illegitimate son of Mary Hoskins. Mary Hoskins was a woollen cloth worker and had a further 6 illegitimate children before marrying George Gillman, a stone mason, in 1883 at Stroud Register Office.

Albert Hoskins probably went to school at Kings Court British School as he was a regular attender at the Rodborough Tabernacle Sunday School. By 1881 he was living with his aunt Margaret and her husband Felix Cook at Kings Court and was working as a clerk in Apperly Curtis woollen cloth mill at Dudbridge. He married Clara Rosser at Ebley Congregational Chapel on 15 November 1886 and by 1891 had been promoted to mill manager and was living at No 2 Paganhill Road, Cainscross.

Albert Hoskins was appointed managing director of Apperly Curtis shortly after the death of Sir Alfred Apperly. He died on 2nd February 1924 at Willowdene, Cainscross Road at the age of 60 from heart failure following a bout of influenza. During his lifetime he was a member of the Stroud Mutual Benefit Society, the Cainscross and Ebley Co-operative Society, the Ebley Congregational Church where he was a member of the choir for 35 years, the Liberal Party, a freemason of the Hicks Beech Lodge, a member of Stroud Rotary Club and Ebley Victory Park Bowling Club and the Painswick Falcon Club.