| Wellington Street located between High Street and Victoria Road in Aldershot Hampshire England. |
| Dr. Leslie Rippon Stone |
children, (Ernest Sidney having died in 1873) Frederick William age 15, Percy Cuthbert age 13, Edith Mary age 9, William Edgar age 8, Priscilla Frederica
Augusta age 6, Kate Beatrice, age 4 Ethel Marie age 3, and baby Lilian
age 1, welcomed the arrival of a son and little brother, Leslie Rippon, to the family.
Two years later in 1878 little Blanche Eveline was born followed by little Harold Hubert in 1879 then Ellen in 1881.
| Wellington Street during 1892 in Aldershot where the Stone family lived. Number 9 Wellington Street still exists today. |
Leslie's father William was born to William and Rhoda Stone on June 17th 1827 in York Town Surrey, England. William's father worked as a Master Saddle and Harness Maker a trade that he passed on to his son William.
When William Stone the son became a young man he met Priscilla Phoebe Taylor (who was born and raised in Staines Middlesex England in 1840) and married her on July 10th of 1860 at the East Hills United Reformed Church in Wandsworth Surrey England. William was 30 years old and Priscilla was 20.
| William's Saddlery and Harness Shop could have looked something like this |
| A soldier in Aldershot on his horse showing the saddle and harness that could have been made at Williams Saddlery Shop. |
William was quite successful in his business and left his wife in comfortable conditions after his death in 1883 when Priscilla found herself alone with the responsibility of raising her surviving eleven children.
Shortly after William died his sons and Arthur Dance carried on with the business then when Leslie finished his schooling his brothers Frederick and Percy taught him the family trade and Leslie went to work in his father's established business making saddles and harnesses.
| Queen Victoria |
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert showed a keen interest in the establishment and the development of Aldershot as a garrison town.
In 1855, they had a wooden 'Royal Pavilion' built, in which they would often stay when attending reviews of the army.
In 1860, Prince Albert established and endowed the Prince Consort's Library which still exists to this day.
After the Crimean War, a division of regular troops was permanently based at Aldershot, and "the Division" at Aldershot, including artillery at Christchurch Hampshire and cavalry at Hounslow Middlesex became one of the most important home commands of the British Army.
In January 1876 a "Mobilization Scheme for the forces in Great Britain and Ireland" was published, with the Active Army divided into eight army corps based on the major Commands and Districts. The 2nd Corps was headquartered at Aldershot. This scheme disappeared in 1881, when the districts were retitled ‘District Commands’, with Aldershot usually listed as being number IX or X in rank. In 1898, (when Queen Victoria’s son, the Duke of Connaught, was General Officer Commanding Aldershot the "District Command" was ranked Ist on the list.
From 1901 to 1908 Aldershot Command was given the additional title of Ist Army Corps.
The garrison subsequently became the home to the British Army. This status has been reflected in the use of Aldershot as a headquarters for over the last 100 years.
This was the community a "Military" environment in which Dr. Stone was born and raised.
| Queen Victoria viewing her Army |
| William Stone's Saddlery Shop might have made the saddles and harnesses for these horses |
| A parade along Wellington Street in 1891 where Dr. Stone lived with his family. The children standing in the right bottom corner might have been Dr. Stone and his siblings with their mother Priscilla. |
