I am researching the PARHAM history in Sussex.  My data on ancestry.com.au is public and traces the lineage from there to South Australia where us PARHAM crew still live.  I have so far got back to 1750s with William PARHAM who was married in Pagham in 1756 to Mary BUDDLE. After that seems to be a dead end.

 Here is the information that I have:  William PARHAM, b. 1736 in Sidlesham or Pagham, Sussex.  He married Mary BUDDLE on 21 Apr 1756 in Pagham.   They had 3 children:  Sarah, b. 1757;  James, b. 1758-1840;  Thomas, b. 1759.  The youngest Thomas married Ann WOODLAND on 19 Feb 1788 in Pagham, Sussex and had three children, Sarah b. 1789; Thomas, b. 1792; and Hannah, b. 1795.   James married Mary Dibble and is my direct ancestor.  I am interested in him and his father, William PARHAM.  Any help is most welcome and am naturally willing to reciprocate with whatever I have of interest to others.

I am trying to locate the baptism of WILLIAM MILES b. circa 1836 in Sussex. Possibly Worthing area.  His marriage certificate 18 Aug 1860 at Worthing, Sussex (Register Office) states William 24y, Bachelor, Bricklayer his father SAMUEL MILES.  He married Isabella Best CHESSELL.  Margaret MILES a witness to the marriage could be a sister.  Any help would be very much appreciated

Reginald PEEL, Clerk, Indian Railways.  Born about 1874 : Died 14.1.1938 in registration district Brighton, Sussex.  He had one son, born about 1917, Reginald Keith PEEL, who was missing presumed dead after the sinking of HMS Hood in 1941.  I think that he may also have had younger sons, possibly called Laurence and Michael.  Reginald Keith PEEL married in 1938, but I am unable to trace the date and place of his birth.  I believe it to be Sussex. If anyone can help I will be very grateful.

Woods/White circa 1750s
I am interested in finding more about Edward WOODS (1754-16.11.1823) and his in-laws John and Anne WHITE.  Edward WOODS and Mary WHITE (baptised in Storrington on 25.3.1758-5.11.1829) were married in Storrington parish on 23/8/1778.  They had at least 7 children:
From Storrington baptism index:  Anne baptised 30/3/1782
From Sullington index :  Maria baptised 2/5/1784;  John bap /8/1785;  Edward bap 10/2/1788;  George bap 9/1/1791;  William bap 14/7/1794;  Jesse Woods bap.5.7.1798 born in Steyning;  Jesse Woods 1798-3.6.1865, born in Steyning, baptised in Sullington;  Jesse married 18.11.1822 Elizabeth LILLYWHITE (bap. 15.1.1804-13.1.1825) daughter of Richard LILLYWHITE and Elizabeth MATTHEWS (I know the origins of the Lillywhites).  Witnesses were Mary WOODS and James TRIBE (who later married each other);  Elizabeth WOODS died in Longbury Hill and is buried in Warminghurst.  Jesse WOODS then went to the Swan River Settlement (now Perth, Western Australia). Their children, John and Caroline, remained in Sussex with their maternal grandparents (Richard LILLYWHITE, 1775-1831) although John followed his father to Western Australia in 1836.  Jesse went to WA on the Atwick, arriving on 19.10.1829.  Jesse’s brother William arrived in WA on the Lotus on 6.10.1829.  He married Louisa (Lucy) CHARMAN (1806-28.3.1869) on 21.5.1822 at Warminghurst Sussex.  I believe the CHARMAN family stayed in the area until modern times.

I am looking for any information about:  Mary OWEN (born ? -bur.24.3.1770) married Thomas LILLYWHITE 2.2.1747 in All Saints Church, Chichester.  Mary was the daughter of the housekeeper for Sir Cecil BISHOPP 6th Bt of Parham House, Storrington, Sussex (a direct descendant of William CECIL, Lord BURGHLEY, Queen Elizabeth I’s trusted advisor).  Mary was described at the infamous Poole Customs House smuggling trial of 1749, at which her husband was the only one acquitted, as “a woman of fortune” by a Fra. Wheeler.  Also Sir Cecil Bishop Bt testified at the trial:  “The prisoner married my housekeeper's daughter; had not he been a man of good character, I should not have been consenting to the match, which I was; she brought him a fortune, and he is a deserving young man.”
It looks like she did quite well for the daughter of a housekeeper especaily given that when she married Thomas he was 17 years old and she was likely quite young too.  Also the marrigage took place 6 months before the smuggling incident which is curious why a man married into a new fortune would risk joining such a venture.
After many years research I can now also confirm an additional natural daughter of the same Sir Cecil by his housekeeper, Mrs Sarah OWEN.  After nearly four years of further research and checking the facts with several other researchers both in the UK and in Australia, we can confirm that Mary OWEN was the natural child of Sir Cecil.  It seems Sir Cecil was quite the lad.  As the book, edited by J Wentworth Fitzwilliam Parham in Sussex, 1947 page 47 notes that Sir Cecil Bishopp was noted for having so many children that at the time it “caused some remark in contemporary society”.
Mary OWEN born c.1731 was the natural daughter of Sir Cecil Bishopp 6th Bt and his housekeeper Mrs Sarah OWEN.  Sir Cecil Bishopp testified to much of this in a notorious smuggling trial of Thomas Lillywhite (and seven others) at the Old Bailey in 1749.  At that trial Mary Owen then aged 18 years old was described as a “woman of fortune”, which is a bit odd for the young daughter of a housekeeper in the early 18th century.  I have discovered part of the source of the wealth, which in part was a cottage given to her at 5 years of age by Sir Cecil Bishopp, 6th Bt.  Also in the same testimony before the Old Bailey (Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 5 April 1749) Sir Cecil says he granted permission for Thomas LILLYWHITE to marry Mary OWEN.  It is quite certain that Sir Cecil Bishopp 6th Bt was the putative father of Mary Owen.
 In Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 5 April 1749 at this at-the-time celebrated smuggling trial, Sir Cecil went to great lengths and risk to his reputation to testify for the release of Mary OWEN’s husband Thomas LILLYWHITE.  Thomas was the only one acquitted and released the same day; he was also the only one of two not to have been executed.
One of the sources of Mary OWEN’s “fortune” appears to be ownership of a copyhold cottage close to Parham House.  She was given this cottage by Sir Cecil Bishopp when she was about 5 years of age.  The Court Roll of the manor of Storrington 9 May 1736 records the admission of Mary OWEN to a copyhold cottage at Cootham.  The manor of Storrington was a sub-manor of the larger manor of Parham, owned by Sir Cecil Bishopp.  The cottage is less than a mile from the Manor house. 
 Mary OWEN Married the acquitted Thomas LILLYWHITE (bap.30.3.1730) who was the son of Thomas LILLYWHITE and Mary SYLVESTER.  He was born in Up Marden and married Mary OWEN (c.1731 bur.24.3.1770) on 2.2.1747 in All Saints Church, Chichester.  Thomas LILLYWHITE (listed as a Storrington farmer) and Mary OWEN (listed as of the same parish) were married under an Archdeanery of Chichester Marriage Licence at All Saints Church, Chichester.  It is intriguing as to why they were married in Chichester (the county town now of West Sussex and a cathedral city and therefore a major place) rather than the tiny village of Storrington where they both lived; perhaps because of the intervention or involvement of Sir Cecil Bishopp.  Thomas LILLYWHITE and Mary OWEN had 7 children, William, Sarah, Richard, Thomas, Mary, George and James.  They lived in Storrington, Sussex.  Thomas and Mary were both buried at Storrington. 

Sources:
1.         Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 5th April 1749, page 16.
2.         The Court Roll of the manor of Storrington 9 May 1736
3.         The Sussex Family Historian March, 1980 “The Strange Case of Thomas Lillywhite - Was He a        Smuggler?” by Rev. John Bishopp
4.         Storrington in Georgian & Victorian Times, by Joan Ham 1987
5.         See drawing representing Thomas Lillywhite and the other smugglers, Thomas is seen in the background holding the horses:  http://www.sussexhistory.co.uk/smuggling-sussex/smuggling-sussex%20-%200267.htm