Roy... amazingly, I am going to 'do a Josephine' on you. I say amazingly because I'm not usually that organised and I have a rubbish memory but, in the case of our communication in October 2006 (!) I kept a copy of the results of my 'Googling' for the STOCKDILLs, RIDOUTs, TOOGOODs saga which I did in response to a similar query from you. I 'said' more or less what I have pasted below. As far as I can see, these RIDOUTs are not, unfortunately, connected with my Sherborne family... RIDOUTs George RIDOUT, Sarah’s father, was born ~1831 in Sherborne and was a bookseller in 1871, living in Gillingham with wife Mary (TOOGOOD) and children James (14) and Sarah S (7). Mary’s sister Martha was visiting (or living with them) and the family had one servant. In 1881 George (51) was married to Jane (44) and was living at 'Newbury', Gillingham with son James, a printer, and daughter Jane E, aged 6. George was secretary of the Lecture Hall in Gillingham in 1895 and was also listed in a directory… 'Ridout Geo., stationer, newsagent/fancy repository, High St. Also James, his son… Ridout James & Co., printers/publishers "Weekly Record", High St'. The only George RIDOUT that I could find who had been born in Sherborne at the appropriate time was christened on 2nd March 1831 to George RIDOUT and Mary (? MATTHEWS, married Sherborne 1825). George, the father, was an agricultural labourer – he had been born in Milborne Port, probably the son of Edward Ridout and Sarah (? GERRARD, married Shaftesbury St Peter 1799) – this couple were living in a cottage in Newland Street (Sherborne) in 1841. Edward was a labourer and had been born in Sherborne, according to the 1851 census. Anyway, in 1841 George and Mary and their seven children were living in a cottage (also in Newland Street) in Sherborne…. Newland Street - district 1 – also in 1834 Sherborne terrier at # 256 George RIDOUT - 37 M Ag Lab (Y) Mary RIDOUT - 36 F (Y) Elizabeth RIDOUT - 15 F (Y) Sarah RIDOUT - 13 F (Y) George RIDOUT - 10 M (Y) Emma RIDOUT - 8 F (Y) John RIDOUT - 5 M (Y) Mary RIDOUT - 3 F (Y) Jane RIDOUT - 1 F (Y) So, either George RIDOUT started off as an agricultural labourer and became a bookseller or these are two different men. TOOGOODs Mary and Martha TOOGOOD were daughters of William TOOGOOD and Rachel (FORWARD, married Gillingham 9th February 1829). In the 1851 census the family (but not Mary) are living in Gillingham. William was a 40 year old domestic servant. In 1841, he had been listed as a butcher – Mary was living with her parents at that time. Mary was christened in 1832 (with her sister Hannah). Also John (1830), William (1834) and Elizabeth (1837) and probably more. William, the father, had been described on these christenings as a 'yeoman' until 1834 when he became a butcher. William was listed in the 1861 census as having been born in London. He and Rachel (who was born in Bourton, Dorset) were living in Station Road, Gillingham with daughters Martha (13) and Emma (19). He was now 56 and Rachel was 59. In 1881 William was an 80 year old boarder with the STONE family at Churchyard in Gillingham – he is listed as former butcher, widowed and born ‘London’. I can only surmise that the connection between the TOOGOODs and the STOCKDILLs would arise when William TOOGOOD's family were in London. William TOOGOOD was born in 1801 but married in Dorset in 1829. George STOCKDILL was born in 1803 in Yorkshire but moved to London at some point – perhaps the two families knew one another in London and William named his daughter after George’s wife (Sarah). Perhaps George and Mary TOOGOOD were Sarah Stockdill RIDOUT’s godparents. Nothing more to add :-) Cheers, Karen Visit the new Ridout family history website and blog at: www.the-ridouts.com