General Notes

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Charles Henry Richard Hoodless was born in Plymouth, Devon 22 Nov 1889.  He was the first of three sons of James Hoodless and Jane (Oades). There was gap of thirteen years before his brother George was born (1902) and then another five years before Ernest(1907). Charles was studious and artistic. He completed his four years of study for the Plymouth Dockyard and became one of the youngest men to be established in 'the yard'. Later he was accepted into the Admiralty as a draughtsman and, it is said, designed (or helped?) all the electrical wiring for HMS Hood. Charles married Annie Stoneman at St Peter's Church, Plymouth 19 sep 1915. His Admiralty job made it necessary for him to be posted to various parts of England and Scotland. Annie went with him at first but after several years decided to stay on her own in Plymouth and they had an unofficial separation but they never divorced and saw each other whenever Charles came to Plymouth. Annie had one pregnancy but after a very difficult birth the child (a boy) was stillborn.   Charles had many talents, he was good at art, could play the violin, sang with a choir and often took part in the Bisley shooting contests where he won many cups and medals. After his retirement he settled near the London area but after Annie's death (in the 1970s?) he moved back to Plymouth and spent his last days in a high rise block of flats, (Chichester House) which overlooked Plymouth Hoe. He died on 5 Oct 1983 at the grand old age of ninety four. Because he loved Dartmoor, his ashes were scattered  near the moorland village of Sampford Spiney.
Charles remembered when he was young standing by Union Street arch, near where the family lived and seeing Queen Victoria when she once visited Plymouth. He also told the story of when he was out once with his grandmother (Maria C (Langman) Oades) there was a demonstration, in a marquee, of one of the early phonographs. They could hear a voice coming coming from the machine but his grandmother told him to not take any notice as it was just someone hiding under the table. He also told the story of when he was quite young and he was playing in the backyard and his Mother and Grandmother were in the house. He kept coming in and was told to go back outside but would not stay more than a short time. His Mother began to get a bit irate as one assumes that he was normally an obedient child. Just as he came in again the chimney came crashing down right on the spot where he had been playing. He felt sure that he was being prompted and was protected by some kind of guardian angel.