Charles William Allen and Ann Wakelin
Charles, the second child and eldest son of Richard and Mary Allen was Christened on the 1st of April 1860 at Meriden and like his father was employed as a house painter.
His whole family at this particular time have a history going back at least a further 150 years in a neighbouring village of Fillongley, so it seems they had a particular liking to remaining close to where they were born. Charles and Ann were no different and after the marriage they chosen to live at 16 Bradford Street, Coventry, a distance of about 7 miles from Meriden.
Unfortunately they do not seem to appear on the 1901 census so it is not really clear as to how many children they had at this time. Two so far have been found and they are,
Earnest William
Christened 15th February 1891 at St Peters Parish Church, Coventry.
Margery
Christened 10th January 1904 at Little Packington, Warwickshire.
In the village square at Meriden there is a 500 year old monument identifying the place as being the exact centre of England. Just how this was calculated is not really known, however global positioning satellites pinpointed Lindley Hall Farm 11 miles away in Leicestershire as the exact centre but these calculations apparently included the offshore islands whereas the original calculations may not have.