Publications
Nicolls and Boots: A Sussex Heritage, by Tim Sanderson, published March 2014 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 1, article, pp.13-20) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508980]
Preview:The surnames of the title are the maiden names of my paternal and maternal grandmothers respectively. Although I have lived in Haywards Heath, West Sussex for some 30 years I grew up in south east London and was born in Forest Gate, east London. My mother and her mother before me were also born in the East End, and, until researching my family tree over the past year, we believed that our ancestry was there.
My father, Stuart SANDERSON, was born in Lewisham SE13, and his parents both lived in south-east London. He often spoke of a Sussex connection, with cousins in Seaford. His mother, Rose Ella (née NICOLLS) came from a large family of 10 children, the offspring of John George NICOLLS and Charlotte (née THOMAS). John G was born in Robertsbridge in 1841 - his baptismal record shows the abode of his parents as "Fair Lane, Salehurst". Modern mapping shows this as not far from Robertsbridge Station, between the high street and modern A21 bypass, and continuing toward Salehurst village. Charlotte was born in Battle in 1839. They married in 1865, in Lambeth, London. It is not clear whether they met in Sussex or elsewhere.
My father, Stuart SANDERSON, was born in Lewisham SE13, and his parents both lived in south-east London. He often spoke of a Sussex connection, with cousins in Seaford. His mother, Rose Ella (née NICOLLS) came from a large family of 10 children, the offspring of John George NICOLLS and Charlotte (née THOMAS). John G was born in Robertsbridge in 1841 - his baptismal record shows the abode of his parents as "Fair Lane, Salehurst". Modern mapping shows this as not far from Robertsbridge Station, between the high street and modern A21 bypass, and continuing toward Salehurst village. Charlotte was born in Battle in 1839. They married in 1865, in Lambeth, London. It is not clear whether they met in Sussex or elsewhere.